New member! Looking to build a car wash

[Cam1234]

Hello everyone, I am looking to get into the car wash business! Me and my business partner have been doing research and trying to put together possible plans to build from the ground up. I did research any for sales car washes in the area with no luck. Basically I have been referencing one car wash design that I have visited as I really liked the layout, the way it ran, and feel it would be perfect for the area I recently moved to. At the moment I am looking into .80-1 full acre of land, to build a building layout of roughly 3,900-4,200 sq ft. (1 option) This would be including one 1 tunnel, 1 IBA (touch-less bay), and 2 self serve bays. The main thing I have been pondering is how long should the tunnel bay be, I know they can be above 100 ft or as little as 30ft? I was thinking of staying between 50ft-80ft but I am not sure how to mathematically choose the perfect length as of course I want to be able to push out as much cars as possible per hour when needed at those busy times so I don't have any customers not even being able to fit in the parking lot while they wait. Which of course I hope the IBA takes off and a good amount choose that route is well for those busy times plus that will be open 24/7 along with the self service bays of course. So with this "1st option", my main questions is there a perfect length for a tunnel wash? While keeping in mind the design I'm doing wouldn't just be one of those 1 tunnel only style option car washes so I do plan on being smaller due to being all one connected building layout.

(Option 2) Two IBA systems, one touch-less and the other a soft touch, along with two self service bays. The reason behind this idea is wouldn't need to hire employees that need to be there every day. I do plan on basically being there daily to make sure everything is running smoothly and be a helping hand for new customers that may have any questions. But other than that so it can run itself (in a way). I do believe I will be able to learn the maintenance that the machines need or at least to be prepared for those common things that go wrong and be ready to know how to fix that when the time comes.

Comparing the two options, will I be missing out on profits with not having a tunnel even though I would have to hire employees to be there, or would the IBA machines still out weigh the profits even though they do run slower than tunnels operate?

I did start looking into possible distributors in the area and seeing who would be able to support my business the most for those days something with the machines goes wrong that I don't know how to fix or unable to. I have been told Motor City is good for tunnel equipment. Carolina pride for self service equipment. This is just references from another car wash owner so I am aware everyone has different opinions and experiences.

For IBA's these are some of the names I have been hearing; Razor from wash world, or 360 laser from PDQ, or oasis typhoon. Anyone have any experience with any of these distributor/equipment? If I went with option 2 maybe for the soft touch IBA oasis i5??

Some quick demographics for the area I am looking at. About 26,000-36,000 rate of visitors per day traffic. Population of about 3,000 within a mile and about 55,000 within 5 miles.

I know I typed a lot, have a lot of questions etc. But as I said I am a newbie to this industry so I am looking for any help and recommendations. Oddly enough I have wanted to open a car wash for years now, so it isn't like I just woke up last week and said "you know what let me try and open a car wash". I am definitely glad I finally started taking steps to my dream.

Thank you!

 

[traveler17]

I’d suggest finding a local owner of both of the different types of washes you’re looking into. The problem I personally see is you don’t know what you want but just to own a “carwash” You gotta find someone w experience or company rep to walk you through pros and cons of both sites and what YOU want. I’ve owned a 35 ft tunnel ( full service wash ) and currently own 2 IBA and SS sites. I like where I am now with these. Not a lot of Self serves being built these days. And even if you go w option B someone has to go by there everyday. Big misconception about SS sites that people think they just run themselves. Who is going to pick up trash , empty garbage cans, clean out vacs, test equipment daily to make sure it works, the list goes on and on and on.
Markets are being flooded with tunnels. you need someone in the know to walk you through this or you could lose your shirt. Before purchasing first wash back in late 90s I worked my way in to a successful tunnel and spent 4 or 5 days hanging around and asking questions. I was green and it opened my eyes to ALOT!! You HAVE to have a distributor that is close no matter what kind of wash you want. If you don’t WHEN something fails you’re going to need help. Lots of experience on this site and im
Sure others will chime in, good luck

 

[OurTown]

Have you and your business partner done business together before or is this a new potential business partner? What kind of vacuums will you have and more importantly if going the tunnel route will they be free? If so and having self serve bays will they be free for everyone 24/7? (assuming SS is open 24/7) Although I have never owned only two self serve bays it seems like not enough bays to make that type of wash worthwhile. Will you have to get a bank loan? The rates are crazy high right now. They also don't like to lend on what they consider to be risky projects. They might consider this risky because of the lack of car wash management experience and then of course the payments will be really high right now. Will this cashflow well enough if this project came in at lets say $4,000,000 build cost? I'm really not trying to be a wet blanket but wanted to make sure you considered these things.

 

[Cam1234]

Thanks for the responses! I do have an acquaintance whom was very successful in this industry owning numerous car washes but has since then retired from the business and sold all of his. I do bounce questions off him here and there but he's been out of the business for 5-10 years so he mostly informs me on distributors that were always good to him and would tell me if my idea was bad or not. I have two business partners which both own a lot of other businesses that have been successful for them, just not car wash experience which I do realize can be viewed as risky when it comes to loan time.

Basically I am trying to figure the pro's and con's of profit margins, if went with the tunnel route of about a 60-80ft tunnel. Having about 2 employees there everyday 8am-7pm (I would honestly be working there for the first year or two to help with cost. Have vacuums set up for free with the purchase of a car wash. So with this option it limits the car wash times due to needing an employee plus of course paying them but the tunnel would allow more cars per hour to be washed when busy...

Or the other route with probably 2 IBA's, 2 self service bays, and vacuums. The SS would not be free. The vacuums would be free with wash purchase but otherwise cost money for someone just coming for that. I assume you just have a voucher system where it gives out with purchase of wash and the SS use, then use that at the vacuum. Then for others that don't get a wash they go to a machine and pay for it.
^
With this route I would be the one mostly hanging around the property and doing checks. Will have phone numbers posted if anything goes wrong. Have a good security camera system that I can also view during the day. This will allow the services to be 24/7 without paying employees daily. But then if the car wash is really busy the IBA systems would be slower than a tunnel.. So that's where I'm wondering the profit margins could possibly come back to maybe even out with just the one tunnel would do even with paying employees?

I mean is there someway to really know which option is the best and will have greatest profit margin without simply doing it? Also, you mentioned if cashflow will be enough if it did come to around $4,000,000. My question is how do you pre-calculate a potential cash flow? The acquaintance of mine gave me rough numbers of car washes that costed around 4 million have generate around 1,600,000 in gross after first official year. Does that mean every single car wash do those numbers, no of course not.

Thanks again! Like I said I am new to all of this so please forgive me if I am asking questions that could be common sense to some of you, but really any insight/feedback is great.

 

[MEP001]

FWIW the car wash industry is about the worst you can choose as an investment, in other words literally almost anything else will make you more money with less work. And that's with people who know what they're doing. You will be almost completely at the mercy of a dozen companies who will be nipping at your heels to get you to spend money with them.

IMO your plan is a bad one. If you're going to do automatic and self serve, do more than two SS bays. Start with one automatic and plan to add a second one if you need it. The most successful washes in my area are 6-7 bay SS with a mini tunnel.

 

[Cam1234]

FWIW the car wash industry is about the worst you can choose as an investment, in other words literally almost anything else will make you more money with less work. And that's with people who know what they're doing. You will be almost completely at the mercy of a dozen companies who will be nipping at your heels to get you to spend money with them.

IMO your plan is a bad one. If you're going to do automatic and self serve, do more than two SS bays. Start with one automatic and plan to add a second one if you need it. The most successful washes in my area are 6-7 bay SS with a mini tunnel.

That makes a lot of sense and hey I respect your opinion. Isn’t 6-7 SS bays a lot though? I assume it depends on the area of your car wash but is there a good amount of each day that you have 4-6 people all using the SS at once? From an outsiders view I feel like people much rather sit in their cars and use tunnels or IBA’s. Then the more serious car people go the SS route. Plus what kind of clash flow can be expected from SS bays, does it beat out those big one wash tunnel car washes?

Also, with your view with the 6-7 bays and a mini tunnel, what’s a reasonable length tunnel, are we talking a small as 35ft?

thanks again!

 

[Blanco]

what’s a reasonable length tunnel, are we talking a small as 35ft?

Is this a joke? Average car length is 15 feet FYI just incase you don't know how to use a tape measure.

 

[MEP001]

The mini tunnels I mentioned are 35 feet. I believe one is a conveyor, the other is the usual roller type.

Their self serves stay pretty full, but both are in excellent locations at a traffic light on a major road.

 

[Blanco]

The mini tunnels I mentioned are 35 feet. I believe one is a conveyor, the other is the usual roller type.

Their self serves stay pretty full, but both are in excellent locations at a traffic light on a major road.

Do you live in imagination station? Like I said a average car is 15 feet. What equipment can you possibly fit in with 20ft remaining after the prep area.

 

[MEP001]

I guess you don't know what a mini tunnel is. You do know there are 100+ foot tunnels, are there 100 foot long cars?

 

[traveler17]

Do you live in imagination station? Like I said a average car is 15 feet. What equipment can you possibly fit in with 20ft remaining after the prep area.

Mini tunnels are all
Around. I rode through one the other day ,jam equipment in a tight space. It was what they advertised, a 3 minute wash and washed like one too

 

[Blanco]

I guess you don't know what a mini tunnel is. You do know there are 100+ foot tunnels, are there 100 foot long cars?

wow good one. Your groupies be on board shortly.

 

[Blanco]

Mini tunnels are all
Around. I rode through one the other day ,jam equipment in a tight space. It was what they advertised, a 3 minute wash and washed like one too

Was it 35 ft or 60ft?

 

[traveler17]

Was it 35 ft or 60ft?

35’ 2 guys around here own 10 IBA / SS. One is a mini tunnel. It was as short as one of my sites that has markvii combo wash(s). Couldn’t believe how they cram equipment in there. I was leaning towards doing this at mine site that’s extremely busy to push people through faster. I don’t want to field quality issue calls all day and hire someone to load customers. This particular one I wasn’t impressed

 

[GoBuckeyes]

My suggestion is to spend a few days and read through this forum. I really mean read it. There are thousands of pages. If you're even kicking around the idea of spending several million dollars, invest some time reading for free. For someone that's always wanted to own a car wash and has a relative that owned several car washes you don't seem to have a very good general understanding of the wash models. Have you ever spent any time at a self serve wash? I'm not trying to be rude or offensive, but some of the questions you've asked or haven't asked suggests to me you're very young or really haven't researched much.

 

[Dan kamsickas]

My suggestion is to spend a few days and read through this forum. I really mean read it. There are thousands of pages. If you're even kicking around the idea of spending several million dollars, invest some time reading for free. For someone that's always wanted to own a car wash and has a relative that owned several car washes you don't seem to have a very good general understanding of the wash models. Have you ever spent any time at a self serve wash? I'm not trying to be rude or offensive, but some of the questions you've asked or haven't asked suggests to me you're very young or really haven't researched much.

This. Not to seem like I'm piling on but you sound like so many before who look at this business from a distance, think it's a license to print money, and get stars in their eyes. As was said, really read as much of this forum as possible. If at all possible get a job at one or more local washes. A few months at a busy tunnel, or picking up garbage and foam brushes at a self serve or chasing down why the automatic just seemed to become demonically possessed will give you some hands-on experience. It can be a very rewarding business but those rewards are earned. I usually refer to it as the easiest 80hr a week job you'll ever have. Some weeks you may only have a few hours a day, others you may get only a few hours away. The site you are looking at is more than likely abandoned because it was a bad business model to begin with. Single bay autos, historically, have been a great way to guarantee you're going to have a failed wash.

 

[Waxman]

well said DK!

 

[Rapidoil]

l Single bay autos, historically, have been a great way to guarantee you're going to have a failed wash.

Could you expand on this a bit. I was thinking about building a single long bay petit. 65'x16 approx with adjoining mech room. Why do you feel single IBA fails? I seem then at gas stations a lot.
Thanks

 

[Dan kamsickas]

Could you expand on this a bit. I was thinking about building a single long bay petit. 65'x16 approx with adjoining mech room. Why do you feel single IBA fails? I seem then at gas stations a lot.
Thanks

Simply put, they don't do the numbers to support the cost to build and maintain. Gas station car washes are typically a loss leader for the station and are maintained as such. When I purchased my house 25 years ago there were 15ish gas stations with some sort of attached carwash within a 5 mile radius of my house. Now there are two and I wouldn't take my truck through one if it was free.

 

[Roz]

Single IBA or larger you really need to do the numbers, cost of land, equipment, building, permits etc (realistically). Then figure out how many cars you need to wash per month at a guesstimate ave price. See if the cash flow model makes sense. Most likely it will not, but it depends on the location. Gas stations often have a single IBA wash but the building costs are amortized over the entire project for constructing the gas station. I have looked at several located in small malls (all in the $100-150K gross revenue range) with asking prices close to $1M as the sellers were trying to recoup their initial investments. I suspect the revenue was low due to the operators being absent most of the time.

Best approach is to find a location in another area that is similar to what you envision and try to talk with the owners for info. Talk to several owners. There is a relatively new dual IBA (last 5 years) in VA that spent a fair amount of $ on construction and had to deal with several unexpected challenges. The place is listed for sale now on Loopnet (no idea why) https://www.jackscarwash.biz/our-story/ but the couple who own the place are very nice and friendly. They hosted a Mid Atlantic Carwash Association group for a tour several years ago.