This
Page is intended to provide some typical financial
models for car wash facilities. Of course there
are several factors that can influence your sites
success.
Such
as, but not limited to, the following:
Information
provided by the September NPN’s 2006 Profit Center
Survey: Car Wash
Differentiate your
site from competitors through car-wash offerings
By Mary Murphey
Customers need a reason to
select your particular gasoline station and/or
convenience store over all the other options presented
to them on a daily basis — and we all know just how many
choices are out there. So the burden is put on you, the
marketer, to make your sites as universal, yet personal,
as possible. Your sites need to be everything to
everyone all the time.
There are some practices you can implement or displays
you can purchase that are of little cost to you, but
have a great impact on your business with a healthy and
quick return on your investment. Then there are those
site elements that are a bit costlier, like car washes,
but with proper planning and research, quality equipment
and knowledgeable employees, these profit centers can
help secure your business and separate you from your
competition.
This article is the second installment of NPN Magazine’s
four-part Profit Center Survey series, focusing on the
role of car washes in the industry. The 2004 Profit
Center Survey covering car washes yielded 65 responses.
There were 86 completed surveys returned the following
year, and 2006 saw the response rate increase to 90.
According to this year’s
survey results, the average monthly sales per wash is
$6,789 and the average monthly wash volume the industry
reported is 1,250, which is 11 more than last year’s
figure. The average monthly profit per wash is $3,794
and the average number of car washes owned that are
located at a c-store or gasoline station is the same as
last year at 10.
“I think (a car wash) enhances your location; it gives
you another revenue source,” said David Craddock,
president of McComb, Miss.-based Craddock Oil Co. “It
adds something to your location that can differentiate
you from your competition,” and that’s something crucial
in this industry.
Art Westle, controller of Champaign, Ill.-based Miller
Oil, agreed: “It’s something that will bring in
additional business. Whether a person is going to go to
the car wash first and then he thinks about coming into
the convenience store, or if he’s been in the
convenience store getting gas or something and says ‘Oh,
my car is dirty,’ and goes ahead and buys a car wash.
One just feeds off the other.”
As a general
guideline, recent industry surveys have provided the
following averages for
monthly income.
|
Average
monthly income:
per
automatic bay ............................From
$2,000 to $5,500
per
self-serve bay
.............................From $1,000 to $1,200
per
vacuum.........................................$250
in-bay
gross for vending ......................$400
|
|
Past
experience has shown that operating
expenses
as a percentage of your total gross
income
can be estimated as follows:
Electricity
...........................................3.6%
Gas
.....................................................1.5%
Water/Sewer
.......................................7.0%
Chemicals
...........................................6.0%
Vending
Products ................................1.7%
Softener
Salt .......................................0.5%
Attendant
Labor ................................ 11.0%
Replacement
Parts ..............................2.0%
Bookkeeping
.......................................0.5%
Mud
Pit Pumping ................................1.0%
|
Fixed costs will
vary dependent upon your own personal financing
No guarantee of income, expenses or profit
is made or implied by Star Car Wash Equipment or
its employees.
These
estimates are to be used as general information
and are based on industry averages only.
