Another POP self serve in my area

Nice work Rushing(s)
Hope it works out

It will be interesting to see how this format will kill off other wand-bay sites like the $3 express tunnel killed off in-bays at self-service and gas sites.

I would like to hear the complete approach to this. I have a six bay that just might be ripe for this conversion ?????????????????

Allen...you can see more pics and discussion on "unlimited self serve" thread

http://talkcarwash.com/forums/2-self-serve-car-wash/topics/2100-unlimited-self-serve

Basically it's a true unlimited format for the self serve iba prototype...using gates and autocashiers to control access and allow the Pay.One.Price. for bays, vacs and automatic.

Earlier unlimited models employeed bay loop detectors and were actually an extension of bonus bay time. Ie: Higher price for 20 min...loops end time when vehicle moves.

The number of bays doesn't matter...or iba or not...needs a larger lot(for weekend stacking) and separate egress and ingress.

Robert...what I'm seeing in my market is quite interesting. A couple of ss/iba locations are $5 - POP, a couple are trying $4 for 20 min, most iba "stand alones" are now $4 and one iba location is $3 with free vacs.

Newest census shows Bay County(FL) grew 14% the last 10 years (not bad) but still only @ 165,000. With 8 conveyors(5 express, 2 flex, 1 fs) that's not leaving much on the table for the ss or iba's. 36 total car wash sites.

I would have to agree with you, Jim. The last time I had an assignment in that area, I pegged potential for the county at roughly $6.5 to $7.0 mil which suggested a fairly mature market, at that time.

Allen:

I had a feature article early this year that profiled/case-studied a couple POP/gated self serves. The story created quite a buzz. If you'd like a PDF copy of that article, give me your email address and I'll send it to you.

JJJakubowski/"Self Service CarWash News"

I converted my 6+2 in SE Michigan a couple months ago. I charge $6 and include drying towels, air freshener, carpet cleaner and tire air plus triple coat in the bays. We did a GO at $3 and did a lot of cars. We'll see how it goes, but I'm lovin it so far!

JJ,

Please send me the PDF.

Same here JJ.

Thanks!

John

MMURRA...please keep us informed and updated. Air freshner, carpet cleaner, triple coat, tire air, towels...WOW!...now that is a deal for $6 and I bet your customers have the same response. My theory is people are sick of being nickeled and dimed and would rather pay more but pay once and not have the stop-watch put on them. And think of the convenience of not having to stop by the local automotive store to buy some of those supplies. Convenience!

If you looked at most self serves in the SE you would say that segment is dead, dead, dead. But I have hope some smart operators are going to bring it back.

I made a post about how many murders have occurred this year at ss's. I'm concerned about the future of facilities open 24/7 without active security. POP reduces that liability.

We've now got three POP self serves in my market. They seem to be the only self serves busy. I just had a out of state operator visitor that was surprised to see the situation and is going home to copy it.

Any update on how it is going??

Their lots appear full every weekend. I count the same # of vehicles on those sites as the express conveyors the only difference is conveyors have more through put but they are open 24/7.

Iwould really like to know more info on how it works Panama.