Paint scrapes, discarded license plates, forgotten “my kid is an honor student” magnets, soap scum and water spots.
No, these blemishes aren’t the result of a head-on collision with a fire hydrant, but common results of going through an automated car wash. All this could be easily avoided by taking ten minutes to hand-wash your car.
Drive thru car washes give you a worse wash for a worse cost. Just like you wouldn’t go back to a hairdresser who gives you a choppy cut, you shouldn’t be going back to machine operated car washes after seeing how well they really wash. Just like you wouldn’t be happy with botched balayage, you shouldn’t be happy with soap scum and scratches.
I worked at an automated car wash one summer, and it was traumatizing to see the reality behind the felt flaps and spinning scrubbers. When cars go through the water sprayers and soap shooters, they’re really getting the murky backwash of the car in front of them.
There’s a common theme among fast food workers and car wash attendants: they don’t use the product themselves. After all, they know how the mystery meat is made. They’ll be the first to tell you not to partake in that late night nugget craving (or quick car wash visit.) The very first time I drove through an automated car wash was the day of my interview for the job, which will also be the very last.
While your car is being pulled along a track, your precious pearlescent paint job (or worse, your already peeling, thousand-dollar wrap) is being battered with sharp sticks stuck in the felt scrubbers, and blasted with pine needles in the blow room.
Conversely, self-automated car washes will only do as much damage as you, the washer, let them. So unless you beat your car with random sticks from the road and pelt your car with pebbles, I guarantee you won’t get the same effect.
The return on investment of time and money is off. I can hand wash my car in five minutes, and do it better than a track-operated car wash. And, for much, much cheaper.
Many car enthusiasts, busy parents, and new drivers alike rely on automated car washes for their convenience. Monthly car wash subscriptions also advertise ridiculous ease of use and cost savings. But what the car wash disciples don’t realize is that this supposed convenience discrepancy between a drive-thru car wash and hand washing a car isn’t really all that.
The oh-so-difficult “wow you must really love your car, I would never do that” process of hand washing your car can be simplified into four steps. Water, soap, rinse, and dry. Sound time consuming now? And you don’t need any fancy-schmancy self-operated car wash to get it done, you can do all this on any old street or driveway with a bucket of soapy water and a rag.
The ever-praised ease of use of automated car washes is as follows. Pay upwards of ten dollars. Don’t forget to roll up your windows. Stop at the sign. Put your car in park. Mindlessly scroll on your phone as you get pulled on a track through sprinklers and rainbow soap-sprayers. Drive off after being blasted with oversized blow dryers. Shake your head in disappointment as you watch the water beads roll down your windows.
All that and you still end up with water spots and bugs left on your windshield. You could be washing your car for less money and get a better result, and the solution is ditching drive-thru car washes for self-operated ones.
I’m not the typical driver. I hand wax my car after every wash, whip out the vacuum upon witnessing one singular crumb, and clean in between my air vents with q-tips. But you don’t need to take car care to the extreme to retain your car’s value. Just simply put in the effort and elbow grease to wash it yourself.
