Something NEW??

[packerscw]

So today as being a self serve car washer, As business is not as great as it has been in the past, As water rates and sewer rates keep flying through the roof, and how people just dont have as much money as they used to..

What can we do as wash owners to try and bring in more business? What kind of new vendor items, new services (air pump, windshield wash vendor, pop machines, ext.) that we can bring in? New specials that we can run? Just plain new ideas?

Right now you can only cut cost by so much by (updating boilers, changing light bulbs to CFL, or eliminating weep by using something like polar freeze guard, or by raising price)

Just what are some peoples ideas to try and bring the self serve car wash back near what it used to be?

Thanks in advance

 

[Earl Weiss]

Put in air pump a while ago. As well as Shampoo machine. Mr. Hoffman put a link to a video where he added a compressed air function for customers to blow off car.

Someone once said to me that you shouldn have as many "Toys" for customers to play with as possible. Of course somethings are easier to do from the initial setup as opposed to adding later. Ease of payment is one item meaning Bill acceptors and credit card acceptors in bays if ROI warrants. Bill acceptors are easy. Credit card perhaps harder due to the need to run lines and transmit data. Wireless option looks like it's almost here.

 

[2Biz]

When we bought our wash, it had a single "Pepsi" machine that was owned by Pepsi. It was a 20oz bottle machine and as everyone knows, you have to buy the 20oz bottles directly from Pepsi since you can't buy them in bulk from a store. They charged us $24-$25 a case delivered to the wash...

It didn't take me long to do the math to see we were pi$$ing in the wind! Long story short, bought 2 new machines, one to vend cans and one to vend 24oz bottles. I can buy 24oz bottles at Kroger for less than half what Pepsi was charging for the 20oz bottles.

We now make payments on 2 machines and do enough volumn to pay for the machines and add more $$$ to the bottm line than before. Once the machines are paid for, well you get the drift...We can also vend what we want now....Pepsi, Coke, energy drinks, water, etc...Whatever we want...

Sometimes its like a drive thru at the CW...But people ARE stopping in, if only to buy a pop!

 

[Whale of a Wash]

One of the best investments for self serve i have made is buying 5 shurvrends.
The refrigerated vendor sells and sells. The machine sells about 30 items and 14 soda selections. I have a selection of sodas that is better than any vendor in town.
I have been buying a few led6 timers and the options for Bonus time for the big spenders may be another way to bring in more $$. In connection with the new timers i have installed some of the cryptopay cc readers, and this could bring bigger sales $$ and the convenience for the kids that don't carry cash.
Another green aspect i have been exploring is a 96% efficient boiler for floor heat, and coupled with an indirect water heater to provide hot wash water at a high efficiency compared to the 50-60% eff. Palomas.
One last thing is that two years ago switched to $1 high security tokens and i think they have been great for business, and customer loyalty and spending more, also i give bonus tokens , so they use larger bills when buying them. I get most complaints from people that want quarters for laundry--Biggest bonus- they don't clean out all the change from changer!!

 

[robert roman]

Unlike some exterior express conveyor operators that are convinced the best way to make money is to give the farm away, I suggest you focus on adding things that actually have the ability and capacity to generate sales dollars.

While some people may have less discretionary income to spend, everyone still likes to eat.

Recent surveys indicate that 70% of convenience store shoppers buy candy, gum and mints or canned/bottled drinks followed by chips/other salty snacks (61%) and dispensed beverages (49% coffee/hot beverages and 48% fountain drinks).

Another good idea for a professional carwash is to provide additional car-care services such as assisted-services.

I have a client that added “two” easy to implement assisted-services to the menu for his exterior express conveyor carwash. These two services raised his average revenue by over $2.00 a car, with only a slight increase in labor burden. Either one of these assisted-services can be added to a self-service wash.