Yet another newbie

[maestro]

I've always been interested in getting a car wash business. I'm finally somewhere I think I am going to be settled for many years and the old itch came back. I started looking around for locations. Called two and one returned my call. I met with the owner and we talked a while. He showed me around. Its and 8 bay SS and 1 touch less automatic. Its on a very busy street. It appears to be well maintained. The equipment room seemed clean and organized. Plenty of security cameras. He's owned it over 25 years and is looking to sell as he is getting in the years. Asking 750K. I haven't seen documentation but he says it generates 250k/yr with 40% going to expenses. Real estate comes with the business and building and land is tax assessed at 430k. I've talked with my bank and they seem very on board with stated figures. Likely getting the loan will not be an issue.

Now for the part where I'm not sure what to do. I want to get into the business but this is what seems to be a high volume site. I feel a little insecure taking on something this big right off the bat. I have no experience with car wash business other than for a brief time roughly 20 years ago I worked at a SS wash as an attendant. Mostly just kept it clean and looked out for things. No maintenance or repair experience with this stuff. I am very handy. My dad was a plumber and I pretty much repair all my own car and home stuff. I've never owned my own business but its something I always wanted to do but life circumstances and other goals got in the way. I'm expecting there to be lots of maintenance and repairs and the expected vandalism. Its not in a bad area but I figure its just typical anywhere you go.

I work full time as a nurse and the wife is a nurse practitioner. Three kids, 8 year old and twins who are 6 with autism and require lots of care. The wife can surely handle them when I'd be off at the car wash but she will not be able to jump in and help when it comes to putting time in at the site. I am new to the area and for all intents and purposes I know no one nearby and will pretty much be on my own until I can find some good help.

I'm concerned with my lack of experience getting into a first time car wash that is this large a deal may be overwhelming. Honestly I don't know what to expect in terms of how much time this will take each week. I'm good about learning. I picked up repairing pinball machines because there has never been anyone near me who repairs them. They are complex but I learned by reading and internet forums and have become proficient. Just saying I can learn anything but I don't want to be googling how to repair a car wash while customers are running out the door.

I'm sort of thinking a smaller venue would be better to start with as the demands will likely be smaller as I learn.


Am I overthinking this?

 

[MEP001]

It sounds like a good deal. A car wash like that in my area would probably go for $2 million.

The auto bay will be the biggest challenge. There isn't a lot to the SS side that can fail catastrophically and require a lot of maintenance. Find out as much as you can about the auto unit, the distributor, how good they are about preventive maintenance if they handle it now, etc. Insure the hell out of it, because if someone runs into it you'll want to be able to completely replace it if you have to.

Do some research to make sure it's doing what he claims. A lot of bay timers have coin counters that you can read with a magnet, or you can just sit across the street and count the cars that wash.

If the current owner takes care of everything himself including cleaning, expect to hire someone to help keep it clean or you'll spend 2-3 hours a day yourself.

 

[maestro]

2-3 hours a day myself wouldn't be catastrophic to me. My issue is I work full time so time will be limited say if something like water lines burst or some other thing happens that shuts the wash down in the middle of me working I can't get to. Will definitely need to hire help eventually. But I do want this to eventually replace my nursing career.
How do I use a magnet to read the coin counter?

 

[MEP001]

Dixmor timers in the coin doors have a magnetic reed switch near the face. Just swipe a magnet near it and it will switch to coins deposited. Make sure you switch it back, some of them don't time out.

2-3 hours a day is every single day.

 

[GoBuckeyes]

Where is the wash located geographically? If its a cold climate then the possible 'catastrophic' failures need much quicker responses during freezing temps. Just something to consider. Also, a four bay self serve really isn't much less work than an 8 bay. You still need to go there every day.

 

[maestro]

2-3 hours a day is every single day.

Understood and still no big deal. With the boys being autistic we never go anywhere on vacation. The site is 20 minutes from my home so that helps as well. Also thanks for the info on the coin counters.

 

[maestro]

Where is the wash located geographically?

Southern Virginia. Winters are middle of the road. I've lived in southern VA most of my life and it rarely gets below 25 for more than a few days at a time.

 

[Waxman]

I would volunteer your help on weekends or your regular days off. You will put some fears to rest once you experience the biz first hand. You should have a clear idea of your overall responsibilities in a month or two.

 

[Greg_T]

I tend to agree with your concerns about going big with your first carwash. Obviously it will be a big commitment to purchase the wash, get it running how you want, learn about the systems & how to maintain them etc. etc. To do all of this while working full time and with 3 kids sounds like a pretty big challenge.

It sounds like a great business opportunity, but I hope you can find the right balance of pursuing your carwash aspirations while spending time with your young family.

 

[maestro]

I know I'll be at it every day Eventually I'd like this to replace my nurse job. That in mind working the extra hours knowing there is a end game I'm fin with that. Wife is fully on board. She knows she will get the brunt of the child care and is ok with that. We really want to make something we can pass to our kids if they want it when they get older.

The balance will definitely be challenging but the goal is that won't be permanent.

 

[maestro]

I would volunteer your help on weekends or your regular days off. You will put some fears to rest once you experience the biz first hand. You should have a clear idea of your overall responsibilities in a month or two.

Great idea. If the deal looks like its going to go through I'll definitely do that.
Thanks everyone for chiming in and being positive.

 

[AZcarwashman]

250k gross a year for 8 bays and an automatic is not high volume, at least not in my area. Although the selling price of 750k seems like a cheap price. Same as Mep001, something like that in my area also would be around 2 million. Of course I’m in a hot market, so along with that, one could easily see 400k, 500k even higher a year gross for a well run modernized priced right SS with a busy automatic. Washing are selling around 4 to 5 times gross. You may have a lot of upside on that site depending on what you can improve on to allow for a price increase and additional functions to have longer bay usage etc.