Gated Flat Fee or by the minute Self Serve!!??

[Mach1]

Has anyone seen this before?

I was on vacation and I went to a 8-bay self serve + vacs where you take a ticket (like a parking lot) upon entering, gate opens and then you pay when you leave the wash based on time. The competition in the area were some IBA at gas stations.

Pricing is as follows:
Fri-Sun $0.50 a minute ($3 minimum)
Mon-Thurs Special Price Flat Fee $6 for 20 mins (overage $0.50 a minute)

Would this concept help out a 5-bay SS + friction IBA that has been hit hard by the $3 Express Exterior down the road???

Alternatively to the gate entry, what about making the bays which already accept bills and credit cards unlimited (25 mins) at say $6 and keep charging for vacuums.

Thanks!!!

 

[robert roman]

The business model you described is similar to sites where the entire self-service operation is enclosed within a single structure (i.e. Canada).

Variation of this concept is pay-one-price (like $6.00 or $7.00) and wash-all-you-want (unlimited). Here, property is surrounded by barrier and entrance has self-pay terminal with gate. Reportedly, retrofit is between $100K and $150K.

Simpler version of this is competitive pricing. Say, $5.00 for 15 minutes and no selling of extra minutes so hourly capacity is four customers. This also helps preserve in-bay pricing power whereas POP dilutes it.

If POS can dispense token, then in-bay could at least match express free vacuum offer.

Is this enough against $3.00, three to four minutes, no waiting, better quality and free use vacuums?

Pricing schemes of controlled access property may help bring back customers in economically depressed markets.

However, I can’t figure how it would be enough to offset cost advantage express wash has.

Typically, moving with trends, not against them, will lead to profit for an investor.

In other words, if you want to compete against an express wash, you must be willing to become more like an express wash