Please HELP new IBA owner with low revenue & high traffic counts

[sterlingh20]

Hi, I am a new owner of a 2 bay laserwash in San Antonio TX, I bought the wash in April of this year and my revenue has been extremely low. I really need the help of anyone on this forum for advice on what to do at this point. The wash was built in 2004, the previous owner stated on tax returns and income statements $100K for 2005 and $110K for $2006. Since april I have been getting $5,000 on average per month including vac and vending. The past month with few days of rain was only $4,000. Since I bought the wash I added 2 fragramatics vacuums, a full sized 39 selection vending machine and the image enhancement package for the 4000. The pricing is $10, $8, $6, and $5. The total washes purchased since April is 4,000. The traffic count is 18,000 on west ave and 5,000 on the street in front of the car wash. What improvements do you suggest I do to get the counts higher? The car wash is tucked behind another shopping center so it doesn't have the greatest exposure from the main road west ave but there is an old car wash sign that is over 100ft tall in front of the car wash the faces west ave. I have to put money in the car wash each month to keep it open, this is just not working out, is this business seasonal? What months generate the most revenue? I would appreciate suggestions that would help get this business back on it's feet.
http://home.satx.rr.com/storepictures/satview.jpg
http://home.satx.rr.com/storepictures/IMG_1521.jpg
http://home.satx.rr.com/storepictures/IMG_1516.jpg
http://home.satx.rr.com/storepictures/IMG_1518.jpg

[Michael McKernan]

What volume was you given when you bought it. UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT BANNER.
BTW, the entire retail industry sucks right now.

[I.B. Washincars]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you have a wash on a little traveled side street with virtually no visibility from the main road. I don't think the wash should have ever been built in a location like that. I wish I had some suggestions to help you out, but you just can't fix a bad location.

[sterlingh20]

What about a 10' by 2 ' bright video display sign facing the busy road on our 100' sign?

[MEP001]

You'd be better off with a mailer and free or heavy discount coupons. Make sure there's a map and clear directions to it.

It sounds like a greedy distributor duped someone into building in a poor spot. I've also noticed that double Lasers in Texas rarely do well. Keep it attended as much as possible, perhaps offer services like hand-prep.

[JMMUSTANG]

Your purchase timing of year was a tough time to buy a wash.
I don't know about your area but in my area summer/fall is not all that great.
Try wrapping a couple of large neon bands around the top of the wash (to bring attention to your wash).
Offer a reduced price after 6:00 p.m. till 7:00 a.m., say 2.00 off per wash.
Buy a used van (in good shape but don't spend a fortune) and have all sides vinyl wrapped with your car wash name, logo, location address and special evening pricing. SPLASH IT to attract attention.
Make sure it is running and licensed. Move it around the area periodically so that the city can't say it is a permanent sign.
But mainly keep it at your site as visiable as possible to the street.
Offer a towel drying (http://www.autocareforum.com/soapy-gray4.html ) as Soapy offers. It sounds like a winner.
If a you can afford it maybe an attendant to prep all cars and dry all windows. Advertise this on your van and by mailings to households, hand outs to stores and commercial accounts in the area.
This business is NOT as easy as most people think.
Good luck.

[Andy]

You need to advertise!! …especially since you’re not on the main road. Use direct mail offering a free car wash. The community needs to know where you’re at. The best way to get lots of people in, in the shortest amount of time is by offering a free car wash.

Next, I would purchase some additional lighting for your bays and under the vacuum canopies. It appears way too dark in those bays. Light that place up like Time Square!!

Advertise and they will come. Good luck!!

[Greg Pack]

Has anything changed in your immediate market? A new express tunnel perhaps? I can not see how business has dropped this much in a year's time unless that happened.


You have a tough job ahead of you. This does not look like a good location for a double auto. But if faced with ownership of this site I would (in this order):

Make sure you're putting out the best car you can. It needs to be clean, dry and shiny.

The place needs to be as neat as a pin.

Offer some unique services to increase perceived value such as soapy's free towels & wheel prep station. I have a bug remover station, too. Free vacs might be worth considering, too.

Consider an adjustment of your regular prices. I'm sure comments will differ whether that is necessary but personally I think your chances to gain traction improve when the customer thinks they are getting a good deal. Maybe - 5,6,7,8?

Try to prime the pump with a load of free/almost free washes. You have one chance to wow them when they come in, so everything needs to be right. The customer needs to feel like your place is such a good deal that it is worth driving out of the way to visit and they tell all their friends.

Good luck.

[Andy]

You can find a lot of good information here:
http://www.carwashloans.com/Articles_About_Advertising_and_Promotion.html

[raisetheprice]

You'd be better off with a mailer and free or heavy discount coupons. Make sure there's a map and clear directions to it.

It sounds like a greedy distributor duped someone into building in a poor spot. I've also noticed that double Lasers in Texas rarely do well. Keep it attended as much as possible, perhaps offer services like hand-prep.

Funny, We've got two of these...beginning to think the same thing after 8 years. I think the problem is that people see you washing 2 cars at a time, call the distributor and badabing they're asking the same questions Sterling is. We have two sites, one was a solid double (not a home run) and the other is still on deck. It's all about location, period end of story. We were the only 2-bay in the area now, there's probably 25 laserwashes within 20 minutes of ours. Not to mention other machines. Good luck, BTW what did the stealership charge for the enhancement package? Where did you get the blue arch foam?

[sterlingh20]

The arch is just an M5 rubber cover that I cut and used zip ties to hold it on, the image package cost $5000 each bay installed, a little expensive but the metal signs were falling apart after just a 3 years.

[sterlingh20]

As for competition there are 3 self serve washes, and 1 laser 4000 at a gas station, and 1 hand wash facility, the rest are several miles away.

[Gabriel]

Run some specials--give your customers a price break. This is a bad economy and $10 bucks is Mini Tunnel pricing where I am. Put more premium features on your $5, $6, $8 wash packages. Offer coupons, super price wash days and stick with them. It is better to make a few dollars less on a bunch of washes and attract business than to sit with no cars on the lot. Got to create traffic. As stated it is not the best location and something needs to bring them in for you. Get creative, the previous owner did not sell because what you are doing is working. Add banners, neon, reader boards, $5 days--what ever it takes to get some traffic. Traffic draws traffic and it is very hard to get people to change their habits. Give them a reason.

[Alan Bussey]

Sterling -

You might try resparking this double IBA by placing a banner out front for a month or so that says something like "All washes $2." That will be a traffic generator that will draw attention to the car wash. After that you might try all of the traditional special promotions for birthdays, red cars, etc.. If people can remember the specials they might become regulars. You might also try prepping on Saturdays and Sundays.

Talk to aother double standalone IBA owners directly and see what they do. You can find them by contacting Washing Equipment of Texas (WET) or by using the Southwest Car Wash Association directory.

Good luck to you!

[Whale of a Wash]

I would try marketing with the brake place across the street with a card and a code for a discount wash, it will help both of you ,also at other businesses in a mall nearby or a c-store without a wash. try door to door. I recently had a doorknob paper at my house by a stockbroker going around promoting himself,and a couple of politicians.
John

[sterlingh20]

Here is our pricing menuhttp://home.satx.rr.com/storepictures/Img_1532.jpg

[sterlingh20]

Would it help to make the $5 wash $3?

[pitzerwm]

Make all your price specials temporary.

[JMMUSTANG]

I would take down the canopy and vacs.
Replace the vacs with a central vac system with free vacs (looks like you could put 4-5 vac drops against the building). I believe this is a best idea but if you don't want to spend to much money then see if you can vend out a token for your existing vacs, set the token value at 10 minutes.
Install a flow jet system and dispense free window cleaner at the vac drops.
It looks like you have a nice multi vender there already so you're set.
If you have any additional carpet shampoo/vac units from your old setup put them on the perimeter of the lot.
Then put the canopy back up with better lighting and signage on the canopy stating FREE VACUUMS.
Change your sign out front stating FREE vacuum with car wash purchase.
Then send out a mailer stating an Anniversay Sale offering a FREE car wash with FREE vacs.

[MEP001]

You might even consider changing the name. No offense, but the client?le in that area may think "Sterling H?O" is pretentious, at least the ones who understand English. Put up menus in Spanish too.

[Michael McKernan]

Hi, I am a new owner of a 2 bay laserwash in San Antonio TX, I bought the wash in April of this year and my revenue has been extremely low. I really need the help of anyone on this forum for advice on what to do at this point. The wash was built in 2004, the previous owner stated on tax returns and income statements $100K for 2005 and $110K for $2006. Since april I have been getting $5,000 on average per month including vac and vending. The past month with few days of rain was only $4,000. Since I bought the wash I added 2 fragramatics vacuums, a full sized 39 selection vending machine and the image enhancement package for the 4000. The pricing is $10, $8, $6, and $5. The total washes purchased since April is 4,000. The traffic count is 18,000 on west ave and 5,000 on the street in front of the car wash. What improvements do you suggest I do to get the counts higher? The car wash is tucked behind another shopping center so it doesn't have the greatest exposure from the main road west ave but there is an old car wash sign that is over 100ft tall in front of the car wash the faces west ave. I have to put money in the car wash each month to keep it open, this is just not working out, is this business seasonal? What months generate the most revenue? I would appreciate suggestions that would help get this business back on it's feet.
http://home.satx.rr.com/storepictures/satview.jpg
http://home.satx.rr.com/storepictures/IMG_1521.jpg
http://home.satx.rr.com/storepictures/IMG_1516.jpg
http://home.satx.rr.com/storepictures/IMG_1518.jpg

I reread you initial post. Does the previous owner have any other business interests? You don't drop off that much.

[Greg Pack]

Would it help to make the $5 wash $3?

The express tunnel can play the $3 game but you don't have the throughput capability. In an IBA I'd rather come down to strongly encourage purchase of the top washes. You can't wash enough cars in an IBA at $3 to make any money. You might make a dollar per car profit. If you come down on the ten dollar wash to seven you still make probably 3.50 profit. ( I allocate $1 per wash to depreciation and maintenance of wash equipment) Just my opinion, I'm sure there are others.

Make it a deal for the customer. If I could stand it financially I'd sell the top wash for $5 for a six months- 1 yr. to try and gain some steam. Give the customers your top wash with free vacs, drying towels, etc and they will feel like they stole from you. If decent numbers start coming through (2K cars) go to $7 or $8.

[raisetheprice]

You cut the M5 rubber down the back then zip tied? I think you should get rid of the name also. Both of mine say Laserwash & Touch Free/Spot Free on the building and my pole signs/marquee out front say Laserwash. People recognize that name especially in Texas since there's one on every corner in every town. Sterling H2O means nothing to most people. Do not change your vacs, 1) It's too costly 2)Those canopies area attractive and functional 3) They're already there. Don't offer anything for free unless you're standing there giving it to the customer personally. Hand out $1 token notes ALL over. Have them printed with your new name and address.

[Wash-A-Roo]

I ran a 1.00 carwash special at one of my locations for any wash package for two weeks. Turned out to be a long term winner. I have a 2 bay laser in Texas...if you have any questions email me at [email protected]

[tobaccofarmer]

As previously said location is most important, and unfortunetly these stealerships (nicely said, "Raise the Price") will build these rat holes wherever they can and convince the new owner how great it will be. So with that being your major negative I would sell asap. If you dont like that option then drop CSI chemical and get something that customers actually see works, they dont care about Lustra Bear and all that crap, they dont even read it anyway. Just make sure it stands out from everything else-- what I mean by that is to make sure each car comes out spotless each and everytime even more importantly than the signs and banners. Unfortunetly as you are the second owner chances are the place has a bad name and all this will be very hard if not impossible to achieve. One last thing, lowering prices just devalues your product and I wouldnt recommend it. However this is just an opinion and I don't think I know it all... just a few personal ideas.

[Waxman]

Why not contact the old owner and ask for some help? I keep all of my financials on QB Pro. I can tell you income and expense for every month in business since opening. Maybe seasonality has something to do with it. Revenues dropping bu alomst half in a year do not make sense. Some opertaors are off 20% and that seems like alot to me.

What about having your attendant do some detailing? It would at least pay for the attendant, if nothing else. I think you need to do 2 things; focus on service (detail cars, be attended on a regular basis) and become the community's car wash by holding charity washes at your site. Go for it!

[scott]

Waxman makes a good point- how well do you trust the p.o.'s financials? in other words, did he have other businesses he could have shifted income from to "puff up" the carwashes #'s, knowing he planned to sell? If the #s are legit, it could just be a seasonal thing, and will right itself out- but a lot of good suggestions here, nonetheless.
upon reread, its not seasonal if its been bad since april, and michael mckernan already asked about p.o.'s other interests..

[Jony82]

If the previous owner puffed up his books, you might be able to go after him legally if you had a rock solid contract in place upon buying.

My contract upon buying had a clause where the seller agreed he did not provide any misleading financial data. From what my lawyer told me, this protected me in case he messed with the books and the wash wasn't bringing in what he said.

It might be a tough case to win, but I'd carefully go over the financial information he gave you and take it to your lawyer for an opinion. If he puffed up his books you might be entitled to some of the purchase money back or some compensation. Worth a try if you are going to lose your butt on this.

[Waxman]

Great idea for a car wash purchase agreement in which financial data for the wash is given. I will use this! Thank you.

[MEP001]

Why not contact the old owner and ask for some help?
Chances are they sold the wash because they couldn't make it work. If that's the case, they should be kept out of the loop now.

[Michael McKernan]

Chances are they sold the wash because they couldn't make it work. If that's the case, they should be kept out of the loop now.

I would contact the owner but not for help. I would be asking about volume. In San Antonio, water consumption might be close because of no weep water.
I'm getting water bills for the last 2 years and compare to my current ones, if it is me.
BTW, my friends in SA, say this is not that bad of a location and in a really nice neighborhood. Maybe to nice. Where his customers might be traveling to get the entire car cleaned while they wait (full tunnel). He might want to adjust accordingly.

[Sequoia]

There are two issues here.

One, find out from the prior owner what the revenue was in the past by season. Maybe you have some "big-number" months ahead of you but you don't know that yet. Something is very weird if you are truly down 40% with no good reason to point to.

Two, every problem you have is related to wash volume. Do everything you can to build the wash volume-- special pricing, flyers/mailers to local apartment complexes, free wash promotions, etc. Do them in a way so that you can use them today to build more traffic, and slowly creep up the prices/reduce the incentives as the customers in your local area have made it their habit to visit your wash. Build the regular core of customers in this way, and you'll see things much improved within a year.