Cape Coral Car Wash Market Analysis
Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL
Data updated · September 26, 2026
53,540 Google reviews across 629 car washes in 1 Cape Coral counties. Format mix, operator rank, county breakdown, rating vs. income, aspect-level customer signals.
Snapshot
- Locations
- 629
- 91% independent
- Chains
- 24
- lead: Mister Car Wash (12 sites)
- Avg rating
- 4.59★
- +0.17 vs national MSA median
- Damage rate
- 1.1%
- 1.4× below national norm
- Cancel friction
- 9.4%
- Top format
- detail shop
- 50% of classified inventory
- Median single wash
- $11
- range $5–$50
- Median unlimited
- $22.99/mo
- cheapest $15/mo at Surfside Car Wash
Market Quality snapshot
- Population
- 792,692
- ACS 2023 5-year
- Households
- 319,588
- ACS 2023 5-year
- Residents per wash
- 1,260
- 1.5× denser than the national MSA median
- Express tunnels per 10K households
- 1.1
- above ~1.0 — contested · classified sites
Key findings
- 629 car wash locations operated by 24 chains and 570 independents across 1 county.
- Weighted Google rating 4.59★ across the market; structural concentration and format mix sit near US-metro norms.
- Built from 53,540 Google reviews, 23,072 of them AI-extracted across 55 dimensions.
629 car wash locations across 1 counties · dots colored by format · sized by review volume
Tracked at 629 car wash locations, Cape Coral matches the structural profile of the typical US metro of comparable size. 629 locations across 24 chains and 570 independents, distributed across 1 counties. Customer-experience signals across 23,072 AI-extracted reviews produce the distinct read on this market.
Average rating across the 629-location market weighs in at 4.59★; damage rate 1.1%; cancel friction 9.4%. Equipment reliability runs as the sharpest friction (-0.27). 53,540 Google reviews drive the analysis, 23,072 of them processed through the WashIndex LLM extractor.
Published pricing across the 48 of 639 Cape Coral locations with menus available: median single car wash $11 (range $5–$50), median unlimited membership $22.99/month (range $15–$95/mo). The cheapest unlimited membership in the metro is $15/mo at Surfside Car Wash (Unlimited Membership).
See the top car wash chains in Cape Coral
Ranked by location count in the metro
What does a car wash cost in the Cape Coral metro?
Published menu pricing for car washes in the Cape Coral metropolitan area, captured from operator websites and the WashIndex AI calling agent. 48 of 639 tracked locations have usable published pricing (8% coverage).
| Cheapest unlimited memberships in Cape Coral | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Surfside Car Wash Unlimited Membership | $15 per mo |
| 2 | Surfside Car Wash Basic | $15 per mo |
| 3 | Surfside Car Wash Basic | $15 per mo |
| 4 | Surfside Car Wash Unlimited Membership | $15 per mo |
| 5 | Surfside Car Wash Unlimited Membership | $15 per mo |
| Cheapest single car washes in Cape Coral | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Evocative Dust Busters | $5 |
| 2 | Surfside Car Wash Basic | $8 |
| 3 | Surfside Car Wash Basic | $8 |
| 4 | Surf Side Car Wash Basic | $8 |
| 5 | Snappy Car Wash Lite | $9 |
Pricing scraped from operator websites where published; the WashIndex AI calling agent rings up locations that don’t publish menus online to capture pricing directly.
The car wash industry in the Cape Coral metro, officially
High-wageCar-wash wages in the Cape Coral metro run about 17% above the national average ($38,181 vs. $32,560), across 82 employer establishments and roughly 460 jobs.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, QCEW (private, NAICS 811192). Counts car-wash employer establishments, a narrower universe than all physical wash locations — see methodology.
Car wash financing in the Cape Coral metro
Build-out marketSince 2013, the U.S. Small Business Administration has backed 37 car-wash loans in the Cape Coral metro worth $53.7M, at a $1,441,100 median per car wash and a 0.0% charge-off rate. The mix tilts toward new construction — 59% of loans funded brand-new washes, above the 33% national norm — pointing to a market where operators are still adding supply.
- Lee 37
- New build / open59% · $1.9M
- Acquisition11% · $787K
- Expansion / improvement30% · $1.1M
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration 7(a) & 504 FOIA datasets (NAICS 811192), data through 2026-03-31. See the Car Wash Lending Tracker for national figures and methodology.
About the Cape Coral car wash market
How many car washes are in the Cape Coral metro?
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What is the best-rated car wash in the Cape Coral metro?
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Which car wash chain has the most locations in Cape Coral?
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What is the average customer rating in the Cape Coral car wash market?
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What is the typical household income near car washes in Cape Coral?
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How much does a car wash cost in Cape Coral?
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How much does an unlimited car wash membership cost in Cape Coral?
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What is the cheapest car wash in Cape Coral?
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What kinds of car washes does Cape Coral have?
The format mix in Cape Coral reads as a typical mid-market US metro — 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: Detail Shop at 4.96★ across 58 locations. Lowest-rated: In-Bay Automatic at 3.82★ (10 locations).
513 (81.6%) of 629 locations are unclassified — small independents whose websites don't surface enough signal for format assignment. Format-level statistics describe the classified subset only.
| Format | Locations | % of MSA | Reviews | Avg Rating | Damage Rate | Cancel Friction |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unclassified | 513 | 81.6% | 15,769 | 4.65 | 0.77% | 5.2% |
| Detail Shop | 58 | 9.2% | 6,668 | 4.96 | 0.09% | 0.0% |
| Express Tunnel | 36 | 5.7% | 27,198 | 4.54 | 1.59% | 9.9% |
| In-Bay Automatic | 10 | 1.6% | 815 | 3.82 | 1.82% | 33.3% |
| Self-Serve Bay | 8 | 1.3% | 1,307 | 3.94 | 1.18% | 11.1% |
| Full Service | 4 | 0.6% | 1,783 | 4.20 | 2.74% | 20.0% |
What is the household income near Cape Coral car washes?
Each ZIP in Cape Coral 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 Google rating across 187 qualifying locations: 0.02 — effectively zero. Operating quality dominates over neighborhood income. Scatter mean: $106K AGI/return, 4.52★.
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 | 5 | 34 | 3,844 | 4.37 | Detail Shop (4) |
| $50K – $75K | 9 | 98 | 17,996 | 4.58 | Detail Shop (16) |
| $75K – $100K | 5 | 67 | 9,979 | 4.55 | Detail Shop (15) |
| $100K – $150K | 6 | 41 | 3,619 | 4.53 | Detail Shop (11) |
| $150K+ | 6 | 68 | 13,584 | 4.58 | Express Tunnel (13) |
Income band spread: 68/4.58★ at the highest tier; 34/4.37★ at the lowest. In a balanced market, the per-tier read is most useful as a sanity check on whether the operating quality is income-uniform or income-stratified.
Who operates the most Cape Coral car washes?
24 chains run sites in Cape Coral; the top 25 are listed below by location count, with their per-chain operating-quality numbers next to them. Useful for narrowing competitive-set considerations or for M&A evaluation.
| # | Chain | Locations | Reviews | Avg Rating | Damage | Cancel | Upsell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mister Car Wash | 12 | 7,684 | 4.29 | 4.43% | 12.9% | 1.75% |
| 2 | Surfside Car Wash | 8 | 1,307 | 3.94 | 1.18% | — | 0.59% |
| 3 | Circle K | 6 | 369 | 3.71 | — | — | — |
| 4 | Tommy's Express® Car Wash | 6 | 8,555 | 4.79 | 0.81% | 8.9% | 0.27% |
| 5 | Paradise Auto Wash | 3 | 420 | 3.97 | — | — | — |
| 6 | Snappy Car Wash | 2 | 405 | 4.30 | — | — | — |
| 7 | Soapy Suds Car Wash | 2 | 249 | 3.34 | — | — | — |
| 8 | BluWave Car Wash | 2 | 322 | 4.32 | 5.17% | 11.1% | 0.43% |
| 9 | Downtowner Car Wash (Fort Myers Tamiami Trail) | 2 | 1,526 | 5.00 | 0.17% | 2.7% | 0.00% |
| 10 | Car Wash | 2 | 5,592 | 4.85 | 0.38% | 3.5% | 0.26% |
| 11 | Luv-a-Wash | 1 | 306 | 4.90 | 0.41% | — | 0.41% |
| 12 | Whistle Express Car Wash | 1 | 232 | 4.40 | 0.56% | 23.5% | 0.56% |
| 13 | Links Car Wash | 1 | 486 | 3.60 | — | — | — |
| 14 | Spearko's Mobile Auto Detailing | 1 | 60 | 5.00 | — | — | — |
| 15 | ModWash | 1 | 594 | 4.90 | 0.19% | 4.4% | 0.39% |
| 16 | Total Package Car Wash | 1 | 437 | 4.70 | 3.45% | 16.7% | 0.00% |
| 17 | Eager Beaver Car Wash | 1 | 1,625 | 4.00 | 1.65% | 8.3% | 0.99% |
| 18 | Hurricane Express Wash | 1 | 801 | 4.70 | 2.18% | 12.5% | 0.00% |
| 19 | Next Level Detailing | 1 | 714 | 5.00 | 0.22% | — | 0.22% |
| 20 | AquaShine Express Car Wash | 1 | 666 | 4.80 | 1.06% | 8.0% | 0.18% |
| 21 | Take 5 Car Wash | 1 | 2,777 | 4.60 | 0.63% | 12.0% | 0.18% |
| 22 | bp | 1 | 26 | 2.80 | — | — | — |
| 23 | Spiffy | 1 | 10 | 4.60 | — | — | — |
| 24 | FLEETWASH | 1 | 12 | 3.30 | — | — | — |
Which counties have the most car washes in Cape Coral?
Cape Coral's 629 car washes distribute across 1 counties. Lee County leads with 629 locations (100.0%). Cross-county rating dispersion is usually narrow at this scale.
| County | Locations | % of MSA | Reviews | Avg Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lee County | 629 | 100.0% | 53,540 | 4.59 |
What do customers love and complain about in Cape Coral?
Reading the aspect grid: numbers above 0.3 are strong positives; numbers below -0.1 indicate meaningful friction; in between is mixed signal. staff is the brightest spot here. equipment reliability is the pain point.
Where are all the car washes in the Cape Coral metro?
Top 25 car washes by review volume in Cape Coral. The full set of 629 is available in the underlying dataset.
| Location | City | Format | Chain | Rating | Reviews | ZIP AGI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tommy's Express® Car Wash 42 Del Prado Blvd N | Cape Coral, FL | Express Tunnel | Tommy's Express® Car Wash | 4.9 | 3,231 | $58K |
| El Car Wash - Fort Myers Page Field 4936 S Cleveland Ave | Fort Myers, FL | — | Car Wash | 4.9 | 2,962 | $70K |
| Take 5 Car Wash 5530 Timmers Ln | Lehigh Acres, FL | Express Tunnel | Take 5 Car Wash | 4.6 | 2,777 | $48K |
| El Car Wash - Fort Myers Gulf Coast 10060 University Plaza Dr | Fort Myers, FL | — | Car Wash | 4.8 | 2,630 | $181K |
| Tommy's Express® Car Wash 1527 Chiquita Blvd S | Cape Coral, FL | Express Tunnel | Tommy's Express® Car Wash | 4.9 | 2,186 | $81K |
| Mister Car Wash 1009 Del Prado Blvd S | Cape Coral, FL | Express Tunnel | Mister Car Wash | 4.1 | 1,833 | $63K |
| Mister Car Wash 1203 SW Pine Island Rd | Cape Coral, FL | Express Tunnel | Mister Car Wash | 4.3 | 1,709 | $81K |
| Tommy's Express® Car Wash 1612 Kismet Pkwy E | Cape Coral, FL | Express Tunnel | Tommy's Express® Car Wash | 4.9 | 1,694 | $58K |
| Eager Beaver Car Wash 12330 S Cleveland Ave | Fort Myers, FL | Express Tunnel | Eager Beaver Car Wash | 4.0 | 1,625 | $70K |
| Downtowner Car Wash (Fort Myers Tamiami Trail) 15971 S Tamiami Trl | Fort Myers, FL | Express Tunnel | Downtowner Car Wash (Fort Myers Tamiami Trail) | 5.0 | 1,179 | $162K |
| Ziebart 7131 Alico Rd Unit 105 | Fort Myers, FL | Detail Shop | — | 5.0 | 1,002 | $160K |
| Rocket Shine Car Wash 4410 Executive Cir | Fort Myers, FL | — | — | 4.5 | 913 | $52K |
| Mister Car Wash 1707 Cape Coral Pkwy E | Cape Coral, FL | Express Tunnel | Mister Car Wash | 4.4 | 823 | $99K |
| Hurricane Express Wash 11021 Colonial Blvd | Fort Myers, FL | Express Tunnel | Hurricane Express Wash | 4.7 | 801 | $181K |
| Mister Car Wash 2537 Skyline Blvd | Cape Coral, FL | Express Tunnel | Mister Car Wash | 4.3 | 780 | $110K |
| Next Level Detailing 11931 Metro Pkwy #2 | Fort Myers, FL | Detail Shop | Next Level Detailing | 5.0 | 714 | $97K |
| Tommy's Express® Car Wash 10680 Colonial Blvd | Fort Myers, FL | Express Tunnel | Tommy's Express® Car Wash | 4.0 | 696 | $181K |
| AquaShine Express Car Wash 245 Nicholas Pkwy W | Cape Coral, FL | Express Tunnel | AquaShine Express Car Wash | 4.8 | 666 | $81K |
| Bonita Bubbles Car Wash & Lube 24296 S Tamiami Trl #7045 | Bonita Springs, FL | Full Service | — | 4.2 | 605 | $489K |
| ModWash 17100 S Tamiami Trl | Fort Myers, FL | Express Tunnel | ModWash | 4.9 | 594 | $162K |
| Mister Car Wash 11899 Bonita Beach Rd SE | Bonita Springs, FL | Express Tunnel | Mister Car Wash | 4.2 | 551 | $136K |
| Tommy's Express® Car Wash 10951 Saxum Dr | Fort Myers, FL | Express Tunnel | Tommy's Express® Car Wash | 4.3 | 492 | $162K |
| Platinum Car Wash & Detail 13126 N Cleveland Ave | North Fort Myers, FL | Full Service | — | 4.3 | 491 | $70K |
| Links Car Wash 9200 Daniels Pkwy | Fort Myers, FL | Express Tunnel | Links Car Wash | 3.6 | 486 | $160K |
| Classic Car Wash 10000 Arcos Ave | Estero, FL | Express Tunnel | — | 3.9 | 452 | $154K |
Compare Cape Coral to other FL car wash markets
Each link drills into a full per-metro analysis — operator concentration, format mix, and customer-experience signals against the same methodology.
Data as of 2026-09-26. Pick a format and click Copy.
WashIndex. (2026, September 26). Cape Coral car wash market analysis. https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/cape-coral
WashIndex. "Cape Coral car wash market analysis." WashIndex. Last modified September 26, 2026. https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/cape-coral.
"Cape Coral car wash market analysis." WashIndex, Sep. 26, 2026, https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/cape-coral.
@misc{washindex_car_wash_markets_cape_coral_2026,
title = {{Cape Coral car wash market analysis}},
author = {{WashIndex}},
year = {2026},
month = {Sep},
url = {https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/cape-coral},
urldate = {2026-09-26},
} About this analysis
Car wash inventory for the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL CBSA is determined by point-in-polygon test against the official US Census county boundaries (TIGER/Line, 2024) for the 1 counties that make up the MSA. Each location was verified to fall inside one of those county polygons; lat/lng comes from Google Maps metadata.
Operating-quality signals are derived from 23,072 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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