Avoid These Common Car Wash Business Mistakes: 7 Essential Tips for Beginners
Globally, the car wash business has seen significant growth over the last decade, and is expected to experience steady growth for the foreseeable future. It is a good time to enter the market, and if you have decided to do so, you will have the opportunity to witness considerable revenue and growth over time. However, many new entrants to this business overlook or underestimate the importance of certain basic factors required to run a car wash successfully and end up making mistakes that could cost them dearly.
In this blog, we will cover the seven most common mistakes made by new car wash entrepreneurs and share tips on how to avoid these pitfalls.
Inadequate Market Research
Like any other business, undertaking a thorough market research is non-negotiable if you want to run a successful car wash service. The car wash business is a highly localized operation, and needs a detailed understanding of the local community that you wish to serve. Here are some things to keep in mind:
1. Target audience: Understanding who your customer is, what they do and how much they earn, what age group they fall under, how many vehicles they own, how often they need their cars washed, and what kind of service are they expecting from you are some of the parameters that need to be studied.
2. Existing competition: Studying your competition and understanding the reasons for their success, or lack of it, can provide invaluable information into what you need to do to get an edge over them. You can also gain insights into pricing trends, customer type, turnaround time per vehicle serviced, and the type of car wash technology and equipment used.
3. Market trends: Studying the market trends will help you to anticipate changes in consumer preferences and demand for newer technology such as high intelligent automatic car wash systems, allowing you to adapt your marketing strategy accordingly.
Poor Site Selection
This is one of the fundamental mistakes that eager new car wash entrepreneurs make and it can lead to disastrous results. Here are a few things to keep in mind while selecting the ideal location for your car wash:
1. Traffic density: Your car wash should be located as close as possible to the route most of your potential customers take on their way to work. Car owners are busy and don’t want to go out of their way to access a car wash.
2. Accessibility: Make sure that your car wash is easily visible to drivers and have comfortable access to your site. There should be ample space for multiple cars to park and manoeuvre round your premises without having to do acrobatics.
3. Regulatory compliances: Make sure that you have all the correct zoning permits, and are compliant with environmental, safety and other regulations. Failure to do so can result in heavy fines or even cancellation of your operating license.
4. Future plans: Ensure that the site selected by you can accommodate future expansion plans for adding more car wash systems.
Underestimating Costs
Starting a car wash business requires extensive financial planning. In addition to costs involved in land acquisition, licenses, and infrastructure development, you also need to budget for automatic car wash equipment, especially if you plan to go for high intelligent automatic car wash systems.
In addition, you need to evaluate the costs involved in hiring staff and paying salaries, insurance, marketing, and establishing a contingency fund for unforeseen circumstances. It will take a long time before you make profit from your business, so ensure that you have sufficient working capital to cover all expenses.
Taking a financial loan with achievable repayment terms would be a good idea. Financial requirements are never static, so keep evaluating your needs periodically.
Lack of Marketing Strategy
Do not be lazy or negligent about promoting your business. Even if you have sufficient business, you need to constantly create an awareness and buzz around your services. Your brand should be instantly identifiable and memorable for your potential customers. Returning customers are a big part of your business, so you need to build loyalty and trust in your services for your existing customers. Pursue omnichannel marketing through both print and digital media. Offer loyalty programs, special discounts, free value-added services, and any other incentive to retain customers.
Neglecting Customer Experience
This is a crucial differentiator in the highly competitive car wash business. When all things remain equal, the personal touch is what makes the difference. Failing to do so can result in negative feedback, leading to loss of business. For the duration of the service your customers should be made welcome and special. Have comfortable waiting areas with ambient lighting, make sure your customer executives are friendly and helpful, offer refreshments, and access to public convenience facilities. Follow up services with feedback forms and reminders for next servicing. Make sure your customer care personnel resolve queries and problems quickly and respectfully.
Ignoring Environmental Regulations
The car wash business can have serious detrimental implications for the environment, particularly due to excessive usage of water, chemical runoff resulting in groundwater pollution, and poor waste water management. As a responsible car wash business owner, you need to strictly comply with environmental regulations. Failing to do so can result in both loss of business and reputation. Invest in green technologies such as energy-efficient automatic car wash equipment, and water treatment and recycling systems, use eco-friendly detergents, and train your staff to follow eco-friendly practices.
Overlooking Proper Maintenance and Upkeep
Ignoring the proper maintenance of your automatic machine wash system equipment and facilities can have a negative long-term impact on your business. When you are investing in high-tech equipment, you need to ensure that they are in top condition. This will maintain the efficiency of your services and contribute to continued customer satisfaction. Carry out regular inspection of your equipment and facilities. Sign annual maintenance contracts (AMC) with your equipment manufacturer or distributor, which will ensure that you have access to the best expertise and original replacement parts for your touchless car wash machine system.
Conclusion
Starting a car wash business can be an exciting and rewarding experience. However, avoid making common mistakes that many new entrants to the industry fall prey to. In this blog, we have outlined areas where you can come up short and provided guidelines on how to avoid them.
About SAB TECH
SAB TECH is a leading manufacturer and distributor of the high-quality and low price automatic car wash system. They are committed to innovating new and improved automatic car wash machine for Saudi Arabia car wash businesses. They also offer extensive support and guidance for new car wash owners. Get in touch with them to learn more about how you can make your automatic car wash business successful.
