Who says Self Serves are dying?

[Eric H]

6:15 in the morning and all bays are full. 2 minutes after I took this photo there were 2 cars waiting

 

[I.B. Washincars]

In the mid 90s to early 00s many were built in marginal locations and were doomed to failure. So, in a sense, many are dying and perpetuates the impression that SS as a whole is dying. I see that same thing happening with express washes. I wonder how many of their carcasses will dot the landscape in 10 years. I’m guessing that this current pandemic has already started the ball rolling. My $.02

 

[MEP001]

A lot of self-serve only washes here have been torn down, so the ones that are left have an opportunity to make a good income. Mine is doing really well.

 

[KleanRide]

Agreed. Even with fear of covid, and tighter grips on wallets, my traffic is off the scale right now.

 

[mac]

The only people saying that self serves are dying are the salesmen from Sonnys. Well here's a little get back at ya. Express tunnels are dying also. In south FL where I am they are popping up like weeds. And here it also rains almost every afternoon. Went by three one day lasyt week and saw maybe 10 cars at each, and half those were most likely employees. Remember,they have to AVERAGE 300 or so per day to break even. It is also sooo nice to be out of the sales game. I don't care what the reaction from Sonnys is anymore.

 

[MudMoney]

During this whole covid scam, our numbers were up 20% and then some.Self serves in my trade area have been torn down{2} and 2 others are on life support. Bad locations and poor operators.

 

[MC3033]

Our Self serves are doing better then ever. The unkept self serves and poor locations go away and the rest get busier.

I imagine self serve business as a whole is down and will continue to go down overtime as more consumers are educated on express washes.

SS will always be around as it is a great option for large vehicles, trucks and self washers. The cost of doing a tunnel will also keep it away from a lot more rural areas

 

[MEP001]

I imagine self serve business as a whole is down and will continue to go down overtime as more consumers are educated on express washes.

IMO those customers don't overlap much.

I had borrowed a friend's car which was filthy and I didn't have time to give it a real cleaning, so I went through a brand new EE near me. It did a lousy job. Since I was in a hurry that day I didn't go around to complain or ask for a re-wash, but I won't ever go back. And the wash was $18. That sort of thing will help SS operators like me.

 

[RAAOO7]

A really good self serve can potentially make more net profit than an express. SS's don't have the expense/liability/maintenance like an express. Obviously express sounds really good....500 to 1000 cars per day. What happens when other express builds near you? Car count drop. It sounds like really good money but after all the expense, water,electric, chemcials, labor, maintenance, major repairs.....not that much left....

please correct me if i'm wrong....

 

[MEP001]

please correct me if i'm wrong....

If only Robert Roman were still here...

 

[Eric H]

If only Robert Roman were still here...

Be careful, I heard if you say his name 3 times he will appear.

A really good self serve can potentially make more net profit than an express. SS's don't have the expense/liability/maintenance like an express. Obviously express sounds really good....500 to 1000 cars per day. What happens when other express builds near you? Car count drop. It sounds like really good money but after all the expense, water,electric, chemcials, labor, maintenance, major repairs.....not that much left....

I think I am seeing this in the 1 Express we have in our city. We have 2 cities right next to each other with a combined population of about 85,000 and a pretty good population in the surrounding towns. The Express is arguably the best location, geographic center of the 2 cities, on
the road with the highest traffic count, near the highway etc. Competition is 3 tunnels, 16 SS bays, 8-10 IBAs in a mix of carwash or gas stations.
I keep seeing the volume drop at the Express since they opened in 2010 There are seldom lines at the wash and now it looks like they have permanently closed their "FREE Vacuums!". But, I think the biggest issue with washing a high volume of cars at a low price point is that it WEARS OUT CHEAP EQUIPMENT. Then "some equipment company" that pushes $3 carwashes gets to sell equipment to a carwash over, and over again.

 

[mac]

I think you here have nailed it. We all know how to keep our equipment tuned to get a really clean car. More importantly so do our customers. I can clean boats, motorcycles, box trucks, and tall vans. No conveyor can do that. Also lost in the conversation are the people who really like to clean their own cars. I see them all the time. We are not going away just yet.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Like many other things the available "Pie" of customers in an area is finite. So, you the more slices you cut it into the smaller for each site. Now you can have different flavors of pie and some customers will eat either and some only one.

 

[washnshine]

I’ve seen several self serves go under, but they have always been the neglected ones. The ones that are built/maintained to attract customers and provide a quality service do not seem to have a problem staying in business.

 

[Greg Pack]

Attrition has helped my main wash SS numbers tremendously. I bet 1/2 the SSs in my metro area have gone away. I thunk people wanting to get out of the house with limited entertainment options has given a new bump too. Hopefully I will retain many of these after Covid dies down.

I still think for the average entrepreneur the express in the proper location is a superior business model if net revenue is the goal. A well run express in a good location nets more than my wash grosses. But they are getting ridiculously overbuilt and the fallout will be felt by everyone in the wash business.