Car Wash For Sale - Building vs. Buying 11 Steps to making the best decision By Anthony Analetto Chief Operating Officer - SONNY'S The Car Wash Factory WATCH NOW - Evaluating Locations

The first part of the process is deciding what type of car wash you want to operate. Many factors will contribute to your decision. Are you interested in the profit potential of a full serve? Does the elimination of labor with an express exterior seem attractive? Have you weighed the pros and cons associated with a flex serve location? Which one do you think matches your preferences and provides a competitive advantage in the market you're evaluating?

Regardless, the typical car wash buying process is a calculated procedure. The goal is to investigate before you invest. To help you decide on the right type of wash for you, be sure to order SONNY'S Car Wash Investor seminar series CD. This first video in a 10 part series interviews real operators discussing how they decided between building a Flex, Full, or Express Exterior wash.

Step1
Research what type of wash you want to operate. Visit as many washes as you can to see what you like as far as layout, equipment, functionality. You can call SONNY'S to help coordinate meetings at successful car washes across the country. Also, be sure to check out www.SonnysDirect.com for video case studies and other materials covering all wash types.

Step 2
Research all car washes located in the market you are considering. Search online. Check the magazines. Look at any and all car washes for sale. Also look in the back of all of the industry trade journals (listed in this guide) for car wash brokers. Map out every competitor and car wash for sale in at least a 5 mile radius. Mark down their wash type, pricing, services, and any strong features. Next, visit the local city hall and check all permits in process – verify if anybody else about to open a wash in your selected market.

Step 3
Some markets are saturated with car washes with many up for sale. Other markets are booming and present an excellent ground floor opportunity. Before considering the construction of a new wash, carefully consider any existing washes for sale in the market you are evaluating. At the end of this article will find a quick EBITA based guide to approximate the value of a car wash. If there are not enough car washes in your market and no good values to purchase – consider building a new site.

Step 4
If you have decided to build a new wash go to your municipality's planning and zoning department. They usually will have a zoning map that tells what areas meet the requirements for a car wash. Enlist a real-estate broker that understands commercial real-estate to identify every potential site in the market you are considering.

Step 5
Once you have several potential sites, the evaluation process begins. The goal is to measure all known variables to select the most viable location. A good place to start is traffic count. The old rule of thumb was to look for a two way car count between 25 and 45 thousand cars per day. Expected conversion rate varies based on market conditions, car wash type, and competition. For planning you can estimate between .075 to 3.0%. Contact your SONNY'S sales representative who can prepare a pro-forma evaluation of a proposed lot.

Step 6
Before valuating a location you must know the demographic characteristics surrounding it. When doing this don't forget to also consider daytime population. A large population of people employed in an area can dramatically effect your hours of operation, pricing, and required speed of service. You can hire consultants for this service or use online resources.

Step 7
Evaluate Property Flow and visibility. When looking at land pay special attention to the ingress and egress from the street. What is the distance to nearest traffic light? Can you exit in both directions? Can you enter from both sides? If not is there a median cut with legal U-Turn? Make sure there are no set backs that will put your building out of view or behind bigger structures. Check on all sign restrictions. Ultimately you must guarantee that either the building or signage (ideally both) will be seen by passing cars.

Step 8
Check all impact fees. Research any potential or costly surprises the land may present. Verify water retention requirements that may present costly solutions to address. Review all impact fees. If it costs 500,000 for a two inch water tap you have to review options and evaluate their cost. You may decide to abandon a municipality based on impact fees. The point is to do your research before you make a purchase.

Step 9
Speculate the economic future of the market. You can use demographic tools to aid your assessment but there is no perfect crystal ball. Check all retail anchors, who are there, who are coming, and who are leaving. Gauge if the market is growing, improving, or degrading. Visit the site at different times. What are the car counts for weekdays and weekends during all hours? Is it too congested? What is the best angle of visibility? Many of these factors will influence everything from your decision to buy a property, to where you locate your building and signs.

Step 10
Get preliminary town approval. Once you are confident that a piece of land is an ideal site for a profitable car wash, negotiate a price. Contact SONNY'S. Send us the site plan with notes on abutting properties. SONNY'S car wash design department will work with you to create the ideal full serve, flex serve, or express exterior layout for the land. You will receive a complete site plan you can use for preliminary site approval with the municipality. Do not take risks. Only after your have preliminary approval do you want to continue the purchase process of the property.

Step 11
Build your car wash. At SONNY'S we work to make car washing easy. Give us a call; an experienced car wash operator will guide you through making the right equipment and layout decisions. We can provide helpful suggestions on hiring a contractor and architect. SONNY'S will work with you and your contractors every step of the way to guarantee you have the right wash for your climate and market at the right price.

Anthony Analetto has over 26 years experience in the car wash business and is the President of SONNY'S The Car Wash Factory's Equipment Division. Before coming to SONNY'S Anthony was the director of operations for a 74 location national car wash chain. Anthony can be reached at 800-327-8723 x 104 or at aanaletto@sonnysdirect.com