The Industry
Welcome to the carwash business!
We love the carwash business! As American as apple pie, the professional carwash industry cleans the world’s automobiles – from Mercedes to Chevy’s to Hyundai’s - in the safest, most convenient and environmentally responsible manner. With more vehicles on the road and more carwashes being purchased by motorists than ever before, this industry’s best days are still to come. What began with single location businesses begun in the post World War II-era to satisfy Americans’ love of the automobile has grown into a complex international industry.
As you can see from the table below, consumers usage shows that automated car washing is clearly becoming the preferred method of vehicle care.
Source: International Carwash Association
The industry has professional carwash companies operating in one or more major segments:
- Self serve
- In-bay automatic (also known as stationary automatic or roll-over)
- Conveyor (also known as a tunnel.)
These segments have a number of subsets including:
- Touch free
- Friction
- Hybrid friction / touch free
- Express exterior
- Full service
- Flex service
- Detail
- Many other sub-segments and ancillary services
Professional car washing today features a complex series of equipment, solutions and technological systems to wash cars more effectively, safely and profitably than ever before. Compared to driveway or parking lot car washing, professional car washing is also the more environmentally conscious way to clean an automobile, as waste water is routed to treatment facilities as opposed to the curb and its eventual drain to rivers, lakes and streams.
The carwash business absolutely requires comprehensive and detailed planning when building a new location or updating an existing location. We have a long and successful track record of helping investor / operators attain their car wash vision from a back of a napkin sketch to a cutting edge carwash. We would love to hear about your vision for your wash.
Click here or call us at (253) 437-2000 to join our upcoming Carwash Investor Workshop or if you would like information on Local Carwashes For Sale or general information.
