Our biz is cars and cars are everywhere

He is proud to have 70 per cent of his brand’s franchisees as youth. Karan Sethi,  26 year old Director of the rapidly growing brand, Exppress Car Wash believes that passion is the most important thing to run a car wash biz. He shares more on the insights of the car wash industry with us. Take a look!

Tell us about Exppress Car Wash.

Exppress Car Wash is a brainchild of Manmachine Group, a successful organisation in professional mechanised cleaning solutions and services. The brand aims to revolutionise the concept of car cleaning in the country and create a clean car culture. We launched our brand in 2010 and started franchising in the same year. Exppress Car Wash makes your car clean and happy in just 20 minutes.

How many outlets do you have?

We have 30 franchisee-run and 12 company owned outlets.

Why have you decided to expand via franchising?

The number of cars in India is the second largest in the world and as the number of cars are increasing so, are unsatisfied customers. Here, we thought of opting for the franchise model to serve the customers in a better way. We understand what a customer needs.  We have technology that takes less time to wash a car. Till that time a customer can sit back and relax in our specialised lounges and enjoy a cup of coffee while we make their cars spic n span. Our quality of equipments is the most superior. This is the reason that we have  95 per cent customer satisfaction ratio.

So, what about the training of the franchisees?

We have been in the training business since 1987 and we know the importance of training.  We believe in proper training of all our franchisees in their own outlets and cities. I think people are more comfortable in their own cities and areas. So, instead of calling them to various parts of the country, we make our experts visit the outlets and teach them the miniscule details of the car wash biz.

Any location constraint.

Our business is cars and cars are everywhere, but I advice all our franchisees to never choose a location on main roads. Do not target the whole city instead choose a location that is convenient for the customer. We have also tied up with Bharat Petroleum for the comfort of our patrons.

So, how do you choose your franchisees?

He should not be necessarily from an auto background but he should be comfortable with the investment. He must be sure that he is investing his money in which trade and its pros and cons. He must be passionate and give time to his outlet. One can get as high as a 70 per cent margin but hard work, dedication and focus is most vital.

Is the car wash sector really growing? Any specific trends?

Car wash Industry is at a nascent stage. We have not even used 5 per cent of what we have. It is a Rs 20 crore market whereas in US it is a 5 billion dollars sector. We have higher number of cars on the roads so; the scope is high in the car wash sector. If we talk of trends, earlier car wash was not a routine. Nowadays, people have become aware of the new wash technologies and they try and get their cars for a proper wash at least once in two months.

Expansion plans.

We aspire to open 30 more outlets by 2016.

Franchise facts