Does anyone have ever purchased a "Car Wash Business"? Any Advice?

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June 15, 2020

by a searcher from Harvard University - Harvard Business School in New York, NY, USA

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Reply by a searcher
in Seattle, WA, USA
I looked at one in an idle moment and had a good chat with the owner. It was touchless, recycled water, fully automated (no attendant), with alerting for low supplies, machine problems etc. He had gone to great lengths to ensure maximum profitability and it was in a very good location, (always a line to use it). He said the problem he had was the cost differential between automation and non-automation. If he hired an attendant it wasn't profitable enough to be "exciting" (his words). But if he didn't hire an attendant then he had to deal with the alerts himself and he also lost revenue during the downtime. This was for a single location though. He figured if he had a dozen locations it would then be worth having one full-time person handling the alerts and it would be a worthy endeavor.
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Reply by an intermediary
from University of Pennsylvania in Durham, NC, USA
I'm reposting this information in case you haven't seen it. Might be helpful for your due diligence.

The IRS publishes a Cash Intensive Businesses Audit Techniques Guide. Here's a link:
https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/cash-intensive-businesses-audit-techniques-guide-table-of-contents

There's a chapter on car washes, which includes methods for verifying gross receipts.
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/cashchapter11_211031.pdf
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