How to Encourage Customers to Spend More on Car Cleaning Accessories and Items

Part of growing your car wash business is enticing your customers to spend more. There are several different methods car wash owners can take to help boost revenues. Depending on the location of your car wash, level of competition, time of year, and other factors, you may need to experiment to discover what works best for you.

Maintain the Quality of Your Car Wash

Another way to increase revenues is by maintaining the appearance of your car wash. Make sure all equipment is in proper working order. Keep your car wash bays clean and looking great. When customers see how much attention to detail you put into maintaining the car wash, they are more likely to return and become a repeat long-term customer. To prevent having to shut down your wash bays and vacuums, make sure to keep a stock of car wash parts on hand.

Install Car Wash Vending Machines

Providing the car cleaning accessories, washing and drying towels, and detailing items customers need for their vehicles will boost your revenues. Make sure your vending machines are in an easily accessible area. You will also want to enable debit and credit card features so customers don’t have to worry about carrying cash to use your vending machines.

Add Signage to Upsell Car Wash Accessories and Items

In each of your car wash bays, hang up signs that offer step-by-step instructions for washing and detailing vehicles. Make sure to include the items in your car wash vending machines in the instructions. At the bottom of the sign, put a short message that lets customers know that the accessories and items mentioned in the instructions are available for sale in your vending machines.

To illustrate, go through the basic car wash steps using your hand car wash equipment. You could include steps for “pre-treating” the vehicle with tar and bug remover spray, tire cleaner, and other such products before washing. Include detailing steps that encourage your customers to dry off their vehicles after using the spot-free rinse option using car wash towels. Last, list several detailing steps like using tire foam, protectant, and window cleaner products.

Bundle Products to Add Value

Bundling specific car wash materials together will help add value for your customers. For instance, you could bundle a car wash towel with a bottle of Armor All Protectant and sell it for a little less than the cost of buying a car wash towel and bottle of protectant separately.

Be fun and creative when making bundles. There are all sorts of different ones you could come up with that would be of value for your customers. You could even offer full detailing bundles that include car wash towels, Armor All products (protectant, window cleaner, tire foam, etc.), and an air freshener.

Hire a Part-Time Employee

Having a person onsite at peak car wash times can help boost your revenues. The person you hire should be educated on the different wash options, vacuum cleaners, and car cleaning accessories, items, and products you sell. If you have a small “office” area, you could also use this space to sell larger car wash products, accessories, and items like steering wheel covers, ice scrapers, and windshield wipers.

You and your employee should essentially become “car wash service advisers” for your customers. Be ready to make suggestions, offer advice, and answer their questions in a happy, cheerful, and pleasant manner. Providing great customer service will help build trust with your customers and long-term business relationships.

Offer Car Wash Packages

A great way to boost sales is to pre-sell car washes and vacuum cleaning services. The easiest way to do this is with a “car wash card” with a magnetic strip on the back. The customer chooses how many washes and vacuums they want, and they are loaded onto their reloadable card.

Then, when they want to wash or vacuum their vehicle, they slide their card through a card reader on the hand car wash equipment or vacuum cleaner. Your card reader deducts one use from the card.
The different car wash packages you come up with should offer a bit of a discount over purchasing them individually. A great marketing slogan could be something like, “The More You Buy – The More You Save.”

Start a Car Wash Loyalty Program 

For your truly dedicated customers, you could start a loyalty program. The program should offer special perks and incentives to get others to want to join. There are different options for creating rewards for your customers.

One popular option is to use a mobile app. Mobile apps are great to use for loyalty programs. You could have the app designed so it tracks your customers’ purchases by using a “built-in” rewards card. Once they reach a certain dollar amount, you could offer them featured rewards like their choice of a free car wash, free vacuum, or a free product from your vending machines.

Another reward setup is to use a points system based on how much your customers spend, which can be tracked through your mobile app. You could offer different point level rewards based on the number of points earned. For instance, one of your top-tier rewards could be a gift card loaded with 12 free car washes and 12 free vacuums.

Have Weekly Sales Events

Retail stores, grocery stores, and other businesses run weekly sales to entice customers to shop at their stores, and so can you. Just because you own a car wash doesn’t mean you cannot advertise weekly sales items or special deals.

One week you could offer a discount on prepaid car wash and vacuum cards. That same week you could run a sale on some of your top-selling vending machine items. The following week, change it up and maybe offer a BOGO (buy-one-get-one) offer on car air freshener bomb products and a free triple foam wax with any car wash purchase.

Host a Classic Car Show

If you have space, talk to your local classic car chapter to see about hosting a car show on the weekend. This will get people to stop by and see the cars while also, potentially, getting their cars washed.

Sponsor a Fundraiser

You could partner with a nonprofit or local school and host a fundraiser. For example, for every car wash purchased, you donate $1 to the nonprofit. With schools, you could have the kids vacuum and wash the cars for your customers while donating part of the proceeds to the school.

Sponsor Local Kids’ Sports Teams

A great way to advertise your car wash to attract more customers is by sponsoring a local kids’ sports team like a soccer or baseball team. Your business name would be on their jerseys, so it is free advertising. Plus, it shows people you care about supporting your community.

Partner Up with the Local Radio Station

If there is a local radio station in your area, see if they will do a broadcast from your car wash on a Friday afternoon or the weekend. Work with the radio station to raffle off or give away some free car washes, free vacuums, and other products to get people to stop.

Offer Happy Hour Car Wash Deals

On slower days during the week, you could run “happy hour” car wash deals—like half off your most expensive car wash from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. You could even run “happy hour” deals for car wash materials, towels, air fresheners, accessories, and items in your vending machines!

No matter which of these methods you use for your car wash, remember to tie them in with your website and social media sites. Posting on Facebook, Twitter, or other sites can let your followers know what is going on at your car wash. Make sure to encourage them to share your posts with their friends too!

To make sure your vending machines have the right mix of car cleaning accessories, materials, and products and can be kept full, please feel free to shop at our online store or contact Superior Car Wash Supply at 800-554-9274 for further assistance today! We offer the best prices on bulk detailing supplies and products. Plus, we offer a fully assembled Express Store display that comes stocked full of products ready to sell at your car wash!