Compiled from 3,123 price points across 195 chains, the index reveals express tunnels are up 23% since 2020, with the typical unlimited plan now costing $34/month.
DALLAS, TX, UNITED STATES, August 12, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — WashIndex, a geospatial market intelligence platform serving the car wash sector, has announced the WashIndex Membership Price Index. This benchmark monitors the cost of unlimited car wash memberships in the United States from 2015 onward. Constructed from 3,123 archived price points across 195 chains—drawn from a tracked universe of 373 chains, including those now defunct or acquired—the index offers investors, lenders, and operators the industry’s first uninterrupted perspective on membership list-price trends spanning over a decade.
Major findings include:
• Membership list prices have risen 16% since 2020. Across all wash formats, the national index moved from a 2020 baseline of 100.0 to 116.1 in 2026, and roughly 31% higher than 2015. Express-tunnel memberships saw quicker growth, increasing 23% since 2020.
• The standard unlimited membership now carries a list price of $34.00 per month. In 2026, base-tier plans average $24.16, while premium tiers average $43.29 per month.
• Regional pricing has diverged substantially. Since 2020, list prices have increased 29% in the Midwest and 21% in the Northeast, compared to 9% in the South and a decline of 1% in the West—creating a roughly thirty-point gap between the fastest- and slowest-moving regions.
• The index aligns with public-company disclosures. Between 2021 and 2025, the express index rose approximately 11%, closely matching the roughly 10% gain in Unlimited Wash Club revenue per member reported by Mister Car Wash in SEC filings during the same timeframe.
• Built on a same-store methodology. Year-over-year changes are calculated only across chains with pricing data in both years under comparison, using location-weighted geometric means with statistical trimming—so the index captures true price movement rather than changes in which chains appear in the dataset.
“Membership pricing is the single biggest revenue lever in this industry, and until now there has been no benchmark for it – every operator repriced in the dark, and every investor underwrote pricing assumptions on anecdote,” said Justin Kuo, founder of WashIndex. “The regional story is the one to watch: a Midwest operator has taken nearly thirty points more list-price growth since 2020 than one in the West. That gap is a repricing roadmap for acquirers, and a warning about how much headroom is left in the markets that already moved.”
The index is built from archived operator pricing pages, supplemented by SEC filings from publicly traded operators and store-locator data for location weighting. Each chain’s annual price is the midpoint of its cheapest and most expensive unlimited monthly tiers. The index tracks advertised list prices rather than realized revenue after promotions, and should be interpreted as an upper bound on actual price growth; full methodology and limitations are published alongside the index.
The complete index, including methodology, regional breakdowns, and historical data, is accessible at washindex.com/research/car-wash-membership-price-index.
About WashIndex
WashIndex is a geospatial market intelligence platform for the car wash industry, assessing market quality, site quality, and operating quality for more than 80,000 tracked locations across the United States and Canada. It is built on AI analysis of over 14 million customer reviews, combined with real-time pricing intelligence. WashIndex serves private equity investors, site selectors, lenders, and multi-site operators. WashIndex is developed by Sparkle Technologies and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Learn more at washindex.com.
Justin Kuo
Sparkle Technologies
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