Am I thinking too much into it

[Andy Burn]

My bays have 2 floor mat holders each. I want to install 2 more holders, giving the customers the option to wash their 4 floor mats. I am confused whether to install all the 4 mat holders in a straight line on the same wall or install 2 on each wall. My rationale for installing 2 on each side is that it will disrupt the "flow" of the customer as he/she has to now walk from one side of the bay to the other. As all we are selling is time, it might help add up. Or am I just thinking too much into it and should just install all on the same wall and be done with it.

 

[Eric H]

My rationale for installing 2 on each side is that it will disrupt the "flow" of the customer as he/she has to now walk from one side of the bay to the other. As all we are selling is time, it might help add up.

How long until you can retire on the extra $$ you'll make by manipulating people into walking 10'? Customers do notice little things like this and know/think that you are manipulating/tricking them into spending more money.
I built a wash in 2004 that had the wand on the opposite side of the bay from the Foam brush. The nearest competition had both the HP gun and Fb on the same wall. It wasn't more than a week before some guy was yelling at me because I "purposely put the brush on the other side so it would take him time to walk around the car while the timer was running". Fortunately, i was quick to respond something like "It is a trick but not what you think...It takes about 8-10 seconds for the foam to reach the brush head. If you grab the brush right away and start rubbing it on your car, you put 6-8 seconds of scratches on your car because you are using a dry brush". His attitude quickly changed
Don't get me started on the FB soap named "Cling" with the description on the side of the drum that said "a difficult to rinse FB soap so your customers have to spend additional time to rinse".
Just put the mat clamps next to the existing clamps and spend time on something else

 

[MEP001]

My wash has the trifoam gun and boom on the same side as the high-pressure wand holder and the meter box. The two booms get in the way of one another. I've seen washes with the foam brush boom on the same side. The two hoses are constantly left tangled together.

My mat clamps are on the same wall as the high-pressure hose. Four clamps across lets them hang the big mats from the back of their SUV across all four to wash them. I would not do it any different. At some point I need to move the trifoam to the opposite wall and put the foam brush hanger in the middle of the wall. That will mean I can't put mat clamps on that wall.

 

[Andy Burn]

Installing all four on the same wall. Hopefully I am able to drill the broken lag bolts. For some weird reason, each mat holder has one broken lag bolt.

 

[soapy]

I have 4 matt holders on one side and 2 on the other of my SS wash bays.

 

[Waxman]

When I built my car wash, the spray wand holders were mounted so that the spray wand faced the meter box and sprayed the customer while they walked over to Take it out of the holder. It took a customer complaining about it to get me to even realize that that was a problem! Shows you what I knew.

I put two mat clamps on each side of the bay thinking that the passenger mats go on the passenger side of the car and the driver mats on the driver side. we wash cars every day in those bays for the detail shop and it seems to make more sense for us, so I thought it would make sense for the customer too.

 

[Toms PTcarwash]

I believe you are thinking too much into it. You want customers to spend more time and $ but not "force" them to. That will only result in complaints. I have mat holders, two on each side at the front of the bay. The customers that use these, hang their mats before they start to wash. So I believe it makes it easier for them to know which mat are which, front left, rear etc.
Giving the customer more soap, foam etc, seems to be what keeps them coming back. Loyal customers is the key.