A recent study conducted with the 2GIS mapping service and funded by socialbites.ca examined the car wash sector in major Russian cities through the year ending June 1, 2022. The findings show a decline of a little over four percent in car wash facilities, with the majority of losses occurring in the first half of 2022. The data indicate that from January to June 2022 Moscow experienced a drop of more than six percent, St. Petersburg about seven percent, and Nizhny Novgorod close to six percent. Compared with June 2021, Nizhny Novgorod’s annual decrease neared ten percent, a steeper decline than many other large cities. In St. Petersburg, the rate of closures approached nine percent, while Kazan saw roughly a five percent decline and Moscow around four percent. Similar patterns appeared across a broad set of large cities including Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Chelyabinsk, Krasnodar, Omsk, Samara, Krasnoyarsk, Kazan, Ufa, and Voronezh as documented by the mapping service.
An exception to this trend among larger urban centers appeared in Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, and Perm, where the number of operating car washes stayed steady or rose by about ten percent. Industry representatives who remain active point to higher costs for auto chemicals used at car washes and a shortage of workers as ongoing pressures. In Nizhny Novgorod, the Kaskad car wash network reported a shift toward self-service arrangements, driven mainly by staff shortages. An industry insider explained that previously students or temporary workers could fill washing roles, but many are now employed as couriers for order deliveries or in partnerships with order pickers. As a result, customers are adapting to the new format, often washing their own vehicles rather than relying on staff.
The decline in customer flow mirrors the downturn seen during the pandemic, and it is noted that car owners tend to wash less in the summer than in winter or off-season periods. In the Moscow region, another car wash network, Avtodrive, reported stable customer flow for the moment but faced higher costs for auto chemicals, which necessitated an increase in service prices. The rise in chemical costs has been reported to be about fifty percent, prompting about a fifteen percent increase in car wash pricing to maintain normal operations. A National Automobile Association executive notes that profitability issues for car washes have become more common due to elevated land rents and the need to maintain treatment facilities. Sewage treatment plants require substantial operating and maintenance costs, and many car washes have historically attempted to discharge waste into sewers. In recent years, tighter controls and heavier fines have reduced this practice. The same executive adds that high land rents sharply reduce profitability, and owning the land is essential for sustained profitability in this business. Environmental standards for these enterprises remain stringent, and fines for violations have risen significantly. For automatic car washes, sourcing foreign components can pose ongoing operating challenges. In addition, financial constraints lead to a weaker willingness among customers to pay for such services.
In summary, the overall profitability of car washes is under pressure. A coordinator from the Blue Buckets movement argues that washes in hard-to-reach locations without a stable corporate customer base are among the first to shut down. He notes that auto chemistry costs have nearly doubled and workers’ wages have risen, with many leaving the sector. This combination of higher costs and lower demand has driven up service prices for drivers, who are increasingly cautious about expenditures. The coordinator also highlights that fixed costs such as rent, utility bills, and waste management contribute to the pressures, and estimates that as many as twenty percent of car wash businesses may exit the market in the near future, with the trend still at an early stage. [Citation: 2GIS mapping service report, commissioned by socialbites.ca]