Ames, IA Car Wash Market Analysis
Part of the Ames, IA MSA.
Data updated · May 22, 2026
1,140 Google reviews across 9 car washes in Ames. Format mix, operator rank, geographic distribution, income overlay, customer-experience signals.
Snapshot
- Locations
- 9
- Chains
- 5
- lead: Varsity Carwash (2)
- Avg rating
- 4.26★
- -0.15 vs MSA median
- Damage rate
- 5.8%
- 3.7× MSA norm
- Top format
- detail shop
- 33% of classified
Market Quality snapshot
- Population
- 66,112
- ACS 2023 5-year
- Households
- 25,445
- ACS 2023 5-year
- Residents per wash
- 7,346
- 3.8× the national MSA median — lighter supply
- Express tunnels per 10K households
- 0.8
- in the 0.5–1.0 filling band · classified sites
Key findings
- 9 car wash locations operated by 5 chains and 3 independents.
- Weighted Google rating 4.26★ across the market; structural concentration and format mix sit near US-market norms.
- Built from 1,140 Google reviews, 137 of them AI-extracted across 55 dimensions.
9 car wash locations in Ames, IA · dots colored by format · sized by review volume
No single structural signal jumps out for Ames — it's a mid-shape car wash market. 9 locations across 5 chains and 3 independents. Distinctive patterns show up below at the format and aspect levels.
Headline numbers sit near US-market norms: rating 4.26★, damage 5.8%, cancel friction 23.5%. Wait time strong (0.67); equipment reliability weak (-0.58). 1,140 Google reviews drive the analysis, 137 of them processed through the WashIndex LLM extractor.
See the best-rated car washes in Ames, IA
Ranked by Google review rating
About Ames, IA
How many car washes are in Ames, IA?
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What is the best-rated car wash in Ames, IA?
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Which car wash chains operate in Ames, IA?
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What is the median household income near Ames car washes?
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What is the average car wash rating in Ames, IA?
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What kinds of car washes does Ames have?
The format mix in Ames reads as a typical mid-market US city — express tunnels and detail shops carrying the bulk of supply, with full-service and self-serve layered in. The bar chart pairs location count with per-format average rating.
Highest-rated format in this market: Detail Shop at 4.95★ (3 locations). Lowest: Self-Serve Bay at 3.88★ (2 locations).
| Format | Locations | % of MSA | Reviews | Avg Rating | Damage Rate | Cancel Friction |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detail Shop | 3 | 33.3% | 128 | 4.95 | 0.00% | — |
| In-Bay Automatic | 2 | 22.2% | 45 | 3.54 | 0.00% | — |
| Self-Serve Bay | 2 | 22.2% | 521 | 3.88 | 2.56% | 20.0% |
| Express Tunnel | 2 | 22.2% | 446 | 4.57 | 12.28% | 25.0% |
What is the typical household income near Ames car washes?
Each ZIP in Ames is joined to IRS Statistics-of-Income (tax year 2022) and to the per-location Google rating dataset. The scatter below sizes dots by review volume and colors them by format.
Pearson r between ZIP income and rating across 9 qualifying locations: 0.40 — mild positive. Higher-income ZIPs host slightly better-rated washes; weak but present. Scatter mean: $86K AGI/return, 4.28★.
Car wash count and quality by income tier
Blue bars: location count per tier. Orange tick marks: average Google rating (same y-axis).
| Income tier (mean AGI/return) | ZIPs | Locations | Reviews | Avg Rating | Top Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under $50K | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | — |
| $50K – $75K | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | — |
| $75K – $100K | 2 | 9 | 1,140 | 4.26 | Detail Shop (3) |
| $100K – $150K | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | — |
| $150K+ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | — |
Top-tier 0 sites, 0.00★ avg; bottom-tier 0 sites, 0.00★. Across Ames's 9 qualifying locations, the income gradient correlates only weakly with rating — operator execution dominates.
Who operates the most Ames car washes?
5 chains alongside 3 independents make up Ames's car wash supply. The chain rank below shows the multi-location operators' position; the per-location detail near the bottom of the page captures the independent layer.
| # | Chain | Locations | Reviews | Avg Rating | Damage | Cancel | Upsell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Varsity Carwash | 2 | 446 | 4.57 | — | — | — |
| 2 | Phillips 66 | 1 | 27 | 4.10 | — | — | — |
| 3 | bp | 1 | 18 | 2.70 | — | — | — |
| 4 | Super Shine Car Wash | 1 | 92 | 3.80 | — | — | — |
| 5 | Wild Water Car Wash Fort Dodge | 1 | 429 | 3.90 | — | — | — |
What do customers love and complain about at Ames car washes?
Seven aspects, 137 reviews, 9 locations. The grid below gives a quick read on which dimensions of the experience Ames's car wash market does well at and which generate friction.
Where are the 9 car washes in Ames, IA?
Top 10 car washes by review volume in Ames. The full set of 9 is available in the underlying dataset.
| Location | City | Format | Chain | Rating | Reviews | ZIP AGI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wild Water Car Wash & Pet Wash 204 Clark Ave | Ames, IA | Self-Serve Bay | Wild Water Car Wash Fort Dodge | 3.9 | 429 | $83K |
| Varsity Carwash 3705 Lincoln Way | Ames, IA | Express Tunnel | Varsity Carwash | 4.6 | 304 | $94K |
| Varsity Carwash 1016 S Duff Ave | Ames, IA | Express Tunnel | Varsity Carwash | 4.5 | 142 | $83K |
| Super Shine Car Wash 3706 Stange Rd | Ames, IA | Self-Serve Bay | Super Shine Car Wash | 3.8 | 92 | $83K |
| Details Auto Appearance Center 504 E Lincoln Wy | Ames, IA | Detail Shop | — | 4.9 | 66 | $83K |
| ABC Detailing LLC 615 S Dayton Ave #129 | Ames, IA | Detail Shop | — | 5.0 | 49 | $83K |
| Phillips 66 Touch Free Car Wash 110 Airport Rd | Ames, IA | In-Bay Automatic | Phillips 66 | 4.1 | 27 | $83K |
| bp 111 Duff Ave | Ames, IA | In-Bay Automatic | bp | 2.7 | 18 | $83K |
| Super Clean Car Care LLC 115 State Ave | Ames, IA | Detail Shop | — | 5.0 | 13 | $94K |
Data as of 2026-05-22. Pick a format and click Copy.
WashIndex. (2026, May 22). Ames, IA car wash market analysis. https://washindex.com/car-wash-cities/ames-ia
WashIndex. "Ames, IA car wash market analysis." WashIndex. Last modified May 22, 2026. https://washindex.com/car-wash-cities/ames-ia.
"Ames, IA car wash market analysis." WashIndex, May. 22, 2026, https://washindex.com/car-wash-cities/ames-ia.
@misc{washindex_car_wash_cities_ames_ia_2026,
title = {{Ames, IA car wash market analysis}},
author = {{WashIndex}},
year = {2026},
month = {May},
url = {https://washindex.com/car-wash-cities/ames-ia},
urldate = {2026-05-22},
} About this analysis
Car wash inventory for Ames, IA is sourced from the WashIndex national car-wash place index, filtered to places whose Google-Maps-reported city matches Ames, and further restricted to places whose format the WashIndex LLM classifier identified as a car wash (excluding dealerships, gas stations, and other auto-related businesses that don't primarily operate a car wash). Inclusion in the parent Ames MSA dataset is established by point-in-polygon against the official US Census county boundaries (TIGER/Line, 2024).
Operating-quality signals are derived from 137 customer reviews processed through WashIndex's 55-field LLM extraction pipeline. Format classification comes from a separate per-location website-reading classifier. ZIP-level income data is from the IRS Statistics of Income (tax year 2022) — mean Adjusted Gross Income per tax return, which is directionally aligned with ACS median household income but available without authentication.
See our full methodology for the extraction pipeline, validation samples, and aggregation logic. Term definitions in the glossary.
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