The customer break-even is a division
A 25 dollar plan against a 12 dollar wash breaks even at 2.08 washes a month, so three washes is the first month that pays. At three washes the plan costs 8.33 a wash and puts the customer 11 dollars ahead; at two it costs 12.50 a wash and puts them a dollar behind. The whole customer side is that one division and the table that walks it.
The caveat is the one that undoes most membership arithmetic: a plan that changes how often you wash is not saving you money on washes you would have taken anyway. Almost everyone washes more once the marginal wash is free, which is exactly what the plan was built to do.
The site break-even is a different question entirely
A member paying 25 dollars and taking 2.6 washes at 1.35 dollars of variable cost each contributes 21.49 dollars a month. The same person before joining took 1.1 washes at 12 dollars, contributing 11.72. Converting them was worth 9.77 dollars a month, or 117.24 dollars a year.
That member stops being worth more than the retail customer they replaced at 9.84 washes a month, which nobody reaches. The reason the line sits so far out is that the variable cost of one wash is small against the fee — 1.35 against 25. Unlimited pricing only works where the marginal wash is nearly free to produce, and it falls apart the moment that stops being true.
Churn decides whether the acquisition cost was worth spending
Six percent monthly churn implies a 16.7 month average life, so 21.49 a month of contribution is 358 dollars over a life against 18 dollars to sign them. Acquisition pays back in under a month. Treat the 16.7 with suspicion — a flat churn rate assumes month one behaves like month twenty, and plans reliably lose a chunk of people at the first renewal and then lose the rest slowly.
The line that surprises people
With 1,400 members and 2,600 non-member washes, members are 58 percent of the cars going through the tunnel and the average car brings in 10.61 dollars against a 12 dollar menu price. Revenue and car count stop being the same story once a plan book is large, which is why a per-car benchmark from a site with a different plan mix cannot be compared to yours.
Where all of it turns around
If the book asks for more washes than the site can physically produce, selling another plan stops adding a wash and starts moving one. A member arriving takes a slot a retail customer would have paid full price for, and every argument above reverses. At that point it is a capacity and hours problem rather than a pricing one.
Questions people ask
How many washes a month does a car wash membership need to be worth it?
Fee divided by the price of the same wash bought singly. A 25 dollar plan against a 12 dollar wash breaks even at 2.08 washes, so three is the first month that pays. The trap is that joining tends to raise how often you wash, so the comparison that matters is against the frequency you had before the plan existed rather than the one you have after.
Do unlimited car wash plans make money for the site?
On these figures yes, and the reason is that the variable cost of one wash is small against the fee. A member at 2.6 washes a month contributes 21.49 dollars against 11.72 from the same person as a retail customer. The page also gives the frequency where that reverses — 9.84 washes a month at the defaults — so you can see how much headroom there is rather than taking it on faith.
What counts as the variable cost of a wash?
Only what changes when one more car goes through: chemistry, water, sewer and the electricity that wash adds. Rent, equipment payments and salaried staff do not belong in it, because they are the same whether the car arrives or not. That also means a positive contribution on this page is not a profit — the fixed costs still have to come out of it.
How do I work out membership lifetime value?
Monthly contribution divided by monthly churn, less what it cost to sign the member. At 6 percent churn the implied life is 16.7 months, and 21.49 a month over that life is 358 dollars against 18 to acquire. Treat the implied life carefully: a flat churn rate assumes month one behaves like month twenty, and it does not.
Why is my revenue per car lower than my menu price?
Because members pay a fee rather than a per-wash price, and once the book is large they are most of the cars. At the defaults members are 58 percent of washes and the average car brings in 10.61 dollars against a 12 dollar menu price. Any per-car benchmark from a site with a different plan mix is not comparable to yours for the same reason.