New to me wash

[Dan kamsickas]

The current owner is over it & not doing much at all as you can tell. Surprisingly it is still doing ok. We’re going to clean it & freshen it up as best we can. Actually planning on closing it for a few days to do everything & then reopen with it looking good again. Do y’all advise to advertise it’s under new ownership or not?

Advertising as "Under New Ownership" has it's pluses and minuses. If the previous owner really has gotten "over it" then just shining up the place and letting people know who you are can actually be huge. If the previous owner had a really good relationship with his customers then they may be skeptical of the new guy running the show. In my opinion, just cleaning and prettying the place up and (this is really important) have someone on site as much as possible especially during your peak times will be the best moves you can make initially.

 

[Bigmatthew86]

There is a fair amount of trash around, landscaping is lacking, you see the decal condition, duct tape where it shouldn’t be lol. I just wasn’t sure if making it clear we were different was important or not?

 

[tdlconceptsllc]

My man I would focus on making sure your chemicals & Equipment are working Perfect everything works 200% the best it ever will before I even thought about pulling out the Real estate Paint and cleaning up just a little advise from a Ol Country Boy thats been doing this a long time. That would be my #1 focus and without looking at the equipment room from Pictures on what you posted I ain't far off. That will speak for itself more than any new ownership sign ever can.

 

[Bigmatthew86]

I hear what you’re saying. I will definitely make sure it’s functioning like it should first thing. Believe it or not it seems to be. He is using chemicals from car wash concepts. Brushes are nylon & and the guns have some miles on them but work. The equipment room is cluttered but he’s running cat pumps & everything seems to be dated but in decent shape. Day will will be spent de cluttering & cleaning the equipment room. The vacuums all work but are getting new gaskets.

 

[MEP001]

My wash is mechanically very solid, and I use strong chemicals and am generous with them. It looks like ass but it couldn't be much busier. tdl is right, 90% of what customers care about is that things work right.

 

[Bill Capron]

I have a older four bay wash with Monorail coin boxes and timers. Monorail has been out of business for a long time.
I added Cryptopay 18 months ago. Count down is my only option. I expected my sales to increase some. I expected some cash sales to convert to CC. My cash sales did not go down, my CC sales are about 50%. Big increase.
I think the biggest part is that everything the customer uses WORKS!
Imagine this, a customer pulls into a bay, walks to the change machine and one side is out of service, he gets TOKENS (important) out of the other side, he goes back to the bay and inserts a token, it spits it back to him, after a couple of try’s he moves to another bay, while washing his car the swivel is dripping on the roof of his car, he finishes and goes to vacuum. He puts his last token in the vacuum and someone has sucked a sock into the hose and it’s plugged and won’t vacuum his car. At this point your carwash is a POS! The change machine is broken, the bay is broken, it leaks on his car
(I know, he’s WASHING it) and the vacuum stole a dollar ( no fault of yours).
The customer perception is that your Carwash is a POS. What’s behind the equipment room door doesn’t matter.
What your customer interacts with does.
I think your on the right track with cleaning and painting and new decals and raising the price. I took a couple of stages in raising my prices. We can work with startup price and time. At first I shortened the time. Then I raised the startup price.
Dollar tokens are important. Three dollar start up with quarters involved 12 coins, a lot, with dollar tokens it’s only 3!
When I added Cryptopay I went to one dollar startup for tokens and $3 startup for CC. The cash people saw a price decrease (imagined) the CC people understand that you need a higher minimum to pay the CC fee.
I’m currently 20 seconds for 25 cents. I can’t convince myself to go to a dollar a minute. Probably next spring.
I freshen up my wash every spring, repaint coin boxes, new foam brush heads (hogs hair), paint the front door, pressure wash the lot and vacuum islands, new vacuum filter bags.
I’d encourage you to research and get a new, good in bay automatic. Talk to the maintenance/repair guys for the best one.
Guys I know that have them make bank with them.
I wish you well, it’s been a fun journey for me!

 

[Rocketman]

Hello Big Matthew,

Congratulations on your acquisition. Bill Capron, great response! I am in the process of purchasing as well. In the mentoring and learning stage actually. Situation for me is a little different in that the location is very, very well kept, everything works, good inventory of equipment, motors, hoses, brushes, contactors, con mechs, spare MEI validators, pumps well maintained, RO equipment, tools, blowers, pressure washer, great water pressure in all bays and the IBA etc... Besides learning the operation my objective will be to continue with the level of attention and oversight. I did it and am still doing that in another business so I know we can get that done.

Observations made as a long time customer and while observing this location is that the some of the customer especially the new customers / out of towners can use a little bit of help. Obviously the SS bays are all about the longer the vehicle is there and customers adding change or a CC is good. Conversely the IBA is the opposite. The quicker the vehicles can get through the bay the better it is for the IBA and cars that are waiting.

The IBA can use a bit more attention especially on weekends when when I've witnessed as many as 6 cars waiting. Opportunities present themselves when customers take up time to scrub the front ends and windshields but do so after the car in the IBA has pulled away. Or the customers that are busy talking or texting resulting in IBA wash time being lost. Just this weekend we noticed a customer that was busy texting which resulted in her missing the air dry portion of the cycle. That was not equipment failure rather lack of attention. They're still customer so you do what you can to make them feel welcome and satisfied. Good customer service is what it boils down to and is alreary what this owner does most of the time. Of course sometimes that is a tall order and I get that. But you do what you can. I am thankful that from an operations and equipment standpoint everything is in excellent working order so that I can focus the attention on the mechanics and operations portion of the business.

Good luck and thanks for posting.

 

[Bigmatthew86]

I spoke to the company that installed everything when the wash was new. I have an appointment for them to come check everything out & look at the auto & see if it’s feasible to get a little longer out of it or not. They also sell/install washworlds so they’ll be able to give us a quote on that.

 

[OurTown]

I spoke to the company that installed everything when the wash was new. I have an appointment for them to come check everything out & look at the auto & see if it’s feasible to get a little longer out of it or not. They also sell/install washworlds so they’ll be able to give us a quote on that.

Tri-Valley Equipment?

 

[Bigmatthew86]

No. Car Wash Concepts in North Carolina. I actually spoke to one of the guys who installed it. He confirmed it’s old & should be replaced but he’d definitely check it over & see if it has any life left.

 

[Bigmatthew86]

It’s official. Closed this morning. Went by to get a game plan. Tighten a few things & cleaned a little. He got a bunch out of the pump room but there is still a ton of crap so I’ll get it done tomorrow. Steady stream of customers while I was there for 2 hours. Here’s a picture of the pump room & a piece on one of the pumps that’s leaking. Steer me in the right direction for a replacement.

 

[MEP001]

Different brand regulator than what you have but should be a direct replacement:

SMC Balance Regulators at the Best Prices! Call 800-233-3873!

SMC Balance Flow Thru Regulator 200-2000PSI 7 GPM Instant Response

www.kleen-ritecorp.com

 

[Bigmatthew86]

You’re the man! Added to the list. Hit it pretty good today. His trash can set up was a mess & looong overdue for a legit cleaning. Place smelled like a hot bag of a$$. Hit the pump room hard & completely filled the bed of my f250 with junk. Tore out old falling apart shelves & added new. Changed the locks on the door. Replaced the old fluorescent light about door & vending with new leds. Spoke to a bunch of people & paid for a few washes. When I left every bay was full so that made me happy. Also adjusted the lights on timers to run until dawn vs just midnight. Is that good practice or do y’all have your’s go off during the night? It was really dark the other night with only 2 lights on the poles lit (out of 6 total bulbs) & none anywhere else. Bays have been converted over to led luckily. I’ll finish the pump room tomorrow & do more cleaning. I know the concrete is jacked, we’ve got someone coming to see what they can do.

 

[MEP001]

My wash gets a pretty decent amount of business from midnight to dawn, probably not enough business to pay for running the lights all night, but IMO the security is worth it.

 

[Randy]

It appears to me that you've been pretty busy today. Keep up the hard work. I keep my LED lights on 24/7. It only adds about $30 a month to the light bill, we leave them all on late at night for security.
The vac islands with the garbage can built into the vac island are a PITA to keep clean, been there and done that.

 

[Bigmatthew86]

My fix at least for now is I have a 20 gallon Rubbermaid cans in each one with a bag. I can pull them out & dump in a larger can. Not the best but at least serviceable. He had bags in the holes cut out in the island. No tops so full of old trash juice & water. It really was gross & smelled bad around the whole wash.

 

[MEP001]

Mine are like that too, barrels sunk into the islands. I don't use bags, IMO don't need them as long as there are no holes or cracks in the cans, but good luck finding help that won't drag them around the lot. I use the broom and dustpan to keep the barrels as clean as possible so they don't stink, and they can definitely get nasty.

 

[Earl Weiss]

You might consider adding a Separate Bill accepter box in a couple of bays. (That is what I did and Got mine from Etowah) That way if they attak that box the bay is not out of service and you get to see how likely they are to be attacked. In 6 months or so you can decide whether or not to do the rest.

 

[Dan kamsickas]

I know the concrete is jacked, we’ve got someone coming to see what they can do.

Wow. That looks like a Michigan highway after some freeze/thaw cycles. How old is it? In North Carolina you don't get the harsh weather we do so I'd be concerned about the substrate or the original pour was too thin or rushed. (Dad used to pour concrete many moons ago). That is definite replacement of those sections, just ask them how they are going to prepare the substrate. I was always told compacted crushed stone or sand was best but I would assume there may be better options. Heck we had a whole new shipping/receiving pad poured a few years ago here without a bit of rebar, just fiberglass fibers mixed in. I would recommend staying with concrete if at all possible because an asphalt section in a concrete lot just looks off to me.

 

[Bigmatthew86]

It’s about 25 years old. The plan is to stay concrete. It’s pretty rough in the back lol. Weather isn’t too bad. Do get some freezing but usually mild & not that often.