Any carwash owners?

[lendaddy]

Just curious if anyone here owns/operates a semi automated (track style) wash.

We are building some prototype stainless"spray arches" for one down the road and I was amazed at what they pay for this stuff normally.

[Dantilla]

I was asked to invest in carwashes. Pretty profitable business.
I learned a ton about them when I was considering it. Great education.

I now won't go to the one closest to me. There is a much higher quality location across town from me. Does a great job, and costs less than the poor one.

In the end, I decided to stick with what I know best, and pass on running a car wash business.

One thing I learned: Stay away from "Touchless" carwashes.

[Dottore]

Originally posted by Dantilla

One thing I learned: Stay away from "Touchless" carwashes.

Why is that?

[Rick Lee]

I know a car wash owner and he makes HUGE money. He's a PCA guy here. Don't know if he's on Pelican. But he has nice Porsches and is a track rat. He told me he sometimes can get 1000 cars through in one day. Not bad at about $14 per car.

[lendaddy]

Yea, I know the guy that runs the one I'm dealing with as well and yea there's some serious dough in it if you do it right. Best I can tell is:

Don't gouge on gas, use it as a magnet for your store/wash.

Only hot young guys running the wash.

Only hot young girls running the counter.

Not to mention the gazillion coupon games and cash "benefits".

[turbo6bar]

Dantilla, why avoid the touchless? I found two for sale. One has self-service bays and one automatic/touchless bay. The other carwash is but a single touchless unit in a greenhouse-type structure.
jurgen

[Super_Dave_D]

My brother owns a full service wash in Virginia. They have 4 SS bays, a full service wash (like carpool), and a oil change operation (like Jiffy lube). They even have an automated waxing machine that buffs off this spray on wax. I was pretty skeptical at first but it truely an amazing piece of equipment. He has been kicking ass in his area for 5 years now.

[Dantilla]

Most touchless carwashes use harsh chemicals that will turn bright trim cloudy after repeated exposure. Very hard on glass, plastic, paint, just about everything cars are made out of.

It's the only way to get a car looking clean without touching it.

On the other hand, I was pleasently suprised how soft the blue brushes are in the tunnels of express washes, and that they are constantly being rinsed.

You are more likely to scratch your paint washing the car on your driveway with a bucket and rag/sponge than in a properly set up express wash.

[alf]

Gas stations with car washes and c-stores are excellent absentee business. I set several up some years ago for a couple of my clients. All you need the right piece of land to put it on, the gas station franchise takes care of the rest.

[austin552]

Place up the street charges $75 to do it all. There is always a line waiting. They must be making a killing. I just do ours at home.

[VINMAN]

Originally posted by austin552
Place up the street charges $75 to do it all.
I just do ours at home.

$75?? thats nuts. Besides, no self respecting man lets another man wash his car ( or cut his grass). To me thats the equivalent letting someone do your wife!

[cstreit]

Wow.. $75...

The problem I've seen with the "touch" washes is that on my truck (I get freebees with fillups) it misses at least 3-4 square feet...

[Dantilla]

Originally posted by cstreit
The problem I've seen with the "touch" washes is that on my truck (I get freebees with fillups) it misses at least 3-4 square feet...

Go find a better one.

Is this the little single-bay where the machinery moves back and forth, one car at a time? They usually do a bad job, and are very slow.

Operators of an express wash don't consider those to be any competition at all. If two or three cars are waiting, nobody else will line up because it will be a half-hour wait.

[Tim Hancock]

Originally posted by VINMAN
$75?? thats nuts. Besides, no self respecting man lets another man wash his car ( or cut his grass). To me thats the equivalent letting someone do your wife!

+1

[therotman]

Originally posted by lendaddy


Only hot young guys running the wash.

Only hot young girls running the counter.

Wow- car washes must be different in other parts of the US,
unless you consider overweight 40 year old mexican men to be "hot" and "young"

[lendaddy]

Originally posted by therotman
Wow- car washes must be different in other parts of the US,
unless you consider overweight 40 year old mexican men to be "hot" and "young"

LOL, yep very different. They employ Highschool kids and those just out of school to run the wash and counter. It is a very big part of their draw. All the hausfraus enjoy watching sweaty Billy and Johnny brush the debris off her windshield with a soapy brush and the guys enjoy chatting up the whores at the counter when they get their morning coffee.

Sex sells.

[NICKG]

there is a topless one by me!!!

[Dantilla]

Originally posted by NICKG
there is a topless one by me!!!

The hot young guys, the hot young girls, or the overweight 40 year old?

[therotman]

Originally posted by Dantilla
The hot young guys, the hot young girls, or the overweight 40 year old?

I wonder too-I've never seen a car wash employee that anyone would want to see topless.

[austin552]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7632211729087286881