Refresh, Renew, and ROI

In addition to the “curb appeal” improvements, the family invested nearly $500,000 in systems and equipment upgrades they felt would move the needle on the wash’s revenue- and profit-generating potential, including:

• New dryers, resulting in drier cars exiting the tunnel and reducing the time Detail Busterz’s hand-drying team spends per car. New power locks on the blowers reduce the wash’s peak power usage, resulting in lower electricity consumption per car, and also make for a quieter tunnel.
• New chemical board and chemical line, replacing powdered chemicals and aging chemical dispensers, resulting in reduced chemical waste and chemical cost per car as well as a higher-quality wash for customers.
• Revamping the vacuum system for exterior-only customers, who previously complained about poor suction but now compliment the owners on vacs that “literally suck the mat right out of the car,” Bhathal says.
• New wiring in the tunnel to facilitate future equipment or lighting additions and changing out “everything that touches the car,” from the foam brushes to applicator tips and rain bars to nozzle tips. A bug prep station was also added at the tunnel entrance.
• New tunnel “jackpots” that display the customer’s selected wash package and new tunnel lighting for entertainment value. A projector to beam Detail Busterz’s logo onto cars as soap is applied was also on order.

The June refresh also included adding two digital screens at the pay station that continuously scroll through available wash options and also include marketing messages to promote memberships and other deals. All in all, the roughly $650,000 investment in the wash appears to be paying dividends.

“When we looked at this wash, we looked at where can we spend money, where can we take money that’s being overspent here and move it to somewhere else, and apply it across the board and nowhere at any point do we want to cut corners,” Bhathal asserts. “We said we’ll put money in to make more money, but we’ve got to see a return on investment on it also.”

Pull out all the stops

Established operators know when more than half-measures are needed to turn around an aging site. That’s when a full-scale “refresh and renew” project, like the one Autobell completed in 2025 at its Monroe, North Carolina, wash, becomes the answer to sagging performance.

When Autobell acquired “No. 8” 45 years ago — the eighth in Autobell’s fleet of flex-serves — the wash was already several years old, and Monroe was a sleepy rural community near Charlotte. But growth since then has brought new competitors whose impact on business factored into the decision to do a full-scale renovation, according to Carl Howard, Autobell’s president and COO.

With 91 locations and roots dating to 1969, Autobell performs a regular review to identify candidates for major overhauls, and No. 8 was an obvious choice.

“We knew we had to replace the roof, there was some extensive work involved with that, and so we thought while we’re doing that, we might as well go ahead and refresh the whole building,” Howard adds. “It’s really a new car wash at this point.”

The $1 million makeover included installing a new tunnel equipment package, refurbishing the exterior and replacing the roof, adding free vacuums for exterior-only customers, pouring new concrete, resurfacing the asphalt parking lot and adding new signage.

The refresh boosted volume and revenue 20% within the first year, and the company expects long-term gains of 30-40% due to the fresh new look and enhanced customer experience.

“We’re clearly taking back market share from our competitors,” notes Howard.

Howard estimates the Monroe investment will pay for itself in about three years, a bargain compared to the $4 million price tag for a typical greenfield project.

Autobell, which averages two to three large refreshes annually, completed a $560,000 refresh and renew of its Waynesville, North Carolina, wash in August. Between projects, the company reduces downtime and extends the life of equipment by committing 4-5% of revenue a year to its repair and maintenance budget.

Surge in refresh?

Some industry insiders say the high construction costs and lack of prime locations for new builds are spurring established operators to look at refresh options — good, better and best — in a bid to squeeze more revenue from their existing sites.

At Modernwash, founder and CEO Tim Hogue says his company’s business of designing car washes has evolved in the past few years. Today, remodels of existing sites, including facelifts involving an investment as low as $150,000-$200,000 to update tired-looking washes, now account for 20% of the company’s work.

“I’m getting a lot more of those phone calls than we ever did before,” Hogue explains. “I think we’re going to see that remodeling or refurbishing aspect of the business continue to grow, but right now it’s about double from what it used to be just a few years ago.”

"You're seeing operators do it but just not enough." -NICK SPALLONE

Merritt from NCS, which worked with the Bhathal family on its refresh, agrees.

“I’ve done quite a few refreshes recently, and I’ve really started to focus on and learn that side of the business (as opposed to equipping newly built washes),” Merritt says. “That’s where the industry’s going in my opinion.”

Royal Rinse’s Head is also seeing more refreshes at both self-serves and tunnel washes during his travels to oversee the business, but many are what he terms “forced refreshes” as new investors take over washes that have been neglected, or, in the extreme, handed back to lenders. That’s the case with a combination express tunnel and six-bay self-serve location in Charleston, South Carolina, that Head’s investment group bought at auction in June with $500,000-$550,000 budgeted for a full refresh and renew before reopening as Royal Rinse in September.

Nick Spallone, CEO of Car Wash Pro Designers, has seen a handful of operators that “don’t have the money to pump into a whole refresh and renew” express interest in modifying their tunnels — for under $100,000 — to accommodate a hybrid friction/touchless system and tap a growing customer segment.

But existing operators that actually have an appetite for reinvesting in their washes currently account for about 1-2% of the company’s business, leaving Spallone skeptical that a refresh surge is afoot. Most wait too long, until business has declined and selling out to the newcomer becomes the best option.

“You’re seeing operators do it but just not enough,” Spallone concludes. “It’s a small group of people right now. There are a lot of people that need it, but a small amount are actually pulling the trigger.”