Hand car washes. How do they make money.
Discussion
There are some decent ones. Near me there's one that took over the site of a large Shell garage, they put their own properly branded signage up so it doesn't look quite so 'abandoned petrol station'.
There's about six people work there, they also do full interior valets (a wet valet not just the vacuuming) by appointment. They also have a small cafe on site so you can get a snack and a drink while you wait.
They do my Mondeo for £8 for just the exterior, or £18 for exterior and interior (vacuuming, not wet). The wet valet is about £60.
They even have a little air line they use to blow any excess soap out of the door mirrors.
They are always busy even in the week. It's a well ordered, highly efficient production line. They take card payments now too, they wander about with a portable machine.
I doubt it's a front for anything else, the prices seem a bit higher than the dodgy ones so probably enough with the high volume to turn a profit. They do a superb job as well.
There's about six people work there, they also do full interior valets (a wet valet not just the vacuuming) by appointment. They also have a small cafe on site so you can get a snack and a drink while you wait.
They do my Mondeo for £8 for just the exterior, or £18 for exterior and interior (vacuuming, not wet). The wet valet is about £60.
They even have a little air line they use to blow any excess soap out of the door mirrors.
They are always busy even in the week. It's a well ordered, highly efficient production line. They take card payments now too, they wander about with a portable machine.
I doubt it's a front for anything else, the prices seem a bit higher than the dodgy ones so probably enough with the high volume to turn a profit. They do a superb job as well.
nct001 said:
Yipper said:
In the US -- a country significantly richer than the UK -- a legit carwash can typically make net profit of £25-750k:
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/pros-cons-starting-...
In the US, some estimate it can cost a firm roughly £3-5 to wash one car:
http://www.carwash.com/factoring-the-average-profi...
A *busy* UK hand-carwash will clear roughly 400-600 cars a week... Assuming £5 average selling price up north and £10 down south... A good carwash will generate roughly £100-250k of revenue per year... Assuming 5-15 staff to run the whole show, labour costs will be roughly £50-100k per year... Overheads, rent, water, chemicals, insurance, tax (if paid), etc. are going to be roughly £20-80k per year... Leaving a busy carwash with perhaps a £10-75k net profit per site per year.
Some artistic license is those numbers, of course, but you get the drift. A busy carwash can make a small to medium profit (without drugs or money laundering).
Sorry but how does a business employ 5 full time staff at a cost of £50k a year.http://smallbusiness.chron.com/pros-cons-starting-...
In the US, some estimate it can cost a firm roughly £3-5 to wash one car:
http://www.carwash.com/factoring-the-average-profi...
A *busy* UK hand-carwash will clear roughly 400-600 cars a week... Assuming £5 average selling price up north and £10 down south... A good carwash will generate roughly £100-250k of revenue per year... Assuming 5-15 staff to run the whole show, labour costs will be roughly £50-100k per year... Overheads, rent, water, chemicals, insurance, tax (if paid), etc. are going to be roughly £20-80k per year... Leaving a busy carwash with perhaps a £10-75k net profit per site per year.
Some artistic license is those numbers, of course, but you get the drift. A busy carwash can make a small to medium profit (without drugs or money laundering).
Minimum £300 a week rent
Minimum £80 a week electric
Minimum £80 a week chemicals
Let alone any further costs and it brings your business model to a loss.
Then start taking vat payments from assumed turnover and Hmrc are getting funny with these operations
No profit - not a business.
To get any kind of through put and get cars in out...
Can't do the job without a decent wash and wax 25l from auto smart minimum £40 (some are £70 for 25l)
Need a wax rinse product otherwise drying takes too long
Need a decent tfr to clean wheels and grime minimum £15 for 25 litres and will use more than this a week
Do you realise that tyre dressing in 25l costs £100 and will last two weeks in a busy car wash.
Industrial hoovers don't last more than around 8 months with prolonged use and cost £200.
Jet washes just don't last with prolonged use
The costs of high quantity car washing are high.
Edited by nct001 on Friday 20th January 20:56
£460 a week on stuff = £24k a year. Well within the 20-80k range.
The numbers stack up.
Carwashes are not wildly profitable, but the good ones do make profit. They are a low-cost, high-throughput business.
There are roughly 20,000 hand-carwashes, employing 30-50,000 staff, in the UK. The industry has been expanding a decade or more. They are not all rinsing funny money. Some (more than you think) are making profit.
General Fluff said:
If these places were all just a front for some other illegal activity would they really have any incentive to do a good job? Because in my experience they do an excellent job.
Our carwash group, charge 5.00 for a great wash and dry, and all door cills cleaned, tyres done, under arches done, All for a fiver,
sutts said:
Look up 'modern slavery'. It's right under our noses.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3556022/Ch...
Taz1383 said:
I'd rather eat rubbish than have somebody "clean" my car with a gritty mit.
Nothing a good end of year detail can't fix 
Most people just want a decent, quick wash and that's what they get I suppose.
I don't clean cars often anyway, but my sponge is probably worse than theirs when I do
I used to be into all the detailing and two bucket method etc etc but since I got that bit older and less fit, I prefer to pay others to do it for me. I can see swirls in my paintwork but I now have a silver car which hides a multitude of sins.
As I said at the beginning of this thread, a tenner gets my car spick and span again. During the week, some carwashes discount this to £8 for taxi drivers. I may well invest in some Uber stickers if this is the case.
As I said at the beginning of this thread, a tenner gets my car spick and span again. During the week, some carwashes discount this to £8 for taxi drivers. I may well invest in some Uber stickers if this is the case.
Taz1383 said:
Digby said:
Do you grow and cook all your own food? 
I'd rather eat rubbish than have somebody "clean" my car with a gritty mit. I don't grow and cook my own food either but then I'm not posting on a foodie forum.
We can all agree that 99% of roadside car washes whiff of something illegal, but as a few posters have pointed out.. where else do you go?
I cannot think of anywhere around Glasgow that has a "proper" car wash.
The choice is pay some EU chap £5 to wash it and hope for the best.
Buy your own products and spend probably a good hour of your time and effort to clean it yourself.
Pay a detailer or mobile car wash guy to do it at work or home.
With the majority of cars being white goods and people just wanting their car 'clean and shiny as quickly as possible' the masses in their leased Corsa/Audi/Bmw are perfectly happy with their EU wash, hence the traffic these places attract.
I cannot think of anywhere around Glasgow that has a "proper" car wash.
The choice is pay some EU chap £5 to wash it and hope for the best.
Buy your own products and spend probably a good hour of your time and effort to clean it yourself.
Pay a detailer or mobile car wash guy to do it at work or home.
With the majority of cars being white goods and people just wanting their car 'clean and shiny as quickly as possible' the masses in their leased Corsa/Audi/Bmw are perfectly happy with their EU wash, hence the traffic these places attract.
5th gear did a rather unscientific test years ago and found that a good automatic car wash will actually leave significantly fewer scratches than the hand car wash (which involved one of those horrible aeroblade things to dry the panels). Hence I would sooner bung my car through the washing machine than use a hand car wash.
Amazes me more, that people can't take 5 mins out to do the job themselves !!!!! We have 3 in about 500 metres of each other, and the number of lazy beepers, paying £5, min, going through, then heading off, at this time of year, down the, usually soaking, salt and muck riddled roads, what a waste of time 
Mind you, it's probably all the cars that are leased, making sure they don't get outshone by the other
'no brainer' lease purchases, made by their equally shallow neighbors.
(Mmhhh, wonder if there has been a post on here, pondering the pros and cons of leasing, vs buying).
Mind you, it's probably all the cars that are leased, making sure they don't get outshone by the other
'no brainer' lease purchases, made by their equally shallow neighbors.
(Mmhhh, wonder if there has been a post on here, pondering the pros and cons of leasing, vs buying).
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