2023 Revisit: Watermark Nissan of Marion – 2019 Success Story

Four years is a common timeframe for measuring growth and marking change; it’s the time to complete high school and college, the span of many elected office terms, and the time it takes for a typical newborn to learn how to walk and talk.

Today we take time to check-in on an Auto Dealership success story D&S published 4 years ago – Watermark Nissan of Marion, IL. In 2019, D&S profiled this dealership and its market area in far southern Illinois with the intriguing nickname of “Little Egypt”.  

The original article described the eventual company-wide impact at Watermark and on their reputation among the community spurred by the installation of a premier consumer-grade onsite car wash versus a typical low-budget, non-commercial system.

That decision distinguished Watermark as a pioneer in an emerging dealer strategy of leveraging the overhead expense of vehicle prep as an offset to the capital investment of a superior system.  An IQ system brought immediate gains in prep efficiency and as planned, served as a dealership asset to drive showroom traffic, enhance customer loyalty and generate positive ratings and reviews. The IQ’s wash quality, efficiency and capacity allowed Watermark to utilize it beyond basic prep to promote the business, including complimentary washes for sales and service customers and targeted market segments.  

It all adds up to Marion Nissan’s IQ Soft-Touch ranking #2 in terms of total wash count across the entire IQ Fleet of 739 operational units. This machine has racked up over 251,000 total washes – nearly doubling their wash count since the 2019 article.

These stats confirm the exceptional performance of a single IQ machine and indicate the resiliency of the car wash industry in general through the COVID-19 pandemic. The story that car washing became one of the few havens of normalcy for the masses during the height of quarantine suggests that this isn’t exclusively a benefit to the vehicle – but also to one’s mental health. Watermark Nissan of Marion grasped the power of this dual benefit and bought an IQ Soft Touch to prove it true.