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Tunnel Wash Competition

Since 2011 there has not been anytime that a tunnel has not been under construction in my town of 70,000. WE are up to 10 tunnels now and I honestly do not see how any of them make money. My touchless auto wash business has suffered but my Ss business has boomed. I have done the free vacs with a token that also offers a $1 off the next wash and the membership plans. I gave up on the membership plan because we did not have enough members to make it worth while. I always offered free drying towels and that has been a big positive in retaining some Automatic business.
 
Car Wash Man said:
We recently had a tunnel wash come in to our town that we operate it in. I will be honest it is very impressive and can tell there was millions of dollars put in to this wash. They are offering huge discounts in the first six months for customers to sign up with their unlimited plan. First month was $1 washes. First six months is 75 percent off unlimited. I can tell that this had had a huge impact on all the regular carwashes in the town like the one we operate. Our numbers have been down ever since they opened. What have you done to combat when a tunnel moves in to the area that you are operating in? We operate a Kondor KL2 and run premium products and there is always someone on site as the wash is one part of our business. The wash stays very clean for the public.
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This is exactly what we are experiencing and I have been trying to decide how to combat it..

We are a rural town with population of 14,000. My biggest competition was another wash touch free in our downtown area but I have always been the busiest location.
I have a self serve touch free wash with 2 IBA's one is a razor and the other is a PDQ 360 with 3 hand bays on a busy business loop. This Tunnel opened up December 1st and completely crushed my business for the first month with their $1.00 washes and $10 memberships. Business gradually picked up and 6 months in we are still down 50% in sales. I recently let my attendants off and am working the wash myself. This was the year I was planning to completely retire and sell the wash but I don't think I will ever get it sold like this.

I have started running specials on different days to see if that helps out but was considering starting some sort of membership program. Everything I'm reading is discouraging me from doing that.

Im at a loss of what to do
 
AutoSpaMobMO said:
This is exactly what we are experiencing and I have been trying to decide how to combat it..

We are a rural town with population of 14,000. My biggest competition was another wash touch free in our downtown area but I have always been the busiest location.
I have a self serve touch free wash with 2 IBA's one is a razor and the other is a PDQ 360 with 3 hand bays on a busy business loop. This Tunnel opened up December 1st and completely crushed my business for the first month with their $1.00 washes and $10 memberships. Business gradually picked up and 6 months in we are still down 50% in sales. I recently let my attendants off and am working the wash myself. This was the year I was planning to completely retire and sell the wash but I don't think I will ever get it sold like this.

I have started running specials on different days to see if that helps out but was considering starting some sort of membership program. Everything I'm reading is discouraging me from doing that.

Im at a loss of what to do
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I didn’t even want a membership program but did so as soon as I saw the sign for the new wash coming which was almost a year prior. The majority have stayed loyal, all you can do is prepare. Membership has been fine and making a steady stream of income. I had a small bump because of free washes but I’ve gotten back to about normal. 50 percent is scary and sorry to hear that. Wish I had better advice but I would make sure to push you are touchless and differentiate yourself that way. Good luck
 
What is the name
AutoSpaMobMO said:
This is exactly what we are experiencing and I have been trying to decide how to combat it..

We are a rural town with population of 14,000. My biggest competition was another wash touch free in our downtown area but I have always been the busiest location.
I have a self serve touch free wash with 2 IBA's one is a razor and the other is a PDQ 360 with 3 hand bays on a busy business loop. This Tunnel opened up December 1st and completely crushed my business for the first month with their $1.00 washes and $10 memberships. Business gradually picked up and 6 months in we are still down 50% in sales. I recently let my attendants off and am working the wash myself. This was the year I was planning to completely retire and sell the wash but I don't think I will ever get it sold like this.

I have started running specials on different days to see if that helps out but was considering starting some sort of membership program. Everything I'm reading is discouraging me from doing that.

Im at a loss of what to do
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What is the name of the tunnel wash that came in to your town? The promotional pricing is the exact same as the one that moved in to our town.
 
I am at the 3-year point after the opening of a deluxe one 1/2 mile away. Nothing good to say about the experience. Prior to its opening I spent over $100,000 on new equipment & signage and upgrades at my express conveyor. That helped a little and kept me viable.

This summer I am going to free vacs for tunnel customers dispensing tokens, I have yet to try that.
 
traveler17 said:
I didn’t even want a membership program but did so as soon as I saw the sign for the new wash coming which was almost a year prior. The majority have stayed loyal, all you can do is prepare. Membership has been fine and making a steady stream of income. I had a small bump because of free washes but I’ve gotten back to about normal. 50 percent is scary and sorry to hear that. Wish I had better advice but I would make sure to push you are touchless and differentiate yourself that way. Good luck
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That was my idea when they were coming to town. I talked to several people and they all told me it was a bad idea!!
Who knows.
Some of what is happening now is weather related to its hard to differeniate what is what. My overhead is extremely high because of my SBA loan rate is 10.5%!! My loan payment has almost doubled what it was. Just makes it hard to hang in there.
 
Islandwash said:
I am at the 3-year point after the opening of a deluxe one 1/2 mile away. Nothing good to say about the experience. Prior to its opening I spent over $100,000 on new equipment & signage and upgrades at my express conveyor. That helped a little and kept me viable.

This summer I am going to free vacs for tunnel customers dispensing tokens, I have yet to try that.
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Keep us posted on the free vacs. I don’t want to give anything else away!!
 
AutoSpaMobMO said:
That was my idea when they were coming to town. I talked to several people and they all told me it was a bad idea!!
Who knows.
Some of what is happening now is weather related to its hard to differeniate what is what. My overhead is extremely high because of my SBA loan rate is 10.5%!! My loan payment has almost doubled what it was. Just makes it hard to hang in there.
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10.5 !!! Robbery!!
 
The resurgence in interest can be attributed to the dedicated efforts of a salesman stationed at the entry kiosk, which has proven pivotal in reviving attention or sales. A skilled and committed salesman can effectively engage potential customers, offering personalized assistance, answering questions, and guiding them through the initial stages of their visit or purchase process. This personalized approach not only enhances customer experience but also builds trust and rapport, ultimately driving increased traction and sales. Such dedication highlights the importance of frontline personnel in influencing customer decisions and fostering positive outcomes for businesses.
 
I operate two long-bay petit car washes, each located about a mile from the new express tunnel car wash that recently opened in our area.

I’m reaching out to ask if you could share your experience with me. I understand you’ve operated a touch-free automatic car wash in a competitive environment, and I’d love to hear how your business fared after a tunnel car wash opened nearby. Specifically, I’m curious to know whether most of your customers returned to your car wash after the initial novelty of the tunnel wash wore off, and how the tunnel car wash affected your car count after six months of being open.

The tunnel car wash that opened near us has only been in business for two months, and we’re still assessing the impact on our customer traffic. Your insights from your own experience could really help guide my approach moving forward.

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
 
We had this happen to us In December of 2023 a tunnel oppened up in Rural town of !4,000 people. At first it was like why stay open! The first few months were so slow and then it picked up a bit but not enough to help. 6 months in is wasn't getting much better it wasn't until almost the end of their first year that I noticed I was getting more and more customers back. I always had the few loyal customers that never went to the tunnel but it was a struggle for sure. I ended up 2024 being down 33%.
This year so far I have been pleased we are steadily climbing and I have had multiple "old" days and weeks where sales have shocked me.
My health had declined so Im currently trying to sell my wash so hopefully this will help the price but I have it priced way below what it appraised for in May of last year.
 
I had a tunnel open a block away from me last January. I ended 2024 down 20% feels like the soft cloth auto took the biggest hit. I hope to take a look at the numbers and can give a better response in the next couple of weeks.
 
I believe that a Touch Free would be in a slightly better position. The answer is. it depends. Some variables being: market size, saturation of market with carwashes, quality of your site traffic, quality of your carwash, level of community involvement. Finally, the ultimate wild card good carwash weather. Lots of rain and clouds and no snow is hurtful.

A loss of business should be expected, the issue is how much. It is reasonable to assume from 15 % to 30 %. I think a combination of a friction IBA combined with a Touch Free should be in a much better position than conveyor. A traditional Full-service conveyor has strength's but as always, the labor issues
 
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