Close vacs because bays so busy?

[jack954]

just had a lot of snow and salt here and expect the next few days to be so busy with people wanting to rid the salt that i expect all 8 bays to be non stop all day. unfortunately vacs are in front of the bays and of course there will be a couple of people that will want to spend an hour or two at a vac completely clueless or just entitled because they spent their 1.50 on the vac. each year i consider shutting down the vacs to keep the lines moving but i will lose the vac income. has anyone done this and if so what is your thoughts?

 

[slash007]

I would 100% close the vacs during salt days. I could never understand why vacs were ever installed at the entrance to the bays. Luckily mine are not. During salt days I barely see any vac activity as most just want to wash the salt off, so you will be making 10x more revenue by keeping the line moving.

 

[MEP001]

My wash is set up that way too. People can go around and get to the bays from the back, but they don't often do that. I'd have to agree with shutting down the vacs to get more cars through the wash. If more of my customers spoke English I'd try asking them to vacuum and then move to detail.

 

[sjb]

In Atlanta, we don’t get a lot of snow and salt days, so we don’t have that kind of intense demand….


And if we did, (I) would likely be on site keeping them moving, and with the vac islands generating income along the way…

I believe we have a general rule to provide a good SS car washing and cleaning environment and that includes the vacs….
(mine is a 8 bay SS, with vacs infront

 

[JMMUSTANG]

Because of that problem on my older locations vacs I decided to change whine I built my last one.
My last wash I built I put the vacs and one blower on the perimeter of the property.
Volume is a bit less but the customers like it a lot. They can take their time.
I raised my vac start time and blower to $2 for 7 minutes. Not one complaint.

 

[Waxman]

Yes I would remove hoses and put 'o'o'o' signs on them temporarily.

 

[Roz]

Due to the issue mentioned we relocated our vacs to new islands on the side of the wash. We are fortunate to have a very large lot. Made a huge difference as vac users can now take their time & be more relaxed, and the bays are not blocked.

 

[chaz]

Maybe raise vac price to compensate. I’ve got vacs on outer edge plus at bays. Customers taking a bit more time tend to migrate to the edge. I’m $2/6min on vacs ….people waiting tend to vac while they wait

 

[MEP001]

….people waiting tend to vac while they wait

I know that was the idea behind putting the vacs in front of the bays, but too many people like to vac after they wash so the reverse out of the bay and spend an hour or more there vacuuming, drying, and detailing. Also when I have five of six bays in use, inevitably someone pulls up to the vac in front of the empty bay to vacuum.