Considering Card Only Self Serve Car Wash

[BubblesCarWashRH]

Does anyone have any experience or insight on a card only self serve car wash? Looking to eliminate the need for someone to collect cash/quarters.

I’m considering investing in car wash locations that are about two hours from my home base and I wouldn’t have anyone trustworthy to handle cash/coins. I have people that are local which can handle clean up and trash.

 

[Axxlrod]

I'm planning on changing my washes over to card only at some point. Just not sure when yet.

The wash brings in much more $ via card than cash, and not having to collect, count/sort/strap and then deposit cash would be great.

 

[David Rolf]

I thought this would be a good idea myself until I have had one bay out the past two weeks only taking cards. The number of cars that pulled back out and into another bay was surprising. I feel it is all about your demographics and is site-specific. For ours, it will be a long time before I make the switch or am forced to by the government. But I still dream of how nice it would be not to deal with quarters.

 

[Greg Pack]

I've got a friend that bought, rehabbed and reopened one wash as card only in 2022. He's happy enough with the revenue that he took another wash he owned and converted to card only this past January. The jury is still out on whether taking away the cash option hurt revenue at all, but he's not going back. They are just so much easier to run without worrying about collecting and both sites are offering a reasonable ROI, he's not worried about squeezing every nickel out of the site and is willing to leave some (cash) money on the table. He has four sites and it was taking his manager the better part of a day per week to collect and process the deposits which were representing a shrinking piece of his revenue. Both are middle income areas. He does have a gated wash and will continue to accept cash there because there is only two money collection points at his gates.

 

[JMMUSTANG]

Five months ago our bank of 10 years told us they are not taking quarters anymore.
I have several businesses and car washes with them and they told me they would not take the quarters from the carwash companies any more.
It’s been an issue with all the banks.
If they take them they have to send them off to the main bank once a week to be counted.
Then they will put the amount in our account. Takes them 10-12 days to get it to our account.
We found one bank but we can only deposit $10’000. After that there is a fee.

Long story but I thinking credit card only is the future is the way to go….Maybe for know with $ bills too.
I

 

[Earl Weiss]

We found one bank but we can only deposit $10’000. After that there is a fee.
too.
I

There are Federal reporting requirements for cash deposits over $10,000. Unless you need to deposit in excess of this amount every day, it is better to make smaller deposits .

 

[Earl Weiss]

I’m considering investing in car wash locations that are about two hours from my home base and I wouldn’t have anyone trustworthy to handle cash/coins. I have people that are local which can handle clean up and trash.

But you have people you trust to make sure everything is running properly and fix what isn't?

 

[Cool Wash]

I moved to card only for my SS last August. I accept quarters if customers bring them. I do not have change machine on site. It is almost a year now. Overall, I do not think my revenue is impacted that much.. My current average ticket now around 12.25 vs around 10 before. My quarter collection (customer quarters) is 16% vs around 40% before.

Another benefit is that my least desired customers (that pay cash and spend less than $3) has been decreased significantly. I have a lot less to clean now!

My overall impression- I should have done it sooner.

BTW- I have Crypto sweeper and Tap in my bays.

Good Luck!

 

[Wash4Life]

There are Federal reporting requirements for cash deposits over $10,000. Unless you need to deposit in excess of this amount every day, it is better to make smaller deposits .

I think what JM means is that over time, he was allowed to deposit $10,000 over time after which point he would be charged.

 

[Axxlrod]

I think being card only is very dependent on location and socio-economic makeup of your customer base. The lower the demographics, the more cash-based they are.

I'm planning on going cashless as my wash is in a mid to higher income area, and, most importantly, the next nearest SS wash is over 20 miles away. So if customers don't like the switch to card only, they don't have anywhere else to go.

 

[JMMUSTANG]

Yea I know that, we were also into the banking business for over 20 yrs. before we sold them.
We deposit around $1000-5000 at a time.
The bank now charges a fee after depositing over $10,000 for the month. Once we reach $10,000 in quarter deposits there’s a fee.
But at least they take quarters.

 

[traveler17]

I'm planning on changing my washes over to card only at some point. Just not sure when yet.

The wash brings in much more $ via card than cash, and not having to collect, count/sort/strap and then deposit cash would be great.

Your bank makes you strap??

 

[MEP001]

We deposit around $1000-5000 at a time.

There are plenty of people who will swap your quarters for cash. I've run into three people at my bank who say they could use mine instead of deposit them.

 

[Chuck Ivey]

I make bank deposits for some of my buddy’s businesses. I “sell” the quarters from the car wash to the gas stations. Then I deposit the cash in the car wash’s account. The wash’s bank really doesn’t want the quarters. Their excuse is that they only have a small vault. Huh ???

 

[Axxlrod]

Your bank makes you strap??

Yes. They do provide the straps though.

 

[traveler17]

Yes. They do provide the straps though.

My bank actually has a count counter. Says no commercial use but the girls don’t care. I don’t take all at once, just a little at a time. Cash runs through my counter and just hand it over. I’d like to go to all cards but cash is still big part of the revenue at my busier site.

 

[OurTown]

We are currently at 42% cash and 58% cards. I'm sure we could convert some cash users to cards but a lot will just go to our competitors. Our credit union has a coin counter that can count coins 25 cents or less. (dollar coins must be rolled) When the machine is broken which happens more that it should there is no way to deposit coins into our account.

 

[8th Street Car Wash]

I will never give up cash and coin until I'm forced to.

BUT.... our coin would always plug our banks coin counter, or fill the coin collection bags underneath it, and would require them to come over to service it, making a 10 minute trip to the bank many times over an hour. We bought a manual coin roller several years ago and now roll the coins, and the bank provides quarter rolls for us for free. No bank limits, and it only takes about 30-45 min a week to roll the coin. Our bank runs a magnet over the coin rolls to check for Canadian quarters, and then hands us our deposit slip.

My thoughts are if collecting money is too much of a P.I.A. for you, I would be more than happy to show your customers my wash.

Also if collecting and counting money is a big enough problem for you to purposefully make a change that will DEFINITELY lose you customers, then your bank account must have more zeros than mine.

 

[washnshine]

I think operators try to maximize revenue every way they can, and still accepting cash probably makes sense in most cases. The biggest benefit I see to our type of business in going cashless is eliminating a lot of crime, damage and potential danger that goes along with having cash on site. Sad, but true.

 

[AZcarwashman]

You’re in the business to make money. That’s it. Why would you not always offer every way possible to earn that money? We may someday be a cashless society, but that’s a long ways off. Nearly 45% of my revenue at my washes are still cash and coin. These earnings are worth more as well since they come workout credit fees. In this business (self service) keep all options available to earn, never give away free services (vacs, air guns etc), and maintain a tidy ship with a well run fully optioned site and your bank account and customer count will grow leaps and bounds. Again, in the end it’s all about gross earnings.