Oasis sales manager weighs touchless vs. soft touch for new IBA operators
A Wash Talk podcast episode explores how geography and climate shape the in-bay automatic wash choice, and what separates high-throughput sites from average ones.
By The Car Wash News Staff
3 min read
Operators entering the in-bay automatic (IBA) segment face an early and consequential decision: build a touchless bay, a soft touch bay, or both. On the latest episode of Wash Talk: The Carwash Podcast, Kyle Martin, sales manager at Oasis Car Wash Systems, argued that operators building from the ground up should offer both formats and let customers make the call, according to reporting from Professional Carwashing & Detailing.
Martin told host Kyle Alexander that the choice is rarely one-size-fits-all. Geography, regional competition, and local climate all influence which format performs best in a given market, and a site that hedges by installing both can capture demand from customers on either side of the touchless debate.
Throughput comes down to mechanics and chemistry
The conversation also examined what drives IBA throughput, the measure of how many vehicles a bay can process in a given period. Martin broke down the mechanical and chemical factors that separate high-throughput operations from average performers. In the IBA format, where a single bay handles one vehicle at a time, throughput directly caps revenue potential, so equipment configuration and chemical application efficiency carry outsized weight compared with a conveyorized tunnel.
The source does not detail the specific mechanical or chemical adjustments Martin cited, but the framing points operators toward treating throughput as an engineered outcome rather than a fixed limit of the format.
A different approach to trade show presence
The episode closed with a look at how Oasis plans to engage customers at The Car Wash Show 2027. Rather than investing in a traditional exhibit booth, the company intends to bring customers and distributors to its manufacturing facility in Joplin, Missouri, for factory tours. The visits are meant to show equipment manufacturing, installed systems, and the staff behind the product in a hands-on setting.
Why it matters for operators
For operators evaluating an IBA site, the touchless versus soft touch question is not academic. It shapes capital cost, customer perception, and maintenance demands for years. Martin's advice to offer both, where the budget and footprint allow, reflects a practical hedge against guessing wrong about local preferences, especially in markets where climate and competitor formats vary.
The throughput discussion is the more immediately actionable takeaway. Because an IBA bay serves one car at a time, every second shaved off a cycle and every gain in chemical efficiency compounds across a day of volume. Operators reviewing an underperforming bay should look first at the mechanical setup and chemistry program rather than assuming the format itself is the ceiling.
Finally, the shift toward factory tours over booth displays is a signal worth noting for anyone planning show-season buying decisions. Seeing equipment built and running on-site can offer a fuller picture than a trade show floor, and operators may want to weigh manufacturer visits as part of their diligence when comparing IBA suppliers.
