Survision: What Can License Plate Recognition (LPR) Do for Car Washes

First, what does a classic car wash client journey look like?

A customer drives to the car wash during peak hours, finding a long line of cars waiting to enter the wash. The wait time is substantial and frustrating. When it's finally their turn, the customer must interact with an attendant or manually enter their details at a pay station. This process is time-consuming and adds to the overall waiting time.

If the customer has a membership, they must show an RFID tag or membership card. If they don't, they must go through a lengthy process to sign up, involving paperwork and possibly requiring them to step out of their car.

After completing the check-in and payment process, the customer finally proceeds to the wash. The time spent waiting and checking in may have already soured their experience.

This makes everyone think twice before taking the car for a wash!

One of the major concerns about car washing is the common perception that “car washes take too long”, which makes it cumbersome for many. Car washes often experience a high demand for services throughout the day, especially during peak hours when people seek a fresh wash before heading home from work. This can lead to long lines and extended wait times, causing customer frustration and potentially turning them away.

Enhancing efficiency and reducing wait times can greatly improve the overall customer experience and business revenue for car wash operations. Who doesn’t want to speed up a vehicle line?

These challenges present excellent opportunities for significant upgrades to vehicle control systems, such as implementing License Plate Recognition (LPR) technology.

So, How can LPR help Car Wash?

Choosing License Plate Recognition addresses many customer service issues, starting with No More Long Lines! As it allows operators to get rid of gates, pay stations, agents, tickets and everything that slows down vehicles, LPR makes entry and exit so “magically” fluid, fast and frictionless in a way that makes you think, “How didn’t they come up with this before?”.

LPR-based systems use the license plate number as customer identification, data which is collected automatically by an LPR Camera as the vehicle approaches. Thanks to this integration, operations like customer registry, billing, payment, and monitoring can be drastically sped up.

LPR also eliminates the need for tickets and RFID tags, creating a smoother, faster, and more enjoyable car wash experience.

What a customer's journey at an LPR-based car wash could look like

A customer drives up to the car wash during peak hours. The LPR Camera instantly recognizes their license plate and connects to the main Access Control system, granting them access without delay.

They proceed directly to the wash, bypassing long lines.

Connected to the LPR Camera, The Point of Sale (POS) system automatically logs the customer's visit and links it to their account. There is no need for manual check-ins or interaction with attendants. If the customer has a membership, the car wash system verifies it instantly.

New customers can sign up for memberships easily through a mobile app or at the POS station. The LPR system captures their license plate and links it to their account. The LPR-powered POS system streamlines the entry and payment processes, allowing the customer to enjoy a quick and efficient car wash.

After the wash, the customer simply drives out. The POS system has already handled all necessary verifications and payments. Future visits will be equally smooth, ensuring a consistently positive experience.

What about Car Wash Owners?

Being a Customer Service business, car wash owners may find attractive anything that makes their service faster, more convenient and comfortable, much more if it is a simple and affordable technology, such as LPR, which doesn’t need more than a Camera, Network and (Low) Power.

Read more about how LPR Technology Works

Integrating LPR into your Point of Sale (POS) system greatly simplifies the membership sign-up process. Customers can easily select their wash or membership option, and LPR data will automatically match their license plate to their credit card and membership details for a frictionless future experience.

As a logical consequence, using LPR technology reduces the need for additional labor. When a new client arrives, whether they have pre-purchased their car wash membership or not, the camera captures and sends the license plate data to the POS. This allows the POS system to link the license plate to the car wash membership purchase, whether made through a mobile app or at the POS station.

With LPR, customers can electronically sign, granting access to the site without needing on-site staff members to sign up new members or issue RFID tags, thus reducing labor costs.

Also, LPR allows for personalized marketing activities through your POS system. You can offer discounts and rewards, accept contactless payments, and register loyalty members, all while reducing customer wait times and operational costs.

It is a Win-Win Scenario from every perspective.

But what does it take?

Such a great deal of benefits must come at some cost, right? Well, it is much less than you expect, and it takes basically 2 main changes:

1. Place one LPR Camera for every lane

And here lies the trick: Depending on what Camera you choose, you may be able to save thousands on infrastructure. There are LPR Cameras capable of performing License Plate Recognition by themselves, without additional servers or triggers, and even without external light sources.

2. Integrate the License Plate data with an LPR Compliant POS or PARC system

Nowadays, there are very good options regarding these types of solutions; well-informed business owners can take their service to the next level by intelligently implementing and customizing these systems to suit the particularities of their traditional business and make a difference.

If you are interested in How LPR can help your Car Wash Business, drop us a line, and we will happily help you with everything you need to know about this exciting upgrade that may be at the tip of your fingers!

About SURVISION 

SURVISION is a global leader in License Plate Reading (LPR). Since 2001, with solutions being deployed in over 50 countries with more than 50,000 cameras thanks to a network of 900 Value Added Integrators. The quality of its R&D team allows SURVISION to work with world-class integrators for a complete set of innovative solutions for Smart-City, Smart-Parking, law enforcement, toll road collection, car-park management, and for local authorities.