Features

Trends Favor Detail Business Growth

The ugly duckling of the car care business is turning into a swan. That scrawny little business usually found on the wrong side of the tracks has been showing up in the better parts of town... »

Study Guide: Detailing Terminology

Detailing, like most professions, has a language all its own that includes vocabulary that describes equipment, chemicals, and techniques that are unique to our profession. The vocabulary... »

Getting in Control of Your Cost per Car »

There’s an unsettling notion in the car wash industry that the equipment in the tunnel is the most important aspect in the business. Although how clean a car leaves your facility is important, how can you clean the car if... »

While we have imprecise information about industry size in terms of car wash outlets, volumes, and revenues, experience shows the cost of goods and services is a rising issue. »

Executives of four car wash equipment manufacturing companies agreed to participate in this year’s look ahead to what the following 12 months might hold for the industry. The panelists are:

Kevin Collette president of Istobal... »

Business is business. Whether you are running a big box chain or managing a local convenience store, the principles of a successful business remain the same. The Daniele family of Rochester, NY recently entered the car wash... »

As car, SUV, and truck owners increasingly customize their vehicles with wheels that are larger and more intricate than ever before, there is less tolerance for dirty rims and tires that do not match the quality of the overall... »

Rising gas prices, adverse weather, a sluggish economy — they all mean the same thing for car wash owners: lower volumes, less profit, and hard times. Compound these wash problems by factoring in high unemployment rates, an...

Every year brings new and varied security challenges to express and full-service car washes. In the past, most facilities rarely changed product offerings or processes, but in today’s market environment change seems to be a...

Price elasticity is the percentage change in quantity demanded in response to a 1 percent change in price.

Elasticity of gasoline is 0.2 short-run — 1 percent price increase leads to 0.2 percent decrease in quantity demand....

Improve your competitive advantage through your car wash equipment controller. Bring automation to your car wash with a controller that does more than just switch outputs on and off. You can deliver a better car wash, achieve...

Put me in any car wash in any city and I will increase dollar-per-car sales by 30 percent in 30 days.

Every year in April and October, during National Car Care Month, the Car Care Council organizes free vehicle checkup events at automotive service businesses across the country.

This month, let’s tackle a subject that, although tough to accept, needs to be at the forefront of every business owner’s mind — employee dishonesty. You provide a safe, secure work place for your employees and, in return, you...