justify a friction machine

[wash4me]

I bought this carwash from a bank 3 years ago. the 2 automatics that were there were junk. I have a high velocity that's been in for 2 years now. We have from 5-15 cars a day on an average except in the winter after salt has been put down then probably 20-30 a day with occasionally a 45 car day. I have another automatic bay i am wanting to put in a used friction machine. Will this increase my overall business much or just cannibalize from the high velocity?

 

[rph9168]

Hard to estimate exactly. Some of your current customers will switch the friction. There are other considerations to think about. It should help you handle busy days easier with two machines. It will minimize lines so customers might like the less waiting time. The friction will use less water and chemical. You have a backup if one goes down. You will also probably pick up a few new customers that prefer friction. As far as numbers go it is difficult to predict but if I had to guess I would say you should see a 10-20% increase depending on your location, customer base and any competing friction machines.

 

[wash4me]

Hard to estimate exactly. Some of your current customers will switch the friction. There are other considerations to think about. It should help you handle busy days easier with two machines. It will minimize lines so customers might like the less waiting time. The friction will use less water and chemical. You have a backup if one goes down. You will also probably pick up a few new customers that prefer friction. As far as numbers go it is difficult to predict but if I had to guess I would say you should see a 10-20% increase depending on your location, customer base and any competing friction machines.

So what you're saying is if I now have 300 cars a month I may have 330 to 360 adding the washes together on both machines?

 

[Dcalhoun]

We have an Autec combination machine located in central IL where customers have the option of touch free or friction on 3 of our wash packages. 98% of our customers select the friction option. Of the 2% who don't, most complain that the "brushes didn't move". We get constant comments that our wash does the best job in town - we are the only friction wash in a town of 35,000. After 12 years we are gearing up to completely eliminate the touch free option. Hope this helps in your decision making process.

 

[robert roman]

“Will this increase my overall business much or just cannibalize from the high velocity?”

The answer requires population within 3-miles of the site, number of carwash sites within 3-miles of the site, average annual daily traffic at the site and current annual car count.

 

[rph9168]

So what you're saying is if I now have 300 cars a month I may have 330 to 360 adding the washes together on both machines?

As I said it depends on several other factors but that would be my estimate. Averaging only about 10 cars a day shows me that your wash is below average. If you look at Robert's post you might consider using a site analysis to arrive at a different number. Since you already have established a customer base with your touchfree I doubt you would experience a drastic increase in volume. Adding a friction automatic would not mean adding a whole new customer base. What did you expect the increase to be?

 

[tdlconceptsllc]

buddy that's mighty low numbers for a WashWorld razor I would be figuring how to get those numbers up before I invested in another machine. I would want to wash more cars to justify before I spent a knot like that on a friction. Would take 10 years to get your money back. Dang wish I could come look at your site for advice or something. You ever gave away free washes for a whole weekend/week, advertising, good chemicals, site location. Tell us some more about your setup so the guys on here could chime in more. Chemicals chemicals is so so so important on a touchless. Are you using good quality preasoak thats titrated ect. Does the cars come out clean so they come back. Just trying to get some more info something major is missing here. Is it a tunnel across the street that jams or something taking all the business. Or a one way street hard to get in and out your site.? What kind of paystation you have? Do you take credit cards it's something else.

 

[wash4me]

buddy that's mighty low numbers for a WashWorld razor I would be figuring how to get those numbers up before I invested in another machine. I would want to wash more cars to justify before I spent a knot like that on a friction. Would take 10 years to get your money back. Dang wish I could come look at your site for advice or something. You ever gave away free washes for a whole weekend/week, advertising, good chemicals, site location. Tell us some more about your setup so the guys on here could chime in more.

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of. Hate to say it but there have been times when the wash just wasn't cleaning cars and that went on for to long and I'm afraid I've lost customers. Seems like I get it dialed in and then an orifice gets partially plugged or something and we don't catch it until later. I appreciate the responses and the ideas. I went to the powder soap from kr that is talked about in the long term soap test thread. It worked well. After I tried that my distributor that has the rest of my chemicals said he has powder also so i am running that now. The triple foam seems to be an issue fairly often. Most recently it just dribbles out due to the colder weather. I am thinking of changing to spray foam out the arch so i can get rid of that issue and also install a blow down system.

 

[tdlconceptsllc]

I apply color polish through the arch on my Laser. Covers much better. I am just going to say this get the best HI & LO chemicals you can in your area and run them on your Washworld. You can be cheap on certain things my freind but a touchless auto Thats your main money maker get what's works best not the price Bc when it don't clean they ain't coming back and they will make sure they tell everyone in town. Just my opion I would not run NOTHING Powder in a Laser. Get ultra Concentrates that clean. Get that thing cleaning good then give away free washes for entire day. brands I have tryed that work Armorall/ZEP,, blue coral , ECP, Quest, dimondshine. Turtle wax anything put powered soap and soap from Kleen right on a touchless automatic you want a lot of Alkaline & Booster. You want the soap to foam hard so it sticks a 12 sec dwell time. Hope this helps hope I didn't make you mad just trying to help. I run quest and like it the best on my Laser could get you in contact with the owner of entire company to have someone set you up right. Email me southernpridecarwash@gmail.com super nice informative on chemical guy.

 

[Waxman]

I find that with powder and blending my own i can go super rich on the soap and still save $ while getting a good clean car.

The chemical salesmen want you to use their liquid and then when it's not cleaning they come and 'adjust' it, which is usually just boosting the strength so you use more product *(theirs) and spend more money *(yours).

With powder, you boost the strength and the cost is a small fraction of liquid.

If you are hands on, powder is the way to go. If you are not hands on, go with what is easiest. Just keep your price point high enough to justify the higher cpc of the 'BEST' liquid presiaks.

 

[wash4me]

Waxman what high and low ph do you set your soap to? Do you test it on the car or as it comes out the arch?

 

[whitescout]

I would probably look into having a soap salesman manage the soap/cleaning for you. The little bit you spend on the soap salesman commision, you will make back in profits from the sales. You stated that you have had cleaning problems due to clogged orifaces that went on for too long before you caught it, and this probably led to some diasatisfied customers, that told other people. I would assume from your statements, that you are not at the wash managing it everyday. If this is the case, i would not try to save money by using powdered soaps, as they require more attention than liquids.

 

[wash4me]

11000 cars a day on the road in front of the wash. We are next to a gas station and a stop light. There's a tunnel 2 miles away.

 

[robert roman]

Volume should be double or more.

What is preventing more? These are some clues.

“11,000 cars a day...next to a gas station…stop light….tunnel 2 miles away.”

Without gas, assisted-services or low price-free vacuums, in-bay should have daily traffic count of 15,000 or more.

Does gas station have carwash? Are you pay-at-the-pump with gas station? What type of tunnel and prices? What is population (wasn’t provided)?

Soap, dwell time and pH solutions will not solve a location problem.

 

[soonermajic]

I never have 3x foam problems, except colors aren't bright enough. I switched from Magic Clean, to JBS Glow Foam, & it's actually duller in color. Will be couple mos before I'm out & need to try another 3x foam polish.
Is there any way to get a touch less to clean off road grime?

 

[Waxman]

Waxman what high and low ph do you set your soap to? Do you test it on the car or as it comes out the arch?

I am using Simoniz Correct now for both passes ( hi / hi ). I watch quality as cars exit bay.

 

[wash4me]

So I'm looking at a Ryko soft gloss with no triple foam or wheels scrubs. How much does this affect what the machine is worth to me and my low-volume location?

 

[DiamondWash]

Have you checked out: http://allwashinc.com

 

[rph9168]

Wheel scrub and triple foam are two options that many customers want. It would be difficult to put together your packages when you limit the options on your machine. When you limit your options you limit your profitability.

 

[wash4me]

Wheel scrub and triple foam are two options that many customers want. It would be difficult to put together your packages when you limit the options on your machine. When you limit your options you limit your profitability.

Would it be feasible to add these options to a soft gloss ? I wonder if the program includes these options and they're just turned off or if there would be programming fees as well as adding the hardware?