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Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

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Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#271

Post by WWLink »

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.

I don't get it? When I wash my cars I like to go all out and clay them and wax them. And then the next morning there's a nice layer of dust. And the morning after that the morning dew has cemented that dust on.

Even a 3 year old car that has been washed twice a week at an automatic wash is going to look a lot worse than a 5 year old car that occasionally gets a good hand wash. The constantly auto washed car is going to be full of swirls and maybe even a screwed up antenna or spoiler or rear wiper blade because car washes like eating those.

Plus even the most aggressive automatic car wash isn't going to actually CLEAN a car. Even the laziest 20 minute rinse/soap/rinse/dry is going to clean a car better than an automatic car wash does. And if you use good microfiber towels ($13 for a pack of 36 at costco) and pretty much any microfiber sponge ($5 at walmart or whatever), and something like meguairs gold class wash and wax ($15 for a big bottle at walmart) you're set for at least 2-3 years.

Err anyway... "doesn't take care of their stuff" - I reserve that for people who never clean the inside of their car, people who ram into curbs and mess up their bumper getting out, and people who slam their doors into other peoples' cars.

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#272

Post by UncleEntity »

Supermancho wrote: post #259
tamimio wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I would have assumed its from the rise of gig workers using private cars. Uber/Lyft need to keep cars pretty clean True, I believe that’s the reason too, a while ago I used to park in an underground parking with a free washing area, the car next to me used to be clean all the time and the guy washes it every day, one time I asked him about such dedication, he said simply he is an uber driver!

>> I would have assumed its from the rise of gig workers using private cars. It is not in West/Fargo. There is almost no rideshare capacity (there are a couple people) and the taxis use their own wash. Even Google does not capture the new 12 washes that have appeared in the last 18 months. Some of them can't staff and are closed much of the time. Especially during winter, when you want washes, it seems like land impr…

> and the taxis use their own wash.

The last cab company I worked for had a car wash in the yard that usually managed to make the car dirtier than it was before it was washed. But that was their 'standard', it was free and I really didn't care so...

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#273

Post by johnwalkr »

bobthepanda wrote: post #196
bluefirebrand wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think generally it should not be allowed. A big component of soap is phosphates, which promote algae growth so you really don't want it in your rivers That's fair, but it doesn't explain why the bylaw won't even let you rinse the mud off your car with nothing but water

It’s usually not just mud on your car and all the other stuff is also not good to let into the water untreated either

And you can’t feasibly regulate individuals to only put “mud” into the sewer system, but you can regulate and inspect a car wash.

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#274

Post by y1n0 »

atrus wrote: post #168
logifail wrote: post #89

> 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 abo…

It sounds like you are saying it would be better for those people to have never been employed (i.e. some of the carwashes never being built) than employed for a while and then losing their job if the carwash goes out of business.

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#275

Post by Supermancho »

UncleEntity wrote: post #272
Supermancho wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> I would have assumed its from the rise of gig workers using private cars. It is not in West/Fargo. There is almost no rideshare capacity (there are a couple people) and the taxis use their own wash. Even Google does not capture the new 12 washes that have appeared in the last 18 months. Some of them can't staff and are closed much of the time. Especially during winter, when you want washes, it seems like land impr…

> and the taxis use their own wash. The last cab company I worked for had a car wash in the yard that usually managed to make the car dirtier than it was before it was washed. But that was their 'standard', it was free and I really didn't care so...

All the dealerships out here give free car washes that are better than the automated. Granted, they are clustered in specific areas and sometimes there's a wait...because it's a dealership with paying service customers.

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#276

Post by bluefirebrand »

Denzel wrote: post #115
bluefirebrand wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think generally it should not be allowed. A big component of soap is phosphates, which promote algae growth so you really don't want it in your rivers That's fair, but it doesn't explain why the bylaw won't even let you rinse the mud off your car with nothing but water

I operate an auto detailing shop. As part of that I've done some research and spoken with my local city (100k+ pop.) officials about this. It's actually quite logical. First, there's a distinction between sewer vs. stormwater. Sewer lines go to a treatment facility that's built specifically to take all the bad stuff out of the water before flushing that treated water into your local streams. Washing your car into a s…

Thank you for this very detailed write up, this actually clears up a lot.

I appreciate you taking time to explain all of this, it is pretty baffling otherwise

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#277

Post by Retric »

_heimdall wrote: post #250
mdasen wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Land value taxes aren't about destroying natural land to extract value. The point of taxing the value of the land in urban areas is that a lot of the time places essentially squat on land that could be better used. A car wash building will have a low assessed value for its improvements compared to a biotech building. For example, in my city we have a carwash with its improvements valued at $400,000 and a biotech buil…

Thanks for all the details! Limiting a land value tax to densely populated areas is a great detail here. Sorry if I end up with a long list of follow-up questions here, this is really interesting. So my main concern related to destruction of natural land is that there is a disincentive to keep land natural if you have to pay the tax anyway. In dense areas that wouldn't be nearly as much of an issue, but it would stil…

> So my main concern related to destruction of natural land is that there is a disincentive to keep land natural if you have to pay the tax anyway.

There’s no need to limit land value taxes based on density as that’s what’s giving land its value.

With the property if the tax is say 0.2%. An acre of farmland worth in rural Idaho worth 20k would be assessed as being worth 20k in a land value tax and an acre of swamp might be worth 1,000$. Meanwhile an acre in Manhattan might be valued at 200 million, and the ~5 orders of magnitude difference in taxation would therefore apply dramatically different results.

The farmland’s 40$/year in taxes isn’t pushing anyone to sell, the swamp’s 2$/year in taxes is irrelevant for most people. But eating 400k in taxes on a manhattan parking lot is definitely pushing someone to be more productive with it.

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#278

Post by UncleEntity »

ryandrake wrote: post #97
bluefirebrand wrote: post #5

In 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.

> I can’t imagine this is the most important crime for the local law enforcement to be investigating.

Unfortunately sometimes things don't work like anyone would want them to. https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/victims-wonder-why-arpa...

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#279

Post by sroussey »

gunapologist99 wrote: post #202
sroussey wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Same article, right? And there's nothing in there to do with car washes specifically, though? Just general MACRS etc?

Not the same article.

The tax act of 2017 has special provisions where almost nothing but car washes qualify.

Re: Why are there suddenly so many car washes?

#280

Post by laughing_man »

A whole article that doesn't touch on the real reason there are so many car washes, laundromats, and nail salons.

It's because the cars aren't the only thing being cleaned. If you have a lot of illicit cash that needs to wind up in your bank account, these are the kinds of places you need to own.

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