Open a Car Wash.com

No matter if you are looking to buy an existing car wash or build a new one you simply must know your competition just like in any other business. If you were going to open a pizza joint you’d visit the other pizza shops in the area first, right? The car wash business is no different.

Before you get too far along in the looking and picking process a systematic research of other car wash locations is in order. Get yourself a good local map and define an area or areas you will be conducting your research. These areas will typically be around a piece of land you may build on or around several potential car wash locations. Starting with a six to ten mile radius is a good start. Take your map, stick a pin on your potential car wash location, or locations, and establish a radius.

You want to physically visit every car wash in that area. The big ones, the small ones, the old ones and new ones. Photos can be handy to have however use caution and common sense. Should you walk around someone else car wash snapping pictures of everything? Probably not. You’ll likely upset the owner and perhaps cause a problem. A few pictures taken subtly and legally are helpful. Bring along a notebook, a pen, a camera and your map. You are going to be making notes on the following items for each car wash you visit:

1)    Number of bays per car wash and what style they are (hand wash, automatic, etc)

2)    Overall appearance of the location. Is it clean? Dirty? Run down? Brand new?

3)    Other services offered above and beyond the car wash itself. Are their vacuum cleaners? What kind? Are there vending machines offering cleaning supplies? What kind? Vending machines?

4)    Note the pricing of all services including car wash choices, vacuum, detailing, hand washing, add on items and more.

5)    If a car wash business is located next to or with a gas station note if there is a price break on the car wash for buying a certain number of gallons of gas.

6)    Note if there is an attendant, if the owner is on site or if the car wash is totally unattended. If there are employees on hand what is their attitude? Are they pleasant or not?

7)    Note if there are any services offered to the customers for free such as free drying towels or an attendant that sprays or scrubs wheels and running boards prior to the wash for free, or a little plastic cover for the rear windshield wiper..

8)    Note the physical location of each car wash and the pros and cons of each from the customers stand point such as ease of entry and exit, navigation of the property and so on.

9)    Note the number of cars in the stack and the time of day you observed the location.

Take good and consistent notes on all these locations and really look at the information you collect. Formulate a competitor’s price list, a list of the services offered and a list of what really stood out, for good or bad, about each car wash you visited.

Not only should you be aware of your current competition but also if there is a new car wash coming to the area. Visit your local town or city hall to determine if there are any permits in place for a new car wash coming in. Also pay a visit to your local Chamber of Commerce, (you might want to get to know these folks anyway), and ask around.

Any business needs to know it’s competition and the car wash business is no exception. Know what you’re getting into and how big of a slice of the car wash pie you can expect to grab!