COVID 19/Coronavirus Impact

[lb60605]

How much impact will this coronavirus with schools closing, events suspending or cancelling have on the car wash business?

 

[tdlconceptsllc]

Alot less cars on the road. Where More cars = more chances people going to pull on the lot & wash. Its deffiently not going to help us

 

[OurTown]

I think it is going to be bad short term but hoping it will be over soon. It is early yet to tell but yesterday our business was a lot lower than a normal nicer Friday. The auto business was hit much worse than the self serve bays probably because they are very different customer types. We have a lot of rain in the 10 day forecast so it may be difficult to tell how much this will affect us in the near future.

 

[CarWashBoy]

Has anyone experienced a downturn in Self Service business yet since the start of COVID-19?
Thanks in Advance..

 

[Jim64]

Yes, about half of normal

 

[soonermajic]

Rural Okla, & haven't noticed...but that dam rain doe!!!
A Week straight & weather calls for more 14 more days of rain!!! WTH?!!

 

[I.B. Washincars]

I combined CarWashBoy and Our Town's threads, since they were essentially the same.

 

[Randy]

The impact is going to be huge! We are already starting to see it up here in the Seattle area. It was a beautiful Saturday at the car wash and very few car wash customers, traffic is light on the roads. All the grocery stores are busy, but lots of empty shelves. The cruise ship season starts in Seattle on April 1st or at least it was going to start then. Looks like it might start in July or later. The cruise ships that come into Seattle bring in $900 million to the local economy and directly support 5000 jobs, god only knows how jobs are supported indirectly. Now that all the schools are closed until the end of April, parents are going to have to take time off work or put their kids in expensive day care. A lot of these parents have to try time off without pay. Sporting events have all been canceled, no baseball. A lot of people are being laid off and have little to fall back on. At least the stock market is slowing coming around, but it might be some time before its back to where it was. I hate to say it but I think this down turn could be a worldwide down turn that is far worse than it was in 2007 and 2008. I’m hoping it’s not but you never know. It's the ripple down effect that hits the car washes.

 

[Roz]

Actually I wonder if the situation will help IBAs vs tunnels? Customers might not want the people at the end of tunnels who normally dry their cars or clean the inside near their cars. I had an (older) customer ask me if I think they should have their cleaning lady into their house - I tried to be thoughtful and measured in my response stating that the woman is probably more fearful than she is of getting CV19 due to the nature of her work, not having health insurance, and needing the paycheck more than most people who work for a company.

Have not seen much of a change in the number of washes (yet) but have been restocking the vending machine more often as the wipes are selling faster than normal - perhaps we should charge more than $1 for the items given Amazon pricing.....

 

[Kramerwv]

Randy - are the number of cases in Washington still increasing or starting to level off due to the closings? Hope we come back as hard as we drop but I’m guessing it will be summer before we start.

 

[Rfreeman]

Just look at the historical stock market chart to answer if we will come roaring back or not.....like Buffet said "be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful"

This isnt the first pandemic and it wont be the last. I hope everyone is taking precautions bc this is serious but it is also a HUGE HUGE opportunity to buy into the stock market a great prices!

I'm TX and like Sooner said we have rain forecasted for the next week or so...therefore hard to tell what's slowing business weather or Coronavirus. Lastly, if this does cast us into a recession historically they have lasted 18 months were Bull markets 8 to 10 yrs therefore hang in there and be extra cautious.

 

[Randy]

Randy - are the number of cases in Washington still increasing or starting to level off due to the closings? Hope we come back as hard as we drop but I’m guessing it will be summer before we start.

The number of cases are still increasing as are the number who have died.

 

[Kramerwv]

That is terrible. Hoping these closures work to at least slow the spread.

 

[water guy]

We Have Been Blessed!! Very Busy

 

[I.B. Washincars]

I learned today that we have a case in our county, and that I have a cousin that has it as well.

 

[soapy]

It has been busy for us until rain and snow all weekend. In another note I am wiping down the coin box, and gun and foam brush handle with a bleach.solution a couple times of day.

 

[OurTown]

In another note I am wiping down the coin box, and gun and foam brush handle with a bleach.solution a couple times of day.

We are doing the same. Also posted that on our social media pages plus made some temporary signs.

 

[Damoni88]

Actually I wonder if the situation will help IBAs vs tunnels? Customers might not want the people at the end of tunnels who normally dry their cars or clean the inside near their cars. I had an (older) customer ask me if I think they should have their cleaning lady into their house - I tried to be thoughtful and measured in my response stating that the woman is probably more fearful than she is of getting CV19 due to the nature of her work, not having health insurance, and needing the paycheck more than most people who work for a company.

Have not seen much of a change in the number of washes (yet) but have been restocking the vending machine more often as the wipes are selling faster than normal - perhaps we should charge more than $1 for the items given Amazon pricing.....

What wipes are selling and best for disinfecting?

 

[MEP001]

Good luck finding any wipes or hand sanitizer right now.

 

[Roz]

Kleen Rite wet wipes and glass cleaner.

The wipes without alcohol are in stock at markets and they are fine if you listen to the pros and not the hype.

Just wiping down the surfaces is great. Purrell is oversold and in some respects not the best solution as it kills off all bacteria including any good bacteria. You can wash hands with soap and water for 15-20 seconds and be just as safe as using Purrell and in some cases you are safer since you are removing the dirt particles from your hands and surfaces.

I worked for the world’s largest Pharma company (Pfizer) for a decade on various disease teams. We used to laugh at times at all the misconceptions consumers have about medicine and good health that went a long way toward helping us sell our products. Initially it made selling antibiotics easy until we learned that too much of a good thing can come back and haunt you with antibiotic resistant bugs.