Rinsed Q2 report: membership drives sales as churn hits new high
Same-store sales rose 5.4% year over year on the strength of membership revenue, but monthly cancellations climbed to 7.9% across more than 3,000 washes.
By The Car Wash News Staff
3 min read
Membership revenue continues to carry the car wash industry even as customer retention weakens, according to the latest quarterly data drawn from more than 3,000 wash locations. In its Q2 2026 report, subscription software firm Rinsed found that total same-store sales revenue at locations open at least one year grew 5.4% year over year, while overall monthly churn reached a new high.
The split between recurring and one-time revenue tells the story. As reported by Professional Carwashing & Detailing, membership revenue grew 10.4% year over year in the quarter, while retail revenue fell 3.9%. Growth has largely stayed in a 4% to 6% band across recent quarters, with one standout quarter in Q3 2025.
Mature sites and conversion trends
The report separates out mature locations, defined as those open at least two years, so operators can compare their sites against businesses at a similar stage rather than the full mix of new and established washes. Among mature locations, total same-store sales growth was 2.7% year over year and held fairly steady quarter over quarter.
Conversion of retail customers into members varied sharply by location size. Sites with 4,000 or more active monthly members converted retail visitors at 17.3%, described as a notable jump from recent quarters. Midsize locations with 2,000 to 4,000 members converted at 10.4%, and smaller locations with fewer than 2,000 members converted at just 2.4%. Both of the latter figures stayed roughly in line with prior quarters.
Churn climbs to a new high
The report's most concerning figure was retention. Total monthly churn rose to 7.9%, up 5% year over year. The increase was driven mainly by voluntary cancellations, which climbed to 4.9%, up 9.2% year over year. Credit card churn, by contrast, declined 1.4% year over year to 3%, but that improvement was not enough to offset the rise in voluntary cancellations.
The report noted that several factors could be contributing to the overall increase, including broader economic conditions and higher membership costs.
Why it matters for operators
The numbers reinforce a familiar tension: memberships remain the engine of revenue growth, but the same subscribers are canceling at a faster rate. Retail visits are declining, so operators cannot rely on drive-up traffic to fill the gap. That makes both conversion and retention central to protecting revenue.
The conversion data suggests scale matters. Larger locations with deeper member bases are converting retail customers at rates several times higher than smaller sites, which points to the value of investing in the systems and staff training that push retail buyers toward a plan. Operators running smaller washes should study why their conversion stays stuck near 2%.
On churn, the fact that voluntary cancellations are rising while payment failures are falling is a signal worth reading closely. Credit card churn can be addressed with better billing tools, but voluntary churn points to a value problem. If members are actively choosing to leave, operators should examine pricing, wash quality, wait times, and whether recent price increases have outpaced perceived value. Tracking these metrics against industry benchmarks each quarter helps operators spot whether their own retention is drifting with the broader trend or falling behind it.
