Private Equity Car Wash Comes To Whalley

David Council gives a heart sign, a wave, or a double thumbs-up to every car that drives through New Haven’s newest car wash — the local outpost of a private equity-owned chain he helps manage on Whalley Avenue.

The suds might look familiar to customers of traditional mom-and-pop cleansers. The financing behind the wheel? A new business model for the car-wash highway.

Council is a manager at Russell Speeder’s, which has 20 locations in Connecticut and 35 nationwide. The newest one, open since May 31, is now operating in New Haven at 286 Whalley Ave.

Russell Speeder’s comes to New Haven at a time of great expansion of the car wash industry nationwide, with private equity and other investors jumping into a booming market.

One of the car wash’s dozen-or-so employees greets incoming cars as they drive toward the automatic wash. One afternoon this week, that was the branch’s general manager, Reinaldo Capetillo. ​“It’s all about the vibe,” Capetillo said, ​“everyone who comes in, we have a conversation.”

Capetillo grew up in New Haven, ​“right on Elm Street,” he said, and had been the owner of a pet store (as detailed in the Independent) before coming to work at Russell Speeder’s.

The New Haven location opened as part of an expansion that kicked off after Russell Speeder’s, founded in 1964 by the father-son team of Herman and Richard Shullman, was bought by the New York-based private equity firm New Mountain Capital.

Michael Shullman, Richard’s son, had owned Russell Speeder’s before selling the company to New Mountain in 2022. New Mountain Capital operates Russell Speeder’s through Summit Wash Holdings, a subsidiary that also operates car washes in Nebraska, Missouri, New York, New Jersey, and Florida.

Why open a location in New Haven?

It’s a ​“pretty big car community,” Capetillo said about the Elm City, and ​“people like to keep their cars clean.” Russell Speeder’s is a membership-based car wash, which means the real perks are only for those willing to pay a monthly subscription fee.

The fees range from the ​“clean” tier ($11 for a single wash; $27/month for ​“unlimited”) to the ​“protect” tier ($21; $37). The ​“protect” tier, in addition to a simple wash and dry, gets you something called ​“hot lava” along with ​“bug prep” and ​“underbody wash” — the works. Membership, according to Capetillo, also lets you use Russell Speeder’s vacuums to clean out your car.

How does that stack up with the car wash competition?

Splash Car Wash, a chain with several locations in the New Haven area, offers a similar tiered experience. The highest, ​“works plus,” is identically priced to Russell Speeder’s ​“protect” tier — $21 for a single wash, $37/month for unlimited.

Budget Car Wash, a West Haven outfit, offers monthly rates ranging from ​“basic” ($17.95/month) to ​“ultimate” ($29.95/month) — the latter of which also includes a wash with ​“lava triple foam detergent.”

“The community has accepted us,” Capetillo said, adding that Russell Speeder’s has already added 1,000 New Haven members.

Udai, a master’s student in industrial engineering in town from Ohio this summer, is one of those members. He was vacuuming his car carpets at one of the 14 self-serve stations when he spoke to the Independent last week.

Udai, who asked only to be identified by his first name, was enjoying Russell Speeder’s, he said, but he was ​“a little worried about the sucking power” of the vacuum. It was low compared to other car washes he’d been, where ​“sucking power is very high.” He rated the Russell Speeder’s car wash experience 4.2 stars out of five.

Council, who worked at a different Russell Speeder’s location in Milford before transferring to New Haven, called himself the Robin to Capetillo’s Batman.

Capetillo immediately corrected him: ​“Batman and Batman.”

A 2023 article in Auto Laundry News, a premier site for car wash-related news, cited Summit Wash’s purchase of Russell Speeder’s as New Mountain’s attempt to ​“build on the firm’s automotive aftermarket services portfolio.” Dan Pittman, CEO of Summit Wash Holdings, is quoted praising Russell Speeder’s for its ability to turn a car wash into a ​“third or fourth place” in customer’s lives.

New Mountain Capital and Summit Wash Holdings did not respond to requests for comment from the Independent as to why a private equity firm might be interested in the car wash industry.

Car washes are just one in a series of industries through which private equity — which refers to financial services firms that tend to buy, gut, and sell other companies for a profit – has silently crept into public life in recent years. Firms have bought up ambulance services, nursing homes, veterinary care, and, of course, housing in the years since the 2008 financial crisis.