Vending Machines at car wash sites

[josephfaze]

are here any people who have vending machines at their spots? I needed to ask a few questions.

 

[MudMoney]

ok,we are waiting for your questions.

 

[Randy]

I can only think of one car wash in my area that doesn't have any vending machines. He's all cashless and I believe if he had any vending machines they would rip them to pieces.

 

[chip@laurel]

Cashless vending machines used to be rarely ordered, now it is the biggest trend we see. I've yet to hear anyone say it was a mistake to not accept coins.

 

[josephfaze]

ok,we are waiting for your questions.

I wanted to know if it would be a safe investment to make and how much are people earning out of it.

 

[ShinePro]

Well
I personally have never had any damage -as far a safe
Smart move?
Personally that is debatable
At one site it does ok. Had to replace 25 yr old one with a brand new unit
Not sure I ll ever make back what I spent on the unit.
Some of my Customers depend on it though!
At other site 10,000 cars a year
Storm took it out electronically last month

Getting parts that I might be able to get return on it again by the end of the decade.

 

[MudMoney]

So what are you looking at vending ? Car wash detail products or soda, chips etc.

 

[Waxman]

I bought a used vending machine from Uncle Sam back in the day. It's a sensit 2 made by AMS. It sells car wash products and cold drinks. It does OK and makes a small amount of profit. Because I bought the machine used for $2500 it has paid itself off by now.

I think vending is some thing that the customers expect. If you have a good supply of products and keep it well stocked and have a nice variety that the customers want it can set your location apart from your competitors. that's the main thing that's important to me. I like having all the little extras that my competitors don't seem to care about. That way you can create some loyalty with your customers and get the repeat business that is critical to financial stability of your car wash business.

 

[Greg Pack]

I'm no longer a fan of vending. It's the lowest grossing piece of equipment and the net is a fraction of a single vacuum. I don't think vending will make or break any site. My vending machine probably grosses 200-300 a Month at one site, less than that at another. Just not worth the hassle. Won't replace my ancient D&H machine when it dies.

 

[Axxlrod]

I'm no longer a fan of vending. It's the lowest grossing piece of equipment and the net is a fraction of a single vacuum. I don't think vending will make or break any site. My vending machine probably grosses 200-300 a Month at one site, less than that at another. Just not worth the hassle. Won't replace my ancient D&H machine when it dies.

Same.

I have a older D&S 5 column vendor that they don't make/support anymore. When it dies, I won't replace it. The hassle isn't worth the reward.

 

[New Washdog]

We have a small vending machine selling car care products as a customer service. After accounting for parts/maintenance and labor to maintain it just about breaks even.

 

[Here2Wash]

Hi,
I love my vending machines I have 3 and am looking to get more as it is such easy money and there are constantly machines on facebook. This year I put a few hours into my marketing and have boosted sales by over 80%!

I currently have
(2) 3-Column 899-MAX they never jam. I looked into getting a cryptopay swiper, yet the upgrade kit is $300+ and you cannot make the product more expensive to cover transaction fees.
(1) Armour All Tire Foam Cans

I use the machines to pay down bills. Getting wifi paid for by a machine that just sits on the wall and collects money is nice and now hoping to pay off the electric as well.

I sell the typical car wash product
+best selling little tree black ice
+armour all wipe
+wet towel
+dash wipes
+then snacks (people will come to the wash just for snacks)

 

[Randy]

We sell a lot of vending from our old Laurel vendors.
We sell everything for a $1.
Armorall pads
Blue paper towels - we sell the VK2600
Black Ice trees
America "Stars and Stripe"
Cotton Candy
Cherry Blossom
New Car
Wet towel window wipes - they go fast
White Terry Towel - we buy the terry towels at Costco, they are a much better towel than any of the terry towels from KR. We sell a lot of them.
My wife does the vending so I don't know how much the vending makes. She does the vending 3 days a week.

 

[Shinewash Tech]

Are you talking about the machine that sells food and drinks or the machine for self service car wash?
If it's for unattended self service car wash machine, then I do believe it's a big trend now since it would definately lower the labor cost.
And the payment machine itself is very affordable nowadays. But make sure you buy the ones with software already installed, otherwise, you have to spend quite a lot for the operating software.

 

[soapy]

Average vending in 2023 from the Auto Laundry news survey is $352 per month. I am not a big fan of vending but do it at 2 locations with glass front vendors and I would estimate around $300 per month at each site.

 

[tdlconceptsllc]

I am with Gregs standpoint. But some people will say it can be looked at as a necessary evil. However spending big money on a machine too cutting up a nice wall into the building structure to only do around $300 month gross & keeping up with all the vending items in stock and then having to worrie about vandalism and then the building getting damaged in the process and the machine. It seems not worth it in the long run scheme of things. Also some states require you to pay a seperate Tax on vending items if you get to the gritty. I have done vending and it's done well in the past but is it really worth it on pen and paper.

 

[Randy]

Last month my vending did $565. It takes about 15 minutes 3 times a week to refill the vendors. Is it worth it, it all depends on how you look at it. I consider it to be a lost leader.

 

[Fatboy769]

Last month my vending did $565. It takes about 15 minutes 3 times a week to refill the vendors. Is it worth it, it all depends on how you look at it. I consider it to be a lost leader.

I would guess it all depends on how much of that amount is profit

 

[Randy]

I would guess it all depends on how much of that amount is profit

The margin in vending is pretty small. We pay 10.1% sales tax on everything at the car wash.

 

[Dan kamsickas]

The margin in vending is pretty small. We pay 10.1% sales tax on everything at the car wash.

Ahhhh, the People's Republic of Washington.