An ounce of Prevention

As an exterior only/ride through wash and with the busy season upon us in full swing, the vexing problem of getting getting seasonal customers in addition to your regulars always poses the hazards of people not following directions. Either putting a foot on the brake, inadvertently turning the wheel, having low front tires and/or vehicles out of alignment, etc. This inevtably leads to the problem of cars jumping rollers and bumping the vehicle behind them or in the worst cases, jumping the track itself.

Now we all have signs that tell people Neitral, foot of brake and hands off wheel. I have even gone to the extent of having three additional signs throughout the tunnel telling to people to "Honk if they experience a problem and reminding them in words and pictures to keep it in neutral, etc., etc. Despite these reminders, the problems still persist with few people ever honking their horn.

Well, now we've taken the next step and it is helping to not only avoid accidents but also limit the headaches that go along with them.

What we now do is give every customer a handout that reads

"WARNING
IF YOUR CAR STOPS MOVING BEFORE THE END OF THE CAR WASH HONK YOUR HORN
IMMEDIATELY!
YES, THIS MEANS YOU!
IF YOU DO NOT, WE WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY VEHICLE DAMAGE THAT
MAY RESULT.
STAY IN NEUTRAL - FEET OFF BRAKE - DO NOT TURN WHEEL AT ALL"

It costs us 0.5 cents per car and has thus far averted at least a couple dozen accidents/ cars bumping and possible vehicle and equipment damage to two vehicles that jumped the track.

I intend to hand this out to every vehicle we wash no matter how regular the customer is or isn't FOREVER! I highly recommend that any exterior wash that leaves the customer in the car follow suit. Its well worth every 1/2 cent.

An intelligent alternative:

http://www.moderncarcare.com/articles/flat-belt-conveyor-alternative-carwash-system.html

Seems Like A Contradiction In Motive...

Unfortunately, a few exterior carwash operators with an attendant facilitating the loading process make the mistake of processing with a "wham, bam, thank you ma'am" quickness that almost increases nervousness among some drivers. All too often, operators fail to put themselves in their customers' shoes... and that level of indifference may create a counterproductive atmosphere.

Now you seek to issue a disclaimer which may further compound the issue of calmness. Yet the objective is to create a pleasant buying experience? Seems like the disclaimer action is a contradiction in what should be a risk-free perception.

Maybe reflecting on an old axiom may help: "HASTE FREQUENTLY MAKES WASTE"

Just a well-intentioned thought...

Sure Steve, just so customers don't have stupid moments in the tunnel I'll slow my line speed down from 120 down to 60 on a peak wash day and wash only 550 instead of 1,100. Its called volume Steve and on peak days, as an operator it is critical to maximize volume provided you can do so within the parmaeters of safety and without adversely affecting wash quality.

Even with this handout, I can't tell you how many times the conveyor stops due to the anti-collision feature and no one honks their horn. I guess I can only lead them to water but can't make them all drink.

I am also going to change the wording on my four signs in the tunnel from "Honk your horn if the have a problem", to "Honk your horn if your car stops moving." Maybe I'll put flashing neon around them too for the visually lazy.

The handout of course only works with people who can read English. Hey maybe I can get stimulus money from Obama for getting them printed in Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, and ebonics.

Bill...

Since you asked for other suggestions, here's one.

Hire service advisors to engage customers in advance of the loading area where all the fever-pitched activity takes place. A calm deliberate explanation of "why" and "how" seems like a more effective way to get the message across... as well as provide an opportunity to upsell or check the buying pulse of your clientele.

You've spent so much time over the years seeking ways to streamline your operation that a friendly service advisor engaging customers might be a pleasantly refreshing surprise that generates more profits. Besides, the Mad Hatter approach is usually a very desensitizing methodology.

Incidentally, does your attendant establish eye-contact when communicating with the customer... or is it just a quick blurting of information? For a clear cause-effect understanding, the attendant should engage the customer directly for best results.

-Steve

Bill C,

I completely understand your frustration. My only suggestion would be to make it somehow more customer friendly in the wording.

Have you seen those shirts that say "Neutral", "No Brakes", "No Steering" or maybe a Shirt that says "Honk, If you Need Help"! Not sure if they work, but maybe employees with a big old message on the front of them might help as well.

John Moran

I have to say when we have a greeter out on the lot programming the wash and recieving tender...they fully tell the customer when inside the wash nuetral and no Brake in a machine-free noise eniviorment we have no issues at all...but inside you can tell someone four times and still have no clue whats going on. The handout will just be taken and put in thier pocket with change or thrown on the seat while they gab on a cell phone. I do have a sign that states when inside nuetral/no brake/no stering----our lives our in your hands please drive safe! Thanks! that might help too but human to human I think is the best way in a nice calm noise free area outside the wash tunnel---just too much going on Inside the bay------a good add on to the tunnel sign/honk if your horny

------a good add on to the tunnel sign/honk if your horny. Ok, funny to me, but do you really want to take the chance of offending customers with something so risque, especially when it serves no useful purpose. That'a like putting "Our Vacuums Really Suck!" on you message board

Bill, I think you are wasting money by installing the signs in the tunnel.Once the car hit the eye and it is all covered with the chemicals even the neon sign message is not going to serve the purpose.We have been through all this already and tried everything possively you can.We end up installing emergency stop/start right in the middle of the tunnel and whenever we are washing 110 plus, we have somebody standing there all the time.This also gives a comfort to the customer because If anybody seems nervous or scared we tell them not to panic we have somebody inside keeping an eye.Well we are little lucky here because we have a walkway with the glasses,so you can keep eyes right from entrance to exit.This area is well lid and every customer can easily see our employee watching the cars.By the way we have a flex serv and we always have somebody if we need them to stand in the middle for those busy hours.

honk if your horny was a joke! ....just kidding with that one Bill

If you're willing to invest in a solution, you could definitely control this automatically. You'll need spare controller functions, a bunch of photo-eyes and a PLC.

Photo-eyes,sensors is going to make it worst.You don't want your car wash to stop on every small stupid mistakes by the customer.Well lets face It,On a busy day people are going to get scare,panic,brake,park,steer,drive and some does'nt want to leave at the exit and their cars are going to stall.Nothing can replace a human eye.So every time its busy we invest on the human eyes instead.

I feel the OP's pain. Recently on a busy day we had an extremely obese man driving a full-size van decide to turn his wheel into the inside conveyor rail right as he cleared our second mitter.

He of course jumps the track and his left front tire crashed through the grating over the pit next to the conveyor due to his and his van's weight.

So, we were doing about 80 cph at that point and I've got a van stuck in my tunnel with his left front wheel about halfway visible above the conveyor track at eye level.

Fortunately it was rear-wheel drive and with my employees all climbing into the back of the van to weight it down, we were able to back him up and out.

Broke my wheel brite CTA though. Dammit.