Gainesville Car Wash Market Analysis
Gainesville, FL
Data updated · June 9, 2026
11,078 Google reviews across 202 car washes in 3 Gainesville counties. Format mix, operator rank, county breakdown, rating vs. income, aspect-level customer signals.
Snapshot
- Locations
- 202
- 92% independent
- Chains
- 9
- lead: Circle K (6 sites)
- Avg rating
- 4.38★
- near national MSA median
- Damage rate
- 1.8%
- near national MSA norm
- Cancel friction
- 12.8%
- Top format
- detail shop
- 48% of classified inventory
- Median single wash
- $12
- range $4–$40
- Median unlimited
- $46/mo
- cheapest $12/mo at Park Place Car Wash
Market Quality snapshot
- Population
- 344,521
- ACS 2023 5-year
- Households
- 137,665
- ACS 2023 5-year
- Residents per wash
- 1,706
- near the national MSA median
- Express tunnels per 10K households
- 0.6
- in the 0.5–1.0 filling band · classified sites
Key findings
- 202 car wash locations operated by 9 chains and 185 independents across 3 counties.
- Weighted Google rating 4.38★ across the market; structural concentration and format mix sit near US-metro norms.
- Built from 11,078 Google reviews, 3,774 of them AI-extracted across 55 dimensions.
202 car wash locations across 3 counties · dots colored by format · sized by review volume
Gainesville sits near the center of the US-metro distribution on concentration, format mix, and rating. 202 locations across 9 chains and 185 independents, distributed across 3 counties. Distinctive patterns show up below at the format and aspect levels.
Headline numbers sit near US-metro norms: rating 4.38★, damage 1.8%, cancel friction 12.8%. Staff strong (0.83); equipment reliability weak (-0.47). 11,078 Google reviews drive the analysis, 3,774 of them processed through the WashIndex LLM extractor.
Published pricing across the 12 of 202 Gainesville locations with menus available: median single car wash $12 (range $4–$40), median unlimited membership $46/month (range $12–$79.99/mo). The cheapest unlimited membership in the metro is $12/mo at Park Place Car Wash (Self-Serve Car Wash Membership).
See the top car wash chains in Gainesville
Ranked by location count in the metro
What does a car wash cost in the Gainesville metro?
Published menu pricing for car washes in the Gainesville metropolitan area, captured from operator websites and the WashIndex AI calling agent. 12 of 202 tracked locations have usable published pricing (6% coverage).
| Cheapest unlimited memberships in Gainesville | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Park Place Car Wash Self-Serve Car Wash Membership | $12 per mo |
| 2 | Whistle Express Car Wash JUST THE ESSENTIALS | $23 per mo |
| 3 | Whistle Express Car Wash JUST THE ESSENTIALS | $23 per mo |
| 4 | Caliber Car Wash - Archer Rd Basic Wash | $23.99 per mo |
| 5 | Gallo Car Wash 13th Street Signature Gallo Graphene | $46 per mo |
| Cheapest single car washes in Gainesville | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Park Place Car Wash Self-Serve Car Wash | $4 |
| 2 | Scrubs Car Wash Wash and Go | $10 |
| 3 | Whistle Express Car Wash INCLUDES PROTECT | $10 |
| 4 | Whistle Express Car Wash INCLUDES PROTECT | $10 |
| 5 | Take 5 Car Wash Wash | $12 |
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 Gainesville metro, officially
the Gainesville metro has 12 car-wash employer establishments employing about 42 people, at a $30,087 average annual wage.
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.
About the Gainesville car wash market
How many car washes are in the Gainesville metro?
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What is the best-rated car wash in the Gainesville metro?
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Which car wash chain has the most locations in Gainesville?
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What is the average customer rating in the Gainesville car wash market?
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What is the typical household income near car washes in Gainesville?
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How much does a car wash cost in Gainesville?
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How much does an unlimited car wash membership cost in Gainesville?
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What is the cheapest car wash in Gainesville?
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What kinds of car washes does Gainesville have?
Format counts below split Gainesville's 202 car wash locations by operating concept. Each format serves a different customer occasion — express tunnels for throughput, full-service for staffed convenience, detail shops for hand-finished work — and the rating column lets you read whether each format is meeting its own expectations here.
Highest-rated format: Detail Shop at 4.95★ across 15 locations. Lowest-rated: In-Bay Automatic at 3.41★ (7 locations).
171 (84.7%) of 202 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 | 171 | 84.7% | 3,814 | 4.37 | 1.56% | 0.0% |
| Detail Shop | 15 | 7.4% | 955 | 4.95 | 0.00% | 0.0% |
| Express Tunnel | 8 | 4.0% | 4,961 | 4.45 | 2.65% | 13.5% |
| In-Bay Automatic | 7 | 3.5% | 446 | 3.41 | 1.32% | — |
| Full Service | 1 | 0.5% | 902 | 3.90 | 0.90% | 0.0% |
What is the household income near Gainesville car washes?
61 Gainesville car washes with at least 10 Google reviews are plotted below against the mean IRS AGI per return for their ZIP. The Pearson correlation we compute is one of the cleanest cuts on whether neighborhood income meaningfully shapes wash quality here.
Pearson r between ZIP income and Google rating across 61 qualifying locations: 0.07 — effectively zero. Operating quality dominates over neighborhood income. Scatter mean: $73K AGI/return, 4.23★.
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 | 3 | 26 | 1,742 | 4.39 | In-Bay Automatic (3) |
| $50K – $75K | 10 | 41 | 2,446 | 4.05 | Detail Shop (2) |
| $75K – $100K | 6 | 38 | 5,518 | 4.42 | Detail Shop (11) |
| $100K – $150K | 1 | 4 | 142 | 3.48 | In-Bay Automatic (1) |
| $150K+ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | — |
The highest-income tier ($150K+) contains 0 car washes across 0 ZIPs at 0.00★, against 26 sites across 3 ZIPs at 4.39★ in the lowest. Middle-income tiers typically host the densest express-tunnel concentrations — the part of the income curve where that format's unit economics are strongest.
Who operates the most Gainesville car washes?
9 chains run sites in Gainesville; 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 | Circle K | 6 | 434 | 3.40 | — | — | — |
| 2 | Gallo Car Wash 13th Street | 2 | 478 | 4.53 | 3.19% | 9.3% | 0.80% |
| 3 | Whistle Express Car Wash | 2 | 805 | 4.53 | 2.74% | 16.2% | 0.32% |
| 4 | Bender 7 Mobile Car detailing & Ceramic Coatings | 2 | 162 | 4.94 | — | — | — |
| 5 | Take 5 Car Wash | 1 | 1,522 | 4.30 | 3.07% | 29.8% | 1.75% |
| 6 | Caliber Car Wash | 1 | 1,458 | 4.80 | 3.04% | 5.1% | 0.00% |
| 7 | RestorFX Chandler | 1 | 24 | 5.00 | — | — | — |
| 8 | ModWash | 1 | 199 | 4.70 | 0.59% | — | 0.00% |
| 9 | bp | 1 | 12 | 3.80 | — | — | — |
Which counties have the most car washes in Gainesville?
The table below splits the metro's car wash inventory across the 3 counties of the Gainesville, FL CBSA, with location count, total reviews, and weighted-average rating per county.
Cross-county rating dispersion: 0.68★ between the highest- and lowest-rated counties with meaningful sample size.
| County | Locations | % of MSA | Reviews | Avg Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alachua County | 166 | 82.2% | 10,007 | 4.45 |
| Levy County | 28 | 13.9% | 1,027 | 3.77 |
| Gilchrist County | 8 | 4.0% | 44 | 2.99 |
What do customers love and complain about in Gainesville?
The aspect grid below summarizes 3,774 AI-extracted reviews across 202 Gainesville car wash locations. Each aspect lands on a -1…+1 scale (negative = customers complain more than they praise; positive = the reverse).
Where are all the car washes in the Gainesville metro?
Top 25 car washes by review volume in Gainesville. The full set of 202 is available in the underlying dataset.
| Location | City | Format | Chain | Rating | Reviews | ZIP AGI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Take 5 Car Wash 3010 SW Archer Rd | Gainesville, FL | Express Tunnel | Take 5 Car Wash | 4.3 | 1,522 | $94K |
| Caliber Car Wash - Archer Rd 3857 SW Archer Rd | Gainesville, FL | Express Tunnel | Caliber Car Wash | 4.8 | 1,458 | $94K |
| Park Place Car Wash 7404 NW 4th Blvd | Gainesville, FL | Full Service | — | 3.9 | 902 | $73K |
| Classic Collision 4340 NE 49th Ave | Gainesville, FL | — | — | 4.6 | 519 | $49K |
| Scrubs Car Wash 3135 SW 42nd St | Gainesville, FL | Express Tunnel | — | 3.6 | 499 | $94K |
| Whistle Express Car Wash 7496 SW 13th Rd | Gainesville, FL | Express Tunnel | Whistle Express Car Wash | 4.7 | 469 | $73K |
| Gallo Car Wash 13th Street 3020 NW 13th St | Gainesville, FL | Express Tunnel | Gallo Car Wash 13th Street | 4.5 | 356 | $49K |
| Chiefland Carwash 1654 N Young Blvd | Chiefland, FL | — | — | 3.5 | 337 | $53K |
| Whistle Express Car Wash 16093 NW 163rd Ln | Alachua, FL | Express Tunnel | Whistle Express Car Wash | 4.3 | 336 | $83K |
| Oasis Car Wash 402 NW 39th Ave | Gainesville, FL | — | — | 3.9 | 226 | $49K |
| Circle K 3838 N Main St | Gainesville, FL | In-Bay Automatic | Circle K | 3.9 | 217 | $49K |
| ModWash 6458 NW 13th St | Gainesville, FL | Express Tunnel | ModWash | 4.7 | 199 | $98K |
| Express Detailing Mobile & Ceramic coatings 8115 SW 60th Rd | Gainesville, FL | Detail Shop | — | 4.9 | 181 | $94K |
| Buggy Bath Car Wash 1277 N Young Blvd | Chiefland, FL | — | — | 3.3 | 165 | $53K |
| XTREME DETAILING - Paint Correction, Ceramic Coating & Pressure Washing 4550 SW 41st Blvd suite 1 | Gainesville, FL | Detail Shop | — | 4.9 | 153 | $94K |
| Gainesville Mobile Detail | , FL | — | — | 4.9 | 147 | — |
| MBK Mobile Detailing & Pressure Washing LLC | , FL | — | — | 5.0 | 134 | — |
| Noble Avenue Car Wash 506 W Noble Ave | Williston, FL | — | — | 3.4 | 129 | $77K |
| Gallo Car Wash Williston Road 3307 SW Williston Rd | Gainesville, FL | Express Tunnel | Gallo Car Wash 13th Street | 4.6 | 122 | $94K |
| OB Auto Detailing | , FL | — | — | 5.0 | 120 | — |
| Brighton Beach Car Wash 11202 NW US Hwy 441 | Gainesville, FL | — | — | 4.1 | 112 | $98K |
| Jacksons Mobile Detailing 13918 NW 142 Pl | Alachua, FL | Detail Shop | — | 5.0 | 111 | $83K |
| Bender 7 Auto detailing & Mobile detailing Gainesville 3709 SW 42nd Ave Suite #1 | Gainesville, FL | Detail Shop | Bender 7 Mobile Car detailing & Ceramic Coatings | 4.9 | 105 | $94K |
| Advanced Mobile Detailing | , FL | — | — | 4.9 | 88 | — |
| NextGen Auto Spa 3499 NW 97th Blvd Suite #5 | Gainesville, FL | Detail Shop | — | 5.0 | 88 | $96K |
Compare Gainesville 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 2026-06-09. Pick a format and click Copy.
WashIndex. (2026, June 9). Gainesville car wash market analysis. https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/gainesville
WashIndex. "Gainesville car wash market analysis." WashIndex. Last modified June 9, 2026. https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/gainesville.
"Gainesville car wash market analysis." WashIndex, Jun. 9, 2026, https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/gainesville.
@misc{washindex_car_wash_markets_gainesville_2026,
title = {{Gainesville car wash market analysis}},
author = {{WashIndex}},
year = {2026},
month = {Jun},
url = {https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/gainesville},
urldate = {2026-06-09},
} About this analysis
Car wash inventory for the Gainesville, FL CBSA is determined by point-in-polygon test against the official US Census county boundaries (TIGER/Line, 2024) for the 3 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 3,774 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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