Each year, the editors of Professional Carwashing & Detailing (PC&D) partake in research that spans from the summer to the fall. Our research starts with requests for submissions for our Top 50 List of U.S. Conveyor Carwashes. For those who are new to the industry or our publication, our annual list ranks the leading conveyor carwash chains based on their number of locations.
After we sort through the submissions, we follow up with each individual chain to verify their information for the list. Multiple attempts are made to contact each company and this year the vast majority of chains participated. We thank all the chains featured on this year’s list and also the companies that submitted information but did not meet the baseline to make it onto the list this year.
And, that baseline has been steadily increasing each year. For this year’s list, it took 22 locations to make it. The total number of sites on this year’s list is just over 4,350 locations. Last year, the top 50 accounted for 3,741 total locations and in 2021’s list these leading chains accumulated 2,843 sites.
Experts note that growth among these chains has slowed this year due to several factors. We recently sat down with Jeff Pavone, founding partner of Amplify Car Wash Advisors and owner of Commercial Plus, to discuss these factors and how operators are being affected today.
“This year was a year of pause. As interest rates increased, it really gave these chains a reason to pause. They also had to give a hard look at what they bought — a lot of [the chains] grew very quickly during this era of get big fast,” reports Pavone. “But, going into 2024, I think we’ll see more disciplined M&A deal activity.”
We hope you enjoy reviewing this year’s Top 50 List of U.S. Conveyor Carwashes. We’d love to hear your thoughts on the list as well as the trends shaping our industry.
Thank you for reading PC&D as well as Carwash.com. From our team to your team, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year.
