My wash is 6 self serve and 2 automatics originally though now it only has one. I've had it since spring. The automatic does 5-15 washes a day with a few days where we've washed 30. There's a newer express tunnel about 2 miles away and another oldish self serve 2 miles away. I'm trying to figure out what else I can do to increase business. I've thought about putting an automatic in the unused automatic bay but can't wrap my mind around that kind of investment when the one I have is so slow. It's a Magic Wand Nexus that's already there.
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Second automatic?
- Thread starter wash4me
- Start date
robert roman
Bob Roman
“….6 self serve and 2 automatics…. 5-15 washes a day…..we've washed 30. There's a newer express tunnel about 2 miles away…..what else I can do to increase business.”
Begin by acknowledging you cannot compete head to head with the express using the status quo.
The why is express has more capacity, virtually no waiting in line, 4-minute process, hand-finish qualities, preferred pricing, free vacuums and average total guest time on site of 8 minutes.
You could mimic an express by adding more in-bay automatic units and offering free vacuums.
If average capacity of in-bay is 12 cars an hour, four units would provide capacity for 48 cars an hour. Of course, this would mean only two wands which may not necessarily be a bad thing if you can get the express volume.
You could also put in a mini-tunnel conversion but I question the ability of a three-touch module to match quality of high-performance 100’ tunnel.
Consequently, your first challenge is to judge strength of market in trade area (total potential sales). There are several methods to estimate potential sales.
If total potential sales in trade area are $2.0 million, most new firms would assume a 25 percent market share or $500,000 in annual sales.
Consequently, would $500,000 (or risked adjusted) level of sales support the cost of the proposed business model.
Another alternative to consider is pay-one-price format.
Hope this helps.
Begin by acknowledging you cannot compete head to head with the express using the status quo.
The why is express has more capacity, virtually no waiting in line, 4-minute process, hand-finish qualities, preferred pricing, free vacuums and average total guest time on site of 8 minutes.
You could mimic an express by adding more in-bay automatic units and offering free vacuums.
If average capacity of in-bay is 12 cars an hour, four units would provide capacity for 48 cars an hour. Of course, this would mean only two wands which may not necessarily be a bad thing if you can get the express volume.
You could also put in a mini-tunnel conversion but I question the ability of a three-touch module to match quality of high-performance 100’ tunnel.
Consequently, your first challenge is to judge strength of market in trade area (total potential sales). There are several methods to estimate potential sales.
If total potential sales in trade area are $2.0 million, most new firms would assume a 25 percent market share or $500,000 in annual sales.
Consequently, would $500,000 (or risked adjusted) level of sales support the cost of the proposed business model.
Another alternative to consider is pay-one-price format.
Hope this helps.
Hoser06
Member
Good topic. Why not a quality mini tunnel Robert? I'm remembering a good quote from you a ways back:
I'd think he could go toe to toe with the big express if he spent the equivalent of adding 3 more autos vs. a quality MacNeil or Sonny's mini and site upgrades like free central vacs with stanchions drops, and a good auto teller.
Beyond the esthetic's of a big multi million express tunnel I think most customers won't notice the ride length when they have the heads down checking email and the like -so long as you're outputting a quality clean car.
Just my two cents. I wouldn't double down adding more roll-over autos
I'd think he could go toe to toe with the big express if he spent the equivalent of adding 3 more autos vs. a quality MacNeil or Sonny's mini and site upgrades like free central vacs with stanchions drops, and a good auto teller.
Beyond the esthetic's of a big multi million express tunnel I think most customers won't notice the ride length when they have the heads down checking email and the like -so long as you're outputting a quality clean car.
Just my two cents. I wouldn't double down adding more roll-over autos
robert roman
Bob Roman
“Why not a quality mini tunnel Robert? I'm remembering a good quote from you a ways back:”
When push comes to shove, I find many self-service operators are not willing to make the commitment needed to build a high-performance small-scale wash like the one mentioned.
For example, the enterprise value for Kansas wash was $650,000, excluding real estate.
That’s $541 per SF building whereas the typical in-bay at gas site is $375 per SF building.
This is a ratio of 1.44. In other words, to keep overall return on investment equivalent in terms of percentage, average sales for the $541 wash would need to be $10 ($7 * 1.44).
Of course, the mini-tunnel has the additional profit centers to generate this level of sales.
As for building on the market position of the subject wash, I might buy several used in-bays to begin with. Today, this cost might be same as buying one premium in-bay.
Likewise, it would be less expensive to upgrade POS to dispense and vacuums to accept tokens as compared to cost of central vacuum.
When push comes to shove, I find many self-service operators are not willing to make the commitment needed to build a high-performance small-scale wash like the one mentioned.
For example, the enterprise value for Kansas wash was $650,000, excluding real estate.
That’s $541 per SF building whereas the typical in-bay at gas site is $375 per SF building.
This is a ratio of 1.44. In other words, to keep overall return on investment equivalent in terms of percentage, average sales for the $541 wash would need to be $10 ($7 * 1.44).
Of course, the mini-tunnel has the additional profit centers to generate this level of sales.
As for building on the market position of the subject wash, I might buy several used in-bays to begin with. Today, this cost might be same as buying one premium in-bay.
Likewise, it would be less expensive to upgrade POS to dispense and vacuums to accept tokens as compared to cost of central vacuum.
This is a bit scary for me. I don't know that the express is really doing that well. I don't have numbers but they only have a line occasionally. I'm in a town of about 5000 that's really a suburb of a larger town.
tobaccofarmer
Member
An express that does reasonably well could never have a line, thats the point of the express model? usually not much if at all wait time. Only way to really tell is count over a one hour period for several days, But what Im not understanding is why would you be concerned with adding anything until you get what you currently have producing better? What is the express priced at?
Good points here. Maybe I should focus on marketing. I have thought of getting a sign. The express wash is $12 for the top wash i believe.
bigleo48
Active member
Wash4me,
First you need to better understand your market. I would park a car with a DVR in view of the tunnel to count their cars over a few days. Then the same over your other competitor. Then you would likely have an idea of the total market and derive what your total market share is and what you can expect to capture.
First you need to better understand your market. I would park a car with a DVR in view of the tunnel to count their cars over a few days. Then the same over your other competitor. Then you would likely have an idea of the total market and derive what your total market share is and what you can expect to capture.
I hadn't thought of that. On the express they recycle water but on the other self serve I could probably just read the water meter.
bigleo48
Active member
I used a laptop with an external USB camera and some free DVR software that I set up to take a picture every 20 seconds. The software also allowed me to output the whole thing into a movie so it was like watching the wash in high speed.
For power, I plugged the laptop into a small inverter, that in turn was plugged into a deep cycle battery I use for my boat (car battery would do). I setup the laptop power settings so the screen would turn off to save on power. I could get about 36 hrs of use until the deep cycle battery would be drained.
I parked the car and pointed the camera at the best view possible in a public space.
From my results, I would cross reference to my own sales (that would account for the weather factor as we would have the same weather) and be able to derive sales for their location.
Counting water meters is tricky and unprecise. For example, you would need to know how much water they use for HP and LP settings (and know the percentage of both), account for weeping, spot-free discharge and other non-revenue uses.
For power, I plugged the laptop into a small inverter, that in turn was plugged into a deep cycle battery I use for my boat (car battery would do). I setup the laptop power settings so the screen would turn off to save on power. I could get about 36 hrs of use until the deep cycle battery would be drained.
I parked the car and pointed the camera at the best view possible in a public space.
From my results, I would cross reference to my own sales (that would account for the weather factor as we would have the same weather) and be able to derive sales for their location.
Counting water meters is tricky and unprecise. For example, you would need to know how much water they use for HP and LP settings (and know the percentage of both), account for weeping, spot-free discharge and other non-revenue uses.
robert roman
Bob Roman
“First you need to better understand your market. I would park a car with a DVR in view of the tunnel to count their cars over a few days. Then the same over your other competitor. Then you would likely have an idea of the total market and derive what your total market share is and what you can expect to capture”
With due respect, all this procedure will give you is a rough indication of how many cars each property may wash, not market potential.
Assume wash A, B and C each does 30,000 cars a year (90,000 cars).
If wash A, B and C suck in terms of management, customer service, quality, location, etc. and you use their performance to benchmark your wash D, as in principal of similarity, what value is the result?
Quite frankly, it would suck if market potential in trade area was 200,000 cars.
Market potential is the total amount of possible sales in a market. Once calculated, it provides an upper boundary to determine if a market is large enough to sustain a proposed business or additional businesses.
Retail analysts determine total potential sales by breaking a market down into its component parts. Sales potential is calculated as a function of the number of possible buyers in a market, average selling price and average quantity purchased per buyer.
Since this calculation is sensitive to variations in number of buyers and quantity purchased within the segments of the total market, most analysts will assume the market also includes all non-buyers.
This allows us to use various techniques to make an approximation of market potential based on the total population in an area.
With due respect, all this procedure will give you is a rough indication of how many cars each property may wash, not market potential.
Assume wash A, B and C each does 30,000 cars a year (90,000 cars).
If wash A, B and C suck in terms of management, customer service, quality, location, etc. and you use their performance to benchmark your wash D, as in principal of similarity, what value is the result?
Quite frankly, it would suck if market potential in trade area was 200,000 cars.
Market potential is the total amount of possible sales in a market. Once calculated, it provides an upper boundary to determine if a market is large enough to sustain a proposed business or additional businesses.
Retail analysts determine total potential sales by breaking a market down into its component parts. Sales potential is calculated as a function of the number of possible buyers in a market, average selling price and average quantity purchased per buyer.
Since this calculation is sensitive to variations in number of buyers and quantity purchased within the segments of the total market, most analysts will assume the market also includes all non-buyers.
This allows us to use various techniques to make an approximation of market potential based on the total population in an area.
bigleo48
Active member
Agreed...my suggestion would provide the current wash count and likely some information wash4me didn't know (like who is washing at his competition vs his). It won't provide him with all the info he needs to make his decision but start him off on the bath to gaining more info and understanding of his market. But we all now there are so many variables that can affect business. For example a nearby wash built a twin IBA next to a really big mall in the center of town on a busy blvd next to a busy interstate. Top quality everything and reasonable prices. Closed after a year....why? You couldn't easily get on or off the property.
