Why are there suddenly so many car washes? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#261

Post by Lammy » Mon, Mar 18, 2024, 1:49 AM UTC

> Such “destination” facilities can offer […] electric vehicle charging

This seems like the most likely reason to me. It's a way to hold on to land in a way that normalizes gas-station-like traffic patterns without the "gas station" stigma. They can be easily converted in the future once electric cars are a large enough percentage of cars that everyone will come to accept fueling as a 30-minute activity instead of a 30-second activity. If they tried to just buy land and keep it empty they would have a hell of a time convincing NIMBY types to tolerate the introduction of charger traffic patterns where none existed in the meantime.

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#262

Post by yanokwa » Mon, Mar 18, 2024, 1:52 AM UTC

sapling-ginger wrote: post #243

rootusrootus wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it’s pretty normal for people to want to take good care of things they’ve spent hard earned money on. Is driving a filthy car some kind of weird flex?

A dusty car body is no more "filthy" than the soles of your shoes. Do you wash your shoe soles?

People who are into shoes (e.g., sneakerheads) do clean their soles.

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#263

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Mar 18, 2024, 1:54 AM UTC

gunapologist99 wrote: post #201

KingMachiavelli wrote: post #181

I really hate sounding like a broken record but this is just another instance of how low property taxes and the absence of land value taxes massively benefits low-value businesses. The real business of car washes is real estate, it's profitable enough to get 3-4x leverage with a low interest loan. TBH I think real estate used to have high information asymmetry between local residents and large investors; low property…

> I take pride in the fact I haven't been to a car wash in probably 3 years and have likely gone myself less than 10 times total. You don't come off here as well as you think you do.

[deleted]

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#264

Post by Barrin92 » Mon, Mar 18, 2024, 1:54 AM UTC

philwelch wrote: post #258

atrus wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 abo…

Markets have failure modes, but not nearly as many failure modes as bumbling politicians thinking they can decide for the rest of society how many car washes belong in their town. Oh no, who will ever do anything about the abandoned husks and unemployed people left behind when we let people build too many car washes!? Let’s just make it borderline fucking illegal to build anything at all and let every busybody in the…

The irony is that car washes are the result of regulation in the first place because if you eliminated parking requirements, ridiculously low insurance minimums etc there'd be a lot fewer cars that needed washing.

It's kind of odd to frame intervention in anything car related as an intrusion on the free market when it's one of the most artificially and politically constructed sectors to begin with.

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#265

Post by shiroiushi » Mon, Mar 18, 2024, 1:56 AM UTC

lostlogin wrote: post #217

throwaway22032 wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The entire point of working for a living instead of e.g. subsistence farming is that you can simply switch jobs if it's not going well. As an adult if you can't weather a couple of weeks of unemployment you've seriously screwed up somewhere - probably overcommitting to expenses based on assuming that your income is guaranteed. The mindset that someone should be stopped from even offering a job because it might not be…

> As an adult if you can't weather a couple of weeks of unemployment you've seriously screwed up somewhere Only 64% of Americans could cover an expected bill of $400. https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/2021-economic-we...

In my observation, Americans are especially bad at managing their finances.

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#266

Post by 1970-01-01 » Mon, Mar 18, 2024, 1:56 AM UTC

I don't know why there are suddenly so many, but I do know that a large majority of them are a complete waste of time and money. Only use a car wash if they have filtered water -or- you have salt on your vehicle (i.e. driving on salted winter roads). Paying for anything else is a large waste of money, as your car will still look dirty when it dries. Yes, that under spray is the most important part of the wash if you are driving on salted roads. Don't skip it.

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#267

Post by chaorace » Mon, Mar 18, 2024, 1:57 AM UTC

rootusrootus wrote: post #220

Spivak wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really don't get what this is implying, commuter cars are essentially self-cleaning. You're driving on roads where the worst that's gonna happen is some salt buildup in winter that isn't worth washing off in winter (and isn't rusting in winter) and then it washes itself off first rain of spring. This feels like one of those iceberg tips where I'm really glad I'm not in the kind of social circle where having a spotl…

I think it’s pretty normal for people to want to take good care of things they’ve spent hard earned money on. Is driving a filthy car some kind of weird flex?

If torn jeans can be a fashion statement, then so too can an unwashed car. Let them have this, why don't you?

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#268

Post by UncleEntity » Mon, Mar 18, 2024, 1:58 AM UTC

Lammy wrote: post #261

> Such “destination” facilities can offer […] electric vehicle charging This seems like the most likely reason to me. It's a way to hold on to land in a way that normalizes gas-station-like traffic patterns without the "gas station" stigma. They can be easily converted in the future once electric cars are a large enough percentage of cars that everyone will come to accept fueling as a 30-minute activity instead of a…

IDK, I used to drive all over the Phoenix valley pre-covid in my cab and most of new business construction I would see was either a car wash or coffee shop. I was messing around on google maps one day and there was something crazy like seven starbucks within reasonable walking distance of my apartment including two in the same shopping center.

I always thought the car wash construction boom had something to do with water conservation, Phoenix being in the desert, but apparently not.

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#269

Post by smeej » Mon, Mar 18, 2024, 1:58 AM UTC

michaelmrose wrote: post #205

smeej wrote: post #118

Automated ones are fine, but what I've really missed since I moved to New England have been the ones where a team vacuums the inside, hoses off your mats, wipes your windows and dashboard inside, etc. Growing up in the West and Midwest, these things were absolutely normal for the first 30 years of my life. Some of them would even change the oil too. But I haven't found anywhere within 50 miles of me that will do it h…

Sounds fantastic sadly it's easy to see why it doesn't exist. Oil changes require following environmental regs, careful disposal, paying for same and it makes a 1000x more sense to integrate them with a business that actually works on cars and can capture additional dollars for other maintenance and repair. You also want a comparatively skilled and trustworthy individual not someone who moved up from vacuuming to oil…

"Quick lube" stations are everywhere too though. $20 and out in 10 minutes. This was more like "quick lube plus car wash," not "oil change, free 97 point inspection, and upsell on six things that aren't even wrong with your car."

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#270

Post by smeej » Mon, Mar 18, 2024, 2:01 AM UTC

_heimdall wrote: post #192

mensetmanusman wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Labor costs arr too high for this to exist anymore.

That may depend on region. These still exist in the suburbs outside Birmingham, AL. Last I saw the prices varied from $15-30 for a wash, wax, detail, and hand dry. They don't offer an oil change though, I've never seen a wash+detail+oil change in the area. At scale I'd assume they could do it for closer to $50, if $35 was a 2005 price that's on par with inflation and beating inflation for some industries like food.

My most recent reference was $35 in Indianapolis in 2017. It doesn't surprise me that it'd be up, but it surprises me that it doesn't exist in New England. $60 wouldn't seem out of line to me, given that a quick lube station will change my oil for $20 and an automated car wash is another $17.