Car care is a category that forecourt retailers should give real focus to as the products generally provide very good margins and many items are bought on impulse.
One company that does very well with the category is Top 50 Indie Park Garage Group (PGG). Indeed it is so proficient in managing the category that it keeps winning the car care category prize at the Forecourt of the Year awards.
Steve Fleming, area manager at PGG, puts the company’s success down to two main things – working closely with their supplier and getting staff involved with the category.
“We work very closely with a trusted supplier – Convenience Distribution Group,” says Fleming, “They create our ranging and introduce new lines for us. The range changes along with the seasons but that typically means adding more de-icer and screen wash.
“However I think the way that we’ve really driven the category is through having our staff involved. I think that any area of the store where you have reps in, staff sometimes think ‘the reps look after that so we don’t have to’. We involve the staff so the car care section is always looking neat and tidy, and staff are able to order in anything that’s needed. The tidiness of the fixture also helps with preventing theft, as the tidier it is, the less theft you get because thieves are aware that you will actually notice immediately if anything is missing.”
Happy to help
Fleming says around 10% of store space is allocated to car care, which is higher than the percentage of sales it accounts for, but is in line with the margin it delivers.
Generally, car care is within sight of the till which again helps with discouraging theft.
Staff are happy to help customers but don’t advise when it comes to specific products such as oil. PGG stocks Castrol oil and staff will help customers access the QR codes that guide them to the correct oil for their car.
At their Shell sites, PGG stocks Shell Helix and again they have QR codes for guidance.
“I think that there is a type of shopper out there who will actually visit Shell for their fuel and also Shell for their oil, which isn’t something we see with the other fuel brands,” says Fleming.
When it comes to price, Fleming says car care items aren’t particularly price sensitive but you have to have an awareness of price. “If someone thinks you have ripped them off, you will lose them as a customer.”
Air fresheners are the number one best-selling car care item in PGG sites, followed by screenwash. “The instant that you have any snow, screenwash sales go through the roof,” explains Fleming.
“Air fresheners sell all year round, especially if they are located in the queueing area. Some people buy them because they really need one, but others buy them on impulse.”
Freshening up
Air fresheners may be small but they can deliver big sales and even bigger profits.
Graham Tissiman, sales and marketing manager at the Convenience Distribution Group (CDG), says: “Air fresheners are an extremely important area for us as they are often an impulse purchase and displaying them at various locations throughout the store can really drive sales.
“My advice to retailers is don’t just display them on the car care planogram, display them in areas where customer queue as this allows the maximum impact for impulse purchases. They can be displayed on clip strips, FSDUs and CDUs.”
Tissiman believes their popularity stems from the fact that they are the one item that can enhance the consumer’s driving experience and there is a great choice of fragrances.
“By far the most popular air freshener brand is Little Trees,” he says, which might come as a surprise given it is just a small, fragranced piece of tree-shaped cardboard.
IRI sales data places Little Trees as the number one brand in the UK and worldwide, with it outselling its nearest competitor by three to one. It is also the only air freshener brand showing double-digit growth.
“Another benefit of Little Trees is they are always bringing out new fragrances such as Rose Thorn and Supernova,” says Tissiman.
“Most air fresheners last about four weeks so there is the opportunity of a consumer purchasing about 12 times a year. Carded air fresheners retail at around £1.99 while vent clip fresheners retail up to £4.99 and margins are excellent, above 45% on average.
Air fresheners feature regularly in CDG’s monthly Hot Shots deals. Indeed this month the company has an offer on Little Trees where retailers who buy four packs of 24 units pay just 69p a unit compared to the typical 75p per unit.
In March, Hot Shots will feature deals on Scent Bomb and Carfume air fresheners.
Major brands
Dean Sutton, national account manager at ADG, says his company’s planograms allocate space to the most important products, whether that’s in a 1m, 2m or 2.5m space.
“All the products that the customer will need are in that space. The only thing you won’t find is windscreen wipers, because they’re so varied. The oil, the light bulbs, you name it, it will be there.
“All your major brands have got to be there, because that’s what people want. Then you have got to have a cheaper option too. Some people want WD40, for instance, while others are happy to take a substitute brand so you need to cater for both.”
Sutton says the best-selling car care lines are those from established brands that specialise in high frequency “impulse” and “distress” purchases. He points to Little Trees air fresheners, fuel additive Redex and Holts Tyreweld for punctures as well as Armor All cleaning products and oil.
“Before we put in a planogram we always talk to the customer because they know their site better than us. If they look at the planogram and say it’s good but we sell a lot of locking nuts here, for example, we can make room for those. Retailers get a designated rep who will call on them on a fortnightly basis. And when our reps return to the site they can help the operator by backfilling for them.”
Distress products
Chris Nuttall, head of forecourts – UK, at Newco, advises that every car care fixture should provide distress products such as booster cables, tow ropes, fuel cans, bulbs and a range of lubricants. “We have recently updated our planograms, using industry data,” he says, “to ensure that the changes in vehicles are reflective of the lubricants we offer.
He continues: “The car care category is constantly evolving and we listen to both our retailers and consumers about their changing needs and desires, with that in mind we have launched Scentz air fresheners which strengthens our premium offer.”
Some retailers may dismiss focusing too much on car care, saying ‘everyone gets their car stuff at Halfords’ but Nuttall has a response to that: “Everyone gets their milk at the supermarket yet other retailers still sell milk! The clue is in the convenience nature of the forecourt store and the fact that in most cases people use their cars to drive to a petrol station. If a customer has a simple car-related requirement your local petrol station is well placed to help. We have heard many times that car care only equates to 1% of total shop sales but this is not our experience, we typically see a well maintained range achieve 5% of total shop sales and contribute around 15% to the store’s overall margin.”
Strategic partnership
Fast Trak and LKQ Euro Car Parts have formed a strategic partnership for the supply of car care products to the forecourt industry.
As part of LKQ UK and Ireland, LKQ Euro Car Parts has one of the widest ranges of car care and vehicle parts in the UK, with over 250 branches supporting Fastrack customers.
The range consists of everyday items, such as AdBlue and screenwash, through to original equipment (OE) replacement car parts.
The forecourt service offered is delivery within two working days of order placement and a minimum order value of £50.
Steve Browne, national account manager at Fast Trak, says: “The car care category fits into several different categories, including distress, planned and impulse. Distress lines include oils for instances when the red warning light has come on, planned for seasonal changes, and finally the impulse purchases as air fresheners.
“Products that fall into the distress and planned purchase categories can be merchandised in the allotted car care bay, along with air fresheners, but to maximise sales of air fresheners, dual siting with a floor or counter stand is always a good option.
“There is always a lot of advertising on a modern forecourt, so the best way to attract impulse sales of lines such as air fresheners is to have an eye-catching floor or counter stand, which are available free of charge from Fast Trak.”
Credibility matters
DSL supplies a focused range of convenience-led car care essentials, many of which are produced under licence with The AA.
Karanbir Landa, director at DSL says the AA partnership gives retailers and consumers confidence in both product relevance and quality, particularly in forecourt environments where credibility matters.
In his opinion, seasonality is strong in car care. “In the autumn/winter demisters, anti-fog cloths and screen wipes perform particularly well as motorists prioritise visibility and safety.
“In the spring/summer, cleaning and interior refresh products see an uplift as drivers focus more on vehicle appearance.
“AA-branded safety-led products tend to peak in colder months when need is highest.”
DSL’s best sellers in the car care arena include screen and glass cleaning wipes, anti-fog/demister cloths and microfibre cleaning cloths.
Typical retail prices sit between £1.99 and £4.99 with retailers generally achieving a 35–50%-plus margin.
“The category is price-sensitive,” says Landa, “with a psychological ceiling around £4.99 in forecourts. However, AA-branded products show stronger tolerance at £8.99-£12.99 because consumers perceive them as more reliable and safety-relevant. Retailers who position AA-licensed car care at the checkout to cater for impulse purchases achieve the highest return per square foot.”
End flat tyre terror
The aforementioned emergency puncture repair brand Tyreweld is being supported by a new campaign for 2026 with the theme “End flat tyre terror”.
The campaign highlights the feelings drivers may get in the event of a puncture or blow out. Feelings such as being unsafe or vulnerable or being left stranded on a busy motorway or road with cars and lorries whizzing by.
The aim is to get every driver to keep a can of Tyreweld in their car. CDG’s Tissiman says: “ I would encourage retailers to stock Tyreweld as this is a high ticket item, retailing at up to £15.99, end specially as some new cars do not come with spare tyres.”
Screenwash – in tablet form
Screenwash is something that all good forecourts will stock but it’s a bulky item that takes up quite a bit of space.
Screenwash King offers an alternative – screenwash in tablet form. Company founder James Hobson says he developed a compact tablet format that offers drivers a convenient and sustainable alternative to traditional bottled screenwash. “For retailers, the benefits begin with space efficiency. Tablets take up a fraction of the shelf space of liquid equivalents, freeing up valuable merchandising real estate while still meeting a core motoring need.
“From a commercial perspective, tablets are easy to store, simple to replenish and eliminate issues associated with bulky bottles, leakage and waste.”
The tablets are dropped straight into the vehicle’s reservoir under the bonnet followed by fresh water. Hobson says some people dilute the tablets in a previously used screenwash bottle so they can top-up little and often or fill more than one car.
He adds that for consumers, tablets also align with growing expectations around sustainability, helping to reduce plastic usage without compromising on everyday practicality.
Forecourt retailers can buy the tablets on the Screenwash King website and Hobson says he is keen to chat with prospective operators about their needs.
Clip strips and CDUs are available to help with merchandising. One tablet makes five litres of eco screen wash with a frost-free guarantee for year-round motoring.
