Operator Forum

The three conveyor car wash operators who agreed to share their views in this Tunnel Operator Forum each run distinct car care businesses. Our panelists are:

• Vic Giangrant, owner/operator of the Westside Car Wash, a full-service wash in Dover, DE
• Clayton Clark, chief operating officer of Bubbles Car Washes in Houston, TX. This is a chain of 11 sites with five Bubbles Hand Car Washes and six exterior express washes.
• Greg Meier, general manager of La Verne Car Wash in La Verne CA and Menifee Car Wash in Riverside County, CA. These are full-service operations that also feature gasoline sales and a fast-lube center.

The discussion centered on the following issues:

• Wash format
• Competition
• Labor
• Regulation burden

FORMAT

Vic Giangrant
This was originally an exterior wash and I took it full service. I did that in 1992. I bought the wash in 1981. I changed the format because customers made me do it. They wanted more — I had to meet their demands. It still working well for me, so if it ain’t broke...

Clayton Clark
We have 11 units. The six express exterior washes are cloth. There are five full-service hand car washes. We’ve been in business since 1991 and in the express exterior business now for the better part of three years. We are still learning the nuances of the business as we go.

We realized that we were probably only capturing 15 percent to 20 percent of the Houston car wash pie with our hand washes. The other 80 percent to 85 percent of the market were either washing their cars
in their driveway, at the self-serve wash, the lube/gas station car washes, or our full-serve cloth competition.

So we asked ourselves how we could get 80 percent of the people to wash at Bubbles car wash. Being a full-serve hand wash, we are very high end. We wanted to cater to both types of clientele. In our
full-serves, the average car wash ticket is about $30. At that level you’re excluding a lot of the market, so we rolled out Bubbles Express.

Greg Meier
Both of our sites are full-service car washes. I’ve heard of the express-exterior trend and I’ve had people try selling me on it. I don’t know if I’m old fashioned or behind the times, or if I’m missing the boat, or perhaps I’m just going for a different niche. I guess 10 years from now, I’ll look back and see whether I was right or wrong. I’m happy with the full-service and I believe there is a customer out there that still wants full-service — and that there are enough of them to keep us making money.

COMPETITION

Vic Giangrant
We have a flex-serve and two full-service washes in this market. There are also express exteriors here. Wal-Mart, about 2 miles from my wash, has a duel tunnel on site that will open any day now — it’s kind of scary. Both tunnels will be express exterior.

That’s the one thing I did not want to see. The big-box stores enter the car wash arena. They can afford to take a beating and keep on ticking, you know. When I was a kid, there was a gas station on every block. Today, the big-box stores are selling gas, and there are no more mom-and-pop gas stations/repair shops. Now I see a car wash on every corner. So I’m wondering if history is going to repeat itself in the car wash industry.

About six years a go I bought a dryer from an operator in Detroit who was selling all of his equipment because, he said, the $2 car washes ran him out of business. I don’t want to paint a picture of doom — car washing is a great business. I’ve been in it for 25 years, but I see changes coming — and what I did not want to see is happening

Clayton Clark
We have plenty of full-serve car washes in this market as well as exteriors, Mr. Car Wash has, of course, been a presence here for a long time. They offer a dedicated lane to exterior customers at their full-serve sites. We did not feel that that was going to work for us.

We are pretty much the only full-serve hand car washes, so what the competition does does not affect us that much. We really have a niche here in Houston. We have to do a good job, and that’s what keeps our customers coming back.

The express exterior becomes more of a commodity. We priced ours at $4, $7, and $10. Our biggest competition in this market we feel is the home washer. That’s who we are really trying to go after.

Greg Meier
In La Verne we have more competition, in Riverside less. All of the competition is full serve. The only difference really is that some of them are hand wash and we are machine wash. The hand wash has, I think, impacted our business a little bit. We built this car wash in La Verne as a full-service machine wash in ‘92, so the hand wash craze had already started. I think the average car wash customer is not educated as to exactly how a car wash works, and I think that the marketing of hand wash sounds better to them, because “handmade” sounds better. I think they think it’s better, I personally think the machine wash is better.

LABOR

Vic Giangrant
I buy my employees lunch every day, and I house about eight or nine of them. But I’m in the full-service business, I have to do this to keep my labor. I have guys here who have been with me for 15 years — and my customers want to see their faces when they come in. They know the employees — and that’s a good thing.

You always have trouble recruiting. Car washing is a physical thing. You have to be in shape. Once when I needed help, I put a sign up on my marquee, “Earn money, lose weight, apply now!”

I can’t afford to pay these guys $20 an hour, though they deserve it. That’s why I get so mad when people don’t tip. I never say anything — but these guys slave for the customers, they break their backs, and they smile when they are doing it. I don’t think customers really understand it. I wish we could do something about that — it’s a big concern to me.

Clayton Clark
We probably don’t do anything extra special over and above what everybody else does. We have level tests that we put all our associates through in order for them to get an increase in pay — they have to
perform, do different tasks. And we have trainers at each of our sites.

Recruiting labor is really challenging. We have an employee who’s dedicated HR, who is continuously checking paper work. The employment pool has shrunk, because restaurants, retailers, etc. are vying for the same employees.

Greg Meier
In La Verne we have no problem with labor availability. In Riverside, it’s a little harder. My theory is that it’s such a fast-growing area, that there are lots of construction jobs available. Any car wash worker could probably make double by working construction.

I have a manager that oversees both locations, and he has assistants at each location. These assistants handle the training of new employees. My manager has established a system for every part of the process — the correct way to vacuum a car, the correct way to wash a window, etc. You are always in that process of training.

REGULATION

Vic Giangrant
This is really a sore subject. I’m going to add 50 feet of building to the front of my wash and add another 20 feet to the exit — and my city made me jump through hoops to do this, even though I didn’t need any rezoning. It was awful. I’m a licensed plumber and electrician in the state of DE and when I got out of the construction business in 85/86 it was a lot easier to get things done. It took me two years to get everything through.

I invite the state safety board to inspect me every year. I want to make sure that everything is perfect. They come in and inspect your business for workplace safety. I want to know if I’m making any mistakes, if I’m putting anybody in jeopardy. The inspection is free and it could mean a discount on your Workmen’s Compensation Insurance.

Clayton Clark
We hire an independent outside company to come through every quarter and do safety inspections. It’s like an audit and they point out anything that might need to be done. We also hire an outside company to twice a year go through all of our employee paperwork. I wouldn’t characterize any of this as problematic. It’s just time-consuming. We stay on top of all those regulatory agency requirements and we stay on top of our paperwork.

Greg Meier
California has new [A.B. 1688] regulations that require car washes to register with the state and post a surety bond. Filling out the paperwork to get that done personally took me probably 40 hours. I consider myself a fairly intelligent person and I had a really hard time gathering all the information and figuring out what they wanted. Once I sent it in finally, it wasn’t correct. They sent it back and I had to redo parts of it. I’m an operator who sits in an office and does paperwork. I’m not down in the wash fixing the tunnel equipment when it breaks. But a lot of car wash operators are. I could not imagine that type of operator having the time to do this paperwork.

But our experience with the new location, which we bought in 2004, was far worse. Transferring all the licenses, applying for all the new ones, getting our names on everything — it’s almost not worth it. The gasoline aspect is the worst. The car wash itself is not that bad, but we have gas sales at both locations. The regulations for the gas station industry have become a real hurdle.