When opening your own business, first of all, the question arises: how profitable is the chosen direction. This criterion is fundamental in the development of a certain market niche.

Naturally, no one can guarantee the success of the event, but you can still get an approximate picture.

Is it worth starting such a business?

A person who decides to organize his own car wash, regardless of the reasons that prompted him to do so (old dream, desire to invest, coincidence of circumstances, etc.), is definitely acting far-sighted. A car wash is a stable, sustainable and quite profitable business that absolutely anyone can start, even with no experience in entrepreneurial activity.

The high profitability is due to the fact that this type of service is used at any time of the year, although it is widely believed that the peak of attendance falls on the autumn-winter period... In summer, of course, car wash is visited less often, but everyone does. This is especially true for the owners of more expensive cars, as well as those who wish to do, for example, a comprehensive interior cleaning.

Where to begin?

Any business, and this applies not only to a car wash, should start with writing a competent business plan that will cover all aspects of business: overall strategy, marketing, initial capital, funding sources, payback, etc. It is imperative to calculate the costs expected income and profitability of the enterprise. Assess the possible prospects for the development of this commercial project. Before drawing up a business plan, you also need to study the current economic situation in the car wash market in your city.

The financial and settlement section of the business plan depends on the location of the car wash and includes the following points:

• building;
• paperwork;
• the cost of renting a land plot;
• costs of the necessary materials and technical equipment;
• repair costs;
• operation of equipment.

All of these points need to be very carefully thought out. After drawing up a business plan, you need to decide on the form of doing business. You can simply get the status of an individual entrepreneur, or you can register a legal entity (for example, LLC). The registration process is as follows:

• formation of a package of documents (application of the established form, passport, TIN, etc.);
• payment of state fees;
• handling all documents to the registering authority;
• obtaining, after a while, permits.

In addition to registering with the tax service, you must:

• obtain permission from local authorities to open a car wash;
• contact the design organization to develop a car wash project. The project must comply with the current sanitary and epidemiological, architectural, fire and environmental standards;
• obtain permission from the Committee for Architecture, Sanitary and Epidemiological Station, Fire Protection, Labor Protection and Environmental Protection Department for the provision of car wash services;
• get an act for permanent or temporary use of land. Only after receiving such a document a construction order is issued.

Assessment of competitors

The competitive environment of a firm is a set of subjects and market factors that affect the relationship between the seller and the consumer of the service. The main competitors of any organization are considered to be the most successfully functioning firms in a particular niche.

In any large settlement there is a large number of enterprises providing vehicle washing services. An important, but not the most important, role is played by the location of the sinks.

You can increase the competitiveness of your car wash only by providing high quality services using modern equipment, as well as offering reasonable prices.

To master this market segment, it is necessary to develop a competent marketing, advertising and management policy of the enterprise... The main competitors of the opening car wash will be the most successful companies on the market that provide services for the manual car wash. As for the location, it is better to open in an area where there are no large and well-established organizations.

Choosing a suitable room

The speed of cost recovery and the profitability of a commercial project directly depends on the location of the facility. As for car washes, they are best located on the sides of major city roads and along busy highways. Many car washes are located at the entrances to the settlement, as well as at border and customs posts.

However, opening near a major transport hub or junction may not be a good idea - customers will simply refuse to maneuver between an abundance of scurrying cars. As practice shows, it is most profitable to open car washes not far from gas stations, car parks and service stations.

If you don't have enough money to build your own building, you can rent a suitable premises. In addition, the paperwork procedure will be simplified (for example, there will be no need to obtain a permit for the construction of a new facility). When choosing a room for a car wash, you need to take into account that part of the area will be occupied by the storage of consumables and equipment.

Varieties of sinks

There are two types of automatic car washes: tunnel and portal... In the first case, the car is on the conveyor belt and moves relative to the washer. The portal car wash has a U-shape and three large brushes - one horizontal and two vertical. The car is stationary and the brushes move relative to it. Both the one and the other type of system allows for non-contact washing, that is, it excludes the effects of alkaline compounds and is based on the elimination of contaminants using a strong pressure of water.

Gantry car washes "fit" well into small spaces, since such a system is a single module equipped with brushes that are customizable for any type of body.

The whole process of washing is fully automated, therefore, a portal car wash has a greater throughput than a manual one.

Many car owners prefer manual car washes to automatic car washes, as they are afraid that the equipment may scratch the car body during the washing process. To prevent this from happening, it is necessary to carefully monitor the condition of the equipment and promptly replace or repair the failed unit. Automatic car wash must be equipped with a pre-wash system.

Gantry sinks have many advantages:

• do not take up much space;
• suitable for all types of machines;
• have a high productivity - up to 12 cars per hour;
• do not require large investments in training;
• effectively cope with the assigned tasks.

In addition to gantry brush sinks, there are also non-contact systems. As for tunnel car washes, their optimal size is about 35 meters in length. Smaller parameters will negatively affect the quality of the services provided. The washing process is as follows: the machine is fixed on a special conveyor belt and moves forward, bypassing all the devices on the line. Such washes are the most economical in terms of time: when the car moves forward a few meters, you can start the next car.

A good tunnel car wash is absolutely safe for the car body. In most cases, negative reviews about such a system are caused by outdated equipment and the unwillingness of service owners to maintain it in a timely manner. The consequence of such a negligent attitude can be damage to the paintwork of the car. Today, modern tunnel sinks represent a complex of new technologies, where obsolete materials are replaced by soft foam polyethylene and safe textile fabrics.

Connection to all necessary networks, required permissions

Car washes by type of structure are capital and prefabricated... Capital is an industrial building, erected on a solid concrete foundation. Engineering communications are supplied to the object: electricity, water supply, heating, drainage system. Such car washes are usually built in conjunction with a car service, tire fitting, cafes, etc.

The opening of a stationary car wash requires approval from the department of architecture and urban planning in the local administration. When developing a project, it is necessary to calculate the technical indicators of electricity and water consumption, as well as to plan a water treatment and fire safety system. To agree on the location of the sink, you need to submit:

• lease agreement or certificate of registration of ownership of land;
• certificate of registration of an individual entrepreneur or legal entity;
• tax registration certificate;
• a sketch of the sink project, which includes visualization, technical description, cost of the object, etc.

Recruitment, purchase of equipment

After solving all the bureaucratic issues, it is necessary to start forming the staff. The following requirements can be presented to future employees:

• knowledge of car washes (determined by the specifics of the facility);
• a responsibility;
• sociability and friendliness - to increase the client base.

As for the work schedule, it is ideal to plan around the clock. For a stationary car wash, you need to hire several washers (five or six) and one foreman. Higher education is not a prerequisite, so you can safely recruit students. Wages can be proportional to the amount of work performed, and to increase motivation, you can introduce material incentives for employees. The image of the car wash is favorably affected by the branded equipment of the employees with the service logo.

Advertise your business

If you want to always have eight to ten cars in front of your car wash, you need to carefully consider an advertising campaign. To keep your business alive, you need to constantly look for new ways to expand your customer base. The car wash business does not allow any kind of guesswork, so a vague marketing strategy, or lack thereof, will lead to wasted money.

Ideally, it's best to seek help from a professional ad agency. Most of the money will go towards signs, billboards, business cards and brochures. It will be useful to place advertisements on the Internet, in newspapers, on radio and television.

How to open a successful service - in the following video:

Opening cost

To calculate the cost of a car wash, you must first calculate the rental costs (this cost item depends on the location) and the cost of equipment. Equipment will require:

• high-pressure apparatus with heated water (from 120,000 rubles to 200,000 rubles);
• a high-pressure apparatus for supplying water to one workplace (from 33,000 rubles to 85,000 rubles);
• compressor (from 15,000 rubles to 18,000 rubles);
• professional washing vacuum cleaner or vacuum cleaner (from 26,000 rubles to 36,000 rubles);
• used water purification system (from 250,000 rubles to 400,000 rubles).

Most car wash owners prefer imported equipment. Most quoted are German, Italian and Danish equipment. Of the domestic equipment, the most common systems for the technical purification of used water.

From consumables you will need: car shampoos, polish and dry cleaning compounds, means for cleaning rims, engine and bumpers. All this takes about 18,000-20,000 rubles a month (provided that the car wash serves forty cars every day).

Approximate calculation of income and payback period

Four freestanding non-garage type car washes can be cited as an example. The car wash will serve 200-300 cars daily. The average check amount is about 300 rubles. The rest of the income items come from the proceeds from cafes and tire fitting. Thus, the monthly turnover of the complex will be about three million rubles.

Of the expenses, most of all will have to be spent on salaries of employees, taxes and the purchase of consumables. Large turnover does not allow the use of a simplified taxation system, which means that it will be necessary to report according to the usual system. Up to one million rubles can be spent on employees' salaries and taxes every month. It turns out that the net profit will be one or two million. The payback period for such indicators will be approximately two years... The above calculation is, of course, approximate, since the activity of the service depends on the season.