My husband and I have owned a pair of self-service car washes for 2.5 years now, and in that time they have been broken into 7 times (between the two locations).
The first couple of times, the mechanical rooms were broken into, so we had alarm systems installed. Next, our brand new in-bay machines were broken into - they smashed the bill acceptors to get at the cash and attempted to drill into the coin boxes without success. Next, a 50 year old thief from another town broke into the bathroom behind the mechanical room, smashed a hole through the brick but couldn't get through because of electrical wiring and pipes, so he smashed a hole in the ceiling and crawled over the mechanical room, made another hole and got inside. The alarm went off, and he ended up getting caught and received prison time. In the process of the robbery, he also cut the wiring to our automatic - we assume he thought he was cutting wiring to the alarms. He caused a lot of damage and due to our previous robberies (and fear of being dropped), we dared not make an insurance claim and pieced things back together.
After that, three bays at our other location, which still has the old, solid doors, was broken into. The person smashed only the bill acceptors to get at the cash. He then came back a week later and did the same thing to the rest of the bays. We have not replaced the bill acceptors yet. We planned to get the clear, poly doors and thought we would wait to replace them until those were installed. Well, last night - presumably the same person - smashed all the bill acceptors at the other location which DOES have clear, poly doors.
I am so unbelievably frustrated. It feels like a personal violation. It's not like we have tons of money or that the business makes a lot of money. My husband and I each work full-time jobs, and we've been trying to figure out how to get the money to make some improvements (including the clear doors) to our one location. It's so disheartening that we keep getting our equipment - which was brand new - damaged. My husband says we should have never gotten bill acceptors for the bays. I disagree but think perhaps we should have put in security cameras from the get-go. But I wonder if security cameras will deter future break-ins and damage. We've also got people who spray the machines thinking they'll get a free wash and people who've damaged equipment and claim its our fault or claim damage to their vehicles.
I don't want to sell the car washes, but clearly this isn't working. Are cameras the answer to our problems? How can we set them up so that there is enough surveilance coverage? Do we only need entrance/exit surveillance or in-bay surveilance??? If we had cameras in the bays, the ceilings are low enough I think people would wreck them. I had thought about installing dummy cameras (actually those black cover things) in the bays only and real cameras around the perimeter. Any help or personal experience would be greatly appreciated - I'm at the end of my rope!
I have self-service carwash locations in 2 states and am able to remotely monitor them via my security cameras at each location. I SWEAR by them! I used to have a lot of vandalism/thefts, but I started cracking down on the offenders with the use of those cameras. Just putting cameras up won't do any good. I have 16 cameras at each location with signs notifying customers of this, yet I still have folks that assume they are dummy cameras. I have a camera in each bay (you can get really small ones that won't be stolen/damaged/etc that are also infrared along with the normal cameras in equipment room, above changer and vending, etc.. The really important ones are the cameras that cover your entrance/exit that will be catching all license plates. Any good camera installation company will have the best ideas on camera placement and type of camera. I have several offenders in jail on felonies, and countless others charged with misdemeanors. If you don't charge them with the crime they will keep coming back again and again to steal from you or vandalize. I've already made back the money that I spent on the camera system with the restitution that the offenders have had to pay me over the years. And, trust me, word travels fast. People learn that you crack down on crime and have zero tolerance. I'm also a fan of a good ol' fashioned stake out! If someone breaks into your bay/bays once chances are they will be coming back in a short time frame to do it again usually around the same time of night. With the cameras I catch about 80% of the crime and am able to get restitution and press charges. Sometimes there's bad lighting, something is out of frame or you don't catch a license plate...but just remember that most of these offenders will be back and you'll get them the next time. I'm also a fan of putting up photos of the offenders at the site (if I don't get a license plate and don't know how to track them down - I can print a photo of a camera's freeze frame) to embarrass them and show everyone else that the cameras work.
I owned a self serve in a remote location. After some vandalism I put up fake cameras and alot of signs. This did a lot to reduce the vandalism to almost zero. After an attempted break in at the door, I installed real cameras. There was a local company (rent a cops) that visited businesses two times during the night at different times (roving patrol). They charged me $2.00 per day. They only drove through, but being that they came a different times helped to put the brakes on problems too. If your community does not have this, then you need to sit there yourself for a few hours on two nights a week until the word gets out that someone is watching the business. You can local guy for a few hours a couple times a week. If they see something then they can call the police or if it's minor like loitering, perhaps they can nicely tell the people to leave.
I will tell, you that it's not easy to run a self serve in a crime infested area that your wash happens to be in. Whatever you confront the people - be nice about it, because your vulnerable. If you make them really mad, then they will come back and do more damage.
1st try the signs about the cameras. Indicate that any vandalism or theft will be caught on camera and that they will be prosecuted. Put a big one at the entrance to your busiess - I mean a big sign (4' x 4'). Put the fake or real one's up (preferred) and make the cameras very noticeable.
Make sure you have alot of lighting too.
The last thing is that you must make sure everything works at your wash
all the time. The coin boxes, the vendors, the vacs, etc., must all work properly. Some customers will vandalize if a machine takes their money.
Have complaint boxes out fron so people can leave message for lost money, etc. If someone sprays a wall with Grafitti then take it off ASAP.
Perhaps you should consider going to all tokens and credit cards. I know it might be somewhat inconvenient for IBA customers who do not have a credit card to have to go to a machine and deposit cash to get tokens but it is certainly a choice.
That way you only need to really secure and alarm the machines that take cash to dispense tokens. From the front I have seeen areas where the machine looks like it is "In Jail" Basicaly Bars set a foot or so in front of the machine and the only place big enough to get a haand in is where $ is deposited or items retrieved.
There are some really good ideas here, thank you to everyone who posted a response - it's very much appreciated!
My supplier believes we should not take away the in-bay bill acceptors and that we'd be "shooting ourselves in the foot." He says the public doesn't like when you take something away from them. He also made the point that when time is running out during a wash, it's much easier for people to throw in more cash to extend the time than to get change out of the change machine. That makes sense. So, I guess we will replace them all as soon as we buy a camera system.
Another question to those who post the pictures of the people who do damage/rob their car washes, my supplier also made the comment that if those pictures are posted, people might not feel as safe at the wash because then they would know you get robbed. Thoughts on this? I have to admit it would bring some satisfaction to do that.
PS Chrissy, what camera system do you use? I'm looking for enough cameras to cover my two washes and I want to be able to remotely monitor from my computer like you do. I posted about cameras previously and was directed to Sam's club but my local one does not have them in-store. I can order them online, however.
Also, on the note of credit cards to those operators who use swipe systems - I'm wondering what type of area your car washes are in. My area is very blue collar and I wonder if switching to swipe systems would be a bad idea here. I took a poll from a small sample of customers and it was about half and half that they would use a card...
PC&D COMMUNITY
Bulletin Boards
View and post messages in our industry bulletin boards:
Using a panel of experienced, dedicated and passionate experts in a wide variety of car care specialties, PC&D is able to help its readers find answers to everyday questions, as well as more unusual ones.
Simply use the links below to direct your question toward the appropriate expert(s), and PC&D will send it on to a member of its Advisory Board or an expert in the subject's field.
PC&D's Editor in Chief, Kate Carr, welcomes ideas, comments and suggestions for making the magazine the best it can be for its readers. If you're interested in submitting an article or want to suggest a topic, please contact Kate at (518) 779 - 1667, kcarr@carwash.com.
The magazine accepts articles from a variety of consultants and industry experts. We favor a "how-to" approach that helps readers solve problems or improve business. Pieces promoting manufacturing companies or their products are not appropriate.
Article submissions typically contain 750 to 1,500 words. If accepted for publication, articles will be edited for style, clarity and length.
