Warnings You Would Give Me Letting Large Crowds of Youth "Loiter" at the SS?

[Carl]

So my SS has lots of asphalt space in front of the SS bays. Because of Facebook, there's this club of mostly high school aged car enthusiasts who will call a "meet" and tell everyone to meet at my car wash...many do wash but lots who just come to "meet up" and "hang out" don't and sometimes it gets very crowded like once I counted 57 cars just parked there, kids hanging out, doing nothing bad but just basically needing a nice place to gather and socialize.

I tried to work w/ this bunch of super nice kids but when I have customers needing to use the wash, they have complained that sometimes they can't get access or that they just don't like seeing the kids loitering around because they are getting off a tiring shift and they prefer not to "deal w/ it" and it looks "unprofessional".

I just got back from the wash (10:30 pm) politely asking the gathered group again of young car enthusiasts to "please find somewhere else because I need to rest and my customers are going to blow up my cell phone possibly again tonight and I just can't have that disturbance at my age so late at night!" They were respectful and departed politely. Honestly...I kind of feel bad that I kicked them out now so...

Was wanting you guys to throw out facts as to why this is not a good idea to let people hang out at the car wash even if they aren't doing anything illegal or wrong. They are basically just taking up so much space there it makes me worried of an accident. For example, my vacuum area of 8 vacuums was surrounded by parked cars w/ the kids just hanging out w/ their super expensive sports cars all shined (I'd say about 25% of them will use the wash and the other 75% just come to "gather") and some even bring lawn chairs, LOL!!.

Here's my quick list: 1) Fleet customers like Krispy Kreme aren't gonna want to navigate through all those kids and their cars just parked everywhere, 2) what if a departing customer from a touchfree auto bay has an accident w/ one of these kids on his way out?...I'll bet I can somehow get roped into liability somehow perhaps?, 3) this could grow to even bigger a crowd and possibly not-so-nice kids make there way into this "scene" and then the whole complexion of these "friendly large gatherings" takes a turn for the worse.

What warnings can you add to these or would you instead be someone to try and "cater" to these kids because after all, many of them are spending lots of money washing whenever they do come by or...NO WAY?!!...you nip this in the bud and recommend an owner make sure that all should disperse after a reasonable amount of time and you never condone people "hanging out at your wash w/ friends" no matter how decent the kids are? (and if that's your attitude, please share why?)

Just curious how you guys would handle such a scenario especially those of you w/ decades of experience who better know what trouble I could find myself in if I never did intercede and just let them "hang out" at will. Thanks in advance for your replies. ~ Carl

 

[Greg_T]

Carl, I tend to agree that politely getting the crowd to move on is the best approach. By all means let them know that they are welcome to use the wash, but that it can't be a "meeting place". My guess would be that with a consistent approach to moving them on, they will soon find somewhere else to congregate.

 

[KleanRide]

Carl, I have this exact same scenario at my wash, though a smaller crowd. They're nice kids that never make a mess or vandalize, and they all have nice cars that they like to keep clean. I've been able to keep it under control by telling them they are welcomed to gather as long as they 1) are washing or using the vac/drying areas 2) not blocking any drives, bays or vac islands from other paying customers.

So far its worked well and it helps that they usually come by on Tuesday evenings from about 8-9 pm when the wash isn't busy. From their group, a custom pickup truck group has also formed and they're being respectful too. All in I'm guessing they spend $70-80 each time they come by.

To this point they haven't given me a reason to run them off and, honestly, I wish more of my adults behaved as well as these kids.

 

[Randy]

We’ve had the same problem with kids using the car wash as a meeting point, most of them are rude little bastards. They very seldom ever spent any money. We had to put up signs “NO LOITERING” and had to get the police involved to move them on. Now when the police drive by at night and see a bunch of kids at the car wash loitering they ask them to leave. The ones that really pi$$ me off are the ones who will park in the bay for hours during the day, texting, sleeping etc. If they leave a car at the car wash we tow it right away. The last one was parked in a bay with a note on saying they’d be back later to get it. We towed it, 2 days later they came back to get there car.

 

[sparkey]

Tell them due to Covid you can't have large crowds.

 

[mjwalsh]

Carl, I have this exact same scenario at my wash, though a smaller crowd. They're nice kids that never make a mess or vandalize, and they all have nice cars that they like to keep clean. I've been able to keep it under control by telling them they are welcomed to gather as long as they 1) are washing or using the vac/drying areas 2) not blocking any drives, bays or vac islands from other paying customers.

So far its worked well and it helps that they usually come by on Tuesday evenings from about 8-9 pm when the wash isn't busy. From their group, a custom pickup truck group has also formed and they're being respectful too. All in I'm guessing they spend $70-80 each time they come by.

To this point they haven't given me a reason to run them off and, honestly, I wish more of my adults behaved as well as these kids.

There is a small fast food place about a block from us that have had for over 20 years during summer months an every Wednesday night gathering of a local "pioneer 'buggy n blues' car club". It works out well for the very large parking fast food restuarant & actually we get some benefit too.

As far as loitering of too many cars for our lot ... most vehicle drivers people kind of automatically take the cue that space is needed to be freed up.

Now when the "in the parking lot" customers or potential customers have vulgar music obnoxiously turned up &/or there are non vehicle gatherings of homeless .... that is a different ballgame that needs to nipped in the bud before it gets out of hand!

Anybody else have some "younger more disrespectful of small business" police officers unnecessarily block your entrance for much longer than needed (30 minutes) after pulling over an "in warrant" individual etc???!!! Some of those younger officers appear to have been recruited from our neighboring much more liberal state ... Minnesota ... not that I want to jump to conclusions & overly generalize though.

 

[STXCW]

#3 is the reason why you should tell them to leave and get the PD involved. Then it becomes a Wednesday hang out for the low riders, Thursday for the high school kids and Fridays for all the lifted trucks in the county. They will cost you business from the regulars and will later start making burn outs and fights will occur as the groups begin to show up on the same days. Been there done that and have the figure 8 burn marks in the concrete as proof.

 

[soapy]

Similar situation just happened in our town by another car wash. Bad stuff started to happen slowly like kids doing burnouts on the street and blocking entrances to businesses. Finally it got really out of hand and the police had to come in arrest a few of them. The organizer said it was just a few bad actors, but that is all it takes.

 

[Carl]

Thanks for all the replies! The cooler weather kind of put a damper on the young people even wanting to congregate out here as often and in as huge of numbers so all's okay until next summer. Thanks! - Carl

 

[rubberduckycarwash]

I had the same thing happen at my car wash locations. There were 50 - 60 vehicles that filled my car wash. The kids were for the most part polite when I would driver through. I hated to make them leave because there were a number of them that would wash their cars, but then block all of the bays. I allowed this for about 3 months and noticed by sales dropping significantly. A customer stopped me after about 3 months of letting the kids hang out, and he told me that he was no longer using my car wash due to the kids. He and many of his friends worked third shift and would use my car wash at night. He stated on 2 different incidents the kids were cussing, playing loud music, and then picking fights with my customers when they asked the kids to move out of the bays and quit using the foul language. After the first complaint, I received about 10 other complaints. I then was contacted by law enforcement in reference to a fight that occurred on my property between kids that were hanging out and the allegation of one of the kids pulling a gun on another. I also found out from an attorney that should an incident happen causing injury involving the kids hanging out, I could be sued for being liable because I allowed the kids to hang out. I then began running the kids off and having law enforcement to go through and trespass anyone that was just hanging out. It took about a month to get back under control but I don't have any issues with kids hanging out now and have seen a significant increase in profits.

 

[Earl Weiss]

As to the Warning "FREE RIDE IN A POLICE CAR" for loitering - violating city code 1234. Remaining on premises for 10 minutes after washing vehicle is prohibited loitering. . Violators cars will be confiscated.

 

[Waxman]

What do you do with the violators once you confiscate them? lock them in your ER until police arrive?

 

[Earl Weiss]

Some ordinances indicate violations involving vehicles will result in having the vehicle impounded.

 

[Waxman]

Some ordinances indicate violations involving vehicles will result in having the vehicle impounded.

OOOOHHHH. I didn't read it right; I thought you wrote violators are confiscated.

 

[mjwalsh]

As to the Warning "FREE RIDE IN A POLICE CAR" for loitering - violating city code 1234. Remaining on premises for 10 minutes after washing vehicle is prohibited loitering. . Violators cars will be confiscated.

Earl's tow away scenario reminds me of awhile back. My main long term help ... Mark ... had a rascal get belligerent with his vehicle by one of our vacs. One of Mark's Tow Truck buddies was directly across the street in the Lucky's Bar parking lot. Long story short ... "tow away" was emphasized within their somewhat volatile exchange ... the goofball thought that Mark was bluffing. Mark loud enough for him & others to hear via cell phone ... had his friend in the clearly labeled TOW TRUCK wave back. The aggravating perp immediately jumped in his vehicle & took off like a "bat out of hell"!

 

[mmurra]

My suggestion: You need to end the gatherings. Consider making a plan and sticking to it. I would probably hire a security firm to prevent no customer congregation on the location, providing an advanced notice with explanation. You see, the customers who might use the wash will drive by and see that the facility is a "hangout" and will find somewhere else to patronize. Every issue ignored becomes a bigger issue later!