When in-tunnel car wash collisions occur, they are costly to your business. Physical damage is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Most accidents in the tunnel are due to customer errors such as braking or shifting out of neutral. The car wash often cannot be held responsible for damage costs. Even if there is proof of negligence, car washes still pay the price for every accident. The following costs can significantly exceed the physical damages.
Bottom Line Costs
A $1,500 damage claim might be enough for the average car wash owner to cover the cost of a collision, but it doesn’t cover the lasting impact of long-term losses suffered from the crash. Car wash owners can also incur indirect costs such as increased negative comments and reviews on social media by people who were in the vicinity of a tunnel collision, lost time for interviewing witnesses and assessing the damage, repairs for damaged equipment and lost business as a result of having a tunnel unusable for days or weeks.
In a nutshell, if there are any delays in fixing a crashed car wash tunnel and getting back to business as usual—as soon as possible—a car wash will be less likely to recoup these indirect losses.
Employee Costs
Tunnel car wash collisions are costly to your company. On top of that, they can lead to employee stress, resulting in a higher mortality rate! Employees often take the blame for tunnel accidents they could not prevent and even take the brunt of angry customer complaints.
Nobody likes being blamed, insulted, or called a scapegoat. Stress can lower morale, and employees might decide to seek employment elsewhere. Taking this stress off employees saves your company money in training costs.
Loss of Customers Costs
Tunnel car wash collisions can be traumatic for everyone involved. Customers involved in an accident are incredibly stressful events. They are liable for the damage, even if it doesn’t feel like their fault. It is an unpleasant experience that may turn them off from returning to your wash or from washing their car at all.
The customers whose vehicles are damaged due to the collision have no way of knowing whose fault it was. If your tunnel is the only one in town, they may decide to wash their cars instead of risking another accident with someone who may not be so careful. What are the chances are of these customers coming back after being in a situation where they were so badly hurt?
Reputation Costs
Why do most companies treat customer service as an afterthought if that’s the case? Studies show that unhappy customers will share their stories with nine to 15 people. With social media, it’s much more than that. A dissatisfied customer can share their bad experience with their 1,000 closest friends before they’ve even left your site. And that’s before they publish a scathing review on social networks and review sites. That review can haunt your business for years.
Time Costs
Whenever a tunnel car wash accident interrupts traffic in one tunnel, you’re losing money. Every time vehicles collide while travelling through your tunnel, it takes time to determine what happened and how to fix it. This is when your employees could be elsewhere, washing more cars.
Lastly, account for the amount of time it takes your supervisors to fill out incident paperwork. How could their time be better spent?
Build a Proper Tunnel Car Wash with the Experts at CCW Solutions
In conclusion, tunnel car wash collisions are bad for business; that’s why you should remember these costs and let them inspire you to work with the right builders to ensure everything goes smoothly — from start to end.
Contact CCW Solutions now! We build, and design tunnel car washes for the Canadian industry. Whether you want to make a car wash or buy equipment, CCWS will help you meet your needs. Check out our website to know more!
