Carwash Specialists, Inc. is about to wrap up our second year in our reorganization. We have spent most of the year refurbishing and upgrading existing washes, although we have had some new equipment sales. The industry as a whole continues to experience hard times and there is not much new construction going on (which is good for you guys already in the business).
We have added several accounts from owners who have bought existing washes. These guys know who they are, and they would not mind me saying that the washes were ROUGH! They only had “stragglers” for clientele and short receipts. But, all of them have turned around and are doing a satisfactory amount of business and generating revenue with relatively modest renovations. One of them says he is constantly thanked for getting the soap to come out of the wand. His biggest problem was soap concentration and/or bad soap. We find it hard to work there now because customers are constantly pulling in wanting to wash.
It is sad to think that someone was so burned out (or something) with the car wash business that they would let things get that way and miss out on the potential that the site had. I guess that this should be a lesson for us that if we get burned out or have had it up to our necks with these Mudders (yes, deer season is here, if you haven’t noticed!).
We are still in the business of offering a service to the public and we owe it to them and ourselves to keep our systems working properly. Sure, new paint would be nice, but sometimes even a total facelift will not make up for that one bad experience when a customer could not get soap out of the wand or the brush would not foam. Also, keeping a run down car wash invites a new investor to consider putting a new wash in your market. Point is, don’t let the slow times get you down and loose control of your wash. Little problems can pile up and more than once I have seen a wash get so far down that it is not financially feasible to start it up again. Or, the owner has gotten so frustrated that he threw in the towel and filled his pits with concrete.
Times are tough for a lot of us, but most people are chugging along and making it. We continue to offer full support of washes of all types, and we are in most areas of the state weekly. Magic Wand is developing a soft cloth wash and is introducing its new transformer tunnel system in a couple of months. They have taken the slow time to focus on research and development, and we should see the results in trade magazines at the beginning of the year.
Thanks, Mitch
