New Owner

[Dirt Buster]

Hey everybody, I recently inherited two car washes from my grandpa and am just looking for any advice! I'd appreciate any advice on upkeep and yearly maintenance. I'm really hoping to keep these businesses profitable and I have enjoyed helping him for years with them. I've got 5 self serve bays all together and two touchless automatics. Thank you

 

[MEP001]

It would help to have more info about the washes. Self serve, automatic bays? Brand of equipment, model of machines? I have a 6-bay SS, the only "yearly" maintenance is changing the oil in the pumps and compressor (twice a year) and changing the brushes in the vac motors (every other year). Upkeep is regular inspections, checking everything often (I like to rinse the bays down with coins every day), and keep it CLEAN.

 

[Dirt Buster]

It would help to have more info about the washes. Self serve, automatic bays? Brand of equipment, model of machines? I have a 6-bay SS, the only "yearly" maintenance is changing the oil in the pumps and compressor (twice a year) and changing the brushes in the vac motors (every other year). Upkeep is regular inspections, checking everything often (I like to rinse the bays down with coins every day), and keep it CLEAN.

Yes of course: two locations. First location has two self-serve bays, 1 laserwash 4000 from PDQ. The second location has three self-serve bays and one automatic razor wash from hamilton. Thank you!

 

[Dan kamsickas]

Yes of course: two locations. First location has two self-serve bays, 1 laserwash 4000 from PDQ. The second location has three self-serve bays and one automatic razor wash from hamilton. Thank you!

What brand of self serve? How well was everything maintained? Post a bunch of pictures of the equipment, equipment room, and sites. There is a lot that the folks on this site can pick up on from seeing the pictures that you are probably not thinking about.

 

[Wash4Life]

Dirk, for your Laserwash 4000, use RDM Electronics for your repairs. Your distributor for PDQ will probably charge a fortune for new parts and for repairs. Their number is 800.282.5183

 

[MPW]

Great thread as I've just joined this forum under similar circumstances. Hoping for more info on this topic as I've also just taken over a car wash from my father. It'll eventually be an inherited situation, but currently am just leasing it (after 35+ years he's over it and wants to fully retire but doesn't want to sell), so fortunately I'm still able to call him up when I'm lost. Up until about 5 years ago he also sold equipment and built car washes all over the state so he's a wealth of knowledge but I certainly don't want to take away from his down time more than I must. This car wash has 6 self serve bays, one touchless automatic, several vacs, large vending unit, a few other amenities. Attended 6 hours a day plus whenever I'm there. It's a brand new venture so I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing. Basically just trying to keep things clean, stocked, etc at the moment. Any hot tips, especially on the things one wouldn't normally think of if they were new to the business, etc, would be greatly appreciated.

 

[MEP001]

Basically just trying to keep things clean, stocked, etc at the moment. Any hot tips, especially on the things one wouldn't normally think of if they were new to the business, etc, would be greatly appreciated.

One other "basic" you didn't mention is to keep everything working perfectly. Test everything often.