$1 per minute seems fair to me!!!

[Keno]

I don't disagree at all but there I still have talked to operators who've gone 5-10-20 years without raising their price. Yes, you read that correctly....20 years.

They must have that all elusive inflation free $ and the even more elusive non-increasing costs on utilities, supplies, and other costs

 

[washnshine]

I don’t doubt it. And I don’t understand it either!

 

[Cwajciec]

I’ve started experimenting with boiling the frog slowly, and it seems to be unnoticeable. Was $3 for 4:30, then $3 for 4:16, then $3 for 4:00 in 6 months time. Going to keep inching my way to $3 for 3:00 in the next 12 months. I’ve observed the cash guys try to beat the buzzer and sometimes make another trip to the changer, the credit guys just spend more.

 

[David Rolf]

I also struggled with this for the past few years. This spring I went to $5 for 5 minutes. I'm in a town of 8000K. Granted, I'm the only SS in town. But I challenge you for the next three days, keep track of what you get for $5. It's not a lot. Not one complaint so far. Credit cards have gone up , and coins are down.

 

[CaptnBuck]

I was about to start yet another thread about price changing and saw this one at the top of the list. I'm basically in the same boat and need to make an increase somewhere. I'm currently at $2.50 to start for 5 minutes, and each additional quarter gets 30 seconds which is how it was when I bought it a few months ago. I wanted to go to $3 for 4 minutes when I get the credit card readers installed in the next week or so, but it was suggested to me to just change the time to 4 minutes to start with, keeping it at $2.50. This would be a more subtle increase and less visible to customers, hopefully minimizing the pushback. I think the credit card readers were pre-programmed at the $3 price point, but maybe that can be changed.

Would it be better to go with the subtle time change first or skip straight to the $3/4min start?

It's a 4-bay in Spartanburg and I'm doing my best to fix the handful of problems and spruce it up a bit from where it had a little neglect. I'm adding a few vendors back for a slight boost in revenue and customer satisfaction.

 

[Cwajciec]

I inherited a run down wash at $2.50 for 4min and $1.25 vacs. I first got all functions working and changed to $3 for 4:30minutes mainly to get customers thinking dollars. Then in December I went to $1 tokens, added foam cannons, and really improved the chemicals and the look. From there I will keep $3 and work the time down slowly. Now I’m at $3 for 4min and $2 vacs.

 

[Keno]

I was about to start yet another thread about price changing and saw this one at the top of the list. I'm basically in the same boat and need to make an increase somewhere. I'm currently at $2.50 to start for 5 minutes, and each additional quarter gets 30 seconds which is how it was when I bought it a few months ago. I wanted to go to $3 for 4 minutes when I get the credit card readers installed in the next week or so, but it was suggested to me to just change the time to 4 minutes to start with, keeping it at $2.50. This would be a more subtle increase and less visible to customers, hopefully minimizing the pushback. I think the credit card readers were pre-programmed at the $3 price point, but maybe that can be changed.

Would it be better to go with the subtle time change first or skip straight to the $3/4min start?

It's a 4-bay in Spartanburg and I'm doing my best to fix the handful of problems and spruce it up a bit from where it had a little neglect. I'm adding a few vendors back for a slight boost in revenue and customer satisfaction.

If it was my wash, I would go to $3 for 5 mins, then after about 4-6 months move to $3 for 4 mins, but you have to decide for your business. I always try to have a small upgrade when I change pricing

 

[CaptnBuck]

I inherited a run down wash at $2.50 for 4min and $1.25 vacs. I first got all functions working and changed to $3 for 4:30minutes mainly to get customers thinking dollars. Then in December I went to $1 tokens, added foam cannons, and really improved the chemicals and the look. From there I will keep $3 and work the time down slowly. Now I’m at $3 for 4min and $2 vacs.

I also thought the even dollar amount would be a plus and help reduce the number of quarters. I like the idea of leaving it at 5 minutes if I do bump it up.

I'm trying to hold out changing the prices until the card readers are installed so it gives the upgrade effect because that was the original plan. But I'm getting impatient, especially after learning how easy it is to change ;-)

 

[OurTown]

Yesterday we changed from $4/5 minutes to $4/4 minutes. We should have done this when we reopened a little over a year ago after our huge remodel, but we were hesitant.

 

[Smoothology]

I’ve been $3 for $4 minutes for about a year and a half now and want to raise my price. I decided to go ahead and wash my midsize suv myself to see how long it actually takes moving at a slightly quicker than casual pace. although i have all the extras in my bays, i decided just to use foambrush, hp soap, hp rinse, and spot free rinse. it took me just under 10 minutes. so now i feel really comfortable going to $1 per minute as for $10 people are using my space for 10 minutes, my water, my chemicals, my trash cans. then after that i get to pick up their trash, get their dirt sucked out of the pits, supply new hoses, fittings, brushes, flojets.
you barely get lunch for $10! i just can’t understand how some washes are still at $2.00 or less

I’m opening a car wash in the next month, it will be my first time, so I’ve done a lot of research using the AI tools out there that give me a good understanding of my local market. I’m in Florida, and it said the average price should be two dollars per minute. We also do detailing so I had it utilize my space, the time we are open, and the justification between self wash and getting a detail. Obviously against the pricing. If that helps, it might be something you can try using ChatGPT.

 

[OurTown]

I’m opening a car wash in the next month, it will be my first time, so I’ve done a lot of research using the AI tools out there that give me a good understanding of my local market. I’m in Florida, and it said the average price should be two dollars per minute. We also do detailing so I had it utilize my space, the time we are open, and the justification between self wash and getting a detail. Obviously against the pricing. If that helps, it might be something you can try using ChatGPT.

My wife and I use ChatGPT fairly often and almost always part of its answer is dead wrong. It mish mashes things together that should not be. It's a neat concept but not reliable for true info. We use the paid version and I would assume the free version is much worse because it's not updated.