New investor needing advice

I am looking at buying a twelve year old laser wash 4000.It has been maintained very well and still does a good job.Just wondering if anybody had any advice as to what to look for when buying a used Laser wash 4000

Are you buying just the machine, or a carwash site with a laserwash in it?

Buying a site with two laser wash 4000s and six self serve

I have no experience with lasers. They are not very popular in my part of the south. They do have a good reputation. Twelve years old IBA is pretty old. How many years had you planned on getting out of these before replacing them? they do have some upgrades available such as virtual treadle that may be worth looking into.

Depending on the condition of the bridge (12 years old I doubt its stainless)also the condition of the pump stand. The most bang for your buck would be an M5 upgrade. You keep the pump stand, get a new bridge and cpu, and a virtual treadle like Greg said. Its a pretty slick wash. I have a customer that had a double bay 4000, he did an M5 up grade to one side and put a Tandem on the other. I was against the upgrade, I thought the machine had way to much use on it, and he should replaced the entire thing. (but I kept that to myself, I am just a soap guy) needless to say I was wrong, its been over a year and that thing is still going strong, with not 1 issue. With that being said I don't know the status of the M5/and M5 upgrade for L4000, because of the new Laserwash that just came out. Whatever you do, it would be wise to get some hands on experience in the business before you do anything.

Bobby,
I am a farely new owner to the carwash world. I bought a used Laser about a 18 months ago, it is 11 years old. The good thing about lasers is they are easy to work on, and with a good support guy, you can do most of the work yourself for cheap. (just parts) There are a lot of upgrades for the laser, which is another good thing. The last good thing is that PDQ is still in business and they still make parts for the lasers. I love my laser and it is not the age of the equipment, it is the quality of wash.

You certainty don’t want to come out of the gate with a horse that is not fit enough to at least have a good chance win the race or a jockey who isn’t familiar with the horse. So, the first thing I would do is have a PDQ distributor examine the equipment and provide you with a written assessment of the critical components that may pose an issue for you now and during your first year in business and how much it is going to cost in parts and labor to resolve those issues.

My advice would be to add all of those costs to the acquisition price of the business. The last thing you would want as someone new-to-the-industry is to become overwhelmed with repair costs and loss of revenue from excessive breakdowns while you are trying to learn the business and keep customers happy.