Industry Spotlight: Car Washes

SiteSeer is a powerful analytics platform used by brokers, shopping center developers, retailers, franchise companies, and multi-site chain businesses in many different industries. We’re highlighting how different types of businesses can leverage SiteSeer to make intelligent site selection decisions and gain valuable insights about their operations.

Read our past Industry Spotlights:

• Grocery
• Hotels
• Fast Casual Restaurants

The car wash industry has had quite a busy decade.

Various sources share that there are about ~60,000 car washes in the United States, and despite significant merger and acquisition activity—especially between 2019 and 2022—the space remains highly fragmented. Houlihan Lokey’s 2024 analysis states that more than 80% of those car washes are operated by a less than 5-unit operator.

Unit count has increased ~15% CAGR since 2012, and IBIS World’s July 2024 Car Wash & Auto Detailing in the U.S. market research report states that the car wash and auto detailing market size has grown at a CAGR of 4.6% between 2020 and 2025.

Why the growth? More people are washing their cars at car washes, for one thing. There are more vehicles per household in certain U.S. markets, and environmental regulations in many communities prohibiting residents to wash their cars in their driveways. Couple that with consumer demand for convenience and modern technology that enables car washes to work faster, better, and reduce their impact on the environment, and the growth potential is big.

Why Market Analysis Is Critical for Car Wash Chain Site Selection

The years 2021 and 2022 saw record levels of private equity investment in the car wash sector, but that’s slowed in the last two years. However, Houlihan Lokey’s report discusses the current focus on greenfield growth due to impressive white space potential—even amid an uncertain economic climate and high building costs.

For investors and car wash owners seeking to expand their businesses, it’s important to take a thoughtful, data-driven approach when selecting new locations. Careful market selection is key to sustaining growth and profitability.

Site Selection Considerations for Car Wash Chains

Car wash operators and investors need to understand their target customers, assess competition, and identify the best markets. Here are a few key factors to consider when selecting a site for a car wash:

• Competitor Strength: Convenience is the name of the game with car washes, as few consumers are willing to drive out of their way to get a car wash. But a site selection process needs to evaluate the number of existing competitors in a trade area and analyze them thoroughly. That means looking at their proximity as well as their competitive advantages.
• Traffic Patterns: Most car wash chains have a minimum traffic count number a site must have before they will consider it. However, too much traffic due to congestion and high speed limits might actually hurt a business.
• Road Characteristics: A car wash must have fairly easy access to succeed. A high-traffic road is great, but fast-moving traffic without a turn lane into a site could make entry difficult. Ingress/egress and visibility are important considerations.
• Population and Demographics: Car wash chains should determine their target customer profile so they can focus only on sites with the minimum population and demographic characteristics that fit their criteria. That includes factors such as vehicle ownership and medium to high disposable income.
• Local Retail and Development: This includes evaluating planned and existing residential housing, housing density, retail development, and commercial development. Most chains want to locate in areas with strong residential growth potential.

Make Data-Driven Site Selection Decisions with SiteSeer Pro

Whether you're a small car wash business aiming for steady growth or a large chain looking to dominate the market, accurate data can make all the difference when selecting a location. Without it, car wash chains risk opening locations with too much competition and not enough customers.

SiteSeer is a powerful tool used by retailers of all types to choose the best locations and grow the smart way. For car wash chains, SiteSeer arms users with the traffic, demographic, psychographic, planned construction, and other data as well as the tools they need to make intelligent location decisions.

SiteSeer helps car wash businesses:

• Analyze their competitors and gain competitive insights using SiteSeer's Competitive Assessment tool
• Analyze consumer demand and behavior, and learn everything possible about their customers
• Forecast the potential sales performance of future sites
• Determine the capacity for growth of their car was chain in a market and identify white space opportunities with the highest potential using SiteSeer’s White Space tool
• Build site screening models using SiteSeer’s Model Builder, which allows users to input their success criteria and analyze locations to determine how well they match that criteria

Car wash chains seeking to perform thorough market analysis and identify locations with high potential for success can trust SiteSeer’s powerful toolset to enhance their site selection process.

Want to learn more? Contact SiteSeer today for a demo.

Are you a growing car wash franchise business? Be sure to check out our Automated Territory Optimization Model™ tool, which has been completely revamped. Read the press release and learn more about franchise territory optimization.