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Wash For Sale, Effectiveness of Ad in Car Wash Magazine

bigleo48

bigleo48

Active member
all,

I have quietly put my car wash up for sale. I have not enlisted a commercial realtor (so far) and doing it 'myself' at this point.

One opportunity I have is to run an ad in our national car wash magazine. It would be the "annual car wash show edition" and so would get a fair bit of attention. however the ad is $1200 for a quarter page (smallest and cheapest ad).

i understand that its a crap shoot, but do any of you have any comments as to the effectiveness of this type of ad?
 
I would try regional magazines maybe? Unless your giving your place away? Owners usually are within a couple hours max of a location. Also I know on commercial properties an agent does take a huge percent. So I might try craigslist and your own large sign? We sold two houses ourself and paid a fee to insert it into mls.... That might be an option?
 
I would not use national advertising for single local business.

It’s still a buyer’s market for most types of carwash and marketing period is running well beyond 12 months.

Today, even benchmark performance doesn’t fetch a lot for a self-serve. If possible, I would consider marketing the property as a venture opportunity based on upside potential.

This way you could pitch the property in the business opportunity section of newspaper, online, regional association, etc. before resorting to agents.
 
I dont have any direct experience with selling a wash, but IMO your best bet is a large sign out front advertising it for sale. SSCWs are almost all locally owned, so I would not advertise nationally.
 
As others have said I would try to advertise locally. You might also put out feelers to other operators in the area. Sometimes individuals that already own washes look to expand and might be interested. If you are willing to sit on it for a while those activities might work. If you want a quicker sale you could talk to a commercial broker but not sign anything. They may come up with a buyer. Then you could negotiate commissions and terms and sign a 24 hour agreement. That way you are only committed if there is a sale and still are free to sell on your own.
 
All,

I have already posted it online and talked to a couple of local operators that I know. One made me an offer, but because he was building another wash at the time, he could not get the funding to pay what I considered my minimum.

Since the wash is in a small city, I think the likeliest buyer may be local. So perhaps a sign out front or a local broker (with no commitment) is the key. I will consider both options. Thanks for replies!
 
I would just not have any hopes of selling it through on agent. Talking to distributors would be more useful I would think? But in Canada I don't really know how our advice could help that much? :) Aren't you in Canada? :)
 
cwguy,

I have spoken to some distributors, but I get almost all my stuff from KR...and yes I'm in Canada.

One of the issues I am seeing is that many don't seem to have enough skills to take it all on. Mechanical, electrical, plumbing,controls, computers, etc. I am offering to stay on for up to a year and I have an employee who has been with us for 5 years and hierarchy of support from different vendors and the company who originally installed everything. Still, it frighten many...even if I downplay it.
 
I know what your talking about. Sometimes if you do deal with local distributors they can really help you with a sale. They make small talk all day with people in the field.

You offering to help for a year could also scare people.... because that shows they have to have help for a year! LOL :) I know your being nice though.... I would do the same thing. :) Just saying.

Since Buzzie8 offered.... try and steal some info from him. :) It's just really hard to judge a radically different market like another country. :)


I have always told people the path I took to get into the car wash industry. I use to be a computer programmer now I run two car washes..... anyone can do this! :)
 
IMOP. I have had good luck on starting out slow and be patience. Start out slow and put out your goal. Don't be afraid to let realtors know. But don't seem so excited or have to sell or want sell. The word will travel and than you can decided when,who,how,why and the terms of meeting your goal.

Good Luck
 
I don't have the slightest interest in a SS carwash 100 miles from me, much less 1000. I don't care how good the deal is. Twenty years ago there were some efforts to build regional/national SS chains. Not so much anymore. My advice would be to spend your advertising dollars locally. A generic business for sale site like bizbuysell.com or a investor site like loopnet.com where location search parameters can be entered might be worth a try though.

Bottom line, when you get ready to sell, the first logical step is every operator within operating distance, then the local distributors/salesmen. However, you need to offer them a decent referral fee (maybe 5K?)in some form to get any activity.

But don't keep the carwash being available for purchase a secret. Your potential buyer might be a current customer.
 
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cfcw...agreed. I remember looking for a particular boat a while back. Drove all over hells half-acre trying to find one. Then I visited the marina closest to me, he had one he was keeping for himself (so not advertised), but was ok with selling it.
 
If you have a successful wash in a small town word will get around really quickly, at least it did here. I tried to even keep it quiet that I would consider selling mine but a small town is a small town. I've been contacted by a number of eligible buyers and have one in the loan process now. I'd say let the word out and be patient.
 
Jimmy Buffett said:
If you have a successful wash in a small town word will get around really quickly, at least it did here. I tried to even keep it quiet that I would consider selling mine but a small town is a small town. I've been contacted by a number of eligible buyers and have one in the loan process now. I'd say let the word out and be patient.
Click to expand...

I hope it works that way for me. I'm letting the word out as well.
 
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