Water Conservation and Water Issues for Mobile Car Washers and Auto Detailers

Obviously, there will never be an actual water shortage since two-thirds of our earth's surface is water. The problem is distribution. One problem is getting water to the desert before it evaporates. And why do people plant lawns in Las Vegas? Another problem is that people and plants and animals need fresh water not salt water. Fresh water comes from rain and salt water comes from our oceans. So how do we separate out the salt from the ocean water? The method called desalinization works best. But this isn't free. It costs an average of $3.33 per unit of water. Almost double what you pay from your tap at home. As Las Vegas, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Riverside, etc. expand, we will get into a supply and demand situation. When the price per unit of water reaches $3.00 plus, we will then be able to afford to build adequate infrastructure to handle our water needs through desalinization. The cost of the new infrastructure can be amortized and paid for by us on a unit of water level.

It takes 743 gallons to make one unit of water. If you use 200 gallons per day washing cars, $3.33 will last approximately two and one-half days. Let's say you wash eighty cars per day. That would be two hundred cars in two and one-half days. If your average ticket price is $8.88 per car, you would have made $1,760.00. You would have spent $3.33. Your water cost is $.001875 of gross sales up from $.00105113636. Almost double. Another way to look at it is this. It used to cost $.0925 or nine cents worth of water per car and it will now cost sixteen cents per car. Yeah. That's what we said. So what. After all, even if it costs you $1.50 per car, you could still make money. So, if you went to Von's and bought one gallon containers of water and poured them into your water tank, you would still make money.

Sewer treatment plants sell gray water. You can't drink it because of the biological contaminants in it. However, you could use it to wash cars with the right filtration system. And guess what. It's free.

In the event of a water shortage, we will start heavy 'Save Water' campaigns since we are the most efficient car wash in the world using only 2.4 gallons of water per car. We can help the citizenry save water by washing their cars. Of course, we will make more money due to the increased volume.

The fixed site car washes will do the same. They will claim they save water and they may save a little water. That is, they may save water compared to someone who uses a garden hose with 90 PSI pressure and ten gallons per minute water flow rate. If the person washing their car fills up suds in a five gallon bucket and then sprays their car for five minutes, that's fifty-five gallons. After this individual rinses their car for five minutes and refills the soap bucket, that's another fifty-five gallons for a total of one hundred ten gallons. In this case a car wash would actually save a little water compared to the citizen washing his own car in the driveway.

A car wash with a tunnel uses approximately seventy-seven gallons of water. It then recycles nearly two-thirds of that. That two-thirds is dirty water and that water is reused over and over again for up to two days when it becomes basically 10% sludge. Big car washes have a 10,000 plus gallon holding tank for the water they reuse. That 10,000 gallons is flushed periodically, but never often enough. It's smelly and gross. If you do smell it, it makes you want to vomit! Sometimes they put bacteria in to the water to eat the sludge because the sludge costs so much to haul away. What's in the sludge? Grease, grime and chemicals. Ok, enough car wash reality.

The other one-third of the water or twenty-five gallons is used to wash the cars. Five gallons is used to pre-rinse the car, sometimes with pressure washers. Twenty gallons is used in the rinse cycle and sometimes five gallons of that is recycled but usually not. The rest drips off the car while drying and about six gallons drips off the car after it leaves the car washing facility. If you own a black car, you can attest to that because it's all water spotted from the drips before you even go one mile.

The six gallons that drips off after leaving the car wash drips from cracks in the body, the molding and the undercarriage. That's right ? the undercarriage, where the grease and oil are. Now, six gallons of this undercarriage oil is now on our streets. Multiply this by the twenty billion dollars made annually by fixed location car washes. Divide this by the average national ticket price of $7.50 per car. That equals $2,666,666,666. Wow! Lot's of sixes. I guess that figures from a group of self-serving water monsters. These beasts not only waste water but cause massive pollution everywhere. 2.6 billion car washes times let's say three gallons of the six gallons dripped from the bottom of the car is 7,999,999,999 gallons of polluted water full of grease and oil and probably one hundred times over the legal limit for those types of contaminates spread throughout our great country.

I don't believe this saves water, but remember perception is the rule and if it's written in the newspaper, people believe it. We will keep you advised of changing perceptions in the market place as long as you keep us appraised of your local markets as they change. By doing this, we can track new trends in buying behavior and always be on the leading edge.

"Lance Winslow" - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs

---

How to Start A Business Plan

A business plan precisely defines your business, identifies your goals,... Read More

Attributes of Companies You Dont Want to Buy!

There are no "rules of thumb" in the pursuit of... Read More

Call in the SWOT Team: Produce More Opportunities to Expand Your Business

Have you ever done a SWOT analysis? No, it's not... Read More

A Unique Joint Venture Twist: Make Huge Profits Even If You Have No Money, No Products, and No List

Would you like to jumpstart your online or offline business... Read More

Urban Flight in Ohio

Many of Ohio's downtown areas are in need of upgrading... Read More

The Magic Of Exponential Business Growth

Is there a 'magical' way to exponentially grow your business?It's... Read More

Art of Succession Planning

Succession planning, like any business acumen, is both an art... Read More

Benefiting from Strategic Thinking

I recently took an organizational behavior class where my professor... Read More

Strategic Planning Fundamentals

Strategic planning is vital while starting a new business or... Read More

How To Kick Start Your Business And Double Your Profits

This will make some people angry as hell, but it's... Read More

5 Strategies That Will Boost Your Business Productivity Today! - Part 2

Growing your own small business can be one of the... Read More

Home Improvement Construction Project Planning

The first task before hiring a contractor for home remodeling... Read More

Planning for Success

Business planning is widely acknowledged as one of the keys... Read More

Making a Decision to Outsource: Strategic Constraints

Many companies are reluctant to dive into outsourcing ocean because... Read More

Memo: Sustaining Growth in Your Business

What gets measured gets done.How do you keep your business... Read More

Mining Market Data

With a heightened awareness of opportunity, ideas can often be... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains Implementation: Placement/Recruiting Agency example ? overview for consultant

Microsoft Great Plains does wonderful ERP job for horizontal markets... Read More

Menu Driven Business Planning

A menu is the foundation of any restaurant; Guests will... Read More

Breaking the Growth Barriers in the Information Technology and Software Sector

There's nothing automatic about corporate growth, particularly in the information... Read More

Strategic Acquisition Strategies for Small Businesses

Growth through acquisition should not be considered an option reserved... Read More

Strategic Planning Consulting

Strategic planning and consulting is the strategy roadmap to manage... Read More

Scheduling of Additional Auto Detailing or Mobile Car Wash Units

If you own a mobile car wash business or auto... Read More

The Power of Planning

I am surprised how few sales professionals, independent consultants, and... Read More

To Go or No Go, That Is The Question

Last week we talked about a few of the ways... Read More

Writing a Business Plan for Success in Business and for Funding

Writing a business plan to help you direct and manage... Read More

Financing Business Expansion for Your Small Company

How you finance the expansion of your business is important.... Read More

Top 10 Tips to Create A Business Plan! (For People Who Hate Business Plans)

One of the key challenges for any business is to... Read More

How to Write a Business Plan in Five Steps

People often ask "What makes a good business plan? Or,... Read More

Business Planning and the ?Bozo? Factor

"Bozo" ? A clown with a forlorn look, always finding... Read More

Strategy Without Tactics is Futile

From time to time there seems to be a flurry... Read More

Describing Intellectual Property in Your Business Plan

Most companies that are worthy of raising venture capital have... Read More

SWOT Analysis

If you've ever listened to Warren Buffett talk about investing,... Read More

Could You Be Setting Your Business Plan Up For Failure?

David E. Gumpert, author of Burn Your Business Plan, often... Read More