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Anyone else feeling the sting of the economy

D

Danpelligrino

Member
Just wondering if anyone else has been seeing a decrease in business recently? Its getting me worried that it'll never come back. Although this is only my first year in the business. Im sure some of you have been through this before. Maybe you have some encouraging words for me lol
 
Danpelligrino said:
Just wondering if anyone else has been seeing a decrease in business recently? Its getting me worried that it'll never come back. Although this is only my first year in the business. Im sure some of you have been through this before. Maybe you have some encouraging words for me lol
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Hi Dan! I just wanted to ask what is your setup of your carwash and what has been hurting you most recently? Got any specific numbers to share as well?
 
I’ve got 5 car washes, 4 of them are within a 10 mile radius, the other is 70 miles away.

One of them is a Petit that occupies what used to be a tunnel, there is also a laundromat on the same property.
One is a petit with 4 self serve bays, also with a laundromat
One is a Laserwash 4000 with 5 self serve bays
One is two Laserwash 4000’s with 5 self serve bays
And the last one is two Laserwash G5’s and a PDQ Tandem

The biggest slide I’ve seen is in the laundromats, we’re down about 15% since we started last year. But we’re also down about 5-7% from this time last year on the self serves and automatics.

I haven’t been in this business very long to have a good idea as to how we should be doing around this time of year. But it seems like we’re pretty slow.
We’re not struggling yet, but I really have to hope that it picks up again this winter like it did last year.
 
What part of the country or state? I'm in TX DFW area and I know business has been steady. Not great but not bad either. This month, Aug, I have always seen a decrease in business bc of back to school. Everyone is focused on gearing up the kids for school vs paying attention to the car. Overall the economy doesn't seem to be hitting me but I think thats because the politicians decide if we are or aren't in a recession.....until then keep your head down and grind at it.
 
Definitely down here in Ohio compared to last year but 2021 was really good so maybe a return to normal?
 
Danpelligrino said:
I’ve got 5 car washes, 4 of them are within a 10 mile radius, the other is 70 miles away.

One of them is a Petit that occupies what used to be a tunnel, there is also a laundromat on the same property.
One is a petit with 4 self serve bays, also with a laundromat
One is a Laserwash 4000 with 5 self serve bays
One is two Laserwash 4000’s with 5 self serve bays
And the last one is two Laserwash G5’s and a PDQ Tandem

The biggest slide I’ve seen is in the laundromats, we’re down about 15% since we started last year. But we’re also down about 5-7% from this time last year on the self serves and automatics.

I haven’t been in this business very long to have a good idea as to how we should be doing around this time of year. But it seems like we’re pretty slow.
We’re not struggling yet, but I really have to hope that it picks up again this winter like it did last year.
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I don’t have laundromats, but I am surprised to hear they are down the most. If money were tight, I would think washing the clothes on your back would take precedence to washing the car your drive, bit I do not have knowledge of the laundromat business.
 
Dan, are you down compared to your own numbers from last year or from numbers given to you by the previous owner?

I don't know anything about laundromats but the car wash business is definitely seasonal depending on where you're located. We're in Ohio and for as long as I can remember, August through the first snow has been our slowest time. Through the end of July all of our washes are even or up compared to last year.
 
OurTown said:
Definitely down here in Ohio compared to last year but 2021 was really good so maybe a return to normal?
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I heard last year was pretty good. Winter definitely was good for us. Unfortunately a lot of that cash has dried up because of the legal fees we had to pay in order to close.
 
GoBuckeyes said:
Dan, are you down compared to your own numbers from last year or from numbers given to you by the previous owner?

I don't know anything about laundromats but the car wash business is definitely seasonal depending on where you're located. We're in Ohio and for as long as I can remember, August through the first snow has been our slowest time. Through the end of July all of our washes are even or up compared to last year.
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Were down based on the numbers that our Petits record in their computers. I dont know if you're familiar or not but there is a wash counter on them and it shows a breakdown per day and it breaks it out per wash package as well. I think it displays the last two years.
Financially, were still within our target numbers. So basically within what we expected to make. But our numbers were very conservative.

We made a ton of money over the winter but a lot of it went to one time fees associated with first year car wash ownership, as well as one time legal fees associated with the closing.




washnshine said:
I don’t have laundromats, but I am surprised to hear they are down the most. If money were tight, I would think washing the clothes on your back would take precedence to washing the car your drive, bit I do not have knowledge of the laundromat business.
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The laundromat numbers were a surprise. We haven't changed anything about the way the old owner was doing business, except we did remodel one of them and it looks really nice now. People were very religious about coming to our laundromats because the old owner kept them clean and had very good customer service. In that regard we have carried the torch. I guess we'll see what happens in the coming months. But from what I've heard the summer is a big time for the laundromats. We have yet to see that claim solidify.
 
Dan, for whatever reason there has never been a large laudromat presence on this forum. There are a few forums on Facebook that are geared specifically to Laundry where you may get a better perspective for that part of your business.
 
MEP001 said:
My business has been better than ever, but I'm having trouble getting some products.
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The other guy from Texas was saying he's been doing well too. Whereas the guy from Ohio said his business has been down. i wonder if its at all related to the weather we've been having up here this summer. Really hot then really rainy
 
I just ran some numbers and I was slightly wrong. We are down YTD from last year but not much at all. (2.5%) We had some really rainy weather for weeks in April (IIRC) and sales were terrible. We raised our SS prices about three months ago or so and credit card sales are up and cash sales are down. Our fixed oval touchless auto is losing a bit probably to new tunnels in nearby cities. If we get a lot of nice weather we might be back on par with last year. It seems that we have recently been getting a lot of rain, the threat of rain or at least overcast days.
 
It's been a long, hot and dry summer. I'm aurprised business is up. Thankfully the city has improved both water storage and production or we might be under restrictions.
 
MEP001 said:
It's been a long, hot and dry summer. I'm aurprised business is up. Thankfully the city has improved both water storage and production or we might be under restrictions.
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What do carwashes have to do when there are restrictions? I know it’s dependent on what the restriction is, but do you reduce hours, reduce volume - how do they expect you to respond?
 
Danpelligrino said:
I’ve got 5 car washes, 4 of them are within a 10 mile radius, the other is 70 miles away.

One of them is a Petit that occupies what used to be a tunnel, there is also a laundromat on the same property.
One is a petit with 4 self serve bays, also with a laundromat
One is a Laserwash 4000 with 5 self serve bays
One is two Laserwash 4000’s with 5 self serve bays
And the last one is two Laserwash G5’s and a PDQ Tandem

The biggest slide I’ve seen is in the laundromats, we’re down about 15% since we started last year. But we’re also down about 5-7% from this time last year on the self serves and automatics.

I haven’t been in this business very long to have a good idea as to how we should be doing around this time of year. But it seems like we’re pretty slow.
We’re not struggling yet, but I really have to hope that it picks up again this winter like it did last year.
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What is your location?
 
Not sure where you are located, but the carwash is definitely weather driven. I do probably 85% of my business between November and May.
Winter is great with snow, salt etc. Spring is great with pollen. Once summer rolls in, if we don't get much rain business drops hard.

I don't have a laundromat, but I would think that would be pretty static if everyone is happy with your service and facility.
 
washnshine said:
What do carwashes have to do when there are restrictions? I know it’s dependent on what the restriction is, but do you reduce hours, reduce volume - how do they expect you to respond?
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It depends on the city and the restriction stage. I just read Austin's restrictions and I don't think they control commercial car washing anymore. IIRC that was changed because someone brought proof to the city that car washes use about 10% of the water that a typical restaurant does, and they don't shut down restaurants. I live in a town near Austin where stage 4 restrictions limit car washes to operate between noon and 5 PM, and stage 5 bans commercial washing unless they use gray water.
 
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