Is there a better way to sustain your car wash business in today’s environment?

by Stuart Levy

I was having a conversation the other day with Craig Burr the publisher of this magazine.  The topic of the conversation was “sustainability.” Actually it was more of a philosophical discussion on how businesses and individuals may need to reinvent how they do business and how to better sustain themselves as individuals.

In the November issue of this magazine there were two references to this subject. One was made by Jim Belanger in his article on “Powerful Trends” and the other was by Mark Miller in his article entitled “Using Detail to Grow Your Business.” They both touched on the subject of how to better sustain your business.

For many car washes who are suffering in today’s industry downturn due to either economic conditions or poor area weather conditions both of these revenue generators are important in helping to sustain your business. If you are not integrating these types of programs into your business model you are missing out on new income opportunities.

Special Services

In the car wash industry we always talk about “income-per-car.” This is generally defined as the extra income derived from additional special service applications such as wheel cleaner, polish wax, tire dressing and super sealants purchased by the customer. This is all well and good if you are a full-service or flex serve car wash. If you are strictly an express exterior, who is selling these special services for you? The answer is, your auto entry system. The auto entry system must now remind and sell to the customer the benefits of these services. This means that your system should be programmed to explain the benefits of special service applications, ask the customer if they would like additional services applied to their vehicle and remind the customer the cost can be added right to their credit card. Thirty percent of your customers are willing to purchase add on services. Sales videos featuring professional sales people promote the services to your customer. Remember Ed McMahon or Billy Hays. When they suggested you buy a product it became very hard to resist. To not encourage your customers to make this purchase through your auto entry system would be a huge mistake.

Survival

This brings us back to the subject of “sustainability” or how you can make sure your car wash business can survive in these the toughest of times. It is almost guaranteed that if you don’t take these steps to help sustain your business you will most assuredly not have a business to sustain.

If you do not offer your customers some form of car wash “loyalty” program where they can either purchase car wash books that offer them a discount for a set number of car washes purchased or offer a monthly car wash program that is automatically charged to their credit card you are missing out on some serious revenue.

Revenue Generation

Car washes offering gift books during the holiday season is not a new concept. Car washes have been doing this for as long as I can remember. This is a great way to generate instant cash flow into your business. However, if you really want to be aggressive why not offer this program year round. Why does it have to be the “holiday season?” We have holidays all year round. There’s Presidents Day, St. Pat’s Day, summer and winter holidays. There is always something you can do to sell gift books and generate revenue. Many car washes have now instituted loyalty programs where the customer is charged a monthly fee for each vehicle they register. The customer is provided with a transponder code that is automatically read when they enter the car wash. This system operates similar to toll way transponder units that are placed inside a vehicle except that the code is placed on a sticker that adheres to the inside of your windshield. When you go to have your car washed, the code is automatically read by the transponder and entered into the washes computer system.  The neat thing about this program is that in spite of weather conditions during the course of any given month, the customer is still charged regardless of how many times they washed their vehicle. If you have an auto entry system your supplier should be able to help you set up this automatic program.

Express Detail

It doesn’t matter what kind of wash you have. Offering a year round express detail program is essential to generating revenue regardless of weather conditions or slow wash days. If your service is offered for $39.95 and it takes 15 minutes to perform the service, that means you could do four express waxes an hour generating a minimum of an additional $160.00 an hour. Do the math. The cost of material and labor is minimal. All you need is a place on your property where the service can be performed.

Cost Control

Another opportunity lies in the area of cost control. Many car washes have inconsistent water pressure coming into their buildings. Inconsistent water pressure causes inconsistent chemical application. This means you are going to apply much more product than is needed which ultimately increases your overall cost per car. Many operators do not realize that their chemical costs have inadvertently increased because of this lack of control. By installing a chemical transportation system that maintains consistent water pressure and chemical flow at the nozzle you can reduce your chemical cost by as much as 20 percent. Hydra-Flex, Inc. in Burnsville, Minn. offers such a system. Over the course of a year this becomes a significant amount of money. If you have this problem talk to your equipment distributor on the types of chemical transportation systems that are now available that help solve inconsistent water pressure.

Work in Progress

We tend to forget that the car wash industry is always a work in progress. Nothing ever stays the same. There are always companies that are coming up with new solutions to solve problems. As an operator you have the responsibility to make sure that you are aware of advances in technology that can either help you better clean a vehicle or help you to either increase your revenue or reduce your expenses.

This may mean you have to reinvent yourself. What you are doing today may not be the way you should be doing things tomorrow. You must be flexible in today’s changing market place.

I have been involved in this industry for almost 50 years. I remember how we washed cars at my father’s car wash 50 years ago and there is no way we would ever want to use the same methods we used then. That being said, why would you want to continue washing cars or marketing your car wash the same way you did even 10 years ago. If you think about all of the changes that have occurred over the past 10 years you will understand what I am talking about. I always like to look at old car wash pictures to see what model cars were being washed at that time. Oddly enough, every time I do that, I notice the models change. Well, if the car models have changed, what have you done to accommodate these changes? How have you changed your business model?

Tough times call for tough action. They don’t get any tougher than they are right now. Are you tough enough to sustain and reinvent yourself and your business? Remember, time stands still for no one.

Stuart Levy is the president of Clean Car Consulting. The company represents a variety of OEM car wash manufacturer’s products as well as providing car wash consulting services. For more information visit the CCC Web site at www.cleancarconsulting.com.