 Year Founded: 1969
Founder: Charlie Howard
Current President/CEO: Chuck Howard
Number of Locations: 55 (with others in various stages of development)
Carwashes Located in: 26 in North Carolina, one in South Carolina, four in Virginia and two in Georgia municipalities.
Wash Process: Full service – conveyor with underbody wash, vacuuming and hand drying.
Carwash Equipment Used: Hanna
Add-on Profit Centers: Armor All and Rain-X add-ons; Autobell gift certificates, annual passes, unlimited monthly wash cards, and cartoon/coupon calendars; on-site drink and light snack vending machines.  MCC: To what do you attribute your company’s success?
Autobell: Our employees, system, locations, equipment and marketing are all reasons for our success. We continually strive to achieve and maintain the absolute best in each of these categories. MCC: What sets your carwashes apart from the competition? Autobell: Our ongoing commitment to our employees, our system and our marketing efforts allow us to maintain a healthy business acumen and separate Autobell from its competitors. MCC: What are the three most important factors to staying successful during the current recession? Autobell: Staying the course and continuing to do everything that we normally do in recruiting and training, execution of our system, and marketing. MCC: What has been your most successful or rewarding marketing program? Autobell: Our most successful and rewarding marketing program has been our public relations program, which is multifaceted, complementary and includes targeting and marketing to our various “publics,” including: - Employee relations – Our recruiting and training programs, annual scholarship program, internal promotion and advancement program, employee newsletter and various gatherings, activities and competitions.
- Customer relations – Our on-site “four walls” customer relations attitude and execution, and widespread environmental beliefs, practices and procedures that have garnered nine related awards.
- Community relations and environment – Our extremely popular and successful Charity Car Wash program has raised over $3.1 million since 1998 and significantly reduces driveway and parking lot carwashing that pollutes our water supply. Also, various civic and philanthropic donations, sponsorships, partnerships and awards; internal water management policy; water management outreach campaign to local utility, municipal and state officials.
- Media relations – Ongoing communications, education and promotion of all the aforementioned activities and programs.
MCC: How important has environmental stewardship become in your business practices and marketing messages? Autobell: Environmental stewardship has been immensely important to us for years, and we have put that into practice via our emphasis on water treatment and recycling; investment in state-of-the-art equipment for those purposes; and ongoing communications to municipal officials, the media and the general public about the role professional carwashes play in water conservation and quality, as well as information on how the public can help protect the environment via their own actions and choices. Related Articles:
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