Which Vacuum's and Revenue

[JonKush]

Which Vacuum's should I be looking at? I am in the prosses of adding on a IBA to my existing Quick Lube. I purchased the machine and now looking at which Vac's to add. I want to install 2 at my site. I was thinking a combo Air/Vac and a Fragrance/Vac. I looked in to JE Adams and like there machines but I know there are lots of others out there. What is a realistic out look on revenue per month out of these machines ? What kind of maintenance would I be looking at besides cleaning them out and collecting the money ? Any help would be great.

Thanks in advance,
Jon

 

[MEP001]

I was thinking a combo Air/Vac and a Fragrance/Vac.

Does your shop check the air in tires? Is there a convenience store nearby that has a coin-operated air machine? People don't usually look to a car wash for tire air, and even less to a vacuum that also has air.

What is a realistic out look on revenue per month out of these machines ?

At a standalone IBA with a quick lube? Usually poor. If you're seriously considering vacs, don't consider them for profit as much as for customer convenience. IBA users tend to not want to get out of their car for further cleaning.

What kind of maintenance would I be looking at besides cleaning them out and collecting the money ?

That depends mostly on the machine, but it's usually pretty minimal.

Instead of two vacs to start with, have you considered one multi-use vac with fragrance and shampoo, with room to expand? These units don't cost a lot more than a single fragrance/vac and give the customer the opportunity to spend more without having to move to a different machine. Perhaps a multi-use vac and a standard vac to start so you can gauge the need for a second, much more expensive vac that you can later add and sell the standard one.

 

[smokun]

Make Transactions Easier

Given the volumes of research information, it makes good sense to include a credit card acceptor with any self-serve purchase. It could significantly increase sales dollar amount. Make it easy for customers to spend more money... and bank on impulse buying.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!


-Steve

 

[bigleo48]

Josh,

I like the Fragramatics brand and would install two shampoo/vac combos.

As far as air goes, I would just build my own if you have a compressor. and mount a coin box to a wall somewhere and charge a nominal fee.

I would also consider installing a separate fragrance machine.

The reason behind not having everything in one machine is that when it is in use (or somebody parks in your vac location or just messing around with their car), it can't be used. Plus individual machines get far more attention IHMO.

I don't completely agree with Mep (usually I do) about air machines. The one I made myself paid for itself in about 10 months and I'm a wash only property. I decided to build it after getting so many people driving on the property looking for one. There is a free machine down the street at a gas bar, but it always seems out of service.

Big

 

[JonKush]

I do get alot of customers that ask about where they can vacuum there car as well as where the closest car wash is. I will be the only Car Wash on my strip. Closest wash either way is 4 to 5 miles and they are not on the same road as me. I have 55,000 cars pass me a day at 45mph. I forgot to mention I will also have a detailer working as well. The Vac's are more for after the lube is closed but I still get alot of people asking about vacuuming there whole car which we dont do in the lube. We just do the driver front.
We do check air when they do a service but I am looking at when we are closed and when the people dont do a service. Some times we are to busy to check tires for some one when the lube has lines out the door. I know its not going to make me a fortune but it should generate some kind of revenue.
Thank for the quick reply.
Jon

 

[Earl Weiss]

With one IBA I would not install 2 Shampoo amd Vac Combos. If you are goinf with 2 combos I would suggest one Shampoo and Vac and One Frag n Vac. CC acceptors are good, but I would reccomend Bill acceptors as well.

I have my 2 Combos Shampoo and Vac and Frag and Vac facing each other with about a 3 foot space in between. Cars park on both sides of the Islands and can access either unit from either side. The tire air machine is mounted on the approach side and can be accessed by either side as well.

 

[JonKush]

What brand of Vacuum's should I consider ? Is JE Adams good? What others ?

 

[Earl Weiss]

I have the Coleman units. Some for as long as 15 years now. I am happy with appearance and function as well as dependability, although I modified the visual on the Fresh N Vac for about $25.00.

 

[mjc3333]

which vac's to buy?

What brand of Vacuum's should I consider ? Is JE Adams good? What others ?

I just purchased 22 JE Adams Vacs for my SS wash. They are "stand alone" units vac only. I looked into the combo units for at least 3-5 years and do agree about possibly having too much on one unit for the customer to comprehend. My one location is only 1/4 mile from a muti IBA stand alone site. The distributor must have LOVED this guy, the most expensive of everything! This site consists of 3 IBA's all touchless, 5 muti unit combo vacs and 1 rug beater. All of the vacs are 5 or 6 functions in one. After investing over $1 mil in this site, I guess spending $30k + on 5 vacs seemed pretty cheap. I have NEVER seen all the vacs being used at once, even on this busiest "spring" day. To me it was money in the distributor's pocket not in the owners best interest. I would stick to either single units for cost savings (IBA customers do not use the "extra" outside devices as do SS customers), or a dual unit vac/frag or vac/shamp. I also agree that having a stand alone frag, and or shamp, or air would be better for the customer. Once some plants thenselves at the combo unit, no one else can use the other functions. Most people use the vac portion of the multi units, especially at a stand alone IBA site. Put in regular vacs and maybe an air machine, frag machine, and or shamp machine. Once you buy the muti unit you cannot subtract anything. If you start with vacs only, you can always add other units later.