Express Exterior defined

[Earl Weiss]

Reading the ICA mag - summer 2014 there is a car wash time line and it mentions Benny Alford has the first Express Exterior in Baton Rouge in 2002 and it becomes a dominant format in the Industry.

I am thinking that Express Exterior long pre dates 2002 so I do some checking and it seems the ICA defines Express Exterior as having the customer stay in the vehicle, with automated pay stations and free vacs.

So, if prior to 2002 if the customer stayed in the vehicle but you had a live person take the $ but then later changed to auto pay stations you changed from ??? to Express Exterior.

Similarly if everything else were the same but you had no vacs or pay vacs and later made them Free you changed from ???? to express exterior?

Not a big deal. Kind of like saying Christopher Columbus discovered America. Wasn't any discovery to people already living here.

 

[robert roman]

I guess they had to attribute it to someone so why not one of the good old boys.

Of course, we know the forbearer of express exterior was the ride-through “exterior-only” format with coin-operated vacuums.

The “express” version of “exterior-only” conveyor is probably best attributed to the carwash operators out west who pioneered high-volume, exterior-only conveyors at convenience stores and petroleum sites.

Some these operators were pumping out 125,000 CPY or more with one or two attendants back in the early 1990’s.

So, you could argue express exterior is a mediocre innovation with a great business model.

On the other hand, a $3.00 base price and free vacuums could be viewed as act of desperation.

For example, Big Oil couldn’t figure out how to make money selling merchandise and food services so they dumped both of them to sell gasoline wholesale.

I guess you could say the same applies to providing assisted-services.

 

[Earl Weiss]

........................

Of course, we know the forbearer of express exterior was the ride-through “exterior-only” format with coin-operated vacuums.

The “express” version of “exterior-only” conveyor is probably best attributed to the carwash operators out west who pioneered high-volume, exterior-only conveyors at convenience stores and petroleum sites.

Some these operators were pumping out 125,000 CPY or more with one or two attendants back in the early 1990’s.

The following is wrong.

" carwash operators out west who pioneered high-volume, exterior-only conveyors at convenience stores and petroleum sites.

Some these operators were pumping out 125,000 CPY or more with one or two attendants back in the early 1990’s."

Numerous operators in Chicago were doing this in the late 1970's and early 1980's. So, if they did it out west in the 1990's the Pioneers weere already 10+ years behind the curve.

My family sold a location to such an operator in Jan. of 1981. He closed the place which was full service to set it up for exterior. In Chicago no one closes in January to remodel unless they can't help it. When we first heard he did over 100 CPH with 1-2 people we thought it was BS until we observed it first hand. Then we followed suit shortly thereafter.

 

[my2cents]

I agree with Earl. The Detroit area also has an abundance of "exterior only" car washes with attendants collecting $$ and it has been that way for decades. In fact, Benny and Justin would often visit the Detroit area in winter to see the process of these locations and the number of cars they washed - thus the reasoning for going to "express exterior" from full service. I do give credit to Benny and ICS for automating the pay process and keeping the attendant from getting his or her hands on the cash. Keep in mind that many locations in the south really did not have basic exterior car washes - they were either full service washes or self serve with in bay automatics. The introduction of exterior only washes in the south and plains states was a relatively new concept. Also as we know, the auto cashier with credit card acceptance provides a measure of sales upgrade where a hungover attendant on Saturday morning might just go through the motions so to speak. Detroit is slow to renovate these exterior washes with auto cashier/gates due to cost and available area for multiple stacking lanes.

 

[Washmee]

In the 1970's SOHIO(Standard Oil of Ohio) operated the largest chain of exterior tunnels in the USA. They had over 100 in the Ohio market alone. They consisted of a Full/Self service gas station with a conveyor tunnel and free vacuums. Many locations washed over 100k cars per year and sold in excess of 100k gallons of fuel per month. Pricing was $2 or $1 with a fill up and $.50 for Hot Wax. The first wash I worked at in Akron Ohio washed 18,000 cars in the month of February 1978. 100cph with 2-3 attendants was common.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Yep, kinda nutty to say the first one was in 2002 when it had already been around for 25 + years. The only thing that was new was automated pay stations, and perhaps deciding to not charge for vacs.

 

[smokun]

Déjà Vu... All Over Again. I agree with all who remember when exterior washing evolved. Dan Hanna was the prime mover of exterior washing but the concept grew quickly in the late 60's. Earl has it absolutely right... but the genesis was Hanna Enterprises (their first name) who saw the exterior process as a way to create a whole new methodology to grow the industry and serve a huge customer base, major oil companies. Hanna created a new market for carwash equipment when he tapped into oil companies seeking a way to aggressively market gasoline with minimal labor and automated outside-only no-frills washing & drying. Many full-service operators saw the competition and responded , initially by offering after-hours (and off-hours) exterior-only washing to retain their customers. By the early Seventies, exterior carwashing was a major contender nationwide (especially in major markets) and customers found themselves supplementing their full-service washing with outside-only washing as a sensible option... and carwash owners accepted the reality of a shared customer-base. Almost at once, Hanna wasn't the only manufacturer pushing exterior carwashing; Sherman jumped in quickly. But Dan Hanna pioneered it in Portland in his own Rub-A-Dub chain... and is due his credit for creating the new business model. Low labor automated washing & drying while the customer rode through the entire process inside their vehicle. Huge cost savings and significantly lower operating overhead. Hanna called it "A Money Machine!"

Hope this old-timer's recollection helps the conversation.

— Steve Okun

 

[Earl Weiss]

Seems the more things change, the more they stay the same. A chicago location was a busy FS Tunnel, torn down in the 1960's and turned into a 12 Bay SS buy National Pride. New Operators added 3 IBA, now torn down nd erecting .... an EE.

Phones got smaller and now are getting bigger. Headphones the same!

 

[buda]

Steve Okun is absolutely correct. Dan Hanna "mass-marketed" the exterior car wash concept in the late 60's when I started with the company to market his 14' x 28' mini carwash package that was a carwash system and building in one. Most all of these 15-20 locations in Portland had gasoline.

Several hundred, maybe thousands of these systems were sold all over the world.

So as Steve says, Dan Hanna was not the first exterior car wash operator but the first to mass market the concept.

Again exterior only washing has been around in mass since the early 1960's.

Then when it got popular again in the last 20 years someone got the idea it was a new concept by calling them express washes. Then someone realized they were the same so they started creating a difference between the two that really didn't exist. Paying to a attendant or to a pay station does change the carwash concept, it is exterior."

Similiar to how the name of a roll-over carwash came to be known as an "in-bay"
automatic, same machine.

 

[Greg Pack]

Probably 90%plus of operations that call themselves "express washes" in our region have the same things, which has not been around for 30 years:

No prep, or customer self-prep
Automated pay station
Free vacuum
Lower price, higher volume model with low base price (which is rising, now to $6 in our area).

We had old school exterior washes in our area. For some reason they were all floundering. Admittedly most were in a state of bad repair. SS/IBAs were actually coming in and competing with them. The express model changed the customer experience and the free vacuum does add value in the customer's mind.

 

[robert roman]

Until the last decade or so and with the exception of more cosmopolitan areas like Atlanta, Miami, Charlotte, etc., the southeast was never exactly a Mecca for carwash.

Most tunnels were in the 80’ to 100’ range and many were built cheaply and operated cheaply by cheapskates, especially in Florida.

Many of these operators sat on the laurels living off the fat of the land for decades without upgrading and their facilities become obsolete (depreciation).

Next, the deep pool of mom and pop investors comes in and equipment dealers filled in territories with wands and then back-filled with in-bays until markets became saturated.

Remember building a new wash doesn’t create new demand for carwash rather it dilutes the market unless there is unmet demand.

Hence the floundering occurred.

Conversely, operators that stayed up with the business usually dominate their markets.

Any retailer that doesn’t upgrade their business every 8 to 10 years is either ignorant of the need or a fool.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Until the last decade or so and with the exception of more cosmopolitan areas like Atlanta, Miami, Charlotte, etc., the southeast was never exactly a Mecca for carwash.

Most tunnels were in the 80’ to 100’ range and many were built cheaply and operated cheaply by cheapskates, especially in Florida.

Many of these operators sat on the laurels living off the fat of the land for decades without upgrading and their facilities become obsolete (depreciation).


Any retailer that doesn’t upgrade their business every 8 to 10 years is either ignorant of the need or a fool.

I may be in this category. Upgrades - Yes. Monumental, hardly. Mitters still go back and forth and Brushes side to side, or in AVW case round n round. These standard pieces of equipment and blowers haven't changed much in 10 years plus.

Sure there has been on line Tire Shine and Rain X and some upgraded lighting and triple foam soap, and Waterafll soap application. .

Who knows what the future will bring. As of right now I don't see much in need of an "Upgrade".

 

[robert roman]

Although it’s included, I’m not necessarily talking about the equipment but rather more the need to put a skin package on the building, renovate bathroom, upgrade marketing practices and technology, refresh landscaping, signs, lights and bay sidewalls, etc.