Wash and Gasoline

[robtl]

I remember back when, at a lot of tunnel washes they offered gasoline fill-ups with pumps on site that were attended by the wash workers and they would offer special pricing for fill-up and wash combined.
I know that c-stores offer this now in sort of the same way, but why has this combination of just gas and wash gone by the wayside?
The only reason I can think of is the cost of land needed for this.
What say you guys?
I have a good reason for this topic, it might become available to me.

 

[pitzerwm]

You will have to jump through a lot of hoops to add gas to any property.

 

[robtl]

You will have to jump through a lot of hoops to add gas to any property.

Bill, what if the gas is already there and working ?

 

[Waxman]

The way I understand it the margins on gasoline sales are razor thin. The guys I know who were in that business were actually losing $$ on cc transactions!! And given that everyone pays w/cc nowadays you can see the problems.

 

[Jim H.]

You have probably already thought of this, but an additional consideration is the time it will take to sell your inventory. I learned from operating a convenience store that the cost of gas is quite volatile. You will more than likely be able to buy independent gas at costs fairly close to the high volume competition; however, if your competition is selling a tanker every three days, you could potentially have gas in the ground that cost you .30 more per gallon than the retail price of your high volume competitor.

 

[robert roman]

I have helped several clients develop carwash projects with gasoline.

One strategy is to develop a multiple facilities carwash; gas, c-store, carwash, etc.

Another strategy is to collocate a substantial carwash facility with an independently owned and operated gasoline station and convenience store.

Another strategy is to redevelop a former gasoline station and convenience store site into one that contains a substantial carwash with discount gasoline and no convenience store.

Given the structural change that has occurred in the retail gasoline selling business, the strategy of redeveloping former gas sites is intriquing.

 

[Waxman]

Given the structural change that has occurred in the retail gasoline selling business, the strategy of redeveloping former gas sites is intriquing.

Can you state what you mean by this statement please?

 

[robert roman]

Basically, big oil is getting out of the retail gasoline selling business, switching to a franchisor/franchisee business model and selling off stores. This is creating an inventory of properties that can be developed for other uses.

 

[Earl Weiss]

We operate 2 locations that have gasoline and 2 without. There is aa symbiotic relationship. Since some of the locations are similarly situated, I would say that locations with gas wash 20% more cars due to the fact that traffic comes in on the marginal days for gasoline whereas they hardly come in at all to the locations without gas.

HAd this not been the case, some 8 years ago when I had to re do all the underground and new dispensers, I would have eliminated the gasoline.

As a gasoline retailer you can see why we have little sympathy for those in the car wash only business who complain about credit card fees

 

[mac]

The margins on gasoline seem to vary a lot with no sense of rhyme or reason. I have always heard that the margin is very low, but a trusted customer of mine in Miami is telling me that his margin has never been better since Shell got out of it.

 

[robert roman]

As Earl implied, with an average gas margin of $0.10 a gallon and perhaps $0.05 a gallon in credit card fees, the objective is to use gasoline to make money from selling carwash.

 

[robtl]

We operate 2 locations that have gasoline and 2 without. There is aa symbiotic relationship. Since some of the locations are similarly situated, I would say that locations with gas wash 20% more cars due to the fact that traffic comes in on the marginal days for gasoline whereas they hardly come in at all to the locations without gas.

HAd this not been the case, some 8 years ago when I had to re do all the underground and new dispensers, I would have eliminated the gasoline.

As a gasoline retailer you can see why we have little sympathy for those in the car wash only business who complain about credit card fees

Earl, The washes with gas, is it just gas and wash or is there a c-store there also?
I do not want to get into the c-store business, but why tear out pumps tanks and structure to put in just a wash?

 

[Earl Weiss]

Earl, The washes with gas, is it just gas and wash or is there a c-store there also?
I do not want to get into the c-store business, but why tear out pumps tanks and structure to put in just a wash?

One location has a small "Snack Shop" and the other has a c-store.

Why is a question of circumstances and making money. In some instances the regulations may require tank removal. You then need to consider replacement cost and profit potential versus something else.