CHICAGO -- Whether car-wash owners are new or experienced, they have a lot of capital riding on their investment, so they need to be strategic about how they operate. Getting past viability to long-term profitability with express car washes, a fast-growing area of the industry, is all about performing consistently excellent to attract loyal, long-term clients.
“In the past few years, a surprising number of people have jumped into the express tunnel-wash business,” said Dan Pecora, who opened the nation’s first exterior conveyor car wash in Appleton, Wis., in 1963, along with others in six states.
“An express car wash can cost several million dollars today and is essentially a single-use facility,” said Pecora. “Get something wrong, and you could drive customers away. Get it right, and continue getting it right, and the reward can be decades of healthy profitability.”
Modeling the success of car-wash pioneers such as Pecora is perhaps the surest route to success. With millions at stake in a typical new express wash, here are four tips on how owners can boost their profit now and long-term while minimizing the risk.
1. First Impressions Count
One tactic that express-car-wash owners use with a new facility is to hold a grand opening, during which the washes are heavily discounted or even free for a limited time. This brings customers in but does not always turn them into repeat customers, particularly if the operator is inexperienced and does not deliver a quality wash and a friendly experience.
“An express-car-wash grand opening can bring in many thousands of new customers over the promotion period,” said Pecora. “If the owner can turn many of the new customers into long-term clients and continue the friendly experience, he will have a successful wash. Do a poor job, however, and they won’t return and neither will their friends or family.”
Because customers usually ride through exterior tunnel washes today, it is important that each step of that process be gentle, whether the owner is holding a grand opening or not.
“Customers have a close-up view of the tunnel wash on the ride through and notice every bump and noise,” said Pecora. “So the transition onto the conveyor should be smooth and the brushes gentle. Failing this the customer is not likely to return.”
2. Brush Up on Your Brushes and Cloths
According to Pecora, the surface that you are cleaning, brushing or polishing should determine the stiffness of the brush you should use.
In conveyor washes, Pecora said, firmer synthetic filaments are appropriate for tires and wheels, while soft cloth or gentle foam is better for the painted car body, where a softer approach is required to produce a shiny car.
“Tough cloth or tough foam might last a long time but won’t clean the car’s nooks and crannies,” he said. “Soft cloth or gentle foam, when done correctly, is gentler on paint and will clean these hard-to-reach areas.”
An exterior car wash using a high-quality “gentle foam” with smooth car-wash equipment can further reduce damage claims to near zero, while offering a quieter wash and better final polish, Pecora said. Unlike typical foam, which is usually offered at standard levels of softness, gentle foam significantly increases the level of softness.
For any trouble spots that commonly need to be touched up on a conveyor wash, such as around headlights, license plates and door handles, Pecora recommends using a hog’s hair brush at the car-wash entrance.
“Hog’s hair—actual hair that comes from hogs—has the smallest-diameter tapered filament, which helps to make it the softest,” said Pecora. “Since it is soft, tapered and feathered at the tips, it tends to release grit when properly lubricated and will not grind it into the car surface. Because of the taper, the hairs still retain stiffness for washing up close, if scrubbing is needed.”
To prevent potential paint marring from grit, that grit should be washed away from the brushes before use. During the wash, employees should dip the brush head into a soap solution in a tall drum. The employee should stroke the car a few times, then redip the brush, allowing the grit to fall to the bottom of the barrel.
CONTINUED: Quality & Loyalty
3. Quality Counts
While there is always the temptation to save a little on materials, sacrificing quality to save a dollar or two is the definition of pennywise and pound-foolish. Because brushes touch every surface of a vehicle, cutting back on quality in this category can virtually guarantee a subpar wash that will turn-off customers, Pecora said. Beyond this, subpar materials generally do not last, while quality supplies can often perform well for years.
“A poor-quality brush can do an awful job right off the bat,” Pecora said. “It can have the wrong filaments, can be too hard or soft, or the backing can be wrong, allowing the filaments to pull out or the employee to bump the client’s car.”
“A quality brush starts with quality filaments, laid in correctly at the right angle, so that it is neither too hard nor too soft for the job,” said Pecora. “Conferring with the car-wash supply manufacturer can help you tailor your materials to the job, provided their focus is on the car-wash industry and not something unrelated, like construction or scrubbing steel.”
Using quality chemicals is also necessary.
“While a conveyor wash could get by with just a few chemicals when I started out, today a dozen or more are typically used in express washes,” Pecora said. He recommends that owners consult with car-wash chemical specialists.
4. Keeping Customers Long Term
Car-wash owners looking to increase profit often offer add-on services for a few dollars more. These—a wax arch or tire black-wall service, for example—typically enhance protection or shine. While such services can boost sales dollars, Pecora cautions that the sales increase may only be temporary and decline over time unless consistent high quality and high value is delivered.
“One trouble spot in getting a quality tire shine, for instance, occurs when tires are not thoroughly cleaned before brushing in the chemical shine,” Pecora said. “This usually happens when wheels and tires are very dirty and are not cleaned properly.”
As the owner of Erie Brush & Manufacturing, Chicago, Pecora put his mind to creating two brushes for conveyor car washes specially designed to clean tires and wheels.
With unique names such as the “Wheel Wonder” and the “Poodle Brush,” these brushes’ filaments vary in length from 3 to 7 inches to create a wavelike pattern or resemble a well-manicured poodle. As a vehicle travels through the automated car wash, the longer bristles reach deep into wheel crevices, while the shorter bristles clean the tire and wheel surface.
“Use the right cleaning material, followed by the right tire-shine brush to buff the chemical into the blackwall, and the tires will shine so they turn heads at stoplights,” Pecora said.
Another vital aspect of keeping clients for the long term is having a caring, smiling professional at the car-wash entrance.
“Putting your friendliest employees at the point of customer contact and having them act as consultants helping improve the clients wash where needed can influence how customers feel as much as anything else,” Pecora said. “Customers must like and trust them or they may resist coming back if they feel they are being sold unneeded services.”
Without a friendly professional to greet and consult with customers, the next best option is to have an automatic payment system with no interpersonal contact at all.
By following these tips to help ensure consistent quality and value, and always considering the end result from the customer’s viewpoint, Pecora said, car-wash owners can keep their clients coming back for the long term.
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