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Wash Bay pricing

AZcarwashman

AZcarwashman

Active member
I’m currently at $3 for 4 minutes in my wash bays and $1 for 3 minutes vacuum. Zero complaints at this price point from customers and business is booming. I was planning on dropping bay time to 3 min 30 seconds at the first of the year, but now considering $3 for 3 minutes. Are any of you at $1 a minute yet in your wash bays? If so, when did you goto that price point and was there any pushback when you did. Most people notice the $ and don’t pay much attention to the time, but I feel people are getting more observant now with the increase in prices across the board everywhere in this economy.
 
I changed pricing on vacuums to $2 for 6 minutes when I returned from the ICA show in Nashville about 6 years ago.
I just changed the SS bay prices from $4/5
Minutes to $5/5 minutes on Dec 1. I’m in Central Massachusetts.
My daughter goes to school In Connecticut. Washes in the middle of nowhere CT have been at $5 for over a year.
 
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Most “nice” washes around me (well kept, clean, high quality options) are at $1 per minute. It’s the run down and unkept washes that are below that price point.
 
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A recent price change for one of my clients...40 seconds per dollar.

IMG_1816 (3).jpg

Anticipating similar pricing at other client locations soon.
 
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When inflation started picking up earlier in the year, we went from $3 for 3:40 to $3 for 3:12.

Now is definitely the time to raise prices. When we raised our membership for the start of the year, that was the least complaining we had ever received. People get it. Finally.
 
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I am at $3 for 3 minutes (rural northern Ontario town). The competitor is at $4 for 4 minutes. I prefer the $3 start as someone who needs a quick rinse is able to do it, but most customers end up paying more as they can’t just finish the soap and rinse cycle in time. Moreover, they prefer the wash as the rates are “lower” than the competition.
 
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Most places are $1 / 1min (or very close to that level). We actually have two starting prices, our first bay is a truck bay with higher 12' ceiling ($5/5Min), our other bays are $3/3:24. Our truck bay still gets more use than any of the other 5 so price and starting point does not seem to make a difference. We have this setup in two locations. I suspect it could change based on location, demographics, and competition (although we have nearby competition). We keep place looking nice, with great equipment and functions so people go out of their way to come to our place. We may consider going to a $5 start across the bays so we can employ a person for more hours to keep up with bay cleaning throughout the day. Some places are even higher starting price for CC $8/ 10min. We also employ bonus time at the $20 level.
 
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Andy Burn said:
I am at $3 for 3 minutes (rural northern Ontario town). The competitor is at $4 for 4 minutes. I prefer the $3 start as someone who needs a quick rinse is able to do it, but most customers end up paying more as they can’t just finish the soap and rinse cycle in time. Moreover, they prefer the wash as the rates are “lower” than the competition.
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That's what I find, too. Most people who come onto the lot figure they're going to spend the minimum, although they end up spending more. Let's say I had a customer who spends $7 at the self-serve. If I were to hypothetically switch the pricing to $5 for unlimited time, they wouldn't like it because of the $3 we are to start.
 
We went from $2/3.5 minutes to $3/4.5 minutes in March and had a fair amount of push back. Our closest competitor is $1.50/4 minutes. I don't think any wash is at $1/minute in the greater Dayton OH area. When I hear of those prices it seems to always be in areas that have a higher cost of living than we have here.
 
Rural Okla $1.50/ 3:20! $11 top IBA pkg
Rural Tx $2/4:00. $13 top pkg, but had put a brand new Razor Edge 14 mos ago (was $10 top)

When we're back up & running, from F4 tornado, im going to $1.75/3:00 in Okla.

Will also go up $1 on IBAs to $12 top pkg

I would literally become a millionaire with yall's pricing.
 
As someone mentioned, all depends on the local cost of living and the level of service provided to customers.
Labor, water, sewer, property taxes, utilities, all significantly higher, not to mention that chemical costs have risen significantly too. At 38 cents per minute I cannot get my head around the delta between gross revenue and expenses - you are practically paying for someone to wash their car.
 
We ALL pay the same amount for chemicals. Tx has super high taxes, but other costs of living is cheap.
I use KR super concentrates in SS bays, for hp soap (JBS Fonic) Bubble Up for FB, JBS for PS & TC, & Deep Blue for CC/Wax. They all work great (TC is avg) & are super cheap!
I still make about 65% profit on SS & 55% profit on IBAs (I do use Quest & Warsaw on IBAs).
So I am doing quite well, even w/ super low pricing.
Guy i bought from, 4 yrs ago, still has the other SS/1IBA 9 miles in next town, (that's super close in rural areas) He is STILL $1/4:00!!! That's the main reason i haven't gone to $2/3:00.
Heck, i do dbl mortgage for past 4 yrs, & will be debt free in 5 more yrs. That's adding 2 new new IBAs also.
I also am going to finally add Cryptopay this yr, & do count up w/ my LED6's.
 
One thing I want to also mention. We had a lot of cash customers complain when we had a 3.6 minute start up because only two and a half minutes in they heard the one minute beep. In their mind that meant almost out of time and would constantly add quarters and it didn't help much with the beeping. Now with an extra minute they can actually get some washing in before the beeping starts. I could not imagine having a 3 minute start time. It also encourages bucket washers IMHO.
 
Occasionally I hear the same thing about the horn. We changed it to be the last 30 seconds so it is less annoying. I know a wash where the starting price is $1 as they think it gets more customers (but their rates are about $1/1min). Who knows, no perfect answer.
 
OurTown said:
One thing I want to also mention. We had a lot of cash customers complain when we had a 3.6 minute start up because only two and a half minutes in they heard the one minute beep. In their mind that meant almost out of time and would constantly add quarters and it didn't help much with the beeping. Now with an extra minute they can actually get some washing in before the beeping starts. I could not imagine having a 3 minute start time. It also encourages bucket washers IMHO.
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100% agree - there is a psychology to setting this up too.
 
Yup. We have Dixmor at our other washes. The display on the Dixmor is easier to read.
 
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