Six months. That's how long Jack Anthony of Seven Flags Car Wash in Vallejo, CA, had to wait to be paid for washing a fleet of federal government cars. In a business where customers traditionally pay before they get their vehicle washed, six months can be a lifetime.

"We eventually had to drop that [account]," Anthony admits.

His problem is not unique. Many operators who offer charge accounts to fleet customers find that billing can be a big headache.

"It creates a real administrative challenge," says Walt Tack, former ICA president and owner of Jet Stream Car Wash in Fond du Lac, WI. "If you're in the fleet business, you're in the accounts receivable business. Somebody's got to crank out those bills every month, and each fleet may have different requirements as to what kind of documentation they need."

Tack turned sour on fleet business when he realized it was taking his bookkeepers several hours each month just to process the bills and paperwork. The amount he was paying bookkeepers was eating into the profits he made from the fleets.

"The nice thing about the carwash business is that you close up at the end of the day and what you have in the till is pretty much what you did that day," Tack says. "We try to stay as close to that as possible."

Unfortunately, fleet accounts don't always make that possible. Many operators wait 60 to 90 days to be paid. Government fleet accounts have a reputation for taking the longest and being the most difficult to deal with. But, according to some operators, they can be worth the wait.

Mark Ellis, owner of Southland Auto Wash in Grand Rapids, MI, says he usually has to wait up to 90 days to be paid by the state police and local municipalities he serves. He doesn't mind because payment is guaranteed.

Ellis also maintains that the networking is invaluable.

"I think when we sell wholesale to local governments, we build some good relationships - a good relationship with the city that is someday going to be talking to us about our sign ordinance," he explains.

Tack agrees that fostering positive relationships can bring solid benefits.

"You may just consider it your civic duty, or you may have an informal agreement where maybe the police will drive by your lot a couple more times a night than they otherwise might," Tack says.

It's not just government accounts that are slow to pay, say operators. Big businesses also typically wait long periods of time.

"They take 90 days to pay anything - it's just the way they do business, but they're as good as gold," Ellis says.

Anthony says 90 days is a little too long for him to wait. He prefers to focus on small companies and local municipalities. The strategy, he says, has worked beautifully. Anthony bills the smaller fleets during the first few days of the month; almost all of the accounts are paid by the 28th.

Mark Uhmann, manager of Langan Motorcar, Schenectady, NY, a dealer of Volswagen, Porsche, Audi and Jeep automobiles, says the shorter pay periods are typical for car dealerships as well. Most dealerships he knows settle all car-care accounts by the end of each month.

Operators agree there always will be fleet accounts that will take advantage of them or bilk them out of money. Ellis says operators shouldn't be afraid to lose the business.

"When someone gets outside our terms, we just cut them off," says Ellis. "Usually the slow payers want our service; they just want to use our money for 90 days and we won't let them do it."

Administrative responsibilities are not the only costs that can eat into fleet account profits. Many fleet customers also expect a discount for bringing their business to your wash.

Sarah DeNooyer, whose family operates DeNooyer Mitsubishi in Colonie, NY, sends the dealership's cars through a carwash conveniently located next door. The discount, she says, is very important.

"We're happy to pay for convenience, and if the wash was only a little more expensive, we'd probably stay," she says. "But if there wasn't a discount at all, we'd definitely shop around."

Discounting wash prices is something Tack finds difficult to justify.

"I struggle with the notion of having to get that business by charging at or below cost," he says. "I get up every morning trying to provide the best possible service for my customer, but in return for that, I want to be compensated."

Tack feels that while discounts may bring in fleet customers, they don't promote loyalty. Customers become reluctant to pay full price, and when they get a better discount somewhere else, that's where they'll go.

Because margins are often not high enough to justify both the administrative costs of fleet accounts and a discount, Anthony won't give discounts to charge-account customers.

"If they want the ease and convenience of being able to charge things, they'll pay full price," he explains.

Ellis, however, sees some occasional benefits to discounting.

"We have a conveyor that's moving all the time that could be full of cars. So, it isn't necessarily true that we should have top price from everybody to send someone through," he says.

By giving crews extra customers and cars to deal with - especially at slower times - you get more productivity and save money on labor per car, Ellis maintains.

Most fleet customers base their requests for a discount on the increased volume they will provide. But beware: In many cases, they don't wash their vehicles nearly as often as they say they will.

Tack compares it to the well-known adage that people think they wash their cars more than they do. For Anthony, this misconception was carried to an extreme.

He agreed to a charge account for a national car rental chain and offered a hefty discount. The firm promised hundreds of washes per month, so Anthony decided to give it a chance.

"They didn't do anything," Anthony says. "We tried it out for two months and it was clear that they weren't going to keep up their end, so we just discontinued." The car rental company also failed to come in at slow times, as it had promised it would, he adds.

To offset the volume-promised vs. volume-delivered dilemma, Tack and Ellis discount only at the end of the month, when they know for sure how many cars the fleet customer sent through. Anthony's customers agree to a minimum $50 monthly charge.

Tack, Anthony and Ellis all recommend using pre-paid plans to keep from getting burned on discounts to fleets that don't deliver the volume they promise. They will offer as high as a 20 percent to 25 percent discount, and say it can quickly pay for itself.

"That puts the administrative onus on them," Tack says. "They have to divvy up the tickets, do the bookkeeping, etc. We're giving them an incentive to do that."

Tack says he discounts as much as 22 percent through the pre-paid books. Beyond that, he says it wouldn't be profitable enough. Anthony says he'll offer as much as 25 percent off.

"Your labor will already be at the wash, so you're not spending any more there," he says. "Plus, if they pre-pay, you already have the use of that money and not all tickets always come back. Then, maybe instead of giving them a 25 percent discount, you're only giving them a 20 percent discount."

Ellis agrees that unredeemed tickets sometimes can provide a margin where there had been none.

Pre-paid tickets give carwashes a chance to reduce the administrative burden of fleet accounts and allow them to give fleet customers the discount they're looking for.

DeNooyer's dealership usually buys pre-paid books of washes. She says this plan satisfies the dealership's needs for both convenience and a lower price.

Whether they can rationalize it or not, no carwash operator likes to discount. This is where government accounts and big companies are often worthwhile.

"We don't usually give discounts to the government," Tack says. "A lot of times they just appreciate the convenience of someone taking their credit card and doing whatever they ask you to do from an administrative point of view."

Anthony says speed and convenience are the two most important attractions for larger fleet accounts.

DeNooyer agrees: "The fact that our wash is so close to us and we can just hand them tickets and go through really made the difference when we decided who to go with."

Many fleet customers see the billing and administrative chores a carwash undertakes as solid, value-added services. Operators agree that value-added services are the best argument against having to discount your wash.

"Whether it's bookkeeping, expanded hours, rain guarantees, upgraded packages or whatever, you can use all of these things before discounts to attract fleets," says Tack. "Keep your prices as close to retail as possible."

Tack says he sees several lube shops open early to service fleet accounts and keep records so the lube manager can notify the fleet when it is due for another oil change. He is considering adopting this policy at his new lube.

When they provide good volume at a fair price and do not create many additional administrative chores, fleet accounts can be good buffers against unused labor and slow times of year. For those reasons, Tack, Anthony and Ellis haven't turned their backs completely on them.

Ellis actively solicits fleet accounts several times per year. Tack and Anthony prefer just to have the mechanism in place - fleet accounts often will come to them.

Operators agree that talking to your customers and seeing where they work can provide leads for soliciting fleet accounts. Then, getting the account is usually a matter of cold-calling.

Larger companies usually have a fleet service director, but you may need to talk to the general manager at smaller businesses.

As with any kind of cold call, the party's interest level will determine whether you end up talking to the decision-maker.

"If they're really interested, you find the decision-maker right away. If they're not, they say nobody can make a decision," Ellis says.

When a party's interest is piqued, Tack recommends steering clear of a discussion on discounting.

"Just tell them you do a good job and here are all the things we can provide to make this really convenient for you," he says. "Those will be the biggest selling points."