It is hard to imagine all the cars in the United States, it seems everywhere you go there are cars. These cars get dirty and then look bad, so they must be washed and perhaps it is for that reason that there is a never ending supply of people wishing to enter the carwash business. There are many who find the carwash business to be a worthy place to invest. And indeed it is a repeat business and a simple one at that. Cannot get any simpler than removing the weekly dirt from someone's car when it is just going to get dirty again. It seems to be a business made in heaven and indeed half of it was.

Indeed there is a lot to know about the US Car Wash Market. Perhaps this might give you initial insight;

www.CarWashGuys.com/carwashbbs

www.DetailGuys.com/detailbbs

Additionally there are articles here of value to your research:

http://ezinearticles.com/search/search.pl?p=1&mode=all&q=carwash&submit=Search

www.OilChangeGuys.com/oilbbs

The car wash market in the United States is broken into several different types and most of them only minutely impede or compete with the other carwash business models. There are several categories, Full Service, Roll Over, Flex Service, Quick Service, Mobile and Coin-operated; and the total number of carwashes appears to be about 66,000 Fixed Sites (largest being coin and roll over such as Gas Station/Combo) and about 12,000 mobile operators/units. New market entrants are Wal-mart and quick service like Rapido Rabbit.

http://www.rapidorabbit.com

Many of the rollover type car washes are owned by oil companies such as Exxon Mobile, which at one time owned the majority of carwashes in the United States. Today they own about 6% of the carwashes and that total appears to be somewhat similar although with the consolidation, there are fewer units in many states do to the ChevronTexeco Merger. FTC made them close stores. Shell has probably more than ChevronTexeco. Many stations are finding more money per square foot from C-Stores and Drought-water shortages in Midwest and NM, AZ, UT, MT are problematic. Underground environmental issues in CA, WA, OR problematic, Real Estate costs are a problem due to latest bubbles, although some good prime real estate in commercial areas okay, should be a slight business cycle downturn= interest rates, jobs and energy issues, retail sales and Christmas spending issues.

There are many changes happening in the United States' carwash industry and it pays to be well informed if you are considering a carwash investment. Think on this.

Lance Winslow

Currently Lance is retired at age 40 and is running an Online Think Tank Forum while traveling North America. Perhaps considering something extremely challenging to do that will exercise his mind and utilize all his experiences, observations and skills. Any ideas?