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Which is the Best Car Wash Machine for my Location?

This is a question that every Car Wash Business Entrepreneur has. Automatic Car Washing Machine is one of the costliest machines in your car wash business. In fact if you see the cost per car washed in one hour is much lesser for conveyor car wash machines.

Automatic Car Wash Machine Prices in South Africa vary from the model and technology selected. Touchless though prevalent in other parts of the globe, is not very successful in South Africa for various reasons. If you are planning for it, you need to do more research.

Selection between Trolley Car Wash Machine and Conveyor Car Wash Machine purely depends upon :

• Approximate no. of Cars expected / hour
• Area available
• Services to be offered.

If you see the Machine Selector tool below, you can get an estimate of which kind of machine you should be selecting for your car wash business.

Equipment Type Selector

Working Hours -

Cars Per Day -

Number Of Cars Per Hour -

Equipment Suggestion -

Move the sliders in the Calculator, to change the number of working hours and the number of cars you expect to wash each day. Once you do select the options, the calculator suggests the kind of equipment that would be best suited for your location. This is based on standard average parameters. Results may change from location to location.

 

We interact with business owners almost every day and their predicament always is :

What if I select a Trolley system and my traffic increases in the future?

Trolley Car Wash Machines

Trolley machines cost much lesser than the Conveyor car wash machines, however, they mostly can do only about 8 - 10 cars per hour depending upon the wash cycles. The risk here is that if your business hits off and you get more traffic than anticipated, you would probably regret your decision to buy a Trolley machine.

 

Conveyor Car Wash Machines

Conveyor machines cost much more than Trolley car wash machines. The smallest car wash machine of conveyor type can wash approximately 25 - 30 cars per hour. The risk, in this case, is that: if you install a conveyor system investing higher sums and if you do not get enough business, the return on investment would be a problem.

For this reason, one should follow the steps mentioned in the Land Selection Article before selecting the machine type for one Car Wash Business in South Africa.

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How does the Area available affect the equipment selection?

There are basically 2 Car Wash Bay configurations for any Car Wash Business.

1. Drive In - Drive out (Best)
2. Drive In - Back Off

Drive IN - Drive OUT (Best)

The first option which is - Drive In - Drive Out is the most preferred bay configuration, where the customers enter from one side and exit from the other. This way you can have a line up on the entry side allowing the customers to enter the car wash sequentially.

Drive IN - Back Off

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For places that do not have adequate space, the drivers enter the car wash bay and reverse to come out of the car wash. This is not desirable but for places where you do not have space or the traffic is not too high, this option can be selected.

Coming back to the Area availability determining the Equipment Type, a Conveyorised system always requires a Drive IN and Drive Out bay configuration. A Trolley machine can use any one of the wash bay configurations.

 

Which Wash Cycles are available in KKE Car Wash Machines Automatic?

The washing sequence remains the same in both kinds of car washing machines barring a few.

Trolley Car Wash Machine Cycles

• Low-Pressure Pre Wash
• High-Pressure Prewash
• Soap Spray (Presoak)
• High pH Soap Spray
• High-Pressure Prewash
• High-Pressure Wheel Blaster
• Brush Wash
• Wheel Brush
• Triple Foam Wax
• Lava Foam
• Sealer Wax
• Drying Aid
• Blowers

Conveyor Car Wash Machine Cycles

• Low-Pressure Pre Wash
• High-Pressure Prewash
• Lava Foam
• Soap Spray (Presoak)
• High pH Soap Spray
• High-Pressure Prewash
• High-Pressure Wheel Blaster
• Brush Wash
• Skirt Brushes
• Tyre Brushes
• Triple Foam Wax
• Sealer Wax
• Rain Water Arch
• Drying Aid
• Blowers

 

What are the different options in Trolley and Conveyor Car Washing Machines for South Africa?

KKE has the entire range of car washing machines that are suitable for South African Car Wash Business. You can select the equipment which suits your requirement based on the traffic and your car wash business plan.

Trolley Machines

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Conveyor Machines

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How big an equipment room is required for both type of Automatic Car Washing machines?

The equipment room is a place where all the supporting equipment required for the automatic car wash machine is placed. It would also have consumables like Soaps, Waxes, Cleaning Chemicals, etc which are required for the car wash. While you would place all the equipment, one should make sure easy access to all the equipment for future maintenance and replacement.

The area for the equipment depends on multiple factors but first, we see which items are present in the Car Wash Equipment room.

1. Air Compressor
2. Water Pumps
3. Centralised Vacuum
4. Chemicals
5. Washing Machine and Dryer (For Full Service Wash for washing Microfiber Towels)
6. Tool Kits
7. Spares

In a Trolley Car Washing Machine, most of the concentrate tanks are on the machine itself, while in a Conveyor Car Wash Machine, all the dosing pumps and their concentrates are in the Equipment Room.

In places where the temperature goes sub-zero, even the chemical drums will have to placed inside to avoid them from freezing, but for most places in South Africa, the chemicals can be placed outside.

For a Trolley car washing machine, about 5  -10 square meter or ( 50 - 100 sqft) is sufficient, whereas for a conveyor car wash system, depending upon the length of the conveyor and the number of arches installed, a minimum of 15 square meters ( 150 sqft ) shall be required.

 

Automatic Car Washing Machine Prices in South Africa

Please fill the form below to receive the prices in your email.

 

I have peaks and valleys in the Customer Visits during the day. Will my conveyor run continuously even if there is no Car in the machine?

No.

The Carwash machine conveyor keeps a track of the vehicle location while the equipment is within the car wash bay. once the car exits the wash bay area, the equipment switches off the conveyor motor. This helps in saving electricity.

Also, KKE Conveyor machines come with a Roller on-demand feature. What this means is that the roller comes out on the top surface only when the car is present, else the rollers run below the conveyor surface. This avoids jamming due to the conveyor coming below the rear wheel.

 

How is the Drive Through Fleet Wash different from a Conveyor Car Wash Machine?

Yes, you are right, the Z10 fleet wash uses a lot of Gamma Conveyor Car Wash Arches, but not all. The main difference between the Fleet Car Wash machine and a Conveyor car wash machine is that in the Fleet wash machine, there is no conveyor. The car is driven through the car wash slowly while the machine senses the car and starts various arches. The prerequisite to this type of car wash is that the driver is to be a very trained driver not just understanding the equipment working but also understanding the working of each car.

Such systems are generally installed at Auto dealerships where the drivers are trained in driving that particular brand of the cars and also since the number is less, they can be trained on how to drive through the car wash bay for proper cleaning.

 

How can I calculate the Return on Investment of my Car Wash Business in South Africa?

Return on Investment in simple words means how much you are going to earn at the end of the day. It is basically the difference between Expenditure and Revenue.

Revenue is something which you get from the Customers for the Car Cleaning Services provided by you. You may charge differently based on the different services you might be providing.

Expenditures are the transactions where the money goes out of your pocket. Expenses are of two types, fixed and variable. Fixed expenses shall remain even if you do not get a single car wash customer is a day, while Variable expenses go up and down based on the volume of your business you do.

You can calculate Return on Investment of your planned car wash business using the tool here.

 

Can these Automatic Car Wash Machines be termed as Eco Friendly?

Any operation is termed as Eco Friendly based on the discharges made by it. Discharges are the waste left by a particular process. For example, taking a bath gives a discharge of soap water. In the same way, car wash also discharges Soapy water with a light film of oil or grease which may come from the wheel bearings or some leaking engine oil of some car.

If you use a Water Recycling System water recycling system which separates the oil and removes the sludge from the water before it is discharged, you can mention your car wash as an Eco-Friendly car wash. Moreover, when you recycle the water you can reuse the same water over and over again and reduce the total water consumed by your car wash.

You can also use KKE Biodegradable Chemicals which are ecofriendly and very cost-effective.

 

How much time is required to wash one Car?

Automatic Car Wash Machines drastically reduce the washing time for car cleaning as compared to manual car wash. An automatic car wash machine can take anywhere between 5 - 10 minutes per car depending upon the wash cycles selected by the customer.

Generally, all car wash operators have multiple wash programs to charge different prices for different wash cycles. The more expensive the wash, the more wash cycles it will have.

The Basic Car Wash Program  generally consists of

• Prewash
• Soap Spray
• Brushing
• Drying

Extra wash cycles like the following are clubbed in different wash programs and are priced accordingly:

• Lava Foam
• Sealer Wax
• Triple Foam Wax
• Tire Shiner
• Under Chassis Wash

 

Touchless or Brush Car Washer Machine in South Africa?

KKE has been manufacturing Touchless Car Wash Machines since 1998. We are thorough with the technology and what it takes to clean a car in South African conditions. Touchless Car Wash Machines are suitable for dusty environments.

These days, even friction machines as they are called come with soft Foam Bristles which are very soft while effectively removing the dirt.

Recommendation

If you want a touchless option in your car washer machine, you can opt for Brush Car Wash Equipment in South Africa with high-pressure addons. The high-Pressure passes can precede the brush pass so that excess mud gets removed before the brushes touch the car surface.

Are the Car Wash Machines for Sale or Rental?

Currently, the Car Wash Equipment are for sale only in South Africa.