Buying a coin-op

[showtime]

The local coin-op (pressure wash) is up for sale and I'm thinking about buying it. It's the only one in a town of about 3000 people. It's VERY busy on nice days in winter and steady during the rest of the year. They charge $1.75 for a wash.

I'm not sure what they're asking or even how profitable it is. I'm thinking ~$50k would be reasonable with the property. On Monday I'm going to be calling the owner and see if we can schedule a meeting. Given the price of wash vs. supplies, it seems like it would be a good money maker if you can make more than the fixed cost of the mortgage and taxes. I'm also very busy with my other three business so this wouldn't take that much attention.

Has anybody owned one of these before? Got any tips?

Here's what it's got-

3 bays
2 vacuums
air
vending machines w/ air fresheners, armorall, etc.

[Five Star]

Does the guy lease or own the equipment?

If he owns it tell the owner to bring his service logs,
if he leases it what are the terms and how much is the service contract you dont want equipment thats constantly breaking down.

Also ever changing enviromental laws may bite you in the wallet in the future.

We have a place here down the street from me that distributes coin-op car wash products all over new england. the prices are great I can get you a contact #.

Good luck with your meeting, I'm sure it would be a good venture with proper consideration and pricing.

P.S Rather than phasing out of detailing as you mentioned (i think) maybe you can incorporate it and train an employee to handle the work.

[showtime]

I think I might train someone to to my dealer work. That account averages out to a car a day everyday of the year. With what I'm getting, I can pay a good wage and still make money.
I won't be getting out of detailing completely myself. I do a fair ammount of classics and my Xpel dealership puts me in touch with a lot of high end people. There's no way I'd turn over a 65 Mustang or a new 911 to an employee.

[buda]

In reply to your post about a self service carwash:

1. Today, to build a self service car wash would cost you about $65,000 a bay for construction; building and equipment, not including property.

2. Based on a 3 bay facility you are looking at $195,000 plus the cost of the property.

3. If this facility were really old and beat up, which it sounds like it may not be since it is busy, as you say, then there is no way you could buy it for $50,000 including property.

4. The average revenue per bay nationally, as reported in the latest Professional Carwashing & Detailing magazine's self service survey, is about $1350 a bay. But keep in mind this is an average taking into account that some prime locations in large urban areas might do $2,000+ per bay per month. Of course, there are more that do far less than $1350 per bay. So I would guess this facility in a town of 3,000 might do $600 per bay.

5. The net profit on this is about 50% to 60%, if all other costs are in line.

There was a 4 bay self service available in my town on leased property which had a rent factor of $1100 per month. The town has a pop. of 5,000. They wanted $100,000 for the operation (which had no business since it was in disrepair) but would take a payment of $1,000 per month.

That was $2100 a month before any operational costs.

No way that the facility could make the payments and operational costs, let alone provide any money to me.

Hate to burst the bubble of your dream but I do not see you buying this business for $50,000 including property.

Regards
Bud Abraham
DETAIL PLUS SYSTEMS

[Five Star]

Originally posted by buda
In reply to your post about a self service carwash:

1. Today, to build a self service car wash would cost you about $65,000 a bay for construction; building and equipment, not including property.

2. Based on a 3 bay facility you are looking at $195,000 plus the cost of the property.

3. If this facility were really old and beat up, which it sounds like it may not be since it is busy, as you say, then there is no way you could buy it for $50,000 including property.

4. The average revenue per bay nationally, as reported in the latest Professional Carwashing & Detailing magazine's self service survey, is about $1350 a bay. But keep in mind this is an average taking into account that some prime locations in large urban areas might do $2,000+ per bay per month. Of course, there are more that do far less than $1350 per bay. So I would guess this facility in a town of 3,000 might do $600 per bay.

5. The net profit on this is about 50% to 60%, if all other costs are in line.

There was a 4 bay self service available in my town on leased property which had a rent factor of $1100 per month. The town has a pop. of 5,000. They wanted $100,000 for the operation (which had no business since it was in disrepair) but would take a payment of $1,000 per month.

That was $2100 a month before any operational costs.

No way that the facility could make the payments and operational costs, let alone provide any money to me.

Hate to burst the bubble of your dream but I do not see you buying this business for $50,000 including property.

Regards
Bud Abraham
DETAIL PLUS SYSTEMS

Oregon and the Upstate New York area are 2 different markets, property market value and Building Cost per Sq. Ft are extremely
different.

Depending on the age of the building and equipment as this is an already established business 50k does seem to be a low end but sometimes people just want to cash out and retire in Fla.

Best advice tell the guy give me your no haggle bottom price, if i agree to it you have a sale, if not.. nice meeting you.

However you may want a current market analysis done for you before you get to that meeting

[buda]

That's right, building costs are different. In the East Coast they are typically much higher than in the small state of Oregon.

Let's say in Upstate New York you can build a facility for $50,000 a pay, that is still far from the total cost of $50,000 for the entire facility including land.

Yes, maybe this owner will be your "sugar-daddy" and give you the entire business and property for $50,000 and retire to Florida.

Good luck

Bud Abraham

[gregcavi]

here is my $0.02

This is a detailing site were we discuss how to keep a car swirl free and looking its best. Your going the other direction buy owning a coin wash. It just seems odd that you would be ok with the sub par results of a quickie wash place. Its like your just selling out for the money rather than the idea of car detailing and keeping a car looking its best. I hope I dont offend you with my thoughts but thats just what i think of off the bat.

Greg

[showtime]

That's kind of uppity. Did I post this on the "other" board by mistake?

[gregcavi]

Sorry, I didnt want to be offensive but I just wondered why you would want to go this direction rather then open a higher end shop.

Greg

[buda]

Greg:

You have got your washes mixed up. A self service wash is a "hand wash" for all intents and purposes. Or at least a "touchless" wash where they use chemical and high pressure water to wash the car.

There is no reason that a detailer could not operate a self service carwash or an automatic car wash for that matter and not still offer detailing.

In fact, many carwashes, self service and automatic, operate full service detail shops and offer a quality service because they can afford the best equipment and can afford to hire and pay for the best employees.

Sometimes detailers think that car washes offer a low quality service, but what most have chosen to do is offer only MAINTENANCE detailing services such as a wax only or a carpet shampoo only on cars that are in good condition, choosing to maintain their vehicle.

What detailers get are usually cars that need RESTORATION services.

I do not think that someone who considers buying a self service carwash is "sellling out" in any way.

Regards
Bud Abraham

[Murr1525]

Well, I am not sure about how the finances will work out, but as was mentioned, it seems like those bays would be good places to do detailing work, if you hired someone.

Certainly can have a High-Quality Hand Wash and Detail option. The worker just needs to use the water from the hose, but then use Meguiars washes, products, etc.

[buda]

Actually self service carwash bays are for car washing. If you want to make money with a self service carwash you have to have the bays available for use by customers. If you have them tied up with detailing it will not work out financially.

Yes, of course, you will have times when it is slow in the bays and you could use one for detailing, but doing one car is not going to get you much money.

Car wash is carwash and then set up a another area for detailing using the car wash bays for prepping the cars, etc.

Regards
Bud Abraham

[Five Star]

You wouldn't want to block any bay at any time if you've ever spent anytime at a self serv wash you know that they could fill up at any time.

You wouldn't even need to setup detailing onsite, as from an advertising point of view its a gold mine.

You have people that on some level care about the appearance of their vehicles, or they wouldnt be washing their cars.

You would just need to tailor your ad campaign to educate them on the rewards of having their cars professionally detailed, and in showtimes case also the benefits of installing Xpel on their cars.

So even though paying 100k or 150k for the place,in the long run, the cost of investing in the carwash can reap greater rewards

[Murr1525]

True, with only 3 bays, wouldnt want to tie up a bay for too long.

[buda]

Keep in mind that self service carwash customers are "do-it-yourself" customers. Do you think that a do it yourself customer would pay to have his/her car detailed? They will not even pay $5.00 to get their car washed at an automatic wash.

The jury is out on whether a self service car wash is a good venue for a detail business. Some offer detailing but I have no information on how well they do.

Also, a three bay self serve in a small town is not going to pay you much money in return. Maybe $700 per bay per month which is $2100 gross and a net of 50% or $1050 per month.

So hopefully you can make the payments on land and business and cover all operating expenses from the other $1050.

Regards

Bud Abraham