Kokomo Car Wash Market Analysis
Kokomo, IN
Data updated · June 9, 2026
46 car washes, 6 chains, 892 AI-extracted reviews — concentrated more than the typical US metro. Per-chain ratings vs. footprint, format mix, customer-experience signals across the chain-heavy market.
Snapshot
- Locations
- 46
- 80% independent
- Chains
- 6
- lead: bp (3 sites)
- Avg rating
- 4.36★
- near national MSA median
- Damage rate
- 2.7%
- 1.7× national MSA norm
- Cancel friction
- 15.3%
- Top format
- express tunnel
- 36% of classified inventory
- Median single wash
- $10
- range $10–$16
- Median unlimited
- $20/mo
- cheapest $19.99/mo at Tsunami Express Car Wash
Market Quality snapshot
- Population
- 83,610
- ACS 2023 5-year
- Households
- 35,129
- ACS 2023 5-year
- Residents per wash
- 1,818
- near the national MSA median
- Express tunnels per 10K households
- 1.1
- above ~1.0 — contested · classified sites
Key findings
- 46 car wash locations operated by 6 chains and 37 independents across 1 county.
- Top 10 chains control 19.6% of locations — above the 11.4% US-metro median, led by bp (3 sites).
- Built from 3,642 Google reviews, 892 of them AI-extracted across 55 dimensions.
46 car wash locations across 1 counties · dots colored by format · sized by review volume
Among the US metros we track, Kokomo is a relatively consolidated example. Across 46 tracked locations, the top ten operators control 19.6% of supply — above the 11.4% US-metro median, with bp the largest at 3 sites. The headline averages below behave like chain averages — the per-chain table is the right cut to read.
Weighted across all locations the average Google rating is 4.36★; reviewer-reported damage runs at 2.7%, and membership-cancellation friction at 15.3% of mem-discussing reviews. Staff is the brightest aspect signal (0.79/+1). Because the operator mix is concentrated, those numbers behave more like chain averages than market averages.
Published pricing across the 4 of 47 Kokomo locations with menus available: median single car wash $10 (range $10–$16), median unlimited membership $20/month (range $19.99–$32/mo). The cheapest unlimited membership in the metro is $19.99/mo at Tsunami Express Car Wash (The Big Wave).
See the top car wash chains in Kokomo
Ranked by location count in the metro
What does a car wash cost in the Kokomo metro?
Published menu pricing for car washes in the Kokomo metropolitan area, captured from operator websites and the WashIndex AI calling agent. 4 of 47 tracked locations have usable published pricing (9% coverage).
| Cheapest unlimited memberships in Kokomo | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tsunami Express Car Wash The Big Wave | $19.99 per mo |
| 2 | Tip Top Car Wash - Kokomo Express Plus Monthly | $20 per mo |
| 3 | Marie's Car Wash Inc. Super Wash | $32 per mo |
| Cheapest single car washes in Kokomo | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tsunami Express Car Wash The Big Wave | $10 |
| 2 | CJ's Car Wash Deluxe Shine - Pro Touch | $10 |
| 3 | Marie's Car Wash Inc. Super Wash | $16 |
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 Kokomo metro, officially
Low-wageCar-wash wages in the Kokomo metro run about 39% below the national average ($19,791 vs. $32,560), across 8 employer establishments and roughly 79 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.
About the Kokomo car wash market
How many car washes are in the Kokomo metro?
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What is the best-rated car wash in the Kokomo metro?
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Which car wash chain has the most locations in Kokomo?
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What is the average customer rating in the Kokomo car wash market?
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What is the typical household income near car washes in Kokomo?
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How much does a car wash cost in Kokomo?
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How much does an unlimited car wash membership cost in Kokomo?
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What is the cheapest car wash in Kokomo?
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What kinds of car washes does Kokomo have?
Because chain operators have consolidated supply here, format counts below skew toward the formats those chains build at scale. The lowest-rated format is usually a long-tail mix of small operators rather than a meaningful share of the market.
Highest-rated format: Detail Shop at 4.56★ across 3 locations. Lowest-rated: Self-Serve Bay at 4.20★ (1 locations).
| Format | Locations | % of MSA | Reviews | Avg Rating | Damage Rate | Cancel Friction |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Express Tunnel | 4 | 8.7% | 2,246 | 4.36 | 3.54% | 15.9% |
| Detail Shop | 3 | 6.5% | 103 | 4.56 | 0.00% | — |
| In-Bay Automatic | 3 | 6.5% | 73 | 4.33 | 0.00% | — |
| Self-Serve Bay | 1 | 2.2% | 305 | 4.20 | 2.86% | — |
What is the household income near Kokomo car washes?
19 Kokomo locations with at least 10 Google reviews are plotted below against ZIP-level mean IRS AGI. The income picture in a consolidated market mostly reflects where the dominant operators saw the strongest unit economics.
Pearson r between ZIP income and Google rating across 19 qualifying locations: -0.44 — mild negative. Higher-income ZIPs in this market host slightly lower-rated washes on average, which is unusual. Scatter mean: $61K AGI/return, 4.44★.
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 | 2 | 31 | 3,573 | 4.36 | Express Tunnel (4) |
| $75K – $100K | 2 | 4 | 36 | 4.19 | — |
| $100K – $150K | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | — |
| $150K+ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | — |
0 car washes in the top income tier (0.00★ avg) vs. 0 in the bottom (0.00★). Chain rollups gravitate toward middle-income suburbia — the part of the income curve where express-tunnel unit economics actually work.
Who operates the most Kokomo car washes?
The chain rank below is the more important section of this page given Kokomo's consolidation. Top 10 operators control 19.6% of 46 locations, anchored by bp's 3-site footprint. Per-chain quality variance below explains most of the market-wide quality variance.
| # | Chain | Locations | Reviews | Avg Rating | Damage | Cancel | Upsell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | bp | 3 | 73 | 4.33 | — | — | — |
| 2 | Josh's Washes | 2 | 307 | 4.25 | — | — | — |
| 3 | Premier Auto Detailing | 1 | 25 | 4.50 | — | — | — |
| 4 | Tip Top Car Wash - Kokomo | 1 | 129 | 4.60 | — | — | — |
| 5 | Crew Carwash | 1 | 1,226 | 4.30 | 5.79% | — | 0.00% |
| 6 | Tsunami Express Car Wash | 1 | 589 | 4.40 | 1.98% | 15.6% | 0.28% |
Which counties have the most car washes in Kokomo?
Counties don't matter equally in a chain-consolidated market. Howard County holds 47 of 46 metro locations — the operator concentration follows population density and median income, more than political geography.
| County | Locations | % of MSA | Reviews | Avg Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Howard County | 47 | 102.2% | 3,642 | 4.36 |
What do customers love and complain about in Kokomo?
Aspect scores below aggregate the LLM extractions across all 46 locations in Kokomo. In a consolidated market, these aggregates skew toward the dominant chains' operating signatures — read alongside the chain rank above.
Where are all the car washes in the Kokomo metro?
46 car washes in the Kokomo metro; the top of the list (ranked by review volume) is shown below. Most high-volume sites here belong to a top-10 chain.
| Location | City | Format | Chain | Rating | Reviews | ZIP AGI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crew Carwash 1824 E Hoffer St | Kokomo, IN | Express Tunnel | Crew Carwash | 4.3 | 1,226 | $62K |
| Tsunami Express Car Wash 515 E Southway Blvd | Kokomo, IN | Express Tunnel | Tsunami Express Car Wash | 4.4 | 589 | $62K |
| CJ's Car Wash 535 W Alto Rd | Kokomo, IN | Self-Serve Bay | — | 4.2 | 305 | $62K |
| Marie's Car Wash Inc. 3550 S Lafountain St | Kokomo, IN | Express Tunnel | — | 4.4 | 302 | $62K |
| McCords Auto - Kokomo 2974 W Sycamore St | Kokomo, IN | — | — | 4.3 | 171 | $57K |
| Josh's Washes 2300 W Jefferson St | Kokomo, IN | — | Josh's Washes | 4.3 | 154 | $57K |
| Josh’s Washes 400 E Morgan St | Kokomo, IN | — | Josh's Washes | 4.2 | 153 | $57K |
| Wash & Go Car Wash Inc 2402 E Foster St | Kokomo, IN | — | — | 4.2 | 148 | $62K |
| Kokomo Attention To Detail-Ceramic Coating Specialist 410 E Markland Ave | Kokomo, IN | — | — | 5.0 | 132 | $57K |
| Tip Top Car Wash - Kokomo 2435 W Jefferson St | Kokomo, IN | Express Tunnel | Tip Top Car Wash - Kokomo | 4.6 | 129 | $57K |
| Top Of The Line Auto Detailing 527 W Alto Rd | Kokomo, IN | Detail Shop | — | 4.5 | 66 | $62K |
| Doc's Detail Center 1111 S Seventeenth St | Kokomo, IN | — | — | 4.9 | 34 | $62K |
| Amoco 305 S 00ew | Kokomo, IN | In-Bay Automatic | bp | 4.5 | 30 | $62K |
| Premier Auto Detailing at McGonigal 2828 E Markland Ave Suite B | Kokomo, IN | Detail Shop | Premier Auto Detailing | 4.5 | 25 | $57K |
| bp 2020 S Washington St | Kokomo, IN | In-Bay Automatic | bp | 4.0 | 25 | $62K |
| Tonys Touch Automotive Detailing And Ceramic Coating | , IN | — | — | 5.0 | 24 | — |
| Carwash 101-149 County Rd South 900 E | Greentown, IN | — | — | 3.7 | 21 | $77K |
| bp 2405 W Jefferson St | Kokomo, IN | In-Bay Automatic | bp | 4.5 | 18 | $57K |
| NOT Just Another Wash Auto Detailing 4279 S 00ew | Kokomo, IN | — | — | 4.9 | 12 | $62K |
| Brass Tack Designs 3208 S Lafountain St | Kokomo, IN | Detail Shop | — | 5.0 | 12 | $62K |
| Troy Youngs Auto Detailing 3319 S Lafountain St | Kokomo, IN | — | — | 4.6 | 9 | $62K |
| CS Detailing 507 Meadow Dr | Kokomo, IN | — | — | 5.0 | 9 | $62K |
| Fine Tooth Auto Detailing 121 S Indiana St | Greentown, IN | — | — | 5.0 | 9 | $77K |
| Amoco 1800 E Markland Ave | Kokomo, IN | — | — | 4.2 | 9 | $57K |
| The Polishing Clinic 1720 S Main St | Kokomo, IN | — | — | 4.3 | 6 | $62K |
Compare Kokomo to other IN 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). Kokomo car wash market analysis. https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/kokomo
WashIndex. "Kokomo car wash market analysis." WashIndex. Last modified June 9, 2026. https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/kokomo.
"Kokomo car wash market analysis." WashIndex, Jun. 9, 2026, https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/kokomo.
@misc{washindex_car_wash_markets_kokomo_2026,
title = {{Kokomo car wash market analysis}},
author = {{WashIndex}},
year = {2026},
month = {Jun},
url = {https://washindex.com/car-wash-markets/kokomo},
urldate = {2026-06-09},
} About this analysis
Car wash inventory for the Kokomo, IN 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 892 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.
Machine-readable: JSON ↓ · API root
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