Silly New Wash I've seen

[bigleo48]

So in a city about 100 miles away, a new wash just opened. To me its clearly not well thought out. This owner had a gas bar with IBA attached.

So this is what he's done. 4 new Laserwash bays, 3 vacs, 1 small coil vender and 3 petwashes. All 4 Laserwashes have on-board driers have their own entry systems and RFIDs. Building is built like a school. Redundant everything...no expense spared.

Here's why I think it was not well thought out.

First, why 4 touchless IBAs? Build a conveyor for much less and process more cars,with 2 entry systems a gated property and free vacs. Or spend as much and have a kick butt conveyor.

The way his washes are set up, I don't think he can wash more than 10 cars/bay/hr. That's 40 cars per hr with a $10 avg per car. That sucks! His top $12 washes is as such. 30 sec undercarriage with side guns and rust inhibit, 2 soap passes, 1st HP rinse with TRIPLE front and rear passes, 3xfoam, 2nd HP pass, Rainx, 3rd HP pass. Flashdry with Pureclean, Spot Free pass, then dry passes. Wow! That's gotta be a 9 min wash!

The equipment room is huge! I estimate 50x40' with two levels! Waste of money. You could do it with 10'x50'

Only open from 7am to 9 pm? I was there at 9pm and saw 4 cars turn away in 5 minutes. But the vacs are available !?! Doesn't take coins!?!?

Building is a Royal Building poured concrete, so very strong, but still mounted the laserwash rails on stands instead of hanging off the walls for a safer and cleaner setup.

I just shake my head

 

[packerscw]

wow. not to many areas in the WORLD that need 4 IBA's.. and not umm...no areas that need 3 pet washes unless you are a pet store..even pet stores dont need that many, must be a guy that doesnt know to much about the car wash industry..gotta love them types

 

[Ric]

Where is this wash?

 

[Whale of a Wash]

Wouldn't it be hard to make any money, after the slick consultant and salesman got it all. Maintenance costs also sound higher than a single tunnel, but that goes back to the slick salesman/ tech company. What do you think the total cost was?

 

[briteauto]

I've seen two separate locations with 4 Lasers and neither neither of them warranted it, in my opinion. One was a stand alone wash that started out as 2 laser 4000's and 2 self serves. The owner must have been doing well because he converted the self serves to 4000's within 2 years, hence the 4 lasers.

The other wash I saw was a gas station rehab. It used to have a tunnel. They did a complete leveling of everything on the site, new c-store, new pumps, tanks, etc. Instead of a new tunnel, they went with 4 G5's.

The problem with both locations (and they are in different cities about 100 miles away) is that they both have tunnels as competition that offer a much higher quality wash. And the tunnels were there first, so the laser operators knew what the competition was like! They too are both charging a premium price for their packages.

I don't believe either one of them went as crazy with the equipment room dimensions as 50X40. Heck, maybe he's thinking ahead to his 5th laser!

 

[Buzzie8]

Was it attended? That could be the reason for choosing IBA's over conveyor. Cost of one employee could make a good dent in the payment for additional IBA. Also, a lifestyle difference for the owner of conveyor vs. IBA. Although you did mention it was located with gas.

 

[bigleo48]

If you want the location please PM me. It is attended

No gas bar attached, but the owner did own a gas bar with a IBA a few blocks away previously to building this one. This is kinda key to why he may have done so. Here in Canada, big oil companies own over 90% of all carwashes...mostly are IBAs (some friction some touchless). The oil companies do things differently and are flush with cash. For example, one of them is building short IBA conveyors with what I'm told are $400k conveyors. Their cost per wash is over $5 and sell a unlimited washing program with a card that can be passed along for $40/mth. I am told it is highly unprofitable. I need to visit one of these sites.

I know the equipment supplier that sold him the stuff...I'm not impressed with them. My PDQ supplier is much better and he's shaking his head at this one also.

Competition wise, there are no shortage of IBAs and SS bays in this small city.

 

[robert roman]

I’m sure the salesperson is whistling Come and Get It (written by Paul McCartney) all the way to the bank. Here are a few lyrics.

“If you want it here it is, come and get it
But you better hurry 'cause it's going fast
You better hurry 'cause it's going fast
Fool and his money,”

This reminds me of the time when I tried my hand at selling new cars. Consider a senior couple on fixed income looking to buy a more efficient vehicle to save money. Instead of helping this couple achieve their objective, we were coached to usher the couple into a larger and more expensive vehicle under the premise the safety of a larger car was far more important than the efficiency of a smaller car because seniors tend to drive less as they age.

Why don’t you wait till the owner is swimming in a sea of red and buy it for $0.40 on the dollar so you can make a little money with it.

 

[soapy]

I saw a 6 IBA laser wash about ten years ago in Iowa. I never understood the reasoning for building it either.

 

[mac]

I think the 6 laser in Iowa was only because Ryko is right around the corner and they wanted to poke them in the eye. Have no idea if it's still there. If an express wash opens close to these guys he's toast. The equipment guy did real well. My guess is that the $$$ for all the equipment were well north of one million, equipment only.

 

[dax_festival]

Des Moines, IA has two 6 bay locations, same owner for both, both still open

 

[kempape]

I recently saw an ungated wash with: touchless auto( one bay), express wash, with four ss bays that offered free vacs to all customers. Free vacs to ss customers uncommon in my area.

 

[raisetheprice]

I've seen 2 locations with 4 Washworld machines in San Antonio. I'd like to know their secret (or rather who their shrink is), as most double bays I know of don't operate even close to peak car count all 7 days of the week.

 

[bigleo48]

Des Moines, IA has two 6 bay locations, same owner for both, both still open

I'm not saying his wash will fail, just not well thought out. Could have spent much less with much more throughput, lower cost per car, better results and more profit.

I look forward to speaking with the guy and getting his side of the story, but I can't see how I wouldn't burst his bubble. Ignorance is bliss!

 

[DiamondWash]

Executive Laserwash is the name of the wash and yes I too believe 6 bays is overkill, I think the in bay conversion to express tunnel is going to be a new trend especially at this years ICA show.

 

[robert roman]

“I think the in bay conversion to express tunnel is going to be a new trend especially at this years ICA show.”

This is a sure bet.

According to ICA, total spending on carwash equipment across all three markets, fell by 33% between 2007 and 2009.

Worse, spending on self-service equipment in U.S. was smashed, falling to roughly 4% of total equipment spending, down from about 25%.

Follow this link if you want to learn the ground truth about what has happened to self-service and where it may be going.

http://www.autocareforum.com/self-serve.html

 

[Greg Pack]

“I think the in bay conversion to express tunnel is going to be a new trend especially at this years ICA show.”

This is a sure bet.

According to ICA, total spending on carwash equipment across all three markets, fell by 33% between 2007 and 2009.

Worse, spending on self-service equipment in U.S. was smashed, falling to roughly 4% of total equipment spending, down from about 25%.

Follow this link if you want to learn the ground truth about what has happened to self-service and where it may be going.

http://www.autocareforum.com/self-serve.html

Good article......

 

[bigleo48]

“I think the in bay conversion to express tunnel is going to be a new trend especially at this years ICA show.”

This is a sure bet.

According to ICA, total spending on carwash equipment across all three markets, fell by 33% between 2007 and 2009.

Worse, spending on self-service equipment in U.S. was smashed, falling to roughly 4% of total equipment spending, down from about 25%.

Follow this link if you want to learn the ground truth about what has happened to self-service and where it may be going.

http://www.autocareforum.com/self-serve.html

Yes...good article and my perceptions also. This is way I'm looking at some kind of conditional daily discounted wash programs. See..http://forum.autocareforum.com/showthread.php?t=8442

We must constantly be looking out washes with a fresh eye, know our customer base, find economies and innovate.