Free Vacs VS. Free vacs with membership

[Andrew MA]

Debating this double edged sword at a new site we will be rolling out membership with 3 IBA and 2 self serve. We have never offered any type of free vacs, so this is a learning curve.

Has anyone ever jumped to free vacs and noticed a drastic raise in their self service income? My though was if you draw some one in with a free vac maybe they will be more apt to just wash while there opposed to heading down the road to there regular spot.

 

[soonermajic]

Good question, but i don't know either

 

[Waxman]

i think it's a terrible idea for any car wash and especially bad for the self serve model. vacs make a significant amount of money and it's perhaps the highest profit margin of any equipment on your lot. I think it's a big mistake to give it away for free. Besides, how would you ever know if free vacs increased overall revenue?

 

[Blanco]

i think it's a terrible idea for any car wash and especially bad for the self serve model. vacs make a significant amount of money and it's perhaps the highest profit margin of any equipment on your lit. I think it's a bug mistake to give it away for free.

Yup exactly. Name any other industry that gives you anything away for free. Free dash wipes. Free vacuums. Free Air. Free towels. We only hurt ourselves by continuing this BS. I have had countless PE tunnels and even IBAS move in around me that give away free vacs. Im at a 1.00 for 4 min and pull in close to 10K month for all locations even after all that. I will never give that up to allow people to come and just trash the places then leave. Next stop needs to be to cancel the membership BS. We are not a gym. Our expenses go up per use. Makes no sense other than a car wash philosophy pushed my manufactures who have no skin in the game other then a one time sale.

 

[Car_Wash_Guy]

I would just go free. You'll increase gross across the board by like 10% probably more. You'll eliminate complex components prone to fail ( Bill acceptor, coin acceptor, credit card reader = what $1200-1500 per vac?)also saving time and money when they fail. Eliminate labor to collecting coins and bills saving time and money.

Worst case you decrease your time in the SS by what a second per quarter and you'll pay for the lost revenue from the vacs?

I will add I have a very busy site. I plan to go free.

 

[Greg Pack]

I have free vacs for IBA customers through tokens dispensed or the coinless app. I could envision free vacs for everyone to be a headache unless you had a huge site. I'm assuming since you on;y have two SS bays you don't have a lot of room. I have a busy 4/2 and people hanging out too long in the vacuum area become a throughput problem.

 

[AnalyticWash]

You are selling perceived value. I include "free" vacs for my top tier members. Everyone else pays.

My top tier members also pay for "Free" vacs via the membership premium they pay.

 

[Keno]

I would never give out free vacs at a SS for everyone due to the increased trash and riff raff it would bring. We try to get rid of that, and this would have the exact opposite effect

We did a free vac token for IBA customers at one of our sites as a test. Didn't really move the needle on total washes sold and we probably have a 25% or less redemption on those free vac tokens.

 

[MudMoney]

What I've seen is the lack of maintenance when car washes go Free vacuum s No incentive to maintain and spills over to ss bays too.

 

[HeyVern]

When I first opened, people were constantly pulling up to the vacuums, unloading armfuls of trash, then going to use the vacuum and discovering they weren't free. They would leave without ever even looking to use the wash. Once they figured out I didn't have free vacuums, they stopped coming around and dumping their trash. I would never have free vacuums.

 

[getnbusy]

I give a free vac token for top automatic wash. The customers love that they get them but the redemption is small. Alot leave and dont come back. I do walk around while i am on site and give one to anybody in the self serve bay and i will give them to vac customers AFTER they have paid for a vac cycle. On Saturdays i leave them on the ground in obvious places and usually one by the bay meter. The SS customers really appreciate that. I bought a bunch of arch vacs that i am about to install. They all accept coins, tokens and have a tap reader. Bill usage is small at that site. I dont ever plan to go totally free. Stuff costs too much for everyone to expect it for free. When i give away a token, they know its me thats giving it to them and they seem to appreciate the gesture. I dont want customers to expect it for free, get all entitled, and start abusing the property. But thats my take on it. Another operator i know has the same argument as car wash guy and swears his whole site is up 20% with all free vacs

 

[WashieCarWash]

Folks so afraid of offering free vacuums will be left behind. "profit center" this and that, blah blah blah. Do what the competition is doing, and what the market expects and you'll be in business long term.

 

[Waxman]

Folks so afraid of offering free vacuums will be left behind. "profit center" this and that, blah blah blah. Do what the competition is doing, and what the market expects and you'll be in business long term.

It's not about fear, it's about not wanting to lose money on a very profitable service offering so people can abuse the equipment and facility at no cost to them.

 

[cbchevy4x4]

Folks so afraid of offering free vacuums will be left behind. "profit center" this and that, blah blah blah. Do what the competition is doing, and what the market expects and you'll be in business long term.

And thats why i wont, i dont play follow the leader. Too many if the pe groups are filing chapter 11 because their business model isnt working.

 

[Dan kamsickas]

Too many of those free vacs don't work very well. I've got a number of customers who saw an immediate drop in vac use when someone went free near them and they eventually saw the drop come back and usually an increase. Seems that if you're giving something away you're less inclined to care if it works very well.

 

[MudMoney]

Maybe consider taking out the vacuums altogether if your going free and eliminate the maintenance issue. There are ss operators that have eliminated trash cans too. Hard to turn a profit when giving away a service that has maintenance expenses.

 

[edredtop]

Folks so afraid of offering free vacuums will be left behind. "profit center" this and that, blah blah blah. Do what the competition is doing, and what the market expects and you'll be in business long term.

I think an end user slipped into the conversation and is trying to move the needle.

-Imho, "free" vacuums are the equivalent of an all you can eat buffet and that's not a business I want to be in.
They're not top tier customers, they loiter, they generate a lot of waste and generally avoid add-ons.

 

[soapy]

Free vacuum with a dispensed token on automatic washes is what I do. Offering free vacs will attract lower tier clients and folks you don't want hanging around the wash. It gives the perception that services are worth less or nothing at all.