Newbie with manufacturer ?'s

I just wanted to say first of all that this is a great site and I have learned a lot so far.

I am a new investor in Canada and have been doing my due diligence for a number of months on the carwash and lube industries. I am a strong believer that the combination of the two services on one site has a powerful value prop.

I haven't been able to find a detailed comparison of the pros and cons to some of the wash manufacturers that I have access to here. I am looking at a 100-130ft hybrid tunnel. I have looked at MacNeil, Sonny's, Ryko and Peco.

Does anyone have any thoughts or if this has already been summarized somewhere can you point me in the right direction?

Thanks and I hope to be able to add value to this site in the near future.

All of those companies you listed are great companies, I guess what you have to look at now is who can service you better and $$. I have Sonnys in my tunnels and Ive used MacNeil and Belanger in the past. All three were great!! Today I would perfer Sonnys.

Thanks wash96.

You touch on a good point regarding service levels. I will spend a great deal of time on this one as I have concerns that some of the distributors may not be mature in my market. (Can any Canadian members comment on this point)

The general consensus (how founded this is I do not know) that I have received so far is: MacNeil is excellent quality but it comes at a premium price; Sonny's is perhaps a price leader but maybe at that sacrifice of long term reliability/quality and Ryko is a good price but perhaps overengineered and expensive to maintain and service.

I'm not looking to offend anyone's equipment here. This just kind of summarizes what I have read and been told.

Does this sound close to reality?

I have looked at every single conveyor company and I must admit Sonny`s sticks out as my favorite. The free video`s , books and various other material to me is fantastic. Not only a good marketing tool for them to promote their gear, it helps anyone even if your not a customer to learn more about the industry. I applaud them for that. They post their prices online , no second guess so you have a idea what it will cost you. Now if only Sonny`s could buy proto-vest corp and bundle that with their conveyors they would be knocking home runs every time. Also they should buy interclean and use the spinners in their high preassure rinse like they use to in their 95TB package. Being that the rotating nozzle is superior than a up and down or side to side zero degree nozzle. Stainless Steel is also an option far as I know. They should also buy ICS. Offer a Tunnel controller , 2 pay-stations, 2 gates and choice of colors for the front of the pay-station for say 60k. Also make sure to list RO and water softner as part of the online price.

Far as other companys my other favorite is the jim coleman / hanna . Mostly stainless steel is a big plus. Also the option for electric motors rather than just hydraulic.
Pay stations are cheap at 15k. Tunnel controller is a washlink if I recall. For self serve the jim coleman credit card in the bay is really cool when it works. HEH

Just my two cents

Thansk Fiberton. I have been very impressed by the sales/marketing tools that Sonny's have provided as well.

Free videos and books won't help you when you break down on a busy Saturday. Don't skimp on equipment due to price... it is the life blood of your operation. Buy whatever line you feel fits your needs best and whatever line has the best support system nearest you. I'd also recommend you attend the maintenance and repair courses at car wash college.

Does any one have any experience with Tommy equipment?

Ross,
FYI: They make Tommy's in your home town.

I have installed quite a few Ryko tunnels,they work great and Ryko service is second to none. I am biased but I seen first hand how Ryko works from the inside.I expect you will see an even bigger push on Ryko service in the next two years with the promotion of Tom Carlton to president.

As far as quality, I would rather have a well engineered wash system than an under engineered wash anyday. Over engineering must include the fact that the Ryko has the abbility to tell the operator what is wrong when there is a problem.
Even though I have not seen a McNeil conveyor other than in their promo video (impressive) they are in your area since they are a Canadian company. As far as one of the other mentioned remember: "The cheap is expensive".