As any business owner knows, it’s your responsibility to consistently look for ways to reduce costs and increase profits. When operating a car wash facility, it may feel like you have limited options. However, there are certain strategies that can help.

Reducing labour cost at your car wash doesn’t have to involve firing half of your team and forcing the rest to work to the bone, or even replacing all of your staff with technology.

It means intelligently planning out ways to adjust the operation of your business to maximise efficiency. In this article, we explore 4 key ways that you can significantly reduce the cost of labour, bolstering your profits in the process.

  1. Reduce Manual Labour

To begin with you should invest in machinery that reduces the need for manual tasks.

While all car washes require some manual input, there are some processes that can either be replaced or optimised by the aid of equipment.

This doesn’t mean replacing your entire workforce with machinery. It’s about finding the perfect balance between hiring the right number of staff and investing in technology that enables your staff to work with optimal efficiency.

Assess your site and figure out which of your car wash processes are taking your team the most time, then seek to invest in machinery that will alleviate them.

This means that more cars can be cleaned, and therefore more profits made.

You may choose to implement:

  1. Alter Your Work Week Timing

It would be wise to reconsider what day your work week begins on.

While it’s customary for most people to start the week on a Monday, this might not work so well for a car wash business.

If you think about it, the beginning of the week is when people are least likely to take their cars to be cleaned.

Most people only have time to have their cars washed at the end of the week, or in the evenings after work.

The busiest day for most car washes is a Saturday, making it highly beneficial to start your work week on a Wednesday, for example. After all, there’s no rule that says your business has to operate on a Monday.

This way, you won’t have to pay labour costs on days where you have little to no footfall.

  1. Optimise Staff Scheduling

A key way to reduce labour costs is to assess when the busiest times are for your business.

It helps to track how many cars pass through your court and at what times of day. This way you can arrange your staff rota around these times.

You don’t want to be paying labour costs for employees that have no option but to stand around and do nothing, there are far better ways to spend your money!

Proper scheduling means better profit. Your employees will appreciate it too, as nobody wants to be in on a day where nothing is happening.

  1. Assess Site Layout

If your work force isn’t operating as effectively as it could be, you might want to reflect on the structure of your site.

From the wash bays to the machinery, you need to make sure that everything is arranged in a way that maximises efficiency. A disorganised site will lead to time wasted, and consequently, a loss of profits.

Make sure your wash bays are positioned side by side, and machinery and equipment are installed in convenient locations. This way your team will be able to work systematically to wash the cars with a significant boost to efficiently.

More cars processed = more profits!

Advanced Car Wash Technologies from PSD Codax

PSD Codax have been the leader in car wash forecourt technology for more than a decade, offering advanced, state-of-the-art solutions to help support and grow your business.

To find out more about our car wash products and how we can optimise the efficiency of your team, don’t hesitate to get in touch with a member of our team.