I'm considering purchasing and renovating a vacant four bay oil lube franchise that went out of business. It would converted into a two bay IBA / two bay SS site. The problem is the self serve bays would 14 feet wide at best with ten foot door openings. Does anyone have ss bays this size? I have seen bays this small in operation, but do you feel that at this size it would be difficult for customers to comfortably wash their vehicles. Thanks in advance for any advice.
Bay Size
- Thread starter JamesG
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SS bay size
My bays are all 15 ft wide; however there is a 6 bay car wash in another town that has 13.5 ft bays. You cannot wash the side of the vehicle straight on; you have to wash it at an angle. It does not seem to have an effect on wash volume. 14 ft should be fine. Once the customer is in the bay, they are not going to say it's too small. If the building was already a wash with larger bays, the customer might notice. People adapt to their surroundings.
My bays are all 15 ft wide; however there is a 6 bay car wash in another town that has 13.5 ft bays. You cannot wash the side of the vehicle straight on; you have to wash it at an angle. It does not seem to have an effect on wash volume. 14 ft should be fine. Once the customer is in the bay, they are not going to say it's too small. If the building was already a wash with larger bays, the customer might notice. People adapt to their surroundings.
car washing systems inc
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14' should be fine, I have seen bays that where much smaller and it does get tight
Jimmy Buffett
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I cut down on the width of my bays and it was a mistake. If it was me I'd do the 2 automatics and host a poker game in the other 2 bays. The ss will be 75% of the work and 15% of the money. I wish I had just put in 2 autos and no ss.
