EXPRESS WASH OWNERS

I am from Canada where there are not many express tunnels around. I am in a town with 40 000 people and my traffic count is 11000. I was wondering if any express tunnel owners can give me some kind of insite on what kind of capture rate i should expect I think this kind of car wash would do alright since there are no express tunnels in my area and cheapest inbay wash starts at $8 and no free vacuuming with a $6 starting rate and free vacuuming I would think it should do well land is near residental and auto repair shops and car sales 1 mile from walmart any insite would be appreciated p.s already bought the land

Don't rush to drink the "Free Vac' Kool Aid. If you don't need it to meet competition you may be giving up a revenue source as well as overlooking other pricing optionssuch as 41.00 less on the wash with pay vacs.

Here is some advice:
Spend the money on a stand alone good car wash consultant on the area you have in mind and what you plan to do - not someone that has a tie in to sell you equipment and constructing the building. Once you have this information, then visit with some car wash owners outside of your area so you will get some first hand information on what it takes to have a successful business, have an accountant provide a cost ananlysis and where you need to be in your pricing in order to sustain the business and make a profit for your investment and for you to run/manage the business. Go to car wash college.
Then your ready for the rodeo.

Good luck

I have looked into this also. My research showed me that for every million dollars spent you need to do about 100 to 125 cars everyday to break even if you average about $7 per car. 1.5 million looks to be about the most you should spend on this type of wash if you want it to be profitable.

You have to be very careful when investing MILLIONS in a car wash in a town with only 11,000 people.

What is the 24 hour traffic count past the specific location? Is it visible to the passing traffic on the street? Can you immediately enter the site from the street or do you have to drive into a parking and make a bunch of turns to get into the location? What is the speed of the traffic passing by the location?

What is the household population within a 2 mile radius of the location. The average income in that same area?

Just a few key questions to answer.

You might consider an EXPRESS PLUS Car Wash Concept.

Regards
Bud Abraham
buda@detailplus.com

I would suggest you contact my friend Mike Black who is a Sonny's Distributor and operator from Ontario. He knows and understands the Canadian market better than anyone else I know.

mdblack@sentex.net or mdblack@attglobal.net

Traffic count of 11000 seems low...