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O Canada?<br />

Will this wash succeed?<br />

Hey everyone! I have an opportunity<br />

car wash (4 vacuums) however, I need<br />

Site fundamentals:<br />

to take over a car wash that has been<br />

closed for less than 1 year. The landlord<br />

operated it for 3 years and decided he<br />

no longer wanted to be an operator. I<br />

scouted the location and left a note to<br />

get in contact with this landlord. The<br />

plan is to sign a long-term lease (10-20<br />

years) and retool the 6 bay self-serve<br />

some guidance with how to negotiate<br />

the starting lease price. We have<br />

already agreed to an abated rent for 12<br />

months, which is awesome! The total<br />

lot size is 12,000 SQ/F and the building<br />

size is 4100 SQ/F. Do car wash leases<br />

go by $/sqf or is there another formula<br />

to determine a starting rate?<br />

• Key demographics (borderline)<br />

• Traffic count (poor)<br />

• Competition (excellent)<br />

• Site visibility (great)<br />

• Site accessibility (good)<br />

• Retail draw (good)<br />

I look forward to your input on this! -<br />

TRISTAVENDRYES<br />

Competition....excellent (meaning there aren’t other<br />

washes close by?<br />

Lease property........<br />

This would be a “no” deal! Just on the first two I<br />

would pass on it. Add that it’s a lease then for sure it’s<br />

a “no thank you.”<br />

Why did he decide he didn’t want to be an operator<br />

anymore? Maybe income wasn’t worth the work due to<br />

the factors you listed above. 12 months free rent?<br />

Sounds like a poor location. - RFREEMAN<br />

The building is perpendicular to the road, the bays are<br />

pull in/back out, and it’s not eye-catching in any way.<br />

Looks like if the customer does choose to use the place,<br />

it’s going to be a pain to use.<br />

I’d recommend passing. - DAN KAMSICKAS<br />

Competition....excellent (meaning there aren’t other<br />

washes close by????)<br />

This means little competition- nearest car wash is<br />

20-minute drive away<br />

Lease property........<br />

The demographic report does not account for the<br />

military base (thousands of people as their address is<br />

not registered to the city)<br />

Why did he decide he didn’t want to be an operator<br />

anymore? Maybe income wasn’t worth the work due to<br />

the factors you listed above. 12 months free rent?<br />

Car washes are not for everyone, he learned this<br />

quickly. I am taking it over for free, I just need some<br />

insight on how to make an offer for the monthly lease as<br />

I don’t want to overshoot it.<br />

- TRISTAVENDRYES<br />

You said there is excellent competition, what does that<br />

mean? People want convenience. What if you did get<br />

busy during a rush part of the season, how is anyone supposed<br />

to wait on a bay? Ask yourself if you would pull<br />

in and sit behind somebody waiting to pull out. Sounds<br />

like an accident waiting to happen. Listen to the advice<br />

above. Just the layout of that building is a “No” and a lease<br />

in a small town is a hard “no.” I bought my first wash in a<br />

small town and if I had a lease on it, I wouldn’t make any<br />

profit. There is a reason that place isn’t open. If it were<br />

making money, I promise the guy wouldn’t be so eager to<br />

give away 12 months of rent. How much money needs to<br />

be put back in this place ? Does any of the equipment operate?<br />

How much was this place generating 3 years ago?<br />

LOTS of questions - TRAVELER17<br />

Folks, some of the points are valid, however I would<br />

not be so negative on the opportunity. It’s like buying<br />

a house, everything is overpriced until you settle on a<br />

fair price.<br />

In this case, maybe the landlord will make the rent<br />

a small amount with an option to buy the place in the<br />

future and forgo the rent entirely until the renovations<br />

are covered. There is more than one way to look at a<br />

potential deal if the location is good. Hard to evaluate<br />

a place remotely as it takes eyeballs on the place to see<br />

the true potential or lack thereof. I recall a wash I made<br />

an offer to purchase after visiting the site for several<br />

days for a few hours to see how the place looked with<br />

customers. If one just looked at Google demographic<br />

data, you would have passed on the place because the<br />

town was under 2000 people. The wash was on a major<br />

road which changed the picture entirely. - ROZ<br />

Yes. Pull in/back out is a pain. Perpendicular to the road<br />

usually signifies a narrow lot which further complicates<br />

the traffic flow on site. I can think of 4 washes like that<br />

built around here during the boom of the 90s and everyone<br />

had multiple owners over the years that were<br />

convinced they got a sweet deal on it so they could for<br />

certain make a go of it. Everyone eventually failed and<br />

the sites were bulldozed. - DAN KAMSICKAS<br />

Don’t put yourself on the hook for 10 years. Get:<br />

A. 2-year lease with lots of options<br />

B. Right of First Refusal.<br />

C. Try to get an option to buy. - EARL WEISS<br />

There is some validity to Dan’s observations. I own a<br />

“Canadian Style” self service location. We converted the<br />

place to a self storage location as the location was not<br />

great. The benefit of that style is that wind will not blow<br />

through the bays, so they do not get as cold in the wintertime.<br />

We also have garage doors on each bay that we<br />

closed prior to a snowstorm.<br />

I would still kick the tires on the place. The real reason<br />

the place closed may be due to competition nearby.<br />

In our case an Exxon station was built that has two IBA<br />

(TF and SC) which is what people want. They get a discount<br />

on gas with a wash so most people moved away<br />

from self washing their cars. - ROZ<br />

Silver lining- If conventional operations don’t work it<br />

would be an easy site to convert to gated wash.<br />

Have one (buy used) paystation with a fixed price<br />

($10) and entry gate. Have one exit gate. Everything behind<br />

the gate is included in the entry price. The pull-inback-out<br />

bays would reduce the undesirable customers<br />

at a gated wash which are big vehicles or trailers. I’d give<br />

it a go with a short-term lease with options to extend<br />

if it worked. Could probably do this conversion with a<br />

used paystation for 15K Advantages- reduces theft concerns<br />

(all money is at the gate near the road) and simplifies<br />

money collection. Easy to run if it works. - GREG PACK<br />

Thanks for your insight. The location has a lot of traffic,<br />

and only 1 other operational self serve car wash that is<br />

20 minutes away. I don’t want to own this land and that<br />

is why I connected with the landlord of the property to<br />

negotiate a long-term lease to get the car wash business<br />

for free. He has already agreed to this and I will have the<br />

rights to the business. Good idea for the winter as this<br />

is a hurdle I will need to tackle since it is close to Ottawa-<br />

(winters are brutal). My next step is meeting with<br />

a distributor to see what would work best for the lot.<br />

We can constantly go over as to why the previous operator<br />

failed, but once someone knows what they are<br />

doing and cares about the business it will be successful.<br />

That is what I plan to do… I have a structure and strategy<br />

where I am already winning by not having to buy the<br />

business outright, not paying rent for 1 whole year to<br />

cover the costs of re-tooling the equipment.<br />

I live in Toronto and there are plenty of car washes<br />

that are EXTREMELY successful and have terrible traffic<br />

control and people will still come and use them. I am<br />

also looking for a mentor in this space so please let me<br />

know if you are willing to share any additional knowledge<br />

by connecting via email or phone. - TRISTAVENDRYES<br />

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36 • WINTER 2024<br />

WINTER 2024 • 37

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