Win2020_SSCWN_web

EXTRA!
EXTRA!
Presenting the news stories featuring
self serve car washes
7 Flags Car Wash is adding on two locations
Jack Anthony Industries, which currently operates
13 full serve, self serve and oil change, locations
throughout California, is adding on two
more 7 Flags Car Wash locations. According to
Jason Anthony, whose grandfather, John Anthony,
founded the car wash chain, “We are building two
more washes: one in Fairfield and one in Vallejo.
We hope to have them built in the next 20
months.”
Jason has been president of the family business
for eight years after previously playing on the Canadian
Golf Tour. One of the greatest parts of his
job is hearing stories about how his grandfather
influenced the car washing industry.
“Grandfather was the ultimate entrepreneur,”
Anthony said, noting how his grandfather shifted
the family’s fortunes from the grocer business,
the Tennessee Market in Vallejo, over to the car
wash business, according to the Daily Republic.
Eleven of the car washes are in Solano County:
two self-service in Vallejo; a self-service in Benicia;
two self-serve, a full-service and an express
exterior-only station in Vacaville; and the 7 Flags
in Fairfield. The company also operates a car wash
in Martinez and one in Citrus Heights.
The story states that Jason’s younger brother,
Kyle, is also involved in the business, as is his
mother, Cathleen, who serves as chief financial
officer. His uncle Mark, who is getting ready to
retire, has been on the maintenance side of the
business. His grandmother was still involved until
she was 90, when she finally retired about three
years ago.
Jason added that their general manager has
been with the company for 31 years and the firm
has had a number of managers who have been
with the company 10 or more years.
“We treat our employees like they are part of
the family, and we treat our customers like family,”
Anthony said in the story.
Michigan self serve
gets an update
The Soapy Bucket Car Wash in Howell, Michigan
is getting a makeover, according to The Livingston
Daily. The story said the owners, “have
embraced technology and upgraded their car
wash to accommodate more customers.” The
car wash just offered self serve bays before the
remodeling which took over a year. The re-opening
of the wash took place in January.
Co-owners Russ and Monique Springborn, of
Howell, said the biggest changes are technological
in nature, according to the story.
“One bay is fully-automated,” owner Russ
Springborn said. “You can program it on how it
washes your car and it has a new dryer system.
When you pull in, you don’t need an attendant.
This does all of that automated. There’s no tipping
required.”
The four self serve bays have been upgraded
with more offerings, including triple foam cleaner
and spot free rinse. The wash now also accepts
credit cards.
Springborn said a new app is another way he
and his wife are embracing technology.
New car wash water usage tax has one owner scratching his head
State Sen. Gary Stubblefield, R-Branch, called
a House and Senate City, County and Local Affairs
committee meeting in early January after a
car wash owner called him about “the new tax on
water usage in car washes,” the Arkansas Democrat
Gazette reported.
Legislative changes approved earlier this year regarding
the taxation of some types of car washes
now have lawmakers questioning the decision.
“The changes were tucked into a state law with
other tax provisions, including some that drew
more attention -- sales and use taxes collected by
out-of-state online sellers from in-state purchasers
and cuts in the state’s top corporate income tax
rate,” the story said.
“There is a situation where some of these car
wash owners had other businesses such as a [public
laundry] or a convenience store hooked up
with the same meter,” Stubblefield said.
“In my opinion, there is no way to accurately
determine or estimate the water usage in these car
washes when you have that type of situation, other
than putting in a separate meter.”
Wade Dunn, who owns the Eastside convenience
store, laundry, deli and car wash in Glenwood,
Arkansas, and the Charleston Superstop gas
station and convenience store in Charleston, said
there was some confusion about it because it was
tied to the internet sales tax.
Act 822 changed the taxation of car washes
as “a tax fairness issue for some members of the
[Legislature’s tax overhaul] task force,” noted Paul
Gehring, an assistant revenue commissioner for
the state, in the story. “You had a certain type of
car wash that wasn’t subject to the sales tax and
another was,” he said.
Gehring said Act 822 imposed monthly water
usage fees on tunnel and automatic car washes, but
not self-service bays.
Dunn said on November 21 he heard from the
state Department of Finance and Administration
that recommended he have one water meter for
the automatic car wash, and a separate meter for
the rest of his business.
But Dunn said that isn’t really viable.
“Inside the car wash, you have a water softener,
[and] in that water softener, they are sending water
over here to the manual bay and sending water
over here to the automatic bay. You also have a
reverse osmosis system that is sending water over
here to the automatic bay and sending water over
to the manual bay, so it is not simply putting a
water meter on one pipe, a $200 water meter on a
pipe,” Dunn said in the story.
Dunn said he hasn’t paid the fees, but would
gladly do so, if someone would tell him what to
pay.
Finance department officials estimated that the
state would collect about $1.5 million a year in
water usage fees from car wash tunnels and automatic
car washes, Gehring said in the story.
Gehring added that car wash operators have
submitted about 86 reports for one month of water
usage and about $49,000 was collected from
the fee in November.
Stubblefield said he plans to propose legislation
changing the taxation of car washes in the 2021
regular legislative session.
52 • WINTER 2020