Looking to buy my first wash

[TheMageLives]

Hey everyone I'm new the the forum on mobile so sorry not sorry for formatting lol.
I'm not sure if the current owners are on here so I'll try to be a little vague. There is a car wash in Galion Ohio I'm looking at buying. It has 6 bays 1 is an automatic wash with a mark Vii that has been broken for 2 years the realtor says there's an issue with the boom that's causing it to revert an error code. It has the only oversized vehicle bay in the town. I have not been able to get the error code out of the realtor to research the issue and a possible repair cost.

The biggest issue this place has it it's been up for sale for a year, and they get a lot of calls about it but the current owners run it as a completely cash business. They don't have a P&L statement. The not having records has me a little worried. Their prices are a little cheap 50 cents per minute on a wash and 75 cents for vacs.

They want $269,900 for the wash and it has an assumption mortgage. The current owners are going to train the new owners on how to run it.

Do you guys think it would be worth getting? Or should I look somewhere else? The other issue is the automatic wash since I'll be new to the industry I'm not sure how much the repairs would cost or if it would even be worth repairing.

If I did buy it I'd add credit cards for one and raise the cost of a wash $0.75 to start and then down the line take it up to a dollar if the market will accept it. Vacuums will be raised in cost.

Thanks for the help.
MAGE

 

[eckert16]

Curious. I wasn't logged in, so no pics were available in the post...ended up only seeing the description and looked for a 6 bay on google maps and found a 6 bay at 360 N. East Street in Gallion.

Then I logged in to asked for clarificaiton, and pics pop up and show it's 839 harding Way. ... must be getting old in the tooth or blind, I count 5 bays (4 self, 1 auto)...even the commercial.century21.com website describes it as 6 bays.

 

[TheMageLives]

The 6th bay is on the end of the building no roof everything mounted to the wall. That's the over sized bay, so 1 auto bay, 4 ss, 1 oversize ss on end

 

[fastlx]

Just wondering would you own the property for the billboard? Could make a big difference?

 

[OurTown]

Just wondering would you own the property for the billboard? Could make a big difference?

I was wondering that myself.

 

[TheMageLives]

Yes I would the contract is $800 annually and that's up for negotiation in December of this year

 

[Randy]

You must be watching that clown on Youtube “investment joy” he doesn’t have a clue about the car wash business. If it were me I’d would buy it, it’d be a great challenge. I think everyone should be in the car wash business at least once in their lifetime so they can get a real life appreciation as to how wonderful mankind is and how much they respect someone else’s property. Who cares if it’s only been for sale for a year, who cares that it needs at least $50,000 - $75,000 in upgrades, it’s only money. Running a Self-Serve car wash is a piece of cake, you only have to go there a couple of times a week to check on things and pick up the money, we only hit our car wash 3 times a week.

 

[TheMageLives]

I have seen investment joy on youtube but that wasn't the reason I was looking to buy a wash. Last vid i saw he was trying to figure out how to run ceramic in his auto bay.

 

[Greg_T]

The not having records has me a little worried

I think that there is a lot to be said for "following your gut" on these sorts of issues. If the vendor can't provide any P&L, and you don't have faith in the profitability of the business, that's not a great way to start a new venture.

We similarly didn't have P&L for the wash we bought, but we had a previous business relationship with the vendor and we went into the deal with confidence regarding the strength of the business and its potential for (moderate) growth. If we had doubt and misgivings, we would have walked.

 

[TheMageLives]

I'm going to drive out there today or tomorrow after work and get some photos of the bays and the automatic. Might go out sat and Sunday and sit across the street and count the amount of cars that come in and how long they are there for to try to get some form in numbers. They made up a breakdown from 2018 to 2019 showing income bills etc it kind of looks off to me but I've never owned a business before I don't know if I should post it here or not if anybody wants to see it send me a message and I'll give it to you.
Mage

 

[eckert16]

your traffic count should be from 6,378 to 9,672 based on ODOT and Stratasan traffic counts

 

[TheMageLives]

Ok met with the realtor to get a better look. Album 1 Car wash

http://imgur.com/a/ZQoSAWG

Album 2,
Carwash #2

http://imgur.com/a/2CynsDB

There is a total of 77 photos and there was a Max of 50 per album so take a look
Mage

 

[washnshine]

Ok met with the realtor to get a better look. Album 1 Car wash

http://imgur.com/a/ZQoSAWG

Album 2,
Carwash #2

http://imgur.com/a/2CynsDB

There is a total of 77 photos and there was a Max of 50 per album so take a look
Mage

You will not run out of projects anytime soon. I’m sure you are aware it needs a lot.

 

[TheMageLives]

I forgot to add they are charging dollar to start the wash and that gives you 2 minutes and 45 seconds of wash time. They have a trailer parked in the back full of car wash parts but the owner said that if I want the parts I have to pay extra on top of the cost of the car wash or they will just sell them on eBay

 

[eckert16]

Visit the competition, see what's attacting the customers, then come back to this one with a fresh perspective.

 

[TheMageLives]

Visit the competition, see what's attacting the customers, then come back to this one with a fresh perspective.

i didn't have time to do that today but i know the other car wash in town is only 8 years old with 2 automatic bays, and 4 ss bays 812 Portland Way N, Galion, OH 44833
The one i was looking at was built in the 60's

 

[MEP001]

Did you take those pictures at a full run?

I wouldn't pay land value for that heap.

 

[OurTown]

I'm guessing you have plenty of time to make a decision because that place is not going to sell at the asking price.

 

[OurTown]

See if you can find out how much water was used in 2020. Although a very inaccurate way to estimate income it is SOMETHING to go by when you have nothing else. Did the owners not file income taxes? If they did not report much then they will get the value they deserve on that place.

 

[Kramerwv]

Did you take those pictures at a full run?

I wouldn't pay land value for that heap.

I laughed out loud at the first line.