What is your chemical cost per car.

[GoBuckeyes]

Has anyone figured out their chemical cost per car lately? Presoaks, Waxes and/or Total vehicle protectant. Haven't been very diligent with it lately but cost seems to be on the rise. Just ordered some graduated cylinders so I can look into.

 

[rph9168]

Here is a simple Volumetric procedure to get a cost per car.

Equipment Needed: Metric calibrated beaker or container (capable of holding at least 500 milliliters), siphon equipment (siphon pump or food baster) and hand held calculator.
Procedure
1. Fill volumetric container with solution from the drum or pail.
2. Write down starting amount in the container.
3. Place pick up tube from chemical dispenser into the container as far down as
it will go.
4. Wash at least 5 vehicles.
5. Remove pick up tube.
6. Record the amount left in the container and subtract it from the starting
amount.
7. Divide the amount used by the number of vehicles washed.
8. Divide the average amount used by 30 to convert to ounces.
9. Divide the selling price per gallon by 128 to calculate the cost per ounce.
10. Multiply the cost per ounce by the average amount used in a wash.

Try to make sure that the vehicles washed are not all the same (all pick ups, SUV's, compacts etc) so the results are not skewed.
To obtain costs for a self service run the chemical for 30 seconds and double the results to get cost per minute.

 

[HCW]

Although not the most accurate, but we write down the date we open a new bucket of product and when it's close to empty, we check car counts on unitec. Again, it is not very accurate since the lowest package uses less then the top one BUT it's close enough for us.

 

[GoBuckeyes]

Thanks for the replies guys. Maybe, I wasn't clear with my question, I understand how to calculate cost per car. What I was looking for is what other operators cost per car is. If my memory serves me right I think the last time I did it I was around $0.80-$0.85 a car. That was not done volumetricly, rather just a years soap expense divided by annual car count which has lots room for error since I didn't account for inventory. The reason I want to know is to see if I'm paying too much or if I'm in the right ballpark.

 

[tdlconceptsllc]

My cost per car on my laser is
$14 wash = 0.96 3 passes of soap
$12 wash = 0.70
$10 wash = 0.50
$6 wash = 0.36

My top two washes are Lo Pressure carnuba wax followed with totalsheild on top wash and a performance clear coat on the rest except the $6. My cost per car is actually cheaper than that because I get a discount that's list price cost per car. We measure by the milliliters with the scientific beakers. Your soap guy should give you a accurate cost per car like that you may have to stay on him but he should and titrate. Hope this helps. This breakdown was done in May 2016.