I haven’t noticed.
People aren’t washing their own.
There was an article in our paper about 2 new car washes in Methuen MA being proposed. The article was talking about how profitable these are. Many now have a monthly plan for unlimited washes. I never looked it. Methuen is a NH/MA border town with a population of about 50,000. Its right next to Lawrence MA which has a population of about 80,000. According to the article Methuen already has 5 car washes - I only know of 2.
I only use them winter months. Easier and cheaper to wash in driveway.
1 Like
New car wash such high pressure screwed up front license plate holder on 1 car and fogged taillight lense on the other. Both 2017s, never a problem before.
Local Honda Dealer now gives out free washes at the nearby touchless car wash, which opened as a touchless, eco, car wash and changed hands to become a localtion of Elephant Car Wash which Seattle are folks might be familiar with.
There’s a car wash at the gas station that’s right next to all the car dealers but we’ve only used that once and it came close to tearing off the pass side mirror on our car. Luckily the mirror popped back into place but the only reason we went there was for a free courtesy wash. My parents live out in the country where they can wash in the driveway as much as they want (on a private well so minimal costs)
Where I live we have quite a few car washes, no “full services” car washes ant more. By full service I mean where they do the vacuuming, interior windows, and exterior drying.
My car is not garaged, so I do have an unlimited plan, no problems with the wash, though I would like a better blow dry at the end of the wash. My car has a lot of nooks that require hand drying. Takes me another 15-30 minutes to finish hand drying and vacuuming. I like the vacuums, we have live oaks, their leaves get everywhere, I vacuum the leaves from the cabin air intakes before going through the wash then dry the car and vacuum the interior after the wash.
The only time I had a problem was in the late sixties, car had been in an accident, entire car had been painted, I did not wait long enough for the paint to fully cure, after three months ran it through a car wash, back then they used some sort of nylon brushes, car had tiny brush marks from the wash.
Just a little history, in the sixties, the kids I went to school with, males worked at car washes, McDonalds ( McDonald’s did not employ females at that time), or as pump jockeys/grease monkeys.
I was employed at a “flying horse” gas station. The females usually worked as wait staff or car hops.
The evening shift at our local ice cream parlor was almost all of our female classmates.
Lots of automatic car washes near me. Brush-type and touchless drive-thru types. Most touchless washes don’t do a very good job on tougher dirt.
Also lots of full-service washes with interior vacuum and dry. Most have the monthly plans.
I rarely see anyone washing cars in the driveway. About as often as I see people cutting their own lawns.
1 Like
+1
I used to do both, but I have better things to do with my time at this point.
However, some people might consider lawn mowing to be relaxing. Otherwise, I don’t know why one of my neighbors cuts his lawn a minimum of twice each week during the warm months.
1 Like
A friend of mine branched out and started a car wash company back in the 80s. Once built, they required minimal maintenance expense and were hugely profitable. Even considering the more onerous environmental provisions for these businesses, they appear quite profitable endeavor. Like most things that present a convenience to consumers looking to save time, they have proliferated…Lot’s of places around here have watering bans and limits on water usage in the summer months. That can drive people to these places as well. (see what I did there 
)
1 Like
We have a few car washes associated with gas stations and one old-style car wash. It has a brush lane that pulls your car through on a chain rail, 3 brushless automatic lanes, and 3 lanes with a wand. It was bought recently by a car wash chain. The previous owner did not want to sell but the chain said they were going to purchase land next to the existing carwash and undercut the original’s prices. The bullying worked and the original owner sold.
There’s this relatively new carwash in NY called Delta Sonic. Whenever I’m in the Syracuse area I usually stop. Great carwash with many services.
Car Washes – Delta Sonic Car Wash (shopdeltasoniccarwash.com)
1 Like
I only use them in the winter, but it has been so mild I’ve only washed cars a couple times. I buy a car wash card with ten washes on maybe once a year.
As a caution a few years ago I put new license tabs on the cars then ran through the car wash and it blasted the tabs off. The guy at the dmv was nice enough to give me new stickers for my $300 but said use heat when putting them on and avoid the car washes. So I use the heat gun to warm the plate up now and so far so good. Not something you usually check.
Another great npr report (sarc). Might have something to do with people not having driveways or water restrictions in some areas. We had a four bay wash in town that went through a few owners and then sat empty for over ten years. So I’m not sure how profitable the self serve ones are. Back in the day only gas stations had a car wash bay if you wanted to get your car washed in the winter. Then self serve came along with heaters at extra cost. And of course self serve gas so no one to wash cars.
In an adjacent town, there is an Exxon station that had a cheapo automatic car wash for over 20 years. I used it once, and the result was so bad that I never returned. I guess that I wasn’t the only dissatisfied customer, because the station’s car wash was knocked down a few weeks ago.
Instead of that now-gone cheapo place, I found a different car wash that does a truly excellent job.
I did not actually see this, just heard about it. when I was younger at one of the car washes in my town. A white car went in, and it came out a different color. It seems a Hydraulic line busted while it was going thru.
Good point. Here in San Jose (and most of the SF Bay Area) we are not allowed to wash our cars in our driveways, drought conditions or not, pouring rain or not, and even if we collect the run-off water and use it for landscaping. Easy to see why someone would want to own a carwash. Ideal market, every driver is forced to be a customer.
I like the local car wash near me. It self-service, but they have handheld air dryers. Works a bit like a leaf blower. It’s loads of fun.
I never did understand why so many car washes are being built, nor why anyone in their right mind would spend $8 or more at a car wash versus less than a dollar worth of water to wash it at home. And nowadays, the car washes that are springing up like weeds here charge $10+ for a basic wash, for the purpose of justifying an “unlimited” monthly membership plan.
I usually only wash a car once or twice in the year anyways, and the garden hose and spray nozzle get the job done for a fraction of the cost of going to a car wash.
2 Likes
I agree with you but I wash both my cars every week (yes I am ocd).
Nobody who has other cars behind them to wash is going to sit and pick out each little piece of dirt in the seat or carpet.
Uses little water if you think about it. The water is only running when you are pre washing and rinsing.
If you have it down to a science you can knock off two cars in an hour and get some well needed exercise as an added perk.
1 Like
3 months! Was this an Earl Scheib special?
The story mentioned how much it had dropped off.
It’s a bargain if you factor in the cost of your labor.
I washed my parents’ car when I was a kid. I’ve washed my pickup a couple of times, but not in the last 25 years.
Don’t the car washes use more water per car?
Do people still leave their hoses running when they wash their cars?
Car washes use less water than home washing. Some recycle the water.
3 Likes