views on iba life expectancy

[simone]

Just thought I would put this up to get opinions on the expected life of a well maintained Touchfree. Mine is a 5 year old wizard 2.0 it is well maintained ,averaging 20,000 washes per year and going great and very popular with customers. No good asking local distributors as they may be a little biased(Ha Ha ).Maybe some long term operators would like to chip in with their experiences.
Regards Simone

 

[PEI]

Your distributor would probably tell you that the expected life of an iba is 7 years. Realistically, if the equipment is well maintained then it is really a factor of the number of cars washed. I have seen iba's that ran for 20 years with proper maintenance. Eventually, however, the stainless wears out and has to be replaced.

The real question for replacement of a well maintained machine is when does the cost of repairs and maintenance become too expensive. As they age iba's take more in parts and have more downtime they also can create the appearance to your customers that they are old. This last point can be remedied by updating their looks every few years.

 

[robert roman]

“….put this up to get opinions on the expected life of a well maintained Touchfree.”

How long a carwash system is useful to the business depends on functional and technical obsolescence. How long a piece of equipment will actually last is another question.

Useful expected life for carwash systems in most personal property manuals is 15 years whereas computer-integrated machinery (in-bay) and computerized machinery (POS) are seven years.

On the other hand, PC’s, software, smart phone, etc. is three years.

Consider in-bay at gasoline sites. Average is 14,500 washes a year.

Typically, machine needs minor overhaul 4 to 5 years, then is replaced at 8 to 10 years when building gets skin package (renovated).

Could they go longer? Yes, many retailers did after recession and volumes and average revenue suffered greatly.

Based on these assumptions, normal maintenance and average of 20,000 washes a year, useful expected life would be about 11 years instead of 15.

Conversely, if in-bay is washing less, say, 9,000 or 10,000 cars a year, expected life would be greater.

So, it’s possible to have situation where machine is functional (still capable of doing the work) but technically obsolete.

Technical obsolescence occurs when a new product or technology supersedes the old and it becomes preferred to use the new technology in place of the old.

For example, 3-second credit card processing versus 30-second, foam instead of soft-cloth, hot wax instead of triple foam, customer loyalty program instead of coupons or tokens, and so forth.

 

[Stuart]

I agree with the above responses. I have a very good IBA which will have washed at least 18500 this year. It does have lots of idle time.

But it is old - 30 years this February - old technology, looks old, uses tons of water. I am looking to replace soon hoping to increase count and profit margin with new features and new look.

 

[soonermajic]

20,000 washes/yr...dude, you're killin it! Congrats on the great business!

 

[mrfixit]

My ryko is going on 12yrs old. Right now it is working better than new! If your an owner operator it takes years to know how to solve each problem, and reverse engineer to cure many of the common problems. I have 180,000 on my machine. No major repairs much over a grand. Small maintenance items. I do the work so that makes a big difference in cost..

No signs of stopping yet we will take it to 250,000 for sure.. With repaiars it would go 500 I believe. New machine = 100grand plus, or a couple grand a year for repairs. Once you know the machine, fixes can be quick and down time minimized. We currently, in the last year, had the lowest down time of any year... A brand new machine will be in the maintenance stages by the second or third year.. That's after the bugs are worked out.. So you only get a few years break.

The way I see it new touch less machines aren't a whole lot different than mine, in fact they still sell basically the same machine. Sure there are some newer things like double arms or different designs for speed and improved designs, but that's for when your ready to spend and upgrade. Many things can be retro fitted to a machine to upgrade it for a fraction of a new machine.

Depends on if you want to spend money... or work..
.
An automatic is really not much different than a car along these lines.

 

[rph9168]

I think mrfixit has hit on the right formula. Almost any unit will last longer and perform better with good preventative maintenance and making correct repairs when needed. Operators that experience a lot of problems are usually those that wait to fix things until the unit stops working or those that make piecemeal repairs just to stay open. I was involved in an oil company program where we supplied chemicals to 265 washes around the country. What I found interesting that the same brand and type auto in one location would be operating with minimal problems while an identical one in another location was constantly breaking down. Almost always the problem was that the first unit was getting good preventative maintenance while the second only received attention when it stopped working.