Information to start a car wash?

[Comment]

I've been digging but it's difficult to find solid information on this.

I've been looking into start some type of a car wash, but I cant decide which would be best.

If anyone knows any good books or actual experience, that'd be great.

I cant decide if I want to start a self-serve wash with 1 automatic bay, or a full-serve wash with a conveyer, indoor lobby, and employees detailing cars.

[Flash Gordon]

I cant decide if I want to start a self-serve wash with 1 automatic bay, or a full-serve wash with a conveyer, indoor lobby, and employees detailing cars.

If you plan to ever make any real money, this ^ would be your best option

[Comment]

If you plan to ever make any real money, this ^ would be your best option

What? Which option? From what I've read so far..

Self service is 60-80k per bay, and 100k for an in-bay wash
So about 500k to start a self-service car wash, and you can gain about 75-120k a year, with 1k per bay a month.


A full service can be 500k-1.5mil to start, but you can make 750k-900k a year.

I cant really decide, I just got out of highschool and I'd need a serious loan to start a full-service wash. It might be best for me to do a self-service for now till I can fund a full-service and to get more business experience, then I can sell the self-service.

[RTexasF]

You'll need a serious loan regardless. Unless a relative is a banker that just isn't going to happen at 18 and just out of high school. How would you get the funds to build even one bay much less 6-10 lined up in a row?

[Rav777]

What? Which option? From what I've read so far..

Self service is 60-80k per bay, and 100k for an in-bay wash
So about 500k to start a self-service car wash, and you can gain about 75-120k a year, with 1k per bay a month.


A full service can be 500k-1.5mil to start, but you can make 750k-900k a year.

I cant really decide, I just got out of highschool and I'd need a serious loan to start a full-service wash. It might be best for me to do a self-service for now till I can fund a full-service and to get more business experience, then I can sell the self-service.

Ever think about starting a mobile detail? Not sure how it is where you live but they installed a new wash bay here in my town and they don't seem to get very much business. That makes 6 car wash places in my small town.

[tag4car]

I've worked as a corporate trainer for a franchise tunnel wash, from software to putting any part together. Ask what you need to know, I've been into all the conferences talking $ numbers so I know some stuff.

[Comment]

I've worked as a corporate trainer for a franchise tunnel wash, from software to putting any part together. Ask what you need to know, I've been into all the conferences talking $ numbers so I know some stuff.

Well, oh man, I have a ton of questions.

I'm trying to decide which is the best type of wash to open, there are a bunch of different combinations you can employ, and being 18 it'd be pretty difficult to get a 1.5million dollar loan to start a full service car wash. Do you think a self-service car wash with 4 bays,1 in-bay automatic and some vacuums would be worth the trouble at my age? How much do they bring in? I've heard from 50-150k a year, and then I've heard of some places that just didnt get any customers and sold the whole lot for 100k losing most of their investment.

If I could somehow get the money to start a full-service car wash, how much do they usually make per month or per year? I've heard from 500-900k, but I just dont understand the startup costs. I can see the land being around 250k, and the building about 300k, but I cant find ANYWHERE the price of a conveyor car wash system. I'd assume they're about 150k? I just cant find a price or a quote anywhere, and how's maintenance? How often do they break down and how long can it take to fix?

If you dont want to read all that here's the questions in there:

What makes up the startup costs for a full-service car wash?
Is a self-service wash with 4 bays, 1 in-bay automtic, and some vacuums worth it to start up and build?
What's maintenance like, how long does it take to fix a car wash system and how do you even go about fixing it?
What is the price on a exterior-bay conveyor system?

[tag4car]

Ok, since I have majority conveyor wash experience I'll start there,
A great place to find info and prices would be sonnys direct, that's the company with the best support and most comprehensive info. The wash equipment and supporting equipment room for a 130' tunnel comes to the 320k area. But that's everything from the presoak to the dryers and an auto tire shine unit. It was 30k for the factory installation team that comes from the mfg, each automated entry machine can run to 30k, water reclaim systems are very high and also require extensive construction in the beginning, 6-8 tanks underground holding around 30k gallons of water being ozonated with the equipment room unit. ( does help sales in drought areas and can be advertising as a "green facility") example store: 135' tunnel, 3 auto sentry units, 6 25hp vac stations with 6-8 drops each, just over an acre of land on a prime spot, chemicals, utilities, and employees on a 400 car day might come out with the area of 4k in gross, but minus cost try more towards 1.5-2k I have seen and have worked at the washes on days that passed 1200 cars and averaged $7.xx per car with 4 employees on clock. Keep in mind the highest peaking stores were located in low or middle class areas. The one we had in an affluent area hit 900 at the most.
So with land, construction, equipment, consumables, and setup it can pass 2m in initial cost. Check out Sonny's wash equipment and for self serve info, check out my friend's blog at cwguy.com
Ask more if ya need to,
Joey

[MSWPA]

If it can be certified green, there may be special federal grants and low interest loans available. Worth looking into.

[Comment]

Ok, since I have majority conveyor wash experience I'll start there,
A great place to find info and prices would be sonnys direct, that's the company with the best support and most comprehensive info. The wash equipment and supporting equipment room for a 130' tunnel comes to the 320k area. But that's everything from the presoak to the dryers and an auto tire shine unit. It was 30k for the factory installation team that comes from the mfg, each automated entry machine can run to 30k, water reclaim systems are very high and also require extensive construction in the beginning, 6-8 tanks underground holding around 30k gallons of water being ozonated with the equipment room unit. ( does help sales in drought areas and can be advertising as a "green facility") example store: 135' tunnel, 3 auto sentry units, 6 25hp vac stations with 6-8 drops each, just over an acre of land on a prime spot, chemicals, utilities, and employees on a 400 car day might come out with the area of 4k in gross, but minus cost try more towards 1.5-2k I have seen and have worked at the washes on days that passed 1200 cars and averaged $7.xx per car with 4 employees on clock. Keep in mind the highest peaking stores were located in low or middle class areas. The one we had in an affluent area hit 900 at the most.
So with land, construction, equipment, consumables, and setup it can pass 2m in initial cost. Check out Sonny's wash equipment and for self serve info, check out my friend's blog at cwguy.com
Ask more if ya need to,
Joey

WOW! THANK YOU!

That's 2million for a full-service car wash.

There's a place by my house that's on A LOT less than an acre of land, but they have a constant flow of customers, and everytime I drive by the line is full.You pull under a canopy and pay for your wash, drive around the building and they guide you into a wash tunnel, you put it in neutral and just sit till the wash is over, then you drive under another canopy, get out, and go in the waiting room while your car is dried.When I picture this in my head it doesnt look anything like a 2 million dollar lot. If the wash system is 300k like you said, then I have to assume the building,land,vacuums, and water reuse systems account for 1.7million.

Like I said the lot is very small and sometimes large trucks have problems getting into the car wash because of that. Do you think it'd be worth the extra money to have a whole acre of land? It LOOKS like theyre making a killing, but I may be wrong. Also, If I started a car wash business, I want a positive return on my time. Is there any type of car wash that is somewhere between the fully-auto-almost-passive income of a selfserve wash, and the busy-busy-workweek-nonpassive income of a fullservice car wash? Maybe a fully auto conveyor wash with some vacuums?

You can probably tell I'm not too knowledgable on the subject, I just purchased a book off of Amazon and I plan to do some serious research on Sonnys, BUT THANK YOU FOR DEALING WITH ME AND ANSWERING MY QUESTIONS!!! It's very helpful

[tag4car]

There is a large variety of Eco friendly chemicals available, even tire shine.
Look into what's called a flex serve, It's a tunnel wash that has the option for manual detailing on both ends.
Look at Warsaw chemical out of Indiana for some selection and some prices for chemicals can be seen at carwashsuperstore.com
Joey