Dear Moneybags,
You want to know what to do to start a touch-less carwash business
in Toronto?
1) Research the industry, as it exists in Canada, a bit more.
You can do this by joining the Canadian Car Wash Association
and reading some of their industry publications to learn
about the issues and problems they have been addressing.
http://www.canadiancarwash.ca/
They may also be able to help you learn more about industry costs.
Getting to know some of the players, you may get some good tips
on how and why you will be able to negotiate better prices from
the manufacturers (due to any glitches you learn about, etc.)
2) Select a manufacturer. The equipment you use will help you
determine just how much land you'll need for the car wash,
detailing bays, space to dry/finish the cars and waiting room
for customers.
I found two major manufacturers of touch-less or touch-free car
wash equipment. One in Canada and one in the US.
a) Tracer by Wash Dynamics (a Heemcorp company)
http://www.heemcorp.ca/prod01.htm
Wash Dynamics offers both Master Franchises, and individual
Franchises,
for the investor that wants to fast track the project.
Building drawings, equipment selection, site analysis, and business
plans, all form part of this winning team.
For more information, you can reach them at
info@heemcorp.ca 613-822-1708
They are quite close to you, in Gloucester, Ontario
so they should be familiar with the other aspects of your
business issues.
Personally, if I wanted to start this business, I would start here.
b) PDQ Inc, which only makes touchless car wash systems, is not
all that far, either, in Wisconsin.
http://pdqinc.com/
They have a distributor in Guelph ON called, Wash-Tech
http://www.wash-tech.com/
3) Knowing your equipment needs, you will need to find a site
with the following considerations (The Wash Dynamics folks say
they can help you with site analysis):
a) One that is zoned to permit your business and is large enough
to meet your needs.
b)You will be generating waste water. Make sure that you can get
all the appropriate clearances and permits for a car wash at your
chosen location.
c)It would be wise to drive the area and see who your competition is,
and how many other car washes there are.
d) Is there enough of a customer base nearby to support your business.
You want people to be able to come to you during working hours, or on
their way home, so there should be businesses nearby with a large
employee base.
e) What provisions do you need to make to deal with the snow and the
cold, with respect to freezing pipes, work areas, 'rain checks', etc.
Or, do you operate in the winter?
4) Do some research to determine the optimum number of employees you
will need to be most efficient. And is there a base of unskilled
labor to draw from? What will your total labor costs be?
Revenue Canada payroll tax information is located here:
http://www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca/E/pub/tg/rc4163/rc4163-e.html
You can register your business online with them here:
http://www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca/tax/individuals/taxkit2001/business-e.html
You will also need to get familiar with your province's tax issues,
like Employer Health Tax (EHT)
http://www.trd.fin.gov.on.ca/scripts/index_.asp?action=31&P_ID=2697&N_ID=3&PT_ID=2679&U_ID=7024
Overall, you'll find general information for small businesses here:
http://www.trd.fin.gov.on.ca/scripts/index_.asp?action=31&P_ID=160&N_ID=3&PT_ID=2697&U_ID=0
I would actually engage the services of a good, local Chartered
Accountant, at this point. They will also know if there are any
tax credits available for hiring certain employees, being located
in any specific areas, etc.
5) Look into the costs of insurances - you will need general
business insurance, equipment insurance, liability insurance,
workers compensation insurance. Some of the costs my be reduced
by incorporating or forming an LLC. Talk to your Tax Professionals.
6)Knowing your costs to purchase equipment, pay rent (or buy the
property), employee costs, business tax issues and insurances, you
can now build a coherent business plan.
The manufacturers are not posting any costs for their systems.
I suspect that whatever price you are quoted may be negotiable.
Does this give you a good starting point?
Your TaxMama-ga |
Clarification of Answer by
taxmama-ga
on
25 Nov 2002 16:47 PST
Dear MoneyBags,
Sorry to give you such a small playing field.
In looking around, the other manufacturers I located were offshore
http://www.kwikcarwash.co.za/ - South Africa
http://www.kwikcarwash.co.za/truck.htm - Australia
I did find another US manufacturer - InterClean in Michigan
http://www.interclean.com/
Google searches
"touchless car wash" manufacturer
"touch-less car wash" manufacturer
You can certainly avoid paying any extra taxes or import
duties if you work with local companies, or with local
distributors of US companies. They should be able to
build any taxes into their price, since they will be
responsible for bringing any machinery or parts into Canada.
And it makes no sense if their pricing is not competitive
with Canadian companies.
Remember, Wash-Tech is the Canadian distributor for PDQ
Incidentally, there is a car wash trade show coming up
in Michigan in January. You might want to see if you can
get your hands on last year's directory, in the meantime.
http://www.midwestcarwash.com/seminars/topic.asp?ID=5
With respect to taxes, one thing I did find is that if you buy
the merchandise outside Ontario, you will still need to pay
Ontario provincial sales tax on it.
http://www.trd.fin.gov.on.ca/userfiles/page_attachments/Rsie_202.pdf
I'm afraid I can't give you much more information on
any potential taxes or duties if you bring in equipment.
That's why I recommend contacting the Canadian Car Wash Association.
I suspect it's something their members deal with all the time.
And if they haven't addressed this, as a resource, this is a
good time to bring it up. They will be having a board meeting
on December 3rd, in a week or so. You may want to get in touch
with them before that.
I always find that starting my in-depth industry research with a trade
organization gives me the best, detailed information to get me started.
One thing I'd want to know more about, if I were you?
How does the business survive in the winter?
Are there special services you can offer, like cleaning the salt
off the underside of the cars? (Since you'll be setting equipment
up from scratch, perhaps they can provide some extra jets to that?)
Your TaxMama-ga
|
Clarification of Answer by
taxmama-ga
on
26 Nov 2002 14:15 PST
Hi MoneyBags,
While there are other car wash manufacturers, these
were the only ones I found that built touchless wash systems.
But, I found the best planning resource for you at the
Hanna-Sherman site. Look at the planning tools they provide.
There's information about how to select a location, business
plans, and links to other resources.
http://www.hanna-sherman.com/resources/index.html
Frankly, here in So. California, I've never even heard of a
touchless car wash. (And I am surrounded by Rolls-Royces,
Hummers, Jags, Lexuses, Infinities and other high-end vehicles
on a daily basis.) The technology must be relatively new.
There may not be many players in the field yet. From my
reading, it appears that PDQ is a pioneer, one of the oldest
manufacturers of the touchless systems. Perhaps others haven't
changed over their tooling to build them yet.
These three were all I could find.
I really think that, if they exist, you will find more if you
join the Canadian Car Wash Association
http://www.canadiancarwash.ca/
Sorry, but this is as far as I can take it for now.
Best wishes,
Your TaxMama-ga
|
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