What's new
By:
Car Wash Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

A Gimmick or an Income Producing Machine?

I have a (I believe the) LOR 1600W that I use in my yard Christmas display. It is about five years old. It still works great. The programming is stored in memory and when you apply power to it, it will start up. Seems that would be the simplest way, to close a relay to power the circuit whena customer bought a wash. You can also communicate with it via PC, and synch to music, but that is time intensive to get it done right. I've played with that feature but have never done a full scale production.
 
Triple-foam in autos and self-serve bays is probably 2/3rds gimmick but definitely produces income.
 
"Oh what fun it is to ride" ... thru a light show

I've done a couple (to quote Miley Cyrus) pretty cool articles on this pretty cool subject. Did you catch 'em? If not, I can send you PDF's.

They look like one of those classic marketing "for fun and profit" gambits ... with one leading to the other.

Those light show productions can boost night time biz. I saw one YouTube video "starring" a car load of teens going thru the Monster Wash (in Alaska) at night. They wigged out! Judging by their happy expletives and oohs 'n aaahs, you'd think they were on the Space Mountain thrill ride.

The first operator I know who did this (about 10 years ago) brought the night into his IBA by painting the walls flat black! (So the reflective and fluorescent designs on the walls and the lasers really popped.)

Anyhoo, this is another example of how the industry is dealing with the fact that nowadays ya gotta creatively and energetically market, market, market.

JJJ/SSCWN
 
From a costing standpoint, if properly researched and installed correctly, I am of the opinion that the ROI would be fairly quick...good marketing is obvious, but should be mentioned as well.

I'm going to continue looking into it...my big issue is I don't want to have blacked out doors so that the show can be utilized during the day. Ideas?
 
Bubbles Galore said:
From a costing standpoint, if properly researched and installed correctly, I am of the opinion that the ROI would be fairly quick...good marketing is obvious, but should be mentioned as well.

I'm going to continue looking into it...my big issue is I don't want to have blacked out doors so that the show can be utilized during the day. Ideas?
Click to expand...

I think if I was to do it....I would at night only since that's my slow time anyway.
 
bigleo48 said:
I think if I was to do it....I would offer it at night only since that's my slow time anyway.
Click to expand...

I like JJJ's idea of painting the walls flat black...I think people would get too confused if it wasn't offered all the time. What did you guys think of the Happy Cow Car Wash? I thought adding $8-10 for just the light show was a bit excessive, but I suppose if the market will bear it.

My market is saturated with apartment dwellers and younger people who I think would enjoy it. I just need to get the cost right to make it reasonable.
 
I'm the one Jarrett is talking about who did the black walls. I had to put large white diamonds on the walls where the lasers hit. I also did colored strobe lights, disco lights, bubble machines and an FM transmitter with disco music, so that they listen to the music in the car. I do it on every wash. I had to do something to compensate for over saturation in my market. It has added a lot of extra maintenance. I got most of the stuff at www.idjnow.com I am considering auto doors to make it look better in the daytime. I love the idea of the projector, but know that it would be even more maintenance. I talked to the creator of the happy cow and he said they were replacing a lot of bulbs. It did double my sales. good luck
 
Could you PM some more details if you have time? I'm curious what my total investment might look like...Thanks for the link as well.

My email is bubblesgalorecarwash(at)gmail.com
 
I would like to know how well something like this holds up in the wash bay?

http://www.idjnow.com/StoreModules/...LED WASH Lighting--CategoryID=--DeID=0--SRCH=

The price doesnt seem bad and one or 2 may provide quite an affect at night. I am not sure i would even charge more as the price doesnt really justify it, and I am also not interested in blacking out the doors.

Tell me how much attention this would attract as people are driving by your wash at night and the doors are lit up like a disco.

Would you consider only doing it in one wash for the people that have no desire to see the laser show?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top