Car Wash Done the Autopian Way

R

RAG

New member
I wanted to call upon the expertise of some fellow Autopian's of what they'd like to see happen at a real car wash. As we all know, car washes scratch the piss out of our cars. My goal is to open a car wash that changes that...I'm working on developing a business plan to help me secure financing. I need your help. What's your idea of an Autopian wash?



Fortunately, cars here in San Diego don't truely get dirty, they more or less get dusty. I was thinking of opening a touchless tunnel flex-serve (people have the option of getting the express exterior and driving away or pulling into a stall at the end and getting a towel dry and vacuum (full-serve)). A true touchless tunnel should work a lot better than those in-bay touchless washes, while able to handle approximately 20 times the volume. I was thinking of doing a regular full-serve hand-wash, but it's anticipated that labor costs and issues are about to hit the fan here. Of course, it would be a first-class operation with micro-fiber towels used exclusively (towels are such a small part of the overall expenses, I've never figured out why they always use thoseabrasive, 20 cent shop towels - stupid). And hopefully the cars will be nearly 100% dry after leaving the tunnel, as I plan to employ 8-12 blowers at the end (got that idea from a guy who uses 12); most use 2 - 4 (again, why skimp here).



Any ideas to ensure it's done right?
 
That sounds like the touchless washes that are already available.



One problem with the hand wash is that people don't want to wait around for an Autopian 2-bucket hand wash and dry. And the other problem is that the employees you hire will undoubtedly do a less-than-Autopian-quality wash.
 
up in CT there is a place called splash.... your car runs through a tunnel like ever other car wash but they have an assembly line of people hand washing your car iwth sheep skin wash mitts... as your car first rolls through soap is applied and then it hits the guys washing your car and is then rinsed... when it comes out it is towel dried the windows are done the dashboards are wiped down etc etc.... its actually the best car wash i have ever seen!!
 
FstAssGlf...That's what 90% of the washes already in my area are...talking to other wash owners across the country (at the recent international car wash convention in Las Vegas), it seems SoCal is the only region of the country like this (dominated by hand wahses). These type of washes (unless done yourself) are really hard on your paint 99% of the time, seriously! So watch out, becuase the wash you think is really great, is probably also really hard on your paint.



Whitmax his is right...their is no way to keep the quality control up - I worked at a hand wash for a while. And just like the 55 other hand washes in our county we scratched the piss out of cars thanks to dirty wash mitts, improper technique, rough towels, etc.



Brad, what is it called and where is it located. We do not have any washes like that (that I know of) within 100 miles of me). We have touchless in-bays primarily, and a few touchless tunnels (not good ones) at gas stations, but no full- or flex-serve touchless tunnels. And the wash that you know of, do they use good WWs or $1 microfiber specials?
 
not too sure about Cali or whatnot, but here in NY, the cost of labor to hire competent employees who will actually care about not trying to scratch someone else's paint will be extremely cost prohibitive....



the cost of the scratch-free material means nothing when the guy who is washing the car gives a flying **** about keeping your finish swirl/scratch free
 
I think the real question is who is your target customer for this, RAG? I think we already agree that 98% or more of the general populace doesn't care. So that leaves 2%, 0.5% of which are Autopians or Autopian-types, while the other 1.5% are the customers of Autopians or Autopian-types. So your current wash customers will go to your new car wash, and who else? Who is going to choose yours which will likely be more expensive when 98%+ shop on price or don't care?
 
imho .. people who go to touchless washes *regularly* aren't super concerned about their finish.



I think the existing touchless washes .. i.e. spray on soap, rinse, and air dry are OK for most.



If I were to do it, the most I would hire people for is to wipe down jambs, and do a quick interior detailing, perhaps vacuum carpets quickly as well.
 
Setec...you're right. I must look at my customer base. But that's the great idea about the flex-serve concept (of which, their really aren't many around here yet like there are in the East). Labor costs are about to hit the fan...with the flex concept, most people (about 80% on average) just get their exterior wash (touchless in this case) and are on their way. This cuts down tremendously on labor costs, allowing you to offer these people washes for really cheap. So my wash would actually be cheaper. And for the few people that do want the full-serve experience, you charge a big premium and have good employees - these same employees will provide "quick-detail" srvices for those who want it. Hopefully given a little higher quality employees, fewer of them, good towels, and a conciencious owner will allow us to dry the cars with "minimal" scratching.



ybajwa...aren't the people who seek out "touchless" washes typically more concerned about their finish than those who go to the fiction-type washes? I don't know, I've been sending a lot of my customers to touchless in-bay washes and the amount of marring has been kept to a suprising minimum for those that actually follow my instructions.
 
I dunno...just be very careful...I always think back to when I was in my early 20's and me and my two high school buddies got the bright idea to buy a gas station, and we talked to a guy who was selling his and we told him there were three of us, and he told us he didn't think there was enough money in it for 3 partners. What I'm saying is don't work up a plan where you have relatively expensive help and then there is no money left over for the owner (you). Sounds like you must have an idea of the up-front costs (hundreds of thousands of $), so hopefully you know what you are getting into (and signing your name to--loans).
 
A full serve-type facility now costs about $3,000,000...up about $500,000 from when I first started toying with the idea a year or so ago. The express exteriors that are going up everwhere right now are about $2,000,000 to $2,500,000. And the land is usually about a mil. HUGE venture for sure. Making the wrong decision here can easily cast a dark cloud over one's life for a long time to come.



Thanks for the concern.
 
RAG said:
ybajwa...aren't the people who seek out "touchless" washes typically more concerned about their finish than those who go to the fiction-type washes? I don't know, I've been sending a lot of my customers to touchless in-bay washes and the amount of marring has been kept to a suprising minimum for those that actually follow my instructions.
Click to expand...



perhaps, but i mean that a touchless can't compare to a good handwash. handwash just takes a lot more time and patience though.



sure, i think there would be less marring short-term ... but there would probably be more build-up and high chance of marring if a hand wash is delayed for too long.
 
In my town people either don't see or care about minor swirls induced from brushless or touch-less car washes. They pay $14.95 for an exterior complete "deluxe" wash that sprays some "wax" on top of the usual wash and two guys in the back take 5 minutes to vacuum their interior down. They also get Armor All on their tires and their dashboard gets wiped down. Lastly, their choice of five interior scents tops the package. For $24.95 they get an oil-lube-filter service and the deluxe wash comes with the package. Most people want it fast and a good value, they won't take the time to wait or pay the expenses to do it to standards we call right. I've worked at places like this.
 
I'd say 90% of the people at a car wash don't know what causes marring or swirls. The other 8% either don't care or don't put a big enough emphasis on car care. The 2% of us that do care wouldn't dream of taking it to a carwash. If your in the business to make money, make the place look amazing, offer tons of specials, and hire good salesman who can upsell packages. This day in age, a carwash is about speed for the customers and volume for the owner.
 
One thing I would love to see more of anywhere, including australia are coin op self serve wash bays that allow you do your two or more bucket washes with your own products if you wish, that is solar powered, uses recycled water and some purified and detail bays to allow you to dry properly and do some QDing etc afterwards



There is one in mildura victoria which is set up great, put in a position so that the sun can't cause problems and the vacuums actually have some suck to them



Virtually all of these places use really harmful chemicals and do not allow you to use your own stuff

I have a bay and garage on my 15 acre property to do a full autopian job but when interstate it can be difficult to find a good one. So I usually just use the high pressure , spray some of my own shampoo mixture on the car, suds the car up with the water and go over with my mitts and then low pressure rinse and dry properly.



Alot of places in australia are layed out wrong, the bays are facing the sun and no drying bays

Plus their spot free rinse is crappy for hand drying. leaves thousands of beads everywhere so it takes longer to dry
 
just as an FYI, we have a place that does hand wash with all the goodies (MF's, real sheepskin mitts, guys who somewhat care, etc..) and it costs about $40 for the wash..



needless to say, the place is right off one of the bridges to Manhattan so it does drum up business, but not nearly as much as you'd hope to get-most cars that see that place are benzes, bimmers, lexus and infinitis



you won't see grandma with her corolla spending $40 on a wash alone....





I wouldn't expect to get rich from this sort of venture unless you are buying material at below cost and your help is straight off the boat
 
RAG,

Any updates on your Car Wash Adventure. I just found this doing a search because I have been thinking of doing the same thing here on the east coast in NJ. There is not one touchless wash anywhere in central NJ that i know of, so that is a plus for business. If you don't mind me asking, can you give me an estimate on how much of an investment it is to open a Car Wash? I have tried to contact some people, but none of them have been of any help, guess they don't want any more competition or something! I am just trying to get an idea of what it would take to open up a Car Wash both investment wise and process wise, and I would try to take the same route as you are, with trying to be as scratch free as possible. Any other tips, opinions, advice is also welcomed. thanks for all the help.
 
RAG- I can't help with the startup costs (remember insurance and all the labor-cost-related stuff, being in business is complicated these days), but it's occurred to me that a couple of guys, working with foamguns and BHBs could wash a vehicle pretty fast with minimal marring. Two guys blowing it off with AirWands/leaf blowers would get most of the water off. Then going around it with something like AW and WWMFs would finish it off fast. OK, I forgot the wheels, but you get the idea.



Heh heh, maybe I'm just daydreaming, wishing Accumulatorette were doing 50% of each wash :o but it seems that this could go mighty fast.



The foamgun/BHB approach will almost completely eliminate the need to rinse out the wash media/use rinse buckets. At least for the level of wash customers would expect. Sometimes when I wash this way, my rinse bucket ends up with hardly any dirt in it at all, the process is sorta self-rinsing, needing only a hose-off to get the soap off the vehicle.



Not sure how well it'd work on vehicles that aren't as well-maintained as mine are, but it oughta beat a touchless or the typical "hand wash" with untrained people marring things up. Just a thought....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top