Minimum traffic to support 1 single in-bay automatic

[rivaitan]

Hi all,

I'm slightly confused about certain articles recommending a minimum of 20000 cars per day for a viability of a car wash business. Hopefully someone can shed some light on this.

I'm in Singapore. There are no automatic touchless car washes here so this will be the first. Due to space constraints I will probably only have a single bay per site. The first location that I'm looking at has an ideal layout - I'm talking single bay, ability to stack 3 cars, and good parallel road frontage. The 'problem'? I count probably 12000 cars per day (excludes taxicabs, and excludes traffic on the opposite road that can actually see the wash, but will have to make a U-turn about 200 meters down the road to access it). And based on the books I've read, minimum recommendation is 20000 to 30000 cars per day at least. Yet some other checklists seem to suggest that 3000 cars a day would work. Which is it?

Appreciate any comments please.

 

[tdlconceptsllc]

Sir the U-turn will kill you completely no matter how nice location is ect ect We sold one of our washes when the state put in a median and it killed the site sold the wash 1 year later just my 2 cents. Need more cars per day unless your the only wash within10- 20 miles or more and most definitely need easy access in and out your site. Example Turning lane in the middle of road a stop light at a intersection ect ect 25-35 Mph highway all that stuff is critical when building a new site no matter how nice it is.

 

[robert roman]

“I'm slightly confused….”

“…..based on the books I've read, minimum recommendation is 20000 to 30000 cars per day at least. Yet some other checklists seem to suggest that 3000 cars a day would work. Which is it?”

“I'm in Singapore. There are no automatic touchless car washes here so this will be the first.”

The checklists you refer to are analogue-based procedures.

Analogue models are based on the principal of similarity. By finding sites maximally similar to a proposed new store, it follows that an estimate of likely performance of the new store will be the average of this subset (analogue).

The real “problem” is you have no analogue or group of stores to draw any conclusions from.

Your store will be the first.

For example, what happens in this country (where the analogue models you refer to are developed), is quite different than Singapore.

In Singapore, people drive on the left. In U.S., we drive on right.

In U.S., there is almost one car per person in most markets. In Singapore, there is only one car for every 8 persons.

In U.S., car registration is hundreds of dollars. In Singapore, people must pay for certificate of entitlement which costs tens of thousands of dollars.

So, driving in Singapore is much more expensive and basically excludes huge portion of society.

Because of these differences and others, it will be impossible to draw any conclusions on the basis of similarity.

To determine how much business, I would rely on consumer surveys and panel data.

On the other hand, since this is the first automatic carwash in the country, your single in-bay may be overwhelmed from the curiosity factor alone.

In this case, it would not matter much where you put it as long as it is reasonably accessible and visible.

 

[tdlconceptsllc]

Robert

Your 100% right on this one had no idea it was outside of the U.S. I would be more worried also on Technical support and distributor service also since he is the only one in his country with a automatic which also means he would have to pay someone out of his country Everytime it breaks down is that right ? I don't see how he could afford this he would also have to ship In Soap Parts ect extended down time ?

 

[robert roman]

In the U.S., I would prefer to ride Harley Davidson motorcycle because I have considerable experience to keep the bike road worthy on my own.

Overseas, I would choose a metric bike for the exact opposite reason.

In Singapore, major port facility, I would probably import from China, like AutoBase equipment.

AB in-bay low as $25K USD or mini tunnel $50K USD shipped in box (plus inventory) on container ship.

Equipment frame serves as building only have to add side glass and roof. There is plug-ins for utilities.

Like a cheap throw-away car, run it like hell for three or four years and get a new one.

Remember there is no current market for new or used equipment there. There is also know one to make a service call.