Vacuum Pricing Inquiry

[GoBuckeyes]

After reading about all the different prices people charge for their conveyor washes and in-bay automatics, I was curious what people are getting for their vacuums? At first I didn't think there would be quite the range, but after thinking about it, some people are giving it away while others are getting a premium.

We haven't changed our vacuum pricing in about 3 years. Currently they are priced at $1 for 3 minutes. Prior to the change, we were $1 for 4 minutes.

I've heard there are east coast operators getting $2 for 4 minutes and have been doing so for some time. I like how they think!

Our self-serve bays are $3 for 3.5 minutes.

What are your vacuums priced at and do you have any plans on changing in the immediate future?

 

[MEP001]

We're at $1/4 minutes and have been since opening 8 years ago. The SS competition is 75¢/3 minutes. An EE opened about two miles away with free vacs, but they haven't hurt our vac income as much as I thought they would.

 

[Fatboy769]

$1/3.5 minutes, may drop time down to 3 minutes. Like Mep, competition is @ .75/3 minutes.

 

[car washing systems inc]

Most of the washes we service are at 1.50/ 4 min

 

[Randy]

Basic vac $2.00 for 4 minutes

Turbo mode $2.00 for 3 minutes

Competition down the road .75 for 5 minutes, there vac’s are pretty sad. I talked to the owner one time about raising his vac prices. I couldn’t believe what he told me, he said that he would have to get an electrician in there to change the timer to raise the prices and then he’d have to get new decals. I told him I’d do it for him and give him the decals, he said he’s think about it and get back to me, that was about 3 years ago, I guess he’s still thinking it over. He’s still at .75 for 5 minutes.

 

[GoBuckeyes]

Randy,
$2 for 4 minutes on your vacs is awesome. What part of the country are you located and what are your bays priced at?

 

[Waxman]

$1/4 minutes. May raise my price this year when I buy 1 more new vac.

 

[dewey9876]

I am a exterior tunnel not self serve. We had been 1.00 for 4 min for 14 years. .75 before that. We purchased brand new vacs with bill acceptors, 3 motors, digital display etc. We are now getting $2.00 for 5 min. Very little push back. Doubled our monthly vac income! We are in New England.

 

[Waxman]

Basic vac $2.00 for 4 minutes

Turbo mode $2.00 for 3 minutes

Competition down the road .75 for 5 minutes, there vac’s are pretty sad. I talked to the owner one time about raising his vac prices. I couldn’t believe what he told me, he said that he would have to get an electrician in there to change the timer to raise the prices and then he’d have to get new decals. I told him I’d do it for him and give him the decals, he said he’s think about it and get back to me, that was about 3 years ago, I guess he’s still thinking it over. He’s still at .75 for 5 minutes.

Will you do it for me Randy? Will you need gas money?

 

[Jeff_L]

I am a exterior tunnel not self serve. We had been 1.00 for 4 min for 14 years. .75 before that. We purchased brand new vacs with bill acceptors, 3 motors, digital display etc. We are now getting $2.00 for 5 min. Very little push back. Doubled our monthly vac income! We are in New England.

I agree with this strategy. I'd have a hard time pushing my vac prices up without offering something new, even if it's a perceived value. The way I would raise my prices is by purchasing a new vac with some more bells and whistles, such as turbo mode, digital display countdown, etc., then I'd raise my price.

Currently I'm .75/3min.

 

[robert roman]

The name of the game is profit maximization and to balance this with opportunity which is determined by where you live.

Here in Florida certain markets are dominated by folks in tank tops, cut-offs and flip-flops making $8.00 an hour who mostly drive beaters. In these markets, vacuums are industrial type and are still priced at $0.75 to $1.00 for 3 or 4 minutes.

In more affluent areas, some owners are using the best vacuums money can buy and are charging $2.00 for vacuums.

 

[2Biz]

We have a 4 bay SS and our vacs are @ .50 cents for 3 minutes. There are 2 other washes in town, both with touchless auto's and their vacs are $1.00...I hardly ever see anybody using their vacs and I feel ours gets used a lot more.

The way I see it, it costs less than a penny to run a vac for 3 minutes. So vacs have the highest profit margin of anything at the wash. If I can draw more people in to use the vacs because of this value, 9 out of ten will use a bay or buy a pop! It makes perfect sense to me to keep the price down on our vacs...

 

[Jeff_L]

...The way I see it, it costs less than a penny to run a vac for 3 minutes...

Are you sure about that cost? Running two to three vac motors for 3 minutes is only costing you that? I'm not challenging, I haven't done the math, I assumed it was costing more than that to run them.

 

[2Biz]

Here's how I calculated the cost. I have 2 motor vacs...9 amps for each motor, 18 amps total. That equates to roughly 1800 watts per hr if used for an hr. A KWH (Kilowatt hour) costs about .10 cents. So basically if one vac ran for 1 hr, it would consume 1800 watts or 1.8 Kilowatts.
One hr would cost roughly .18 cents. If you divide that by 20 (60 min div by 3 min = 20) then the cost for 3 minutes usage is less than a penny...

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong...

 

[JMMUSTANG]

At 2 self servs I have 5 reg. vacs ($1-4min.), 2 air freshener/vac combos, 6 carpet shampoo/vac combos and 1 Mega vac.
The c.s/vac combos have coin and bill acceptors and bonus time available.
I have the Mega Vac priced at $1 for 2 motors for 4 minutes and $1.25 for 3 motors for 3 minutes. It always takes in more than the others.
If I had to do it over I would use only the Mega Vacs with coin and bill acceptors and see if they would add bonus time as an option. If the customer puts in $5 they would get double the time- 40 minutes.

 

[MudMoney]

2 Biz,
I had my electrical supplier figure out per hour what it cost to run a 2 motor vacuum.It was 26 cents per hour,that is a good return on investment.

 

[2Biz]

Thats 1.3 cents for 3 minutes... I wasn't too far off!

 

[Earl Weiss]

FWIW I think cutting the time is problematic. As stated, the cost of the running time is nominal. Having time run out will **** people off. Better to raise the price & time (make a sign "Now more time""). I think 4 minutes is absolute minimum.

Most important along with enough time is that it works well.

 

[Jeff_L]

Thats 1.3 cents for 3 minutes... I wasn't too far off!

Good to know - I've been in the habit of resetting vacuums if it's still running if the person leaves before the time expires. Guess that's the penny pincher in me. No pun intended.