This blog is sponsored by Dencar.

Operating a profitable carwash is all about efficiency. The more throughput you can achieve, the more money you’ll make. Modern carwashes have become incredibly efficient at cleaning vehicles; the problem usually is that point-of-sale technology can’t keep up. It doesn’t matter how fast, effective and efficient your wash is if your pay station is taking too long to get customers inside it. You’ll be losing money every hour.

And that’s just single-wash sales. Converting customers into monthly subscribers can take even longer with most kiosks — further diminishing per-hour profits and discouraging subscriptions via time-consuming, overly complicated processes.

Auto Spa Ohio is a 10-location chain of in-bay automatic carwashes in Northeast Ohio. Owner Dave Blashinsky already had what he believed to be a successful monthly subscription business and was not looking to make any changes when, nearly two decades into his business’ existence, he discovered Dencar Pay Stations. He was immediately struck by the pay stations’ speedy transaction times, true unattended automation and user friendliness. He saw the possibilities for Auto Spa Ohio.

Blashinksy was so impressed, he made the decision to immediately begin replacing all the kiosks at his Auto Spa locations with Dencar Pay Stations. With three kiosks at 10 locations, that meant 30 new pay stations. Converting a location approximately every two weeks, rollout across the chain happened in a quick six months.

“Obviously, 30 new machines was a huge commitment, and one I didn’t enter into lightly,” said Blashinsky. “But I was a big believer in what Dencar could do for Auto Spa. Rather than pilot it at one or two locations, I dived right in with converting all of them.”

Blashinsky says the appeal of the Dencar Pay Station was multifold. “Dencar just nailed it,” said Blashinsky. “It’s easy for customers to use unattended. The presentation is easy and professional, with a large touch screen. Customers can swiftly join our wash club in just 10 seconds. It’s easy to sell wash passes, a single wash and credit card transactions are a breeze.”

He’s also a fan of Dencar’s patent-pending VIA Guard technology, which helps police potential abuse of monthly wash passes by making sure that only the vehicle assigned to the pass is using it. “It keeps a running report of misuse incidents and is easy to audit, mitigate and get back on track,” said Blashinsky. VIA Guard sends a text message to the subscriber, reminding them of the single-vehicle rule, asks if they’d like to add the second vehicle to their plan and charges their credit card (on file from the wash pass purchase) for the additional wash.

After just 18 months of using Dencar Pay Stations, Auto Spa doubled its total monthly wash pass subscriptions. This huge leap in monthly subscribers was particularly amazing given the business had been operating for almost 20 years. Blashinsky says his investment and belief in Dencar has paid off. He now encourages other wash owners to make the Dencar switch.

Blashinsky obviously believes in Dencar’s tech, but he also believes in the people behind it. “From the first day we met and all the way through process, they were alongside me providing information and support,” said Blashinsky. “Whenever we needed them — and I really mean whenever, even on a weekend — they were there for us. It’s a really impressive company.”

He continues, “It’s a hardworking company that is committed to achieving greatness on their end. Because they’re passionate about what they are doing, it enhances our experience as their customer. They made sure we were comfortable with the pay station system. Being carwash owners themselves, they understand this business inside and out, and are able to relate to me operator to operator. Having that support from your point-of-sale partner makes all the difference in the world.”