Vacuum vs Vacuum combos???

[RocketWash]

Looking at installing a vacuum at our wash. Wondering about vacuum combos. Are shampooing or fragrance features worth the extra dollars? I like the idea of the added value but is it worth it? 3,000 for just a vacuum, 5600 for shampoo/vac combo, 7200 for vac/shampoo/fragrance. Ive only found one wash owner with shampoo/vac combo and he loves it. I'm on vacation now and the bigger town we are near has one new wash with vacuums only. the other two washes have fragmatic machines with shamp and frag and only the vacuum hoses are on them leading me to believe they were more trouble than they were worth?!? any other vac advice is appreciated. we are in a 5-6mo winter climate and we are the only iba in our town. we are the only ones that would offer more than a vac in over a 60 mile radius

 

[OurTown]

It can differentiate you from other washes but overall I'm not sure they are worth it. We have several and they don't do much better (worse when considering maintenance) than a regular vac but I know we have customers that come to us because of them. It is similar to offering vending.

 

[Earl Weiss]

If budget allows and neighborhood won't trash them I would get all Coleman Combos with Vault Bases, Bill acceptors and Credit Card with count up. The Shampoo vacs did better because Shampoo cost more than fragrance and people have to vacuum u the shampoo. Think of this way. Will the combo . generate $5 a day more for 300 times a year? After 2 years where are you at?

 

[MudMoney]

I have half combos with shampoo and other half turbo vacs. Fill the shampoo and spot remover reservoirs once a week.They are money makers and low maintenance, $2.00 for 4 minutes.

 

[Blanco]

Coleman vacs are the best hands down. Bullet proof. Id stay away from the fragrance and just do shampoo vacs.

 

[RocketWash]

I have half combos with shampoo and other half turbo vacs. Fill the shampoo and spot remover reservoirs once a week.They are money makers and low maintenance, $2.00 for 4 minutes.

any preference on brand? Looking at J.E. Adams currently

 

[RocketWash]

Coleman vacs are the best hands down. Bullet proof. Id stay away from the fragrance and just do shampoo vacs.

Are they only sold through coleman? I cant seem to find any prices online

 

[Blanco]

Are they only sold through coleman? I cant seem to find any prices online

Yes. Coleman has distributors per state. You will need to call them a find out who the distributor is in your state.

 

[jubalr]

Shampoo vac is our best performer. Just added a 2nd one last week. 1 Coleman and 1 IVS.

 

[Greg Pack]

I used to think they are a must. I now think demographics play a role. My two washes are in a better areas-one is pretty solid middle, the other middle-upper income area. 95% or better usage is the vacuum function. At the upper income wash the combination units are used considerably less than the standard three motor vacuum. The busiest vacuums at both sites seem to have more to do with location on the site than what function they have. If I was not lazy I'd move the combination units to those higher traffic spots and put the regular vacuums in the lesser used spots. But overall in the scheme of revenue I'm pretty certain the combination unit functions account for less than 1% of site revenue. If the combo units disappeared tomorrow I would just replace with standard vacuums.