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Automatic Potential Revenue

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Bigmatthew86

Active member
Hey everyone. I purchased a 5 bay ss with an old Futura SSA 3 years ago. We’re in South Carolina in a town of 7500. No closest competitors are in the next towns about 20 minutes away. The futura is out of commission, had been for years. I rehabbed it as best I could & it ran (kinda) for about 6 months. It went out again & I’ve had no luck getting it going away. I’m kicking around the idea of installing a new wash. Would more than likely be a Razor as the company who installed the futura originally now does Washworld. I just have no idea how to get figures on potential revenue from an automatic. So spending 150k or more is very scary. SS has credit cards, added 1 in bay dryer. It grosses 6-10k monthly. How can I get any idea of potential revenue?
 
Most automatic companies will run a proforma for your site for free, take those with a grain of salt, but they will give you an idea. Distributor should be able to handle that for you.

If it doesn't make sense to buy new, and you are willing to do some leg work, there are good used machines that come up every so often.
 
Bigmatthew86 said:
I figured as much. Wash just curious if I could get some ballpark idea from some actual owners.
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It's good that the nearest competition would be so far away but there are so many factors that play into potential including how well you will run it.
 
Absolutely, I understand that. I took an old barely running wash & cleaned it, gave it a mild facelift, & got everything running. I added separate tire & presoak guns, added cryptopay (tap), & an air dryer in my busiest bay. Swapped over to dollar tokens as well. I personally run & do my own maintenance & repairs. I’m usually there daily. If I average say $7500 on self serve alone what is a fair expectation for an automatic? $1500,$3000, more or less?
 
Bigmatthew86 said:
Absolutely, I understand that. I took an old barely running wash & cleaned it, gave it a mild facelift, & got everything running. I added separate tire & presoak guns, added cryptopay (tap), & an air dryer in my busiest bay. Swapped over to dollar tokens as well. I personally run & do my own maintenance & repairs. I’m usually there daily. If I average say $7500 on self serve alone what is a fair expectation for an automatic? $1500,$3000, more or less?
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I would hope more than that. 15 washes per day on average, times a $10 average ticket is $4,500/mo.
 
Bigmatthew86 said:
Thank you. That seemed completely possible I just wanted to make sure I was thinking correctly.
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You could finance it and let it pay for it self.

A 150K machine financed through lets just say ascentium is a rough $2800/month payment/72month. $2800 divided by a min $10 average is 280 washes month. Thats an average of 9 a day to break even. Anything beyond that is profit after including chem and utilities.
 
Bigmatthew86 said:
Hey everyone. I purchased a 5 bay ss with an old Futura SSA 3 years ago. We’re in South Carolina in a town of 7500. No closest competitors are in the next towns about 20 minutes away. The futura is out of commission, had been for years. I rehabbed it as best I could & it ran (kinda) for about 6 months. It went out again & I’ve had no luck getting it going away. I’m kicking around the idea of installing a new wash. Would more than likely be a Razor as the company who installed the futura originally now does Washworld. I just have no idea how to get figures on potential revenue from an automatic. So spending 150k or more is very scary. SS has credit cards, added 1 in bay dryer. It grosses 6-10k monthly. How can I get any idea of potential revenue?
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I would fix the Futura. They’re incredible machines that use very little chemicals. What’s it need? I ditched one for a $2800 payment on a new one, and boy do I regret it now.
 
The futura was down for almost a decade. I sorta had it going for a few months. It needs new drive motors, the spot free system is gone, needs to have the tilt mechanisms fixed, & now it has decided it doesn’t want to communicate anymore so it i so doing absolutely nothing.
 
I received a quote today for $155k. That is for a XR7 with undercarriage, triple foam, cold weather package, & free standing dryers, in bay signage (speakers). I have an older Hamilton pay station that I installed the updated kit & cryptopay last year so that will be used still. Thoughts?
 
Bigmatthew86 said:
The futura was down for almost a decade. I sorta had it going for a few months. It needs new drive motors, the spot free system is gone, needs to have the tilt mechanisms fixed, & now it has decided it doesn’t want to communicate anymore so it i so doing absolutely nothing.
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Is the Futura touchscreen? If so, you need two dashes and a dot on the IO board display. Check your Ethernet switch in between the pLC and board.
 
Bricks said:
I bought the almighty accutrac 360i
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What don't you like about it? Does it not clean very well? There is one near me, and we went through it twice over the course of several months after it was installed. It did not clean well. He has tried at least three different chemical companies, but I have not tried it since switching to the latest chemical. (Chemquest, I believe)
 
Any IBAS or tunnels in your town? What are the IBA's, touch or friction? Are they well run?

If you're in a town of 7500 with no other tunnels or IBAs I'd definitely put a new auto in. We've got towns that size here that have multiple tunnels!
 
my business philosophy is that you always want to be re-investing into your business when the time is right. Could I have kept my old sidetrack touch free machine running a few more years? Probably. but for me, the money I spent installing new equipment and refinishing the inside of the wash bay was well worth it. The new technology is amazing and the machine cleans cars like crazy with the distributors chemicals. The computer touchscreen interface is a dream to diagnose problems and look at the wash as it is operating as well as keeping track of maintenance items. I know it's important to be frugal, but if you're constantly trying to squeeze every drip of productivity and revenue out of an old outdated piece of equipment that can be very stressful. My life as an owner operator is much more enjoyable now and it has made me enthusiastic about the car wash business again.
 
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