We've seen some huge days recently. About 7,000 cars in the last 9-10 days. Being out on the line and talking with the attendants, we've concluded that about 30%+ of the customers we've never seen before or at least not for a long, long time. In addition, we've truned away many customers who have come in with substantial vehicle damage to the car - damage so severe, that we have no desire to risk damaging our equipment or the vehicles of other customers to make a quick $10. We even had to turn away a guy with a plow on his truck and a couple of full size conversion vans Without an attendant I am sure they would have tried to go through and ruined a very big day.
In addition, we've seen hundreds of vehicle come in with taped on or glued mirrors, glued spoilers, cracked bumpers, power antennas that won't retract, damaged/missing large areas of paint, missing parts altogether. By the attendants pointing to these parts/areas we have easily avoided a couple of dozen false damage claims some of which were picked up easily by the cameras and other not picked up at all.
These kinds of "customers" don't give a damn about the size or condition of their vehicle or how the damage might affect the performance of your equipment on their car or on the vehicles that come after them. Besides getting the areas clean that the cloth can't reach and even the high pressure cannot penetrate/remove, these attandants have saved me from many a headache during not just this stretch but throughout the year.
If I wanted to be able to operate totally unattended, I'd take out the tunnel and put in 4In bays. Oh wait to do 100 cars per hour, I'd have to have 10 in-bays to handle that volume. I think I'll stick with the tunnel and the attendants. Yes people want value, but to operate without quality means that you're always ****ing off customers and having to make new ones all the time to make up for it. Thanks, but I'll keep washing 85-90,000 a year at $8 with attendants and prepping instead of washing 150,000 a year at $5 without attendants and without prepping. This way, I not only can provide value but quality and safety too. Oh and all my
soap and utility costs will be about 40% lower too boot. Every car wash is capable of producing a vehicle that's 80% clean. Hey, if can can thrive doing it that way more power to you. For me, it about washing volume and giving top quality. McDonald's is great, but if you're higher quality meal, then you're going to Applebees, Chile's, or Outback. And at the way fast food prices have skyrocketed lately, you can get a quality meal elsewhere for not a whole lot more.