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Changing Coleman Hanna Water Wizard 2.0 to Wand Wash

S

stampedecarwash

Member
Hi all, I have a 20-year old WW2.0 auto machine. in total I have 6 bays and one bay is auto. this auto bay brings the same income as one of the wand wash bays but its alot more stressful to maintain it. Im thinking to remove it and put a wand wash instead. Do you recommend it? My revenue my go down abit but my stress level will go down 80%.
 
I tore out my original automatic a few years ago and replaced it with a razor and my stress level went down 110%. It was a lot of money and well worth it. I opened up with much higher pricing than I had with my old unit and I've been very happy so far.
 
Thanks all, i feel like any automatic wash will go bad after few years. I have only 6 bays and my wand wash are alot busier that my auto. I think it is the area im in, people rather wash themselves than an automatic wash to save.
 
There are plenty of self serve only sites that are successful if they have good management. If you really think your site does not warrant an IBA maybe it would be better for you. I know Kimberly Berg, who posts on this forum, just sold a very successful site in California that is Self Serve only. Good luck to you!
 
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Is your self serve also Coleman Hannah? If so does it have room in the rack for the sixth bay?
 
I hate to say this but I m having a hard time imagining a wash that used to be 3 IBA’s going to zero.
Hell yesterday- today- tomorrow - I need 2 more IBA’s
But hey ss is easy
Hope it works out for you!
 
Well it was a mistake 20 years ago to put 3 IBAs, so 2 removed 10 years ago and now im thinking to remove the last one. See this picture. This is is almost everyday these days. Super busy infront of wand wash but no car infront of automatic which the one on the far left in this pic. What would you do if you were in this position?
With this last pump stand gone from my mechanical room, i can add a dog wash in the mechanical room.
 

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I'd replace your automatic and market the new machine (which should be low stress for the first 5 years). One IBA can easily generate 2-3x the revenue of a self serve bay.

If you are complaining about the stress an IBA brings you. Wait until you have a dog wash...(which will make a lot less money and requires more labor for cleaning)

Regarding your picture, you might ask yourself why customers are not pulling into the auto bay...
 
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it also depends on your own personal goals and how long you plan on keeping this business. I spent about a quarter million dollars remodeling my automatic bay. to me it was well worth it. my customers used to use the old carwash quite a bit but it was a challenge because I bought some very inexpensive equipment and it was difficult to keep it running reliably. It was unreliable to some extent right from the start. My new machine is quite a bit different and really makes life enjoyable with an automatic. You can't beat the revenue compared to a self-service wash
 
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Exactly $250k is alot of money. 4-5 years ago chevron gas station opened an auto wash right across the street and they never have a line up eitger… again i think its the area we are in. My pricess are $10 and $14 whch is cheaper than them and my auto is for sure busier than them. When i started 8 years ago my auto was 25% of my revenue although only one bay out of 6. Now we did a good job on wand wash and have alot of wand wash customers and IBA income is the same or even less than one wand wash bay.
 
You know your market better than any of us but do you check your water hardness, presoak titration and spot free TDS on a regular basis? It could be that it doesn't clean nearly as good as it did years ago. Touch free is very difficult if the stars do not align.
 
As others have implied you have to stay on top of touch free chemistry and water quality. I've seen plenty of poorly run IBAs and they always drift off over the years to doing nothing. And it's not the machine that's the problem. I've got a 18 year old water wizard with over 200K washes and it still runs great. Other newer machines may have more bells and whistles but the term "clean, shiny, and dry" starts with "clean", and I'll put the over all cleaning capability up against any other touch free machine on the market. But it does require maintenance and chemical diligence. If you're not willing or able to maintain a touch free IBA wash consider a friction unit They are much more consistent cleaners, not nearly as reliant on water quality or chemical effectiveness .

Having said that - My dream "retirement wash" would be high volume SS-only and if you've got them lined up like that on a regular basis that may be a smart move for you.
 
Waxman said:
I tore out my original automatic a few years ago and replaced it with a razor and my stress level went down 110%. It was a lot of money and well worth it. I opened up with much higher pricing than I had with my old unit and I've been very happy so far.
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Did similar. Tore our two PDQ's and put in two Razors and stress level went down 110% and $ up.
 
Thank you all great advices here. Yes we do maintenance on our IBA every week which includes: lubricating all the moving part like ocilating nozzles, boom railing, grease wheels, our spot free always less than 10ppm, all 3 dryers working perfectly, great pressure (shakes your car and you feel when you inside).
im waiting for a quote to see what does it take to change it to wand wash, and then will decide.
overall I think ww2.0 are low maintenance. I learned alot and have tons of spares: hoses, prox sensors, eyes etc. but then there are crazy issues when its brain/channels/input cards go bad.
 
You know your market. If you want to pull out your automatic then go ahead. Since there's room on the stand for the extra Bay, your Self Serve can probably be reworked to accommodate it. If you have the money available, I would recommend just buying an extra pump station from GinSan or Kleen Rite. It will speed up the transition and make things simpler on you.
 
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