“It's a little surprising that the supposedly hot trend in the industry, that is converting to an express mini, hasn't had ANY comments. What's up with that?”
My guess is there haven’t been that many in-bay automatic to mini-tunnel conversions and those having done so don’t frequent this venue.
An in-bay/mini example is given on Sonny’s website but this is a gasoline property that has no carwash competition within 16 miles.
Tim Jones has shown success with in-bay/mini conversion but admittedly this was a complete overhaul of his lowest volume wash.
“I am looking to convert the other way!!!” “I have a 45’ express tunnel, I have 4 competing washes within 2.5 miles similiar format. I have only 1 wash approx 3 miles away that is auto. He is the busiest wash around.”
Typically, the busiest wash around is the one with the best site location and service. After all, the machine isn’t what makes a market, people do.
“I can do the same number of cars or more with a 24 hour automatic, as apposed to a 8-9 hour per day attended tunnel.”
Although this is possible, you would be subjecting your customers to the most stressful aspect of shopping – waiting in line – which can significantly affect a customer’s overall perception of the quality of service provided.
For example, consider your statement about an 8 – 9 (car) hour per day or the arrival rate of customers.
If the in-bay has a service rate of 10 cars an hour (6-minute average), an arrival rate of 9 customers an hour would translate, on average, to a waiting line of more than four cars and it would take over a half hour for the last person in line to get a wash.
Of course, these are the very things that you sought to avoid by upgrading from in-bay to mini-tunnel.
Consequently, this leads me to suspect that your problem, sufficient sales, lies elsewhere like location characteristics,
marketing, quality of service, etc.
Hopes this helps.