NuWay heads into the future with unlimited program
Feb. 4—PLATTSBURGH — NuWay Car Wash has gone unlimited.
In December, the business, locally owned by the Buck family for nearly 50 years, implemented a new membership program at their Margaret Street location that will allow customers who join to wash their cars there for an unlimited amount of times in a month.
Though, there is a limit of one wash per day.
There are currently three monthly packages to choose from while signing up for the new club: the Works for $28.99 a month; Super for $26.99 a month; and Regular for $23.99 a month.
In comparison, without a membership, a single Works wash costs $17; a single Super costs $15; and a single Regular costs $10.
Each offering has a variety of wash services available, but "the Works," true to its name, has the most.
"Basically, if you wash normally more than twice a month, it pays for itself," NuWay's operations manager Nikki Buck said.
"This is a really great buy for them. And, you know, the hope is that people just get excited about washing their car and keep coming back. I think our biggest thing is, obviously, there are some great car washes in this area and we're just hoping that the local draw is enough."
A new RFID tag technology was also installed at NuWay to accommodate the membership program.
The RFID reader, Nikki said, identifies someone's existing membership when they pull through the doors through a chip reader.
"The RFID tags themselves go on to the vehicle. So as someone pulls up, our point of sale pops up and says something along the lines of ... 'would you like to redeem their unlimited plan?'" Nikki said.
"This just allows them to come right in and save a little bit of time. They don't have to handle cash, they've already given us their card. So that just stays on file until they want to change that out ... but yeah, they just pull in, we already know the type of wash they're getting, and then they don't have to deal with any kind of payment. They've already done it."
Perry Buck, president of NuWay Car Wash, started working for his family's car wash business at a young age.
In that time, technology has changed the way the world does business, and the car wash industry is no exception.
He remembers when taking a credit card was the latest technology. As a second generation in the car wash business, he recognized the importance of adapting to industry changes. The new unlimited program is only the latest change.
"So the industry is kind of just going in this direction," Nikki added.
"In order to stay competitive ... within just the Plattsburgh market, we thought it was something that we had to invest in."
The Bucks also own a car wash in Skyway Plaza and are in the process of building another on Cornelia Street at the old Bailey Ford building, with the hopes of having that built some time in the fall, Nikki said.
The Margaret Street location, though, is the only one that has this new membership and updated technology for the time being.
"We're kind of testing it to see how it goes," she said.
"We're excited to be able to be a local company that's offering something like this, and we're excited that we are able to kind of stay up with the newest technology. The industry is much more expensive than it used to be, so it's nice to be able to do this and we're just hoping that it pays off."
Email: cnewton@pressrepublican.com
Twitter: CarlySNewton
