Car wash closes. “It just wasn’t worth it anymore”
Acquisitions, new car washes, mergers. Sometimes it seems there is nothing but good news coming from the car wash business. Which of course is beside the truth. A good example comes from Germany, where Autohandel März recently decided to close its carwash. It was making less money every year.
The car wash in Autohandel März in Burgthann near Nuremberg will cease its activities at the end of February. “The car wash was too old and a conversion would have cost too much” says Managing Director Andreas März. “We saw less and less customers coming by.”
Staff issues
März bought the gantry car wash in 2013 and replaced it in 2015 with a used WashTec system that was in very good condition. “The customers loved the new system back then!” says März.
He used to operate the car wash with a manual pre-wash and customers liked the personal welcome and service. “This then became uneconomical because the staff became simply too expensive and was difficult to find.” In the end, the car wash only accounted for about 5% of the total revenue.
Perhaps even more important, Autohandel März seems to have done little in terms of marketing. The car wash was running mostly on regular customers, who were sometimes of ‘a certain age’. That particular group simply stopped coming over time
Without any major advertising, no new customers found the car wash at the entrance to the industrial estate along Bundesstraße 8.
No recycling
März reported that the car wash was so old that it was still operated with fresh water. “Back then, when the facility was built, water treatment was simply not state of the art.”
If the company had wanted to invest in its car wash it would have started from scratch again. Which ment to retrofit a water treatment system, which would have led to high costs.
“In the end, an ecological conscience also contributed to this decision, even if only to a small extent. Using fresh water for a one time wash and letting it run away is no longer in keeping with the times.”
The current business decision does not mean a final exit from the industry. März could imagine re-entering the car wash business at another location. “But for the time being, we will stop.”
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