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Yeah, came here to post something similar. I used to hang around in real estate circles, and two businesses come up often: Self storage and car wash. These are
by BeetleB 17d ago
Yeah, came here to post something similar. I used to hang around in real estate circles, and two businesses come up often: Self storage and car wash. These are two things people just can't get enough of.
(Car wash usage doesn't go down even during a recession, apparently).
- encrypted_bird 17d agoI personally don't get car washes. I just wait for it to rain. Then free car wash...
- BeetleB 17d agoI rarely wash as well. But we're in a minority in US society.
- dghlsakjg 17d agoThere's aesthetic reasons (I'm proud of my car, I like it to look nice), and practical reasons (Leaving mud, grit, salt etc, will wear and corrode my car faster). Where I live, summer rain doesn't really clean the car (if that's what you care about), and in the winter you are shortening your cars life by years if you don't try and get the salt off regularly.
- encrypted_bird 17d agoYeah, those are good points I hadn't really thought of much. Thanks! I guess it's less of a priority for me because I bought my car for $1000 and it came with Michigan rust already. Lol.
- BeetleB 17d agoWhen I bought my 8 year old car, it was from the Midwest and the mechanic I asked to check it out said "Don't buy - it's got a good amount of rust because of the salt they use". I asked whether it means the car is less safe. He said "No, just more repairs and potentially costlier repairs. I said "Over the remaining life of the car, how much extra would it cost?" In today's dollars, the answer was $2000. I bought the car. It easily lasted another 7 years before it died in a collision. My car prior was a purely Midwest car, and I rarely washed it. It happily lasted 16 years. I passed it on to someone else, and he used it for a few more years. I suspect the fear is overblown.
- geodel 17d agoCoincidently I was thinking about car wash just few days back, One was bought in 2014, never car washed seems fine so far. Another was bought in 2022 again no wash so far and no plan to. I used to think everyone does it, I will do at some point but that point never came. Inside we vacuum and wipe every few months. Washed mats once in an year or so but car body wash rain takes care of it.
- fuzzfactor 17d agoI used to wash my car once a year, then I just ran out of time ;)
- analog31 17d agoThe fear may be outdated. I'm 62, and grew up near Detroit. I remember cars developing major rust holes after just a few years. The rusting also affected the inside of the engine compartment, and it did make repairs more difficult. There was an industry of aftermarket rustproofing shops, that were a scam. Every teenager with a car (which was still rare) learned how to patch rust holes with Bondo. My first car, the frame rusted out and had to be welded back together. Toyota and Honda put a stop to that. They did a number of things: Better steel alloys, better coatings, painting the bodywork before it could start rusting, eliminating places in the body where water could accumulate, etc. Today, you rarely see totally rusted out cars on the road.
- bityard 17d agoThe bodies are better, but I can assure you, the frames and suspension parts are not. They still rust out here in the salt belt after 10-15 years, depending on the brand and how often you drive them. If Michigan instituted mandatory annual car inspections, it would take about half the (still working, not unsafe) cars off the road.
- pvab3 17d agoI've never had a frame go bad that soon. Most of those are recalls where they replace the frame
- deleted 17d ago[deleted]
- SoftTalker 17d agoOr a garden hose, bucket of soapy water, and a sponge. At least if you have a house with a garden hose. Many apartment complexes offer the amenity of an area for washing cars though.
- linkregister 17d agoCar washes are an order of magnitude more water efficient (enforced by state agencies) than individual home car washing.
- SoftTalker 17d agoYeah that could be a concern depending where you live. Where I live, water is cheap and abundant. And I've never measured, but I would guess I use maybe 10 gallons to wash a car. 2 gallons in the bucket, and just a light wetting followed by soapy sponge and then a rinse, using a nozzle to create a high velocity spray. The water doesn't run at all unless I'm spraying it on the car.
- ssl-3 17d agoWater is cheap and abundant where I live, too. If we have a problem with water in any normal year, it is usually that we have to deal with a surplus of it. (We put drainage tiles under our farm fields to get rid of excess water and generally don't even bother with irrigation systems at all.) But car washes are interesting systems and one of the things that makes them interesting is that the water they use is (often) recycled. The same water gets reclaimed and re-used to wash cars over and over again. I didn't look very deep at all, but one car wash chain suggests[1] a reclamation rate of 70%. Not perfect, but way better than 0. [1]: https://www.tsunamiexpress.com/our-washes/ https://www.tsunamiexpress.com/our-washes/
- encrypted_bird 17d agoThat's surprising. I once tried an automated car wash just to see what all the hullabaloo was about and I think the rain actually does a better job. Worst $5 I've ever spent...
- nottorp 17d agoRain tends to just move the dirt around, at least where I am.
- encrypted_bird 17d agoWhere do you live? I live in the Midwest (SE MI) and when there's rain it tends to be medium-to-heavy rain and with wind so sideways.
- nottorp 17d agoOther continent :) You ever park under trees?
- encrypted_bird 16d agoAh. Fair enough. Haha. And rarely. There is unfortunately a dirth of trees in my area since I live in a small farming town.
- nottorp 16d agoThen you can choose where you park :) I park on the only free space, usually. There are some evil trees that will make your car sticky after rain if you have to park under them, for example.
- encrypted_bird 15d agoThose trees are mean! D:
- runamuck 17d agoI think I may have an autistic affinity for washing machines, but I would LOVE to own a laundromat. I feel like this would fit into the self storage/ car wash category.
- BeetleB 17d agoOh actually, yes - that comes up once in a while as well.
- dctoedt 17d ago> I would LOVE to own a laundromat. My (late) kid brother did that for a number of years. Big time sink and PITA.
- cowboylowrez 17d agotoo many moving parts lol
- xp84 17d agoThere's a guy Investment Joy on YouTube who you would probably enjoy watching, then. Just a pretty normal guy who runs a few small businesses. I think he has at least one car wash and a laundromat among other things. He talks about the various costs and problems, too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nikXsAW12Wo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nikXsAW12Wo
- vondur 17d agoHa, I watched some guy on Youtube who bought a carwash. It's seems like a decent way to basically make some money with not a ton of work. Plus, you can get a lot of money as cash too, makes it easy to not report as income, which I bet a lot of their owners do.