Does anyone know about the economics of a self serve car wash?
Curious if anyone here has experience with self serve car washes and how the economics work. My assumption is that you're really banking on appreciation in the value of the land beneath it and the car wash itself only brings in a small amount of cash flow.

I'm not in dire need of accurate info, this is more to sate my curiosity from a conversation the other day. My friend was jokingly trying to convince me to buy one. I said I'll stick to multi.
[{"id": "gde3gc4", "text": "If you can find one using recycled H2O for water supply, you will be surprised what revenue it brings to you.  Land value appreciation is certainly a factor. Cash flow. Souvenirs sold, car detailing etc.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gde8l6t", "text": "I would assume you value the property based on the income it\u2019s generating.. in addition to the sales comparison approach (would prob gather car wash sale comps for properties across the state). \n\n A couple questions \u2014 What is the highest and best use of the land? What is the likelihood of a rezoning?\n\nAnother VERY important question is... are there environmental issues? It\u2019s nearly impossible to finance a property with these issues. Not to mention the cost required to remediate it.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gdecsx5", "text": "Not what you're talking about, but the luxury drive-thru washes basically print money. You really need to have someone that knows the operational side inside and out, however, because it is a very niche business. I worked on a ground lease years ago and their proformas and numbers from existing locations were mind boggling.", "replies": [{"id": "gdevl4d", "text": "Really? I had no idea. Honestly, the past couple of months I've been entertaining the idea of just quitting my job and opening a business of some sort. Not that I'm the type of person to actually do that, but at least now I have luxury car wash dreams.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gdfj9o4", "text": "Most of the older self serve ones that I have looked seem to have a lot of \"read between the lines\" type of income, since a lot of those are cash only.  Some of the newer ones that accept credit cards actually make a bit of money, although nothing like the tunnel washes.", "replies": [{"id": "gdg6gk9", "text": "This one down the street that kicked off the conversation is cash only. And poorly done cash only. The quarter machines barely work. I was thinking it has to be shady. Either that or the income on these things generally is so low the owners can't even bother with minor upgrades. \n\nIt seems like a good location for one too. Lots of mf housing nearby. If you don't have a hose and it snows a lot these are the best bet for quickly/cheaply getting salt off your car.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gdft649", "text": "Self serve is the 80's ..... drive thru is the only way to go today.", "replies": [{"id": "gdfy67l", "text": "Depends on the market. Plenty of places don\u2019t have labor to support higher prices", "replies": [{"id": "gdfzsqc", "text": "No way .... $7 to get out and do it yourself, while getting your feet soaked or $7 to sit in your car, do nothing, and be done in 2 min.  And then you drive away.\n\nIm talking about automated car washes, not the ones with 20 people wiping your car off with towels in both hands.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gdfycex", "text": "I\u2019ve acquired a few for my clients, definitely primarily a covered land play. No debt. It\u2019s a small cash flow business that is more annoying than profitable. Will probably be mf after redevelopment.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gdgrdcj", "text": "Car wash operations bring in a tremendous amount of revenue if set up to operate efficiently.  I know several which net $300-400k a year in the DC area.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]