Express Tunnel affect on SS and IBA

[eaglewash]

I have a 6 bay SS that has done well. I am checking into converting one of these bays to a IBA (friction) and have got quotes for equipment and build out. Im currently working with the bank for a loan. However, i just found out a EE is breaking ground 6/10 of one mile on the same street. No SS competition or other EE's. There are 2 touchless IBA's in C- Store locations. my traffic count is 15,000 cpd and the EE will have 25,000 cpd. The land was sold for $900,000. They are puting a 165 foot tunnel with 3 pay stations and 20 vacuums with a sign that says 3 dollar wash and free vacuums. I have 5 years left on my note and if I qualify for the IBA and roll my existing note with it my payments would be $700 more than what i am paying now but have 10 years instead of 5 to pay. Can anyone tell me how an EE has affected your SS and IBA?

 

[robert roman]

Just look at the situation as you did when considering building new.

When planning for the wash, you had to determine the amount of business that you expected to get based on some estimate of market potential; purchasing power of consumers living in the trade area as well some percent of motorists who would drive by the site daily.

Typically, the consumer buying behavior for wands is about 30 percent impulse buying and 70 percent planned purchase.

On the other hand, an express exterior is about 70 percent impulse buying and 30 percent planned purchase.

Consequently, I would expect the express to have little effect on wands, which is typically the case found in the field.

However, the typical in-bay with prices of $5 to $9, slow process speed with acceptable wash quality is no match for the express $3.00 price, 4-minute wash, hand-finished qualities, virtually no waiting line and free vacuums.

Depending on proximity of the express, I’ve seen in-bays take hits on sales volumes of 30 to 40 percent.

 

[eaglewash]

Thanks for your reponse Mr. Roman. Projections came out to .5% or 75 cpd before EE was a factor . If the EE takes 40% would it be reasonable to expect that i could capture .3% cpd. That would put me at 45 cpd? My note payment would only be $700 more each month from converting 1 bay to an IBA. Or just forget about adding the IBA?

 

[JMMUSTANG]

I can tell you from my experience I have a location that had a full service car wash for 30 yrs. next door to my self service wash ( I own both).
When I converted the tunnel to an express wash with free vacs (prices starting at $5) my self service initially lost 50% the first yr.
My self service is SLOWLY increasing but it is not easy.
Saying that if the wash is not on the same property but 6/10 mile away from each other putting a small express wash (35' or so) in a bay might have helped.
I would offer 4 (4-5 minutes each) free tokens for your vacs when they buy your express car wash to help offset their free vacs.
Any tokens left over would only help to get your customers back to your place, even it's just to vacuum for "free" or possibly to use your self service.
Good Luck

 

[dogwasher]

I have a 6 bay SS that has done well. I am checking into converting one of these bays to a IBA (friction) and have got quotes for equipment and build out. I'm currently working with the bank for a loan. However, i just found out a EE is breaking ground 6/10 of one mile on the same street. No SS competition or other EE's. There are 2 touchless IBA's in C- Store locations. my traffic count is 15,000 cpd and the EE will have 25,000 cpd. The land was sold for $900,000. They are putting a 165 foot tunnel with 3 pay stations and 20 vacuums with a sign that says 3 dollar wash and free vacuums. I have 5 years left on my note and if I qualify for the IBA and roll my existing note with it my payments would be $700 more than what i am paying now but have 10 years instead of 5 to pay. Can anyone tell me how an EE has affected your SS and IBA?

Do you have room for a express tunnel? Fight fire with fire. This is my opinion of course but this guy will put a dent in your IBA idea. Not sure but I think 25,000 CPD is low for a $3 tunnel? If he doesn't have a good spot and not enough CPD you will be effected AND he may be sorry also!

 

[eaglewash]

Hi dog washer, I only have stacking for 3-4 vehicles depending on their size. Seems like a mini tunnel would cost a lot more for extra concrete work and equipment compared to a IBA. Could a 35 ft tunnel compete with a 165 footer with lots of stacking? Some people don't want to deal with an employee. I would not need one with a IBA. The guy is new to the car wash business. I don't think a successful EE operator would build here with a 25,000 cpd. Thanks for the input.

 

[Bill Manke]

I have a 7 +1 it is 25 years old. A conveyor came in about 10 years ago at first it didn't affect me at all. Then it went out of business then turned into a $3 wash and free vacs. Since that time it has affected my wash alot. It is finally coming back around to not affecting me as bad. It affected our Automatic the most

 

[eaglewash]

Hi Bill, thanks for your input. How many years ago did the $3 conveyer come in? I pm'd you to see if I could talk a little bit more about your IBA. Hope you don't mind.

 

[robert roman]

“Thanks for your reponse Mr. Roman. Projections came out to .5% or 75 cpd before EE was a factor. If the EE takes 40% would it be reasonable to expect that i could capture .3% cpd. That would put me at 45 cpd? My note payment would only be $700 more each month from converting 1 bay to an IBA. Or just forget about adding the IBA?”

Although we can discuss your issues, I would be doing you a great disservice by just throwing out suggestions about what to expect or what to do (i.e. build IBA, no build) that are not based on any analysis.

Regardless of type of carwash, each has a customer loyalty rate and customer attraction rate.

The loyalty rate involves your existing customer base with respect to how often they buy from you during a certain period as compared to buying somewhere else.

The attraction rate involves the market range or “reach” for your carwash, how far away do customers come from as well as what percent of customers come from randomly passing by the site.

Consequently, if you rely on solely on traffic count capture rate, you will not be able to accurately characterize the demand or unmet demand for your location.

You have to realize that capture rate only explains the relationship between traffic count and wash volume, it doesn’t explain causation. In other words, the rise and fall of traffic counts doesn’t cause the rise and fall of wash volumes, the behavior of motorists does.

My advice would be to seek help from an experience equipment dealer or consultant to help sort out what options are available to you.

 

[dogwasher]

Hi dog washer, I only have stacking for 3-4 vehicles depending on their size. Seems like a mini tunnel would cost a lot more for extra concrete work and equipment compared to a IBA. Could a 35 ft tunnel compete with a 165 footer with lots of stacking? Some people don't want to deal with an employee. I would not need one with a IBA. The guy is new to the car wash business. I don't think a successful EE operator would build here with a 25,000 cpd. Thanks for the input.

Yes your correct the cost of the tunnel would be to costly. Even with the tunnel down the street or not I would think it would be worth the $700 per month to put in a Automatic. Even if you only average 20 cars per day you would be looking good. I'm sure the guys on this site may give you better information that myself but I like you idea.

 

[JMMUSTANG]

eaglewash I would look at some car wash mfg. (Sonnys, McNeil, AVW, etc) and get some price quotes for a 35'-40' express wash. Then compare it to the IBA before you do anything.

 

[lighthousecarwash]

I keep hearing everyone talking about these "cheap" express tunnels. In my town, there is an older full service tunnel wash, that you have to get out of your car and they hand vacuum and dry for you. It's around $30 for the top wash. A local car wash owner renovated an old express tunnel and then built a brand new location and just recently bought out another express tunnel and is turning it into a full service with a detail shop. The express tunnels top was is $15.00 with free vacuums. If everyone else in the country is seeing $3.00 express tunnels, then this guy is REALLY getting in the pockets of customers. Does anyone agree? Does he need competition?

Thanks,

 

[Ghetto Wash]

eaglewash I would look at some car wash mfg. (Sonnys, McNeil, AVW, etc) and get some price quotes for a 35'-40' express wash. Then compare it to the IBA before you do anything.

Will a short tunnel like this clean as well as say a 120 footer? I always assumed so and thought that the only thing different between the short and long tunnels is cars per hour.

 

[JMMUSTANG]

Will a short tunnel like this clean as well as say a 120 footer? I always assumed so and thought that the only thing different between the short and long tunnels is cars per hour.

Ghetto I've only seen one mini wash and that was before the mfgs. started really addressing them.
I believe that the mfgs. are packing a lot of punch in a small footprint now.
I doubt they can achieve 60-90 cars per hour and get a car thoroughly clean but I bet at 20-50 cars per hour they would get a pretty clean car, the slower the chain speed the better the wash in that space.
One of my concerns is drip space and drying issues though.
I would like to hear from some mini tunnel operators and hear their opinions.

 

[soapy]

From last years ICA class on the mini tunnel concept it looks like about 35 car per hour is a good number for a 35 foot tunnel. You need at least 200 amps of power for a mini tunnel so be sure to figure that into your costs. If you do not have that much extra you will have an extra expense for a larger service. At least 20K in concrete work for the conveyor. 200K for equipment is probably minimum.

 

[JMMUSTANG]

I did a quick comp. using Tommy Wash (only used them because of the ease of designing a wash online with prices) the price came in at $167,000 with a belt driven conveyor. I'm sure I missed something though.
The build out cost totals for the mini wash would definitely be more. I'm guessing at least 30-50% of the equipment cost, based on the size of the bay already in existence and equipment that might be able to be used from the self service (softener, R.O, compressor, electric, etc.)
So what does a top of the line iba cost these days?
I agree with Soapy on the other cost involved.
When I had my iba's I was lucky on a busy day to get 11-13 cars per hr. with customer issues entering or leaving.
If a mini wash can do 25-35 cars per hr. on a busy day, that would be double to triple the cars per hour to the iba.
I assume that those percentage averages would equate to slower days too.
Am I wrong doesn't it seem that a mini wash would pay back faster than an iba?
At least I would think that you have better chance against a full size express wash that will cost one to two million bucks or more.

 

[Greg Pack]

Ghetto I've only seen one mini wash and that was before the mfgs. started really addressing them.
I believe that the mfgs. are packing a lot of punch in a small footprint now.
I doubt they can achieve 60-90 cars per hour and get a car thoroughly clean but I bet at 20-50 cars per hour they would get a pretty clean car, the slower the chain speed the better the wash in that space.
One of my concerns is drip space and drying issues though.
I would like to hear from some mini tunnel operators and hear their opinions.

I visited a site that had pulled out a Mark VII and installed a Sonnys mini tunnel. I believe the bay length was 38' I thought it did a very good job, as well as most of the other standard length expresses here in the area.

As much as I dislike the idea of having a"real job" in the future, When I reload it will likely be an express conversion to one of my bays. If I don't I will continue to watch the customer base get eaten away by other express washes in the area.

 

[DiamondWash]

All I know is that if I have to reload that a mini tunnel is top of my list to consider, I am stacked up right now and I see people leaving because they don't want to wait anymore and I have my both systems turned up and I cannot process them any faster. I would have to spend time at a mini tunnel to understand it's full potential and throughput not just by watching videos on the internet.

 

[Waxman]

There is also staffing of the tunnel wash and do you prep the cars?

The IBA can be left alone and a tunnel cannot.

For safety reasons, I would personally like 2 employees on site at a time, minimum, for a wash utilizing conveyor and friction.

This business model is far different from the way many operators run their locations (SS/IBA) and this should be addressed, as it adds a significant expense to the business in the labor.

 

[JMMUSTANG]

Waxman one person can easily run the wash doing 25 cars per hour with or without prepping.