Anyone own a self-serve carwash or know info on them?

2

2QUIK6

Turbo Milk Jug displacmnt
Joined
May 28, 2001
Trying to gather some information on self-serve carwashes and have a few questions about owning/operating one.
How to find builders that know how to build one?
Where to find the equipment?
EPA regulations on the drainage and drain cleanout?
Operating cost average say for a 6 bay?
Also wondering if there's a nationally recognized repair type of service for the pumps, etc.
 
Man you are beating the pavement

Good for you! I admire your desire.

There are services that do repair, as a buddy of mine used to work for one in San Antonio. He didn't like it as the work wasn't steady enough. Seemed like he had nothing or they were screaming for him to work faster.

The cost of the land and taxes and of course the fixtures them selves seem to be the main costs. Upkeep and fixing the vandalism could be the variables that make or break the deal. I don't think the owners of most do much if any preventive maintenance, only fixing what is broke(Thus causing my freind's problem).

Good Luck
Rich
 
I'm actually making quit a bit of progress on this subject today. Yes vandalism can be high, so the area where you put one must be considered. My neighbor for the past ten years recently built one, knowing nothing about the industry. I had a talk with him today and he actually shared much more than I expected, showing me everything about the water properties, I never knew there was so much. How to make the spot free rinse and even how to measure the spot free rinse water quality and ph balances. His measured to be a 3-4. 3 is distilled water quality, he siad the industry accepts as high as 50 to be spot free.....so we cruised around to some other washes and measured their spot free water..the best we could find was a 12-13, so his is the best in the area.
Also, his has security cameras in every bay and the vending area in order to curb vandalism, he's had no significant vandalism in the year he's been in business and can monitor the cameras from over the internet, said he can do that to make sure his part time help is cleaning them up as they should :)

So I think I've found most of my answers for my questions above from my neighbor. It also appears from the 12 or so other car washes we went to, it would be easy to take their business as most are poorly maintained in the areas we went as far as self-serves go. Will be an interesting adventure... Oh yeah, I'm also hooked up to go to a car wash owners convention next month!
 
The Convention

Do the promoters of the convention have a trade organization?
Do they have a website?

Thats great that the neighbor is so free with the info. Do something nice for them(Dinner or something) as they could be a valuable resource in the future.

Rich
 
My cousin owns a bunch of them in the midwest. He did great in the 90's and up until recently, my dad said he wasn't making the money he used to and I thought he said he was getting out. Next time I talk to I'll ask about the specifics.

My dad built his own car wash bay at his house back in the 80's using surplus parts. Had RO spot free rinse and everything :)
 
UNGN said:
My cousin owns a bunch of them in the midwest. He did great in the 90's and up until recently, my dad said he wasn't making the money he used to and I thought he said he was getting out. Next time I talk to I'll ask about the specifics.

My dad built his own car wash bay at his house back in the 80's using surplus parts. Had RO spot free rinse and everything :)
Click to expand...
Thanks Chris, any additional info is always helpful. Yeah, looks of folks around here build them, they do well, but they do not maintain them, so people tend to go to the cleaner/newer facilities. Can't go into the business and think it will be an unattended job, will require at least 2 visits a day to clean/etc. Also requires you to constantly maintain the ph balances for the spot free rinse, it people are getting heavy spotting after rinse, they won't come back. My neighbor has 1 class A wash near my house and is a perfect model of how they should be ran I think.
 
If I wanted to get into this buisiness i would consider those Laser washes. All you do is drive through them and the thing never touches your car. I would imagine it would be really expensive and harder to maintain due to the extra equipment, but people like the idea of not getting out of their car.
 
Rob,

I have also looked into this market and am still interested. I have searched for both purchasing an existing location and a new build facility. I tried to attach a PDF file that will give you some info on a new facility, but it was to large, so I will send it via PM. I would also be interested in any other info you mught have.

Henry
 
The Laser washes are a good idea, cost is around $125k for them. The idea is to provide both, yet most of the touch free systems are crap. A touch system with very soft brushes works much better is is what users would prefer.
Got your email Henry, I'll let you know.
 
I'll tell ya the busiest one around here has both. It has several self serve bays and then it has a car wash that is semi automated but here is the kicker - they have two guys before to prewash it for you and then two guys after to dry it. They have a line around the block half the time. They have several washes to choose from that range from 6 to 9 bucks.


If I were to get into that market, that is exactly how I would approach it.

Good luck however you hit it!

Vic
 
There is a guy here in the Oklahoma City area that owns a bunch of car washes and has started adding a dog wash. He saw it somewhere in Canada, he said within 2 months he had paid off all the equipment for the dog wash, and is making lots, LOTS, of money. He is also applying for the US patent for it. You might look into that hes, starting to add it to all his carwashes.
 
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