Jimu News Reporter Shi Qian
Photojournalist Li Hui
The year is approaching, and artificial car wash shops are about to usher in a wave of price increases. In addition, due to the shortage of manpower, many car wash shops are not open during the Spring Festival, or make smart car wash points usher in new vitality. However, many car owners reported that the intelligent car wash cleaning was not thorough enough, and there was a risk of damaging the paint. Industry insiders believe that in order to replace manual car washing, intelligent car washing must solve consumer pain points in order to usher in an upward period.
The artificial car wash shop ushered in a wave of price increases on the 15th
"Want to wash your car?" Wash early and save money, around the 15th we are going to increase the price! On January 6, a reporter from Jimu News saw a car wash shop on Yangyuan South Road that workers were washing a car and beckoned the reporter to come into the store to wash the car. The owner of the car wash told reporters that the current price is 35 yuan for the car and 40 yuan for the SUV, and the price will rise on January 15.
The owner of the store said that they are open as usual during the Spring Festival every year, about 60 yuan a time before the small year, the price of the Spring Festival will rise to 100 yuan once, the vast majority of car owners will rush to wash the car before the small year, "after the fifteenth day of the first month, it will return to the daily price of 35 yuan, and the car should be washed as soon as possible." ”
The owner of the shop also told reporters that many car wash shops are no longer open during the Spring Festival, because the small workers have to go home for the New Year. They are a mom-and-pop shop, ready to be in Wuhan for the New Year, by the way to make some money, "all year round to earn more money, around the Spring Festival car wash can not use the membership card." ”
In the two brand car maintenance centers about 500 meters away from the car wash shop, the current car wash price is much the same, 30 yuan for cars and 40 yuan for SUVs. According to the staff, the company adjusted the price around the 15th, the car rose to 60 yuan, the SUV rose to 70 yuan, "before the festival shortage of manpower, employees to go home for the New Year, business until January 29 on the rest." ”
Some smart car wash points are rarely asked
In the petrochina Xudong Road gas station, many car owners after refueling at the nearby self-service car wash point to wash a car. "I live near Xudong, and I got a gas card at this gas station, and I can wash the car for free after 200 yuan." Mr. Xu, a citizen, told reporters that although free car washing is very attractive, if you want to wash the car finely, you still have to find a manual car wash shop. Self-service car wash points can only clean the outside, not the inside.
According to the staff of this self-service car wash point, the car wash point cleans about 200 cars every day, mainly for the gas station to do supporting services, not to wash the car as a profit point. If there is no gas, charge 15 yuan to wash the car once, "on weekdays is also this price, the price will not increase around the beginning of the year, but the first to the sixth day of the New Year is not open." ”
In the Xinxin Garden Community in Hongshan District, there is a self-service car wash machine. The reporter contacted customer service to learn that the brand has thirty or forty self-service car wash equipment in Wuhan, which is open 24 hours a day during the Spring Festival, but the price may increase during the Spring Festival, and the price increase notice issued by the company shall prevail.
The reporter scans the code to log on to the car wash page, and the page prompts the use process: the first step is to press the water key to rinse the body, the second step is to press the foam key to remove the body, the third step is to press the suction key to remove dust in the car, and the fourth step is to press the wash key to wash the towel and wash the hands. The billing standard is: 0.95 / min for clean water, 1.08 yuan / min for foam, 0.6 / min for vacuuming, 0.5 / min for hand washing, 0.1 / min for standby. According to the estimation of 15 minutes of car washing, about ten yuan to wash once.
The reporter stayed in front of the car wash machine in the community for more than ten minutes, and no car owner came to wash the car. The community security told reporters that few car owners in other communities have deliberately found a car wash, and the owners of the community have not washed much, and most of the owners are still looking for professional car wash shops.
The reporter learned that the brand car wash machine is a local enterprise in Wuhan, which previously had more than 100 self-service car wash equipment in the city, and now it has been reduced to 30 or 40 units. The price also rose from 7 yuan to more than a dozen yuan at a time. Two years ago, the brand promised not to raise prices during the Spring Festival, and now customer service has said there may be price increase notices.
Solve the consumption pain points to usher in the rising period
Industry insiders said that the self-service car wash point of the gas station and the self-service car wash machine of the community represent the two kinds of intelligent car wash equipment that are currently mainstream. The use of car washer outside and inside can be taken into account, but the disadvantage is that the owner needs to do it himself, only providing water and foam; the gas station car wash point is clear water and brush strong brushing, the disadvantage is that it is impossible to clean the inside.
Previously, there were media reports that some car owners refueled at the gas station, and went to the self-service car wash point on the side to wash the car, and the result was known as a smart car washer, which squeezed the car and damaged the body in many places. After the 4S shop tested, it was shown that it needed to spend more than 5,000 yuan for repair.
The reporter randomly interviewed nearly ten car owners. Many car owners said that if the price of manual car washes around the Spring Festival increases too much, they may choose smart car wash points. However, on weekdays, it is more inclined to go to the manual car wash shop, because the smart car wash point is difficult to clean the inside of the car, and there is a risk of damaging the paint.
The data shows that in China's car wash market, nearly 90% is manual hand washing, close to 10% is machine washing, and the proportion of self-service car washes can be ignored. In the international market, Europe and the United States and other countries and regions have long entered the era of machine washing, and more than 50% of Nordics are self-service car wash models.
According to industry analysts, domestic consumers' sense of identification with intelligent car wash is not high, mainly because the self-service car wash machine is not washed thoroughly enough, and it is easy to damage the car paint. Intelligent car wash wants to replace manual car wash and usher in an upward period, and still needs to solve the above consumption pain points.