The Wash Exchange

The world’s major car wash equipment manufacturers. Competitors, side by side, on one stage.Recorded live on The Wash Exchange stage at the CWSA 2026 Car Wash Show in Adelaide, with 200+ people packed around it. A game-show-style panel MC’d by Paul Burt, with Slipstream Pro chemist Roger White adjudicating. The camera’s pulled back because of the crowd, but the audio is gold.On the panel:Dan Bianchi (WashTec), Dave Wallace (Mr Magic), Craig Marriott (Piranha Wash), Josh Cameron and Rafael Navarro (Sonny’s), John Searle (PDQ / Car Wash World), Ryan Essenberg (Tommy’s Wash Systems), Craig Sargent (Istobal) and more.What’s covered:What Australia should borrow from the US and Europe: connectivity, remote diagnostics, express tunnelsWill it wash? A dual-cab Ranger with bull bar, snorkel and roof rack: touchless vs friction vs tunnelDay-one essentials for a new site, and how to avoid bad Google reviewsWhat sites still going strong after 20 years do differentlyTommy’s launch playbook: 2,000 members in 30 daysWhy killing the prepper doubled a tunnel’s volumeIf you run a site, or you’re building one, this is a free masterclass from the people who build the equipment.Like, subscribe and share. New episodes every week.The Wash Exchange, by Slipstream Pro. Real stories, real results.

🎙️ NEW EPISODE — The Wash ExchangeRuss Coleman from Coleman Hanna. 65 years in car wash equipment. His dad started building self-serve bays in Texas in 1966 — they’ve since put out somewhere near 100,000 of them, thousands of Water Wizards, and bought Hanna in 2004 to crack the tunnel market.I grabbed Russ on the floor at the Australian Car Wash Show in Adelaide and he gave me 15 minutes on:▪️ Why 3 in-bays never beat 1 tunnel on the numbers▪️ The US boom — 950 tunnels built in one year — and where it’s at now▪️ Coleman Hanna’s 35+ years in Australia (Carlovers, Shiners)▪️ The biggest change he’s seen in 65 years (it’s not what you think)Plus a sponsorship announcement — our first ever. 👀#TheWashExchange #CarWash #CarWashAustralia #ColemanHanna #SlipstreamPro

Sean Pashley ("the membership guy") is back on The Wash Exchange, the first guest to appear twice in three weeks. Sean spent most of his career in restaurants, where menu design is a certified science: operators know exactly where a customer's eye lands. He reckons car washes have been designing menu boards like it's a fashion show, and he's here to fix that. Sean walks through nine principles of menu psychology and how each applies to your board, your packages and your pricing. Then he and Blair get into what's actually selling, what operators are charging in the US, how to price membership against your top wash, and why the Halloween car wash has become a thing. In this episode - 00:00 Welcome back, Sean - 01:10 From restaurant menus to car wash menus: why there's science we're ignoring - 03:03 #1 Visual hierarchy: the eye goes to the middle, not the top - 04:20 #2 Paradox of choice: why three packages beat four or five - 04:52 #3 Compromise effect: customers pick the "safe" middle - 05:24 #4 Decoy effect: every package needs a purpose - 06:40 #5 Anchoring: why the $5 loss leader "never led" - 07:43 #6 Cognitive load: icons vs words, and why 30 icons is too many - 09:40 #7 Loss aversion: sizing the price jumps so customers trade up - 11:45 #8 Framing: Good/Better/Best vs Clean/Shine/Protect - 13:45 #9 Social proof: "Most Popular" vs "Best Value" - 15:20 If your cheapest wash is your top seller, you're doing it wrong - 16:14 Left-to-right, top-down, or middle-out? Blair's menu board confession - 16:56 Colour, contrast and making your hero package pop - 17:52 Should your menu board be an ad? Letting staff "quarterback" the sale - 19:56 What's the real split across Good / Better / Best? - 20:56 The one-package car wash: steak, not spaghetti - 22:26 What US express tunnels are charging for a top wash - 25:42 How to price membership against your top single wash - 27:18 Redemption rates: why you need a 12-month running number - 28:07 Halloween car washes: charity, community and owning your town - 32:53 How to reach Sean - 33:22 Coming up: nine rival manufacturers on one stage at the Australian Car Wash Show Key takeaways - Put your best package in the middle and make it the brightest thing on the board. - Three packages. If two of them don't differ meaningfully, one has to go. - Make each step up cheaper than the last. Customers only feel the difference, not the total. - Outcome-based names (Clean / Shine / Protect) only work if your signage explains what "protect" means. - Talk to your customers before you raise prices. Exit surveys tell you more than a competitor's board. Connect with Sean - Email: [email protected] - Membership tools and articles: carwashhelp.com The Wash Exchange is a B2B podcast for Australian and US car wash operators, by Slipstream Pro. Real stories equal real results. #carwash #carwashmarketing #carwashmembership #carwashindustry

The Wash Exchange — Jay Frank, COO, Splash Car WashEpisode descriptionSplash Car Wash was founded in Connecticut in 1981 and is now one of the twenty largest car wash operators in the United States — 80-plus locations across seven north-eastern states, including New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania. Backed first by private equity in 2018 and more recently by AEA, Splash has grown from around 20 sites to over 80 through a mix of acquisitions and new builds, running everything from express exteriors and full-serve tunnels to in-bay automatics, hand wash, detailing, oil change and laundromats. What hasn’t changed is the people: senior leaders and site managers with 15, 25, even 35 years in the business, and a culture the company credits as the springboard for its growth.In this episode Blair sits down with Jay Frank, 26-year Splash veteran and newly appointed Chief Operating Officer, for a practical look inside how a top-20 operator actually runs:The 30/60/90-day acquisition playbook — why Splash does a “slow walk” after every purchase: meet the team first, fix safety, then roll in POS, staffing models and reporting, so by day 90 a site “looks like a Splash” without the customers noticing anything except better service.The mistakes other buyers make — cutting staff, raising prices and changing the menu in week one, before earning it.“Deposits before withdrawals” — the philosophy behind Splash’s near-zero management turnover, from pay and recognition to owning your mistakes fast.Converting retail sites to membership — training, belief at the pay station, clear goals and rewards, not beating customers over the head.New builds vs acquisitions in an expensive market, and why Splash keeps doing both.Running 80 sites across seven states — regional structure, daily KPI calls, open-book management and managers who run their wash like they own it.Buying a 16-site chain tomorrow: who runs it? Jay’s answer on bench strength and culture-builders.What separates the consolidators that last from the ones that stall — and how Splash responds when a well-funded competitor opens a mile away with free washes.Real stories, real results. Essential listening for any operator in acquisition mode, building a membership base, or trying to hold onto good people. Please like and subscribe to your chosen platform.

The Membership Playbook with Sean Pashley | The Wash ExchangeMemberships have changed the economics of car washing, and few people know the model better than Sean Pashley. In this episode, Blair Woolcott sits down with Sean to unpack everything operators need to know about building, pricing and keeping a membership base.They cover:Why recurring revenue changes what a wash site is worthHow to price and tier plans without cannibalising single washesSign-up tactics that actually convert at the pay stationChurn: why members leave and how to keep themCapacity, wash quality and the member experience at peak timesThe numbers every operator should be trackingWhether you run one site or twenty, this is a straight-talking look at the biggest revenue lever in the industry.The Wash Exchange is the B2B podcast for car wash operators in Australia and the US, brought to you by Slipstream Pro.Subscribe for new episodes, and share this one with an operator who needs to hear it.