In the morning, in the afternoon, and even in the evening hours, it has been difficult to get a car wash appointment at Zagreb’s car washes in recent weeks. Some disappointed drivers report waiting for several days, even weeks, for a cleaning appointment. The situation is no better at self-service car washes, where drivers clean their cars independently, as waiting in line is inevitable in that case as well. What is happening at the car washes, is there a lack of space for washing cars, and why is the demand so high? We decided to check with several car wash owners in the Zagreb area and beyond.
Car Wash Season
Vedran Mesec, the owner of the self-service car wash Clean Stop in Sesvete, confirms that they have also experienced huge crowds in the last two weeks. However, Mesec emphasizes that the current weather has the most significant impact on car washing.
– It’s not too cold, it’s sunny, and in winter the roads are full of salt, so people wash their cars more often – explains Mesec, adding that more traffic in his self-service car wash, of course, means higher profits.
Regarding the car wash market, he points out that it is sufficiently saturated and that everyone is doing well.
– When we opened the car wash in 2021, there was not a single one on the stretch from Sesvete to Zelina. When we opened, two or three more popped up alongside us, and everyone is doing well – says Mesec.
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Jadranko Valjak, the manager of Szabo Wash car wash in New Zagreb, confirms this, stating that it is currently the car wash season because cars are very dirty from snow and salt, which is characteristic of this time of year. Currently, this is positive for their business, he says, but the problem arises when it rains because there is not as much work then. Therefore, they are now compensating for the lack of work that occurs during rainy times.
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– All car washes are crowded, but there is never enough washing. There are enough of them because this kind of rush and these lines do not happen all year round. When there are so many cars in Zagreb, it is normal that there is work – concludes Valjak.
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Fighting with ‘parachuters’
In Viškovo near Rijeka, Laura Pavlović, the owner of the vehicle detailing business Dlab, has her hands full with cleaning cars. She tells us that her colleagues in the area are experiencing the same situation, as they could previously clean a car for clients ‘from today to today’, while now, due to increased demand, it takes them three to four days, and when the weather is nice, up to a week.
To cope with the crowds and ‘parachuters’, Pavlović focuses on regular clients for whom she provides deep cleaning of the vehicle and cleans it again every month or as agreed. This approach helps her better organize her time, as she knows her clients, whether they have pets or children, and can estimate how much time she and her team will need to clean each vehicle.
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– In this way, with the first deep cleaning, we can set a good foundation for further washes that can then be done more quickly. We have been doing it this way for the last two months, and currently, it is hardest for me to explain this to people, especially those who are used to coming at any time – Laura candidly shares.
Innovative models for ‘business people’
Given the high demand for vehicle cleaning services, new types of services have recently emerged in the Croatian market. One of them is dry car washing, which involves coming to the vehicle’s location. The owners of the quick dry car wash Swash noticed a lack of such services in the market and launched their own business last year. Their innovative, different model of dry washing stands out because vehicle owners can order the service on the Wolt platform or through Swash’s website, and employees then come to the client’s location, with their most common clientele being business people who do not have time to wait for their vehicle to be washed. There is currently demand for it. They also report that they are experiencing significant crowds at the moment.
– We offer interior and exterior washing, as well as special washes, for example, pet hair or children’s seats, which is also very much in demand. Year after year, there is always an increase in demand during this period. An exception is that this year, nicer weather arrived as early as February, so the volume of work increased a bit earlier – say the team from Swash, admitting that not enough people are yet aware of their service.
Those who know are often skeptical about dry car washing, but Swash points out that with technological advancements, this service has improved.
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Business of Croatian car washes
Car washes are classified in the National Classification of Activities under the maintenance and repair of motor vehicles. For the purposes of writing this article, we extracted companies that have ‘car wash’ in their name from that activity, and that reported any income in 2022. There are many more businesses in Croatia that deal with car cleaning, but there is no available data on their revenues.
Among the largest car washes by revenue are Autopraonica Samobor (with 124 thousand euros in revenue in 2022), Samouslužna autopraonica Šestine (Zagreb), Autopraonica Uni (Rešetari), DSMB autopraonica (Zagreb), Autopraonica Novi sjaj (Vinkovci), Varmo (Zadar), Autopraonica, trgovina i usluge ‘Bonus Agro’ (Lukarišće), Autopraonica Kovačević (Sesvete), and Autopraonica Hrvace.
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