I think the self-serve car wash industry is in a slow decline due to increasing land valves and the high cost of construction. The last 4 or 5 self-serve car washes that has been sold in this area are gone and the land has repurposed for another use. The high price of land has made it unfeasible for a self-serve car wash in most situations. In our last 2 car wash projects the municipalities have thrown every roadblock possible to make building a car wash unprofitable, 24 hour live onsite manager/attendant, 6’ concrete block wall on 3 sides, 6’ iron fence in front with a gate and set our operating hours from 7am to 8pm. They made it pretty clear that they don’t want any self-serve car washes. Look at how much the ICA has done for the self-serve car wash industry, just about nothing. Look at how many self-serve equipment exhibitors there are at the ICA convention, it’s just about none. Look at the trade magazines, it’s all about Tunnel and conveyor car washes, kind of tells me that the ICA has figured out that the self-serve industry is a slowly dying industry. Sure there are going to be self-serve car washes around but they are going to slowly disappearing.
