Derived from 3,123 data points across 195 chains, the benchmark indicates express tunnel memberships have risen 23% since 2020, with the typical unlimited plan now priced at $34 per month.
DALLAS, TX, UNITED STATES, August 12, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — WashIndex, the geospatial market intelligence platform for the car wash industry, today released the WashIndex Membership Price Index, a metric that monitors what unlimited car wash memberships have cost in the United States since 2015. Compiled from 3,123 archived price points across 195 chains — drawn from a tracked universe of 373 chains, including defunct and acquired operators — the index provides investors, lenders and operators with the industry’s first continuous view of membership list-price trends spanning more than a decade.
Key findings include:
• Advertised membership prices have increased 16% since 2020. Across all wash formats, the national index advanced from a 2020 baseline of 100.0 to 116.1 in 2026, and roughly 31% since 2015. Express-tunnel memberships rose at a quicker pace, up 23% since 2020.
• Currently, the typical unlimited membership carries a list price of $34.00 monthly. As of 2026, basic tiers average $24.16, while premium plans average $43.29 per month.
• Pricing across regions has diverged significantly. From 2020 onward, advertised rates 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 nearly 30-percentage-point gap between the most and least dynamic areas.
• The index aligns with disclosures from publicly traded firms. Between 2021 and 2025, the express tunnel index climbed roughly 11%, closely mirroring the approximately 10% rise in Unlimited Wash Club revenue per member reported by Mister Car Wash in its SEC filings for that period.
• Based on a same-store approach. Annual comparisons consider only chains with pricing data available in both years, employing location-weighted geometric means with statistical trimming — ensuring the index captures genuine price changes rather than compositional shifts.
“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.”
This benchmark is built using archived pricing pages from operators, along with SEC filings from public companies and store-locator data for location weighting. For each chain, the annual price is calculated as the midpoint between the lowest and highest unlimited monthly tiers. The index reflects sticker prices, not actual revenue after discounts, and should be interpreted as a ceiling for real price increases; complete methodology and limitations are available alongside the index.
The complete index, along with its methodology, regional splits, and historical figures, can be found at washindex.com/research/car-wash-membership-price-index.
About WashIndex
WashIndex provides geospatial market intelligence for the car wash sector, assessing market quality, site quality, and operational quality across over 80,000 monitored locations in the United States
