Reasons
That Car Wash Owners Sell
1. New competition that has arrived within the last three
years. Normally it takes a two to three years for the revenue of
a new car wash to
grow and stabilize, so the full effect of a new car wash competitor
might not be
immediately felt by an existing car wash.
2. Expectation of new competition, either from new similar car
washes, extensive refurbishment of existing car washes in the area, or
from new car washes of the same type or of a type that might substitute
for the subject car wash, (i.e., a new exterior only near an
existing self-serve, or a new flex-serve near an older full-serve).
Check with the equipment dealers,
chemical salesmen, city permitting
department, etc. to determine whether an existing car wash might be
faced with new competition soon.
3. Expectation of new road construction in front of the car
wash. The disruption of revenue might not be as bad if the car
wash is on a
corner lot, if there is good ingress and egress from both streets, and
if both streets will not be torn up at the same time. New road
construction is a strong motivator for selling a car wash.
4. Expectation of new underground utility work.
5. Closing of nearby major retail stores is expected, such as a
Wal-Mart or large grocery store closing or moving.
6. When the seller has a floating-rate car wash loan, expectation
of higher interest rates in the near to
intermediate future.
7. Expectation of a significant increase in car wash operating
expenses, such as chemicals, payroll taxes, insurance, sales taxes,
property taxes,
utilities, etc..
8. Cost and personal effort to bring the car wash to
state-of-the-art is high and the
owner just does not want to spend the time or money to do that.
9. The seller believes that the market value is high compared to
his construction cost or purchase price, so even without specific
threats to the business, believes that the opportunity to make a
significant gain has just become too high to pass up.
10. Other business interests have become so time consuming that
they no longer allow sufficient time to
operate the car wash.
11. Other business interests require additional capital,
requiring sale of the car wash.
12. Decline in revenue causes has caused seller to lose interest
in the car wash.
13. Poor health.
14. Retirement.
15. Job transfer.
16. Divorce.
17. Break-up of car wash partnership.
18. Moving home to distant location.
There are many other reasons why car wash owners
sell. A prospective buyer would be wise to
always ask why a car wash has been offered for sale.
© Copyright by Alan L. Bussey
1999 through 2009 All Rights
Reserved.