Buying a SS carwash. P&L's not correct.

[mbillingsley7]

I am under contract to but my first car wash. Located in Northern Kentucky.
Its an 8 bay, 6 self serve. 2 IBA. Credit card accept on both IBA. The two IBA's were installed in 1999, Mark Seven touchless.
Has 8 vaccums as well.


Great location, only car wash within 10 miles radius. Planning and zoning says there is no other location, with out mega construction, they would allow one.

Long story short. For thelast 25 years of ownership, they never reported or kept track of cash flow. The P&L is not even close to the tax returns and they admit the P&L is made up......

Im now alittle anxious/nervous for the 529k purchase price. Because I have no real idea of cash flow.

The water bill is the only real paper trail I have. From December 2022 to December 2023 they averaged 47,000 gallons of water usgae a month.

Can anyone put some in sight into an 8 bay car wash and expected income/revenue.

Thanks

 

[mbillingsley7]

Also, the Purchase price, 529K, is what the land and equipment only appraised at.

 

[Waxman]

I'd be kind of concerned that you need about half a million dollars worth of new equipment to reload the two extremely old touch free Mark VII machines

 

[OurTown]

It is really hard to tell from just water usage but I'll give you a wild guess of $125K/year gross income. To me, that is a slower wash for that size.

 

[Dan kamsickas]

I'd be kind of concerned that you need about half a million dollars worth of new equipment to reload the two extremely old touch free Mark VII machines

Yup. Which means everything else at the site is the same age and, if not already, will soon need overhaul and/or replacement. You could be looking at approaching another $100K. So now the question is if you think this wash is going to do enough revenue to offset a 1.1 to 1.2 million dollar investment and put money in your pocket.

Tax returns are really all you can go on. Reality is this: They made their money when they were pocketing cash and not reporting it. Depends on how the contract is written but I would definitely get some deep inspections done and try to counter.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

FWIW, that generation of machine was made from 2002 to about 2010. So, at least that auto has been replaced sometime after 1999.

 

[chaz]

That’s a great location!!!

 

[Paproskisteven12]

Now that we aren’t under contract I’ll put a few things straight 1st how dare you insinuate that I would steel from my grandmother I don’t know who what where or why you got that idea but it is the furthest from the truth to even put something like that out on a car wash forum where a lot of people know me and my family shows what type of person you are. 2 while yes the building was built in 1999 as well as the 2 first automatics but both were replaced in the last 8 years as well as all the other in bay self serve equipment has been updated and replaced 3rd let’s be honest you put something out like this to try and drive down the price because after jumping through hoops for you to get everything you needed you ended up not having the credit nor the down payment to purchase the car wash, good luck in future endeavors but stay off my property

 

[chaz]

Now that we aren’t under contract I’ll put a few things straight 1st how dare you insinuate that I would steel from my grandmother I don’t know who what where or why you got that idea but it is the furthest from the truth to even put something like that out on a car wash forum where a lot of people know me and my family shows what type of person you are. 2 while yes the building was built in 1999 as well as the 2 first automatics but both were replaced in the last 8 years as well as all the other in bay self serve equipment has been updated and replaced 3rd let’s be honest you put something out like this to try and drive down the price because after jumping through hoops for you to get everything you needed you ended up not having the credit nor the down payment to purchase the car wash, good luck in future endeavors but stay off my property

well said!!!!!! That is a great location. Good luck.

 

[Dan kamsickas]

Now that we aren’t under contract I’ll put a few things straight 1st how dare you insinuate that I would steel from my grandmother I don’t know who what where or why you got that idea but it is the furthest from the truth to even put something like that out on a car wash forum where a lot of people know me and my family shows what type of person you are. 2 while yes the building was built in 1999 as well as the 2 first automatics but both were replaced in the last 8 years as well as all the other in bay self serve equipment has been updated and replaced 3rd let’s be honest you put something out like this to try and drive down the price because after jumping through hoops for you to get everything you needed you ended up not having the credit nor the down payment to purchase the car wash, good luck in future endeavors but stay off my property

This is an interesting development.

 

[427camaro]

I am under contract to but my first car wash. Located in Northern Kentucky.
Its an 8 bay, 6 self serve. 2 IBA. Credit card accept on both IBA. The two IBA's were installed in 1999, Mark Seven touchless.
Has 8 vaccums as well.


Great location, only car wash within 10 miles radius. Planning and zoning says there is no other location, with out mega construction, they would allow one.

Long story short. For thelast 25 years of ownership, they never reported or kept track of cash flow. The P&L is not even close to the tax returns and they admit the P&L is made up......

Im now alittle anxious/nervous for the 529k purchase price. Because I have no real idea of cash flow.

The water bill is the only real paper trail I have. From December 2022 to December 2023 they averaged 47,000 gallons of water usgae a month.

Can anyone put some in sight into an 8 bay car wash and expected income/revenue.

Thanks

WHATEVER we say is largely irrelevant. We don't know the size of your city and the traffic flow on your street, neighborhood, or the economic situation of your region. What you need to do is watch and record each and every cash and credit transaction for at least a month. Remember that the SS CW business is a SUMMER business mostly, fall and spring help, but the summer sells it. In our area in Northern California the summer is a 4X-6X greater cashflow than the winter with spring and fall being somewhere in between. I will say being the only wash within 10 miles is a very enviable position to be in. Without knowing any specs I would guess, wild-ballpark-seat-of-my-pants, he is making between $50K to $100K a year profit, perhaps, MAYBE???

 

[I.B. Washincars]

WHATEVER we say is largely irrelevant. We don't know the size of your city and the traffic flow on your street, neighborhood, or the economic situation of your region. What you need to do is watch and record each and every cash and credit transaction for at least a month. Remember that the SS CW business is a SUMMER business mostly, fall and spring help, but the summer sells it. In our area in Northern California the summer is a 4X-6X greater cashflow than the winter with spring and fall being somewhere in between. I will say being the only wash within 10 miles is a very enviable position to be in. Without knowing any specs I would guess, wild-ballpark-seat-of-my-pants, he is making between $50K to $100K a year profit, perhaps, MAYBE???

Geography plays a huge part in this. I spent 50 years in the CW business, in Ky. Winter is definitely the best, overall. You will have wild swings during winter, but it's still the most productive, The hot days of summer are usually lackluster, and you're just waiting for it to get cold so it might snow. Summer is definitely NOT the best season here, not even a close call.