By Jim Utter
Director of Journalism
There was a high-dollar McLaren sports car, a dirt sprint race car, millions of dollars of car wash equipment and chemicals, massage chairs, dog washes, greeting cards and even a bar (booth) crawl.
There wasn’t much you couldn’t find at the International Carwash Association’s 2025 edition of The Car Wash Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
It shouldn’t be a surprise in a way. After all, it was Las Vegas.
But as someone making their first visit at the annual event, the wide swath of displays that went far and wide of just what you might find at car washes, was a little surprising.
With Car Wash Daily News making its first booth appearance, we were headquartered in the New Company Pavilion, at the South End of the vast West Hall of the convention center.
In just our small corner of the Hall, you could test new chemicals to take dings out of your car, buy greeting cards, try out new point of service (POS) systems, explore new clean environmental technologies and or speak with numerous brokers and financial advisors who were looking to buy and sell car wash sites or help finance their construction.
Aside from all the extensive and high-tech displays, there were also ample opportunities over two of the three days to take in educational and informational sessions, both in a breakout format and in theaters set up in the main exhibit hall.
While the entire experience was a learning one for me, my biggest take from the weekend were the connections made – both with people in the industry with whom I had spoken with previously (on the phone or via email) and the new ones who stopped by our booth to sign up for the email newsletter or just to say hi.
Throughout my entire journalism career, whether it was covering news or sports or anything else, developing relationships, I have found, was ultimately what led me to produce my best work.
Even with all the technology available today, trust and collaboration from personal relationships can make navigating any industry much easier.
Nobody has all the answers – and there is a myriad of questions in the car wash industry these days.
Questions about the best products, the newest innovations, how your competition is doing and what the future entails with large operators facing both contraction and expansion issues.
Trying to get a competent understanding of the biggest issues of the day is a demanding job but working with people willing to share their stories, expertise and experiences has made it much, much easier.
Don’t get me wrong.
Checking out some of the large car wash displays – some with LED light displays that did Las Vegas proud – was a fun part of my first Car Wash Show experience.
But it was the people I will most remember.
There were several attendees who thought the attendance at this year’s event was not as good as in recent years, perhaps because it was held on a weekend, when many of the most recent conventions have taken place during the week.
As a first-time visitor, I wasn’t really able to judge either way. What I do know is that I found everyone I encountered very welcoming and eager to share their little piece of the industry.
Thank you to everyone who stopped by the Car Wash Daily News booth and thank you to my colleagues at QC Capital and The Vita Agency for making my first experience at The Car Wash Show a fun, successful and productive one.
And thank you for continuing to read the newsletter as we work to bring more information to what we believe to be an underserved industry.
