Summer 2014 PDF

VOL. 40, NO.
3, SUMMER 2014
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2 JULY 2014
CONTENTS
Carrs Corner ..............................3
Letters to the Editor ..................7
Interview w/
Gary Dennis...............................14
Southern Hospitality
on Parade ....................................19
Carrs
Corner
LETTER FROM
THE EDITOR
Knock, Knock!
Its OSHA......................................32
Industry Dirt..............................38
Innovations.................................46
Tricks of the Trade ..................54
Spraywatch .................................59
Talkin Coins in
Des Moines ................................82
Darwin at the Carwash..........92
Crossword ...................................94
VOL. 40, NO. 3, SUMMER 2014
Publisher Jackson Vahaly

Editor Kate Carr
Design Katy Barret-Alley
Editor Emeritus Jarret J. Jakubowski
Editor Emeritus Joseph J. Campbell
Editor Posthumous Julia E. Campbell
Self Serve Carwash News is published 4
times per year and is independently owned by
Jackson Vahaly. Web address is www.sscwn.com.
All inquiries should be directed to:
SSCWN
110 Childs Ln., Franklin, TN 37067
jacksonv@sscwn.com
Copyright 2014.
2 Dollar Enterprises/SSCWN. All Rights Reserved
Second only to, Theres actually a magazine for carwash

owners!? the question I am asked most often about my
work is whether I enjoy doing it from a home ofce.
Its a fair question, but one that usually unveils
more about the inquiring mind than my own. I
can assume what sort of answer theyre expecting
based on how theyve worded the question:
Gosh, working from home. How do you manage
to get it all done!?
Wow! Working from home! What a gig! How do
you tear yourself away from the reality TV?!
Working from home with two toddlers?! You
must own stock in Folgers. Or Zoloft. Or a winery.
I have been working from home since 2008.
Most people assume its because Im also
a stay-at-home-mom, which is true of my
situation today, but my move to the officein-my-bedroom-closet was actually triggered by my husbands service in the
U.S. Navy and an impending move
to San Diego, far away from the
Latham, NY-headquarters of my
then employer, Professional Carwashing & Detailing.
In those days, the biggest hurdles to my productivity were
the three-hour time difference
and the perfect weather. And
by perfect weather I mean:
Seriously. Perfect. Weather. I
would wake up at 7 a.m. to
read the emails that had been
steadily streaming in for a few hours
now and then dash to the window to shut the
blinds before I caught sight of the sunlight softly
hitting the palm trees in my yard. Putting together
the days e-News report was a serious exercise in
ignoring the reality of the beautiful paradise outside my front door. Each day, I valiantly struggled
on, rewarding myself with a walk to the beach

when the work day concluded promptly at 3 p.m.
and reminding myself as I lathered on the sunblock that some poor schmucks were still stuck
in their offices. Yes, I thought back then, working
from home is the life for me.
Six years later, my hurdles have become mountains that I endeavor to climb each day. Carter
and Sadie have yet to see a San Diego sunrise, but
theyve ensured I see as many of the Virginia Beach
sunrises from our front window as possible. At first
The usual suspects embark
on their getaway.
this was a welcome opportunity for me to begin my own work day as early as possible, but now that theyve long abandoned
the habit of a morning nap I find it only means I can
more fully appreciate just how much Im not able
to do in a day. It also gives them that many more
{continued}
JULY 2014
Carrs Corner
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
hours to plan and carry out their daily hijinks.

For instance, yesterday Sadie decided the whiteboard I use for work was the perfect
canvas for the Magic Marker she
found hiding at the top of a four-unithigh filing cabinet.
I know what youre thinking: Be
grateful she didnt use the marker on
herself! Why, when my kids were that
age, they would have colored their
entire bodies!
Well, dear reader, let me finish.
After my little darling had finished
completely marking out the phone
numbers for interview subjects on
my white board, she turned her attention to my paperwork. My desk.
My dresser. My husbands paycheck.
The one decent pair of shoes I own.
And then, finally, her legs and feet.
What can I say, she is an overachiever in every
way imaginable.
Meanwhile, her brother had decided to make a
nest for our cat. I dont exactly know what prompted him to start on this endeavor, but I blame PBS
Kids. I wonder if you know what the proper material is for making a cat nest? Do you? I didnt. If
pressed, I would have guessed some bath towels, a
cardboard box or maybe some of the brightly colored construction paper I keep in their fully-stocked
craft drawer for just such occasions.
But I was wrong. (As Carter likes to point out, I
usually am when it comes to fun craft ideas.)
The best material for making a cat nest is back
issues of Self Serve Carwash News! Silly me! One
simply rips up the issue to shreds, then arranges
the scraps of paper strips into a nice, cat-like shape.
Then, one takes the cat by the tail and drags it to its
new, inviting resting spot, encouraging the kitty by
yelling, LAY! HERE! NOW! WILLICAT!
I guess what Im trying to say is: Thank you for
your patience as I work on extending my own. The
past two months have been the most challenging
of my work-from-home career and I apologize if it
Keep
coming!
Not as enticing as one

might have hoped.
This photo was actually taken after we had cleaned up

the aforementioned mess with much scrubbing and elbow
grease. Sadie then found the dry erase markers I keep in the
cup on the desk and attempted to recreate her artwork.
took me a few days to return your e-mail or if you

had to endure my toddler screaming in the background of our phone conversation. I am so very
lucky to be working for SSCWN because so many
of our readers are familiar with the challenges of
working from home. You have juggled carwash
ownership with a career, or parenting, or other
entrepreneurial projects. And you have given me
much sound advice and camaraderie. (Its not all
uphill, after all. A glass of wine is much more acceptable on a home-office desk than in a cubicle.
No wonder I sign every e-mail with a Cheers! )
And speaking of Cheers -- heres one shouted

out to Jimmy Branch and his family, who recently
celebrated 60 years of carwashing and remind me
that the business of raising children is absolutely
paramount to our individual success. Jimmy posted
this picture of opening day at Speedy Car Wash,
May of 1954, to his businesss Facebook page and
noted the milestone includes over 3,000,000 washes! Happy washing, Jimmy!
Cheers,
Kate
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4 JULY 2014
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LETTERS
Kate, The recent announcement that the ICA
will be hosting a show in Europe has created a lot
of discussion among members and non-members
alike. Discussions ranging from the obvious such
as: Why are we going over there? Who is paying
for all of this? Does this mean less emphasis on
the American market? To more in-depth discussions such as: Who voted on this? What direction
is the ICA heading? How does this benefit the
industry as a whole?
As many of you know the ICA is governed by
a board comprised of 16 members. There is a
mix of operator members (from various industry segments) as well as supplier members. The
day-to-day operations and trade show planning
are handled by staff. The current board members
and staff are, without a doubt, some of the finest
professionals in the industry and are truly committed to the carwash industry.
So, how in the world was a vote to invest and
expand into Europe unanimous?
Thats right. All 16 members voted for the expansion. Imagine: Put 16 leaders with type A personality in a room and get them to all agree on
something. Surprising.
Were other factors involved in the decision?
For years the ICA has struggled to increase
both the membership and show attendee numbers. Potential new members (as well as members
who decide to not renew their membership) often state that their decision was based on simple
benefit analysis... Whats in it for me? While not
the desired response the industry hopes for, it is
a valid concern. One former member shared that
he was shocked to learn that an education session he wanted to attend required an additional payment for an All Access Pass. He felt the
ICA let him down by not providing sessions (for
Reader Input & Feedback
free) that might actually benefit his business and

in turn benefit the Industry. In response to low
membership numbers, it appears the ICA has
shifted to catering to more of an Elite member.
Typically, the ideal member is an owner with
multiple sites or is an owner in a certain segment
of the industry with a larger operating budget.
These Elite members are more likely to sign up
for more extras at the shows which in turn creates
more revenue. This same philosophy is applied to
the show attendee numbers. The standard ICA
rhetoric after attendee numbers are released at
the close of shows is: Who cares about the overall
numbers? It is more important to have the elite
decision makers. This emphasis obviously needs
to change.
The burden currently placed on the suppliers,
in terms of both monetary and time requirements, has reached a tipping point. The bare
booth space rental increased an average of 12%
for next years show in Vegas. Many exhibitor insiders anticipate a total cost increase of over 20%
once the decorator services (carpet rental, electrical fees, badge scanners, drayage and shipping)
are announced. This is in addition to the extra
cost Marketing Opportunities offered at every
show. These increases have a detrimental effect
on the industry as a whole. The suppliers have no
choice but to raise prices or cut spending. Some
companies will cut budgets for R&D and customer service to cover these increases. The exorbitant
cost of trade shows forces companies to focus
more on sales, to justify the investment, and less
time on actually educating the carwash operator.
Many exhibitors feel they are in a self-defeating
cycle due to the costs associated with the numerous trade shows.
Perhaps part of the reasoning by the entire
Kate, I own a small carwash and receive your

publication.
Ive been told that 20% or more of the water
used in a self-serve, hand carwash does not go
down the sanitary sewer, but rather leaves on
the vehicle, dissipates in the air, or evaporates
from the bay. Do you have any studies or supporting articles backing this assumption?
Your assistance would be appreciated.
Rich Bennett
for our Summer issue (the one youre holding

in your hands right now) and I had nearly forgot about this report until your e-mail came
in. I will be featuring a summary of the results
for our readers benefits in that issue, as well as
ideas for how we might be able to conduct a
newer study which would further investigate
the advancements in the industry and in water
reclaim technology.
Cheers, Kate
Rich, The number youre quoting comes from

a 2002 study conducted by the International
Carwash Association, Water Use in the Professional Car Wash Industry. The results can be
found on the Associations website, www.carwash.org, by selecting For Operators, from the
drop-down menu, then Operate, then Research. The full report includes plenty of detail
on water use, as well as the study methodology
and comparisons to conveyor and IBA washes.
Im hoping youll find this helpful. Your letter has helped me immensely -- Im writing an
article about water use and self serve washes
Kate, This appears to be precisely what I

need.
My carwash is in a small municipality that
has serious issues with its waste-water treatment; therefore, charges an excessive amount
for that treatment. I was told that they may
possibly reduce that portion of charges if I
could provide them with corresponding data.
Ill run this study up the flagpole and see if
they salute.
Ill let you know how it goes, in the mean
time, Thanks. Rich
board for an international expansion is to increase

revenues. Remember, this move is being called an
investment. Hopefully, the outcome will be a nice
fat ROI and an increased awareness internationally of the industry. Obviously, if this was a factor, a
more transparent board would have calmed some
of the uproar by communicating the decision to
members earlier in the process. Is the ICA more
concerned with an Industry Expansion policy
than it is with the members? Perhaps.
There are rumblings about creating a new association. One that is more open to all industry
segments that is more member driven as a Trade
Association. Perhaps even a rotating partnership
with regional associations for a yearly national
conference and equipment show. A truly cost effective and beneficial conference for both attendees and exhibitors. Board members would come
from each of the regional associations to better
reflect the actual membership. Interesting idea. Is
it time? Maybe. But starting a new trade association will be sort of like getting customers to wash
cars on a cloudy day. It would be tough.
This brings me back to why you should join
and be active in the ICA and your regional association. Ask yourself a simple question: Am I
passionate about my carwash business and the
industry? If the answer is yes then.
Join. Become active. Be involved. Make things
better or change them altogether..the choice
is yours.
Now, how much is that plane ticket to Amsterdam?
Jim Gosnell, President
Etowah Valley Equipment, Inc.
Dear Jim,
You asked me when you sent this letter if I thought
publishing it would be committing professional suicide. I assured you it would be anything but -- your
customers and fellow vendors would probably only
hear echoes of questions they themselves have asked
in the past few months and my guess is theyve been
nodding along as they read.
Moreover, I take the ICA at their word when they
say they welcome the feedback they have received
in the wake of their recent announcements and that
they intend to take it under consideration. I believe
they are committed to improving The Car Wash
Show and strengthening our industry. Your letter and
the chatter after this years show indicates there is a
degree of transparency lacking from those efforts so
far, but I hope a more open and inclusive conversation can be started going forward. After all, were all
in this together.
In the meantime, I take this opportunity to remind
our readers that Self Serve Carwash News was revived so that the self serve industry might have its
voice once again. I encourage you and the rest of our
readership to use this publication as your megaphone
and your soapbox. Let your voice be heard. Write to
me and to your Association board members. As you
suggested -- Join. Get involved. Start talking.
After all, nothing strengthens authority so much
as silence. Kate
JULY 2014
LETTERS
Kate, I have received your first edition of the
Self Service Carwash News under the new ownership and really enjoyed reading the history of
the Self Service Carwash Industry in your first
publication. In my opinion, most of the fact were
reasonably correct except for a few dates which I
would have to assume were typographical errors.
Looking through some of my pictures of past conventions, I ran across this picture of Julia Campbell. I thought it may be interesting to share this
photo with you all. I have no idea what year this
picture was taken from.
Wishing you the best of success with the Self
Service Carwash News as you go down that well
traveled road.
God Bless, Lorraine and Jim Coleman
Lorraine, Thank you for your kind words and

for sharing this wonderful photo of Julia. What a
smile! An absolute inspiration to me as I march the
trade show floor lugging around a camera about the
same size. I can only hope we can also match her
enthusiasm as we continue the work she started 40
years ago! Kate
Kate, (On the subject of Darwin at the

Carwash.) Just had to share this. I arrived at
my carwash one morning several years ago
and noticed one of my security cameras was
missing. So, I looked at the monitor for the day
before and noticed three young boys (about
8 to 14 years old) and it was after dark. They
were throwing a football at a camera and then
running back into a bay. They took turns doing this until it started coming apart and then
one got on the others shoulder and removed it.
They all had hoodies on, but when they would
run back into a bay they removed the hoodies.
Two more cameras were recording their every
move. Yep, they were busted! On another occasion my reader board was damaged and the
infrared camera did not have a clear video of
their faces. But one of the boys was wearing
orange tennis shoes with green laces. I drove
through the neighborhood and I noticed a boy
with the same shoes. I followed him to a residence and then called the police and he confessed and threw the other two under the bus
also. Jerry McDonald
Jerry, Nice catch! And a wonderful example of the value of a quality surveillance
camera system! Kate
8 JULY 2014
Dear Kate, I wanted to respond to your recent

article in SSCWN in which you take the ICA to
task on several issues. While there are a few good
suggestions that Im sure the board and staff of
the ICA will take into serious consideration as we
begin to prepare for next years show, I am disappointed to see you step over the positive reviews
you received on the show to somehow suggest
that there are serious problems afoot.
You start by trying to frame the current years attendance as a negative without taking into consideration any of the external forces that might and in
fact do impact our attendance. Most notably: the
consolidation of our industry both on the vendor
and operator sides. Couple that with the economic
fall-out of the past few years and it might explain
why there are less people on the floor.
But less washes represented? NO. In fact that
has grown every year over the past several years
which means that there is more buying power
represented on the floor than there has been since
before the great recession. And to boot, theres less
interference for me as an owner/buyer to run in
trying to talk to a vendor.
Historically, I used to bring more people to the
show. It was a perk for my employees. But I know
I speak for many operators who now view that as
an expense that needed to be cut back. Whats the
result? Less people at the show. But not less buying power. And as I said before, I, nor any of my
operating brethren, have to wait while a vendor
speaks to an assistant manager.
Perhaps thats why so many of the people you
polled (and I did as well) said it was a great show
for them.
And while were on the subject of numbers, why
would you use Chicagos numbers from 2003?
Why not use the more recent forays away from
Vegas? Vegas to San Antonio showed a 21% drop
in attendance which is the same drop shown by
Vegas to Orlando. This year, a 5% drop in attendance BUT an increase in carwash locations represented! I call that a win.
You have also disregarded the number of new
people that came to Chicago (which was part of
the idea of moving it). We had 36% new faces!
This is a number that I doubt would be achieved
by staying in Vegas. While the move away from
Vegas may cost us attendance, I believe it brings
a new crop of buyers to the floor a cost to the
ICA but a benefit to the exhibitors. Im sure this
contributed to the vendors having a better show.
Now on to the Western Association. You imply
that it was the ICAs mission to annex the Westerns show. However, it was the Western Association that approached the ICA, believing that they
should focus their efforts on more localized events
as a way to serve their members better and leaving
show management to the organization that does
that as their mainstay.
And what about the benefits? For a decade Ive
heard from vendors that we have too many shows.
Some of those same vendors were in the meeting
following the show. Finally, we succeed in removing one show from their overburdened roster and
its met with questions. Really?
Our hope here is twofold. We hope that it will
bring more attendees to the ICA show while saving vendors the substantial additional expense of
lugging equipment and personnel to another carwash show. Yes, we did raise the price of our show,
but that was simply to compensate the Western
for giving their show up and without which it
wouldnt happen. And we believe it is substantial-
ly less than the costs associated with exhibiting at

another show.
So, lets get to the infamous meeting. We invited
ESAC to the meeting through their chair, Robinson. We did not try to hide the existence of the
meeting nor did we restrict it only to ESAC members as is the custom after each show. SO, it was
not our place to publicize it, nor did we have any
expectations of attendance (large or small).
While there were some good suggestions and
concerns raised during the meeting, I believe there
were also some ridiculous points made. You quote
Henry Ford in your article, saying if we took a
poll And then you argue against this point by
saying the membership was never consulted on
things. The ICA, like the United States, is not run
by a majority vote of the membership. Its run by
an elected board of directors who volunteer their
time and are guided by a dedicated staff, who, by
the way, are now even more dedicated to the success of the ICA given their livelihoods now depend on its success.
The decision to move to Europe was based on
a call from the leaders of a number of various European associations that a collective effort should
be made to have a European event that focused
on carwash only. They looked to us as we are THE
INTERNATIONAL Carwash Association. As we
investigated the topic more fully, we realized that
this was an opportunity for the ICA to expand on
its chartered purpose to provide an international medium of exchange of experiences and opinions through discussion, study, and publication.
But it will hopefully achieve a few other things.
It will diversify our economic base, which has been
a concern of the board since I first served in 1999.
It will provide an opportunity for domestic vendors to pursue a new market without the expense
of exhibiting at the ineffective Automechanika. It
will also provide an opportunity for some operators to travel to Europe, perhaps for the first time,
and see new and innovative ideas. On this note, I
traveled to Holland a month ago and what I saw
excited me so much that I came back with numerous ideas I wanted to implement at my washes.
Net result: I committed to thousands of dollars in
expenditures at the ICA show in Chicago! Now
who did that benefit?
To bring up why not Latin America, why not
China, why not Australia is ridiculous. We were
presented with an opportunity, we fully researched
it, and as a board, which includes 7 exhibiting vendors, we voted unanimously to pursue it. It was
done after careful and thorough examination. That
said, do I think there are opportunities in China,
Latin America, Australia, and South America? Absolutely! Should we pursue them? I would suggest
a cautious approach would be to see how we fare
in Europe in 2015 first.
And doesnt the mere asking of the question by
that audience imply that we should be looking at
these other markets? So, was the comment that
we picked the wrong market or that we shouldnt
be going at all? I dont think all the vendors in
the room agree on that one. I also find it interesting that some of the very people questioning
the move have companies that will be showing in
Amsterdam.
Paul Fazio stated that he confronted me a year
ago about the European show and voiced his opposition to me. What he didnt say is that I told
him that no decision has been made yet and
wont be made until we have fully researched it
{continued }
JULY 2014
LETTERS
continued...
using outside expertise. He stated he didnt care,
he didnt think we should do it. I told him I disagreed with him and his comment in response was
we will just have to agree to disagree.
Admittedly, I didnt follow up with him, but
then why would I need to? I knew his sentiments.
But I should tell you that no sooner than Paul confronted me on the floor of the SW Show, I was
approached by another major exhibitor who told
me how excited he was about the initiative and
to count him in on whatever support we needed.
Oh, did I say that there were seven exhibiting
vendors in the board room over two years while
we considered this who voted unanimously for it?
And the rant about the Century Club oh my
goodness! Well, I think the solution there is to give
everyone 10x10 booths so that its fair for everyone. Wouldnt you agree? I mean just because Paul
and Bellanger can afford to pay for a lot of booth
space shouldnt mean they should be able to,
right? Is this really something you want to discuss?
As to the reserves: while there are substantial
reserves for the ICA, our by-laws (which were
voted on by Paul Fazio when he was a director) require us to maintain one years revenues in reserve
and are restricted from being used. While there
are excess reserves, they are far smaller than the
$5 million figure everybody seems to cite when
asking whats being done.
Its a great question and one that has been asked
constantly during my 9 year tenure on the board.
Years ago, several ideas were quickly pursued and
just as quickly proven uninteresting to the membership they were intended to benefit. More recently, the board has sought to be more thoughtful and studied in searching out new ways to
employ these resources. The result: WaterSavers,
Wash Count, Car Wash Magazine to name a few.
While these ideas have turned out well, it is really incumbent upon the entire membership to
be engaged in the generation of ideas. To assume
staff or 16 directors have a monopoly on the ideas
that will bear fruit for the membership will only
prove to disappoint a sentiment Ive heard over
the years. Of course, they do tend to forget those
success stories while complaining. I challenge everyone to be part of this solution rather than the
judge of how many good ideas a part-time volunteer board came up with.
Educational programming. I totally disagree
with you. The programming for me over the past
three years has been better than its ever been.
And I would argue that packed rooms would
agree with my conclusion.
That said, I always believe we can improve and
on a personal note I agree that more interaction/
networking/operator driven content would be
good. Was every session great? No. But then I will
always expect to have some misfires. I will tell you
though that staff has been responsive to suggestions
for topics by operators. Once again, I think some of
the responsibility for the content of the show falls
onto the attendees to voice what they want rather
than to tell us post-fact what they missed.
Networking dinners mea culpa, mea culpa.
Mark, Thank you so much for taking the

time to write to me. Your letter disproves one of
the fundamental concerns of our readers (and
shared by myself after the show): that the ICA
does not take the little guy -- and by extension, the self serve industry -- seriously. In fact,
my biggest worry following publication of our
Spring issue was that the ICA would have *no*
response to the article about the show, especially since they now have their own magazine and
I imagine its readership is much, much larger
than ours. In reality, Eric Wulf had called me
before I had even received the printed issue at
my house.
I think your letter (and Erics call) are wonderfully significant. They prove the ICA and
its board take the little guy, the SS industry
and the SSCWN seriously. Thank you. I know
this letter will go a long way in showing our
readers just how much the ICA does care and
does keep the SS industry on its radar -- and I
think it will provide some valid talking points
for the ICAs recent decisions to move abroad
which go far beyond the typical PR/press release fodder.
My most serious criticism of the show is
in regards to the networking/educational opportunities. This is not because I am Monday morning quarterbacking -- but because
I know what the ICA is capable of and was
surprised to see the Association had moved
away from what had worked so well in the
past. I strongly believe that what buoyed the
Car Wash Show in the years following the
economic recession was quality educational
opportunities and networking events. While
operators might not have $20k lying around
for equipment upgrades, they were willing to
spend a few hundred dollars on a plane ticket
and hotel room to learn about and discuss the
best practices which might save their businesses in the meantime.
The Car Wash Show remains the largest
assembly of the industrys best and brightest
-- even stagnant attendance numbers cannot
diminish this fact. It is, therefore, the best
opportunity for education and networking in
the industry -- and yet, the majority of operators I talk to (specifically single-site and selfserve operators) tell me they prefer the events
hosted by their state or regional associations
over the ICAs show in recent years. Why?
Aside from the more affordable cost of such
events, the regionals keep it basic and useful;
they host roundtable or panel discussions with
topic agendas that are influenced by the membership and panelists who are well-known and
This was my idea and while I think it might have

some legs, we didnt execute it well. Somehow
we have to better connect people before the dinners to ensure each dinner has representation and
works how we intended it.
Kate, I know I speak for the rest of the board
when I say we always welcome constructive criticism and good suggestions. We dont purport to
have all the answers. But Monday morning quarterbacking, hindsight being what it is, doesnt
well-regarded in the industry. They offer a little something for everyone -- meaning each
segment is represented on the educational
program line-up (of especial concern to me is
the self-serve industry, obviously). And they
host simple and organic networking opportunities which are included in the cost of a show
pass -- a dinner and some drinks, a few beers
on the show floor, or a hearty breakfast at tables organized by discussion topic.
What puzzles me is why the ICA moved
away from these same practices. All the pomp
and circumstance that surrounds The Car Wash
Show (I counted 10 of those Whats the ICA
doing for you? poster/flags on the way from the
show hall to the keynote address) might give it
a more professional, sophisticated vibe, but they
dont do much to reassure the little guy that his
ticket money and membership dues are being
put to good use. I sometimes wonder if the ICA
considers how some of these efforts are received
by their membership. I dont think everyone is
as wowed as the ICA hopes; while youre undoubtedly impressing some new investors or
c-store category managers, you might also be
alienating the 30-year self serve veteran from
Ardmore, OK.
All of this is to say that the move to go
abroad and to incorporate the WCA show into
the national one do not worry me -- or many
self serve carwash owners, I dont believe. Nor
do the attendance numbers, which I accept as
part of the new normal just as many operators accept their volumes might not reach their
early-2000 glory days for many years to come.
I do think the Association owes it the industry
to improve on the Car Wash Show; the stated
goal in absorbing WCA and moving to Europe
is to improve revenue streams for the ICA so
that it can invest in more industry-wide initiatives. Hey, Im all in. More money in these
programs should equate to more consumer education, more consumer studies and, most importantly, more business for carwash operators.
I just hope the Association realizes that while
it is spreading its reach, it must also work on
repairing its foundation.
Mark, I once again thank you for your letter.
I thank you for taking me and the SSCWN seriously. And I thank you for all of your efforts
to make The Car Wash Show the best in the
industry. I encourage you and your fellow board
members to continue attacking this mission vigorously: Dream big. Plan accordingly. And remember the little guy as you march on to tackle
the world.
Cheers, Kate
solve the problem. It only exacerbates it. We will

take the good suggestions from your article and
work on those.
And we have time before the next show to hear
the suggestions from those same vendors before
they become complaints.
I thank you for your time.
Mark Curtis, ICA Past President
Your thoughts and comments can be e-mailed to Kate Carr at katec@sscwn.com

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13
QA
&
Interview with
Gary
Dennis
ICA PRESIDENT By: Kate Carr
Shortly after publication of our Spring issue, Eric Wulf, CEO of

the International Carwash Association, reached out to express a
certain amount of discontent with our review of Car Wash Show
2014. (Discontent would probably be putting it mildly. In fact,
Mr. Wulf compared my musings in the article with the tactic of
kicking a sleeping dog to wake it up. Yeesh! My criticisms were
certainly not meant with that intent and I was rather embarrassed
to think they had been received in that manner.)
Luckily, Eric and I were able to discuss the matter in person
while sitting in some seriously comfortable rocking chairs outside
the Alligator Express Wash while on the SECWA Road Show in
Richmond. During the course of the conversation, he defended
much of what I had faulted about the show (Mark Curtiss Letter
to the Editor raises similar points) and he suggested I might learn
a bit more about the ICAs philosophy and goals by interviewing
Gary Dennis, ICAs current President. I wholeheartedly agreed.
I should stress now that this is not, in any way, shape or form, a
mea culpa for my review of the ICA Show. As I made clear to Eric
then, I completely stand by that report and the opinions I reflected in it (although it sounds like I may need to work on my tone/
delivery). I truly believe the industrys best and largest trade show
needs to improve its educational opportunities and networking
Gary Dennis:
Thanks for emailing these questions. Before I get
into the specifics of these, I did want to make a few
comments regarding your most recent article on the
show in Chicago. I certainly believe you make some
fair points and Id like to address those as well as
some points you made with which I take exception.
First let me say that I got into the business as a
self-serve operator (a 4/2) and I understand many
of the issues and struggles that have been affecting
that segment of the industry. And I can certainly
understand why many operators feel as though
their segment has been maligned or forgotten in
the past few years. In general, I believe our attempt
to improve our educational component was a step
in the right direction but, in doing so, we may have
swung too far in one direction at the expense of educational programs that our members value. To that
end, we are discussing ways that we can do both
appeal to the educational needs of the operator as
it relates to the day to day activity of running a car
wash, while at the same time bringing additional
perspective from a broader business standpoint.
Were working on this as we speak.
As it relates to our European strategy and exhib-
events, especially as it pushes forward

with plans to expand its influence and
reach here at home and in 2015 to Europe and beyond.
So while this is not an apology, it is certainly an opportunity to welcome another voice to
the conversation. When I reflected back on the article,
I did regret that I was under such a tight deadline to publish the
piece in time for our Spring issue. Because of the time constraints,
I was forced to write much of the piece from a torturous airplane
seat on the flight home to Virginia, alternatively balancing my laptop upon my knees and the flimsy tray table ahead of me, while
swallowing as much unladylike language as possible as I struggled
to peck out 8,000 words without elbowing my neighbors. I filed
the story shortly after I landed and was unable to reach out to the
ICA for comment before publication.
As you well know, my intention as Editor of SSCWN is to make
sure the self serve carwash industrys voice is heard, and it therefore stands to reason that I want the ICAs voice to be heard as
a representative of the self serve carwash industry. That is why
I jumped at the chance to interview Mr. Dennis, who graciously
agreed and returned my e-mail as follows:
itor meeting, I just want to make some high level

points. First, despite allusions to the contrary, this
issue has been carefully studied and researched. We
are also taking a very small and conservative risk
in branching out to Europe. No, we did not take a
poll prior to doing this. To my knowledge, the board
has never taken a poll on any decision. We are a
representative board made up of 9 operators and
7 vendors. We do talk and listen with many of our
members but we do not make decisions based upon
majority rule. Further, I firmly believe there is not a
majority opposition to our decision to go to Europe.
There were many exhibitors not in attendance at
the meeting because they either didnt have any
concerns or had already expressed their support for
our strategy. What you saw was not representative
in my opinion and much of the opposition has been
based on misunderstanding and miscommunications in which we can certainly do a better job. And
lastly, Id like to reiterate the purpose of expanding
into Europe. We are not spending members money
on a non-member initiative. We are investing in the
creation of a self-sustaining trade show that mirrors
what we are doing with The Car Wash Show. We
expect this to be profitable and for the investment
to be repaid. In addition, the reason we are doing
this is because our association has been stagnant
for years and we cannot fulfill our vision and mission to members without growth. There are many
additional programs and services we would like to
provide but we are financially constrained to do so.
By leveraging our core competency in a careful and
prudent manner, we expect to generate additional resources to plow back into the industry for the
benefit of our members. The European trade show
is a fantastic opportunity. But it is a means to an
end, not the end itself.
And while I disagreed with some of your take on
things, I really appreciated the open minded balance
you struck with the quote of Henry Ford. Our strategy will either be successful or not and we will know
in relatively short order. If we fail, I will be the first
to apologize and take all the blame that is justly due.
But if we are successful, as I believe we will be, then
our association will be in a much stronger position to
support our membership by increasing the relevancy
and effectiveness of the programs and services we offer. All I ask is that our members keep an open mind,
make sure they are aware of all of the facts before
forming an opinion, and realize that the board has
carefully considered this and believes it is moving
forward in the best interest of the membership in a
conservative and prudent manner.
Now..on to your questions:
{continued }
14 JULY 2014
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JULY 2014
15
Interview with Gary Dennis, ICA President
GD: I entered the business in 2002 having built

a self-serve wash in Douglasville, GA (a 4 & 2).
In 2004, we opened our first express wash and
currently own and operate 8 exterior express and
flex serve washes in GA and AL. Along the way we
have bought and sold additional washes but currently operate 8 washes. Prior to entering the car
wash industry I was an equity research analyst and,
subsequently, an investment banker in the financial
services industry.
What are the challenges your business is

currently facing? What are the challenges
you feel are influencing the industry as
a whole? How have you been able to
shape/mold ICA policy and productivity to
address those issues?
GD: In terms of challengesthere have been
many. Specifically we are coming off a terrible
weather year and the Atlanta market seems to
still be suffering from the economic downturn
while other markets have fared much better. In
addition, I think some of our markets, like Atlanta, are the poster child from over building that
had gone on for several years. From a macro perspective, we still have challenges in terms of promoting the professional car wash industry so that
more consumers want to have their car washed
at a professional car wash facility and do it more
often! At its core, that is what I believe to be the
mission of our association. Improve the health of the
industry for the benefit of operators and vendors.
Our PR campaign is an example of this. We have allocated $600,000 over a 3 year period to help drive
consumer awareness. But you can only do so much
with limited resources and so we have tried to be
good stewards and do this through a grass roots, digitally oriented campaign. But with more resources,
we can do more. And that ties back into our growth
strategy. We must grow to remain relevant and take
advantage of opportunities. A European trade show
is one such opportunity whereby, through growth,
we will expand our resources to help promote the
industry through such initiatives as a PR campaign.
Thats why a self-serve operator reading this article
should be pulling for a successful European trade
showour members will benefit.
How many years have you been attending

Car Wash Show? Do you have a favorite year
that stands out?
GD: Ive been attending the show since I got into
the business in 2002 and havent missed a year.
Some years Im in the equipment purchase mode
while in other years I attend for the networking opportunities. Ive never had a bad show experience
in that ive always come away with some ideas,
whether through education or networking, to help
improve my business. Im going to be a little for-
16 JULY 2014
ward looking and say that I think the best show

is yet to come! Im particularly looking forward
to Nashville in 2016. For those that dont know,
Nashville has built a state of the art convention facility in downtown that is absolutely beautiful and
is within walking distance of a lot of great entertainment venues. I think its going to be a blast for
the attendees and Nashville is strategically located
in such a way that a lot of people can get there. For
those who are thinking Oprylandthis is going to
be a night and day kind of experience.
All of these categories have a

commonalityknowledge share.
Whether its educational sessions,
networking events or touching
and feeling equipment, they all
work in tandem to increase ones
knowledge base.
Please tell us a little bit about yourself,

your business and your experiences in the
carwash industry.
What are some of the useful experiences or

information that you have been able to apply
to your business as a result of attending Car
Wash Show?
GD: Where to startas a former equity analyst, I
made on living on asking a ton of questions. What
little I know about car washing Ive learned from the
experience of others who have been willing to share
their knowledge. Its in this vein that I have taken
so much away from the shows because Im always
eager to fire away with questions when I meet other operators. And they are always gracious to answer
my never ending questions! So it would be impossible to point to any one or two things. Ive always
walked away with a laundry list of ideas.
What do you feel is the most valuable

component of the show for carwash
operators like yourself; educational sessions,
networking, visiting with suppliers, etc.?
GD: All of these categories have a commonality
knowledge share. Whether its educational sessions,
networking events or touching and feeling equipment, they all work in tandem to increase ones
knowledge base. Its hard to differentiate where one
starts and the other ends. An educational session
may trigger a question that I ask on the trade show
floor that leads me to a conversation with another
operator who is willing to share from their experience. All three are complimentary to each other.
What led you down the path to becoming ICA

President and what are some of the goals
youve had as President? Have you met/
exceeded those goals?
GD: I joined the ICA as a member for the same reason many others dopride. I wanted to be a member of and support our industry in the best way possible. Joining the ICA seemed the natural thing to
do. As I learned more about the association and its
inner workings, I was humbled to be asked to serve
in a leadership position but excited because I saw
a tremendous amount of opportunity. In order for
our industry to be successful, I believe we need
a healthy, growing association that does an ever
increasing amount of work to support our operators and vendors. To be honest, our association
has been stagnant for many, many years. While
we have done some very good things, we have
been a one trick pony so to speak in terms of
hosting an annual trade show and using that as
our economic engine to deliver products and
services. That economic engine has its limitations and as a member, I have always thought the
association should do more. But in order to do
that, we need growth. For a volunteer board, its
easy to think about your length of service (our
board members serve a three year term) and try
to leave the industry in a better position than you
found it. Whats more difficult is to project into
the future and ask what the industry and association could like like 10-15-20 years into the future and what steps should we be taking now so
that in 20 years we will be a relevant organization. I
believe our board has expanded its thinking in this
way and our decisions reflect this. I wont be around
to see the benefits of much of what we are doing
but I take a lot of satisfaction in knowing that the
board is taking prudent, measured steps in an effort
to grow the association for one purpose; to be relevant to our members by offering an increasing level of products and services that help them be more
successful in their business. As with any change or
disruption, there are sure to be critics. Our European
strategy has been met with tremendous support and
with skepticism depending upon whom you ask. But
I genuinely and honestly believe it is exactly the right
thing to do because it will benefit each and every
member of our association and industry in one way
or another. With these decisions there always comes
a certain degree of risk but we have tried to minimize that risk and manage it as prudently as possible.
Your quote from Henry Ford in a previous article
has become one of my favorites (that if he had taken a poll he would have been told to make a faster
horse!). This is our biggest endeavor in many, many
years. If we fail, we fail. But we would have at least
tried. Honest differences of opinion can exist. I just
hope our members will keep an open mind, cheer
for its success, and know that we all have a common
goal in mind. So to answer your question, my goals
and objectives have not yet been met. One day Ill be
reading one of your articles to find out how we did.
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18 JULY 2014
Southern Hospitality On Parade

SECWA Road Show in
Richmond,VA, is a success.
By: Kate Carr
No
THA w
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Id
ou rint,
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get rnie! P g bags s
Be t swa tchke
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andke a b
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If ever you need a dose of optimism or perhaps just some

reassurance that the professional carwash industry is a healthy
and vibrant one, I suggest you register for a Southeastern Car
Wash Association Road Show. If the carwashes on tour dont
impress you, Im sure the speakers and good company will
certainly boost your spirits. And if all fails, there is always that
famous Southern hospitality. Glass half empty or full? Its never
anything but lled-to-the-top at SECWA.
And as expected, this years program in Richmond did not disappoint
(no matter what Mother Nature tried to throw at us). While we may
have nished our tour in a light rain, our directors did a terric
job of keeping us on schedule and ensuring we were well fed and
entertained throughout our visits. You can follow the photo highlights
of the tour on the next few pages, and we have transcribed the panel
discussion (below) for your benet, as well. SECWA next meets for
their Orlando trade show this July and I highly recommend you
join them there or at their next road show for some on-trend panel
discussions and some on-point Southern BBQ. Yum!
SECWA Panel
Discussion at Road Show
Monty Raste, Director of Store Operations for
Autobell Car Wash and Board Member of SECWA:
What were going talk about is things that are happening with Pointof-Sale Marketing. The questions that we are going to get into concern
marketing, POS systems, diversity of systems across the country,
creative and unique systems that these guys see, and PCI compliance.
We did have some rules of engagement before we get started -- they
are not here to do an infomercial or talk about their different products
or services, theyre not here to sell you those products. Theyre here
to share their experiences of what they see out there. So how about
we get started with introductions. If you all could just give everybody
a quick little bio...
{continued }
JULY 2014
19
SECWA Panel Discussion at Road Show

Brandon Jordan for DRB Systems: Hi,
Im Brandon Jordan. I work with DRB Systems.
Ive been in the industry since 1998. Ive got two
boys, 4 and 8 years old. A couple weeks ago, we
were all piled in the minivan headed somewhere,
and my 4-year-old said, Dad, I want to get in
the carwash business just like you. And it was at
that time that I realized he was due for an IQ test
because I thought hes either crazy or brilliant.
(Laughter.) After 16 years, its been a great ride.
Im enjoying every minute of it.
ese
t th s! A
a
k
Loo ly bird for
r
ea l room ings
ful morn at
the eynote .
k a.m
8
Lyn Palmer for Unitec: Im Lynn Palmer

with Unitec. We are based out of Elkridge, Maryland, and I live in Louisville, Kentucky, so were
Southern all the way around. Ive been in this industry for about four years now. I didnt realize the
crazy industry that I was getting into. This is the
last bastion of independent business owners. And
I really enjoy the different problems that come up
in the business. Ive had some really interesting
talks with some of you and some of your compatriots around the country and Im looking forward
to some questions youve got for us tonight.
Rob Wingard for ICS: Im Rob Wingard and
Im with ICS, Innovative Control Systems. Ive
been in the carwash industry about 15 years now. I
started out as a distributor down in Florida. Before
that, I spent about 16, almost 17 years in retail
on a corporate level. What Id love to do, if any of
you have questions, is bring my retail experiences
and help people understand it. Service type retail,
I should say. Much like a McDonalds.
Good foo
d.
Good
conversa
tion
Good .
informati
on.
Monte: Okay, thank you to our panel. Now lets

move on to the questions. So, different regions
of the country have their own unique marketing
plans and business models in the carwash industry.
What are you guys seeing out there?
Brandon: Well, I certainly think on the West
Coast, that is a lot of hand washes, older hand
washes. In fact, I was with many of you in Atlanta, and I was astonished a couple weeks ago when
I was driving around seeing signs for California
Style Hand Wash at a lot of closed off gas stations. So, a lot of variety. A lot of people now doing
short tunnels at former in-bay automatic sites and
finding success with that. Theres a lot of different
ways to skin the cat, and I think people will figure
out works for them and what works for their customers.
Lyn: Ive actually covered from Maine all the
way down in Florida with Unitec and the thing
that I noticed the most was the different kind of
styles. The farther north you go, the more formalized the washes are. Theres a lot more structure
there. Whereas down South, they tend to be less
formal about uniforms, branding and stuff like
that. I think thats turning around now because
people are starting to understand how important
20 JULY 2014
branding is to your company. Another thing that

Ive often noticed is the difference structurally.
For instance, I was at a carwash in Maine and it
was so cold. Literally, there was a creek behind the
carwash, and on the other side of the creek, was
Canada. They have, up there, heated floors, heated walls, heated doors, heated everything to keep
it running. Whereas you go down in Florida and
sometimes they have just enough concrete blocks
to hold up the wash. So, theres a lot of different
ways to do business, and I think that marketing
just depends on how badly somebody wants to
make money. For a very long time, people have
been able to just take a carwash, set it and forget
it. And those days are going, if theyre not already

gone. So I really feel like marketing plans are getting stronger all over the country, as a whole, and
everythings going to become a bit more formalized like I have seen up North simply because of
the structural demands.
Rob: First thing, I want to praise the Southeast
because actually, in this industry, the Southeast is
probably the most technologically advanced in the
whole country from what Ive seen. A lot more
electronics, a lot less employees. I know we just
talked about making employees the best they can
be (in a previous educational session), but again,
{continued }
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the Southeast is really finding that employees are
less and less necessary. Kudos to you, because we
know how expensive they are and the problems
that you can have there. In other parts of the
country, probably a lot more full service going on,
but I see that Southeast Florida is still heavy full
service with hand washing. But again, what youll
see here mostly and hopefully continue to see, are
more technologically advanced washes.
Surprisingly, Dr. Details Ultimate Handwash

was not included on SECWAs tour. Nonetheless,
he made sure to dress up for the occassion.
Monte: Next question here; well start with you

Lyn. What is the best marketing idea youve seen
implemented in the carwash industry?
Lyn: I think that the monthly package program is
probably the best business model for people running a carwash. It doesnt matter how you implement the package; whether its code, whether its
tagged, however you do it. Just the fact that you
have it set up to get their credit card at the beginning of the month. That means that rain, shine,
snow, sleet, floods, you have got money coming
in whether or not the weather agrees. That is the
strongest and most influential carwashing idea.
This dual in-bay site shares access through a

back parking lot with a very busy WaWa c-store.
Rob: I would have to add to that as well. Especially when you have competition very near you,
youre able to corner your market and keep your
customers loyal to you through this. And as you
said, its probably the only thing in the carwash
industry that will help you be weather resistant to
some degree. I would say its probably the biggest
and baddest thing going on in carwash marketing.
Brandon: Sorry, but Ive got to jump on the
bandwagon. With 16 years in, Ive seen some impressive things; lots of people over the years do
frequency discounts, unlimited wash clubs that
are annual based -- you pay an upfront fee of a
couple hundred dollars and get unlimited washing
throughout the year, but I do think the monthly
recurring billing has helped a lot of our customers
wash more cars now than they ever have. Its interesting; we like to look at other industries. Ive got
some stats here -- we looked at the most caffeinated cities. And shockingly, Seattle, Washington, has
a coffee shop for every 387 people. Second place,
Spokane, with 835 people. And then it goes down
to Eugene, San Francisco, Anchorage and San Diego, a coffee shop for every 2,941 people. We feel
like it is the well-run operations like Starbucks
and coffee shops that originated in Seattle that are
making people drink more coffee and we feel like
unlimited wash clubs are a big stepping stone in
helping our customers wash more vehicles.
Monte: Well, that explains why the West Coast
is always jacked up all the time. Onto the next
question. What is the most unusual request for a
product or service from a customer inside the industry that youve met?
Rob: Whew. You didnt give us much time to
22 JULY 2014
think about these questions. I think, well, I dont

know if its the most outrageous, but I think what
is interesting to me, is seeing a lot of these sites that
were expresses are becoming flex service. Where
they were having people requesting these services
that they didnt anticipate. Im also a real estate
agent, and one thing thats important is to really
understand your market, you need to understand
who youre trying to sell to. Who can you bring to
your location. Just like any business. Sometimes
we get so focused on the carwash side of it, that
we forget that were actually a retail business trying to make a niche. So you really need to know
youre demographics. And your demographics
change, so dont think youre stuck with the same
thing that you were 10 years ago when you first

opened up, or even five years ago. Get your demographics done again, take a look at what it is, take
a look at the household income. Sorry -- that got
a little off track.
Brandon: Well, recently I was asked to wear a
mascot to a Grand Opening and help bring customers in off the street.Ive also been asked to help
write business plans, with which I have no experience doing. But with respect to what our company offers, weve had a couple customers with
the intent to put RFID tags on as many or, as they
said, quote-unquote every customer that comes
through. And then reward them for frequency
{continued }
JULY 2014
23
A tour highlight: Shaking our heads at this guy

scrubbing down his food truck at Splash-n-Dash.
without necessarily looping them into a long term

commitment. So tagging every car is something
new that Ive seen. Its one of the more unusual
requests.
Lyn: Im off on a completely different tangent.
The most unusual thing that Ive been asked, is
I had a gentleman (who is not in this area by the
way), who asked me if there was a way to go ahead
and put a camera inside one of our pay stations so
that it could take a picture of the person and print
it out for them while they were waiting for their
carwash. He basically wanted to put a photo booth
CarWashAd.pdf
CM
MY
CY
CMY
24 JULY 2014
6/2/14
10:18 AM
inside the pay station. That was a first.

Monte: Are you guys aware of any current technology from outside the industry that you think
would be beneficial to the carwash industry?
in paying for a service, but keeping in touch with

your cell phone. Whether its texting out codes that
they can use on their phone or things like that. One
thing I would caution everybody, dont send things
out all the time. I bought something and now its
Lyn: I think that something thats going to be a

part of the carwash industry very soon, if not already, is the cell phone. There are ways now that
you can pay with your cell phone. I think thats
probably going to be the most influential technology to hit the carwash industry.
like every day I get an e-mail and its just annoy-
Rob: I would say the same thing. And not so much
was telling me that Wendys now has an app where
ing. You know, once a week, if you can get them to

come in once a week, thats good. I would say again,
keeping in touch with customers on a regular basis,
the cell phone is good for that.
Brandon: On the drive down here, someone
Hmmm. I dont see any instructional

posters on the wall regarding the
best way to wash out the grease trap
on my food truck?!
you can pay with your phone. I personally use the
Starbucks app and the Dunkin Donuts app. Maybe I should move to the West Coast (laughter)
I see more and more things making their way to
our cell phones that we have on us all the time,
we dont ever leave home without them. Its just a
convenience thing.
Monte: So whats the Next Big Thing for us?
Brandon: I see more and more automation
making its way in because of the outside forces
pushing on operators -- from healthcare to minimum wage. Im continuing to see more and more
METAL
HALIDE
automation making its way into the industry. Obviously pay stations and automation are making
their way to more and more carwashes. I just think
theres more and more tasks that can be automated to make the carwash operators job easier.
Lyn: You know, the next big thing might be
something that we consider to be an old thing.
This room right here; this is a verified atmosphere
of the pursuit of excellence. Because for every one
of you thats here, that has a good business model,
and wants to grow their business and is willing to
talk to people about how they grow their business
(1200 Watts)
VS.
and share ideas, there are a lot of stubborn operators out there who are still sort of old school and
hunkered down, and theyre facing foreclosure. I
think that the next big thing is that people are going to realize that the way to be a success is for
you to reach out to other people in your industry
instead of holding everything close and airtight.
Once again, thats not exactly brand new technology, you know, I mean I think probably the next
big thing will probably be some sort of chip that
we put in the back of our neck or something. But
its important and its communication.
{continued }
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not going to go away. Its going to inspire us to
keep our technology as updated as possible, and
things like Heartbleed, that is a perfect example
of how you can have everything done correctly
and still have the rug ripped from under your feet.
Anybody here affected by Heartbleeed?
(One hand raised.)
Email jacked?
(Yeah.)
So, PCI compliance, the only thing I can say
with any absolute certainty is that its not going
to go away and its only going to get more structured. But right now, I really dont want to come
out on the side of one piece of equipment versus
another because I just want to wait and see when
the shoe drops.
Is this the best license

plate in the industry?
Rob: In my opinion, the next big thing is going

to be tying all the electronics at a site together.
Everything being accessible; everything communicating with each other. Instead of buying a piece
here or there, youll be able to buy a package of
things that are compatible.
Monte: Great. We only have a little bit of time
left, so wed like to open it up to the floor and we
can take questions from the audience.
Question from Audience: Im John, Im
from Southern California. I just wanted to know
what your guys thoughts are on the whole PCI
Compliance issue and Heartbleed virus and where
were going right now with all the compliance issues.

Lyn: Well, PCI compliance is something
thats not going away. We all know that for sure.
Theres going to be major changes coming down
the road in 2015. There are a lot of changes that
have already been made in the rest of the world
that havent been made here here yet. Right now,
current technology is kind of up in the air. There
are a couple different directions it can go, and Im
probably showing my age when I use this comparison, but its going to be like betamax versus VHS
for a while. Anybody remember beta? Speaking as
a woman who still has a beta player in her basement, you can guess Im not the wisest person to
make these choices. However, PCI Compliance is
Rob: I dont know if many of you feel like you

understand PCI compliance 100 percent. Ill bet
you its less than 100 percent of you. We talked
about it earlier before when we were setting the
panel up and we said its kind of a black hole subject because it is evolving and as it continues to
evolve, technology evolves. Youll probably also
be hearing about chip-and-pin, which is active in
other countries and has been for years, but like the
metric system, America will be the last to act on
it. So chip-and-pin is coming, too. And if you dont
understand chip-and-pin, Id suggest you Google
it. Essentially it works kind of like the debit card,
except youll have a little chip inside your credit
card and then youll enter your pin. Its all these
kind of things that sort of counteract the thievery,
but these players are very smart, as we saw what
they did with Neiman Marcus and Target. Things
will continue to evolve, but you need to understand that theyre putting the onus on each of you
and every other retailer out there to protect themselves. And to understand these rules...well, were
told not to talk about what we do, but there are
people who are out there who can help you better
understand these rules.
Brandon: My understanding of it is very vague,
but in respect to what we do, we as a software
provider have to adhere to something called PADSS, or Payment Application Data Security Statements. Basically, our software has to meet a list of
14 requirements. (See sidebar.) Starting in 2011,
supposedly, the new Visa and MasterCard were going to start levying fines if your infrastructure was
not PCI Compliance. Is anyone here being fined?
Audience member: Yeah, Target was. Target just paid an enormous fine for what happened
back in December. They are out there and they
are aggressively going after the retailers. Theres a
lawsuit right now with AM/PM. I mean, you guys
need to be very afraid, because they are going after
you aggressively. And its the retailer; not the kiosk,
not the credit card processor. Theyre not getting
fined. Its the carwash operator, the c-store owner,
{continued }
JULY 2014
27

who gets blamed for this. The whole Heartbleed
thing is another matter thats way beyond PADSS, and there are fines being levied for that, too.
So you guys need to protect yourselves, because
nobody else is protecting you.
Kate Carr, SSCWN: So, in the self serve industry, were finding that a few operators are having a
good deal of success with the gated, pay-one-price
model. Basically, theyre taking the express exterior gate technology and theyre adding it to a payone-price self serve carwash. Anybody on the panel have any experience with one of those projects?
Lyn: I actually have seen a lot of those, as a matter
of fact, on the last bus tour for the Southeastern
Car Wash Association, we had a gated self serve
that was very, very successful. I definitely think its
going to be an excellent use of real estate for self
serve and really feel like the gentleman that owns
the self serve that was on the tour would probably
be a better source of information than I would be.
The background story on this carwash is

a long and torturous one -- but features a
happy ending after Flagstop stepped in.
Rob: I think that its like everything else, everything evolves. And for the self serve industry
to keep up with the technology thats evolved,
theyve got to keep moving. You know, if we go
back years ago, when they were doing triple automatics, side-by-side, and in the tunnel industry,
the express model. So, I think theyll see that for
them to remain a player, theyve have to continue
to evolve. And theyll see that they are successful.
Question: Could you get a little more specific on some of the successful marketing ideas that
youve seen at carwashes across the country?
Lyn: (Note: Background noise on the tape recording made some of this passage indistinguishable.) I think one of the most important aspects
of marketing a carwash is connecting to the community. And fundraisers are one of the best ways
to do that. You can have the school band sell your
carwashes for you. Or the Boy Scouts. Or whoever. Anything to get the name out there and get
them to start the habit. Because you know once
theyre coming to you and once theyve started
that habit because of something youve done for
their church or their school, theyll keep doing
business with you.
Brandon: Over the years weve been able to
track statistics at carwashes to determine how often a particular vehicle makes it in to get their car
washed in a period of 12 months. And one of the
things that was pretty consistent across exterior
carwashes, full serve carwashes, carwashes in the
South, car washes in the West, car washes across
the Northeast was that typically 80 percent of the
volume in a 12 month period where license plates
were tracked came from customers who washed
their cars six or less times in a year. That stat always seemed to shock our customers when they
asked for their numbers and it almost always holds
28 JULY 2014
to that statistic. So anything thats aimed at getting

a customer to increase the frequency of visits will
be a success. One of the programs that Ive seen
most recently is a bounce back, where you can
pre-pay for a second wash at a discount. So you
might be able to buy a $12 wash, but you could
pay $20 and get two instead. Many customers that
Ive worked with have found success with bounce
back programs.
Rob: One of the things that goes back to my
retail experience that I learned there is that the
customer will get bored and they will forget
you. So how do you make them remember you?
Think about it; we offer specials. Like, Chik-
Fil-A, theyve always got some special milkshake.

Theres always a reason to go back. The core
menu remains the same. Remember when youre
setting your prices, youre setting a value that you
think your customers will receive and you want
them to perceive it as a good value. So you have
to think like your customer. You can run daily
or weekly or monthly specials; I believe in being
simple and consistent. That was how I was successful in the retail industry. Remember: Dont
let your customer get bored with you.
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Are you
ready to
answer
the door?
Knock!
Knock!
Its OSHA!
Of all the federal agencies that might knock on your
door, perhaps OSHA is the most aggravating. Sure,
the taxman might show up with his greedy hand out
and calculator ready, and the FBI would certainly be
an unsettling sight -- but OSHA really takes the cake
when it comes to throwing a wrench in your plans
for the day. As nitpicky as the school nurse searching
for lice, OSHAs meddling is similarly itch-inducing
and embarrassing.
Thats why SSCWN has gathered the following reports to help you prepare your business for the
knock. Although self serve sites, traditionally unmanned, might not be a favorite pecking grounds
for their agents, they are nonetheless victim to its
regulations and whims. So, read on and act now to
shield yourself from OSHAs comb!
{continued }
32 JULY 2014
OSHA REPORT
Be Prepared!
By: Mike
Benmosche
OSHA to Impose New Federal Rules

Currently in the U.S. there are 34 States that
have some regulatory policies with regards to implementing an IIPP (Injury and Illness Prevention
Program). A few are mandatory and many others are voluntary in varying degrees. For example,
California is a mandatory State and requires
a written plan. Depending on certain criteria,
the minimum requirements mandate:
The plan be written;
A specific individual must be identified as a
person with the authority to implement the
plan;
The employer must have procedures to evaluate work place hazards (see last months
blog);
New employees must show evidence of
training;
All hazardous exposures must be addressed;
and
The employer must perform periodic inspections to identify unsafe conditions or
work practices.
These are just a partial list of the standards
imposed by the law in California.
The reason I am bringing this to the attention of the rest of the country is to alert employers that OSHA has been working on I2P2
(Injury and Illness Prevention Rule). This is a
new rule being proposed and is scheduled to
be released by this September 2014. While we
all know that it will take some time to roll this
out, it will be effective sooner than later. Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, Dr. David
Michaels, has said this is his top rulemaking
priority!
The basics of this new standard will be to
mandate every workplace to:
Provide a comprehensive hazard assessment survey
Employers must design a written program to
evaluate all hazardous exposures identified and

provide periodical reviews of how the plan is
minimizing these hazards as well as the risk of
injuries to employee.
Employers are also being required to have
Depending on
certain criteria,
the minimum
requirements
mandate:
The plan be written;
A specic individual must
be identied as a person
with the authority to
implement the plan;
The employer must have
procedures to evaluate work
place hazards (see last
months blog);
New employees must show
evidence of training;
All hazardous exposures
must be addressed; and
The employer must perform
periodic inspections to
identify unsafe conditions or
work practices.
regular safety meetings with educational materials and training.

Currently, there isnt any federal requirement
to perform these hazard assessments, except in
certain situations where employees are exposed
to unusually dangerous circumstances. One
such example would be exposure to some
chemicals.
OSHA has done a great deal of research
on this topic and see this as a real simple
solution with proven principles that will
keep millions of Americans safer. The expectation is that implementing this rule will
significantly decrease the incidences of workplace injuries and illnesses which in turn will
equate to substantial reductions in costs.
The bottom line is that now is the time
to get ahead of this and start developing a
hazard assessment plan right away. Using
last months blog is a good way to start. Also,
there are several websites with examples of
programs that are being used now. Identify
who your champion will be to administer
and be responsible for this and get going!
Mike Benmosche,
National Car Wash
Program Specialist of
McNeil and Company
writes about how best
safety practices at the
wash can keep your
employees and customers safe as well as help
you maintain a cost
effective insurance policy. You can follow his
blog (where the text of this article is originally
sourced) at www.cwinsurance.blogspot.com.
He can be reached at
mbenmosche@mcneilandcompany.com.
JULY 2014
33
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OSHA REPORT
The new chemical

labeling rules
from OSHA, in the
organizations
own words.
HERES YOUR
(MSDS)
SIGN
The following text has been lifted directly from the OSHA FactSheet posted on the organizations website,
www.osha.gov. SSCWN intends to follow-up this report with a more detailed analysis of new chemical
regulations and how they will affect self serve carwash operators in a future issue.
New changes to the Occupational Safety and

Health Administrations (OSHA) Hazard Communication Standard are bringing the United
States into alignment with the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of
Chemicals (GHS), further improving safety and
health protections for Americas workers. Building
on the success of OSHAs current Hazard Communication Standard, the GHS is expected to prevent injuries and illnesses, save lives and improve
trade conditions for chemical manufacturers. The
Hazard Communication Standard in 1983 gave
the workers the right to know, but the new Globally Harmonized System gives workers the right
to understand.
The new hazard communication standard still
requires chemical manufacturers and importers

to evaluate the chemicals they produce or import
and provide hazard information to employers and
workers by putting labels on containers and preparing safety data sheets. However, the old standard
allowed chemical manufacturers and importers to
convey hazard information on labels and material
safety data sheets in whatever format they chose.
The modified standard provides a single set of harmonized criteria for classifying chemicals according
to their health and physical hazards and specifies
hazard communication elements for labeling and
safety data sheets.
Benefits:
The new standard covers over 43 million work-
ers who produce or handle hazardous chemicals in

more than five million workplaces across the country. The modification is expected to prevent over
500 workplace injuries and illnesses and 43 fatalities
annually. Once fully implemented it will also:
Improve the quality and consistency of hazard
information in the workplace, making it safer
for workers to do their jobs and easier for employers to stay competitive;
Enhance worker comprehension of hazards,
especially for low and limited-literacy workers,
reduce confusion in the workplace, facilitate
safety training, and result in safer handling and
use of chemicals;
Provide workers quicker and more efficient ac{continued }
JULY 2014
35
OSHA REPORT
cess to information on the safety data sheets;
Result in cost savings to American businesses
of more than $475 million in productivity improvements, fewer safety data sheet and label
updates and simpler new hazard communication training: and
Reduce trade barriers by harmonizing with systems around the world.
EFFECTIVE
COMPLETION
DATE
REQUIREMENT(S)
WHO
Train employees on the new

label elements and SDS format.
Employers
June 1, 2015*
Comply with all modied provisions

of this nal rule, except:
Chemical manufacturers, importers,

distributors and employers
December 1, 2015
Distributors may ship products

labeled by manufacturers under the
old system until December 1, 2015.
Employers
OSHA published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to update the Hazard Communication Standard
in September 2009 and held public hearings in
March 2010.
June 1, 2016
Update alternative workplace labeling and hazard communication program

as necessary, and provide additional employee training for newly identied
physical or health hazards.
Major changes to the Hazard

Communication Standard:
Transition Period
December 1, 2013
Rulemaking background:
Hazard classification: Chemical manufacturers

and importers are required to determine the
hazards of the chemicals
they produce or import.
Hazard
classification
under the new, updated
standard provides specific criteria to address
health and physical hazards as well as classification of chemical mixtures.
Labels: Chemical manufacturers and importers
must provide a label that
includes a signal word,
pictogram, hazard statement, and precautionary
statement for each hazard class and category.
Safety Data Sheets: The new format requires 16
specific sections, ensuring consistency in presentation of important protection information.
Information and training: To facilitate understanding of the new system, the new standard
requires that workers be trained by December
1, 2013 on the new label elements and safety
data sheet format, in addition to the current
training requirements.
Changes from the Proposed to

the Final Rule:
OSHA reviewed the record and revised the Final
Rule in response to the comments submitted. Major
changes include:
Maintaining the disclosure of exposure limits
(Threshold Limit Values [TLVs]) established
by the American Conference of Governmental
Industrial
Hygienists (ACGIH) and carcinogen status
from nationally and internationally recognized
lists of carcinogens on the safety data sheets;
36 JULY 2014
Comply with either 29 CFR 1910.

1200 (this nal standard),
or the current standard, or both.
Clarification that the borders of pictograms

must be red on the label;
Flexibility regarding the required precautionary and hazard statements to allow label
preparers to consolidate and/or eliminate
inappropriate or redundant statements; and
Longer deadlines for full implementation of
the standard (see the chart on the right):
What you need to do and

when:
Chemical users: Continue to update safety data
sheets when new ones become available, provide training on the new label elements and
update hazard communication programs if new
hazards are identified.
Chemical Producers: Review hazard information
for all chemicals produced or imported, classify
chemicals according to the new classification criteria, and update labels and safety data sheets.
* This date coincides with the European Union
All chemical manufacturers,

importers, distributors and
employers
implementation date for classification of mixtures.
Global implementation:
The new system is being implemented throughout the world by countries including Canada, the
European Union, China, Australia, and Japan.
Additional information:
More information on the hazard communication
standard, including the link to the Federal Register
notice, can be found on OSHAs hazard communication safety and health topics page at www.osha.
gov/dsg/hazcom/index.html.
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JULY 2014
37
INDUSTRY
DIRT
Ryko Solutions, Inc.,
the largest provider of managed carwash systems in North America, has

announced that it has agreed to acquire National Carwash Solutions,
L.P. (NCS), the largest independent carwash service organization
in North America. The transaction is
expected to close in July.
With a staff of 60, NCS serves customers
across 14 states in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Regions including regional convenience store
chains and professional tunnel operators.
The combination of Ryko Solutions and NCS
results in a strengthening of our commitment to
our collective operator base in four key areas: enhanced service footprint; an expanded focus on
the delivery of improved uptime; the ability to
more thoroughly support competitive carwash
systems; and the opportunity to adopt NCS 360
Degree Partnership approach to the customers
business, whereby expert knowledge, professional service, and practical solutions are applied
across the customers business to enhance their
business success. said Steven LHeureux, CEO of
Ryko Solutions.
LHeureux went on to explain that NCS further
presented itself as an ideal strategic fit because of
the companys consultative services capability that
is focused around supporting customer attainment
of improved profitability following installation.
LHeureux also saw great value in the companys
in-depth expertise in the professional tunnel space
which Ryko will leverage to continue their aggressive growth in that market segment.
The NCS team will work in concert with Ryko
Solutions North American wide service network
and resources to further solidify Rykos position
of being the leading provider of service support
within the carwash industry with what will now
be a combined network of over 250 plus techni-
38 JULY 2014
cians across the United States.

Im
excited
about the shared mission we have with Ryko
around partnering with customers
to build more profitable car washes, explained Hank Richard, CEO,
National Carwash Solutions. Both
Rykos and NCS shared strong customer
centric commitment and keen interest in providing the industrys premier consulting services
is what makes the difference in being able to earn
the trust of and build long term relationships
with customers.
Cleaning Systems,
Inc., a leading manufacturer
of cleaning and protection
products for the car wash industry,
announced several key personnel
appointments
at
its
related
divisions, Lustra Professional Car
Care Products and SAS- Solution
Application Systems, in the months
since our last issue.
Jack Bonow, a 25-year veteran of Lustra, has
been promoted to Assistant Vice President of
the companys Central U.S. and Canada Division.
Rob Raskell is appointed to Assistant Vice
President of the Western Division for
Lustra.
Speaking about the personnel appointments in a press release, John
Antonis, Vice President of Sales - CSI,
explained: Both Jack and Robs performance in sales have been influential.
They have both demonstrated excellent customer relations and problem resolution skills [and continue to be] valuable leaders
and mentors for our sales team.
Troy Wayman is now Lustras Regional Sales
Manager for the Central U.S.
In a following release about Troys appointment to regional sales manager, Antonis added,
His past experiences in the carwash industry,
convenience stores and the distribution field,
have prepared him to be a very important addition to the Lustra sales team.
Steve Underwood is Sales Representative for SAS.
We are excited to have Steve join
our SAS team, Antonis said in a release about the hire. His many years
of industry experience and numerous
contacts will quickly expose SAS products like the Mizer and ChemPod to a
broader customer base.
Continuing in personnel
news, D&S Car Wash Equipment Co, a
prominent provider of carwash systems and
equipment, announced two new hires in the past
few months.
Mike Cherry is the new Business

Development Manager for D&S. In his
new role, Mike will be responsible for
building market share for D&S by locating and developing new carwash
equipment business and working with
{continued }
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JULY 2014
39
INDUSTRY DIRT
existing customers to expand
their businesses. Mike will play a
key role in identifying new business opportunities and managing
relationships with existing D&S
distributors and customers.
HAPPENINGS IN & AROUND

SELF SERVE CARWASHING
troduce our new 2014 Accessories

catalog at the show in Chicago. The
Heres a story we know will make
only change of note was to be in the
our Editor Emeritus very proud:
free freight policy moving the minThe Great American Car Wash in Fresno, CA, honored fallen Central
imum order amount to $300 from
California service members by adding their portraits to a 9/11 mural
$200. With the increases we have
on the carwash property.
absorbed the last few years from the
The carwash closed at 4 p.m. on Memorial Day to host a ceremony
shipping companies we found we
to unveil the additions to the mural. Service members families were
needed to increase the order size to
presented with a flag that was flown over the state capital by Rep. Jim
make it economically feasible to conCostas office.
tinue the freight policy. Based on the
The fallen soldiers honored at this years ceremony were: Army Nanumbers we provided to Superior it
tional Guard Staff Sgt. Vincent Wayne Ashlock, Marine Corps Lance
is my understanding that they have
Cpl. Anthony (Tony) Edward Butterfield, and Army Pfc. Karina S Lau.
decided to accept our recommendaThe owner of the car wash, A.J. Rassamni, has commissioned artists
Prior to joining D&S, Mike was
tion and go with what was to be our
to add more than 10 Valley service members to the mural.
employed by Nuform Building
new policy.
Superior Auto Extras President
Technologies. In his most recent acGene Student said in the release, We
complishments, Mike contributed
lucrative success and broad-based
are very excited and look forward to
business development expertise
servicing the SONNYS Auto Acin both international and domescessories division customers. Supetic markets. He has a broad-based
rior will continue to offer the same
knowledge of car wash building and
SONNYS program with a much
construction management and will
expanded product offering of profit
provide senior professional experibuilders for their car wash lobby and
ence in management, manufacturing
showrooms.
and technology.
Weve been working behind the
Mark Cutright is now a Graphscenes to put in place the necessary
ic Designer for D&S. Mark will
systems to support existing SONbe using his talents to aid the
NYS accessories clients while cremarketing department by deating a strategic relationship with
signing custom graphics for D&S
SONNYS that will deliver better
customers signs, decals and carvalue to clients of both companies
wash promotional materials. In
moving forward said Student. With
addition to design work, Mark
shipping locations in Tennessee and
will also be maintaining the proCalifornia, we are positioned perfectduction of graphics that are proly to service these clients.
duced by D&S in-house graphics
To ensure a seamless transition, Sudepartment.
perior began servicing existing SONimpulse division of SONNYS Enterprises, Inc.,
Prior to joining D&S, Mark worked for the
NYS accessories clients at the time of the release.
marketed in the Auto Accessories catalog.
Midwest regions premier manufacturer of fabric,
All inquiries coming to SONNYS in regard to auto
In a March press release announcing the move,
all-metal awnings & canopies and exhibit compoaccessories are now forwarded directly to Superior
Paul
Fazio,
CEO
of
SONNYS,
explained
When
nents. Mark has nearly a decade of experience as
for instant customer service help and order fulfillmy sister Barbara came to me and explained her
a print tech and production artist and has most
ment. SONNYS customers located in California,
two
year
plan
to
move
to
North
Carolina
and
rerecently received a B.A. in both graphic design and
Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Washington
tire, that seemed like a long time in the future.
studio art from Maryville University.
or Alaska can reach the Superior warehouse in CalTurns out that was two years ago and her last days
ifornia directly at 800-445-9872 or fax at 818-362with us will be spent in Chicago at the ICA Car
2775. For all other states the Tennessee warehouse
Wash
Expo
saying
goodbye
to
the
clients
and
vencan be reached directly at 866-445-9872 or fax at
SONNYS, the largest manufacturer of
dors she has worked with for years. Barbaras main
901-794-2898.
conveyorized carwash equipment, parts, and
responsibilities
centered
on
the
catalog
side
of
supplies in the world, and Superior Auto Extras,
Sonnys and more specifically focused on the Auto
Accessories division. With her departure, we deIn additional news from
cided our clients that buy auto accessories would
SONNYS, the company announced it has
best be served by a company in our industry that
named Kevin J. Collette as Vice President of Sales
specializes in this market - so we called Gene and
- Compact Tunnel Organization (CTO). As V.P.
Eddie
at
Superior.
leading national distributors of merchandise to the
of Sales for CTO, Collette will create and oversee
Fazio continued, Having gotten to know these
car wash industry, have announced a new strategic
the distribution network for SONNYS line of
guys
over
my
years
in
the
industry
I
am
very
comrelationship. Superior Auto Extras will take
mini tunnels, as well as all sales to high volume gas
fortable with this decision. We were going to inpossession of the assets of the auto accessories/
{continued }
40 JULY 2014
JULY 2014
41
A Division of DuBois Chemicals
42 JULY 2014

station, c-store, and self-serve automatic sites.
We welcome Kevin to our team and feel that
his wealth of knowledge and experience will greatly benefit SONNYS and help our customers grow
their businesses, said SONNYS CEO Paul Fazio.
We are confident that our Xtreme Xpress mini
tunnel line is the perfect addition to help them
grow profitability.
Collette was a co-founder of Istobal USA, where
he served as President and was responsible for Istobal operations in the United States and Canada.
He studied at the University of Maine, where he
majored in Business.
The New York

State Car Wash
Association
(NYSCWA)
NYSCWA) hosted a carwash
tour and buffet lunch, as well
as a guided tour of the Saratoga
Automobile Museum in May.
The wash tour consisted of
four stops:
Hoffmans Car Wash in Saratoga,
featuring a 170-foot flex-serve tunnel, a
detailing center and one of the most successful
Jiffy Lube service stations in the U.S.;
Hoffmans Car Wash in Clifton Park;
Clean2O, a state-of-the-art touchfree carwash; and
Ricks Robo Car Wash, an IBA location with
both friction and touchfree equipment.
WashIdeas.com,
a podcast and
blog devoted to carwash industry topics, has
relaunched under new ownership, according to a
joint press release from former owner and founder
Ryan Carlson and new owner Perry Powell.
The release featured these remarks from Carlson: Years ago I created a podcast and a blog all
about the car wash industry, customer loyalty, marketing, and
brought together each week a panel of experts from within the wash
industry to discuss news, events,
and best practices that owners and
operators could benefit from. In
an effort to continue the work I
began in the car wash industry, I
am pleased to announce the transfer of the WashIdeas site into the
knowledgeable hands (and brain)
of Perry Powell.
As many of you know, Perry has
worked for many years in the car
wash industry helping business
owners truly understand how their
business works. Perry was the first
sign consultant that Id ever met
INDUSTRY DIRT
that used neurological science to create menu

signs to influence human behavior and buying
habits. His career has taken him through a variety
of sign, sales, marketing, and business matters pertinent to the car wash industry. I learned a lot from
Perry and others like him as a result of my work
on WashIdeas.
On Monday, June 2nd - 2014 Perry will launch
an entirely new WashIdeas website reflecting his
vision and expertise within the wash industry. I
encourage you to participate in this new venture
as I am sure that Perry will provide very useful
information for you all.
Thank you again for the time we shared, it was
truly a highpoint in my career in the wash industry
- to this day I still slow down and rubberneck when driving by a car wash facility.
Powell added his own remarks:
To all my car wash colleagues, I am
grateful for the time I have spent in
the industry and the friends I have
made through the years, not the least
of which, is Ryan Carlson. Our industry is not the better for his absence.
I look forward to advancing the concept, first
conceived by Ryan, and placing my own fingerprints
on the effort.
Those interested are able to visit the current
site and sign up for the upcoming announcements
and be notified of the launch on the current site,
www.washideas.com.
IMO, the worlds largest

carwash company with 834 sites
located throughout 12 European countries and
Australia, has been sold to private equity group
TDR Capital.
The terms of the transaction, which was actually
called off over two years ago after the companys
owners rejected an earlier offer from the collection

of banks and hedge funds, have not been disclosed.
IMO had struggled since it was acquired by private equity firm Carlyle in 2006. In 2009, a controversial restructuring wiped out nearly $170
million of junior debt and almost $340 million of
senior debt.
We are pleased to have the opportunity to invest in a resilient, market leading business such
as IMO, Jonathan Rosen, TDR Partner said in a
British newspaper report. We think its an interesting, strong cash-flow platform from which to
invest more capital, and we look forward to supporting Mike Smith and his team as they grow the
business.
Today marks a new chapter for our business
and I am delighted to have TDR Capital as our
new owner, Mike Smith, Executive Chairman of
IMO said.IMO is in great shape, and will have
an appropriate capital structure that positions it
well to grow as the industry leader in a fragmented
market. We have a clear strategy to enhance the
returns from our existing estate as we look to continue our successful refurbishment programme
and we will continue to develop new sites in our
key growth markets.
No doubt youve already

heard, but just in case you missed this
tidbit: Nissan is now testing an innovative paint
technology that can supposedly repel mud, rain
and everyday dirt, according to a press release
from the companys European division.
The release explains that the specially engineered super-hydrophobic and oleophobic paint
has already been applied to the all-new (European market only) Nissan Note to create (and we
quote) the worlds first self-cleaning car. Adding
that the coating can create a protective layer of
air between the paint and environment, the release said it effectively stops standing
water and road spray from creating
dirty marks on the cars surface. The
company believes it has responded
well to common use cases including
rain, spray, frost, sleet and standing
water.
The still-in-testing technology even
has a registered trademark and name,
Ultra-Ever Dry, and is being marketed and sold by UltraTech International Inc. Nissan is the first and only
company to test the coating so far and
there are no plans for it to be applied
as a model standard. Nissan will continue to consider the coating technology as a future aftermarket option,
the release said.
The release, which made it clear
JULY 2014
43
INDUSTRY DIRT
that UltraTech and Nissan believe professional carwashes are
labor intensive and expensive,
said engineers are currently testing the self-cleaning Note in a
variety of conditions to test its
real-world effectiveness. There
is also video of the paint in action that is currently circulating
the Internet. It features a vehicle
which has had half of its body
treated with the paint splashing
through the mud and the results
are as you would expect the
company would want them to be
before releasing a brag-tastic video.
But its not all doom and gloom for the carwash
industry. Carwashbusinessblog.com published a
few remarks from Eric Wulf, CEO of the International Carwash Association, in response to the
news back at the end of April.
In an e-mail to carwashbusinessblog.com, he
noted the following:
1. Obviously, this has the potential to be a
game-changer. But, from the information Ive reviewed, it is not yet ready for prime time.
2. The surface will degrade quicker than the
life of the car, so it is probably not a permanent
solution. Sun and stones, for example, will degrade its effectiveness.
3. There seem to be some issues with what colors
this will work with, and it isnt yet perfected for all
paint types.
4. There are concerns, particularly in the EU,
about the health and environmental impacts of
some of the processes to create these products
(some of which is under the category of nanotechnology). Apparently, current testing methods are not necessarily appropriate for some of
these substances.
Also, even when/if these substances are perfected, they do not prevent the cars from getting dirty it only makes it easier for them to
be cleaned. So, while rain might rinse much of
the dirt from the car, that doesnt mean there
wouldnt be dirty cars.
The following update on

New York City
Councils
recent attempts to license
carwash facilities comes from
the NYSCWA website, www.
nyscwa.com, and was written
by William Y. Crowell, III:
Melissa Mark-Viverito, the
new Speaker of the New York
City Council, has introduced a
local law to license carwash fa-
44 JULY 2014
Melissa
Mark-Viverito

cilities as Introduction 125 of 2014 (Licensing Details). Prior to becoming Speaker, Councilmember
Mark-Viverito had introduced carwash licensing legislation in 2012-2013. This new introduction is more
comprehensive than her previous introduction.
Under the current proposal, it is unlawful to
operate a carwash without a license. A license is
valid for a year and must be renewed annually. The
application fee is $300 for each location. An applicant for a license is required to disclose anyone
with a financial interest of 10 percent or more in
the carwash. An applicant is required to provide
written proof of compliance with all laws and regulations, including:
Permits for groundwater wastewater discharge
or verification of exemption;
Rules concerning discharge of materials and
substances into public sewers;
Source where the carwash draws its water;
Amount of water drawn from public sources;
Amount of water discharged into public sewers;
Wastewater filtration system per construction
drawings;
Dates of removal of car wash sludge including
methods to remove sludge;
A logbook of monitoring and inspection activities for wastewater systems;
Material safety data sheets for chemicals used
in car wash operations;
A lab analysis of wastewater discharged to a
public sewer; and
Permit to use non-potable groundwater or
verification of exemption.
These compliance requirements are also imposed on licensees.
An applicant is also required to provide a surety bond in the amount of $300,000. The bond is
required to cover not only government fines and
penalties, but also unpaid wages or violations of
statutory rights.
This local law requires that carwashes maintain
a comprehensive log detailing any damage caused
to vehicles and compensation paid to customers.
The Commissioner of Consumer Affairs is given
discretion to deny a license to an applicant who lacks good character, honesty and integrity. Among the factors for
consideration are unpaid taxes, unpaid
back wages, and violations of applicable
regulations.
A license for a carwash facility shall
be subject to suspension or revocation
based on a failure to pay a court judgment. The Consumer Affairs Commissioner has the ability to suspend or revoke a carwash license upon notice and
hearing for fraud or other violations.
This local law also authorizes the
Commissioner of Consumer Affairs to
prescribe procedures for:
Ensuring that tanks are of sufficient volume to
handle flow of wastewater from the car wash and
Removal of sludge with appropriate frequency.
The discharge of sludge residues is prohibited
except in small quantities as may be present in
normal household wastes.
The Commissioner of Consumer Affairs would
require that carwashes maintain the following records for a minimum of 10 years:
Construction drawings and as built plans for
wastewater filtration systems;
Records specifying date and manner of sludge
removal;
Logbook of monitoring and inspection results
for wastewater systems and processes; and
Material safety data sheets (now called SDS)
that indicate chemicals used in the carwash.
A carwash is defined to include waterless or dry
wash systems. There is an exemption for carwashing that is ancillary to the primary business of selling, leasing or repairing automobiles.
Finally, under this proposed local law, the
Commissioner of Consumer Affairs would assess whether a carwash is required to maintain
an industrial wastewater discharge permit as a
condition to obtain and maintain a license. The
Commissioner would further determine whether
a carwash should be mandated to use grease interceptors, and is authorized to promulgate regulations for such interceptors.
As the brief outline above demonstrates, this
proposed local law expands on the requirements
of the prior legislation introduced in 2012. The
Commissioner of Consumer Affairs is given significant authority to regulate the carwash industry
under this proposal.
With Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viveritos
new role as Speaker of the City Council, it is almost a certainty that a local law regulating carwashes in New York City will be passed by the
City Council.
William Y. Crowell, III, is a partner with the
Albany-based law firm of Whitman Osterman &
Hanna LLC. You can reach him at 518/487-7677
JULY 2014
45
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We switched to the Ultraflex and Mizer systems because we wanted to improve

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ash.org
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www.swcarwash.org
www.swcarwash.org
www.swcarwash.org
46 JULY 2014
INNOVATIONS
BRIGHT NEW IDEAS, PRODUCTS &

SERVICES FOR SELF SERVE CARWASHES
The Lustra Ultraflex System provides the control of chemical usage, foam, scent and color.
Ultraflex also provides environmentally friendly
chemicals and 100% community recyclable packaging. The Mizer System provides an efficient and
effective way to deliver chemical solutions to the
application equipment in the car wash.
a great asset to our business, according to Jim

Collins, owner/operator of Rainbow Car Wash in
Hyde, PA. Its helping with our customer retention, attracting new customers, adding value to our
services, and increasing time in the wash bay. People love to try new things, and [The Underbody
System] is definitely something that was needed
in the self-serve bay.
From HydroSpray - Self-Serve

Underbody System
Looking for an easy way to increase your customers time in the self serve bay? The Self-Serve
Underbody System from Hydro-Spray provides a
simple, fast and easy way to add a unique service
option to your carwash without purchasing expensive new equipment.
Designed by a carwash operator who saw the
need to give his customers a better way to wash
the bottom side of their vehicle, the Self-Serve
Underbody System is an ideal product for removing mud, road salt and grit from the bottom of any
size vehicle.
Compatible with all self-serve car wash equipment, this system easily adapts to any existing
From Genesys Payment Solution
high pressure pump and is controlled by the rotary

switch on any existing meter box, making it a great
add-on to your business.
Each system comes pre-wired, pre-plumbed,
and is packaged in a kit so you are sure to have all
the right components to start generating additional revenue immediately.
The Self-Serve Underbody System has been
The Genesys CryptoPay System is an innovative payment solution providing affordable card
processing equipment, wholesale processing fees
and the highest level of credit card security in the
carwash industry with true End-to-End encryption from the point of credit card swipe contact
through payment processing.
The CryptoPay System consists of a CryptoNet
Coordinator, End-to-End Encrypted Card Readers, and the CryptoNet Secure Radio Network.
Swipe-style readers are available with an optionally
integrated stainless steel lighted push button. These
advanced generation readers consolidate the pow{continued }
SOFTGLOSS XS
NEOGLIDE
BRUSHES
JULY 2014
47
48 JULY 2014
Need More
Customers?
JULY 2014
49
INNOVATIONS
er supply, control, and the CryptoNet electronics
into a single package reducing system cost. Security
threats are greatly reduced by never allowing cardholder data to be out in the clear.To complete the
CryptoPay System, a single CryptoNet Coordinator
connects to your internet service and supports every POS card reader located at your car wash site.
Thats CryptoPay, the secure, low cost and easy to
install card accepting solution. Start enjoying more
profits today!
From All Paws

Pet Wash - Flip-Tub
Pet Wash
Great news: You no longer have to give up a
carwash bay to diversify your business and maximize profitability with a pet wash unit! The All
Paws Pet Wash Flip-Tub station from All Paws Pet
Wash was specially designed to maximize usable
area in confined spaces. Its perfect for self serve
carwashes, allowing a vehicle to fit in the bay to be
washed when the tub is in the flipped up position. When the user is ready to wash their pet, the
tub is placed in the flipped down position and
the unit is ready to use! Best of both worlds!
BRIGHT NEW IDEAS, PRODUCTS &

SERVICES FOR SELF SERVE CARWASHES
From Diskin Systems - Tire Shine System

The new Hot Rubber Tire Shine System
from Diskin Systems
will increase profits
and improve the customer
experience.
These units mount inside your pump room,
while the twin coil
hose and wand run
inside the self service
bay. In addition to
the tire shine system,
the new space saving
Tire Shine boom from
Diskin Systems can be used in any carwash, including those with limited space. The boom is
jointed to allow it to retract to the center of the
bay (no springs are necessary). This boom increases in height when unfolded to allow maximum vehicle height clearance at the center of the bay. The
compact size of this boom allows it to be mounted

underneath a foaming brush or other booms. This
allows carwash owners to add more features to
their selector switch, which increases the amount
of time customers spend in the bay...ultimately increasing the revenue of the carwash owner!
From WashCard Systems Card Dispenser and Recharging Center

The WashCard Dispenser and Recharging Center
from WashCard Systems
is completely programmable to allow for a variety of
marketing and promotional
opportunities. The unit dispenses cards with variable
starting pre-paid balance,
depending on the initial
purchase amount made by
either cash or credit. Custom four-color graphics are
added to the Rechargers
front panel to match the
custom printed WashCards.
A bright LCD displays the
instructions, menu options,
card balances, and amounts added to the card.
Best of all: WashCard users spend on average
50% more in the self service bay and Wash operators with WashCard on their automatic entry
systems report that the average dollar per wash
increases over $1.00 per wash. Additionally, the
most common recharge on a WashCard is $20
Submit your product release
with cash and $50 with credit card. Card dispensers sell an average of five cards more per day than
conventional distribution and sales methods; the
more prepaid cards in circulation, the more return
business is to be expected. And each prepaid card
potentially has value on it that is never redeemed!
Do you have a product that might benefit self serve carwash operators? Tell us about it by e-mailing katec@sscwn.com.
50 JULY 2014
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52 JULY 2014
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JULY 2014
53
TRICKS TRADE
OF
THE
ADVICE AND AWARENESS

FROM CARWASH VETERANS
ON AUTO CARE FORUM
A. Milton: I am new to the self serve

carwash industry. I find this website so
valuable; I have learned so much. I was
wondering what tip you prefer to use in
your self serve bays? I have used 3206s
sold at Kleen-Rite, but wondered what
others use and why?
Photo of truck wash provided

by 2Biz, autocareforum.com.
sjb: Greetings. As a 17-year rookie in the SS car wash game (with an 8 bay wash in Atlanta), I am
working on a new gig for all the large vehicles that have wanted to use my wash, but we previously
couldnt easily accommodate due to their sizes. Specifically: Food trucks, custom buses, occasional
boats, etc. I am in the process of honky rigging bay #8 with 35-foot hoses for the wand and the
foam brush. The goal will be to sell them our tokens worth $2 each (3 minutes and 20 seconds of
washing bliss) so they dont spend all their time pumping in quarters. I am certainly willing to sell
them tokens in advance with an increasing discount value.
A big part of this endeavor is that we are now actively attracting the food truck businesses by
offering them to set-up in front of the wash and charging a small site location fee. The signage and
marketing of this will be crucial, but my question is besides the signage, guerrilla and
SM marketing endeavors, have you already done this and what else would you do
to enhance this new channel...?
Thanks in advance for your ideas and suggestions!
MEP001: If you do this, be prepared to have to

either monitor the bay to keep out dump trucks and
rigs, or to clean lots of mud and grease after them.
Ive run a couple washes with a tall bay, and its a job
in itself to keep just that bay clean. On the plus side,
theyre willing to pay whatever you want to charge
to use it.
2Biz: Here is a picture of my truck bay. It has an 8
I-Beam arch with 14-15 of clearance to the boom.
Even the tallest 18 Wheeler can get under it. The
Fire Dept and Life Squads also keep it busy. I do
get some farm equipment occasionally and muddy
trucks But for the most part, they keep the mess in
the truck bay where it belongs. Maybe this will give
you some ideas?
JGinther: Not sure of your budget, but I would
look into a card system with fleet capabilities over
the tokens. We used to have token packages and a
few liked the simplicity, but most decision makers
in charge of the fleets despise their drivers and think
everyone of them steals at every opportunity. If you
can send a bill monthly with usage and times assigned
to drivers, the managers go for it every time. Our
truck bays are especially loved by the tow truck guys
- we have 11 tow truck companies alone. We have
54 JULY 2014
got no heat from

telling any fleet
company that may
leave muddy messes that there will
be a $15 fee added
to the card for excessive mud. We now have
7 oilfield accounts that
spend between $4,000-$6,000
a month - much of it mud charges. It
pays for the attendant, the pumping, and then some
(although you probably have to be in oilfield heaven
for this to work). Our fleet billing now accounts for
9% of our gross across all of our sites. Of course, we
have to run that end of the business as a professional vendor now: we have to answer calls, assign new
cards to employees, cancel broken cards, etc.; but it
is very worth it for us.
Stuart: I have an RV bay and I get much more
than RVs. (I knew I would.) I get dump trucks,
tractor/trailers, tow trucks, farm tractors, parking lot
cleaners. Stay on top of the cleaning and tell them to
clean after making their mess. It can be a good source
of business, but it can cost you more in upkeep.
Randy: We use a 1505 nozzle at 1400 - 1500 psi.

The 1505 nozzle with the narrower 15-degree angle
gives the customer the impression that they are getting a lot more pressure than they are. When they
pull the trigger, these is some kick to the gun. The
15-degree nozzle also makes it easier to hose/wash
out the bay.
We have a Cat 310 pump with a Cat regulator,
powered with 3 hp Baldor motor. This set up is 32
years old
A. Milton: Thanks. Ill have to look into the 1505.
I have an older setup, too. I believe they called it old
school when I bought it. I am still getting familiar
with everything and I mean every little thing. I spend
a lot of time reading past posts on this forum and
have learned so much. I thank you all.
MEP001: I run 2506 at 1200 PSI. If we had a lot
of people with mud or other heavy stuff Id
probably go with a narrower tip, but the 25
degree covers better. I run the V-spray MEG tips lose much of their impact
more than 12 away, and most customers are at a couple feet. Theres
also less risk of someone injuring
themselves with a V-spray.
swampdonkey: I use 3206
tips. Have for years.
2Biz: +1 on the 2506 and
1200psi Experimenting with different tips is just something I havent
done yet!
sjb: Last year I switched over to the 2504 tips as
they only put out 2 gallons per minute at 1000 psi.
In Atlanta, were my wash is, we have one of the most
expensive water costs in the country, so this has had
a positive effect on my bottom line. The negative is
they do clog up more often.
cfcw: I use a 2506 imeg.
Stuart: I have 4006 on-line for the past 15+ years.
washnvac: I have a 2505, with 1200 psi at the
pump.
Jeff_L: I have a 1505 for the 4 bays closest to the
equipment room, 1506 for the two bays furthest
away. Running the pumps at 1250 psi.
2.5 oz.
12 Cans/case
Black Ice
Coconut
New Car
VS09055
VS09017
VS09089
Counter
Display
VS09000-AC
Strawberry
Vanillaroma
White Water
VS09012
VS09005
VS09044
JULY 2014
55
TRICKS TRADE
OF
THE
DiamondWash: A 9506 imeg would be

interesting.
A. Milton: I, too, have 6 bays. Ive always wondered about hose sizes for those 2 bays...if a smaller or larger size line/hose would make a difference
in getting product to them quicker. Jeff_L, do you
tweak the size of your hoses to those 2 bays?
Jeff_L: No. I use stainless steel instrument tubing
for HP to all the bays. Above each bay is a manifold where all my LP product and air injects as
MEP instructs.
MEP001: If youre referring to the bay hose just
from the boom down, a smaller hose makes a minimal difference in how fast product reaches the gun.
The best ways to get it to the tip faster are to have
separate lines for each low-pressure product to the
boom, to mix the product with air, and to use a decent amount of pressure. I also purge the bay hose
with air so if the next customer starts on a low-pressure feature it hits the tip in about four seconds.
cfcw: MEP, is there a simple way to do this?
MEP001: I already had a programmable relay and
a common air solenoid in place, so it was simple. I
just had to add a ladder to the program to make the
purge happen. It would be more complicated otherwise - you could use an existing air solenoid and isolate it with relays and control it with the same programmable relay, or possibly put together a whole
separate system just like the anti-freeze purge.
soapy: I like a 1508 at 1200 psi. I see a lot of mud.
For every 25% increase in water volume you double
the impingement on the car surface.
cantbreak80: I like 4007 at 1200 psi. They
deliver almost 4 gpm to the customers (who never
complain about it) and the 40-degree pattern speeds
up bay floor cleanup for me.
trent u: I was using 2507 then switched to 2505s and havent heard
any complaints, running at 1100 psi.
tdlconceptsllc: I use 2503 to reduce my water consumption and my water bill is still $1,300 a
month in NC Orange County
THE
24/7
OPERATOR
ROUNDTABLE
56 JULY 2014
ADVICE AND AWARENESS FROM THE SELF

SERVE CAR WASH INDUSTRY
Editors Note: This post and the rst two replies were originally posted in 2010. The thread was
resurrected by Jimmys in April of this year, and is included in this issue because of its particular
resonance with our cover story about water and environmental issues in the carwash industry. It is
our hope we might be able to foster more conversation about this unique concept and we encourage
you to write us at katec@sscwn.com or to add your voice to the conversation at autocareforum.com
Waxman: Zebra Mussels are a real and present threat to our most precious resource; WATER.
Our industry would greatly benefit if we could somehow get it together on an industry-wide,
self-service carwash level and implement a chemical/process/tracking system for boat and trailer
decontamination.
Individuals have done studies on charity carwash runoff and its harmful effects on wildlife and
water supply. This was a big and important step that has definitely benefitted society as well as the
environment.
How about a chemical company stepping forward to develop and offer an antifungal/decontamination chemical that SS carwashes could downstream with hot water to kill Zebra Mussels?
We could all offer this on the SS selector dial and folks could decontaminate their boats and
trailers themselves and help prevent the spread of this invasive species.
I offer the boat washing/decontamination process at my wash in conjunction w/ a state agency
and we have a specific protocol that is in place and does work. However, I am thinking of a way for
the public to perform the task themselves at SS carwashes that could somehow make this idea a
workable, feasible idea.
I am aware there are obvious challenges to implementing this idea, but are they so great that they
cannot be overcome? I dont think so.
What are your thoughts on this idea?
bigleo48: Waxman, My wash is in a

community in the 1000 Islands Area
of the mighty St-Lawrence River. The
whole zebra mussels thing hit here
about 10 years ago or so. Initially they
spread like wildfire and then kinda
maxed themselves out. They really
cleaned the river and visibility when
to about 30 feet!
Zebra Mussel
Nobody has really spoken about it
for years now and the signs that existed about boat and trailer cross-waterand will use potassium chloride that I buy at Home
way contamination disappeared. So no longer a big
Depot. Yes, that is the other stuff they soften water
enough issue here to warrant a spot on my SS dial.
with. I would just change to it but it is $22 a bag
I do not discourage boats in my SS (as everyone
rather than $4 for the salt.
has one around here it seems), however I find myself
It takes as little as 100 ppm to kill the mussels and
explaining to people why my soaps dont work well
I am infusing 800 ppm into the water. YES, it is
on algae, mussels and the like. As you know you need
safe to drink! It is just soft water! I am also infusing
a strong acid to dislodge those and not something I
800 ppm of sodium chloride in the rest of the water,
can put on the dial. Also the soaps dont do well on
since I am a 100% soft water wash as I am sure the
aluminum and gel coat surfaces as they are very difmost of you are.
ferent to clear-coat paints.
Next I am going to connect the water heater that
has
never been connected since we are here in arimac: Simply come up with a tasty recipe for them,
zona and havent seen a freeze in the past 100 years.
like someone did for chicken wings, and the problem
OK........so tell me why this wont work (like my
will go away.
wife and son have told me). This really seems like a
Jimmys: Well I wasnt around when these posts
no brainer. My only concern is the city might get their
were made. I m a newbie (6 months) but am very
panties in a wad with all these mussels being flushed
interested in this topic.
down the sewer, but in ALL my reading I cannot find
1. It is something I can do for the environment;
one instance where they have invaded the sanitary
2. It can help people decontaminate their boats; and
sewers. (I never have understood why they call them
3. It could make me a hero in my town, as well as
sanitary sewers, seems they are quite unsanitary to
keep my car wash VERY busy.
me.) In storm drains the mussels have been a problem
I have been reading everything I could on this subbut I could not find a single problem in sewers.
ject and it seems pretty simple to me.
Waxman, I read what you had to say and am curiTwo things kill the mussels. Hot Water (above
ous what kind of setup you have to decontaminate.
140%) and potassium chloride.
Also what kind of relationship is it you have with
I already installed a potassium chloride infuser.
your state? How is it working out?
That is to say I put in a second soft water system,
JULY 2014
57
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By: Kate Carr
What you need to know about legislation and historical

trends in water use by the professional carwash industry.
Six years ago, I had a conversation with the carwash industrys most well-known water use advocate and crusader, former ICA president Bill Sartor.
Sartor, who is a much sought after consultant and
advisor to operators facing water use restrictions
due to drought conditions, explained the industrys problem in a nutshell: Ive never been asked
to work on a proactive case, he told me then. Its
always reactive, and then its always harder.
Sartor, general partner of four Washem Car Wash
self serve locations in San Antonio, TX, and a recipient of the Environmental Protection Agencys Water Efficiency Leader Award, worked tirelessly to
turn the tide for the professional carwash industry
after his own wash faced the risk of closure when
a drought devastated his area in 1996. A year after
our chat (which was also the basis for a rather blunt
editorial I wrote for Professional Carwashing & Detailing that year), the industry finally seemed to be
catching on. In 2009, the International Carwash Association announced the creation of WaterSavers, a
recognition program designed to help professional
carwashes promote their environmentally responsible business practices, and many regional associations launched certification and conservation programs that same year.
So now, nearly 20 years after the drought that
first forced Sartor into the spotlight, and five years
after the creation of WaterSavers, where do we find
ourselves?
Perhaps not as ahead of the issue as we would
like; although we most definitely have the resources
needed to get there.
In 2014, drought conditions in California and
Texas pushed the issue of water conservation to the

metaphorical surface yet again. A review of regional
news stories reveals mixed results. The media seems
to be somewhat informed about the environmental benefits of professional carwashes, but legislators and local utilities can be indifferent and public
opinion is still discouraging. Too many car owners
believe commercial carwashes use significantly more water than an at-home carwash, and the
vast majority remain ignorant to the environmental
harm an at-home or charity carwash can cause.
The difference in tone seems to come down to
one factor: The local operator. In instances where
the carwash owner (or sometimes, the regional association) has taken charge in connecting with government and media, the headline is, Professional
{continued }
JULY 2014
59
WATER REPORT
carwashes save water. Flip the coin, and you get
declarations like the one made by former Georgia
Governor Sonny Perdue, who urged Georgians to
drive dirty cars as a badge of honor while their
state was battling drought in 2007.
To add to the complexities of media and government relations during drought, operators in Arlington County, Virginia, are dealing with a whole
nother animal. The county became the first in the
state to ban charity carwash events after stricter
regulations for their new stormwater permitting
plans were announced. The plans have been beefed
up as a result of the Chesapeake Bay cleanup effort
which is affecting six states and the District of
Columbia, suggesting other counties and perhaps even states might consider similar measures. Youd think this would bear good tidings for
the carwash industry, right? Think again.
Instead of focusing on research which proves
parking lot carwash runoff pollutes local waterways (there are two such studies), an article about
the ban in The Washington Post instead focused on
the inconvenience such legislation posed to an Arlington Boy Scout troop which was forced to cancel two carwash fundraisers it had scheduled for the
summer.
West Coast states that suffer water shortages or
have strong environmental lobbies have long focused
public education and enforcement efforts on the effects of carwashes, the article said. Some right wing
blogs were quick to cry foul, claiming the legislation was part of the liberal environmentalist agenda.
Guess who was stuck in the mud? The carwash in-
Did you know?

Amendments made to the Clean Water
Act in 1972 make it unlawful to
discharge any pollutant from a point
source into navigable waters, unless
a permit is obtained. Individual homes
that are connected to a municipal
system, use a septic system, or do
not have a surface discharge are
exempt from this rule. Although it is
hardly enforced in this manner, the
law effectively outlaws most charity
parking lot carwashes.
dustry. Some bloggers accused the industry of selfishly lobbying for the legislation (they didnt) and aiding government overreach. Nevermind that charity
carwash events hosted at carwashes are nearly always
more profitable than parking lot versions -- just ask

the community groups in San Antonio, TX, where
charities have been mandated (under city code) to
use commercial carwash facilities for their fundraisers for nearly 10 years!
Actually -- thats a good idea. Lets return to the
Alamo City. Well start at the beginning of this mess
and take a look back at the lessons the carwash
industry has learned from two decades of trial and
error conducted across the country.
1997. WHAT WE LEARNED

FROM SAN ANTONIO:
Partner with your
municipality.
So, as weve mentioned, San Antonio was facing
drought in 1996. Bill Sartor didnt know it then,
but his efforts here to unite the carwash industry
and the citys water regulators would become the
foundation for his legacy in the carwash industry. At the time, Sartor was just hoping to avoid
a shutdown -- which was where the situation was
headed by the time he managed to organize operators in the city and raise funds (about $50,000)
to hire lawyers to represent their cause.
Sartors efforts to unite the groups in San Antonio have been written about in detail, but the key
to partnering with the municipality can be summarized in two words: collaboration and corroboration. He advised carwash operators to approach
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60 JULY 2014
the situation just as a bureaucrat

would; always amiably pointing
out the advantages to the citys
coffers and offering plenty of
data to back-up your interests
without pushing your own agenda too aggressively.
Bill Sartor
It was through this spirit of
collaboration and corroboration
that the Southwest Car Wash Association (SCWA)
and the San Antonio Water System (SAWS) were
able to partner together to create the industrys
first certified carwash program in 1997, the SAWS
WaterSaver Car Wash Program. The program has
continued to adapt and grow over the years and
continues to be one of the best models for certification in our industry.
One of the biggest takeaways from the programs success (which was summarized at The
Car Wash show in Chicago this year by Brandon
Leister, conservation planner for SAWS, as part
of an educational program presented by PurClean and is included in full in a sidebar to this
story) is to incentivize participation for carwash
owners. In fact, most carwash operations can easily
check-off the programs requirements, but getting
them to do the paperwork and schedule the inspection is the hard part.
So how does SAWS motivate these operators? By
offering rebates (in SAWS case; sewer credits, free
nozzles and protectors, and allowances for reclaim
technology) and recognizing certified carwashes in
times of drought by allowing more hours of operation than un-certified locations. Not only that, but
in 2005, the city banned all charity carwashes that
didnt happen at commercial carwash facilities and
promoted this policy heavily.
There is so much to admire about the SAWS program -- but the one thing its failed to do is catch
on. To date, it remains one of the only programs to
directly partner a water utility and carwash busi-
Did you know?

In 2012, Rhode Island carwash
operators were able to successfully
argue the environmental advantages
(water conservation, reclaim, and
runoff capture) of professional
carwashing in order to exempt their
businesses from a seven percent
sales tax increase.
nesses in the nation (the practice caught on

a bit in Colorado, but is practically unheard of elsewhere). Even within San Antonio, with such strong
incentives, the enrollment still isnt 100 percent.
So, while we end this particular chapter with a bit
of a sour taste in our mouths, lets continue rolling
through the archives
WATER REPORT
FROM THE ICA:
Study your water use and
conservation tactics.
In response to SCWAs success in San Antonio and also to water use restrictions imposed
by states in the eastern part of the country, the
ICA commissioned a survey of techniques used
to conserve and reclaim water in the car wash
industry and to define those techniques in a
standardized manner in 1999. The report, titled
Water Conservation in the Professional Carwash
Industry, suggested several next steps for the industry, some of which were pursued by the ICA,
some of which have seemingly fallen off the table,
and one of which was attended to by an individual
operator/industry do gooder (more on that later).
The recommendations of the report are worth returning to as we consider this subject 15 years after
it was first published. They were as follows:
1. One tool which will assist in the expansion of
reclaim is the development of a cost-of-water ruler
by which to generate a figure for dollars of savings
depending on the reclaim system which an opera{continued }
JULY 2014
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WATER REPORT
tor installs. This ruler would enable an operator to
more quickly calculate when the marginal costs of
water and sewer in their area made a reclaim system payback period reasonable.
2. The lack of data to statistically corroborate the
various claims of professional car wash operators
and manufacturers about the efficiencies of reclaim,
and the wide variety of reclaim systems in use suggest several basic research approaches:
Develop a statistically valid survey tool to determine the extent of reclaim systems in use,
the various components and the most common
configurations, the wash cycles in which they
are used, and professional carwash operators
estimated water and cost savings and increases
in maintenance.
Perform an end-use study to quantify savings
from reclaim systems in various professional
car wash types. By actually performing enduse studies the industry will be able to move
beyond mechanical estimates which are often
viewed with skepticism in the regulatory community. The ICA will also find that there may
be matching funds from utilities for some of
these studies in areas with water shortages or
lack of treatment capacity.
Develop a study on the contribution to pollution prevention of stormwater of professional
car washes. By quantifying the amount of material that runs off a home car wash on a driveway, versus the material caught through the
filtering materials of a professional car wash, a
contribution to the nations waterways can be
substantiated.
3. Professional car wash operators need to market their conservation efforts to their customers. A
successful campaign which emphasizes the benefits
to the environment of the conservation and reclaim
efforts of the professional car wash operation will
help not only protect car wash operators during
times of drought, but also educate consumers about
tradeoffs that occur with regard to color, odor or
rinse water. The ICA might produce a general brochure or pamphlet that can be used by the individual professional operator in their car wash.
4. Education of operators to the needs of a properly functioning reclaim system is essential. The
ICA should consider beginning an education program similar to other industries where an individual
can receive a license or certificate which signifies
a greater level of training and expertise in reclaim
processes. Such training should include both theoretical background material as well practical operating information. The theoretical understanding will
assist in avoiding future problems of using incompatible chemicals and treatment techniques which
has resulted in some abandoned reclaim systems
throughout the country.
5. In addition to certifying operators, the ICA
should develop a national certification program for
professional car wash operations. Using signage, like
the San Antonio program or the EPAs WAVE Pro-
64 JULY 2014
gram for hotels/motels, the program will help educate the public about the benefits of reclaim and
conservation and the contribution that the Certified Professional Carwashes are making to their
communities. Undoubtedly, many local utilities will
sign on as partners, as will perhaps a national organization like the EPA or the American Water Works
Association.
Around the same time as the report was published, the ICA also set in motion two studies (both
published in 2002) which would benefit the industry by helping it to understand more about its water
use. (The reports are available in full on the ICAs
website, www.carwash.org):
Water Use in the Professional Car Wash Industry. This two-year study is designed to assess
both water usage including the impact of evaporation and carryout, and wastewater quality
including solid waste. The principle objective
of this study is to determine the volume difference between fresh water consumed and
wastewater discharged while quantifying the
average water consumption per vehicle by professional car washes.
Water Effluent and Solid Waste Characteristics in the Professional Car Wash Industry. The
data on this two-year study was designed to
gather and analyze data regarding water usage,
wastewater discharges and contaminant levels
in solid wastes for the professional car washing
industry. This effort was undertaken to educate
individuals about the influence our industry
has on the environment.
Ten years after the report, the ICA enthusiastically embraced the idea of creating a national
recognition program and a water conservation PR
campaign, which culminated in the 2009 launch
of WaterSavers and continues today in the form
of partnership with municipality and water regulators and media events (see our interview with
ICA COO Claire Moore for more on the success of

those efforts).
The significance of this particular chapter?
Knowledge is power. Research, particularly studies
on water use within the professional carwash industry, is paramount to advancing our cause. These
studies can be used today to advance a conversation
with water legislators and disprove the common
misconception that commercial carwashes waste
water. If another industry-wide study isnt in the
cards, the operator might consider taking matters
into his own hand (see below) or urging his regional
association to conduct a local report.

FROM WASHINGTON STATE:
At-home and charity
carwashes hurt the
environment.
You might recall from just a few paragraphs ago
that one of the suggestions from the ICAs 1999 report was that the industry find a way to quantify
pollution from at-home or charity carwash events
in order to substantiate claims that the professional
carwash industry contributes to the health of the
nations waterways.
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In 2007, Vic Odermat, president and founder of
the Seattle-based Brown Bear carwash chain, celebrated his companys 50th birthday by giving it (and
the rest of the professional carwash industry) a gift
that keeps on giving: The Fish Toxicity Test Report.
The Fish Toxicity Test Report (funded by Brown
Bear but independently conducted by Environmental Partners, Inc. and Weston Solutions, a certified
testing laboratory), set out to measure, quantify
and demonstrate the acute impacts of driveway
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WATER REPORT
washing and parking lot carwashing. The results of
this study were published in full by Self Serve Carwash News and available here: www.brownbear.
com/assets/uploads/Run_Off_Kills_Fish.pdf. Basically, the test proved what carwash operators had
known for a long time: Water from residential and
charity carwash events flows directly to storm sewers and from there, to local waterways and streams,
carrying with it toxic run-off which significantly
pollutes and harms our wildlife.
(If you havent heard about this study, I strongly
urge you to not only look it up on the Internet, but
to also send it to your local media and water regulators. The importance of its findings to our industry
cannot be understated.)
In the same year the Fish Toxicity Test Report was
published, the city of Federal Way began its own
study. The citys Surface Water Management Division measured pollutants (oil, phosphorous, ammonia, surfactants and solid wastes) created by five
weekend charity carwash events held in that year
and in 2008. In 2009, the City released their findings
in a study titled, The Residential Car Washwater
Monitoring Study. The report concluded that home
and charity carwashes were significantly polluting
the citys storm water supply, estimating that city
residents dumped 190 gallons of gasoline, diesel and
motor oil; 400 pounds of phosphorous and nitrogen;
60 pounds of ammonia; 2,200 pounds of surfactants
and nearly 34,000 pounds of dissolved and suspended solid wastes to the citys storm water drainage
system as a direct result from residential carwashing.
According to the Federal Way Mirror, city staff
chose to measure pollution caused by residential
carwashing activities because the citys stormwater permit from the states Department of Ecology urged municipalities in Western Washington to
educate their publics on the harms of residential
carwashes. (The legislation passed in Virginia as
a result of the Chesapeake Bay cleanup is similar
in nature -- and yes, there was an identical outcry
from political extremists at the time of the research
in Washington state, too. Its all been said before.)
At any rate, what we have from Washington State
was decidedly the two biggest researching boons for
our industry in the last decade, perhaps even century. There is now quantifiable proof (twice over)
that at-home carwashing pollutes the environment.
Again, youd think the story ends there, but still,
we trudge on...

FROM GEORGIA:
Respond quickly to
drought.
In October 2007, a few months after the Fish
Toxicity Study was published, Governor Sonny
Perdue declared a state of emergency in Georgia
in response to a statewide drought. Several counties worked to drastically reduce their water usage
68 JULY 2014
through a series of desperate, last-minute legislative

Hail Mary passes, including closing commercial carwash facilities that didnt recycle at least 50 percent
of their water. It seemed that water legislators had
grouped Georgia carwashes in the outdoor water
user category, similar to landscape
businesses and golf courses, despite the fact they consumed
less than .15 percent of the
states public water and
even then, the majority
of it was discharged to
the sewer system.
So Georgia carwashes were attracting the
harshest restrictions for
absolutely no good reason at
all. Operators quickly sprung
into action, emulating Bill Sartor
and the SCWAs work in San Antonio.
Within a month of Gov. Perdues announcement,
Georgias Coalition of Car Washes had formed under the umbrella of Southeastern Car Wash Association with (current ICA president) Gary Dennis
at the helm. In a few short weeks, they had elected
board members and formed four committees to
Vic Odermat and son Lance

expand membership across the state, develop certification and educational programs, as well as form
a strategy for pursuing an agenda in government
affairs.
In March, less than six months after the group
had formed and as a direct result of the painstaking
work they did reaching out to the utilities and state
government with data about their actual water use
and plans for conservation within the industry, they
celebrated the passing of SB 466, a bill that took
commercial carwash facilities off the states outdoor water users list. The group also announced the
creation of a voluntary certification program.
No sooner did the Bill pass then the rain fell, and
unfortunately, like so many of the stories about
drought in our industry, the group had trouble
maintaining their momentum after the disaster
was abated. But their successes cannot be underrated -- they faced a governor that declared driving
a dirty car was a badge of honor,

and by the end, many local newspapers and TV stations had come
out in favor of professional carwashes and endorsed their services
as being environmentally conscious
and drought-friendly. Most importantly,
they had stayed open and removed themselves from the Outdoor Water User list. Thats
what I call a win.

FROM NORTH CAROLINA:
Get serious about
certification.
In 2007-2008, while Georgia was similarly
parched, North Carolina was suffering its worst
drought in recorded history. The state responded
by enacting the Drought Management Act in July
2008, which expanded the ability of the governor
and local communities to respond when drought
conditions worsen and encourages greater planning,
conservation and cooperation, according to SaveWaterNC.org.
In an effort to get ahead of any pesky state legislation, North Carolina carwash operators decided
to create their own voluntary certification program,
one of the most comprehensive program of its kind
in the United States.
Here it is, according to literature from the NCPCWA.
The purpose of the water conservation Vehicle
Wash Certification Program is to promote best
management practices and recognize year-round
conservation efforts. For Public Utilities the incentives are reductions in peak demand and year-round
demand, resulting in delayed imposition of drought
restrictions system-wide. Public Utilities also benefits from the positive public relations of a public/
private partnership program. The principal incentive to the professional vehicle wash owner is to receive credit for proactively conserving water not
only during a drought but also throughout the year.
An additional incentive is positive promotional signage, which can be placed at the business, to show
participation in the program.
For NCPCWA Members who choose voluntary
certification as a water conserving vehicle wash, the
vehicle wash facility must demonstrate to a licensed
plumber or Public Utilities that each of the following criteria have been satisfied. Also, the owner/operator of the vehicle wash must agree to continue
meeting each criteria for the period of certification.
The criteria and standards for each vehicle wash
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WATER REPORT
facility type, are as follows:
All Vehicle Wash Facilities:
All spot-free reverse osmosis concentrate (reject water) must be recycled and
reused.
All chamois wringers are to have a positive
shut-off valve.
Spray nozzles must be replaced annually,
Toilets must be ultra-low flow 1.6 gallon per
flush type,
Hoses or faucets must be attended or shut off,
Efficient weep management system (including
either weep recovery or
intermittent weep systems),
Repair of water leaks within 24 hours,
Impervious areas may not be cleaned by washing, and
Driveways must be washed with high pressure,
low water volume systems for
health and safety purposes only.
Self-Service Facilities:
NCPCWA will certify all self-service vehicle washes that meet the applicable criteria listed above, and
which maintain high pressure wash nozzles and
pump systems that use 3 gallons per minute or less,
and have reduced water consumption by 20%.
Conveyor Facilities:
In addition to meeting all applicable criteria listed
above for all vehicle washes, each full-service vehicle wash facility will also be required to comply
with the following criteria in order to qualify for
certification under the NCPCWA Vehicle Wash
Conservation Program:
Water must be recycled to the collector tanks
to be used for the washing phase.
Automatic high-level water cut-offs must be
installed in all towel and chamois washing machines.
If no recycle system is in operation, certification will require that the carwash achieve a
20% reduction in water use per vehicle.
In-Bay Automatic Facilities:
In addition to meeting the applicable above-listed criteria for all vehicle washes, each roll-over/
in-bay vehicle wash facility will also be required
to comply with the following criteria in order to
obtain certification under the NCPCWA Vehicle
Wash Conservation Program:
All chamois wringer sinks must have positive
shut off valves.
Where applicable, a 5-second dwell time
should be created before the customers vehicle exits the bay to enable water to run off the
vehicle into the bay collection pit.
If no recycle system is in operation, certification will require that the carwash achieve a
20% reduction in water use per vehicle.
Periods Of Exceptional Drought
During Periods of Exceptional Drought Certified
Vehicle Wash facilities that do not recycle at least
50% of their water, will comply with any further
industrial or commercial water conservation re-
70 JULY 2014
quirements incrementally beyond the established

requirements within the certification program.
So what have we learned from North Carolina?
It pays to put some teeth in your certification program. North Carolina operators I talked to the recent Southeastern Car Wash Association Roadshow
described their program as a game changer and predicted similar programs will become the norm for
the industry in the next few years.
[The price/work involved in becoming certified]
is well worth the peace of mind, explained one
operator, with multiple self serve carwashes in the
state. I know Ill be open during a drought and they
wont come after me.

FROM CHESAPEAKE:
Partner with charities to
protect water.
Finally, our story comes back around to the Chesapeake Bay. A year before Arlington County announced it was banning parking lot carwash events
in an effort to help cleanup the bay, the Mid-Atlantic Carwash Association began a program to benefit
the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and educate the
public about the environmental benefits of using a
commercial carwash facility.
The first Wash to Save the Bay was hosted on
June 1, 2013 and raised $7,000 for the Foundation.
It was organized again this year on June 7 by over
55 facilities, representing three states and the District of Columbia. Participating washes donated a
portion of each wash sold to the Foundation and
distributed information about the benefits of professional carwashing in the process.
This innovative program speaks to the important role professional carwashing plays in keepings
soaps, road salts, and other chemicals out of our
waterways, the Association said in a news release.

The water used by carwashes is captured, and
treated on-site, before discharge to the sewer system. In addition, many carwashes reclaim and reuse
wash water in the wash process.
Cost of participation was free to MCA members
and included templates for banners, signs, handouts and news releases, as well as an original logo
by longtime WashTrends cover artist Phyllis Saroff.
We commend the MCA for getting ahead of the
issue and working to promote professional carwashes without having to go after charities and community groups in the process (as some malicious
blogger suggested when the Arlington County ban
was announced). Instead, the MCA has turned one
positive into another positive and not only promoted professional carwashing, but also proved their
intentions as a good steward of the environment by
raising funds for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
It feels good to end our narrative end on that note.
CLAIRE MOORE,
Chief Operating Officer of

International Carwash
Association, talks about being
proactive with WaterSavers
SSCWN: Could you briefly de-
scribe the WaterSavers program today and

what its history has been up to this point.
What are the enrollment goals for 2014/2015?
What do you consider to be the programs biggest successes?
ICA: We launched the WaterSavers program in 2009.
Our consumer study had shown that consumers
were constantly focused on green issues, and the
WaterSavers program was originally concepted as a
mechanism for car wash operators to market their
environmental responsibility to their customers. We
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JULY 2014
71
Did you know?
WATER REPORT
ended 2009 with 100 companies participating in
the program. Today, we have grown to 406 companies participating in the program. As our participation has evolved, so has the program. Weve
tweaked the requirements for the program twice
(once to include washes not using reclaim, but
using less water, and once to ensure proper disposal of effluent was part of the program). In
addition, weve invested a significant amount of
dollars in the advocacy side of the program, purchasing Facebook advertising on behalf of all of
our participating companies, as well as other traditional public relations activities. We are working to grow WaterSavers as a recognizable brand
for the consumer. These efforts are best supplemented by the local operators efforts, and we have given
operators lots of tools in order to spread the word
to their local customers. Our goal is to quite simply
keep growing the program as it is good for the industry as a whole. Its an educational tool to tell the good
story about professional car washing.
SSCWN: What do you think is the greatest challenge
facing car wash operators in regards to water usage/conservation today? How is the WaterSavers
program addressing this issue?
ICA: Car wash operators have a lot going on in their
business, and if they arent living in a place where
Tom Hoffman, Sr. of Hoffman Car

Washes in Albany, NY, created
one of the first known marketing
efforts to educate the public to the
dangers of at-home carwashing
in the late 1980s. His posters
explaining the differences between
sanitary sewers and storm drains
were displayed at his carwashes
and later adapted and distributed
by the ICA to its membership.
drought is a concern or water is expensive, then water conservation may not be top of mind. But, the
bottom line is water is going to become more scarce
everywhere, and as utilities are forced to cut their
municipalitys water intake, costs will continue to
rise and more pressure will be put on the local operator. WaterSavers becomes a proactive way to get
in front of your local municipality and show them
that you are actively saving water, you are a water
friendly business, and you should be treated fairly
when drought conditions may hit. Weve unfortunately seen so many operators have to react to
unfair treatment when water becomes scarce in a
community, we believe that WaterSavers is a great
CHANGETEC
tool to be a part of the conversation before it

gets that far. We developed a white paper last
year that talks about how car washes should be
treated in times of drought. Many municipalities
havent thought about this and therefore make
snap decisions about businesses they perceive
to be high water users. We hope that this white
paper will help to proactively educate these municipalities and help them put fair restrictions
in place if and when drought does become and
issue. In addition, we recommend to municipalities that they use the WaterSavers program as a
recognition program for the car washes in their
jurisdiction. Its an easy way for them to recognize car washes that are already saving water. We
presented our recommendations last year at the
American Water Works Association Conference
and exhibited at the WaterSmarts Innovations
conference last fall in order to spread the word
to regulators. In fact, Ill be in Boston this weekend
presenting this again at the American Water Works
Association Conference.
SSCWN: What can operators do to be responsible
water users and how can they best educate their
customers on water conservation in the car wash
industry?
ICA: Operators need to be proactive about educating
their customers and their communities about how
car washes work and why they are good for the environment. Whether or not a car wash participates
in the WaterSavers program or not, professional car
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washing is still better for the environment than pavement or driveway washing. Its our responsibility to
get that word out. Its good for our businesses and
good for the industry. More importantly, its a good
story to tell your customers. Research proves that
they react possibly to a green message so lets be
proactive in telling our story!
FYI:
Additional resources
on the Internet
You can easily access the

following reports by searching
the studys full title on Google.
Car Wash Enterprises, Inc., 2007, Fish Toxicity
Test Study)
City of Federal Way, 2009, A Practical Measure
of the Impact of Driveway Car Washing
Australian Car Wash Association (ACWA)
Evaluation of Recycling Systems for the
Vehicle Cleaning Industry
ICA, 2002, Water Use in the Professional Car
Wash Industry
ICA, 2002, Water Effluent and Solid Waste
Characteristics in the Professional Car Wash
Industry
ICA, 1999, Water Conservation in the
Professional Car Wash Industry
SSCWN: Does the ICA have any plans to replicate

the research that was conducted in the early 2000s
regarding water usage in the professional carwash
industry? Is that industry research still available to
ICA members?
ICA: The research is still available on our web site
for all. At this time we dont have plans to replicate
it as it was done then. However, we have looked
closely at the data and feel that it still has teeth.
Were looking at additional studies we could possibly do that might be helpful in discussing water use
in the professional car wash industry.
SSCWN: Moving forward, what are the goals for the
WaterSavers program in 2015 and beyond?
ICA: We continue to push forward with our current
strategy. Grow participation, use the program to advocate professional car washing through consumer
media and public relations, and continue to stay in
front of the regulator community.
ELLY SNOW,
Executive Director of
Puget Sound Car Wash
Association, talks about
educating the public
SSCWN: The Puget Sound Car

Wash Association celebrates its 20th anniversary
this year. It has a long and storied history as a
champion of water conservation and environmental issues in our industry. Can you summarize the
WATER REPORT
efforts the PSCWA has made in this regard over
the years for our readers? If you could pick three
accomplishments to best represent the PSCWAs
work, what would they be?
PSCWA: The PSCWA has developed strong relationships with regulators and surface water managers at the city, county, and state levels around
our mutual goals of improving water quality in the
Puget Sound and conserving water. For instance, we
partner with the Washington State Department of
Ecology through a Memo of Understanding. We receive grants from governmental agencies, which we
use for radio, busboards, newspaper ads, and other
means of raising public awareness. We partner with
municipalities around the Puget Sound region.
Currently, the City of Tacoma has a car wash awareness banner hanging over a high-traffic intersection
(see attached). Various cities and counties purchase
tickets for our charity wash ticket program, CharityCarwash.org, to use at their community events.
Puget Sound Energy, one of the largest energy companies in the country, invited us to speak at their
Earth Day event on the topic, Why wash your
car?. For a comprehensive list of PSCWA accomplishments, see our Chronological History (sent by
separate email).
{continued }
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JULY 2014
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74 JULY 2014
We offer car wash tickets to nonprofits through

our program, Charitycarwash.org (we have both
attended and self-serve options). With our ticket
program we bring awareness to water quality and
conservation issues and serve our region by making
it possible for nonprofits to raise money for their
teams and charitable purposes. This program also
creates goodwill - a favorable impression of our industry and association.
In May, the PSCWA presented Car Wash Awareness Month. We partnered with the Department of
Ecology, King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties, cities
around the Puget Sound, the Puget Sound Partnership, the Washington Environmental Council, and
the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance to increase public
awareness for pollution-free car washing. Our campaign, Its not just dirt, brought public awareness
to preventing pollution from cars from getting into
the stormwater system and ultimately into the Puget
Sound. The PSCWA, its members and partners
pushed the story out through social media, newsletters, newspapers, signage, and reader boards. (See
campaign image attached to this email.)
SSCWN: What do you think is the greatest challenge
facing professional carwash operators in regards
to water usage/conservation today? What do you
think the greatest challenge will be in 10 years time?
PSCWA: As the population grows a demand for
fresh, clean water will also grow. It is prudent, not
only for the environment, but also for the future
of car washing, for operators to minimize the consumption of water and work towards improving the
filtering and reclaiming systems at their car washes.
A PSCWA vendor member, Pur-Clean, is building
good systems already. It is crucial to get ahead of
the curve and figure out ways to conserve water
since fresh, clean water is becoming less and less
obtainable.
SSCWN: What role do Associations play in this
struggle to educate the public and advance the
cause of professional car wash operators?
PSCWA: Government agencies need to bring change
in peoples habits in order to meet their goals for
water quality and conservation, and they can work
with a nonprofit association in ways that would
be inappropriate with a commercial entity. The
PSCWA represents many people- carwash operators, their customers and employees, plus our
partners in the environmental community and
all of the nonprofits that use our ticket program,
which means we get the attention of governmental agencies, and they cant be accused of favoring
any single commercial enterprise. Collectively, the
members of the PSCWA bring attention to the important contribution car washes make to the health
of the environment and generate goodwill for the
car washing industry at a small fraction of the cost
they could do this work on their own.
SSCWN: What can operators do to be responsible
water users and how can they best educate their customers on the benefits of professional car washing?
PSCWA: Operators can set a water usage goal for
their car wash and strive to attain that goal. The
industry asserts that as little as 15 gallons of water
can be used per car at a car wash. This is not to say
ALSO OF NOTE:
SSCWNs original and excellent coverage
of the results of the Fish Toxicity Report
by Editor Emeritus Jarret J. Jakubowski in
the Fall 2007 issue is posted on the Brown
Bear carwash website at www.brownbear.
com/assets/uploads/Run_Off_Kills_Fish.
pdf. While youre on the site, you can also
check out Brown Bears awesome video
explaining why driveway carwashing is
bad for the environment, www.brownbear.
com/why-brown-bear/wash-green.
that all car washes achieve this, but 15 gallons would

be an aggressive goal for water used per car, but why
not go for it? Once an operator identifies the actual,
low number of gallons used per car at their wash,
they can use this number as an educational tool to
show their customers that they are protecting and
preserving water by taking their car to a professional
car wash.
SSCWN: How can carwash operators and Associations partner with local legislators and governments
to advance their cause? Do you have any advice for
operators in smaller regions who might wish to emulate the PSCWAs success in this regard?
PSCWA: Band together around a clear, common mission. Offer a ticket program (we have both attended and self-serve options). Come up with a strategy
for outreach to regulators - weve been successful
having one individual handle our outreach, who
maintains our ongoing relationships. In the case of
the PSCWA, thats meant engaging the help of an
association management company.
WATER REPORT
SAVE THE WATER,
SAVE YOURSELF
The moral of this story is to be PROACTIVE.

Here are five steps you can take TODAY.
1. Become an expert. Study your carwashs water usage and conservation practices, as well as
general statistics about the industrys environmental best practices.
2. Get involved. Join others by working with your
local or national association to encourage work
on environmental issues.
3. Get certified. Join the ICAs WaterSavers recognition program as well as any regional program
available to your wash.
4. Partner with your city. Start a relationship with
your municipality by providing them with information about the carwash industry and water usage and suggest the municipality work
with operators to form their own certification
or recognition program, as well as to make sure
commercial carwashes are a part of the areas
drought contingency plan.
5. Educate others. Contact local media to suggest interest in a story about the environmental benefits of professional carwashing and the
dangers of at-home washing. Hang posters and
fliers to educate your customers.
WHAT CERTIFICATION
PROGRAMS ARE
AVAILABLE TO ME?
For starters, the International Carwash Associations WaterSaver recognition program is open to
any members of the following organizations: International Carwash Association, Canadian Carwash
Association, Car Wash Operators of New Jersey,
Connecticut Car Wash Association, Heartland
Carwash Association, Mid-Atlantic Carwash Association, New England Carwash Association, New
York State Car Wash Association, Southeastern Car
Wash Association, Southwest Car Wash Association, and Western Carwash Association.
Many regional associations have their own certification programs (and as discussed in the article,
some municipalities, like San Antonio, Denver, and
even Charlottesville, VA, have programs, too).
Some programs were aware of:
Western Carwash Association (has plumber inspection process)
North Carolina Professional Car Wash Association (has plumber inspection process)
Southwest Car Wash Association (contact Association for details)
State of Georgia, through its Environmental
Protection Division
Australian Car Wash Association
{continued }
JULY 2014
75
WATER REPORT
SAN ANTONIO WATER SYSTEM CERTIFICATION PROGRAM
The WaterSaver Car Wash Program incorporates existing ordinance requirements, along with general and specific Best
Management Practices (BMPs), for participating carwashes. These BMPs are reasonable, with minimal up front cost to
businesses, and result in significant water savings for the individual car wash operator and our community.
Program Application
Charity Car Wash
Self-Service Facilities
In order to start the process, all participants are

required to submit the online application. Once
the application is received, the applicant will be
contacted by a SAWS representative for the purpose of scheduling an inspection.
Under the City of San Antonios Water Conservation ordinance, charity car washes may only be
held at permanent car wash facilities using such
facilitys equipment. As part of the WaterSaver
Car Wash Program, participating car washes commit to hosting a minimum of three (3) charity car
washes a year. Report each charity car wash that is
held at your facility.
All chamois wringer sinks must have positive

shut-off valves.
All high-pressure wash nozzles and pump systems shall be calibrated to flows no greater than
3 gallons per minute. This may be achieved by
replacing existing nozzles with a reduced size
nozzle and adjusting the pressure generated by
the pumps as needed.
To alleviate misunderstandings for waste disposal, mandatory signs prohibiting the dumping of
vehicle/household fluids must be posted in an
effort to lessen these types of practices.
All wash wands must incorporate nozzle protectors at all times.
Program Guidelines
All participants are required to pass the WaterSaver Car Wash inspection. The inspection form
lists all of the requirements for certification. In order to be listed as a WaterSaver Car Wash, the car
wash operator must ensure that the facility passes
the initial inspection, and agree to adhere to all
program guidelines.
After being added to the WaterSaver Car Wash
listing:
All car washes will receive signage identifying
them as a Recognized WaterSaver Partner.
Participants must reapply each year.
All car washes are subject to random inspection
by a SAWS staff member. If a discrepancy is noted, the participating car wash will have 30 days
in which to correct the discrepancy prior to being removed from the program.
All participating car washes that are in compliance with program guidelines are eligible to
receive a 10 percent discount on their monthly
sewer bill.
All car washes are required to host a minimum of
three charity car washes per year, if approached
by a nonprofit organization. Hosting of an event
may include:
Providing designated bays for a designated
period of time.
Allowing for sales of wash coupons with
a designated amount of proceeds going to
the participating nonprofit.
Allowing for a designated amount of the
proceeds for a certain time period.
RADNELAC
76 JULY 2014
The San Antonio Water Systems

Certification Program requires all
carwashes to:
All water-using devices must be maintained to
original or improved specifications for the conservation of water.
All spray nozzles must be replaced annually
with stainless steel or hard ceramic nozzles to
ensure maximum efficiency.
All water leaks must be repaired as they occur.
All toilets utilized at the facility must use no
more than 1.6 gallons per flush.
All hoses or faucets that are in use must be attended or shut off.
All driveways or impervious surfaces should be
cleaned by sweeping for purposes other than
health and safety.
Driveways may be washed with high pressure,
low volume systems for health and safety purposes only.
All spot-free reverse osmosis concentrate (if
such system is in place) must be reused in the
wash water holding tank.
Oil-water separators must be in proper working
order.
Remain in good standing with SAWS Wastewater Compliance.
Submit yearly pumping receipts showing quarterly manifest of sump serviced by licensed
waste hauler. (required by City Ordinance
Sec.34-518.1.c)
Association
Calendar of
Events
SEPTEMBER
15-17
Northeast Regional
Carwash Convention,
Presented by CWONJ,
New England, New
York, Connecticut, MidAtlantic, Atlantic City,
www.nrccshow.com.
Full-Service Facilities
Automatic high-level water cut-offs must be installed in all towel and chamois washing machines.
A minimum of 50 percent of water utilized in the
rinse phase must be recycled to the collector tanks
to be used for the washing phase.
In-Bay Automatic Facilities

All chamois wringer sinks must have positive shutoff valves.
Some mechanical means must be used to create
at least a 5-second dwell time for water to run off
the vehicle into the sanitary sewer before vehicle
can exit the bay.
Direction of spray and timing shall be properly
set and shut off when no longer in contact with
a vehicle.
Basic wash package shall use no more than 40
gallons. Total annual savings are calculated at
988,829 gallons.
Premium wash package shall use no more than
75 gallons, except during drought restrictions
(See Drought Management Requirements).
Total savings as a result of this adjustment are
calculated at 1,371,628 gallons
SEPTEMBER
24-25
Wash Different
Workshop, Presented
by International
Carwash Association,
Rosemont, IL,
www.carwash.org.
OCTOBER
29-30
Western Car Wash

Show, Presented by
Western Carwash
Association, Las Vegas,
www.wcwa.org.
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Did you know?
Compare carwashing to some

other water uses:
Only 1% of the worlds water

can be used for drinking.
Brushing teeth 2 gallons
The average American uses

about 90 gallons of water
each day in the home.
Toilet ushing 2 to 5 gallons
The average European uses

53 gallons.
The average Sub-Saharan
citizen uses less than
5 gallons.
About 50-70% of Americans
home water is used for watering
lawns and gardens.
Nearly 14% of home water is
never used -- it leaks
down the drain.
Dishwasher 5 to 14 gallons
Professional carwash 8 to 12 gallons
Shower (8 minutes) 10 to 20 gallons
Bath 10 to 40 gallons
Clothes washing 13 to 50 gallons
Carwashing at home 20 to 100 gallons
Dripping faucet: 25-30 gallons/day
Save water,
save money!
80 JULY 2014
Tips for saving water:

Highefciency washing machines
can conserve large amounts of water.
Traditional models use between 27 and
54 gallons of water per load, but new,
energyand waterconserving models
(frontloading or toploading, non-agitator
ones) use less than 27 gallons per load.
Washing the dishes with an open tap can
use up to 20 gallons of water, but lling
the sink or a bowl and closing the tap
saves 10 of those gallons.
Keeping a pitcher of water in the
refrigerator saves time and water instead
of running the tap until it gets cold.
Not rinsing dishes prior to loading the
dishwasher could save up to
10 gallons per load.
The national average cost of water is $2.00 per 1,000 gallons. The average American
family spends about $474 each year on water and sewage charges. American
households spend an additional $230 per year on water heating costs. Although,
in most case, combined water and sewer bills average only about 0.5 percent of
household income. By using water wisely, you can save hundreds of dollars each year.
*Sources: www.FreeDrinkingWater.com, www.carwash.org, www.dontdrivedirty.com, www.epa.gov
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TALKIN COINS IN
By: Jackson Vahaly
I had a great time in Des

Moines and learned a
lot over the course of the
2-day Heartland Carwash
Association Product Show
this past April. The show was
well-organized and incredibly
convenient - I didnt leave
the hotel for 48 hours. The
magician was amazing. Thats
all Ill say as we should
dive right into SSCWNs
transcription of the shows
panel discussion: Making
money with added services and
cost saving measures.
A Transcript of the Heartland Car

Wash Show Panel Discussion
Mike: Im Mike Oliver, IDX Incorporated, Ive
been in this industry for 36 years now, mainly as a
manufacturer. Ive owned and operated carwashes,
designed and built a lot of equipment over the years.
Andre: Im Andre Guilbault, Unitec Electronics.
Ive been in the industry for about 20 years now.
Im an owner/operator and the Director of Sales for
Unitec (entry systems for automatics), Central NE,
US and Canada.
Chuck: Im Chuck Tonn, Im the owner of Miracle Carwashes in Dubuque. Ive owned a carwash
for over 20 years, it seems like 50, but its a great
day to own a carwash I guess.
Moderator: Chuck, I want to start with you because you did something unique with your carwash.
You added solar panels to your carwash can you explain about the process that went in and how to retrofit
a wash and the cost savings?
Chuck: Well, our location which opened 10 years
ago has a standing seam roof and one of the things
that attracted us to solar was theres absolutely no
screws in the roof to hold down the panels. Everything was done through allen bolts and a clamping
system. But more importantly, we looked at it from
a cost-savings standpoint, and our pay-off is right
at 5-and-a-half years on a $72,000 investment. We
also qualify for a $25,000 check from Alliant which

is always nice. We were classified as a high-end
user, which means we were using over 20,000 kilowatts per month. Once you do that for 12 months
in a cycle you become a high-end user.
In September of last year, we were having the
panels split up and we used 21,400 kilowatt hours
that month and our bill was $3,641. The following
month we used 17,000 kilowatts that we bought
from Alliant, we also produced and used 3,120
kilowatts from our panels, so in essence we used
20,100 kilowatts (1,300 less kilowatts) and our bill
went from $3,600 down to $1,900. It doesnt take
long to figure out where thats going to go.
I think our pay-off is actually going to be under
5 years. I know that Jeff who owns a Miracle Carwash in Burlington was convinced of it and he was
able to use more of the tax credits, both state and
federal, and his payoff will be right at 4 years. So,
to me, its producing power every day even on
a (cloudy) day like this. Im not getting a lot, but I
am getting something. I dont know why anybody
wouldnt do it.
It was a clean, easy installation by the solar power company; nothing against electricians, but every electrician now says he can put solar panels
up. This way, with the solar company, they sold us
{continued }
82 JULY 2014
JULY 2014
83
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84 JULY 2014
Heartland Show - Talkin Coins

that they had the contract electrician and it was
done in six days. That was 84 panels on the roof,
up and running.
The effects within the community have been
very strong. We have a four-lane highway that goes
right by us and our building actually sits down and
you can see the panels and weve had a lot of people come in and say, This is really great. The solar
company gave us a panel and we still have it sitting in front of the doors in our lobby and we have
people all the time asking us questions about it. So,
we know its working and were
getting a lot of appeal from our
customers.
your limits and the other thing that kinda surprised

me was I was afraid of what it might do to our insurance. Thats the other thing that we checked on
right away. Its $100 a year. The panels are warranteed for 25 years and theyre capable of taking a
half-inch ball bearing at 90 miles per hour.
Moderator: Andre, can you give us some thoughts,
for example, when somebodys pulling up in a carwash
and driving into the bay, how important is it to make
sure every machine is functional and working properly
Moderator: At $3,600/month,
what kind of costs per car in electricity
did you have?
Chuck: Well, we did 6,500
cars that month; it wasnt a good
month. The following month
we actually did 6,000 cars and
dropped it down to 17,000 paid
wattage from the power company. We qualified for the maximum because we also had the
T8 light bulbs we had done the
whole facility. There was a little
deal through the government.
Im not big on taking money from
them but they gave me $10,000 at 2% interest and they covered the closing costs to
put all new lighting in our tunnel and we
went with T8s at that time. So that helped
us and we added a few little things like a
motion detector in the computer room.
Two light bulbs isnt going to pay for it,
but they claimed it would. It was kinda nice. We
went to the three pop companies,Coke, Dr. Pepper
and Pepsi, and we said we want Energy Star rated
vendors or you can take your pop out. Three days
later we had Energy Star equipment in there and
went from old antiquated ones to brand new ones.
Moderator: Chuck, what do you have for washes, it is a tunnel or self serve?
Chuck: Its a tunnel wash a 130 ft. conveyor with a flat top and then you exit the building
and its a T-shape and you pull into three different
wipe-down bays capable of having six cars stacked
up in those.
Moderator: Were there any city regulations you
had to work around when you went to install the
solar panels?
Chuck: No, they gave us their blessing right away.
Moderator: When you designed the building, did
you design for some extra roof load or was that an
after-thought after you started the project?
Chuck: Oh, it was very much an after-thought.
We built it 10 years ago and we just put this on
last year. It was over-built for snow-load, but they
came in and checked it and said youre well within
and how that can really make a difference and everything is friendly and easy for them to use or whether
they just go somewhere else?
Andre: Well, one of the main things when were
looking at entry systems is its the very first thing
that everybody sees. Its the first thing that greets
you so you want to keep them nice, keep them
clean keep the lights working on them and keep
upgrading their software. As entry systems keeps
evolving the software evolves, you have lots of
options. You have the ability -- say with a Rain-X
product or a Shield product -- to buy a basic wash
and add-on with that. So each time you look at
re-doing something with the carwash make sure
youre looking at the very first thing they see; appearance is the most important thing.
Moderator: We talked before about coins and
quarters and dollars and who accepts what. Mike and
I had a conversation a couple of months ago and Ill let
him talk about what the future holds.
Mike: Well, just a little history here; in 2010,
Congress passed a law that required the Federal Reserve and Mint to reduce the total cost of operation.
On the Mint side, the coins, they said the only thing
you cannot do is change the diameter. So, in 2010,
they surveyed the manufacturers of coin acceptors,
which I found out about through the laundry industry (they werent even talking to the carwash
market at that time). And in 2012, we had another
conversation about where they were going.
Then, this past Fall/early Winter, with the Mint
and the stakeholders they were talking to the
ICA, they were talking to other manufacturers
about where they were at on the coins. They were
coming out with some new coins and what that
means to you as an operator is anything that takes
a penny, nickel, dime, quarter, half-dollar, any coin
is going to change. Totally. The
signatures are not going to be the
same, the thicknesses will not be
the same. The whole industrys
going to change, so theyre looking to release all this money out
at one time. That means a pop
machine, or vendors of any sort
are going to have a major problem.
They started out with a hundred different metals and right
now theyre down to 12 as of
February. Theyre in the process of sending out to different
market areas the coinage to be
tested with any equipment. No
carwashes theyre doing the
amusement, laundry and vending
industries because those industries were
at the forefront, pushing to know what
was going on, and those were the industries that screamed loudest. The carwash
industry they really didnt care about, they
didnt recognize us as an industry of quantity of coinage.
So, when you look at remodel or whatever youre
doing, youve got to go to newer technology. Any
vending machine, you know its going to cost you
to replace it. The vending industry is going to take
six months to make a coin acceptor thats going to
accept new coins and old coins. So when you start
looking at upgrades, replacements, it doesnt matter
if youre taking quarters only, youre going to have
to look at it.
We do have an issue in our industry and people
have to be aware of whats going on to know how
to plan. Some people replace them by using tokens and theres a lot of guys that have been using
quarters and tokens and some of them have already
gotten rid of their coinage and gone to tokens only.
Well, that guy doesnt need to replace his mix, hes
already got what hes taking for tokens, so he can
keep with that and quit taking coins.
And were seeing some that have gone to 100%
credit card or a store card all plastic and taking no
coins of any kind. Thats been in and out of the industry over the years. First one I ever saw was about
20 years ago in Las Vegas. There were three of them
sold by W. Harrister and all three went out of business in about six months. But, one or two of them
{continued }
JULY 2014
85

are back in business now and it makes sense now
that the credit card costs have come down. Totally
cashless carwashes.
Moderator: Are they planning on taking all the
old coins out of circulation?
Mike: No. Its dual (just like in Canada), theyll
be used at the same time. Sorters, separators, its
going to affect them all. Now you can take them
to the bank and have the same issues now they
have to separate them. Their machines are going to
have to be doubled just to handle them that cost
will revert back to us because the bank will incur
more costs.
Moderator: Whens all this going to happen?
Mike: Its looking like 2016. It may be sooner.
Theyre going to roll it all out at once. At the end
of this year or the first of next year, theyre going
to start doing some more market tests and issuing
coinage in certain regions just to see how it works.
Theyve got to do it because its the law.
Moderator: What was the reason for the law, did
I miss that?
Mike: Saving money. Theyre paying too much to
mint our coinage. It costs almost a nickel to make
a penny and it costs almost nine cents to make a
nickel. The Canadians got rid of their pennies the
U.S. penny is moving to Canada. Theyre using our
pennies because they cant get them as they slowly
get rid of their system.
Moderator: You also hear rumors that the U.S.
government has stockpiles of the dollar coins and possibly eliminating the one dollar bill. What have you
heard of that?
Mike: Whether that happens or not thats being
fought by Massachusetts because thats where all
the papers cut and comes from. Theres only one
supplier for all bills and the base paper comes out
of Massachusetts, so it would kill that industry, almost. We dont know whats going to happen there.
Moderator: Chuck, if you had acquired a carwash, what would be the first thing you would do to
make it more appealing as people pull up to your site?
Chuck: Well, first you need to learn to go without sleep (laughs). But, you know, one of the first
things years ago, I mean obviously aesthetics is a
very important thing, but I wholeheartedly stress
you should always have a sense of urgency. In other
words, when that car pulls up that is the job; there
is nothing else. You have guys out mowing the grass
or picking up trash, but when the customer drives
up that all stops. That customer should feel that
sense of urgency every time they drive up. You can
sit there and do car-counts and you can look at the
building and things like that, but for people that
might be wanting to get into the industry, talk to
people that have been in it 5, 10, 15 years, talk to
chemical companies. Take advantage of people that
have been in the industry, because it seems youre
either in it or youre not in it. It still is, and I think
86 JULY 2014
the ICA has lost sight of this, but it still is a

family-owned, family-run business and you
have one, two, maybe three stores. And the
ICAs kind of lost sight of that a little bit.
Thats why its nice we have the HCA.
Moderator: Andre, same question. If
somebody has an existing location for a while,
maybe theyre looking at the same equipment
theyve used for quite a while, is it important to
keep up with the updated technology thats out
there right now?
Andre: Well, when youre updating your
equipment today youre getting a lot more
options to add revenue whether it be from
entry systems or inside the bays with adding credit card equipment that does added services. Entry systems provide multiple
add-on services with the ability to add Rain-X,
tire-shiners, pressure-blasters, lava soap that they
we turn on that a lot of old equipment cant that
add revenue to your washes. Youve got to start
looking at what is the new equipment and where
can we go with it.
Also big is signage. Theres a really nice lit-up sign
out there. I own a self serve bay, a three and one, and
its been there for 15 years. Im looking at putting
in a bright, lit-up sign because I know people drive
down the road and they dont even see this carwash
anymore. It just blends into the background. Put
some signage in there and change some colors and
get people to see whats there again.
One other thing I wanted to talk about is that
as currency changes, credit cards are changing also.
From our end of it, were going to lose mag stripe
at some point. So, at some point, were going to be
looking at cell phone scanners, near-chip readers, all
that stuff, so as you start to upgrade your washes for
currency also start to look at where credit card technology is going. As everyone knows, what hit Target
has become a huge thing in the industry. Theyre
starting to look at how Canada does credit cards,
and its going to affect all the card reader manufacturers which is chip and pin where you have to
swipe a credit card, wait for a second and then put
a PIN in. Or, theyre going to go to a chip that automatically changes every time, and youre just going
to have to touch something, its going to know the
chip was good but its going to ask you your PIN
also. So, technologys going to move very quickly
over the next few years for all types of payment
and all of its federally mandated. The oil companies are fighting a lot of it because they just came
through the whole PCI compliance thing, and that
cost billions of dollars (now theyre telling them to
do it again).
Moderator: How about your equipment is it
interactive with social media? Thats getting pretty big
in the industry.
Andre: The social media aspect of it is coming
on strong. Groupon, Facebook, Instagram, and how
you use codes. Most of the software is interactive.
If you have a facebook following and you see rain
Highlights of the HCA

Panel Discussion:
Solar technology saves money. Period.
Big changes are coming to U.S. coins.
Pay attention.
Speaking of technological changes:
Chip-and-pin is coming, too. Get ready.
Partnering with gas stations
is easier than you think.
Charity involvement will reward
your business.
and a slow week coming and you want to do halfoff you can put a code on there and push it out
there on Facebook, Instagram and they can use the
code today or tomorrow and then you can take it
off. Then after a day that it rains you can put a new
one on there (50% off today). For us in the carwash
business, if youre not in a gas station environment,
youre in a local neighborhood. If you can get those
guys on a social network, its just a great way to
keep them coming. A guy might only wash his car
every two weeks but if you throw him a special
he might start coming every week. In the old days,
they came once a week, but these days its once
every 2-3 weeks.
Moderator: Have you guys tried setting up your
software and teamed up with a local gas station and
given a discount and shared the profit with the gas
station?
Andre: Normally, thats an excellent thing for a
carwash. If you can team up with the gas station
across the street or anything, its an impulse buy
right there at the pump and also at the pump side
of it they have pump-specific cards, so youre getting a guy whos got an Exxon card or a BP card,
and what you give the gas station, whether it be 10,
20% or a dollar back, theyll usually sell more washes for you than what the card cost you. Theyre not
going to take a whole lot of your customers away
from you. Your normal customers are going to buy
just like they always do. Sometimes theyre not
paying the bills, their companys paying the bills, so
its a great add-on for you.
Moderator: What do you have to give up?
Andre: What Ive seen from most is 15 20%,
but theyll limit that depending on what wash it is,
say if you have a $5 wash they may not offer it at a
gas station it might only be the top 2 or 3 packages. So your price structure should be used to handle that. You need to work well and negotiate well
with the gas station. When a carwash is added to a
gas station, that also adds revenue to a gas station.
So when youre working with a guy, you can add
{continued }
JULY 2014
87

carwash sales to it revenue can go up anywhere
from 15-20% in sales because people are now looking for a gas station that has a carwash function.
So in some cases, you dont even have to give up
any. Some cases you dont give the gas station any,
but youll do the discount on their tax. Youll pay
that discount to them, say its seven cents a gallon
up to 20 gallons you buy a carwash, you gave that
gas station that discount, theyll run that. Thats the
money youre losing, but that really increases their
fuel sales which increases your carwash sales. Lots
of different ways of looking at it. From Murphy Oil,
theyre 20% flat, thats what they found works for
them.
Moderator: Is it difficult or easy to do? Is it wireless?
Andre: There are a few different ways, depending
on what you have. For a frame of reference, on a
piece of equipment that I sell, we have an encrypted system. We have the wires that actually talk to
each other it puts an encrypted chip on one side
and it decodes on the other side and does 150 codes
a day. Now the box thats going to go in the carwash
is going to be about $5,000, but you can pay yourself back usually within the first year on that, easily.
Moderator: If they dont use the carwash that
day with the encrypted code, do they lose it or does it
still work?
Andre: Yes. The code is done with an algorithm
for a time (within a couple of seconds) so those
codes are known when it decrypts it and theres a
file of the code whether it was yesterday or ten days
ago. And theres no distance with that, so you can
be across town or across the country. But if you are
hooking up with a gas station, one of the things to
keep in mind is you would like line of sight. Once
you get out of that line of sight, then its dicey
whether its gonna help or hurt.
Moderator: So were about a mile apart from our
gas station
Andre: Are you on a flat stretch of road thats
easy to get from the gas station to your carwash?
Yes. Youve got to make sure its not difficult. You
dont want to be around the corner, turning, behind
a building if its not easy for customers to find the
wash or get to the wash, theyll stop. Gotta be easy
for the consumer.
Moderator: What kind of costs are there on the
gas station side as far as the encryptor?
Andre: For the gas station side, normally you
would just take their pay bucket. The gas station
is going to get the card company to come hook it
up to their pumps, and there will be a couple hour
service charge for that. Youre trying to make it
easy for the gas stations to sell your carwash. On a
product like mine, youre buying a box that sits in
a gas station, and all they have to do is hook that
up to the register system to their pumps a couple
hundred bucks, probably two hours for their service
tech. Then if something ever happens and the station changes you take your box back. If youre lucky
88 JULY 2014
enough to be a carwash on a corner with three gas

stations, you can hook up with all three gas stations.
Moderator: Is there anybody here thats doing
any cross-marketing with any gas stations?
Chuck: I would say not directly, but were doing
it in a different way. I was never much of a fan of
being on the back of register receipts they never
seemed to work. We got a little more aggressive a
few years ago and got in with Hy-Vee, a separate
company, and we spent a little over $1,600 per location every three months, and were averaging 200
Rain-X washes/month. At $6 off, were bringing in
$21/car (x200). So were doing 600 of those every
3 months. Were at $2,400 for all three. So, $2,400
in and thats just the $6 off we also have $4 off
our ultimate which brings it down to $17 and were
averaging 100-150 a month. So were going it the
old school way, but its working quite well. Well
have people come in and theyll have their whole
receipt and theyll actually cut the $6 out to keep
the $4 for their next visit.
I know some operators that will do it with tokens.
They will sell a c-store in their local community a
carwash token thats a discount ($1 - $2 off a wash)
and they will give their customers the token for
the wash for a fill-up, so its like a dollar-off. It used
to be that a gas brand like Texaco, Gulf, whoever,
would use the toppers.
Moderator: This is a question for all you guys,
some people are against discounting or selling discounted packages, but if they sell them in advance, do you
have any thoughts on how many might actually get
redeemed? For example, if you sell a $10 wash for $5
and if you sell $50 worth but only 2 or 3 of those get
redeemed, so in essence your average per wash is much
higher than the discounted rate. What are your experiences at selling pre-packaged and making your money
back that way on non-redemptions?
Mike: Ive seen it working where its only about
a 15% redemption rate. I know operators who only
got 5% back and they thought that was fantastic. It
increased their volume and brought new people to
the wash. It varies depending on how the bulk-discount works.
Andre: With the automatic side, were seeing
more and more ability to sell bulk washes. Several of the entry systems let you just buy them on
screen. Say you buy 10 for the price of 8, so the
technologies will be able to track some of the questions hes asking (whether theyre being redeemed
or not). Were estimating that if somebody bought
10 washes for the price of 8, probably 25 30%
are never going to use the whole, entire package. I
know with my first carwash I actually used tokens
for IBX and I would drop 5 washes for $10 and I
was having to order tokens from him all the time
because they never came back. It was great I got
$5 for a wash and got paid $10 for the token.
Chuck: We really focus our energy every November, December (actually, Mothers Day/Fathers
Day is a light-load), but we sell coupon books; buy

5 washes for the price of 4 during November/December. Two books, get an upgraded wash of your
choice free. We do have a redemption of roughly
80%, but we sell between $140-$160K in 60 days.
So, Ill take the cash and deal with it down the road.
We never expire them because they are paying for
them, but we sell a bunch of coupons every year. Its
come through marketing and its gotten to where
now customers now come in and ask when does
the sale start? Is that a good thing or a bad thing; I
dont know. At least theyre in my store and not in
my competitions, I guess.
Moderator: How many do fundraiser washes?
School washes?
Andre: At local, neighborhood carwashes they
have continued to grow, and one of the things were
seeing around the country is doing a fundraiser for
a specific organization whether it be the girl scouts,
a football team, you give them a code at the entry system or a coupon and they come in and get
turned into the carwash at the end of the month
and its usually only designed for top packages, so
youre getting the top. And at the end of the month
you track how they did and its a couple of thousand dollars and you get written up in the paper,
stuff like that. It helps to get involved with some of
the organizations. The one I think we should all be
involved with is Grace for Vets. All the communities give that free carwash away its a great cause
and goes over big in the neighborhood newspapers come out, etc.
Chuck: We do one major fundraiser every year.
Its a group called Operation We Care founded by
two vets working out of their garage putting their
own money into it. We tied in with them seven
years ago and they now built the Freedom Center
in Dubuque, IA. We also have eight corporate sponsors that are donating $1,000 a piece and we are
putting their banners up right before Memorial Day,
so we started off with 8. I landed 950 public service
announcements on 10 radio stations in 10 days. The
paper will do a small article. Well do a little coupon
advertising, he gives us a quarter page and we take a
group picture afterwards and our target this year is
over $15,000. We give everything back above a full
service carwash and we get a tremendous amount
of support from that. I think it pays dividends we
just do one a year. I dont know if youve seen the
little cards the local football teams sell with the ads
on the back those are a no-brainer in my opinion
$5 bucks off a Rain-X. My cost is zero. Yes, I lose
$5, but I have a customer coming in for $21 Ill
take their money. Were on 10 of those right now
(volleyball, soccer). You name it and were on it.
Moderator: Those are great points. You may look
at it as giving a wash away with Grace for Vets, but
you cant underestimate the amount of goodwill you
get and you will get that customer back because they
know your facility is involved with the community and
supporting the veterans or other programs.
W E S T E R N
C A R W A S H
A S S O C I A T I O N
2014
n Car Wash Show

Wester
Education
Industry
Networking
The Win
ning Combination
OCTOBER 28-30
LAS VEGAS
EDUCATION TRADESHOW NETWORKING
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
(subject to change)
DAN QUIGGLE
Tuesday October 28, 2014
Leading with Purpose,

Direction and Optimism
8:00am 12:30pm Car Wash Tour & Roadshow

1:30pm 3:00pm Edgar Papke - Business Speaker
3:15pm 5:00pm Roundtables
5:00pm 7:00pm Reception
Wednesday October 29, 2014

8:00am 9:00am Industry Breakfast/Awards, Business,
Open Forum
9:15am 10:30am Education Conveyer/Self Serve
10:45am 12:15pm Dan Quiggle - Keynote Speaker
12:30pm 6:00pm Western Car Wash Show
1:00pm 5:30pm Nuts & Bolts Education on Show Floor
4:00pm 6:00pm Reception on Show Floor
BUSINESS SPEAKER
EDGAR PAPKE
True AlignmentLinking
Company Culture with
Customer Needs for
Extraordinary Results
Thursday October 30, 2014

9:00am 1:00pm Western Car Wash Show
9:30am 12:30pm Nuts & Bolts Education on Show Floor
Dont miss the only carwash show in Las Vegas this year!
www.convention.wcwa.org
WCA_SSCWN.indd 1
89
JULY6/10/14
2014 10:48
AM
www.manniwashsystems.com
1-800-552-4492
1131 Greensburg Road Lower Burrell, PA 15068 Phone 724.337.8255 Fax 724.337.8554
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90 JULY 2014
High volume car washes that can deliver clean, shiny cars need
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Fax: 724-337-8554
JULY 2014
91
Darwin at the
Carwash
A collection of the most asinine antics and unusual criminal

events to be reported at carwashes around the country.
Kids, dont try this at home.
Oh, and stay off drugs, too: A 33-year-old man
has been arrested and hospitalized after he set
himself on fire and ran through a gas station
carwash to put out the flames, a story on carwashbusinessblog.com said, while noting the
man was high on some drug or another. Even
more remarkably, David Kissee didnt let something as simple as self immolation prevent him
from his next order of business -- he emerged
from the carwash and stole a car parked next
to its entrance. He drove the vehicle only a few
blocks before abandoning it to walk around
the neighborhood. His drug-fueled adventures
came to an end soon thereafter when a homeowner discovered him in his residence and detected a strong odor of gasoline, according to
the report, and promptly notified local police.
Smile for the cameras! Surveillance video of two jackasses carjacking a customer at Dixie Auto Wash in Kettering, OH, has
led to warrants for their arrest. Earl T. Harris is
wanted for numerous felony charges, including
aggravated robbery, a report on local TV station
WHIO said, while his alleged accomplice Demarius J. Fitzpatrick has already been arrested and is
jailed on similar charges for felony theft and receiving stolen property. The pair pulled a gun on
a female customer who was sitting in her vehicle
as her boyfriend washed it around 8:40 p.m. this
past December. They then dragged her out of the
vehicle at gunpoint and demanded money before
fleeing the self serve wash.
Speaking of the power of surveillance video, Tacoma-Pierce Coun-
aps
Perh he
c
Pors nsider
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c
ir
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cou ting the is
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r
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livi
identified. The report went on to describe the

suspect as being in his late 20s, about 5-foot-8,
with brown hair. He had a thin mustache and goatee. He was wearing a gray, zippered hoodie, light
blue jeans and a dark-colored baseball hat. He was
with an accomplice and the two were driving a
white, early 90s, two-door Honda Civic or CRX.
It has a missing fender on the front passenger side.
A two-door Honda Civic it was

not -- do thieves who drive nicer cars have a better chance of making a clean getaway? We dont think
so! Police in Pasadena are looking for a gray Porsche
Cayenne with a rear trailer hitch and no tags after
it was involved in a burglary at Spencer Car Wash.
According to a report in The Pasadena Citizen, surveillance video from the carwash shows a newer
model gray Porsche SUV pulling into a carwash
ty Crime Stoppers is thrilled with the visual evidence from this carwash robbery and offering a
cash reward for his identification, according to a
report on Washingtons Most Wanted. Weve got
an unidentified suspect who used a crowbar to
try and pry his way into a car wash business and
also accessed all the vending machines where all
the coins were located, said Lauren Wallin of
Crime Stoppers of Tacoma-Pierce County.
Somebody out there is definitely going
!
to know this guy. Weve got great quality
mirele
S
on
video. The suspect looks multiple times
You
wash
(car e)
d
i
d
right at the camera. You cant get better
Can veillanc
sur mera!
images than that; were asking for the
Ca
publics help so we know well get him
92 JULY 2014
bay. The suspect

then exits the vehicle and pretends to
act as if he is washing
the vehicle. A short time
later, the suspect opened
the vehicles rear hatch and
removed some type of equipment.
The suspect next placed what appeared to be
a torch against the lock on the coin box, and
again pretended to wash his vehicle. [W]hen
the locking mechanism is successfully defeated, the suspect collected the coins from the
coin box. The surveillance video shows the
suspect then moving to the next bay and following similar steps to access the locked coin
box. The suspect left the business at approximately 6 a.m. after repeating the process
several times. Hopefully the surveillance
footage and vehicle description will nail this
crook to the wall!
And now begins the first in a

series of upsetting and frustrating stories about dumb criminals
who vandalize, maim and otherwise cause significant damage to carwashes before walking away
empty-handed. (We dont call them Darwins for
nothin.) We begin with the moron in Wichita,
KS, who chose the ambitious hour of 6:30 a.m.
on a Saturday to start his work at The Garage
Car Wash. Witnesses watched the man use a cutting torch in an attempt to steal money from an
automated machine before fleeing the scene soon
thereafter in a red SUV with a sunroof. While the
thief walked away empty handed, the owners of
the carwash were left with a $15,000 bill for repairs. The report from a local TV station KWCH12
noted that police have not provided a description
of the suspect and no arrests have been made.
Moving along, we have an even

bigger repair bill in the same
city: $25,000 for new equipment and repairs
at Jim Volks carwash, which has been hit three
times since February. Youd think these dumbasses
would learn, but the last attempt (featuring the ol
use a pick-up truck and chain to pull apart a pay
machine for an automatic carwash) caused about
$25,000 in damage for the smallest of returns. I
dont know, owner Jim Volk told local TV station
KAKE. They might have gotten $100 [in quar-
Darwin at the Carwash

ters.] He added theres not usually much money
in the machines, as he empties everything daily.
This hasnt stopped burglars from doing what they
can to rip the poor man off: The television station
noted an incident this February when burglars
caused $8,000 in damage by cutting through the
roof and damaging equipment. Two weeks ago,
someone stole metal grates from a bay at the carwash. Even more frustrating, Volk noted he has
missed out on a significant amount of business this
spring as he has dealt with cleaning up the damage. Volk encouraged viewers to report any information or leads to the police immediately. Even
though you think what you know is of no value, it
may be extremely valuable, he said.
Moving on from Wichita, we

take you to Sarpy County, Nebraska, where a pair of idiots pulled out a
credit card reader in an attempt to break into the automatic pay station at Tornado carwash. Co-owner
Dave Wilwerding showed local TV station WOWT
the damage, adding that the business was hit twice
in a matter of 10 days. They probably thought
if they could get this out they could reach up in
there to get to the money, [but] these things are
like a vault, he said. A second incident involved the
washs vacuum coin box and resulted in a loss of less
than $40. Wilwerding didnt provide an estimate of
the total cost of the damages to the wash, but noted
that tougher locks were on their way to protect the
carwash from drilling attempts like the one on the
vacuum coin box. I think theyve done it before,
he noted. I think theyre pretty brave doing this in
front of all the traffic coming into the carwash at
the time. Well, Dave, brave is one word for it, but
here at The Darwin Report wed like to use something stronger, like, oh say, Moron, dumbass, idiot,
scumbag, or the like. The report noted the suspects
drove a Cavalier convertible with a luggage rack,
so it seems like only a matter of time before these
dirtbags are identified.
And now to a report from KLTV

in Longview, TX, where the IQs on these
thieves are not improving, although their tenacity might be. Police are not sure if a single burglar
or crime ring is involved, but they do believe that a
dozen robberies in the area are connected, including
incidents at three different carwashes. Surveillance
video from the most recent burglary at a carwash
shows a man causing hundreds of dollars
in damage as he attempts to break into
coin operated vacuum machines,
and taking a meager $5, the
report noted. Past robberies
have yielded anywhere from
a handful of change to several hundred dollars. Police
have identified at least one
suspect after comparing
images from surveillance
videos which show a man

who appears to be the
same build, height and
using similar techniques
in the robberies. Owners
of the carwash businesses
who have been hit multiple
times over the last few months
say a familiar green Jeep Cherokee
is seen. He has the same M.O. every time
he comes in and we keep the machines cleaned out
daily, said carwash worker Clay Smith. We just need
to put a stop to whats going on.
And finally to Quincy, MA, where

The Patriot Ledger reports that police made an
early morning arrest to catch a man who had been
spotted in the process of breaking into a self serve
vacuum at Super Clean Car Wash. And where exactly does one hide when the police show up to
an in-process burglary? Why, behind the vacuum
machine, of course! 22-year-old Conor McDermott
was charged with possession of burglarious tools
and breaking and entering to commit a felony after
police found him crouching behind the machine
and noted pry marks that matched a mason hammer he had ditched nearby. A salute to those officers who made a quick response after the call came
in at 4 a.m. and managed to stop this particular
Darwin before he caused more significant damage.
Moving on from idiot burglaries, lets try a negligent parent! TMJ reported a
Milwaukee mother had her 10-year-old son drive
her to Gifted Hands Car Wash, where she shocked
not only the general manager, but also a customer who had an argument with Nikki Brown about
the childs age and ability to drive a vehicle. She
apparently took the wheel from the youngster after leaving the wash and was arrested shortly after.
In addition to the concerns about her sons driving, Brown was charged with operating a vehicle
while intoxicated, driving under the influence with
a minor, as well as charges of disorderly conduct,
according to the report.
Theyre not exactly dumb

criminals, but we werent exactly sure
where to file this report of residential complaints
against a proposed self serve carwash in Laughlington, PA. According to the story in The Ligonier Echo, the Ligonier Township Zoning Hearing Board rejected the carwashs
request to have the property re-zoned
after eight people spoke out against the
wash at the meeting, including a 7-yearold boy who claimed the wash would
be noisy and dirty. The child added, If
(property owner Herrholtz) wants to put a
carwash in, he can put it in his own yard.
If he puts it in, I could get run over by
a car. We would have to move, and I
dont want to move. The

boys puppet master, sorry,
we mean mother, Elizabeth
McCall, presented the board
with a petition signed by 82
people who opposed the wash.
Were not opposed to anything
being on (the property) as a whole,
she claimed in her remarks. Were just
opposed to a carwash or any other industry
that would be loud and create this kind of hardship for the neighbors.
In a similar report out of Northbrook, IL, a woman argued a proposed gas

station/carwash from Missouri chain Waterway Gas
& Wash might cause her childs allergies to worsen,
while another resident (ridiculously) claimed they
could cause cancer. Worse still, Juntian Li said hed
worry every day that the gas station would blow
up. He said he wouldnt allow his children to walk
past it, according to a report in The Northbrook
Star. Reading through the news article, it does not
seem that any of the three complainants presented
any facts, data, or even a reasonable common sense
argument to back their claims, although Waterway
Vice President Mike Goldman took the time to
respond, assuring the residents that the chemicals
wouldnt get out of the carwash, and that theyre
all approved. Were not using any black market
chemicals that cant be used in this setting. All in
all, 15 residents spoke against the project while two
(non-neighbors) supported it.
Finally, a depressing story out

of Riverside, GA, where a self serve carwash customer is facing second-degree murder
charges and a possible life sentence after he fatally
punched the carwashs manager, 60-year-old Wesley Uyekawa, in an argument about misplaced dry
cleaning. According to a report on myvalleynews.
com, Jeremy Joseph Robbins blamed Uyekawa after his dry cleaning came up missing the day after
he used the carwash. Robbins had placed the dry
cleaning outside of his vehicle as he vacuumed
it, and mistakenly left it there after he finished.
He returned to the wash the next morning and
accused Uyekawa of taking the clothing, although
the report said another customer, in fact, was responsible. Robbins punched and shoved Uyekawa
to the ground in the ensuing argument, and police
were called. Uyekawa was transported to a local
hospital for extreme abdominal pain, the report
said. He left the hospital later that day, but was
discovered the next morning dead in his apartment, which is located at the carwash. After additional investigation, it appears that Mr. Uyekawa died due to medical complications attributed
to the initial assault, Sgt. Ray Huskey told the
news station. Our thoughts and prayers go out
to Uyekawas family, friends and co-workers after
this absolutely senseless crime.
JULY 2014
93
SSCWN
Crossword
ACROSS:
1. Clean
3. Editor
6. Hand
7. Giving back
9. Industry Bible
11. Nasty
14. Right mix
16. Munchies
18. Pressure
19. Restock
94 JULY 2014
20. Combines hydrogen

and oxygen
21. Recycle
23. Gadgets
25. Add up
27. Trendy conversion
29. End game
31. Wash Me!
34. Cash
35. Whiff
37. Soil
39. Squirt
44. Damage
45. Vacuum upgrade
47. Regulatory agency
48. No-brainer
49. Theft by tape
50. Coin
DOWN:
2. 24/7 Operators
Roundtable
4. Street access
5. Message
8. SSCWN Founder
10. Legend
12. The latest
13. Sucks
15. Soap removal
17. In-bay
21. Beethoven
22. Green lights
24. Ferrari
26. Need a good one
Answers
in our
Fall issue!
27. Wet dirt

28. Convention
30. Birth state of SS
32. Preferred temp
33. Necessary evil
36. ICA in 16
38. Non-coins
40. Passage
41. Hot air
42. Scrub
43. Bye, water
46. Wipe
JULY 2014
95
96 JULY 2014

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Reader Input & Feedback

free) that might actually benefit his business and

Kate, I own a small carwash and receive your

for our Summer issue (the one youre holding

Rich, The number youre quoting comes from

Kate, This appears to be precisely what I

board for an international expansion is to increase

Lorraine, Thank you for your kind words and

Kate, (On the subject of Darwin at the

Dear Kate, I wanted to respond to your recent

ly less than the costs associated with exhibiting at

Mark, Thank you so much for taking the

This was my idea and while I think it might have

solve the problem. It only exacerbates it. We will

Your thoughts and comments can be e-mailed to Kate Carr at katec@sscwn.com