Open a Car Wash.com

The self service style car wash bay, also referred to as a coin or token operated system, is pretty straight forward. This bay will have enough space for a vehicle to pull into and for driver to move around the car during the washing process. The self service bay is run on a timer system. The customer places coins or dollars into the timer system which will then allow them to use the bays water and chemicals for a set period of time.

The typical self service car wash bay will have a pressurized wand that dispenses soapy water, clean rinse water and often other options like a spray on polish or wax, or an engine cleaning solution. This allows the customer to spray their car with a cleaning solution, rinse off that cleaning solution with clean water and also spray a protective coat of wax over their newly cleaned car. Once the time expires the customer simply replaces the wand on the rack and drives off.

In addition to the pressure wand many self service car wash systems will have a Foaming Brush. This will be hooked up to the car wash system and will dispense soapy water from within the head of the scrubbing brush. This is a useful feature for those customers with cars that need a more through cleaning that the pressure wand can provide while at the same time can save water for the car wash.

Additionally other services can be offered. From a simple thing like floor mat holders allowing customers to spray and clean their floor mats, vending machines selling other car cleaning products, soft drinks or candy and more all can add to the profitability of a car wash location.

A self service car wash can be a solid business depending on your area, the demographics of the population and the general layout of your car wash. These are often used in conjunction with automatic car wash bays in the same facility offering customers a choice in filling their car wash needs, attracting those with differing budgets and time constraints.

This style of car wash can be popular due to relative low cost to your customer and ease of use. The downside is that this type of carwash can deteriorate more quickly than a full service car wash. At times this style of business is not staffed during normal business hours and can therefore become abused, dirty and subject to theft. No business runs itself so be sure to adequately staff even a self service car wash!