Just over a year ago, Weigel’s opened its first car wash. It’s an express tunnel wash—a 125-foot building with a 110-foot conveyor. The car wash is typical of what you would see from a large, multisite car wash operator or a national wash chain—the exact competitors Weigel’s faces in its East Tennessee market.

To celebrate the first anniversary of the car wash, Weigel’s didn’t just offer a discount or run a free wash promotion. It threw a party. “Who throws a birthday party for a car wash? Well, Weigel’s does,” said Nick Triantafellou, director of marketing and merchandising at Weigel’s. “We’re celebrating not only the anniversary of the car wash, but that it’s been a year of the community trusting us with something they hadn’t seen us do before.”

The traditional view might be that a car wash can be treated as an afterthought—that “building out back” that generates some extra revenue without requiring a lot of attention. But retailers that are finding notable success with their car wash operations are running them with intention. When done well, they can not only generate extra revenue, but build brand loyalty and increase customer engagement.

“Any good investor will tell you that you need to diversify. But I don’t want car wash to just be about dollars and cents—it’s about the high-quality products that a retailer can provide to its customers,” said Art Ryan, director of car wash operations at Weigel’s. “Weigel’s Auto Spa is a high-quality wash, but it also further cements the overall value that our company provides to our community.”

Whether executing in-bay automatic washes with precision or building out full tunnel operations that can stand up to the industry’s largest operators, here’s a look at how retailers are going beyond just cleaning cars.

Creating a Car Wash Ecosystem

During a panel at The Car Wash Show in Nashville, Tennessee, earlier this year, car wash leads from Sheetz and Kwik Trip emphasized that retailers need to evaluate the role a wash plays within their broader business strategy. Car wash being part of a larger value proposition tied to fuel and in-store purchases can be an advantage.

Thinking of car wash in this way helps retailers offer more competitive pricing. “Car wash is not our only business. We’re trying to offer the best value … and encourage [customers] to shop our whole lot,” said Scott Soisson, car wash sales manager at Sheetz, explaining that you don’t need to push the price up to generate high margins.

And don’t try to outprice your competitors in the market. “I don’t think that you should be raising prices every year,” said Shannon Jandt, car wash manager at Kwik Trip. Both retailers said that they keep prices the same across their multistate footprints of hundreds of in-bay automatic washes for consistency.

Neither Sheetz nor Kwik Trip currently offer car wash memberships, which both Soisson and Jandt said can create long wait times that deter customers. Instead, they offer promotions at the pump and market car wash through their loyalty apps. “I give away a lot of washes … the app is our main conduit to talk to our customers,” Soisson said, noting that app-based promotions drive trial and repeat usage.

Weigel’s has built both a membership base and a successful single-wash customer segment by tying its washes to its loyalty program, Ryan said. On Weigel’s Wednesdays, the retailer gives away a free item to its MyWeigel’s Rewards members. It also offers 50% off a single car wash. “Wednesdays traditionally are not a very busy wash day. But they’ve now become our fourth busiest day of the week only behind the weekends,” said Ryan.

Weigel’s also sells washes at the pump, and offering fuel discounts with the purchase has caused customers to purchase the most expensive single wash option “because they get the max discount on the fuel that they’re pumping at that time,” said Ryan. “Yesterday was Wednesday, and 50% of all of our single washes that came through were either Weigel’s Wednesday customers or from the gas pump,” he added.

Another touchpoint Weigel’s incorporated for the business: order ahead pick up for foodservice at its wash amenity stations. “We have QR codes on the vacuums to direct customers to our online shopping experience. The signage is easy: Scan this QR code if you’re hungry, finish up your vacuuming and then go pick up your food next door,” explained Ryan.

A Buildout Blueprint

The car wash market might feel dominated by new, multi-tunnel and express washes, but Keith Lutz, CEO at Kleen-Rite Corp., said he is seeing “a tremendous amount of growth in the self-serve segment. I’m here to declare that it is not dead—it is still alive and well,” he said at The Car Wash Show.

Self-serve models have a lower entry threshold for operators, with Lutz citing entry points closer to $1 million than the $5 million-plus likely needed for a tunnel operation.

“Now you’re seeing both existing operators and new investors entering the space and rehabbing sites that were underperforming to make them inviting to the consumer again. The express model added a professionalism to the business that the self-serve industry followed, and it’s paying dividends.” He noted that many operators are seeing 25-30% returns on their investment.

Weigel’s is currently building five more washes this year, with at least four on the books for 2027. With the new builds, the company will add in-bay automatics and mini tunnel models to its wash portfolio.

The mini tunnels will be 60-foot buildings with a 25-foot canopy out front and an 80-foot conveyor. “We’re basically taking our 125-foot tunnel building and compressing it down into a smaller 60-foot space,” said Ryan. “We are swapping out some of the brush technology and slowing down the conveyor speed to half of the speed that’s on the larger tunnel. That’s important because it gives the brushes the ability to sit on the car longer and it gives the chemical a longer dwell time to clean the vehicle. That all enables us to have a full tunnel car wash experience in a smaller footprint.”

At all of its facilities, washes will be equipped with both touch and touchless washes. “They both do an excellent job, but they do it differently. The customer will have the ability to decide,” said Ryan. “This is common in the in-bay automatic model but not in tunnel washes. The equipment is usually designed for one or the other, but we have reengineered some of our equipment, rethinking how it can be utilized to interact with the vehicle as it’s going through the tunnels.”

One of the intentions behind this decision was to create a consistent experience for customers. If you have a wash membership with Weigel’s, you can go to any of its locations, regardless of the model type, and access the wash of your choice.

A-Plus for Amenities

A consistent experience is also part of the reason Weigel’s will offer a host of amenities at its in-bay automatic locations, which Ryan said isn’t common practice. He plans to have cannister vacuums available for free as well as complimentary spray bottles with cleaning solution and microfiber towels. At the larger tunnel washes, customers can access about 30 vacuums along with all the same amenities.

“Every vacuum stall has everything they need right there. There is cost in setting that up and then maintaining it, knowing some items might walk off the lot and that you have to have staff keeping everything stocked throughout the day,” said Ryan. “But it’s an investment we’ve made in the customer experience, and the customers really enjoy having all of those items available and in a place where they don’t have to walk around the parking lot looking for them.”

A Car Wash for the Community

Despite the rise of multisite operators and national platforms, car washes are still hyperlocal businesses. Performance comes down to the individual site, said Eric Wulf, CEO of the International Carwash Association, while speaking at The Car Wash Show. Based on survey data he presented, roughly 70% of car wash subscription members surveyed use only a single “home” location, with fewer than 10% visiting multiple sites. “That tells us this is a local business. What matters at the end of the day is where that wash is and how well it’s performing.”

Wulf said that operators should focus on being community businesses. “Think about the social license that comes with opening a business. How do we treat the communities that we’re in? It’s the idea of intelligent growth—being mindful of how we are presenting ourselves to communities when 10 car washes are all trying to come into the same town. How do you make sure you’re telling your story about all the good things you do for the community?”

With every detail of the Weigel’s Auto Spa connecting to the history and brand identity of Weigel’s, Triantafellou said that one of its biggest differentiators is that “its a celebration of Weigel’s and it’s built with the family in mind. You have kids that go through it and they fall in love with the experience, which makes it a good experience for the parents. And then they want to keep coming back. It is really fun.”

“When you look at the marketplace, there’s nothing like it,” he continued. “It really celebrates who we are as a company and the brand itself, while also giving the best wash in the region. Our community has entrusted us with something that they spend a lot of money on, and that is because of our company legacy, our heritage and who we are.”