X axis drug usage (street value), Y axis (number of car washes)
Why are there suddenly so many car washes?
161–170 of 615 posts
Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?
#162Earlier quoted context omitted.
Depreciation is available for any company that purchases equipment; the "unique" thing as described in that article is simply that most of the value for car washes is in the equipment, so depreciation strategies are very important, but any business can and should write off equipment, or any other expense against net profits.
Oh, sorry I thought the article had more detail. There is an accelerated depreciate for car washes that runs out in 2026 I think.
Here is a better article:
https://engineeredtaxservices.com/the-unique-benefits-of-cos...
> The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 made a significant change in this area, currently allowing businesses to write off 80% of the cost of qualifying property in the year it's placed in service
Why depreciate over 39 years when you can do 80% in one year.
Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?
#163In my city you're not allowed to wash your car in your driveway I guess it's too hard on the storm drains to have soap and dirt and stuff going down them Or maybe city council is just in some kind of racket with car wash owners or something But either way, that's why we have so many car washes here... And it sucks ass
> In my city you're not allowed to wash your car in your driveway How does this even get enforced? Are the police driving by everyone’s house regularly, looking for those dastardly hoses? Or do they rely on nosey neighbors ratting on each other? I can’t imagine this is the most important crime for the local law enforcement to be investigating.
In Sweden washing a car at home is discouraged and depending on how you read the law can be illegal (it is not illegal per se to wash a car at home, but it is illegal to to let out untreated water into nature - and since waste water from car washing is not untreated and probably contains oil and metals, it is most likely illegal on this provision).
Enforcement is on a council-by-council basis, but of course in urban areas I imagine this is pretty hard to enforce. In rural settings it must be pretty much impossible. Having said that, I haven't really seen many people at all washing their car at home. Maybe it depends where you live, if you have neighbours who do it a lot it probably feels like everyone does it.
In the last few years, there have been a load of "wash your own car" car wash stations opening up. They're cheap (you can do the car for <100kr - $10 or so), way less than the drive in station, and have things you wouldn't have at home (e.g. cleaning underneath the car, handy for washing off the salt that has come off the road in winter). Not really enforcement but a pretty effective way of nudging people to doing the "right thing".
Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've often wondered how legit those 'hand car washes' are. Legit or not, I'm sure it is hard work for crappy money.
They're legit, and they make big tips when they work hard.
I have worked as a tipped employee, and I have never heard a tipped employee say “wow that table/person didn’t tip much, I should have worked harder”
Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?
#165> There are four full-service car washes in town, with a fifth on the way; three are bunched up on a mile-and-a-half stretch of Route 14. Social media complaints about car wash overkill spurred town leaders to take action. Four (or even five) doesn't sound that much? What's the actual problem here? How is a local politican supposed to determine what is the correct density of any particular type of service within her…
Four, when there used to be none 10 years ago.
Is this in the article? I just read through it twice trying to find a reference to how many were there 10 years ago, but couldn't find anything.
Even if it were true, I'm not sure that that shows there are too many car washes, just that consumer behavior surrounding car washes has changed dramatically in recent years.
Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?
#166Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?
#167In my city you're not allowed to wash your car in your driveway I guess it's too hard on the storm drains to have soap and dirt and stuff going down them Or maybe city council is just in some kind of racket with car wash owners or something But either way, that's why we have so many car washes here... And it sucks ass
> In my city you're not allowed to wash your car in your driveway How does this even get enforced? Are the police driving by everyone’s house regularly, looking for those dastardly hoses? Or do they rely on nosey neighbors ratting on each other? I can’t imagine this is the most important crime for the local law enforcement to be investigating.
In my area it’s mostly done by the water department itself. They have people that drive around documenting violations, and the owner is directly billed. This is mostly done overnight.
They also have a hotline for tattletales and HOAs and the police can also report you.
Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?
#168> There are four full-service car washes in town, with a fifth on the way; three are bunched up on a mile-and-a-half stretch of Route 14. Social media complaints about car wash overkill spurred town leaders to take action. Four (or even five) doesn't sound that much? What's the actual problem here? How is a local politican supposed to determine what is the correct density of any particular type of service within her…
> If the market were too small, the weakest would fail, right? Right?
I find it interesting that we have sayings like this, and sayings like "the market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent."
> why should a politician need to step in to regulate, rather than letting the market decide?
Because the market doesn't price in externalities. Sure the market will figure out which car washes live. But what about the ones that don't and the people who subsequently lose their jobs.
It's a fair question to ask if you're building too many of a certain service, especially when the ones that fail leave behind abandoned husks and unemployed people. Ya know, the people that the local politician is supposed to help. Local leaders should be at least thinking about these questions.
Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?
#169This is a big thing in the UK, too. The official narrative here is modern slavery with undocumented migrants. It's the same with sex work, with which is harder to separate between conservative propaganda and reality. I expect the main difference between the US and UK versions are that the latter are typically set up in disused urban plots with pop-up tents and temporary chain-link fences rather than having any invest…
I think this article is referencing the common trend of drive through automated washes which would make sense if large investors are in the picture. The big automated ones are pushy with their subscriptions which the article also talks about.
These big wash machines are typically staffed by only 2 or 3 people hence the complaints that they don't even create jobs.
That being said, I wish there were more automated washes near me. We find ourselves making excuses to drive by the one we pay a subscription for.
Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?
#170Dupe of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39493919
True. But that's the same article, with 0-ish comments - so no value here.