Dencar checks all the boxes for Iowa IBA owner
As the owner of an in-bay automatic wash, Ben Windust is looking for a high-performing pay station that does a lot. It needs to be intuitive for his customers to use, perform reliably with little maintenance, sell memberships for him, and help make sure that he gets paid for every wash.
When his existing pay stations were being sunset by the manufacturer, meaning they’d no longer be supported, he decided to try a different brand. He chose Dencar Technology.
“Their solution is better for in-bay automatics than anything else out there. I don’t think anyone could argue otherwise,” said Windust.
LIKE HAVING AN ATTENDANT ON DUTY
Windust’s wash, 3 Sons Car Wash in Johnston, Iowa, has four bays, three touchless and one soft-touch.
“For most of us in larger markets, our competition is tunnels. Being able to support subscriptions within that in-bay space is important. They way they’ve built it, I have ultimate flexibility plus anti-fraud support.”
Windust appreciates that, while Dencar’s tech does support RFID tags for members, he isn’t locked into using
them if he doesn’t want to. Wash code entry happens in seconds and doesn’t hold up the line. He also touts the
way Dencar’s VIA Guard anti-fraud technology handles would-be abuse of the system.
“Conventional thinking is for fraud detection to
shut down the wash transaction,” 
said Windust.
“If a license plate reader has
malfunctioned
and mistakenly
flags a legitimate transaction,
that creates an upset customer.
I’m not there, so they have to
call me. That’s not convenient for
either of us.”
Dencar has a different approach. The wash goes through, even if fraud is detected. The customer’s credit card number is already captured at initiation of the membership, so Windust knows he’s going to get paid no matter what. VIA Guard sends a message to the customer asking if they want to pay for the wash individually or upgrade their membership by adding the outlier vehicle to a family plan.
“And, if it was all a big mistake, the customer gets an ‘oops,’ but I can monitor that in the future to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Convenient and Intuitive
Windust is also a big fan of Dencar’s ECO10 pay station, which accepts payment by credit card, digital, and even cash. Better still, it gives change in paper bills, not coins. “Dealing with quarters or dollar coins for the money changer is something I don’t want to deal with,” said Windust. “With ECO10, I don’t have to … and it’s about half the price of competing units that accept cash.”
The clientele at his wash skews older, a demographic that can sometimes be averse to technology. The vast majority of his customers have had no problem getting used to Dencar’s touchscreen interface. “It’s simple to use. Transactions are processed in seconds.” He notes that the screen is also very bright, even in full sunlight, which is easy on aging eyes. “I didn’t even need canopies.”
Business Looking Up
“The low overhead and the many benefits that come from this IBA model enable me to make a great living with much less hassle,” said Orlovsky. “And the Dencar pay station is selling 24/7. Even when no one’s here, cars keep rolling through and people are buying memberships.”