Charlotte has long been nicknamed “Banktown” because of the financial institutions headquartered here, but maybe it’s time for a new moniker: “Washtown” — car wash town, specifically. The city has quietly become home to the biggest car wash company in the U.S. Here to talk about that story, and more, is Tony Mecia of the Charlotte Ledger Business Newsletter, for our segment BizWorthy.
Marshall Terry: So Tony, how did we get the car wash crown? And who's behind Whistle Express? I actually haven't heard of this car wash colossus.
Tony Mecia: Yes, Marshall. We're talking about Whistle Express, which is a relatively new company. Just started about five years ago, but it's very quickly grown from seven car wash locations in 2020 to reaching a deal last week that will give it 530 car wash locations in more than 20 states. And, so, that makes it the largest car wash company in the United States.
This was a deal that struck with another Charlotte company called Driven Brands to acquire the Take 5 Car Wash chain. Basically, the CEO — his name is Jose Costa — and they've just been acquiring a lot of car washes. They say that Charlotte is a good place to be for that because of our favorable weather, and people like to wash their cars.
Terry: And, traditionally, the car wash business has been pretty fragmented with lots of mom-and-pops, but private equity is fueling this acquisition boom, right?
Mecia: Yes. There's a lot of private equity money that is coming into car washes like into a lot of other industries like pet care, heating and air conditioning companies. Private equity likes industries that are fragmented, that have a lot of these mom-and-pop, smaller companies — consolidating them, putting in some money, bringing in some technology. So in the case of Whistle Express, that means they have an app, they have a monthly membership program, they have a rewards program — these sort of modern things that maybe smaller companies can't quite do on their own.
This particular acquisition by Whistle Express was a $385 million acquisition. They're majority-owned by Oaktree Capital, which is a Los Angeles-based private equity firm.
Terry: All right. So, a big story this week is President Trump's tariffs and trade wars. You spoke to an economist about the potential impact they might have on North Carolina. What did you hear?
Mecia: Yeah, I talked this week with Michael Walden, who is an economist at NC State University. He outlined a few potential problems. He said if they're around for a while, some of the effects you're going to see, obviously, are higher prices for consumers who buy things that come from Canada and Mexico. And in North Carolina, we get a lot of things from Canada and Mexico. Canada is North Carolina's largest trading partner. Some of the biggest imports from Canada include plastics and plastic articles, organic chemicals, softwood lumber — that could increase the price of housing.
Another effect, of course, is if these countries retaliate, then North Carolina companies that sell to Canada and Mexico, their sales would be hurt. One potential silver lining could be, if this encourages more manufacturing to come to North Carolina, that could be a good outcome. But Walden stressed to me that that is something that takes time. You can't just build a plant overnight.
Terry: Finally, Charlotte's largest carrier, American Airlines, says it's testing offering a new free service to travelers. Gasp, Tony! An airline is offering something for free? What is it, and what's behind the move?
Mecia: Yeah, Marshall, next time you're on an American Airlines plane, you might be able to swipe through TikTok in the air or Snapchat or Instagram or all the other social platforms that you're on. American Airlines is testing free Wi-Fi to customers. They're doing it on three routes starting this week — two of those routes are out of Charlotte. This is a trend in the airline industry. You've seen some other carriers switch to Wi-Fi that's included on flights. American tends to have some of the highest prices for Wi-Fi in the air. The price depends on the length of the flight, but in many cases it's more than $20.
Support for BizWorthy comes from the law office of Robertson and Associates.
