Part
01
of six
Part
01
Car Care Market: Consumer Trends
The most prominent consumer trends that are impacting the car care market in the United States include (1) Rising demand and growth of car detailing services, (2) Growth of express car wash services, (3) Demand for auto beauty shops, (4) Popular use of water-based solvents and eco-friendly detailing.
(1) RISING DEMAND AND GROWTH OF CAR DETAILING SERVICES
- The car detailing sector has seen phenomenal growth in the past few years and is projected to grow at a higher rate in the future. Several reasons have been noted to be accountable for the increasing popularity of car detailing. The most significant ones include the growing demand for vehicles.
- About 17 million light vehicles were registered across the United States in 2016. This figure is 183,000 higher than those recorded in 2015.
- By January 2017, vehicles roaming the streets of America reached 278.6 million, a figure 2.4% more than 2016 count. Experts estimate that the number of car units would reach 284 million by the year 2020.
- Auto dealers demand car detailing services for used vehicles to make them ready for resale.
- Car owners also require car detailing services whenever they want to get their cars cleaned up and polished.
- Fashionable/modern car exterior detailing services in the United States include wash and dry services, clay work using clay bars, car polishing, and car seal application which renders the cars a glossy look.
- With 6,000 car wash establishments in 2018, car detailing services in America grew at an average rate of 3.3% between 2017 and 2018.
- The employment rate of automotive service technicians, as well as mechanics that offer car detailing service, is projected to increase by 17% between 2010 and 2020.
(2) GROWTH OF EXPRESS CAR WASH SERVICES
- Full-service car wash operators across America are combating the industry disruptions by adding "express lanes to their offerings" remain competitive.
- Many express car wash service operators provide additional amenities to improve conveniences and boost the experience of their customers. Such services are driving an evolution in car wash retail services.
- Car wash customers are demanding more and more value, and this has brought about a shift in the industry "that is creating a proliferation" of express (mobile) car wash locations.
- Express (mobile) car wash units as of 2019 out-number full-service by the ratio 2 to 1 across Phoenix. They require less labor and advances in technology makes them offer services similar to full-service, hand-wash, hand-dry operators which are already feeling the pressure and are "being washed out" of operation.
- The mobile car wash industry is highly fragmented as 50 of the largest United States companies control less than 20% of the mobile car wash market.
- The mobile car wash industry grew by 3.3% between 2017 and 2018, reaching $7.7 billion in 2018. It's market growth thrives on the discretionary spending and driving habits of car owners/consumers.
- Significant mobile car wash brands in the United States include Mister Car Wash, Autobell Car Wash, Wash depot, Goo Goo Express Wash, Boomerang car wash, Delta sonic, Crew Car Wash, The Washtub, Brown Bear Car Wash, Kaadey Car Wash, Waterway Gas & Wash Company, and Car Wash USA Express.
- According to Techcrunch, Washé, a Boca Raton-based mobile-service car wash operator recently raised $3.5 million as seed funding to grow its business. Washé has a network of about 1,000 licensed as well as insured car wash professionals. The car wash operates in parts of Florida, Southern California, Georgia and New Jersey, and had performed over 100,000 car washes by 2018 in the South Florida market. Washé claimed to have witnessed a 125% annual growth rate.
- While mobile car wash operators continue to grow, the overall number of car wash businesses in America has declined in recent years to a value of about 13, 177 forcing most operators to either expand or diversify available services.
(3) DEMAND FOR AUTO BEAUTY SHOPS
- According to KTVN, Auto Beauty Shops will be among the fastest-growing segment in the car care industry and will continue to experience growth in the future.
- Auto beauty shops are needed to repair cars involved in an accident. Services offered by auto beauty shops include Paintless Dent Repair (PDR), body repair and painting services, etc.
- There will be a continuous demand for the services of auto beauty companies as an average of 6 million cars are involved in accidents every year in the United States. About 72% of car crashes result in property damage, including car dents.
- According to CNN, data obtained from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reveals a 7.7% increase in fatal accident cases in 2015, increasing from 32,600 in 2014 to 35,200 in 2015. This increase is indicative of the rising number of accidents and car dents that may need auto beauty services.
- Unfortunately, we could not uncover the growth rate or market growth for auto beauty shops.
(4) POPULAR USE OF WATER-BASED SOLVENTS AND ECO-FRIENDLY DETAILING IN CAR CARE
- Eco-friendly detailing solutions remain the most significant innovation in the car detailing sector for the past ten years. Innovations in this field include "waterless washing products" which rose in popularity since the 1990s. While waterless washing products are still in use today, a majority of operators prefer the use of water.
- There is a rising demand for water-based solvents due to the low cost of essential raw materials needed to manufacture them. Water-based products are biodegradable and also environmentally friendly.
- Unfortunately, we could not uncover the growth rate or market growth for water-based solvents.
METHODOLOGY
Our team scoured through market reports, industry analysis published by Research and Markets, Auto Dub, AZ Big Media, etc. We studied for insights into the most prominent consumer trends that are impacting the car care market across the United States. Auto Dub and a plethora of other resources revealed that car detailing is getting more popular. AZ Big Media revealed that express (mobile) car wash units are rising in popularity and now out-number full-service by the ratio 2 to 1 across Phoenix. Researching Profitable Venture web for the growth rate of mobile (express) car wash services revealed that mobile car wash industry grew by 3.3% between 2017 and 2018. Unfortunately, this strategy could not uncover sufficient statistics to prove that car detailing is getting more popular across the United States.
Going further, we scoured through credible media reports such as KTVN for insights into trends in the car care products sector. This strategy revealed that auto beauty shops would be among the fastest-growing segments in the car care industry. Further research for the annual growth rate of auto beauty shops or products failed to uncover helpful finding. We also researched for an analysis of the market size and revenue of the car care industry broken down into percentages by sectors, including auto beauty services. Unfortunately, this information is not made available to the public as it is behind paywalls. An attempt to compile the revenue by adding up the revenue of various players in the car care industry for various players failed as most of the studied companies failed to publish their yearly revenues as they are not under any obligation to do so.
We also studied through business publications such as Profitable Venture, among other publications. We studied for statistics and economic analysis of the car wash industry such as thriving sectors, most creative sectors, etc. This strategy revealed an anticipated revenue growth from 2017 by 3.3% to $7.7 billion in 2018. We assumed this to be proof of the growing mobile car wash market. Unfortunately, we could not uncover the growth rate or market growth for auto beauty shops. We could not also uncover the growth rate or market growth for water-based solvents despite expanding our scope to look into articles beyond our usual 24-month credibility range.