Advertise on podcast: Wash Talk: The Carwash Podcast

In this episode of Wash Talk: The Carwash Podcast, host Kyle Alexander is joined by Bob Blasi, founder of Rocket Glide, for a conversation at The Car Wash Show™ 2026 about in-bay automatic door maintenance and a smarter approach to replacement parts. Blasi, a nearly 40-year veteran of the carwash industry and operator of self-serve and in-bay automatic sites, shares the firsthand frustration that inspired him to design a better solution for failing door carriage systems.   Blasi walks through the core engineering behind Rocket Glide's patented carriage design. He explains how the system is built to be fully rebuildable so operators can get back up and running in hours rather than days.   The episode is a practical look at in-bay automatic door maintenance and why investing in rebuildable components can deliver long-term savings without sacrificing performance. Blasi also outlines how Rocket Glide's carriage and cylinder products are designed as direct replacements for existing Airlift Doors systems, requiring no modifications to install.

In this episode of Wash Talk: The Carwash Podcast, host Kyle Alexander talks with Dave DuGoff and Mike Ashley from Carwash Con East about why the 36-year-old event changed its name and what operators can expect when the show returns to the Atlantic City Convention Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey, from Oct. 5-7.   DuGoff said the rebrand grew out of a need to match how operators and prospective owners search for industry information online. Ashley added that the change comes with new signage, a new logo and a rebuilt website, carwashconeast.com, developed with marketing partner OhmCo. This year's show also expands its Monday virtual tour program to every attendee rather than just full-package registrants, and it adds simultaneous manager, self-serve and tunnel education tracks so operators and their teams can find programming suited to their business. A new welcome reception will move to the show floor Tuesday evening, giving attendees more time to talk with exhibitors over food and drinks. The show is also introducing its first Giving Back Award. Keynote speaker Ken Schmidt, a former Harley-Davidson communications leader, will address building consistent brand messaging across a carwash team.   Reflecting on more than three decades of the event, DuGoff and Ashley traced its growth from a hotel ballroom setup to a 100,000-square-foot show floor hosting 420 exhibitors this year. Both encouraged first-time attendees to focus on building relationships with fellow operators and vendors, while advising those still deciding whether to attend to come for the educational sessions, which they said offer takeaways for even the most experienced operators. Carwash Con East runs Oct. 5-7 at the Atlantic City Convention Center. More information is available at carwashconeast.com.

In this episode of Wash Talk: The Carwash Podcast, host Kyle Alexander speaks with Mark Thomas, executive vice president of marketing at Way, about how AI-driven carwash memberships are reshaping customer loyalty and retention. Thomas discusses Way's growth from a discovery and payment network into a full marketing and point-of-sale platform, and explains how artificial intelligence helps operators personalize service at every stage of the customer journey.   Thomas breaks down the difference between a subscription and a membership, noting that added benefits such as roadside assistance, gas discounts and glass repair coverage give customers more reasons to stay enrolled between visits. He points to data showing operators using WayPlus benefits have cut churn nearly in half compared with the industry average of about 7.5%. The conversation also covers how automated marketing tools, license plate recognition technology and mass personalization allow attendants to tailor recommendations for every customer.   Looking ahead, Thomas discusses how agentic AI will move beyond simple chat responses to take on marketing, segmentation and operational tasks across the tunnel. He emphasizes that AI-driven carwash memberships work best when built on lightweight integrations rather than replacing an operator's existing technology stack, giving operators flexibility as they scale.

In this episode of Wash Talk: The Carwash Podcast, host Kyle Alexander returns with Nautilus co-founders Ali Sareini and Amayr Babar at The Car Wash Show™ for a deeper look at artificial intelligence for carwash operators. Sareini opens by breaking AI adoption into three distinct tiers: consumer-grade tools like ChatGPT used for general guidance; integrated platforms that connect AI directly to a carwash's point of sale data for business-specific insights; and autonomous agents capable of taking action on behalf of the operator.   The conversation covers how both mom-and-pop operators and enterprise chains can benefit from AI. Smaller operators see the biggest early wins from smarter customer communications, better website conversion and timely credit card decline alerts. Enterprise operators benefit most from automated reporting, data anomaly detection and the ability to make pricing decisions backed by real-time trend data across dozens of locations.   Sareini and Babar also discuss why Nautilus relocated from Virginia to San Francisco, highlighting how proximity to Silicon Valley's engineering talent and frontier AI development has allowed the company to bring capabilities to the carwash industry months ahead of what would otherwise be possible. The episode closes with both founders' outlook on the future of AI for carwash operators.

In this episode of Wash Talk: The Carwash Podcast, host Kyle Alexander sits down with Sam Logan of Rinsed at The Car Wash Show™ to talk through one of the most consequential moments in the carwash customer journey: The driveway sales interaction. Logan opens by noting a striking disparity in carwash driveway sales conversion rates between operators. The difference, he says, is not technology or location; it is the degree of operational rigor applied to the moment when a sales associate talks to a potential member.   Logan makes a strong case for the "Chick-fil-A model" — consistent scripting, robust training, regular coaching and a clear career path for frontline staff — as the framework that separates high-converting carwashes from average performers. He cites data showing that human sales pitches produce 15%-20% higher membership conversion rates than kiosk-only interactions. The conversation also covers what personalization can look like at the point of sale.   The episode closes with Logan's perspective on AI in the carwash industry — not as a replacement for human interaction, but as a tool that enhances it. AI support agents, conversational data interfaces and personalized customer outreach are all areas where Rinsed is actively investing. His consistent theme: Carwash driveway sales conversion is still a people problem before it is a technology problem, and operators who solve it at the human level first will be better positioned to amplify those results with AI.

In this episode of Wash Talk: The Carwash Podcast, host Kyle Alexander sits down with Josh Noonan of NXT Wash at The Car Wash Show™ to discuss a shift happening across the industry: Carwashes are returning to face-to-face sales as a primary driver of carwash membership sales and retention. Noonan traces the arc from pre-COVID customer service models through the pivot to contactless kiosks and explains why operators are now finding that human interaction consistently outperforms automated pitches when it comes to converting new members and keeping them.   Noonan breaks down how NXT Wash approaches real-time data, using an open API framework that allows operators and third-party platforms to act on customer information as it happens. Rather than reacting to customer behavior after the fact with batch campaigns, NXT Wash is built to put actionable data in front of frontline staff as customers pull in, including visit frequency, membership status and conversion history. Noonan also explains how the company's hardware-agnostic software approach lowers the barrier for multi-site operators who can't afford to rip out existing equipment to make a switch.   The episode closes with a look at what happens when a carwash reaches 80%-90% membership penetration and churn becomes the central challenge. Noonan outlines the tools and human touchpoints that keep high-membership carwashes growing even after the easy conversions are done.

In this episode of Wash Talk: The Carwash Podcast, host Kyle Alexander sits down with Amayr Babar and Ali Sareini, co-founders of Nautilus, to discuss their all-in-one carwash marketing automation platform and two major product launches that debuted at The Car Wash Show™. The conversation covers Nautilus's deepest-in-class point of sale system integrations, which allow the platform to trigger personalized text messages the moment a membership is purchased, a credit card declines or a customer hits a behavioral threshold.   Babar and Sareini introduce Compass, the company's AI operations analyst that connects directly to a carwash's point of sale system and can answer real-time questions about wash volume, billing anomalies, employee performance and membership trends. They also unveil the AI CMO, which monitors competitor pricing and social media activity within a two-to-five-mile radius and automatically adjusts ad campaigns and website content in response.   The episode also highlights Nautilus's Droptop integration, which links carwash and oil lube point of sale data, enabling cross-selling, shared loyalty programs and unified customer profiles across both sides of the business.

In this episode of Wash Talk: The Carwash Podcast, host Kyle Alexander speaks with Kyle Martin, sales manager at Oasis Car Wash Systems, about one of the most common decisions facing operators entering the in-bay automatic (IBA) segment: Touchless or soft touch. Martin explains how geography, regional competition and climate all factor into the choice. His recommendation for operators building from the ground up: Offer both and let the customer decide.   The conversation also digs into in-bay automatic carwash throughput. Martin breaks down the mechanical and chemical factors that separate high-throughput IBA operations from average performers.   The episode closes with a look ahead to Oasis's plans for The Car Wash Show™ 2027. Rather than a traditional booth experience, the company is shifting its investment toward factory tours in Joplin, Mo., bringing customers and distributors on-site for an in-depth look at equipment manufacturing, installed systems and the people behind the product.

In this episode of Wash Talk: The Carwash Podcast, host Kyle Alexander catches up with John Olert, CEO of American Car Wash Solutions. Recorded at The Car Wash Show™ in Nashville, the conversation covers what drew Olert to the company, why he saw a gap in the market and how an operator-led perspective is driving a different kind of carwash equipment innovation at American Car Wash Solutions.   Olert discusses the company's competitive approach — prioritizing stainless steel durability, transparency with customers and service responsiveness over sheer booth size or brand recognition. He also introduces the Product Innovation Council, a formal advisory structure that channels ideas from longtime industry operators into American's next product developments.   Looking ahead, Olert outlines near-term priorities including digitized parts catalogs, user-friendly manuals and a forthcoming e-commerce store designed to make parts ordering faster and easier for operators. He also flags water reclaim systems and smart motor control technology as the two areas of carwash equipment innovation he sees having the greatest impact across the industry.

In this episode of Wash Talk: The Carwash Podcast, host Kyle Alexander is joined by Phil Marquart, founder of Dencar and operator of United Auto Wash, and Robert Greene, owner of Georgia's Car Wash Express at The Car Wash Show™. The conversation covers unattended carwash membership technology and how it's transforming the self-serve and in-bay automatic segments. Marquart traces the origins of Dencar to a frustration he faced as an operator: No existing payment technology could sell a membership at an unattended in-bay automatic site directly through the kiosk interface. After a failed partnership with an outside vendor, he built the solution himself and has spent the past eight years refining it with operators like Greene. Greene shares his own journey from building a multi-format mega site in 2008 to spending years unable to extend membership programs beyond his attended express tunnel locations. After discovering Dencar at The Car Wash Show™ in 2022, he began a full rollout that now spans all nine of his coastal Georgia sites. The result: More than 600 new members added in 2026 alone across established locations, with zero on-site staff required to sell or manage them. The episode covers how Dencar's site-level membership model allows customers to bundle self-serve bays, in-bay automatics and vacuum stations into a single program. The conversation looks ahead to the next phase for both companies: deeper integration with marketing platforms to add drip campaigns and outbound lead generation to what is already a capable unattended carwash membership technology stack.

In this episode of Wash Talk: The Carwash Podcast, host Kyle Alexander talks to Brice Scholz of UniFiX about the company's carwash maintenance platform and how it's helping operators keep tunnels running and members satisfied. Scholz traces UniFiX's roots back to its work as an internal ticketing tool built for a 136-location gym operator in 2019 and explains how those same asset-management principles now serve 27 carwashes across the country.   Scholz discusses how the platform was designed for simplicity on the frontline while remaining robust on the backend. He explains how UniFiX evaluates each ticket for completeness, prompting users for missing details before surfacing recommended troubleshooting steps, parts lists and manufacturer video guides directly to technicians. The conversation also covers predictive maintenance, including how ticket history and preventive-maintenance timing can flag recurring problems.   Looking at unmanned sites, Scholz explains how customers can scan a QR code to submit a service request when an issue arises, with certain triggers — such as a tunnel outage — automatically generating phone, text and email alerts to operators. He closes by outlining UniFiX's plan to deepen its carwash maintenance platform through new partnerships while remaining focused solely on serving the carwash industry rather than expanding into other verticals.

In this episode of Wash Talk: The Carwash Podcast, host Kyle Alexander sits down with Tim Hogue of Modernwash to explore why carwash building design deserves as much attention as chemistry, branding and equipment. Hogue explains that the structure itself is often a customer's first interaction with a business, shaping perceptions of quality before a vehicle ever enters the tunnel. Hogue breaks down the costliest mistakes operators make before construction even begins, pointing to poor site layouts, tight turning radiuses and rushed planning among design professionals who fail to communicate. He also outlines how future-proofing a site helps operators scale equipment and storage as demand grows over a 10- to 15-year horizon rather than a typical five-year window. The conversation closes with Hogue's perspective on why some carwash building projects clear city approval faster than others. He credits thorough, code-compliant permit submissions and direct communication with city officials as the keys to avoiding delays. He urges operators, new and experienced alike, to build a strong design team and start preparing early to help their carwash building design stand apart from the competition.

In this episode of Wash Talk: The Carwash Podcast, host Kyle Alexander sits down with Brian Mattingly of WelcomeMat to unpack the fast-moving world of carwash digital marketing. Recorded at The Car Wash Show™, the conversation digs into a counterintuitive reality: Despite the rise of AI-powered search tools like ChatGPT and Claude, Google searches hit an all-time high in Q1 2026. Mattingly explains why that makes showing up in local carwash searches more critical than ever and what signals now determine whether an operator appears in results.   Mattingly breaks down the 12% cost-per-click increase operators are seeing across Google and Meta, the steepest rise since 2021, and shares how top-performing brands are hedging against it. The episode also explores how WelcomeMat's smart traffic system continuously adapts creative to match audience behavior in real time.   The conversation closes with a strong case for email as the highest-ROI channel in carwash digital marketing today. Mattingly outlines how operators can build first-party data strategies that combine targeted email campaigns with SMS, using each channel for its ideal purpose — email for relationship building and brand affinity, text for timely, weather-aware reminders.

In this episode of Wash Talk: The Carwash Podcast, host Meagan Kusek sits down with Harry Caruso, founder of Car Wash Advisory, for a candid assessment of where carwash mergers and acquisitions stand heading into the back half of 2026. Recorded live at The Car Wash Show™, the conversation opens with Caruso's frank take on the current deal environment: Transaction counts are on pace to be the lowest in about a decade, not because the industry is less attractive, but because it has matured past the frenzied growth phase of recent years.   Caruso explains that many of the most active buyers from the last decade are now approaching the end of their investment horizons and pulling back. At the same time, a large share of the best-performing carwashes have already been acquired, and newer sites haven't yet built the track record needed to be acquirable at scale. He notes that for operators with five to 15 sites considering a sale, the message is straightforward: The window is open now and conditions are unlikely to improve over the next two years.   The episode also covers the significance of Mister Car Wash's return to private ownership. Caruso closes with a reminder that declining transaction volume is not the same as a declining industry and that carwash mergers and acquisitions remain active for operators positioned to move.

In this episode of Wash Talk: The Carwash Podcast, host Meagan Kusek sits down with Tim Hogue, CEO and founder of Modernwash, to examine the business case for prefabricated carwash building construction and the misconceptions that have long followed it. Hogue opens by addressing that prefabricated structures are plain, limited in customization or somehow less permanent than traditional block builds. His counter is simple — Modernwash's bolt-together steel frame system can produce buildings ranging from standard carwash tunnels to two-story towers, equipment room overbuilds and even high-end residential and commercial structures.   The conversation dives into where prefabricated carwash building construction delivers its clearest financial benefit: Speed to open. Hogue walks through how time savings, combined with available tax advantages for pre-engineered structures, changes the financial math on a new build or renovation. He also discusses how Modernwash prepares buildings for future expansion from the start. Hogue closes with a look at current design trends in carwash architecture.