A Busted Profile for X-mas

[CheetahExpress]

Usually, we anticipate a profitable weekend for all of the holidays. It won't be happening this year for Cheetah. Late Wed. around 5:00p.m., the top brush came crashing down, barely missing the front end of a customer's car. If anything good can be said about any of this, the customer was able to back out of the wash and reported she was not hurt and neither was her vehicle. We were very lucky in that respect. WW techs were there yesterday morning and the diagnosis was that the lift belt broke; and when the top brush came down, it also destroyed 4 bearings, a bracket and damaged the gearbox which will have to be replaced. With WW being closed for X-mas no parts can be ordered until Monday; overnighted means probably late Tuesday delivery since UPS never gets out here until late afternoon; which means repairs not done until Wed. It's a week's worth of business lost in addition to the cost of repairs. Welcome to the car wash business! For those wanting to start or buy a car wash, be prepared for all kinds of strange $hit to happen at the worse times, or anytime for that matter.

 

[soonermajic]

Sucks, but also very lucky that there was no serious damage to cars or customers. Very lucky.

 

[slash007]

Always grateful when no customers or cars get damaged/hurt. Do you think the belt just wore out, or was it ever damaged in some way?

 

[CheetahExpress]

Always grateful when no customers or cars get damaged/hurt. Do you think the belt just wore out, or was it ever damaged in some way?

All they told me was "wear and tear" and they've seen it happen before. And yes, very grateful that the customer and her vehicle were not hurt. The brush came down at the front tip of her vehicle and she was able to back out of the wash.

 

[Randy]

All they told me was "wear and tear" and they've seen it happen before. And yes, very grateful that the customer and her vehicle were not hurt. The brush came down at the front tip of her vehicle and she was able to back out of the wash.

How old it this unit? How many washes were on it? Seems pretty dangerous to me.

 

[CheetahExpress]

We had it installed in mid-Sept. of 2018. To date, just a little under 50,000 washes.

 

[soonermajic]

Quite a few washes in 2 yrs!!

 

[water guy]

Very Interesting

 

[washnshine]

Glad there are no injuries, but sorry for your loss of business. I hope you get back ASAP.

 

[CheetahExpress]

Glad there are no injuries, but sorry for your loss of business. I hope you get back ASAP.

Thank you for your well-wishes. Our distributor tells us we're the busiest single IBA they have; and the amount of washes so far is taking a toll on the equipment, which is why we plan to install another bay with a Razor next year. It will take some of the wear and tear off the Profile. Fingers crossed.

 

[OurTown]

A belt broke causing that much damage? I would have expected a better design out of WW.

 

[Roz]

Razors are great until a customer does a boneheaded move. We have too many who drive their flat bed trucks through the wash with equipment inside the bed. Last Sunday we had a guy in video with a huge refrigerator in the bed. Needless to say the frig fell on the arm and busted it. Never called nothing. PD has the case now but not expecting much to come of the case. WW to their credit got our rep a replacement part overnight so we were only down for 3 days. Everything seems to happen during the last two weeks in December.

Happy holidays to all. Be safe out there.

 

[soonermajic]

Razors are great until a customer does a boneheaded move. We have too many who drive their flat bed trucks through the wash with equipment inside the bed. Last Sunday we had a guy in video with a huge refrigerator in the bed. Needless to say the frig fell on the arm and busted it. Never called nothing. PD has the case now but not expecting much to come of the case. WW to their credit got our rep a replacement part overnight so we were only down for 3 days. Everything seems to happen during the last two weeks in December.

Happy holidays to all. Be safe out there.

Roz, this is a PROFILE she's talkin about.
Did your fridge break the Blue Arm or the overhead roller?

 

[Roz]

I know. Mentioned adding a Razor to take some of the load off the Profile. I just wish we had the one machine volume mentioned! Cheetah do you have an unlimited wash program?

Frig happened on Sunday when I was away for a few days. Can see on video the arm is bent. Rep inspected the machine and replaced the entire arm to play it safe. I will see the arm shortly. Fortunately this stupid stuff does not happen often.

 

[CheetahExpress]

No, we do not have an unlimited wash program. It's a small, rural town with pop. of only 5,000 in the actual town; but it's the only automatic within a half-hour drive for the surrounding towns also; lots of farmers, ranchers, oilfield, construction. Lots of dirty, caliche roads. The unlimited wash programs scare the hell out of me. I just don't want to go there.

 

[CheetahExpress]

No, we do not have an unlimited wash program. It's a small, rural town with pop. of only 5,000 in the actual town; but it's the only automatic within a half-hour drive for the surrounding towns also; lots of farmers, ranchers, oilfield, construction. Lots of dirty, caliche roads. The unlimited wash programs scare the hell out of me. I just don't want to go there.

However, what I didn't mention, is we have discount coupons printed on the back of the local supermarket (HEB) receipts offering $1 off our basic wash, $2 off the middle wash, and $3 off the top wash. They get about 1,500 customers a day, and we're averaging around 125-150/mo. of users and that's increased our numbers. It also makes me feel like I'm doing something for the community. We also offer a "pay for 9 and get 10" either on a card we can send them or a wash code number. They call me or I call them when their card runs out and it can be replenished. Our local funeral home is actually our best customer for that -- they use it for their hearse and 2 SUV's. They've got a card for each vehicle and they all work off the same account, like a fleet account. Very convenient for them.