> I would have assumed its from the rise of gig workers using private cars. Uber/Lyft need to keep cars pretty clean

True, I believe that’s the reason too, a while ago I used to park in an underground parking with a free washing area, the car next to me used to be clean all the time and the guy washes it every day, one time I asked him about such dedication, he said simply he is an uber driver!

>> I would have assumed its from the rise of gig workers using private cars.

It is not in West/Fargo. There is almost no rideshare capacity (there are a couple people) and the taxis use their own wash. Even Google does not capture the new 12 washes that have appeared in the last 18 months. Some of them can't staff and are closed much of the time. Especially during winter, when you want washes, it seems like land improvement. Add sewer, power, water, network to undeveloped land as a "business". Hold for a decade. Profit.

> and the taxis use their own wash.

The last cab company I worked for had a car wash in the yard that usually managed to make the car dirtier than it was before it was washed. But that was their 'standard', it was free and I really didn't care so...

All the dealerships out here give free car washes that are better than the automated. Granted, they are clustered in specific areas and sometimes there's a wait...because it's a dealership with paying service customers.

When I worked at a carwash half the cars came from the local car dealerships.

This surprised me when I was on my local government and we had an application for a 24/7 carwash. When I asked why they thought it would be profitable to be open overnight with staff they said that the local car dealerships would book dozens of cars in every night, they were actually busier from 9pm to 6am than the rest of the day.

I wonder which is more wasteful: parking decks for dealerships or washing hundreds of cars every month.

parking decks don't save you from needing washes

sales costs money

But if I can avoid buying a car because Uber, then number of washes goes down or is at least balanced.

When people use an Uber instead of owning a car, they will never ever sit in a car that hasn't been recently washed. When they drive their own car, the threshold for good enough is so much lower for all but the most fanatic washers. Chances are their own car, on average, will not only have seen more time pass since the last wash, but also more miles (more miles will certainly be much closer to a tie though)

Maybe that’s the real reason there are lots of new car washes?

If you can get by without a car where Uber makes sense, you likely didn’t need a car anyways nor drive it often enough to wash more than seasonally.

You aren’t commuting daily in an Uber, nor driving kids to school and activities with all their gear and car seats. Those are the activities which might have moved the needle on needing Uber level frequency of car washes (but even then, I assume an Uber is washed every other day or so, or perhaps I just have a cynical view of humanity keeping the inside of taxis clean).

That seems unlikely, given professional rideshare drivers will have to wash their cars probably two orders of magnitude more than the average driver.

In London at least, Uber is an alternative to public transport (and taxis obv), not to car ownership

Both public transport and taxi/cab/uber are alternatives to car ownership.

Unless you are rich taxi/uber is not an alternative to car ownership. (rich call it a limo). Those are alternatives for when something else covers most of your needs but once in a while it is lacking. If you own a car you need a 'i'm drunk' option. If you take transit you need a 'i'm going where transit doesn't or is too slow' option.

You're not wrong but my point stands.

I'm not saying taking an uber everywhere is an alternative to having a car. It's part of the system. There's public transport (tube, DLR, overground, trams, busses), there's rental bikes, rental scooters, there's uber/taxi, there's walking. You use the "car ownership alternative" (or a combination of them) that works for each given situation.

I think the point the OP is making is that the burden of car ownership in somewhere like London is already very high. So those who can do without by and large do. The remaining folks who do still have a car do so for a reason (job, primarily) and are unlikely to get rid of it just because Uber exists.