Self Serve, Touch-Free,Express, & In-Bay - Finding Profitability in changing marketplace

By Anthony Analetto
Originally Published in AutoLaundry Magazine

Interview with Tim Jones,
Owner of Champion Car Wash

 Go to your local bookstore and you’ll find no shortage of business and motivational books instructing people and organizations to continuously reinvent themselves and their businesses to find success.  Good advice, but often the real trick is to implement change that complements and elevates existing parts of your business that are already successful. Basically, change is best when it doesn’t fix what’s not broken or throw out the proverbial baby with the dirty bath water.

 

Talk to Tim Jones, owner of Champion Car Wash, for just a few minutes and you’ll leave the conversation with a feeling that reinventing a company’s operating model is easy. Entering the car wash business in 1993, Tim was a co-founder of one of our industry’s largest self-serve chains before starting Champion. Today, Champion Car Wash consists of four locations offering a mix of self-serve, in-bay automatic, and most recently conveyorized tunnel wash services. Completing a renovation of one of his sites less than two weeks ago, Tim was kind enough to share some of his insights on where the market is going and how he’s planning to adapt for continued growth. So what happens when you replace a touch-free in-bay automatic at a 6-bay self-serve wash with a mini-friction express tunnel? I’ve included a few excerpts from the conversation below.

 

ANALETTO: What changes led you to convert a touch-free in-bay automatic at your 6-bay self-serve wash to a mini-friction express tunnel?

 

JONES, OWNER – CHAMPION CAR WASHES: Competition has changed, our customers have changed, and the area surrounding our business has changed. We built this wash back in 1995 as a 6-and-1 during what I like to call the good-old days. “Build it and they will come” was true back then and this has always been a good location for us. It’s on a main road and over the last 13 years, daily traffic has grown dramatically. Some new residential has been built, and a lot of older houses have been revitalized. The wash is now surrounded by fast-food and other major retailers and the location sits between a wealthier community and an up-and-coming residential area, drawing customers from both.

 

Two things really led me to make this investment. First, I had a busy touch-free automatic that was worn out and needed replacement. Second, I had a threat of competition when an express-exterior franchise looked to build a new wash across the street from me but ran into some zoning problems. This has been a busy automatic for us, but replacing it with a new in-bay would still limit me to 8 to 10 cars per hour. I’ve had some experience with conveyors and knew I could increase my volume with an extreme express tunnel. I also wanted to eliminate the threat of one opening up near me. Tunnels and conveyors have changed a lot over the years. They’re safer now and can deliver a good clean car. To me the conversion seemed the best choice I could make at this site.

 

ANALETTO: What staffing changes have you had to make?

 

JONES: The self-serve is still open 24 hours, but we’ve always staffed it with a single attendant for 8 hours a day to keep traffic flowing and the site maintained. Right now I have the tunnel open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and am staffing the location with one person Monday through Thursday, and two people Friday through Sunday. One person is always available to guide customers onto the conveyor for safety. When volume picks up during the week I’m calling in a second. We’ve been open less than two weeks and one person has been able to handle things. There hasn’t been a big line up of cars yet, but as the wash matures I expect to have two people on staff all the time. I’m also planning to send my managers to outsourced courses for the training on the maintenance, repair, and management of the tunnel. I have to be able to deliver a consistent product and service time for the express tunnel to work, and have to train adequately for that to happen.  

 

ANALETTO: How have customers reacted to the change? Is it what you were expecting?

 

JONES: I’ve had very good responses and not one negative comment from my customers. The cars leave cleaner in less time and, I can offer extra services I wasn’t able to before. In less than 3 minutes a customer is through the tunnel and can choose to get a tire shine, triple foam, and even a total body and glass protectant. It’s not just extra revenue, it offers customers better quality and more choices. I haven’t had a single person leave that was looking for the touch-free in-bay automatic. Although we just opened the tunnel, the self-serve remained open during the entire renovation and revenue has remained constant. We did a complete facelift on the whole property. Everything is clean and bright and we added more options to our bays including credit card acceptance and dryers. After only a week and a half it’s too early to predict exactly what will happen but I’ve already begun renovating my next location where I’m replacing two touch-free in-bay automatics with a slightly longer tunnel.

 

ANALETTO: Are there specific conditions or location where you feel this format fits best?

 

JONES: You need to have a high population density, but other than that I think the whole country has been conditioned to expect better quality faster, for less money. Every business has to be ready to adapt to changing conditions. Things are changing, and changing at an accelerating pace. To keep my current customers and attract new ones, I have to deliver what they want, which is better quality, faster, with more choices, at a lower price. Having both the self-serve and tunnel on the same property lets me deliver that and appeal to a wider base of customers.

 

ANALETTO: What pricing models have you tried or are considering?

 

JONES: I’ve started with $5, $8, and $10 dollar packages for the express wash and am already averaging $8. Before, with the automatic, I had $5, $6, $7, and $8 packages and averaged $7. Again, it’s still very early, but I’m averaging a higher ticket on more cars and couldn’t be happier. I’m using a single video kiosk and gated entry which will let me refine the packages and options, but for now I’m going to stay with what I started with, it’s working.

 

ANALETTO: Do you offer free vacuums to express customers?

 

JONES: Yes, express wash customers have free push button vacuums available in a gated area. Self-serve customers still have coin-op vacuums available as well. For marketing we’re also distributing free wash coupons and heavily promoting discounted wash cards. I’m also looking at an RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) system and starting an unlimited wash club subscription. Like I said before, build it and they will come doesn’t cut it anymore; you need to have a marketing plan. When we built the self-serve we did little in the way of marketing. Those days are gone. I miss them, but today I have to focus on promoting the wash and delivering value added services like free vacuums to attract and keep new customers.

 

ANALETTO: What type of conveyor did you select for the conversion?

 

JONES: It’s a 60 foot front wheel pull over/under conveyor with a roller fired after the rear wheel to push vehicles off the conveyor. We’re running 65 cars per hour which gives us the right balance. I originally started at 90 cars per hour but had some rinse problems removing all the soap. I can run it faster, but the 65 car per hour chain speed gives me the best product with about a 2 ½-minute wash cycle. The original plan was to install a surface conveyor that required less concrete work, but I decided to spend the extra money up front to install an over/under conveyor that loads better and improves productivity. It’s working great. With absolutely no prepping and no wipe-down, we’re putting out a clean, dry, shiny car.

 

ANALETTO: Looking back, what surprises did you have; what would you do differently next time?

 

JONES: Upgrading the electrical service from 400amps to 800amps cost $69,000 which was $24,000 more than I thought. Excavation of the ground to put in the conveyor came in at $28,000 which was also more than I planned. Other than that, I had originally budgeted $300,000 for the renovation and managed to stay on budget. I’m happy with how things went. I’ve already begun renovating my next location which will replace two automatics with a conveyor, leaving the third touch-free automatic and 3 self-serve bays on the property with the extreme express tunnel.

 

ANALETTO: What are your future plans?

 

JONES: Ask me in a couple of months. I might have an answer then, but right now, I’m happy.

Steps to Success - Five Steps to Increasing Car Through Curb Appeal

 

 

By: Anthony Analetto

Originally Published in AutoLaundry Magazine

Does you car wash look taken care of and proud to be a member of the community? Try driving to work from different approaches for a few days.  Write down everything that catches your eye. Fresh flowers, new paint, bright colors, clock towers, lighted cupolas, large glass surfaces, employee activity – if it draws your attention, write it down.

 

Curb appeal refers to a evaluating how well a business’s facilities are maintained, its architectural style, landscaping, signage, and more. How many of the things that you wrote down above are prominent at your car wash?

 

As car wash operators, we’re in the business of selling CLEAN. At minimum, everything about your wash must scream out to customers passing by at 40 M.P.H. that you sell CLEAN. At best, your curb appeal can differentiate your wash from the competition, command trust from your customers, and increase your car count.

 

There are many ways to use curb appeal to create a positive first impression and set your car wash apart. It is a quality that is not as obvious as a new coat of paint or a big sign. Improving your wash’s presence also does not necessarily mean spending a huge amount of money. Many things that build curb appeal merely require careful planning and attention to details. Below I have organized the process into five steps. I hope it provides a useful starting point for you to begin maximizing every detail of your car wash’s appearance to increase your car counts.

 

Step 1: Come up with a concept and complete plan

The first thing you should do is walk as far away from the front of your car wash as you can. Leave your driveway; go across the street and down the road. Check every approach where a customer can see your wash. Now take a really good look at it. Notice what draws your eye right away. In most cases, the conveyor exit should be the main focal point from at least one approach – preferably the one with the easiest access. If it’s not, it’s a good starting point for improvement.

 

The goal of building curb appeal is not specifically to make an attractive wash. Focus your plan based on what you want to communicate to prospective and existing customers. Basically, what’s in it for them? There are many factors, but I like to start with the big three. First - a clean dry shiny car. Second – a fast service time. Third – a solid value for their money.

 

What visual features of your car wash communicate any of the big three advantages? The purpose of this step is not to come up with a bunch of quick fixes. Whatever you do, don’t head straight back to your office and start ordering signs. If that was your first impulse, it means there is some room for improvement. Addressing the opportunity means making a complete and detailed plan. The goal is getting the greatest bang for each dollar you spend on building curb appeal.

 

Step 2: Focus on the conveyor exit

Car washes sell clean cars. Attention should be drawn to where they are produced, the conveyor exit. Nearly every realtor will tell a person planning to sell a house to paint the front door and make sure there is nothing blocking its view from the street. The advice is to make it stand out, which shows you are proud of what is inside. The same recommendation applies to the conveyor exit at a car wash.

 

Too often the end of the tunnel is just a hole in the side of the building. To build curb appeal you want to accentuate it. First look at landscaping. Do any shrubs or other movable items block its view from the street? If so, can they be removed or lowered? It is rarely a bad idea to create the most spectacular flower display your budget can afford next to the exit, provided it is easily seen by passing cars.

 

Next, consider architectural features that focus attention and project pride about your conveyor exit. A simple painted border in an accent color can have a strong impact. Other considerations are awnings and landscape lighting. If you can imagine tall colorful landscaping on either side of your tunnel with lights illuminating an awning over the conveyor exit imprinted with the message “Clean Cars Exiting Every 30 Seconds” - you are on your way to making an exit that builds curb appeal.

 

Step 3: Maximize your driveways impact

When maximizing your driveways impact, think two things – busy and clean. As a rule, the appearance of being busy cleaning cars will always enhance your curb appeal. Full serve locations should stack cars for wiping down as close to the curb as possible. Think of your finishing area as a theater. You need to put on a show that convinces every potential customer that you take cleaning cars very seriously. Are your attendants all dressed in clean identical uniforms? Do you have visible supply carts with colorful signage equally spaced in each lane across the front of the finishing area? I’ve seen some operators go so far as to match shirt and towel colors. Another inexpensive accent that can work very well on slower days is to set out wind master signs in a bright color printed with “Estimated Wait Time Less Than 5 Minutes”. Every detail that creates a clean professional and efficient image will contribute to your curb appeal.

 

None of the tips above will work effectively to maximize your driveway’s impact if it is not clean and in good repair. If it is asphalt, it should be sharp black with bright painted lines. Concrete must be power washed regularly and you may want to explore how much it would cost to add a decorative finish. Problems with the condition of a driveway build slowly. Looking at it everyday, what you barely notice as a small weed growing out of a crack is actually an eyesore destroying the curb appeal of your wash.

 

Step 4: Get the most out of your employees

At a full serve location, one of the most important features that can build curb appeal during operating hours is the employees. Clean sharp uniforms are just the beginning. Bright colors work well. Ties and caps can also build a professional image. More important than how they are dressed, is what they are doing. During busy hours, quick activity finishing cars will project fast service time and good value to customers. Now, walk across the street again during a slow period with no traffic. Do your attendants look like they are anxiously waiting to clean the next car that comes in? You are selling CLEAN and even if there are no cars being washed, your attendants should show constant activity, constant cleaning. Have them sweep their area of the driveway. If there are any signs out front, have an attendant with a towel and a spray bottle cleaning it. Wash windows; hose down door mats. No matter what, if you are open, your attendants should be passionately cleaning something, anything, visible from the street.

 

Step 5: Make the best use of your building and landscaping

Once you have a clean driveway with an attractive and busy finishing area, turn your attention to landscaping and the building itself. Commonly, landscaping is added as an afterthought or completely absent. Remembering that a professional car wash is in the business of selling a beautiful appearance, attractive plants and shrubbery demand more attention than they often get. More and more operators are turning to landscape architects to design an attractive exterior. Just like a beautifully landscaped house, a well planned setting can demonstrate pride of ownership. This facet of curb appeal can increase customer’s confidence in the quality of the wash you deliver.

 

Next examine the building. Is it clean and freshly painted? Do you have lots of lighting and glass? Do any of the fixtures look dated? A clean modern building communicates to a customer that you will provide a clean car using modern technology. Updating fixtures and railings can be a relatively cost effective way to modernize an existing structure.  There also exist many foam architectural enhancements that can be used to give your car wash a contemporary look and feel with no major construction. Adding awnings to windows and doors as well as canopies to other areas of your wash can also have a dramatic effect on curb appeal.

 

Summary

Today’s hyper competitive economy demands more than turning out a clean, dry, shiny car. Customers will develop beliefs about the quality of a car wash, the level of service, and value provided simply by the appearance of the facility itself. Improving a sites curb appeal involves careful planning. It requires using visual cues to communicate that your wash delivers a fast quality product at a good value. My biggest suggestion is to walk away from your wash and think in terms of how your car wash’s appearance projects those qualities.  With attention to detail, improving your site’s curb appeal can have a tremendous impact on building your car count.

Car Wash Preventative Maintenance Part 2 - Weekly, Monthly, Biannual and Annual Services

By: Anthony Analetto
Originally Published in AutoLaundry Magazine

If you subscribe to the belief that “in the real world” things are too hectic to methodically carry out scheduled preventative maintenance (PM), you are potentially leaving tens of thousands of dollars in lost profit on the table. For the most part, the mysterious gremlins that cause breakdowns on busy Saturdays can almost always be traced back to a weak PM program. Car wash equipment is inherently durable. When properly maintained you should expect zero downtime and many years of trouble free service.

For those of you who carefully log each item in your wash and perform the recommended maintenance according to each manufacturer’s documentation on the exact day the service is due, stop reading and continue what you are doing. That is the ideal that everyone should strive toward. This rough overview of PM is for those of us who wait until we suspect something is about to break before servicing it. If you fall into that category and are looking to reduce repair and downtime expense with an easy to implement routine, I hope you find some helpful pointers below.

Successful PM is a Weekly Habit

In a perfect world, each and every item in your car wash would have an odometer. PM would be performed for each piece of equipment individually as directed at a pre-determined number of cars. Since this is nearly impossible, manufacturers instead recommend PM on weekly, monthly, biannual, or annual intervals. Juggling which items need to be serviced on which day can become tedious. Adding or replacing items over time quickly adds to the confusion. Needless to say it often seems less expensive to abandon the comprehensive PM program entirely. This can be a costly mistake.

The first battle to developing an effective PM routine is to eliminate the question of when the next PM is scheduled. Some form of PM should occur on the same day every week. Pick a slower day, when everyone involved is available and not too exhausted to be effective. Another method is to do PM the same night you pull time cards. This means that if your work week starts on Thursday, every Wednesday night, time cards are pulled at the end of the day. Whoever puts the time cards in the envelope is required to insert the initialed PM checklist and sign the outside of the envelope indicating that all activities were completed. Using the time cards is a great trigger to remember PM, and associating the process with paychecks often elevates the perceived importance of the task for everyone at the wash.

Once everyone knows automatically that “tonight is PM night” and approaches it with the question “what do we have to do?” you have a solid foundation to enact a successful program. Last month I addressed Daily PM and you should have a checklist made. Now you simply have to list all of the weekly, monthly, biannual, and annual services necessary for the equipment in your wash.

The standard weekly PM

The exact activities of the weekly PM will vary depending on your wash package. One vital aspect that is universal is the need to thoroughly clean the tunnel, cloth, and all equipment. Resist the temptation to skip it under any circumstances. In addition to increasing customer satisfaction, having a clean tunnel improves the ability to spot problems during Daily PM. With that said below is a base outline to jumpstart your weekly implementation.

1. Thoroughly clean the tunnel, cloth, and all equipment.
2. Grease all rotational bearings. Make a separate task to be initialed for each equipment item that will receive service. Common items that incorporate rotational bearings include conveyors, tire brushes, mitters, top brushes, wrap-around washers, side brushes, and vacuum systems.
3. Clean or replace all filters and strainers. Treat each occurrence as a separate line item; include all pump stations, reclaim-systems, spot-free water systems, and vacuums.
4. Check all nozzles for wear and replace as necessary. Car washes have many nozzles and you will want to list each equipment item separately to avoid mistakes.
5. Check chain tension and remove chain links as necessary.
6. Closely inspect the operation of all moving components in the wash. Make sure to inspect smooth operation as well as all hose connections.
7. Spray lubricant on cylinder rod ends and clevises wherever present.
8. Wipe excess dirt and grime from the conveyor take-up slide.
9. Check that the photo eye signal level is 5 or above depending on lighting conditions.
10. Check oil level in all Filter Regulator Lubricators (FRLs).
11. Rinse down the conveyor trench.

The first weekly PM of each month

At least once a month you will need to increase the number of services performed during the standard weekly PM to include all monthly activities. Often it is easiest to designate the first PM to occur in each month for this routine. During this expanded weekly PM you will also want to include items from your biannual and annual maintenance lists. The goal here is to spread scheduled activities over the year so that no single PM is overly strenuous. Some operators will assign biannual and annual services to the standard weekly PM nights to more evenly distribute required labor. Although very effective, the practice requires more careful management to ensure nothing is forgotten. You will want to check the manuals that came with your equipment, but some common activities include:

Monthly PM services

1. Grease all pivot point bearings commonly found on tire brushes, wrap-around washers, side brushes, tire dressing applicators, and dryer arches.
2. Inspect all UHMW bearings for wear and replace if necessary.
3. Check oil levels on all pumps, gear boxes, and Filter Regulator Lubricators (FRLs).
4. Check all hardware for tightness and thoroughly clean all assemblies.
5. Remove tire dressing applicator foam pads, check spray nozzles and replace or flip pads as needed.
6. Check all drive belts for wear or damage and replace if necessary.
7. Apply spray lubricant to all vacuum access door latches.
8. Grease conveyor slide tubes on take-up section.
9. Clean sediment and dirt from all pump station storage/solution tanks.
10. Carefully inspect each conveyor roller, chain link and cotter.
11. Check spot-free water inlet pressure safety switch, by shutting off water supply.
12. Check spot-free chlorine level, PPM, and water hardness.
13. Clean conveyor trench removing all debris.

Biannual

1. Check cloth for wear or damage and replace as needed.
2. Replace air compressor air filter.
3. Change hydraulic power pack return line filters.
4. Clean reclaim tanks. This may need to be done quarterly depending on volume.

Annual

1. Have a licensed electrician check current draw on each leg of power to all electrical motors.
2. Grease all electrical motors on dryer assemblies.
3. Drain, purge and refill oil in all air compressor and high pressure pump crankcases.
4. Drain, purge and refill all hydraulic systems.
5. Drain, purge and refill oil in all gear reducers.
6. Remove chain from conveyor, flip over and reinstall.
7. Carefully inspect correlator bushings and bearings and replace if worn.
8. Replace all nozzles to prevent excessive chemical usage. Alternatively this critical aspect of wash performance can be scheduled based on cars processed and detergent used.
9. Install air compressor maintenance packs as required.

SUMMARY

Executing a comprehensive preventative maintenance program is vital to increasing the profitability of any car wash. It requires careful planning and precise documentation, but the rewards are well worth the investment of time and resources. Equipment failure and the painful losses that result from unexpected closure are completely avoidable. Often the hardest part is just getting started. I hope you found some useful information in this article to start or improve upon your PM program.  

Full-Serve Car Wash Expansion

By: Anthony Analetto
Originally Published in AutoLaundry Magazine

Interview with David Daszkal,
Owner of Motor City Car Wash

Speak with David Daszkal for just a few minutes and you’ll leave the conversation with a renewed enthusiasm for the potential and future of the full-serve car wash model. Building his first car wash in 2003 from the ground up, David went against the express-exterior trend. David has led Motor City Car Wash’s modified version of the traditional full-serve to increased volume and revenue for 5 years straight. His second wash opened in 2006 and by the time this interview prints, David’s third full-serve wash will be open to the public.

Borrowing from the flex-serve model, David designed Motor City Car Wash to deliver the high per car ticket average of a full-serve with better control of labor, quality, and customer service. Below are some excerpts from his ideas to successfully build and operate a full-serve wash in today’s market.

ANALETTO: In the last 5 years you have built 2 full-serve washes from the ground up and are about to open your third location.  What has convinced you that this is the best model?

DASZKAL; OWNER OF MOTOR CITY CAR WASH: Although an operator can choose how to operate, ultimately, the market determines what will be successful. In my opinion, certain market conditions dictate whether you should operate full-serve or exterior. The communities where I have built my washes all contain a fast growing population of middle and upper middle income families. I live in the town where I built my first. I know many of my customers socially and feel I understand their priorities. Everyone is busy, not just with work, but also with scheduling activities for our families and children that usually make a mess out of our cars’ interior. My customers want a clean car, but don’t want to burn hours of what seems like too little free time to get it done. I can deliver a full-serve wash in approximately 12 minutes and have worked hard to maintain a consistent time of service even when volume peaks. The full-serve model fits my customer’s needs.

ANALETTO: Do you feel you’re missing out on maximizing your sites volume potential by concentrating on full-serve?

DASZKAL: Not at all. We offer 4 progressive full-serve wash packages which you can read about on our website at www.motorcitycarwash.com. On the first three, a customer can choose to skip the interior cleaning and save about six dollars. That means a customer can choose our basic full-serve for $11.99 or opt to have our exterior only for $5.99. Our third package includes wheel cleaner, underbody, triple-foam, and online tire shine for $17.99, but again a customer can choose to forgo interior cleaning and pay only $11.99. Even though the menu board tries to promote our exterior wash option and low price, exterior represents only about 15% of our business. In the markets I operate, customers want, and are willing to pay for a full-serve wash.

ANALETTO: What characteristics at your locations, if any, differ from a traditional full serve wash?

DASZKAL: To some degree, the sites are actually laid out according to the flex-serve model with all interior services at the tunnel exit. Regardless, I consider myself a full-serve operator for two reasons. First, all customers exit the vehicle and wait in my lobby while their car is washed. Although we really concentrate on washing and detailing cars, this is still an important part of our business that averages an additional dollar per car. Second, I have a double-stack at the entrance with a greeter recommending services instead of an automated kiosk. All locations offer both express detailing and professional detailing services which represent a significant percent of our business. I believe having a live greeter not only helps sell more detailing, but makes my business feel more a part of the community.

ANALETTO: You’ve mentioned being part of your community several times, do you think that focus has impacted your success?

DASZKAL: Absolutely. I opened my first location where I lived and truly believe an operator’s success rate will be better, especially for the first wash, when built in their own community. You know the people, have a better feel of what’s important to them, and have more opportunities to network.

Now with three locations, it’s nearly impossible for me to have that personal connection with the communities where I’ve chosen to expand. Instead, I’ve cultivated a general manager at each store, empowered them to run the business as if it were their own, and compensate them according to performance. I’ve backed them up with operational and training procedures to streamline their day, and have given them the authority to do what’s right for the customer. Training is critical, not just when you hire someone, but every day. Maintaining enthusiasm and continuously living up to the standards of the company doesn’t just happen.

ANALETTO: What are the advantages and disadvantages to performing all interior services including vacuuming at the exit end?

DASZKAL: I worked at full-serve washes for years before opening my own. Entrance vacuuming can deliver slightly better throughput during peak volume but it’s more difficult to manage. Borrowing from the flex-serve model, I can keep the bulk of my employees in one area so I have better control over quality. On busy days we have 10 spaces with 20 people finishing cars. We can process up to 65 cars per hour full-serve at 12 minutes from the greeter to the finish. When volume drops I can easily cut back to a 2-man crew which allows me to advertise that I’m open rain or shine on the same schedule every day. My customers expect the wash to be open when they pull in the driveway and we can still do a decent detailing business even when the weather is less than perfect. I also separate the full-serve area from express detailing, and have a canopied area for full detailing giving me even more flexibility to move labor around as conditions change.

ANALETTO: All three of your locations were new construction. What do you look for when selecting a property for this model?

DASZKAL: In addition to looking at ingress, egress, and traffic count, I really concentrate on the demographics and community factors I mentioned before. The other thing I weigh heavily is how other businesses in the area are doing. The bottom line is how much are people spending in the market. For proof I look at how well franchise and chain stores are doing and try to determine if they are at or above average. I obviously want to build in an area before property values peak, but not so early that there won’t be enough volume to meet my investment objectives.

ANALETTO: What aspects of construction have changed since you opened your first location 5 years ago?

DASZKAL: Mainly that construction costs have increased about 40% since I built my first wash. Other than that, I’ve tried to build each of the washes as close as possible to the design of the original location. Unfortunately, each property has different restrictions that have forced me to make minor changes to fit the site. Different set-backs and considerations for ingress and egress have to be accounted for. In reality, I’ve never yet been able to build exactly what I want, where I want to, because of restrictions.

ANALETTO: What adjustments are you making to adapt to today’s economy?

DASZKAL: I haven’t done anything yet. For the past 5 years Motor City Car Wash has been fortunate to have grown each year. Customers are definitely watching every dollar. Frequency from regular clientele has dropped off. Our average per car is also down slightly. Luckily the area is still growing, albeit more slowly than before.  The best we can do is to deliver superior quality and value. We do some couponing - direct mail, and newspaper – but we really concentrate on taking care of our customer. I believe that our focus on customer service and generating good word-of-mouth in our community is the reason we’re still growing.

To me, a business has to decide what profit margin they deserve to work on and price their service accordingly. I can’t decrease. In truth, our costs have risen but I’ve held prices steady. I suppose this would in fact be what I’m currently doing to adapt to today’s economy.

ANALETTO: What advice do you have for someone looking to get into the full-serve business?

DASZKAL: Know the community and be a member of it. Otherwise, hire managers with strong ties to the community and empower them to have a sense of ownership of the car wash. I really believe it gives you an edge as a full-serve operator.

The other recommendation I give to people looking to get into the industry is to not build on top of another operator.  I do believe car washing is a tight industry but that’s not the reason I would never open up next to another wash believing I could steal their business. Cleaning the interior of a customer’s car is a very personal service. You can build a bigger, faster, nicer looking location, but it’s impossible to create connections to the community and trust fast enough to make the investment pay off. I’ve watched new locations go in and try to cannibalize from existing operators and really struggle to build their volume. Full-serve is almost as much about personalized customer service as it is delivering a clean car.

I prefer to look for different traffic patterns or barriers such as highways and medians to give me separation from other washes in the area. It’s not because I’m being nice, I’m just not willing to make a multi-million dollar investment when there’s no way for me to measure how loyal customers are to the service and personality of an existing location.

Daily Preventative Maintenance Part 1 - Avoid Unexpected Breakdown and Closure

 By: Anthony Analetto
Originally Published in AutoLaundry Magazine

It is 30 minutes before your wash is scheduled to open. Either you or your manager has just programmed the wash for the top package. Four rollers are fired to represent the front and back of the car as well as each tire. Photo-eyes or loop pads are tripped to represent vehicle dimension.  The tire switch is activated for the two rollers that represent them. As you follow this ghost car that doesn’t obstruct your view down the tunnel, observe correct operation of every piece of equipment. Immediate issues are addressed and replacement parts ordered. Suspected problems are documented for further investigation that evening or during the weekly preventative maintenance (PM) night scheduled for complete equipment and tunnel cleaning.

Does this scenario describe your wash? Have you committed the personnel and resources to ensure your wash is attractive to customers and will run right for years to come? Is your PM program scheduled and documented so that personnel are accountable and checks are performed as required?

Elimination of prep labor with many new equipment technologies has resulted in total reliance on equipment. This has brought PM into the spotlight. Car washing is a harsh environment and scheduled PM is vital to your business. In this article I will review the considerations that should be addressed on a daily basis. Part 2, next month, will examine weekly, monthly, and yearly components of a successful PM program.

DAILY PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE PROCEDURES:

The first hurdle to jump when creating a PM program is to throw out the assumption of common sense. Don’t leave anything to chance or thinking. Write out the entire PM program down to the last detail. Print check sheets with boxes to initial upon completion, and then post it on the wall. Nothing is more disruptive than scrambling to get ready for the day because someone forgot to do something the night before. It is much easier to ask an employee why they initialed that all trash was emptied when it was not, rather than listen to explanations of how they thought someone else had done it.

Observation and documentation are the two most critical aspects of a successful preventative maintenance program. The key words to drill into anyone involved in PM are observe, look, note, and confirm. The goal is to catch small problems early, before they cause greater damage. Activities fall into one of two types; checks and services. Checks require visual confirmation and must be completed on a regular schedule without fail.  Services are corrective procedures in the wash and are either scheduled or unscheduled. Records of all activities must be kept in order to hold personnel accountable; otherwise, eventually the checks will not be accomplished.

OPENING PM PROCEDURE:

Ideally, each activity performed 30 minutes or more before opening, simply confirms that nothing happened to disturb the perfect condition of the wash when left the night before. It is a series of procedures to verify that the wash is able to produce your best possible product with no risk of damage to vehicles or equipment.

Dry Checks: Small fluid leaks are easily masked in a wet tunnel. The following activities should be performed before running water.

1. Check all hydraulic lines and connections. Confirm that all oil levels are correct and that there are no visible signs of fluid anywhere in the wash. Oil leaks can damage cloth and contaminate reclaims in addition to causing poor wash performance. All hydraulic leaks should be repaired before opening to avoid costly closure and repair.
2. Close the valve on the compressor which should have been drained during closing PM.
3. Turn on breakers to activate all electrical power.
4. Check all fresh, reclaim, and spot-free water supplies. Instruct the inspector to both look and listen for leaks.
5. Check gauges on the spot free pump for pressure and water generation. Check tank levels. It is often useful to post proper readings at the pump to avoid any confusion.
6. Check water reclaim gauges for incoming and outgoing pressure. Makes sure filters are not clogged.
7. Check your odor control system. Many units have sight glasses or gauges but you can always trust your nose.

Detergent Checks: Spikes and drops in detergent consumption can alert an inspector of problems in equipment performance. Detergent checks are performed during closing PM but the opening inspector should refer to notes from the previous day to direct attention to potential equipment issues to monitor.

Wet Checks: Before running any equipment, most controllers have a “wet down” function that is designed to bring all equipment online. The goal here is to soak the cloth in water and detergent, charge all of the foam tubes, and saturate the pads on tire dressing applicators.

1. Inspect all nozzles. Weak spray patterns dramatically reduce the cleaning ability of any wash equipment. Clogged nozzles and weak spray may also indicate a more serious problem up stream. Your wash should have a nozzle replacement schedule based on the type of detergent and number of cars being washed. Unclog or replace nozzles as needed and record in the wet down portion of the daily log. This information is vital in identifying other potential problems.
2. Activate all chemical pumps and check for leaks. Lines can drain back to the tank overnight. This procedure must be run prior to washing vehicles. It ensures all cloth is properly lubricated and that detergent and conditioners reach the first car in the proper quantity and dilution.
3. Check the condition of all wash materials for damage or debris.

Operational Checks:  Go to your entrance management system. Whether it is a greeter station or an automated attendant, you must start with how the first customer will activate the wash when you open. Program a wash for the top package. Activate the automatic roller up and extra rollers so that there are four rollers in total. These rollers represent the front, back, and wheels of a car. Activate the entrance switch at the first roller, tire switch on the second and third, and release on the fourth. This practice allows you to easily view all equipment operation without the obstruction of an actual vehicle.

1. Check that the conveyor is operating smoothly with no jerking or unusual noises.
2. Check that any wrap-around washers or brushes tied to the conveyor interlock are spinning properly. Listen for abnormal noises.
3. Check that wheels are accurately located by detergent application and wash systems.
4. Check that all wash equipment is moving properly without any abnormal noises.
5. Verify that all wash, rinsing, application, and drying actions start and stop correctly.
6. Perform a final check that all detergent and conditioner application is correct.
7. Inspect the equipment room and all support equipment for indicators of proper adjustment.
8. Verify all air dryers ramp up to full speed and that nothing is obstructing the inlet screens.  

CLOSING PM PROCEDURE:

The purpose of the closing PM procedure is to identify everything that could possibly prohibit you from washing cars the next day. Below I will outline the most basic daily activities that must be performed. A common practice growing in popularity is to schedule a thorough “PM Night” at least once a week. In addition to the items below, the tunnel and equipment would be completely washed down as well as all weekly, monthly, and annual services performed.

Detergent Checks: Spikes and drops in detergent consumption can alert an inspector of problems in equipment performance. At the end of closing PM, everything in the wash should be ready to wash cars the following day.

1. Check and transfer detergents as necessary to ensure that all levels are sufficient to wash 10% more than the maximum anticipated volume the following day.
2. Inspect the condition of all barrels and tanks.
3. Note any detergent use that has spiked. Excessive consumption may indicate a problem in the system. Log the condition and move on to other checks. If during the remaining checks there do not appear to be any worn nozzles, open check valves, etc, make a notation for the opening crew to monitor the condition throughout the next day. Order in potential replacement parts as the situation warrants.
4. Note any drops in detergent use that are not directly related to wash volume. Inspect foot valves on the chemical suction lines. Note the condition in the log and move on to the other checks. The problem that has lead to the reduced detergent use should become clear.
5. Check the salt level of the water softener system. The softener sets the wash water quality. If the softener is down, then every chemical and water system will suffer. Fill with salt as needed.

Operational Checks:  Careful observation of equipment each evening can identify damage that may have occurred during the day. The ability to find potential failures before they occur provides the time to bring in replacement parts or make changes to items inventoried for emergency repairs.

1. During last two hours of each day, begin cleaning the property
   1. Empty trash receptacles.
   2. Empty vacuum canisters
   3. Sweep all areas of the wash
   4. Clean Lobby area coffee machines
   5. Clean restrooms and windows
2. Walk through tunnel during the last cars washed. Look and listen for any equipment that may not be functioning properly in both the tunnel and back room. This is the time to find problems. You can make emergency repairs and order parts.
3. Walk through the tunnel after the last car and inspect for any damage that may have occurred during the day.
4. Turn off and drain all air compressors.
5. Wash down the tunnel, rinse the floor and equipment.
6. Inspect and clean all filters on high pressure pump stations.
7. Inspect and clean strainers on reclaim systems.
8. Turn off all necessary electrical and water connections.
9. Secure the building and have a good night.

SUMMARY

Committing the resources and time to an effective preventative maintenance program can save tens of thousands of dollars per year. Have you ever tried to estimate what percent of equipment repairs could have been avoided through preventative maintenance?  Try calculating the impact unexpected closures have, not only via lost revenue, but in terms of how customers perceive your business. Simply put, preventative maintenance is profitable. I hope you picked up a few ideas from this article. Please join me again next month when I outline weekly, monthly, and yearly PM.  

That Can't Work in Our Market - Billions and billions served, now including rural China

By: Anthony Analetto
Originally Published in AutoLaundry Magazine

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you
take your eyes off your goal.”
- Henry Ford 

I recently saw a documentary highlighting what American companies are doing to “train” customers in rural parts of China as they introduce their drive-through franchises into those markets. Most interesting wasn’t the signage, staff training, or other simple mechanisms used to educate customers. What really stood out was management’s belief that success didn’t mean changing their business model, but finding the right way to communicate its advantages to a new customer. Several recent conversations flashed in my head. All of them contained some variation of the phrase “Nobody in our market does that, it can’t work here.” Here are the top misconceptions I hear most often – responsible for increasing labor costs, complicating management, and slowing production for car washes around the country.

1. 1 Nobody in our market uses friction; our customers prefer touch-free.
2. 2 Nobody in our market uses pay stations; our customers prefer live greeters.
3. 3 Nobody in our market uses a tire shine machine; our customers expect
      us to do it by hand.
4. 4 Nobody in our market fully automates drying; our customers expect
      us to towel dry.
5. 5 Nobody in our market fully automates the wash; our customers
      prefer we prep by hand (or worse, wash by hand).

What’s at the root of the problem? There’s an apparent fear of eliminating labor at the wash. Why? Let’s take a look.

Myth 1 – You Need Labor to Wash Cars
During my long career in car washing, I have to admit being guilty of the management process I like to call whack-a-mole. Open each day, fix whatever breaks, solve problems as they happen, go home exhausted, and repeat the process the next day. It’s rather like playing the game whack-a-mole. You stand there waiting for a problem to pop up and whack at it until it’s gone. Then, if you get lucky, you discover a trusted manager who can whack moles nearly as good as you. Now you’re able to take a day off, or let them whack moles at one wash, while you open your next location. No doubt you can earn an income running your business this way. But it’s hard to step back and evaluate new innovations to improve ease of management, customer experience, speed-of-service, or any of the things you must do to remain competitive. Fortunately, I learned early on that I could never reduce my labor cost until I designed a solid business model, preventive maintenance schedule, and training procedures to deliver a consistent product. The reason is simple. Without a process that worked, I needed to have excess labor available to help whack moles that kept popping up. Stop whacking moles! It’s easy. First, develop a business model that does not rely upon labor. Second, reduce costs and the drain on your time by utilizing staff only in well-defined roles with a positive ROI that can’t be matched by equipment. Third, use your increased time and cash to evaluate and invest in improvements to your business. Fourth, continue to refine, and watch profits grow.

Myth 2 – Customers Prefer When People Perform Services
This is false. Customers prefer a strong value proposition that delivers the following four components: (1) a quality product (2) in a consistent amount of time (3) at a competitive price (4) with a pleasant and memorable retail experience. Familiar employees, smiling faces, and friendly greetings all contribute to that experience – but are an expensive way to do it. With the exception of interior and detailing services, automated equipment is readily available to deliver superior cleaning, point-of-sale processing, and better customer service than even the best employee. Using labor in the wash process kills your ability to deliver all four components of the value proposition. Why? Because even your best employee will have a bad day resulting in inconsistent quality, slow service time, and unpleasant customer experience. On top of that, labor is more expensive, causing you to raise prices!

Don’t get me wrong. I believe a well-trained smiling staff contributes to a better customer experience. My point is that your business model must utilize labor for one of the following two functions, and never to wash cars. First, employees can ensure safety on your site. Second, they can function as a type of interactive sign, on steroids, shooting blanks.

Shooting what? Shooting blanks! Meaning you might have an attendant create an experience in the wash, but only for show, not wash quality. They might spray foam on a car entering the tunnel, but only a cheap soap to entertain your customers, not because it’s needed. An attendant may drag a towel over the perfectly dry exterior of a car exiting the tunnel – not to dry the car which has already been done by equipment, but to show the customer your personal attention to detail. Shooting blanks means your customer is entertained, but gets the consistency of automated equipment. Shooting blanks means you can dramatically reduce staff. Work is less strenuous so they’ll still be smiling at the end of the day, and you can easily send people home on slow days with no impact to wash quality.

Myth 3 – Customers Won’t Accept Change
We’re now back to where we started. A documentary featuring American franchises helping rural Chinese citizens embrace drive-through restaurants.  Offering an efficient business model delivering a quality product in a consistent amount of time at a competitive price with a pleasant and memorable retail experience – do you think they were successful? Were the American franchises able to use a few simple signs and staff training to educate customers to their way of doing business? Or did the Chinese citizens reject the value in their business proposition, and prefer to stay with the friendly personalized experience at the existing retailers they’d always used?  The next time you feel yourself saying “Nobody in our market does that, it can’t work here,” stop and think about it for a minute. Are you paving a path for your long-term prosperity, or modeling the business practices of a rural Chinese merchant, surprised at the sharp decline in their business.

Mini-Tunnels – The Latest Big Thing

By Anthony Analetto
Originally Published in AutoLaundry Magazine

Mini-tunnels, while certainly not new, are suddenly a main topic of conversation in car washing. In preparing for this article I decided to search for “products introduced before their time.” After reading that the first fax process was patented 121 years before it went into service and that it took over 15 years for compact discs to catch on after their introduction, I suppose it’s reasonable that something not exactly new appears new after being introduced years earlier. The question is why? What’s changed in the marketplace that’s fueling the popularity of mini-tunnels? What’s different about the technology behind today’s mini-tunnels that makes them so exciting? Let’s take a look.

Changing Customers
Last week our office was closed in recognition of Independence Day. In a hurry to pick up a couple of items for a cookout, I stopped at the first grocery store on the way home, a store that I had never shopped in before. Never crossing my mind that they might be closed for the holiday, I parked, went up to the front door, and was shocked to find it locked. No problem. I hopped in the car and went to the store I normally shop at 1/4 mile up the road. Part of me applauded the stores decision to close in honor of the holiday. Part of me was annoyed that I lost the precious time I was hoping to make up by stopping. Another part of me was thinking how amazing it was that I made a decision to abandon my preferred grocery store without even thinking about it in an effort to save less than 5 minutes. Have you ever tried a competitive grocery, pharmacy, or any other business to save time or money? Of course you have. So have your customers.

The primary interest in mini-tunnels is coming from operators with high-volume in-bay automatics at either petroleum or self-serve locations. Although friction in-bay automatics available today can produce a quality wash faster than ever before, the inherent need to make multiple passes over a vehicle will always restrict their throughput. Being attacked from multiple sides, many previously strong in-bay sites have seen wash volumes drop in recent years. For some, express-exterior tunnels have entered their market, siphoning from their business. Others have seen a greater tendency for customers to drive off rather than wait for a wash with even a moderate line. The double edged sword is that profits from those in-bay automatics have become more critical as petroleum operators have watched both gas and c-store margins tighten, and self-serve washes in many markets have seen a dip in popularity for customers to pick up a wand. Throughput has always been an inherent problem with an in-bay automatic. At an already proven in-bay automatic location, it’s no surprise they’re looking to reload with a mini-tunnel able to process a sustained 40-50 cars per hour with every extra service available. What’s interesting is the number of both new investors and regional chains looking at mini-tunnels for free-standing car wash locations.

It’s hard enough to find a piece of land with good visibility, easy access, and a strong daily car count, with limited competition, at an affordable price. Throw in the fact that it has to be large enough to accommodate a 100 to 160 foot tunnel with 20 or more free vacuum lanes and the universe of available properties dwindles further. While researching properties, I often find myself thinking “I wonder if...” Sometimes I’ll see a nice property in a smaller market and I’ll be enticed by a reasonable asking price; only to decide that the daily traffic count isn’t high enough to support the volume needed to make the numbers work for a full-sized express-exterior tunnel. Once you shrink the building requirement to 35 feet however, suddenly, everywhere you look you can see a potential car wash property. Closed gas stations, vacant drugstores, small lots on good streets off the main thoroughfare, even re-use of an existing building all become possibilities.

This of course brings us to another debate. Should a car wash be built to process the peak anticipated volume, or built to average daily volume for a particular site. There’s a popular phrase I’ve heard said by more than one car wash veteran – “you’ve got to make hay when the sun shines.” Having sat by and watched weeks of prolonged bad weather threaten my business on several occasions, I’ve always been a fan of building to process the peak anticipated volume. Knowing I could process every car that came my way once the weather turned always provided the peace of mind that I could make up for days of bad weather in a single sunny day. Building to peak anticipated volume is a form of insurance policy. Today’s mini-tunnels, able to deliver a product on par with the largest tunnel, albeit at a slower chain speed, raise some interesting questions. How much insurance in the form of excess capacity does a car wash location truly need? Does it change in different climates? In an evolving economy where customers will change purchasing decisions to shave minutes from their day, how close is too close to build next to a strong competitor? As a regional brand, is it better to build multiple small locations nearer to one another or large locations spread apart more? We’ll start to understand this better as more locations are built, but for now, it helps explain why there’s so much talk about mini-tunnels.

Changing Equipment
As I said in the opening of this article, mini-tunnels are not new. They’ve been installed at both gas stations and self-serve washes for at least 20 years that I can remember. Although normally attended, a practice I still firmly believe in, I can recall seeing unattended tunnels with a gated entry in operation more than 15 years ago. So what exactly is new? The answer is that nearly everything is new.

Before I get to wash performance, I want to dismiss an old stereotype regarding gas station mini-tunnels. In years past, mini-tunnels at gas stations were predominantly installed and operated by the oil companies. Offered at that time as a freebie with a fill-up, these tunnels rarely delivered a wash quality on par with the professional car washes at that time, mainly full-serves. Equipment, in general, didn’t perform like it does today and most washes relied heavily on labor. Poor equipment maintenance and ineffective labor management from large corporate entities translated to a bad customer experience. Fast forward to today and the story is very different. Many petroleum retailers of today considering mini-tunnels are savvy independent operators looking to build a profitable business. Focused on customer experience and faced with dwindling profit from gas and c-store operations, car washing doesn’t represent a side business, but a key profit center. Armed with equipment that can deliver an absolutely clean, dry, shiny car with no prepping, this group represents serious competition. Speaking of equipment, let’s examine what makes it so different.

First are the wrap-around washers. Able to clean front, back, and side surfaces, this technology was absent from past mini-tunnels. Combined with high-performance top brushes able to detect and retract automatically when required, these tunnels provide effective cleaning of all surfaces at slow chain speeds. Add in high-pressure components, and wash material advancements that clean more effectively and safely than ever before and you start to appreciate the true difference of today’s mini-tunnel washes. Throw in chemistry that is light-years ahead of what was available just a few years ago, and top it off with video pay stations and control systems that can identify repeat customers and manage loyalty programs, and you have a formidable business in 35 feet.

In many ways the original mini-tunnels were a product introduced before their time. I have no doubt, however, that they’ll be altering the way cars are washed for years to come.

Meet Anthony Analetto

Welcome to my Car Washing Blog! My name is Anthony Analetto and I have been washing cars for over 30 years, and am the proud creator of the Original Xtreme-Xpress Mini-Tunnel. As a car wash enthusiast I have had to privilege of working with a wide variety of professionals through out my career and it has allowed me to gain a wealth of knowledge and experience. I currently serve as a President of SONNY’S The CarWash Factory. SONNY'S is the largest manufacturer of conveyorized car wash equipment, parts, and supplies in the world. To learn more about SONNY'S, click here

I would like to Thank You for reading my blog. If you have any questions for me I can be reached via email at Anthony.Analetto@SonnysDirect.com or thetunnelexperts@gmail.com. You can also call me at 800-327-8723 ext 104. For more information like SONNY'S on Facebook. Also feel free to connect with me on Google.