The choice of Automatic in bay car wash system

[V1p3R]

My greetings to everybody. I've decided to open an automatic car wash but can't choose among several companies without your assistance. The fact that i have never seen one in reality drops me back. I came across several companies which seem to produce serious enough equippment. These companies are:

Oasis car wash systems - with their Typhoon
DS car wash - wit their Quicksilver and 5000
Washworldline - with their High Velocity
And in the end Specialty Equippment - with their Futura Impulse.

What can experts of this site advice me? Which is better for what? Because i'm sure there are operators of such washes here. What i need the most is the reliability and quality of wash. Thanks beforehand...

 

[Red Baron]

V1, I'm no expert but I do have 2 D&S 5000's and have found them to be just as they're represented: A Workhorse. Most important though is to use equipment you can get serviced by a reputable local rep. That is key!

I do like D&S' new Quicksilver and I see myself having one in the future. But, they have a new mid-range model called the i5000 that looks to have all of the features and durability of their 5000, plus some extras...and for a lot less money than the Q. My older 5000 will be replaced with an i5000 just as soon as the next drunk runs into my old 5000 gantry.

 

[captain cw]

I'm a big fan of my Ryko wash systems, but that being said, the distributor is the key factor. Will they answer the phone Saturday afternoon? Have they supported the line of equipment for a number of years and have technicians with a solid working knowledge of your equipment? Are they close to you? Mileage charges can kill you and if it takes them two or three hours to get to you, you make less money and pay them more money. Don't pay a technician or distributor to educate themselves on your dime. Research the distributors more than the equipment. Get referrals.

All wash equipment requires service. If the supplier tells you his equipment never breaks down or is so much more reliable than the other guys, he is lying to you. This is a business that requires constant hands on attention. A good distributor will train and help you learn to do it yourself. It's about the only way to be truly successful at this business.

Good luck....

 

[MEP001]

Have you considered a Vector from Belanger? They are very reliable and have very little routine maintenance.

 

[V1p3R]

Thank you very much guys. I fully support everything said here but the only BUT is that i don't have any distributors in my country. I will be the first. Here where i live we have only hand wash, which takes about 40 minutes per car and if there is a queue, which there always is, then it takes hours to wash a car. I think automatic will be very popular, but only if it washes equivalently to a hand wash. I understand that i will need to service it regularly, but i think they will teach me to do that. So again, my main concern is the quality of wash.

Thank you Red Baron for the info about D&S. Will keep that in mind.

 

[MEP001]

If you want quality of hand wash, you'll probably want friction. If there are no distributors or suppliers, you won't have help to set up a touchless to do a good job, or even the availability of good chemicals.

Even at their very best, touchless won't equal a hand wash. Most of us have learned to tell our customers that it's a maintenance wash and not a replacement for a good scrubbing.

 

[rph9168]

You might be better off looking at a European IBA like Istobal, Ceccato or Wesumat. They are closer to you than the US companies and all have friction or combo units if you really want to offer touch free. I agree that you might be better off with friction if you are competing with hand washes. The chemicals are also easier to set up and maintain as well as being much cheaper than touchless.

 

[V1p3R]

Hmm i see. Anyways... Even if it won't rival hand wash, still it will be interesting. Anybody used Specialty? Impulse, Millenium, Revolution etc?

 

[under pressure]

the millenium wont do much for the front or grill, but dose great on the rest of the vehicle, I love it because it takes nothing to keep it running and the only real mat is replacing swivels every couple years.

 

[Gabriel]

If you are not going to have a Distributor and support close by, Wash World might be a great consideration. They seem to do a pretty awesome job on tech support from off site.

 

[robert roman]

Based on your description of the carwash industry in your country, you may want to consider an intermediate step before leaping into automatic washing. I say this because unlike your U.S. counterparts, you will not have the benefit of technical support within arms length in terms of planning, building or maintaining the wash. If your machine isn't working, and it will break down (sometimes frequently), your not earning any money.

As for your market,

"...only hand wash, which takes about 40 minutes...if there is a queue, which there always is, then it takes hours to wash a car."

and I am assuming an abundant pool of inexpensive labor,

you may want to consider starting up a "caribbean style" carwash instead.

If you do this correctly, you will be able to consistently produce a high quality, full-service hand wash in 15 to 20 minutes (16 cars per hour with an 70' long building) and blow the competiton away. You could do this at a fraction of the cost of building an in-bay automatic. Plus you would eliminate all the maintenance and technical headaches.

 

[Greg Pack]

Have you considered a conveyorized tunnel? It will depend on your circumstance but if you are in a heavily populated area and have the potential for a large customer base it might be the way to go. It's much faster, provides a better overall wash, and lower cost per car

 

[V1p3R]

I will google carribean style wash. As i understood conveyorized tunnel is when a car moves through a tunnel with different washing cycles in it, right? If so, then it should take 3-4 times more land, which is VERY expensive! But i will google carribean...
I understand your concerns about the automatics but i still think they will be very profitable...

 

[robert roman]

Yes,

I like in-bays and conveyor carwash systems. Its your choice. However, I was trying to consider your market based on how you described it (hand wash). I guess a better first question to ask is what type of service are you going to offer? For example, will you be providing labor for towel drying, interior cleaning (vacuums and windows), hand waxing, etc. or will you just wash the outside of the vehicle?

 

[Randy]

I?d like to know some of the costs of doing business in Azerbaijan. What are the labor costs, how much do the workers there get paid? What are the costs of power, water and sewer? Are Car Wash chemicals available? Or do they have to be shipped in? A lot of places that have low labor costs it?s not feasible to operate a car wash, it less expensive to do a hand wash. What does it cost to go to the hand wash in Azerbaijan now?

 

[Kris Wolf]

I have had a Futura Millennium for over 6 years. Over 130,000 washes on it and have not missed a day of washing. An hour here and there, but not a day. I think Specialty is discontinuing the Millennium in favor of the Impulse. With their new technology, they can dial into your system and make changes, do diagnostics etc. The Impulses and Revolutions that I have seen, they are nearly bulletproof, like the energizer bunny, they just keep going and going.

 

[V1p3R]

Hmm some facts about costs:
Land in the city varies from 35 to about 500 k$ per 100 square meters. The average price will be around 80-120 k$. Rent, depending on the location will cost about 1,5k-4k per box.
Labour cost about 12$-13$ a day per worker.
Of course hand wash is way cheaper, but much more difficult to manage. I don't know how many cars were washed whether the washer washed them well etc... Millions of small at first glance moments that reduce revenues...
Hand wash is a good option for people who have their own boxes and are willing to wash or at least be there themselves...

2 Robert:
I think in future when i expand i will open a full cicle wash where i will offer interior cleaning as well but for now i think outside of the car is more profitable.

 

[twoclean21]

For Sure Vector

I would buy a VECTOR, the machine is awesome. The mechanicals are easy to work on for a handy guy. But spend time with your installer learning the machine. It took some time between myself and the company that sold it to me to get everything dialed in perfect, now I just have to get the chemicals right. It has been about six months since we worked the bugs out and I have had to do nothing to it but stupid piddly stuff. Read the manuals and follow the maint. scheduals. If i wanted to, I could give away my best package in just over a minute, but I have the HVO option.

 

[twoclean21]

Check out the distributor first.

The guys that put mine in would call me back on a Sunday if I had a problem. But you still have to learn the machine. The only problem is if you aren't happy with the chemicals they also sell you and you drop their stuff they usually take it the wrong way and get ****ed off. Just always tell them the truth even if it is critical.

 

[JustClean]

Hmm some facts about costs:
Land in the city varies from 35 to about 500 k$ per 100 square meters. The average price will be around 80-120 k$. Rent, depending on the location will cost about 1,5k-4k per box.
Labour cost about 12$-13$ a day per worker.
Of course hand wash is way cheaper, but much more difficult to manage. I don't know how many cars were washed whether the washer washed them well etc... Millions of small at first glance moments that reduce revenues...
Hand wash is a good option for people who have their own boxes and are willing to wash or at least be there themselves...

2 Robert:
I think in future when i expand i will open a full cicle wash where i will offer interior cleaning as well but for now i think outside of the car is more profitable.

That is $1.5 per hour per worker!
How much do they charge for a carwash and what do you expect to charge to be competitive?