EMV Debit and Tap Payments Made Simple
Water Avenue is a car wash across from the Fraser River in Hope, British Columbia, Canada. It operates under the management of owner Case Bosch as a mostly unattended 24-hour operation. Wiz-Tec’s advanced car wash payment and real-time control technologies were installed in August 2019 as a retrofitted solution to an old Unitec system. It is installed on one of the automatic touchless car washes on the site. Case’s main reasoning for installing the Wiz-Tec system was the addition of EMV car wash debit and tap capabilities for his automatic.
“My experience in the past year [is]: because of cards, 65% of customers choose [the] top two super washes.”
Case Bosch, Owner
The shift to EMV certified technology has made it necessary for all retailers and businesses to comply with the new regulations by October 2022. Swipe mechanisms limit the methods of payment merchants like Case can accept because of their inability to accept debit payments. These have been growing in popularity throughout Canada as the preferred alternative to cash purchases. However, older demographics are still apprehensive about using card
payments due to a lack of knowledge about EMV safety requirements so Case kept the Unitec Teller in place for his second automatic bay for customers preferring cash.
Having debit is the way to go. We spend a lot less time making change and buying back car wash tokens.
Case Bosch, Owner
Spending Per Car in the Touchless Automatic Wash
| Before | $12.40 average Customers tended to choose all the options available. |
| After | Over $13.00 average Customers now regularly choose the top 2 Super Wash options |
| Results | 65% of customers now chose the top 2 wash options and increased their spending by 4% per wash |
Trends observed by Payments Canada in a 2019 survey about preferred payment methods state that contactless debit payments are replacing small cash payments. Through this study they also found that the average debit transaction for Canadians has increased to about $42. To put it simply, cash allows customers to budget better. But the instant access to all their funds through cards enables them to spend more than they usually would. Having an EMV certified car wash payment point is important for your customers to feel secure in their purchase.
For a more detailed study into this operation and EMV, download the case study below.
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