"Spring brings blooming flowers, outdoor activities … and the arrival of tree sap. It can drip onto whatever is below, and that can often be your car. Left alone, tree sap can be unsightly at best. At worst, it can damage your car’s paint job and lead to rust, says Consumer Reports."

"It's important to remove the most stubborn sap, as well as bug residue and bird droppings, and prevent damage. But the most important thing to remember is that the longer you wait, the harder it will be to remove the residue."

“'Get the sap off as soon as possible, because it will eventually eat through the paint, especially as the days warm up,' says John Ibbotson, chief mechanic at Consumer Reports’ Auto Test Center. 'Heat accelerates how the sap sticks to the paint.'”

Before seeking professional help, Car Wash Shoppers may turn to the internet to see if they can find businesses that specialize in these services. Last month, according to AudienceSCAN, 64.4% of these consumers used a search engine to research a service they were considering and also used the internet to look for the address of a business (62.5%) and its hours (61.2%). Within the last six months, these consumers have also used a mobile device to view business' websites (39.5%).

"Sap can damage your car because of how it bonds with the vehicle’s surface. Tree sap drops shrink over time, and as they shrink they create stress on your car’s finish because of that strong bond with the paint, says Dennis Taljan, a general manager at PPG, which produces car paints and other products. That tension can end up cracking a car’s finish."

"Tree sap isn’t the only overhead threat; insects can be just as damaging. 'There have been instances in which insects lay eggs on automobiles,' says Taljan. 'When the sun arrives it scorches the eggs, and the decomposing material can etch certain automotive finishes.'"

“'Bird droppings are another source of potential damage since they act similarly to the tree sap, shrinking and stressing the car’s finish,' he adds."

"Don’t let tree sap or bird droppings linger for days. You can prevent damage by safely removing those and other elements from your car's finish as soon as possible."

Car washes can promote their spring cleaning services to Car Wash Shoppers through many forms of advertising. For starters, last year, these consumers responded to many forms of digital ads, such as ads on daily deals sites (52.8%), email ads (52.3%), text or mobile smartphone app ads (48.6%) and text link ads (39.9%). Within that same amount of time many were also driven to action by traditional ads, including TV commercials (67.4%), direct mail ads (65.3%), outdoor ads (37%) and ads at movie theaters (34.7%).

AudienceSCAN data is available for your applications and dashboards through the SalesFuel API. Media companies and agencies can access AudienceSCAN data through the AudienceSCAN Reports in AdMall.