Motorists are starting to pay a higher price for premium car washes as forecourts invest in apps and other features to improve customer experience.
In fact, in the southeast of England, a charge of £15 is now acceptable to drivers, according to Ryan Lenihan, sales and marketing director of Wash Tec.
Lenihan told the ‘Profits for the future’ panel at Forecourt Trader’s Summit last week that the UK’s car wash market still has some catching up to do on Germany, where a session can cost €45 (£39) and Norway, where 90% of customers will sign up to a car wash app.
However, in the likes of Germany and Norway, environmental regulations restrict home washing of vehicles to prevent chemical run off into water sources.
Lenihan said the industry in the UK was closing the gap with some of its European neighbours with prices edging upwards and “a top wash at £14.99 becoming quite normal, certainly in the southeast for rollovers”.
He explained: “There’s no question that if you give a good customer experience, whether it’s an app, or loyalty [programme], a subscription, or a new asset, it will follow that price points can increase.”
With the number of hand car washes declining in the UK from a peak of 14,000 to around 4,500 now, Lenihan’s fellow panelists agreed that it is a good time to invest in valeting.
Forecourt operator Johnny Srikrishna explained how a £300,000 three-bay jet wash hub he has installed at his Shell site in Earley, near Reading has been attracting young car enthusiasts, who share their cleaning experience on social media.
Srikrishna told the audience that despite initial scepticism, he has set up a social media account to establish a car wash enthusiast community. He talked about how he has been engaging with a couple of TikTokers who have filmed at his car spa and shared their posts.
“Every time they clean their car, they send a photo. I’m like, okay, and I share it. Their other friends like it,” said Srikrishna.
Lenihan said that operators can tap into an engaged online community by using car wash apps to send push notifications, when car washing sites typically have low wash counts at specific times, encouraging customers with 20% off deals. “You can then integrate your offers in your store, whether it’s coffee or retail, through the car wash app,” he said.
Tony Jackson, chief commercial officer at Penny on the Move, said that the Top 50 Indie was among many in the industry which had identified valeting as an opportunity, operating 120 jet washers and 22 rollovers, with some form of valeting at most of its100 forecourts.
The business has a standalone direct managed car wash centre at Blackpool with a 20m conveyor. a couple of jet washes and air and vac mahcines, but does not offer fuel. A second standalone valeting hub will follow on a site acquired in Gateshead.
“I think it’s really important to point out that the job itself is not easy,” said Jackson about the Blackpool site. “It’s tough work when you have British weather conditions, especially in the north. And it is not cheap. It is a significant capital investment.
“The biggest thing we have learned is that it is a single point of failure. On a forecourt, if a pump goes down you still have others that are working and you can still sell something else. With a car wash stie it is absolutely key that the machine is functioning at all times. And so it is important that you have got key partners, and serious service agreements because you can’t afford for the equipment not to be working on a standalone site.”
Recognising that investment in valeting can be costly, Lenihan pointed out that “return on the investment can equally be as high”, when purchasing quality equipment and chemicals.
He concluded: “Wash quality is hugely important and will be for people to drive that price point up to where it becomes essentially a very, very positive revenue stream for the future. Wash quality needs to be front and centre of that, as well as the customer experience around the digitalisation piece as well.”
