Blog

Franchise car wash versus self-owned car wash

Recently Jonathan Welsh of the Wall Street Journal conducted an investigation to find out how franchise based car washes compare to self-owned car washes.  

Car washes have become a very large industry in the past few years according to the International Car Wash Industry.  In fact, the industrywide annual revenue of car washes across the nation is over $15 billion!

The franchise chain car washes that were chosen for this investigation were Brown Bear Car Wash, a unit of Car Wash Enterprises, in the Seattle area; Shammy Shine, owned by Route 12 Wash & Gas Inc., which owns many car wash locations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania; Turtle Wash car wash in Chicago, Illinois.; and Splash Car Wash Shop, a unit of Splash Management LLC, in White Plains, New York.

The findings of the investigation overall were that the services offered by franchise chain car washes were comparable to those of smaller self-owned car washes but there wasn't any advantage that they had over the smaller car wash companies.  The quick self-service car wash services offered by the chain car washes were valuable for a quick wash to spruce up your car but sometimes left streaks due to not being hand dried, but were well worth the price.  The more extensive personalized services such as waxing and interior/exterior packages where the car was handled by a worker of the chain car wash were also well worth the money and the services were the same as that of a smaller owned car wash.

If you are looking to purchase a car wash in New York, whether it be franchise based or self-owned, contact Charles Internicola New York and New Jersey franchise and business lawyer.  

Charles Internicola is located in Staten Island, New York.  For more information contact him at 718-979-4300 or by filling out our web contact form.

Click here for additional information on purchasing a car wash or gas station

For more franchise information visit us at www.newyorkfranchiselaw.com.