New Tunnel Coming...

[fastlx]

I have knowledge a tunnel wash is coming and will be about 1/4 mile from my wash ( and on the same side of the road). What should I expect? Just wanting to get some info from the veterans on this site. I do have another one about 5 miles away same side of the road and it really has not affected anything? Thanks for all the comments.

 

[MC3033]

What type of wash do you have? Is there any other tunnels in the area?

 

[fastlx]

I have a 2 bay SS and one auto wash world HV. I also rent a bay to an emissions guy.

 

[Car_Wash_Guy]

Man that's close. I'd say 25-50% from everything I've read. Good luck.

 

[HeyVern]

It depends who's building the tunnel. Quick Quack built right across the street from a friends self serve. He's busier than ever and even added a second automatic. There's never anybody across the street.

 

[soonermajic]

Add some bling to your tunnel. Make sure your products are on point.

 

[DiamondWash]

Tunnels WILL definitely affect your business especially with the monthly memberships they offer, I'm holding strong in the self serve side of my wash but man when completing with 4 soon to be 5 tunnels (Mister, Tommy's, Kwik Star with Tommy's, Foam Express) in my backyard, I'm contemplating on WashCard's new UWash monthly membership program they just released.

 

[Rfreeman]

Your IBA revenue will take hit more than your ss side. On average I would estimate 30% from others I have talked to here in Tx

 

[fastlx]

They are going to build it where a new grocery store "might" come? I still have the self serve, and alot of customers complain the tunnel scratches their cars ( which it does). I have some very expensive cars come through my wash just because it is touch-less. I don't skip on my chemicals and nobody complains. I heard they paid 1 mil just for the land. The tunnel up the road seems empty every time I ride by.... If you have bad weather for a week it has to kill a high price tunnel... right...

 

[washnshine]

.... If you have bad weather for a week it has to kill a high price tunnel... right...

Well, not really - it certainly shouldn’t if the tunnel has adequate volume. One week of bad weather can be snow in the northeast, rain somewhere else, or 15° temps even somewhere else. We all get a bad week every now and then, and while no one likes that, it shouldn’t be killing anyones business.

 

[Car_Wash_Guy]

They are going to build it where a new grocery store "might" come? I still have the self serve, and alot of customers complain the tunnel scratches their cars ( which it does). I have some very expensive cars come through my wash just because it is touch-less. I don't skip on my chemicals and nobody complains. I heard they paid 1 mil just for the land. The tunnel up the road seems empty every time I ride by.... If you have bad weather for a week it has to kill a high price tunnel... right...

Not when they have that recurring monthly revenue of a few thousand members.

 

[Greg Pack]

Got the same problem here. I've been told by a regular customer that lost his lease that the landlord is selling to a car wash development for a 4.5 million tunnel project. I expect a good hit to the IBA revenue, which is a shame because after owning it fifteen Years this wash is just now hitting a good stride.

The tunnel washes now are after membership programs which I'm not sure I'm willing to provide. They have a volume model which I can't reproduce. I'm on a tight lot with four vacuums and have less stacking room than I would like. Those customers wanting to take advantage of a Monthly membership will gravitate to the tunnel.

My current plan with the SS is to "keep on keepin on". I run a decent self serve with hot water on all high pressure cycles, and presoak and tire clean that actually clean and are not just colored foam. We keep the ne'er do wells run off and run a clean site, not allowing equipment and heavy mudding.

On the IBA, I've got one soft cloth and one touch free. The touch free has a niche and that is somewhat helpful but does not offer the cleaning ability of the soft cloth. I do feel the istobal soft cloth cleans as well or better than most tunnels. We've got to improve our drying ability of the premier standalone dryers which with 3-10 HP is marginal at best.

We're going to re-implement the free towel system that we discontinued during the onset of Covid, and going to introduce the free vacuum token dispenser. This will help at least offer a comparable product to the customer who doesn't want to join a wash club. But bottom line is I'm afraid my best retail customers, the ones that come in weekly, will gravitate towards the membership program at the tunnel.

I know some SS/IBA owners have introduced a subscription program and would like to hear if it has lead to significantly higher net revenue. But right now my feeling is to accept the hit in gross and net that will come by retaining the pay per wash model.

 

[soapy]

Greg, I implemented a monthly wash program at my washes but never really got enough volume to make it worth while. I am still offering a prepaid wash card setup but even that has fallen off to the tunnel wash monthly subscriptions. My SS business has stayed as strong as ever. The first year or 2 I did not see a big drop off in my IBA but now with 9 new tunnels in the last 10 years it has hit the IBAs pretty hard but still have a small niche for the touchless side of things. I added the Sonny Mammoth dryers at one wash and really improved my drying but even that did not stave off lost IBA sales.

 

[APW]

going to introduce the free vacuum token dispense

What token dispenser are you going to use? I want to add one when I block in my new Wash Select 2 for my friction machine.

 

[soapy]

For anyone adding a token vendor to their IBa pay station I would advise one that the customer has to push a button on the token vendor to receive the token. Many people just leave them and other folks scoop them up. It will pay for itself in the cost of tokens in a year. I had a good talk with the folks at American changer at the ICA show about adding this feature on theirs and they finally seemed to understand why and said they would look into adding the button.

 

[SuperShine]

Don’t wait for the hit would be my advice. You have a year head start or more with construction delays. Time to capture your customer base and lock in loyalty. Fix the things that need fixing. Upgrade your pay stations to accept App and/or LPR wash clubs, twin or triple your touchless IBAs and make sure your LED light show burns retinas, the tunnels will. Make sure your building and vacs look clean, paint, dial in your signage so it doesn’t look like your niece who likes to draw made them. Add some boom vacs with a barcode reader and coin mechs on them so your App wash club members can scan for a free vac.

And when you have a rain out month, know that the new express tunnel has a massive monthly labour spend and scheduling nightmares, a conveyor chain to flip and damage claims to contend with while you’re at home watching a Star Trek marathon.

 

[Greg Pack]

What token dispenser are you going to use? I want to add one when I block in my new Wash Select 2 for my friction machine.

BonusToken-Product Dispense System for Unitec Wash Select II

Increase revenue for Touchless Car Wash Systems and other Soft Touch Car Wash Systems Using Unitec Wash Select II by dispensing a free bonus token and products based on Wash Package Selected.

www.carwashmsi.com

This might be a good option to look at. I had two at a site I managed and they worked pretty well. I have a friend looking at home brewing one with a PLC for me He said total cost would be around $500. He just added PLCs and flashing buttons to my Coleman token dispensers and that has drastically reduced the number of tokens I'm going through.

 

[washnshine]

And when you have a rain out month, know that the new express tunnel has a massive monthly labour spend and scheduling nightmares, a conveyor chain to flip and damage claims to contend with

Rain out months = monthly membership payments without wear and tear on your equipment.

Massive labor? Modern day express exteriors are not the full serve model from the 1980’s. Many will have 2-3 attendants on site at peak hours.

Not all operators even flip conveyor chains - it can extend life, but only if all other preventative maintenance has been done.

And if you do flip the chain, it is actually cause for celebration - it means you probably just washed 150,000 - 200,000 cars - a good thing.

It’s a tough model to criticize because when it is done well, it is extremely successful. Are they overbuilt? Sure - you bet they are, but there are still locations in high density competition markets that are still turning a major profit. The piece of the pie is smaller, but it is still satisfying.

 

[SuperShine]

Rain out months = monthly membership payments without wear and tear on your equipment.

Massive labor? Modern day express exteriors are not the full serve model from the 1980’s. Many will have 2-3 attendants on site at peak hours.

Not all operators even flip conveyor chains - it can extend life, but only if all other preventative maintenance has been done.

And if you do flip the chain, it is actually cause for celebration - it means you probably just washed 150,000 - 200,000 cars - a good thing.

It’s a tough model to criticize because when it is done well, it is extremely successful. Are they overbuilt? Sure - you bet they are, but there are still locations in high density competition markets that are still turning a major profit. The piece of the pie is smaller, but it is still satisfying.

So what’s the point of your counter argument post? That the express model is profitable? That’s bloody obvious. I was offering suggestions for the OP, who runs a self serve IBA to compete with one. They aren’t all run well and some go under when projections don’t pan out.

Never said it was on par with full serve but express wash labour isn’t anything to scoff about. It’s huge compared to the IBA express model and only climbing higher. I was projecting annual costs of 400-500k in labour for a tunnel project. You need an on site manager, assistant managers and a ton of part time labour and always hiring for when they leave you in a lurch. It’s an all consuming lifestyle

With minimum wage skyrocketing, non AAA express sites will be tested.
Semi unattended multi IBA express sites can pull major profit. With minimal labour and built in redundancy. Wash clubs aren’t exclusive to express washes either.

How did your post aid the OP?

 

[Roz]

So everyone assumes that you have to offer an unlimited monthly program. We changed our monthly subscription program to a limited program as most customers do not need or have the time to wash their cars more than 5 times in a month. Lost a few people who were high users which was fine by us as they were the only people who complained when we closed the IBA for service. We retained most customers after we explained that we need to stay in business and the alternative is to sell out so someone can convert the place to a Dunkin’ Donuts. Unfortunately Everwash does not permit such controls but the ICS and Hamilton systems do. Revenue went up after the change. I would like to the revenue/expense/profit numbers for a tunnel monthly program as I don’t see how it works unless your average use level is in the 2s which is rare.