CarWash Words

by Amit Patel, Senior Engineer & Technical Support, HYDRO-SPRAY

Car washes in this particular economy have to be operational year round and have to be profitable to offset the costs of operation of business and make a living out of it. Unfortunately, there are several factors other than the usual statistics and demographics that affect the operation of the car washes. One of the biggest factors is weather. It’s not unusual to find a car wash being closed temporarily or dysfunctional because it froze, particularly in areas around the country where temperatures fall below freezing point like the northern region of the country. It’s highly unfortunate to see that water and soap, which are the main cleaning agents in any car wash beside the equipment, are actually their worst enemies. The reason being low temperatures cause them to freeze the hoses, wands and tips in the bays and render the car wash useless to wash a car. Not only that, it will cause mechanical problems with equipment and add a burden of maintenance cost to the owner.  It’s highly imperative that such additional costs are minimized and/or completely eliminated while keeping the car wash running 365 days a year.

People in the past have been engaged in various solutions to prevent freezing of their bays or closing of their bays temporarily in winter season. Majorly, they will incorporate a floor heat system with doors or they will implement a weep system. Both the approaches have their own merits and faults.

A floor heat system is absolutely recommended to provide safer operations inside the bay. However, it brings with it costs of water, energy used in heating the water, equipment used for heating water, storing heated water, circulating the heated water and necessary sewage.

Doors come into the picture when we want to close a bay and preserve the temperatures inside the bay to non-freezing levels. Nonetheless, a blowdown system in addition is always helpful. This approach adds cost of doors, installation and maintenance in the long run. Sometimes, it is not feasible to have doors installed in the bay for reasons like shorter bays, no room to install doors etc. In such scenarios, a weep system is implemented.

A traditional weep system weeps water out of all the hoses, wands and tips in the bay that prevents them from freezing. Typically, the idea is that flowing water at a certain flow rate cannot freeze. This process continues until the car wash is in use for washing a car. The process returns to weeping the water once the wash is over. Simple approach, until we incorporate the costs of fresh water used and sewage associated along with electrical power usage cost. The cost drastically changes the bottom line in current times, where prices of fresh water on average, have raised 27 percent in United States in the last five years.

Recently, developments have been made in the field of freeze protection system suggesting a totally different approach. A totally new system named the blowdown antifreeze protection system, antifreeze system in short, have been introduced in the market. The antifreeze system is hooked up to the car wash and works very closely with it. It monitors the car wash and understands when the car wash is being used to wash the car. It also monitors the ambient temperature. Depending on the temperature, once the car wash is idle, it will clear the hoses, wands and tips using air. If need be, it will also coat them with a layer of antifreeze.  The idea is that air will clean wand and tips and push the residual soap and water out of the hoses which leaves little to no room for them to freeze up. In extremely low temperatures, a coat of antifreeze will provide additional safety against freezing. In terms of cost, we have the cost of the antifreeze system, the air compressor and the antifreeze and electrical power usage cost.

There is a point of consideration though; what happens if the antifreeze system fails to operate properly for reasons like the antifreeze supply was empty, the air compressor failed, or the antifreeze circulating device failed or even power outage for that matter? Such incidents are common and occur more often than not. They eventually end up causing freezing bays and lead us back to square one again. The car wash is rendered useless and no income is generated. The antifreeze system should be smart enough to understand and detect these anomalies and counter act. There should be some kind of backup plan incorporated in the antifreeze system which will prevent the car wash from freezing and maintain its operating condition even when the antifreeze protection system is not able to function properly.

The antifreeze system can eliminate the water weep system majorly if not completely and can use it as a backup. This way it will be a less costly alternative to water bills. Not only will it improve the profits but it will also prevent sewage of fresh water. Green, Clean, Mean. How’s that?

Concluding the topic, I would like to say that there are various factors which affect buying decisions of a car wash owner, but a well thought rationalized decision based on facts and calculations will go a long way in their favor and make business available to their customers and profitable to them.

by  Jeanne Huber Morr,  Ron’s Express Carwash & Oil Change

While many will Google to find out what the “slip is showing” comment implies; many still remember to conceal their slip.  Slip can also be considered a mess up of customer service.  NLA for our purpose does not stand for National Lingerie Alliance but for the two-mile stones of poor customer service.  We are fortunate to know so many fantastic owners that have true customer service.  Regretfully many in the industry are drained and have lost some finesse.  NLA for our purpose stands for Never Listen and Assume.  Keep these words forefront when you deal with customers and you will have rave reviews.

Assume

Quite some time ago in Detroit at a large upscale department store a woman was browsing for a purse.  Prior to approaching, the attendant noticed the woman’s unremarkable appearance.  The customer was nicely dressed, but nothing about her screamed, “I have money”.  The attendant actually felt sorry for the woman as she was viewing quite expensive purses.  Upon approaching, no questions were asked to gather information nor did the attendant try to know the lady or her needs further.   She quite politely took her to the more reasonably priced purses and tried to help.  The customer smiled, thanked the attendant for her help and left.  About 10 minutes later the Vice President of the department store approached the attendant, thanked her for her service and asked her to leave.  Her final paycheck would be mailed to her.  Just as the attendant was wondering what she could have possibly done wrong, the Vice President turned around and informed her that the customer that was just in her area was Mrs. Ford (Detroit, Ford Motor Company!)

With every encounter in life, listen intently and don’t stop listening or asking questions until the other person is done talking.  Absolutely never judge a person by your first impression or assume you have them figured out.  You will find your life richly filled with fascinating people if you follow this advice.

Never Listen

We had an incident where a customer went through our wash and left with a broken windshield.  The customer’s jeep had a large aftermarket light bar across the top of his jeep’s windshield, which he had installed.  The wash manager pointed out the sign saying we are not responsible for damage due to aftermarket items, but also informed him we would contact him shortly.  Wow, never have we had a broken windshield!  Upon meeting with the customer, who looked very familiar and he thought I looked familiar as well; I stressed a couple of points.  One, the conversation would end with both of us very happy.  Secondly, we truly value every customer and desire to take care of his or her needs for life.  Third, the conversation would end with both of us happy!!!   We went to a comfortable area of our site; the customer walked me through the chain of events.  I repeated his information back to him.  While viewing the vehicle several things were very apparent.

1.       The light bar was an aftermarket piece

2.       The customer installed the light bar

3.       The bar design should have had a pressure point on a solid piece such as the body of the jeep.  Instead it was against the center of the windshield—glass.

4.       The bar was metal, and it was winter.  The metal was cold without more    than 1/16” inch separating it from the glass

5.       Ice had formed ensuring no separation between the bar and the glass

6.       The jeep was toasty warm on the inside of the glass and the light bar was literally ice cold, bad combination!

7.       First top brush, ok.  Second one, not so well.

None of the above points ensure a win, win for both parties involved.  Upon reviewing all these points with the customer, two requests were made.  One call the company, we would or he could, and see if similar issues had occurred.  Secondly, find out what the insurance deductible is.  Since the piece causing the damage was after market and we always work with and value our customers, the offer was $150 in free carwashes if the insurance deductible was $100.  The customer was very happy.

Listening to the customer is paramount. Always offer a solution that is greater than the customer’s expectation. When listening to the customer, try to find out what they think a great solution would be.   In this case, the encounter opened the possibility of this incident being talked about in corporate boardrooms.  As the customer was leaving, I again hit on the point that he looked familiar.  When I asked him where he worked, his response was a very well-known large fast food restaurant, with corporate offices in our city.  Shocked, I said, “You were on Undercover Boss, weren’t you?”  He was!  Always listen and treat everyone well, you never know who you may be entertaining!

by: Perry Powell, Perry Powell Consulting

There has long been a standing debate on which of the two, price or value, are the most important.  The answer lies in one’s relative position to the question. If you are the owner of a business, you may feel that everything should be price driven, since price may drive profits. If you are a consumer you may feel differently.

Many business owners under price their goods and services, feeling that it is the consumer’s view, that a lower price is more desirable and will drive more business, than a quality product. On the other hand, if value is the true driver of business sales, then one may overlook the true driving force of consumer’s perceptions of the business and the purchases they select.

The real answer is that price and value must be inseparable for businesses and consumers to mutually benefit in the transaction.  Some believe that a particular low price point will drive car volume universally and they may overlook one of the chief issues which actually drives profits. Value.

Profits are maximized by charging the maximum the particular local market will bear for a given product or service.  One does not have to look too far to see this pricing structure in action.  C-stores practice neighborhood and competitive market pricing by location. There is not a universal price structure which drives more volume to a particular brand.

Rather, while most gas is created equal, in that all fuel may come from the same well and refinery, it may be distributed across a variety of brands.  The various gas companies tell the story of what additives are in their brand fuels, which will treat your vehicle with love and care.  This is building value so that consumers will purchase on brand instead of price.

A national brand may charge higher than competing prices at premium locations, if it has mounted these kind of awareness campaigns in order to impress the consumer that the brand is better and merits more dollars per fill.

A number of years ago, I had a conversation with a gentleman who was with Proctor and Gamble when the launched Pampers brand disposable diapers.  Sales were brisk because mothers placed a great value on not changing cloth diapers, which inevitably required some handling of hazardous waste.

A few years later, P&G introduced a newer line of diapers called Love’s.  Loves had a few bells and whistles which Pampers lacked.  Loves had things like better waist closures and frilly leg openings. The production cost for Love’s was, to the penny, the same as for Pampers . So P&G purposefully decided to give moms a break by pricing the new diapers exactly the same as the now tried and true Pampers.

Love’s would not sell.  They could not give them away. Warehouses were full of these diapers. In a move of desperation, P&G raised the prices 20% in the hopes of creating the perception that the brand was worth more than Pampers.  Eureka! Love’s flew off the shelf and a new diaper sensation took root.

These examples show that without a percieved greater value, than the price on the part of consumers, sales lag and profits to decline.  Proper pricing must must consider the market’s competitive environment but not be slave to it when creating value.

Recently, I was asked by a customer to shop his newer competitor. This competitor has a new better equiped car wash.  The new wash had a nice dual belt, in the after care area, and my rental car was processed in about 4.5 minutes. I counted 18 people on the line touching the car, (I later learned that the last person touching the car was the wash owner.)  Processing was so fast that a customer watching through the same window exclaimed, “I love this car wash!”

Then I got in the car, and for all the hype, bells, whistles and George Jetson style experience, the car was still dirty! It will not take consumers long to connect to this deficency. The problem was that while prices were very comptetively similar, neither wash was giving the consumer a clean car.

This was changed immediately, at my client’s wash, and they are now using the concept af giving the customer exactly what they promise in the sales presentation.  A car cleaned to the level of clean purchased.

This wash does not have to join the Jetson class of washes to win the hearts and minds of consumers. All it has to do is deliver a higher percieved value than its competitor, who is delivering mediocrity.

In this economy, one would be wise to review car processing proceedures to be sure that consumers are getting the value needed to continue to pay one’s prices before restructuring prices or offering sweeping discounts.

 By Mark Ellis, Xpert Solutions, LLC

One of the areas worth getting excited about right now is carwash lighting.  For years, Metal Halide has been the elite carwash lighting standard.  Wattages have gone from 400 to 380 to 360 to 320, as well as 250 and 175.  All popular. all good, usually watertight fixtures.  The problem with Metal Halide is that even with newer pulse start lights, you pay for the wattage – and don’t get to use it all.  All lighting is rated in “initial lumens” as well as “average lumens”.  Each lamp (bulb) produces a certain number of lumens (the measure of light output) at initial start.  Metal Halide loses approximately 40% of its lumen output within a matter of a few months, or less than a year on the really best new fixtures.  So if you have a 360 watt metal halide fixture whose initial lumen output is 36,000, it’s sustained lumen output (average) is 22,000.  If your lighting engineer specified the 360 watt fixture(s) at their initial lumens, within 6 months or so you are actually getting 1/3 less light from your fixtures.  But wait, you’re still paying full price, the fixture still uses its 360 watts.

So we use fluorescents.  What? Fluorescents?  Those skinny tubes that buzz and turn yellow, and get black on the ends?  That’s the old stuff.  We use and sell a new fixture, which is waterproof and dustproof.  Its IP 67 rating means that it can be submerged in a meter of water for 30 minutes.  It’s smart ballast uses the same two-wire connection to 110, 240 or 277 VAC.  Our fixtures have a poured in place gasket for waterproofing, and mount to two stainless clips (no holes in the fixture body).  We recommend a 3 lamp, high ballast factor, with high lumen lamps.  The initial lumen output from our 4′ fixture with 3 T8 lamps is 9,000.  And the power usage is 113 watts.  So for the same 360 watts of energy as the Metal Halide above, we produce 27,000 lumens.  That’s 25% more than the Metal Halide, on average.  And our lamps are high on the whiteness scale (5000k) plus they last 35,000 hours (5 years) without losing any of their light output (less than 2% loss).  Our lens is water clear, easy to clean.  And our fixtures start at 0 degrees, or we can provide ballasts for 20 below.  Colder than that, you should stay in bed.

Am I the only guy who likes these fixtures?  No, your electrical utility, if it’s trying to “buy capacity” with incentives, will give you about $35 per fixture (a third) in cash incentive to replace your metal halides with these fixtures.

Some people want to sell you T5′s.  I would suggest that T5′s, while they do output more lumens per watt than T8′s, which do generate a lot of heat and too much heat to be used in a waterproof fixture.  Also, T5 lamps are perfect for warehouse height ceilings (14′and up) but awfully bright at 11-12′.

The next level will be LED lighting.  But at today’s cost, LED still has a 9-10 year payback, while T8 fluorescents can provide a 1.5 to 2.5 year payback.

So, now you go do a lighting review. It’s a home run!  I like to talk lighting so feel free to talk with me on the blog!

By Mike Benmosche Mang Insurance

With the winter weather on its way, WashTrends Magazine wants to make sure that everyone stays injury-free “working at the CarWash”.

Here are some tips and/or reminders to help prevent slips and falls during the winter months:

1. Maintain Salt Logs at each location.
2. Move garbage receptacles at self serve washes next to the bays to minimize customer-walking exposure.
3. Use signage to direct customers to walk on areas of the wash that are designed to accommodate pedestrian traffic.
4. Be sure all underground heating is in good working order for both the bays and aprons around the wash.
5. Check all gutters – are in good repair and directing runoff to areas of the wash devoid of pedestrian and vehicle traffic.
6. Whenever possible offer cover for areas where there are customer change and vending machines.
7. Inspect bays daily for any ice build up.
8. Check weeping systems – are they causing excess icing on the bay floors?
9. Extra salting may be needed where over spray occurs.
10. Be sure employees are wearing proper footwear and clothing.
11. Only use approved portable heating devices and position them away from combustible materials at all times.
12. Identify areas of the wash where morning sun is prevalent whit shade in the afternoon. This scenario tends to create black ice and require more salting than other spots on the property.
13. At the exit of the wash, inspect all areas where excess run off from the vehicles can create dangerous slipping exposures. Some samples are; vacuum stations, sidewalks, detailing and where the cars enter the public roads. If the distance from the exit to the road is short, you may want to consider rerouting to allow more time for the dripping water to drain. This way you can keep it under your control.
14. Surveillance cameras are always a good idea to help prevent fraudulent cases.
15. If a slip occurs, a photo of the area as well as documentation and maintenance logs are very important.
16. All exterior ramps and stairs should have approved railings.

Feel free to add to the list with a comment…And remember a little extra effort could go a long way!

by Pat Troy, Next Wave Group, LLC

My husband and I just got back from a road trip from Florida to Maryland. Probably 4 or 5 times along the way, I commented “nice wash!” Bear in mind, I didn’t stop and have the car washed or tour the wash. I just looked out the car window as we passed by.

So what am I really saying when I say, as a casual observer, “nice wash” ?

For one thing, I saw the wash from a passing car. That means that it is positioned along a major highway, has an attractive and visible sign, and probably a name that is clever enough to catch my eye.  It might even have a message board with a catchy phrase.

The next thing that I notice is the construction.  Does it have a design that inspires confidence? It could be futuristic or it could be colonial style, but it needs to make a positive statement, and quickly!

CLEAN is the word that stands out in my mind. When we go to the carwash, we are going to get our car cleaned. So who wants to go to a carwash that looks dirty? A glass wash may be architecturally intriguing, but if you can see the scum on the glass 100 ft. away at 40 mph, forget it!

Another thing that I notice is landscaping. Are there flowers, trees and green grass?  Or it is surrounded by a sea of asphalt?

Does the wash have customers or are the employees sitting on a bench out front?  If a tunnel has a holding area full of cars or a self-serve has full bays, it says clearly that the local people use this wash.

Are the employees wearing matching uniforms, or are they in baggy jeans and t-shirts?  It is not surprising that customers are drawn to uniforms.

Obviously, most car wash customers are not transients moving through town on the way to someplace else. On the other hand, they see exactly the same things that the passerby sees, but they may see them every day driving to work. Whatever positive or negative impressions there may be run deep and are reinforced daily.

A wash may have the finest equipment or a lobby filled with customer amenities, but unless the customer is impressed enough with the wash to stop the first time, all of this effort and expense is wasted.

In these challenging economic times, wash owners could increase profitability by simply spiffing up!

Try this test. Get someone to drive you by your wash; then you quickly scribble down what you notice. Then do the same thing at competitors’ washes.  Then make a list of what you want to change.

I think sometimes those of us who know the industry, tend to think that customers know more than they actually do or care about things that they don’t even know are important.  Even if you have a great Web site and an amazing marketing strategy, if the customer drives by and says “no way,” then that customer will never experience your tire shine, your brushless wonder wash or your fresh pastries and greeting cards.

 by Craig Hanson, WashTech

People speak and discuss reclaim percentages in our industry and toss around numbers all of the time. “We reclaim 75% of our water.”  I have a couple of issues with these kinds of statements.  Most of these statements are meant with good intent, they are certainly marketing statements and positioning statements in the local markets. We all want to be the good guy.  Technically speaking there is very good equipment and technology available to the operator at reasonable prices to accomplish this task but how and whether it is employed is critical to fulfilling the statement. Some operators consider the fact that the wash water is collected in a wash pit reclaiming. If that’s the criteria it can be said that almost all washes reclaim 75% of their water, the rest being lost to carry off and evaporation. I have always felt that a better way to discuss wastewater in the car wash is by breaking down the process by phases. The recapture phase, the processing phase, when the reclaim equipment is used, the reuse stage (when the recycled / processed water is reused in the wash) and the discharge phase. If we look at reclaim from this perspective we can than dwell down on some reasonable and supportable numbers. In each one of our wash packages how much of the water used for the different cycles is sourced from our supply of processed water? How much is made up of fresh water?

In the past couple of years a lot of new technologies have found there way to the car wash industry. New sites are being built and older sites remodeled with equipment that considerably reduces the amount of water used to wash a car. We as an industry are getting better. The quality of processed water is going up and the cost to make it is going down. Looking hard at water in your car wash is a reasonable and responsible thing to do.

It is popular to hang the Water Lovers signs and tell everyone what good stewards of the Earth we are. It is a little bit harder to comply with our statements. How many operators measure how much reclaimed / processed water they use. Recently my company was asked by a local government office to start inspecting car washes water usage. This request was part of a city / county wide project to certify water friendly car washes. This kind of initiative is coming soon to your town too. Lets make sure we do the work of an industry ourselves and make sure we can walk the walk before we talk the talk.

See related article

by Travis Kimball, Quick Quack Car Wash

That is the question for a lot of car washes. Whether you are a single site operator or a large chain, the answer is the same: Yes!

Some people think branding is only for large companies with massive marketing budgets, but branding is an essential part of any business regardless of the size of the organization or budget.

Let’s start at the beginning. What is branding and how does it differ from marketing, public relations and advertising?
I like this example:

• MARKETING: Your strategy to tell the world, “We have the best car wash.”
• PUBLIC RELATIONS: You get others to tell the world (for free), “They have the best car wash.”
• ADVERTISING: You pay to repeatedly shout in different ways, “We have the best car wash” at (potential) customers.
• BRANDING: Your customers really believe that you have the best car wash!

The secret to branding is to be memorable. I have heard car wash operators say that their name doesn’t matter as long as the can get the words CAR WASH to appear as big as possible on the side of the building. That may be true if your goal is only to attract customers that are driving down your street looking for a car wash. But if you want to constantly be attracting new customers from all over town AND getting those customers to come back over and over AND have those customers tell their friends and family about you, “CAR WASH” just isn’t going to cut it. Here are two branding ideas that have worked well for others:

1. Have a FUN AND MEMORABLE name, tagline, mascot and/or jingle. You may be stuck with your name. No problem. Create a tagline or motto that is catchy and people will remember. Even easier is to create a mascot. I think every retail business should have a mascot. It is an easy way to connect to your customers in a fun and emotional way that cannot be done any other way. Mascot costumes can be expensive ($1000 to $4000) but worth the investment. Another way to become memorable is to get a catchy jingle associated with your brand. We found an obscure but wildly talented group to create a jingle. I highly recommend them and it is cheaper than you might think. http://doodoowah.com
2. Get involved in the community. I recommend that every car wash find a way to have a presence at as many community events or parades as possible. This also may mean a small investment in a banner, tablecloth, prize wheel, etc. Combine your mascot and a prize wheel at any event and you are guaranteed to have a big hit. I also suggest getting involved with youth sports, charity groups, school groups and chambers of commerce. This can be especially helpful in spreading the word about fundraising opportunities at your car wash. You want your car wash to be the first thing people think about when it comes to cleaning cars or raising money.

Remember, branding is about getting your customers to first remember you, and then believe in you. Go brand yourself today.

by Mark Curtis, CEO of Splash Car Wash

Blog post writer for Carwash Words- Mark Curtis CEO of Splash Car Wash and partner in the new carwash consultancy group – PPC

A speaker at the Northeast Regional Carwash Show in October presented analysis showing that carwashing has been off as much as 40% from the highs reached in 2007 – and his numbers didn’t take any weather into account! I can definitely say that the rainy weather in my area, the northeast, has exacerbated what the economy has done to our volume not just this year, but for the last 3 years.

For purposes of this discussion, I think it’s important to analyze what’s happened to the volume besides weather in order to identify opportunities that may exist to increase our business.

I believe there are three different categories of people in this economy. The first group is comprised of the unemployed and the underemployed – those people who have taken jobs with less pay. This group has grown to 15 to 20% of the population over the past three years, and that simply means they have essentially disappeared as our customer. If I’m worried about paying my rent and putting food on the table, I’m not paying someone to wash my car.

While we might see some small improvement in this category over the next two years, I wouldn’t be projecting huge volume increases because of incremental employment gains.
The second categories of people are those living on a budget. Their income hasn’t changed much during the recession, but they allot a certain amount each month to housing, to food, to entertainment, and to their car. So what’s changed? gas prices! Whereas they used to spend $40 to fill up their car, they are now spending $60. So, the budget that used to have an extra $20, $40, $80 a month to wash the car and maybe get the oil changed has been reduced to just filling the tank to get from here to there.

I think this is a big part of the down-trend in wash volumes. Before the stock market crash and the economy went into a spin in September of 2008, we saw the spike in gas prices affect us in the spring of that year.

The good news is that as gas prices start to decline, additional money starts to show up in people’s pockets. And that means more people washing their cars! With the slight drop we’ve seen over the past few months, we’ve seen our volumes have an upward trend at our washes as a result (discounting the weather of course).

The last group is the hardest one to decipher, but it’s the group whose income hasn’t changed and who do not have to worry about job security or cutting back to make ends meet because of skyrocketing gas prices. But regardless, they are cutting back.

Why? I’m not sure. Maybe it’s because they feel guilty spending like they used to, or the recession has them thinking about their purchases more. These are your best customers – the every week or every other week client that comes in each time like clockwork. Whatever the reason, they’re going out to dinner less often, stopping at Starbucks less frequently, and washing their car less frequently.

But I believe it’s these last two groups that are the most likely to wash with us, wash with us more often, and/or spend more cash when they do. I think for that reason that these are the groups we should target to keep them loyal to our washes and to try to increase their expenditures with us.

But before we do, there’s an additional trend for us to consider: everyone – I mean everyone – is looking for value when they do decide to finally make that purchase. It used to be that a customer probably couldn’t tell you how often they came to you or how much they spent. Now they can tell you the time of day, the name of the service, and the receipt number!

This trend is one that will continue for the foreseeable future. People are going to continue to need motivation to buy and they will continue to scrutinize their purchases for value received.

So, what does this all mean?

It means that volumes are not going to spike back up suddenly and what we see is pretty much what we’re going to get for awhile.

What do we do to change our profitability outlook?
I think the first thing is to take an honest look at our locations and critically assess how we look to our customers. Now I know we’ve been putting off that maintenance and that paint job trying to save money, but now’s the time to get your place in shape. This is table stakes. If you’re place doesn’t look the part, if you’re equipment is broken and looks like it can’t do the job, people will react by not spending their hard earned dollars with you. They will instead go down the road and spend it at a place they perceive is doing a better job. And here’s the thing: they might not really be doing a better job – they just look that way!

Listen – I know I may be speaking to the choir and I know that some of you may be wondering how I’m going to afford fixing stuff at this juncture. I know because I’ve been there. Do whatever it takes -  bartering services, making payment arrangements, anything –- you need to have your site looking the part.

So, let’s assume your site looks good, then what. If your volume is steady, then revenues will only increase by increasing your price and/or increasing the services that a customer buys from you. I don’t want to dwell on increasing prices, but I will say that I believe that we need to consistently raise our prices to cover our increased costs and provide for the depreciation of our equipment and the repair of our buildings.

Let’s talk about the second way to increase revenues – additional services. We have found that while customers may be visiting us less, they are spending more when they come. Now, this doesn’t make sense, does it? Aren’t people cutting back?

Well, they are, but because they’re coming less, our surveys have shown that they are willing to spend more when they do come to take care of their cars. Many are keeping their cars longer – I heard tell that the age of the average car on the road in the U.S. is 11 years?! Whatever the motivation, your customers are willing to spend more money with you if you can provide a service that delivers value for the dollar spent, that can make their car look better, make it run better (or at least they think it does), or that saves them money.

These could include express detailing, or if you’re already express detailing, how about full detail or restoration? Or perhaps, paintless dent repair, windshield repair, or headlight restoration? Or odor removal or paintless scratch repair?

Whatever you decide on, the first thing you must do to have the service go anywhere is to be committed to fully installing it, training it, and marketing it. If you are planning to dabble to see if it works, I can assure you that you will get results reflective of your partial commitment. I’ve seen this at many sites, including my own where we have gone at it in a half-baked way and then blamed the service as un-saleable – the customers just don’t want it.

The entry cost is not high in terms of equipment and supplies. What is critical however is the signage, sales training and production training. Sales and production go hand in hand with express detail – you cannot have a successful express detail business without both. A salesman who is commissioned will stop selling if he can’t get the work done (oh, and by the way, people stop buying the “express” service if it isn’t express!)

The production workers will find other places to work if not given enough work to keep them employed for a full day. Additionally, if they share in a bonus based on cars detailed each week or each month, you will start to lose them if your sales staff is not up to par.
This is a managed source of revenue – you can’t just set it up and leave it. Sales and production need to be a part of your culture or you will not sustain the success you have at the outset of starting this service.

This is true of any service you add. Full service detail is a service that is sold off the back end of your wash where your send-off person or QC offers to remove small surface scratches off a part of the car with some compound followed by a polish of the area. Obviously, that leaves that one spot on the car looking so much better than the rest that 7 out of 10 times the customer books an appointment or has it done right then and there.
With windshield repair, you can choose whether to bring this in-house and do the repairs yourself or to outsource the work. There’s another component to windshield repair as many of the repairs are covered by most insurance companies without cost to the customer. This makes it a great pitch– quick and free.

We chose to use an outside firm to sell, process the claims, and to perform the work. Obviously, they take a much larger cut of the fee, but we don’t have to manage the personnel, handle the claims, or to sell the service. One thing that is important here though is as you invite outside contractors onto your site, you need to make sure that they are not over-selling their service. We monitored customer reaction closely to make sure that they felt that the service was legitimate, that there were specific guidelines with regards to the depth of the chip or crack in the windshield, and that the salesman acted professionally.

Initially, there was some push back, including some from insurance agents, who weren’t pleased about additional claims being processed by their clients. After we spent some time educating our clients, reassuring the agents that we were operating legitimately, and refining the approach of the sales agent on our property, we’ve actually had people calling to book appointments with us.

As a side note, you might have seen the safelight commercials on TV recommending just such a repair. This is fabulous for this business – just as jiffy lubes’ ads for changing oil every 3000 miles was to the lube industry.

Paintless dent repair is the removal of small dents and dings from fenders, hoods and doors. Once again, this can be done internally or outsourced to an outside contractor. I’ve seen it done both ways. As this service requires trained skills, it might be easier and less risky to outsource than to hire within. This service takes a bit of time to develop, but once established can be a very lucrative business.

Other ideas which we’re about to install are paintless scratch repair and headlight restoration. These are great add-on services to your detail bay that enable you to increase your per car ticket and provide more service to your customer. The customer is pleased about the convenience, the cost savings, and most importantly, how great you’ve made their car look again.

That plays into that whole value proposition concept i was talking about earlier. if your wash is offering more ways for them to make their cars look better, run better, be more valuable at trade-in or resale time, or save them money at lease turn-in, then your wash is where they’re taking their business. All of it!

This will appeal to those on a budget trying to maintain their car’s value or to avoid lease return charges. It will appeal to those who really take pride in their cars and want to keep them looking good without the inconvenience (and maybe the extra expense) of going to the body shop.

It’s a lot to digest, but there is help available. There are companies that can help you with setting up these services and help with the training necessary to make them successful additions to your bottom-line, but you need to make the decision of what services to add and the commitment to making them successful at your site.

There’s a great movie – The Shawshank Redemption – one of my favorite movies. It stars Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins. There’s a great quote from Robbins, who at one point after several years in prison, states that “it’s time to get busy living or get busy dying.”

I don’t think there’s more appropriate words of advice for us. I think it’s time to get busy making our businesses successful, irrespective of the weather, irrespective of the price of gas, and irrespective of the economy. Those that do will find themselves making money – whatever happens – and when things turn around will be making a lot more money.

I wish my fellow operators success with your businesses and for an early and long carwashing season.

Carwash Word bloggers will respond to carwash questions. Please feel free to leave comment & replies we would like your thoughts!!

As the publisher of WashTrends magazine, I am pleased to announce that we are launching a WashTrends blog, called CarWash Words. This will be a weekly blog, with a new post each Friday.  Posts will be written by an array of carwash industry folks on carwash related topics of their own choosing.  Our goal is to have contributions from a mix of industry leaders, as well as operators and suppliers.

Carwashing is a big industry in many respects, but it is also a very close industry.  It is not dominated by corporate giants, but rather by individually owned washes and small chains. The manufacturers and distributors are approachable and genuinely nice people. It is an industry where people learn from one another and care for one another. It is also an industry where people try really hard to do the right thing.  The WaterSavers program focuses on the importance of responsible reclaim and the Grace for Vets program offers free washes for veterans.

It is my observation that innovation in the carwash industry springs from the individual hard work and flashes of genius, coupled with a healthy competitive environment.  The trends don’t trickle down from a few people at the top. On the contrary, they seem to percolate up from the bottom. In my opinion, that is why a magazine like WashTrends is important to the industry. Somebody needs to keep an eye on what is driving change and report it throughout the industry. In this way, we see WashTrends as a catalyst for positive change.

For the convenience of our readers I have included some excerpts from WashTrends. I think you will find these articles thought provoking.