- Joined
- Jun 20, 2011
- Messages
- 99
Rep Bank
$270
$270
User Power: 20%
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can see, it takes about 4-7 years to make back what you originally invested, and after 7 years I'm sure things will be out of date and need replacing and other issues will arise.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?
Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member:
Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)
Access Restricted: Unlock 1,000,000+ Posts
Stop Peeking Through the Keyhole.
Open the Door.
You hit a wall because the best advice isn't free—it's earned. Since 2007, MJ DeMarco has been active here daily (99.9% active rate), building a war room for entrepreneurs who refuse to settle for mediocrity.
- Active Daily: Life-changing content posted dozens of times every day. No dead threads.
- MJ's Inner Circle: Direct access to the author of The Millionaire Fastlane.
- Vetted Network: Connect with founders scaling to 7 and 8 figures.
- Proven Roadmaps: Strategy over motivation. Execution over "hustle porn."
"SCALED TO 6-FIGURE MONTHS"
"Tips and advice here saved me from huge mistakes, others allowed me to scale my business to 6-figure months."— User MitchC
"INSANE QUALITY OF PEOPLE"
"The number of high quality people I've met from this forum has been insane. All of it predicated on building real value."— User Richard Peck
"You are the average of the five people you surround yourself with."
Are you surrounding yourself with success?
