Just bought an old car wash

[IowaCarWashGuy]

I just purchased a new property and it happens to have an older 2 bay manual car wash on it. I am looking to make improvements and looking for advice on where to best spend my money, pricing of the wash, and many other basic questions. Anyone willing to help give me some advice?

 

[IowaCarWashGuy]

I am thinking about adding new display and credit card readers. I also only have soap and rinse available but am set up for wax and trying to fix that. The heater is not working which is another project.

 

[MEP001]

Definitely start by replacing the timers, even if you try to open without upgrading to display timers. What you have will only accumulate 15 coins, and with today's prices you'll have people putting more than that in and they'll lose their money. If you think it's going to work, you might as well add tire cleaner, presoak, and spot free rinse.

 

[IowaCarWashGuy]

Definitely start by replacing the timers, even if you try to open without upgrading to display timers. What you have will only accumulate 15 coins, and with today's prices you'll have people putting more than that in and they'll lose their money. If you think it's going to work, you might as well add tire cleaner, presoak, and spot free rinse.

I am thinking about upgrading to this credit card reader unit from Dultmeier. Thoughts?

 

[MEP001]

IMO you're better off with a separate high security safe plumbed to the control boxes. Anything will do for a control box since there won't be any money in it. The credit card acceptor in your image is Cryptopay which can be added to any meter box if there's room, or even mounted next to it.

 

[IowaCarWashGuy]

I have a vault style setup already. My mechanical room is between the 2 indoor bays and have coin drawers and a bill changer that all feed into that room. Do you have any recommendations?

 

[OurTown]

What happened to the presoak, foam brush and spot free systems? They are on the your menu.

 

[IowaCarWashGuy]

I was told the foam brush works but is down for the winter. I will turn that on in April. I am not 100% sure on the presoak and spot free. Trying to assess what actually works.