Looking for Equipment Suggestions for an Auto Dealership

[frankjr]

Hi everyone,
I've been lurking around the forum for sometime, and finally decided to register and ask my question!

My Auto Dealership is wanting to add an Automatic Car Wash. Since I know nothing about them other than what the various CW sales people have told me (Their machine is the best, and everyone else's machine is not), I wanted to get the opinion of neutral, experienced parties! Wow are there a lot of choices out there!

We currently are human washing about 50-60 cars a day. We complimentary wash every service customer's car that is in for maintenance or repair before they leave, as well as any sold vehicles prior to delivery.

Here are some specifics:

• We are located in sunny southern California.
• Our municipal water is hard.
• Since this is employee operated only, I don't need fancy LEDs and control panels etc.
• I have 208V and a LARGE air compressor in near proximity.
• Most cars we wash are not terribly dirty.
• We have an existing RO water machine and tank.
• The unit would go in an automotive bay. The bay is 30' long, and 24' wide.. The bay has 3 walls (Front & sides).
• We want to be able to 'upsell' some sort of a 'spray wax'.
• We are leaning toward touchless to avoid the 'Hey you scratched my car' customer, but am open to arguments both ways.
• We will need some kind of a dryer as we don't want to give cars back to customers dripping wet.
• There are some OSHA rules on noise levels for the dryers because auto technicians work nearby.

The top suggestions by sales folk so far have been:
Kondor KL-1 or Razor

1. What brand/model machine would you guys suggest as the most appropriate for my situation?
2. Is there a best time of the year to buy (Is equipment pricing seasonal at all? )
3. What should we expect to pay?

Thank you for your thoughts!

 

[traveler17]

If you’re washing cars to go on the lot and/or for customers I would recommend a friction machine. It will clean better than any touchless wash but as you mentioned touchless eliminates the you scratched my car crowd. I own both and there is no comparison when it comes to cleaning ability between the two (imo) There are also Combo machines which do either one of the two or both. I own a markvii combo machine and it does a great job. Markvii have been very reliable but when the time comes both locations will be washworld machines. Open floor space for their friction machines and getting rid of these machines on tracks will be one less headache to worry about.

 

[washnshine]

There are both friction and touchless manufacturers that make models that are more geared to auto dealerships.

Here are a few. There are More.


Autec 220
Broadway Rollover
Washworld XR7
Mark VII softwash DF

 

[DiamondWash]

What about a drive thru system? N/S corp is located in California https://nswash.com/

 

[frankjr]

Unfortunately a Drive Thru isn't possible... There are service bays/hoists on the back side of the bay that cannot be moved.

I'm really struggling with the Touchless vs. Friction and the 'you scratched my car' crowd. I have to imagine the combo machines are substantially more expensive, with more parts to break?

These days, some of these customers can be really ridiculous. We literally had a customer come in for an oil change the other day in a Wrangler. When he came back to pick up the car the other day, he accused us of stealing his spare tire off the back of the car. You could clearly see the spare had been missing for sometime based on the weathered spare mount. He was absolutely obnoxious until we produced the video of his car driving onto the property without a spare tire at which point he left not embarrassed a bit.

 

[DiamondWash]

N/S also offers a drive in/back out style system and can have a dryer as they back out. Obviously the system in the video is on a optional platform for that location but I've seen them in service centers like you have mentioned with the size dimensions you posted.

 

[Waxman]

I would have a self-serve type washstation for prepping cars when necessary. this can help better clean dirty wheels, muddy exteriors, bird droppings etc.

Just beyond the prep area I'd install the most basic touch free machine i could find. make sure distributor support is excellent; check references. the dealership isn't going to want to troubleshoot/ repair the car wash.

 

[Roz]

N/S also offers a drive in/back out style system and can have a dryer as they back out. Obviously the system in the video is on a optional platform for that location but I've seen them in service centers like you have mentioned with the size dimensions you posted.

Very cool. I wonder how well it cleans and the damage risk since they seem to be targeting fleet and rental car accounts.
Drive in and out would be a disaster waiting to happen on the retail level as customers can barely drive into an IBA now.