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I've made a similar thread in General Discussion about a simple mobile detailing business, but here I want to talk about actual Car Washes.
I've been entertaining the idea for about 2 weeks now and done a bit of research and I just cant decide if this is practical for someone my age (17) or a fastlane way of thinking. So here's some numbers.
There are three types of car washes
Full-service: Your car goes on a conveyer, gets sprayed, waxed, etc, and then exits the conveyer to be manually dried and polished. Usually these have in-door services like vending machines.
In-bay automatic (also called a rollover): You put in 5-10 dollars in a machine and drive into the bay while the wash "rolls over" your car, and then you drive away.
Self-service: The most common. You put in 25cents for a minute and you wash it yourself with supplied soap and water.
Now here's where I get a bit turned off by the idea.
Average startup costs per car wash:
5- bay self-serve with single in-bay automatic: $500,000 to $600,000
Full-service: $1,500,000 to $1,800,000
And here's the average you can make:
Full-service car wash: $500,000 to $900,000 per year
In-bay automatic car wash : $75,000 to $125,000 per year
Self-service car wash (assuming a four-bay, self-service facility): $55,000 to
$100,000 per year
So you can see, it takes about 4-7 years to make back what you originally invested, and after 7 years I'm sure things will be out of date and need replacing and other issues will arise.
Can someone my age actually start a project this large, or is this for possibly later in life?
I've been entertaining the idea for about 2 weeks now and done a bit of research and I just cant decide if this is practical for someone my age (17) or a fastlane way of thinking. So here's some numbers.
There are three types of car washes
Full-service: Your car goes on a conveyer, gets sprayed, waxed, etc, and then exits the conveyer to be manually dried and polished. Usually these have in-door services like vending machines.
In-bay automatic (also called a rollover): You put in 5-10 dollars in a machine and drive into the bay while the wash "rolls over" your car, and then you drive away.
Self-service: The most common. You put in 25cents for a minute and you wash it yourself with supplied soap and water.
Now here's where I get a bit turned off by the idea.
Average startup costs per car wash:
5- bay self-serve with single in-bay automatic: $500,000 to $600,000
Full-service: $1,500,000 to $1,800,000
And here's the average you can make:
Full-service car wash: $500,000 to $900,000 per year
In-bay automatic car wash : $75,000 to $125,000 per year
Self-service car wash (assuming a four-bay, self-service facility): $55,000 to
$100,000 per year
So you can see, it takes about 4-7 years to make back what you originally invested, and after 7 years I'm sure things will be out of date and need replacing and other issues will arise.
Can someone my age actually start a project this large, or is this for possibly later in life?
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