Make 1 Self Serve Bay into a Touchless ?

[mickgagger]

I was thinking about turning 1 of my 8 Self Serve bays into a touchless.

Does anyone have success, failures or advice when doing this?

 

[washnshine]

If you have the traffic count to support it and $200-$250k for the associated costs, an IBA will gross multiple times that of a ss bay. Depending on your potential volume, traffic count, population and competition - with 8 bays, you could potentially install two and still have plenty of self serve bays left. You really need to know what you can support at your location.

 

[Greg Pack]

Really depends on market and competition. I've seen several IBA additions and I think it's important to drastically change the exterior look of the building to get the attention needed by those passing by.

Also, IBA operations offer different challenges than a self serve, so it does change the nature of the business somewhat. I'm getting ready to retire and would love to have a high volume self serve only wash, which I could run in my sleep. If you have a self serve bay go down, no biggie. I feel compelled to drop what I'm doing to go get the IBA running

I will also add don't be afraid of a modern soft cloth units that has torque sensing abilities. Damage claims are almost non existent and the cleaning is consistent. But again that depends on your surroundings. If you are surrounded by touchless units, consider cloth. If you are surrounded by cloth units, consider touch free.

 

[mickgagger]

If you have the traffic count to support it and $200-$250k for the associated costs, an IBA will gross multiple times that of a ss bay. Depending on your potential volume, traffic count, population and competition - with 8 bays, you could potentially install two and still have plenty of self serve bays left. You really need to know what you can support at your location.

- Traffic Count 25000 per day
- The car wash does about $8000 month gross in SS bays. Plus $2000 in vacuums. So $10,000 total per month in sales.

The kicker..

- One of the bays originally an automatic of some sort, but it was removed it long before I was around. He said he only did 60 car per month in the automatic when he had it, that is why he didnt replace it. This worries me. I dont want to invest 200k+ to have 60 cars per month. lol

 

[mickgagger]

Really depends on market and competition. I've seen several IBA additions and I think it's important to drastically change the exterior look of the building to get the attention needed by those passing by.

Also, IBA operations offer different challenges than a self serve, so it does change the nature of the business somewhat. I'm getting ready to retire and would love to have a high volume self serve only wash, which I could run in my sleep. If you have a self serve bay go down, no biggie. I feel compelled to drop what I'm doing to go get the IBA running

I will also add don't be afraid of a modern soft cloth units that has torque sensing abilities. Damage claims are almost non existent and the cleaning is consistent. But again that depends on your surroundings. If you are surrounded by touchless units, consider cloth. If you are surrounded by cloth units, consider touch free.

There are a few tunnels in town, but no Touchless anywhere near by. So i thought that would make me stand out.
The exterior is clean, and well maintained, but it does not look like the new construction washes. It looks like the typical SS Car wash.
As I mention to the other poster, the past owner had 1 of the bays as an automatic of some sort, but that was 10 years ago. He said he only did 60 cars per month which makes me concerned about investing 200k+. I thinking I would try to find a newer used touchless in the 75-100k range.

Operations are important. I do want something that will not require someone to be on site all day. But if we get enough traffic I would not mind adding staff to it.

 

[washnshine]

The kicker..

- One of the bays originally an automatic of some sort, but it was removed it long before I was around. He said he only did 60 car per month in the automatic when he had it, that is why he didnt replace it. This worries me. I dont want to invest 200k+ to have 60 cars per month. lol

An obsolete machine that does not size the vehicle coupled with bad chemistry, poor water quality, etc. will result in cars not getting clean. That could easily be the reason for the 60 car per month number.