What's new
By:
Car Wash Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Tunnel Wash Competition

Waxman said:
I wouldn't engage in any negative advertising. I think it communicates weakness and desperation. Instead, focus on your strengths while fine tuning your own operation even more. Saying the competition scratches cars makes the whole industry look bad. There is a place for both friction and touchfree as well as self serve.
Click to expand...
Exactly.
 
AutoSpaMobMO said:
We had this happen to us In December of 2023 a tunnel oppened up in Rural town of !4,000 people. At first it was like why stay open! The first few months were so slow and then it picked up a bit but not enough to help. 6 months in is wasn't getting much better it wasn't until almost the end of their first year that I noticed I was getting more and more customers back. I always had the few loyal customers that never went to the tunnel but it was a struggle for sure. I ended up 2024 being down 33%.
This year so far I have been pleased we are steadily climbing and I have had multiple "old" days and weeks where sales have shocked me.
My health had declined so Im currently trying to sell my wash so hopefully this will help the price but I have it priced way below what it appraised for in May of last year.
Click to expand...
I live in a rural town with just under 4,000. Figured that would keep me safe from a tunnel. I can't fathom how a tunnel and its costs will make a profit. I would suggest holding on for a bit longer with hopes that you are better positioned, financially than the tunnel, to weather a downturn in the economy.
 
In reading through this topic and from personal experience, it seems that a new Express wash entering your carwash market will take 20 to 35 percent off the top of your gross. It seems that after 2 to 3 years you will start growing again. -- Judging from what I have been reading, Take 5 carwashes being sold and Zips carwashes in Chapter 11; it seems that the private equity folks are finding out the volatility and problems in our industry.
 
Not to revive a dead post but how are everyone doing now after all of this? We have a tunnel going in right next to us. We are a 2 IBA with 4 Self Serve, we have duel petit and offer memberships.
 
natek10 said:
Not to revive a dead post but how are everyone doing now after all of this? We have a tunnel going in right next to us. We are a 2 IBA with 4 Self Serve, we have duel petit and offer memberships.
Click to expand...
Is it the first major tunnel in your area or are there already others?

In my case, a club opened 1000 feet away from us, but was the 4th or 5th of its kind within a couple miles. We’re 6-SS with a touchless and soft touch. Our revenue is still trending upwards. It hurts a little to see a zillion cars in their lines at first, but it had little to no effect on our books. I was so scared… I even took a detour for months to avoid seeing construction because it stressed me out so much. But it was all for nothing.
 
Dick Nitro said:
Is it the first major tunnel in your area or are there already others?

In my case, a club opened 1000 feet away from us, but was the 4th or 5th of its kind within a couple miles. We’re 6-SS with a touchless and soft touch. Our revenue is still trending upwards. It hurts a little to see a zillion cars in their lines at first, but it had little to no effect on our books. I was so scared… I even took a detour for months to avoid seeing construction because it stressed me out so much. But it was all for nothing.
Click to expand...
This would be the 1st of its kind in our area.
 
pe and greed literally ruins everything. pe backed car wash companies jacked up the prices of equipment and supply by saturating the market with complete lack of etiquette and common sense. it boils my blood when i see it happen, a man's life saving spent on having a piece of the pie in his retirement only to have it ripped away. before i was in the industry it happened to my dad and it literally ripped decades of his lifespan away from him.

screw you travis kelce, gronk will always be the GOAT tight end.
 
Having had that happen, not much to say. Conveyors are not for the small guys anymore, maybe in a few years, when we can piok up deals
 
Islandwash said:
Having had that happen, not much to say. Conveyors are not for the small guys anymore, maybe in a few years, when we can piok up deals
Click to expand...
i was just talking about that with another mom and pop tunnel operator a city over.

now days you'd need about 5 mil to buy the chips to play the game... takes 2 years to build if everything goes right... and then you need 1-2 years to start seeing profitability... and some whack ass PE company like tommy car wash or tidal wave auto spa decides to build across the street... no matter how well your operation is ran, you're splitting the market.

if you look at any industry report, tunnel wash industry as a whole has peaked in beginning of 2024, and has been in steady decline ever since. i think retail sales were down 30% across the industry this year. NCS downsized their staff in 2023... sonny's slashed their staff last year...

could be because of the economy... could be the gas prices... could be there's so many car washes its hurting each other's bottom line... whatever it is, it'll take time to recover... but it'll recover eventually, that's just how the circle rolls.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top