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How to Start Your Tommy’s Express Car Wash Franchise Location

Tommy Car Wash

Tommy’s Express is a recognized leader in the car wash industry, experiencing explosive growth and driving innovation in car wash technology and equipment. 

  • Tommy’s Express ranked 5th largest car wash chain this year at 100 locations, up from 7th last year in Professional Car Washing & Detailing’s annual Top 50 list of the 50 biggest conveyor car wash brands. 
  • Small Business Trends named Tommy’s Express Car Wash one of the top car wash franchise opportunities because of our industry longevity, thorough process for ensuring franchise partner success, and ongoing innovation, operations, and marketing support. 

We believe in shared success with our franchise partners and continue to perfect the Tommy’s Express Journey to make the process from sign-on to open as easy as possible. Let’s walk through what you’ll experience opening your Tommy’s Express Car Wash location*. 

Discovery 

Our discovery process helps you ensure that owning a Tommy’s Express location is a good fit for you. The discovery phase includes our franchise overview webinar and an in-person tour of our West Michigan locations. 

The franchise webinar will give you detailed information about starting your own Tommy’s Express location and give you deeper insight into our brand and the process of opening and successfully operating a Tommy’s Express location. You’ll also have an opportunity to ask your specific questions. And best of all, we’ll get to know each other better! The webinar will cover: 

  • What makes Tommy’s Express an excellent business opportunity 
  • How we stack up against the competition 
  • Capital Requirements & Franchise Fees 
  • Next Steps in the Tommy’s Express Journey to opening your franchise 

Financing 

Investing in a Tommy’s Express franchise comes with several advantages; however, as in any new business venture, you must have the capital available to make the initial investment. You’ll also want to consider the ongoing costs of running a business. Tommy’s makes it easy to determine the financial investment with specific capital requirements and transparency in what it takes to own and operate your car wash location.  

Tommy’s Express has two paths to franchise ownership – Full Ownership, which requires liquid capital of $1 million and a $2 million net worth, or Site Lease, which requires $500,000 liquid capital and $1 million net worth. The associated costs with running a Tommy’s Express franchise include a $50,000 initial franchise fee, 4% royalty, and 1% towards the national brand fund. 

Site Selection 

We believe that a Tommy’s Express Car Wash is good for your car and great for your city. A locally owned and operated car wash brings value to your community. Car washes help people maintain vehicle longevity and owner satisfaction. Additionally, a car wash is more environmentally friendly than washing vehicles in driveways or on neighborhood streets. Car washes provide entry-level and seasonal jobs and have a strong tradition of supporting local organizations, from youth program fundraisers and sponsorships to local fundraising events. 

Our real estate team will help you find the perfect spot for your Tommy’s Express location. We look at various areas within your city and identify several opportunities that allow for market saturation. In addition to determining a thriving location, our team will help you through the entire purchase process. 

Project Development 

Once you’ve secured your site, it’s time to build. We provide a list of preferred general contractors and a dedicated Project Manager to ensure everything is on track and help you solve any issues. 

It’s also time to start working on the business side of things. You’ll meet your permanent Franchise Business Consultant, who will be with you every step of the way. Your FBC is your main point of contact and serves as your expert for success from operations to marketing. 

Once the building is complete, equipment is installed and calibrated. After some pre-opening marketing, you are almost ready to open your Tommy’s Express location! 

Operational 

Let’s start washing cars! The Tommy’s Express team provides you with soft opening and grand opening support. The soft opening is designed to test your operations and prepare your staff. Once you’ve worked out any “kinks,” we throw a grand opening celebration to officially welcome the community to your car wash. This includes ribbon-cutting, tours, giveaways, and more. 

You’ll also benefit from ongoing national and regional marketing campaigns, continued education through Tommy University, and support from your franchise consultant and Tommy’s Express franchise peers. 

Opening a Tommy’s Express Car Wash location is one of the best business opportunities today. If you’re ready to explore joining our franchise team, sign-up to attend our free, no-obligation webinar. 

*Not a Franchise Offer: This information is not intended as an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, a franchise. It is for informational purposes only. If you are a resident of a U.S. state or a country, or wish to operate a franchise in a U.S. state or a country, that regulates the offer or sale of franchises or business opportunities, we will not offer you a franchise until we have complied with any applicable pre-sale registration and disclosure requirements in your jurisdiction.