Tom Highland is the first forecourt operator to install the high-end Alta Pro rollover car wash for cars and light commercial vehicles, which was originally launched in a Jaguar Land Rover dealership in May.
The Adriateh equipment, supplied by sole distributor NS Services, made its debut last month at Highland’s latest site acquisition: his BP forecourt in St Ives, Cambridgeshire.
A second Alta Pro car wash followed today at his St Neots Esso petrol filling station also in Cambridgeshire: with this site benefiting from a new building to house the equipment.
The machines, which take contactless payment, are fully stainless steel to prolong the frame’s life, and have four washing options. Highland pitches the prices at £6 for bronze; £8, silver; £10, gold and £12, platinum – a trade up from two modes on his old equipment which had a price of £7 and £9.
The units use water that has been purified using a reverse osmosis process, to reduce streaking on a vehicle. “It really does give the best wash,” says Highland, who travelled to Croatia to evaluate the machines. “I don’t know if it is the chemicals, brushes or whole package, it just gives a really good finish,” he adds.
“It’s very well engineered and laid out, and in the plant room itself everything runs independently. It is all very well thought out. The European market is far ahead of the UK in terms of what is regarded as normal technology.”
On TikTok, where Highland posts as ‘The Petrol Retailer’, he says the equipment is “if not the best, and it is in my opinion the best carwash you can buy, it is definitely one of them”.
NS Services, which has orders being placed by two further forecourt operators, says that the machines have built-in anti-freeze protection, and that the “avant-garde timeless design” uses “resilient materials”. There is also LED lighting down the sides of the machines which can be set to different colours, or to alternate. Highland has put the colours on rotation.
Highland, managing director of the Highland Group which operates five forecourts, is now looking to introduce the technology at other sites. He has had only small teething issues with the first installation, such as when motorists have tried to use the rollover on cars with big spoilers, which can confuse the sensors. In its first week the St Ives rollover washed 70 vehicles, which Highland is happy with, in what was a time of bad weather when car wash business tends to reduce.
