I may have to close for the winter- Part II

[jnaylorii]

Hi Everyone,


Thank You for all the tips on how to lower my costs this winter it may come in handy. However, I did not made myself clear in my first thread. I spent $10,000 on natural gas last winter for floor heat and hot water. The problem is that it was $10,000 of my PERSONAL SAVINGS, not from money made by the car wash. In other words the car wash did not make enough money last winter to pay its bills. Many of the self serves in my area are closed or are for sale (like my wash). The way I see it it would be cheaper for me to close Jan and Feb when the gas bills have been in the $2500-$3500 per month range. If anyone has any advise on what I should do please let me know.

FYI- I have been in the car wash business 12 years and keep my wash clean and work very hard to keep everthing in working order. I tried to sell it last year and had two buyers who could not get loans from the banks to puchase the wash from me. The city of Toledo is broke, they had to lay off cops, and we have over 10% unemployment.

 

[starion]

I am really just a new car wash owner myself.

However, my 5-year old car wash was closed for a year when we took it over. I feel like the biggest obstacle I am having to overcome is getting people to recognize that it is open again. I am known in the area as "the car wash with the chain link fence around it".

That being said, closing a car wash business for any length of time seems like a quick way to kill regular customers.

I understand completely about the numbers though. I have been forking about $2000 a month out of my other business to keep the car wash alive. I firmly believe that it is the marketing that is going to boost the numbers. I have taken a few small marketing steps and can already see the results. Not much, but slow and steady.

If I were to shut down for some winter months, I am afraid that I would kill the precious momentum I had gained through my marketing efforts.

Maybe I'm just eternally optimistic....but I can't even seem to squash that optimism with enough beer...that is the definition of a true entrepreneur I think.

All of this is my opinion...you take it for what it's worth. I have thrived in business over the years by not listening to what my friends and so-called "experts" have told me.

Okay. Back to the car wash and my bucket of Miller Lite.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

I'm looking at the same situation at my wash. I don't think that I would ever close the entire wash down, but I am thinking about setting up 3 of my bays for an easy shutdown. I have 8 bays that rarely need full use in those harsh winter months. I'm looking at using some 22 oz. vinyl tarps from this site. I am still fairly early on developing this idea, but it sounds reasonable if I can reduce my bills somewhat.

 

[MEP001]

If anyone has any advise on what I should do please let me know.

Was the advice offered in your other thread not what you wanted? Why not post a follow-up in that same thread instead of creating a new one and asking for the same thing?

 

[Waxman]

Why not close some fo the bays down and heat only a couple this winter, say 1/15-3/15, then open the others again???

With the money you save doing this, buy as many overhead doors as you can afford. Install them. Next winer, close the doors down at night. Bingo! Problem solved.

It seems like you are asking us for permission to close your wash when it's not economically viable to stay open. You don't need our permission; you need to do what is right for you.

 

[pitzerwm]

That is what I use to do, shut down all of the bays except the ones on each side of the eq room. (SS) I don't think that a total shut down is a smart deal unless, its below 0, then I guess people would understand. When you do anything, you need to think about the customer's perception, not yours.

 

[Jeff_L]

Personally, I never shut down the entire wash. My thought is to remove the question out of everyone's mind as to whether I'm open or not. You must remove all obstacles in your customer base's mind as to whether they should come out and wash or not.

I do what other have suggested, shut down some bays, turn off their floor heat, and keep their doors down. That way I can stay open and reduce some costs at the same time. However, I only do this in extreme weather, say 10 degrees and below.

 

[Dcalhoun]

Natural gas is killing us as well. A few years ago Dennis Ryan wrote an article in Professional Carwashing & Detailing (I think, or it might have been Autolaundry News) about how adjusting the thermostat on his boiler saved him money. We tried this and found it to be effective. You do have to watch the forecast and remember to change your thermostat. Also, you have to be vigilant to change the thermostat every day depending upon the forcasted low for each night.

Also, when it is sunny, turn the floor heat off during the day and let the sun warm it up.