Driveway Washers
by Stefan Budricks, Editor

There has always been ambivalence in the industry about the correlation between high gas prices and wash volumes. Some believe there is a direct connection, others are not convinced. The International Carwash Association’s 2008 Study of Consumer Car Washing Attitudes and Habits happens to be under way at the very time that we are experiencing an unprecedented rapid rise in the price of gasoline. Perhaps the study results, due out later this year, will finally reveal just how severely — if at all — high prices at the pump suppress wash volumes.

As if a prelude to the ICA study, a new study from 3M Car Care finds that the current economic environment — including high gas prices — is causing a dramatic shift in how consumers care for their cars. In its study of more than 5,000 American consumers conducted March 2008, 3M found that large numbers of motorists are taking care of their car maintenance needs themselves, skirting professional service providers in the process.

3M’s numbers are not encouraging. Sixty-two percent of study respondents overall report washing their own cars, while 69 percent of females aged 45 to 54 report doing so or having someone in their household do it. Fully a third of respondents report doing their own detailing. At 68 percent, families with incomes between $50,000 and $75,000 ranked highest in washing their cars at home to save money. There is even an emotional dimension to these numbers. Waxing nostalgic, 42 percent of respondents chose washing their cars as their favorite summertime chore from a list of six tasks from when they were growing up. Of these memory-filled participants, 36 percent still put washing cars at the top of their list for warm weather tasks today.

Compare these data to the results of the ICA’s four studies since 1996 (the consumer habits study is conducted every three years). The ICA’s studies have found the percentage of consumers most often washing their cars at home steadily declining — from 47.6 percent (1996) to 44.5 percent (1999) to 43 percent (2002) to 38 percent in the latest available study (2005). Granted, we’re probably not comparing apples to apples. We don’t know how the 3M questions were framed. Still, the disparity is marked.

Car washing is not the only professional car care activity being imperiled by hands-on consumers. According to the 3M study, 57 percent of motorists are repairing or replacing windshield wipers or headlights; 17 percent pour fuel additives themselves to improve fuel efficiency; and rather than pay for a tune-up, 16 percent use at-home tune-up kits. These numbers hold no solace for fast-lube operations, which have been plagued by declining car counts for several years and just happen to be a favored ancillary service at car wash locations.

An interesting aside: the 3M study was conducted by Harris Interactive, part of the venerable Harris Poll organization. The very first car wash consumer study was conducted by the Harris Poll in 1975. The results of the study — titled “What Does the Public Think about Car Washes?” — were presented at the ICA Convention in Chicago in June that year. Harris found that 40 percent of consumers “almost always” washed their cars at home — a number not far off the ICA’s findings some 20 years later.