Self Service Car Washes
July 29th, 2006 by Kenric
I’m looking at a self service car wash with 6 bays and 6 vacuums. The problem is that there are no financials from the sellers. So today I go there and sit and watch it for a few hours. Yes, it’s a Saturday and I have no idea if these car washes do more business on weekdays or weekends. So I’m jotting down the prices, number of cars, average usage time and based on my very unscientific study I come up with the following conclusion.
I figure that each bay can handle a maximum of 4 cars an hour. This is because most people wash for about 8-9 minutes. It takes them at least 4 minutes to pull in and go get change. This car wash was only $2 for 8 minutes. So you have 6 bays at 4 cars an hour, or 24 cars per hour. 10 hours a day (number I pulled from my a$$) sounded right, so 240 cars a day, $480 a day for just washing. I didn’t pay much attention to the vacuum side cause it was blocked from where I was parked. $480/day is based on my maximum occupancy figure, but while I was there it was far from 100% full, it was more like 2.5 bays were always used. 2.5/6 X $480 gives me $200/day.
Extrapolate this out and I get $6,000/mo or $72,000/yr.
Suprisingly, when I get home I go do some research on these car washes on the internet (source) and I find that the average SS car wash brings in $1,040 per bay per month. So my $6,000/mo for 6 bays is right on. It also stated that the average vacuum brings in $195/mo. I’m gonna use this number but I’ll have to go back and count vacuum usage if I decide to pursue this.
So now we get $7,200/mo or $86,400/yr in gross revenue.
Operating expenses at SSCW are 53% according to the same source. This would put the NOI at $40,000. Based on the asking price for this car wash, it’s cap rate is 6.25%. I should mention that the price includes the land.
Posted in General | 
Stumble it!
I’ve been thinking of buying a self-serve carwash for a couple of years now. They seem to be money makers. Of course, location is key. Watch out for Weiss Guys. They used to have just full serve car washes, but I’ve noticed they’ve started buying self serve ones as well.
By Shaun on Jul 31, 2006
How much time does it take to run a self-serve car wash?
Do you have to be there every day? Who collects funds? Would you hire a repair man on call?
Just curious, I liek the idea of purchasing on eof these.
By Bginvestor on Jul 31, 2006
From my limited research… I think that depending on your volume that you could go there once every 2-3 days. You would need to refill the chemicals, empty the trash and vacuums and refill the change machine.
By monarchcrest on Jul 31, 2006