Advice on IBA's

[seattleguy]

I am new to car wash business. I have a 7 bay self serve and want to convert 2 bays to IBA. 1 touch free and 1 friction.

I have been looking at Wash World Razor & Ryko friction, PDQ 360 & Tandem, Belanger FreeStyler & Saber.

All said and done I expect the prices to be comparable. Any industry guidance would be terrific.

 

[IBFLYIN]

I am about a week away from starting up my Razor for the first time. From what I can tell so far, it looks like a rather easy machine to work on. The off board pumping plant appears to be well thought out and pretty much straight forward. Time will tell when it's up and running.

 

[sprocket]

Washworld...Washworld...Washworld... Period. The machine is awsome,the people and service are second to NOBODY. The Razor is an excellent piece of equipment,it may not be perfect but I've yet to see a perfect IBA. What it can't do,doesn't need done.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

Narrow down your search to distributors within a distance that you feel comforatble paying drive time on service work. All of the big companies have good stuff. The distributor is what will make or break you. I have Mark VII with a great distibutor about an hour away.

 

[kempape]

i talked to a person( veteran owner) last week who just opened new wash {(washworld) radiantz / razor side by side}.he said pleased with both units. might be nice have units with similar support /software, etc... just a thought~~~having treddle free friction sounds appealing. a friend of mine bought a new friction iba<not a radiantz>--- says some customers struggling to properly stop on treddle. ( he unattended)---...

 

[kentadel]

Check out the X-stream, from X-stream wash systems. Great wash, great price, easy to work on!

 

[Bill Manke]

I have 2 of the New Mark VII Choice wash XT. I like them they are both combo units that can do touchless or touch. This way If a unit goes down you still have a unit that can do both. I pretty much do all my own service and repairs,but if you are new to the wash business or don't do much of your own work. I would really check for good service in your area.

 

[rph9168]

Even the best of machines can cause problems without prompt service and proper maintenance. Make sure whoever you decide to buy from is as close to your location as possible and has a good service and parts department.

 

[IBFLYIN]

Even the best of machines can cause problems without prompt service and proper maintenance. Make sure whoever you decide to buy from is as close to your location as possible and has a good service and parts department.

Great point. My old distributor was 4 hours away. Kinda sucks to start out with a $600.00 bill before any work is even done to the machine. My Wash World distributor is 30 minutes away. I am sure I'm gonna like that.

Also, after I placed my order, a few days later I received a Fed Ex with a thank you letter, the owners manual and some gifts. I know I paid for them, but it was a nice touch. I am really looking forward to getting this machine going.

 

[Waxman]

Learn to fix it yourself, too!

Distributor support is important. However, I would also attempt to learn the machine on your own so that in short order you can work on it yourself.

My machine (Superior) is supported by a distributor who is far away. Superior is out of business but support from former factory personnel is also available at a price.

What has helped me get through breakdowns is a good employee who, along with me, works on the machine. We have tackled all types of repairs, big and small, and saved thousands I am certain.

This forum has helped also. Folks here have in most cases have seen it all before and that has also saved me big.

When you pay a tech to work on the machine, pay attention when they are there and write down how they fix what goes wrong. I'm trying to get better at writing my own troubleshooting section of the manual. I have had problems repeat themselves only to be scratching my head in a pinch and trying to remember which thing to fix.

 

[rph9168]

Always good when you can fix your machine but it is also good to know when you can and when you can't. Either way it is very important to deal with a distributor that stocks parts. Nothing worse than waiting for a part while customers drive by.

 

[robert roman]

Since your “new,” I would say forget about makes, models and prices for the time being and focus on the fundamentals of the business.

Retrofitting two wand-bays with in-bay automatics will raise the required amount effort, time, knowledge, skills and investment all to the next level.

Since two in-bays will set you back between $150,000 and $200,000 or more plus additional expense if you have to increase size of utilities, you are going to have to wash a lot more vehicles to break-even.

If you have unmet demand to support two machines, the site must be capable of handling the increase flow of vehicles through the property.

You will also need to choose your equipment distributor carefully because you have to know what you are doing when retrofitting a wand-bay.

There are some jackasses out there that will not hesitate to sell you anything as long as they can figure out a way to stuff it in the bay. I have seen more than a few botched installations where lots of shims were needed as well as heating and bending metal components to get the machine to wash a car.

 

[soapy]

I would consider just doing one automatic to start with. If you do really well with one you could add the second later. If for what ever reason you put 2 in and only have demand for 1 the lower payment would be nice.

 

[briteauto]

I would consider just doing one automatic to start with. If you do really well with one you could add the second later. If for what ever reason you put 2 in and only have demand for 1 the lower payment would be nice.

I think this is good advice. I know of an operator who built a new four-bay location. He put in two autos and two self serves. He was clearly planning to convert the self serves to autos in the future. The bays were all the same length, and he even had the cut outs in the concrete floors of the self serves for the (future) underspray manifolds that would go in the autos.

After about two years of operation, his volume was good and he converted the self serves and now has four autos. I'm sure he slept better at night those first two years while he was getting established with only two autos - I know I would. He also got a chance to see that the particular type of machine he chose was favorable to both him and his customers.

One other thing to consider - it is great to offer one of each - friction and touchfree and you can serve two markets this way. However, depending on your specific region, competition etc., you may want to go with two of the same type machines. If you start with one IBA, say a friction, and you are pretty much peeking your volume with that type of machine, another friction might double your throughput.

Often, with two different types of machines (one touch one no-touch), one will out wash the other 2-1 or 3-1. If you make the right call and get the one that will satisfy more of your customer base, you stand to wash many more cars.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[kempape]

- sounds like good planning. it pricy for me to convert ss bay ( lots of concrete work for proper water draininge/safely feathering into existing concrete ,etc< since i have the ground, mite be cost effective to add a new iba bay >...anyway, just out of curiosity, how many of the 4 bays ended up as friction iba's?...and can u give any general info on the climate/ demographics of this owners customer base? the business model of 4 iba's : all at one site is new to me,,, thnx, kemp

 

[briteauto]

- sounds like good planning. it pricy for me to convert ss bay ( lots of concrete work for proper water draininge/safely feathering into existing concrete ,etc< since i have the ground, mite be cost effective to add a new iba bay >...anyway, just out of curiosity, how many of the 4 bays ended up as friction iba's?...and can u give any general info on the climate/ demographics of this owners customer base? the business model of 4 iba's : all at one site is new to me,,, thnx, kemp

This particular site had all four as PDQ Laser 4000's. It was put in about 7-8 years ago. It is located in a small city in upstate New York - Elmira. The population of the area is about 29,000. There are two friction tunnels, one is only one mile away from this 4 bay.

I was surprised this guy did the expansion with the amount of IBA's around, but his numbers called for it.

The climate is a true 4 seasons. Summers that can reach 85-90 for hot spells, and winters with plenty of snow, salt and freezing temps. Every IBA in this town is a laser - major PDQ distributor less than 2 hours away in Rochester, and there must be at least 4-5 other lasers in Elmira - combo of gas/c-store installs and professional car wash installs. Some of the c-store locations are severely neglected.

The area is saturated with IBA's. The tunnel guys have it good because they are the only 2 friction games in town, and with both manual prepping, and one towel drying as well, they offer a significantly better wash than the IBA's, for about the same price points. They are located in entirely different parts of town from each other.

Demographics are mixed - plenty of poverty, as in any city, but there is some professional/affluence as well. This location is on a rather major N-S route through the north part of the town. Can't comment on his traffic count, but it is good for the area. Median household income is around 40-45 grand per year.

Hope this helps.