Membership Plan pricing advice

[DiamondWash]

I'm working with a new wash owner and he's wanting to implement a monthly membership program, here are his numbers he sent me does this look ok, if not what would you set the pricing to, and all plans would come with free vacs as well. This is a dual bay IBA site.

Bronze Plan
Reg Wash $10.00
Monthly $24.99

Silver Plan
Reg Wash $12.00
Monthly $29.99

Gold Plan
Reg Wash $14.00
Monthly $36.99

Platinum Plan
Reg Wash $16.00
Monthly $39.99

 

[soonermajic]

Is this for an iba, tunnel?

Im installing a Petit, & surrounded by 3 tunnels w/in 1.5 miles, + 4 more w/in 2.5 miles. They're avg top pkg is $22, so im doing $19 top pkg. Then $16, $13, $10... NO VACUUMS or even trash cans.
I think no memberships, or Vacs, will hurt me some , but will take away 85% of the stress.

 

[DiamondWash]

Is this for an iba, tunnel?

Im installing a Petit, & surrounded by 3 tunnels w/in 1.5 miles, + 4 more w/in 2.5 miles. They're avg top pkg is $22, so im doing $19 top pkg. Then $16, $13, $10... NO VACUUMS or even trash cans.
I think no memberships, or Vacs, will hurt me some , but will take away 85% of the stress.

It's a double bay IBA site and 3 S.S, the tunnel went in 2 miles from him and in 3-1/2 weeks lost 40% of his loyal customers due to monthly plans the new tunnel introduced!

 

[soonermajic]

Tunnels are the Devil. They're WalMart of car washing.
How's he going to implement his Memberships? IE: Dencar, WashClub, Everwash...?
Is he going to limit wash #'s? Like max of 6,9, 12 3ashes/mo?
Does he havd Touchless?

I may be wrasslin with all this as well...

 

[DiamondWash]

Tunnels are the Devil. They're WalMart of car washing.
How's he going to implement his Memberships? IE: Dencar, WashClub, Everwash...?
Is he going to limit wash #'s? Like max of 6,9, 12 3ashes/mo?
Does he havd Touchless?

I may be wrasslin with all this as well...

He's on the fence with offering unlimited verus limited I say go limited at 6 a month to minimize abuse, he's using Hamilton Commanders for the paystations.

 

[Roz]

He's on the fence with offering unlimited verus limited I say go limited at 6 a month to minimize abuse, he's using Hamilton Commanders for the paystations.

We use the Hamilton APP with a limit of 5 per period. APP has some issues with it but limiting monthly number does reduce abuse.

 

[washnshine]

Tunnels are the Devil. They're WalMart of car washing.

Hey - easy there coach - there are a few of us tunnel guys that like hanging out on this forum! We’re not all bad . BTW - I don’t offer memberships. Am I still welcome here?

 

[soonermajic]

Hey - easy there coach - there are a few of us tunnel guys that like hanging out on this forum! We’re not all bad . BTW - I don’t offer memberships. Am I still welcome here?

Sorry for paintng w/ such a broad brush.
ALL 7 of our tunnels are PE, or large outta town chains.
Im sure there are some great locally owned tunnels, like yours's.

 

[DiamondWash]

So do you think his pricing structure is ok or would you change it?

 

[washnshine]

So do you think his pricing structure is ok or would you change it?

I have traditionally seen the monthly membership set anywhere between 2X - 2.5X the cost of the single wash package, so I would say yes. Might want to incentivize the very top monthly membership plan by raising the single Wash price to $17 or $18, but keeping the monthly fee at $40. It shows a bigger cost saving for choosing the top monthly plan and might get people thinking about the Gold monthly to just go the the platinum and he can attract more $40 monthly memberships.

 

[kentadel]

Those prices do look good if choosing to go that direction. I have mixed feelings on a monthly membership, in part because my washes are in smaller populated towns. I just installed a new unit and am considering offering prepaid credit cards at various dollar amounts for a loyalty discount/incentive.

 

[GoBuckeyes]

I’ve seen several posts on FB groups from IBA operators that went membership and regret it.

Anyone here in that boat? If memory serves me right…most of those regretting it were unlimited, not limited.

 

[traveler17]

I’ve seen several posts on FB groups from IBA operators that went membership and regret it.

Anyone here in that boat? If memory serves me right…most of those regretting it were unlimited, limited.

I offer unlimited at my higher volume site ONLY because a tunnel is coming to town. I would rather not have this for obvious reasons. We started it last October and the abuse was rampant. It stressed me out knowing I was getting taking advantage of. It got so bad I even banned a state trooper because he was bringing in 3 other vehicles not under membership, and this was after a warning. I talked to a guy in the business for a long time and he asked me what my avg wash use was and the highest it’s ever been was 4.1 washes per customer. He said if you’re going stress about it and your wash avg stays within 3 to 4 washes a month cancel it. I listened to his advice and let it be. I still catch people now and then , when I want to do some digging I will send warnings out but for the most part I leave it alone as long as avg wash use stays within that range. I 100 percent regretted it the first 4 or so months but now I don’t. Just the memberships are about paying my mtg. and my overall numbers haven’t dropped. It’s definitely not what I prefer but w tunnels being thrown up like family dollars I felt like I needed to implement this program.

 

[washnshine]

I offer unlimited at my higher volume site ONLY because a tunnel is coming to town. I would rather not have this for obvious reasons. We started it last October and the abuse was rampant. It stressed me out knowing I was getting taking advantage of. It got so bad I even banned a state trooper because he was bringing in 3 other vehicles not under membership, and this was after a warning. I talked to a guy in the business for a long time and he asked me what my avg wash use was and the highest it’s ever been was 4.1 washes per customer. He said if you’re going stress about it and your wash avg stays within 3 to 4 washes a month cancel it. I listened to his advice and let it be. I still catch people now and then , when I want to do some digging I will send warnings out but for the most part I leave it alone as long as avg wash use stays within that range. I 100 percent regretted it the first 4 or so months but now I don’t. Just the memberships are about paying my mtg. and my overall numbers haven’t dropped. It’s definitely not what I prefer but w tunnels being thrown up like family dollars I felt like I needed to implement this program.

Your average is 4.1 washes per month, per membership? That doesn’t sound bad - it’s basically once per week- that seems reasonable. The tunnels around me with memberships blatantly advertise: “wash once per day, if you want”.
Also - how were you getting cars not on the membership plan in? With RFID stickers or LPR, that should be hard to do.

 

[traveler17]

Your average is 4.1 washes per month, per membership? That doesn’t sound bad - it’s basically once per week- that seems reasonable. The tunnels around me with memberships blatantly advertise: “wash once per day, if you want”.
Also - how were you getting cars not on the membership plan in? With RFID stickers or LPR, that should be hard to do.

It’s Everwash. They have the app and you scan the QR codes on the paystations. On my end I can see
who washes and how often. My red flags are the people that are washing daily or 3 to 4 x a week and there are some that do that but that offsets the people who have it and wash a couple times a month

 

[soonermajic]

I’ve seen several posts on FB groups from IBA operators that went membership and regret it.

Anyone here in that boat? If memory serves me right…most of those regretting it were unlimited, not limited.

Where on FB are you reading this stuff? Im tempted to try it...

 

[ShinePro]

Screw those tunnels.
I have an APP that rewards people for using the wash.
They acquire points for each use
Then get free wash when they reach the goal.
My top wash customers are saving over $2.00 per wash
Not counting the free birthday wash
And double points wednesday
If they had a membership they would have to wash more than 3 times a month to make it pay for them
I have almost 1000 APP members.
The folks use the crap out of the APP
Keeps my wash busy enough.
Weather in Midwest is goofy as well
Lack of sunny days/storms
Gloomy ass winters
Unlike southern washes

I tell people that ask about memberships -
1)I would rather reward you for washing instead of charging when you are in florida or at the lake.

2)I m not going to beat the hell out of your car- i can get the back of the car clean
And I can wash your dually!!!!

3) one APP washes all the cars in the driveway!
They get it- and it works.
And I m busy managing cleaning cars instead of the membership issues on the computer.

My personal opinion is that the membership craze will be over in a couple of years when they have over built and their wash quality goes down.
And hiring the next generation-
Their customer service is non existent!

 

[GoBuckeyes]

Where on FB are you reading this stuff? Im tempted to try it...

my best guess is the group 'In Bay Automatic, Self-Serve, & Dog Wash Group" however, it could have been one of the following groups as well..

Washworld Car Wash Operators
TalkCarWash Self-Serve & Laundromat
Petit 360i Owners

 

[SuperShine]

App only? Forget about it.
Dencar yes and limited not unlimited with IBAs. Unlimited IBA is nuts IMO.
Does Hamilton automatically flag app abuse when they wash a non member sign up car, temporarily suspend their membership and convert them into a family plan?

 

[Roz]

We use the Hamilton APP with a limited monthly program as well as with wash books and wash specials.

The APP or the DAN system required to use the app or Hosted Solutions or our Goldlines has some bugs in it that have gone unresolved for many many months that have made the app impossible to use for some of our customers. It is old technology that gets little attention from Hamilton. As much as I like the GL as a simple Paystation that gets the basics done I would recommend a newer solution that has some support behind it for a monthly program.

We used Everwash beforehand, only switched to gain control of our member information and to have more selling options. The simple tech of Everwash would be an ideal cost effective solution if the system was more open for owners to use in the best way for their operation. Hope this info helps.