Tunnel Operator Forum

When many in the public think of professional car washes they undoubtedly think of the traditional conveyor-style wash. Although the segment has evolved throughout the years — and faces competition from the self-serve and in-bay segments — conveyors will always be a major force in the car wash industry.

Two Northeast conveyor owners have agreed to share their opinions on the current economic situation, the weather, finding and training quality employees, and interesting ways to increase customer usage as they hopefully rebound from a tough couple of years.

The participants are:

• Chip Spillane — Owner of Executive Car Wash in South Burlington, VT. Chip has owned and operated the full-service 100-foot tunnel for 22 years.
• Bill Couch — Co-owner of Valley Car Wash in West Simsbury, CT. Bill has been a co-owner in the family-owned business for 20 years The 100-foot exterior-only wash recently celebrated its 40th anniversary.

Spillane

Have you noticed the economy starting to take a turn for the better?

Not really. For us it is the weather that has really been holding us back. Here in the Northeast we have gotten a decade of bad weather.

Do you have any predictions for 2010?

I wish I knew what was going to happen, but I don’t. I am just looking at the weather. We are supposed to have a lighter rainfall, hopefully that will help us along.

What have you done to increase revenue?

We put in all new equipment and vacuums last year. The whole tunnel is new top to bottom. We were just trying to lighten up the labor requirements. We were very labor intensive before with the old equipment.

Having just gone through a major reconstruction do you have any advice for someone planning on doing the same?

The biggest thing is to not discount how long it takes for your business to come back. People are habit forming, when you shut down for two months it take a little bit of time to get that business flow back.

What did you do marketing wise after the reconstruction to get your customers back?

We just had to get the people back in here. Once they used us one time and saw our new equipment we captured them pretty easily.

We put ads in all of the local newspapers, which are very cost effective. We couponed everything. We could always take away the coupons later, but we just wanted to create usage. Every Saturday we had a charity event here at the wash, and gave them 25 percent of the proceeds. Every single charitable organization in our area received coupons to use in their raffles. We also distributed $2 off business cards to every business in a two-mile radius, placing a stack of 10 next to their register.

How do you find and train quality employees?

We just try to keep the guys around and working in the wash everyday. The most important thing is that the customers recognize the employee as a long-term person; there needs to be a connection. We require that the employees get to know each of the customers, if not by name, at least by car. We have workers give treats to all the customers’ dogs and candy to their children as a way to build a bond between the customers and the employees.

Couch

Have you seen any improvements in the economy recently?

There are three major things that have affected us recently: the weather, the economy, and some new competition in the area.

We typically wash more cars in December, January, February, and March because of snow followed by sand and salt, A few years ago the Department of Transportation changed their mix from sand and salt to a pre-load liquid salt followed by salt only, which impacted our winter washing. The new mix turns the road wet, instead of wet and gritty. If it rains after the storm the cars end up getting rinsed off pretty well. Even when it doesn’t rain the cars don’t look as bad without the sand.

We had a very rainy spring in 2009, which meant two things. First, we lost those days. Second, the rain ruined the pollen season for us.

On top of the weather issues the economy had its effect. People just don’t have as much extra money as they used to.

Also, we had a chain location move in down the street. They have 25 locations, and we have one. They came in with a much lower price, which meant we had to lower our price.

With the weather, the economy, and the competition, needless to say it hasn’t been a very fruitful two years.

Do you have any predictions for 2010?

I think a lot of people are holding their breath and hoping that instead of losing money this winter they make a little. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and the economy will improve.

What kind of marketing are you doing to get people back into the wash?

We are on a pretty busy thoroughfare and don’t have a lot of money in our advertising budget — most of our marketing is done right at the point of sale. We try to keep our main sign catchy — right now it says “Got Salt.”

We are going to introduce an environmentally friendly line of soaps and waxes in our tunnel. The environment is important to the people in our community and to us. Once we start using the new chemicals we are going to market it pretty heavily.

We have always been active in supporting non-profits and community groups in the area. We let the non-profits and local schools do fund raising through us.

Another thing we did for our 40th year in business was send out press releases and photos to the local media and got some nice free public relations.

How do you find and train quality employees?

We are an express and only need a handful of employees. For many years we have tapped into the high school and college market. This is one of the things that separates us from the competition, we have a history of hiring the local youth. I have coached soccer in the area for over 20 years, and have been tapping into that group recently.

People have always complimented us on our quality employees. My motto is “treat everybody like they are your mother’s best friend.”