Adding a car wash to your auto dealership is an excellent way to boost the profitability and appeal of your business. For one thing, you likely see dozens of customers a day looking to purchase, trade-in, or service their vehicles at your dealership, so incorporating an automatic car wash can be an effective way to increase revenue.
In addition, people don’t always have time for the extensive detailing services offered by standalone car washes that include interior cleaning, waxing, and paint correction. By setting up an auto dealer-car wash combo, you can provide visitors with a one-stop shop where customers can quickly get their vehicles serviced, run them through a basic wash, and drive off the lot looking pristine.
If you’re considering integrating your auto dealership with a car wash business, it’s crucial to first understand the basics of how it works. Read on to learn more about running a car wash business, including several advantages this investment can bring to your dealership.
How To Integrate Car Wash Services at Auto Dealerships
Running any car wash business requires careful planning, so long before you get started, you’ll want to draft a comprehensive car wash business plan. This should outline your startup costs like wash bay construction, equipment and signage. You’ll also want to consider monthly costs like maintenance, car wash machine replacement and cleaning products. Once you’ve estimated your investment costs, you can determine the potential revenue per wash and how much additional profit it will bring to your dealership.
If you’re buying a ready-made car wash system for your dealership, you’ll need to ensure that your customer management system is updated so clients can easily add a car wash to their service appointments or purchases. Ideally, you should have several different tiers of wash options available. For example, customers could pay $10 for a basic exterior wash or $25 for premium washes that include undercarriage cleaning, tire shine, or complimentary use of vacuum stations after exiting the wash bay.
Main Benefits of Adding an Auto Dealer Car Wash
There are numerous reasons why it can be advantageous to invest in an on-site car wash. By understanding the advantages of this investment, you can proceed with confidence knowing you’re creating new value for your business. Here are some of the primary benefits of incorporating an automatic car wash with your auto dealership.
Enhance Customer Satisfaction
One of the biggest advantages of automatic washes is the added value they offer to customers. For clients too busy to visit full-service car washes or time-consuming detailing shops, a quick cycle in a dealership car wash offers a simple and appealing solution.
Increase Revenue Streams
Starting a car wash business from scratch can be a challenging and costly endeavor. However, by setting up a dealership car wash, you can capitalize on the customer base you already have to boost your monthly revenue. Furthermore, automated car washes are capable of operating around the clock, so even if your showroom is closed, you can continue to earn passive revenue after hours or on the holidays.
Meanwhile, customers who visit your dealership exclusively for your wash will be more likely to browse your inventory, schedule service appointments, or inquire about trade-ins. In this way, your car wash operation and auto dealership can work to complement one another, effectively encouraging customers to engage more deeply with your business. This extra income can then be used to bolster your working cash flow, help cover overhead, or pay for improvements to your facilities.
Improve Dealership Foot Traffic
Opening a car wash at your dealership will give people an additional reason to visit your business, increasing customer traffic each day. This higher visitor volume will contribute not only to more sales, but greater word-of-mouth advertising and improved brand awareness within the community. Given time, you can begin to attract more and more repeat customers, helping you to carve out a greater market share of local business. If there are several other dealerships or car washes in the area, increased foot traffic will allow you to maintain a competitive edge.
Increase Your Marketing and Cross-Promotion Opportunities
By offering car wash memberships or a rewards program, you can easily set up a marketing strategy that augments both sides of your business. For instance, you can offer a complimentary car wash for any customer who schedules a service appointment. Conversely, if your operation includes a parts department, you can offer a discount on accessories to customers who purchase a car wash.
Another simple idea is to create loyalty programs for customers that provide them with a free top-tier wash for every three basic washes they purchase. You can also consider combining incentives from both your car wash and dealership into a single preferred customer membership plan, giving patrons access to perks like priority service scheduling, free loaner vehicles, unlimited car washes, or rebates on vehicle purchases.
Maximize Your Dealership’s Potential Today
If you have any questions about setting up a car wash facility, don’t hesitate to contact our team for advice. We’re here to help.
Mattias – Car Wash Machines is a subsidiary of Balance Group. which is a high-tech enterprise specializing in the research and development and production of fully automatic car washing machine equipment. The company is located in Shanghai, China. The main automatic car washing machines mainly include: self service car wash machine, conveyor car wash equipment(Tunnel Car Wash Machine), fully automatic gantry car washing machines(Inbay Automatic Car Wash Machines), touchless car washing machines(Contactless Car Wash Machine), and bus truck washing machines. No need for manual duty, computer intelligent control, the car washing machine is divided into brush car wash machine and brushless car washing machine to meet different car washing needs such as gas stations and auto beauty shops.
