I own a nice car, a 2005 Honda S2000, and about 99% of the time I wash it in my driveway. With the move and the selling of our house, I have neglected it, so prior to it being loaded on a transport truck to get it to my new home, I took it to the local car wash.
Ugh.
It reminded my why I prefer to wash it myself.
- They do a terrible job. The amount of crap they don’t get off is astounding. From the insect droppings, to just whiffing on my hood, I am completely unimpressed. I would have asked them to run it again if I wasn’t headed out of town, and it wasn’t going to get on a truck.
- Even after doing a terrible job, they expect a tip. I know it is a crappy job that pays minimum wage, and I normally don’t mind tipping, but the effort that they put in, in no way justifies a 20% tip. But they expect $3 on a $15 wash.
- Even when you tell them no scent, they friggin’ spray it with “new car” scent. Really? Is it that hard to just not spray anything in there?
- Upselling. I just want a basic interior and exterior wash. I don’t want the extra undercarriage spray. I don’t want the faux spray on polymer sealant. I just hand waxed it a month ago, so I don’t want a mini detail. When I say no, I mean NO.
- 3rd party harassment. I live in Arizona, the king of cracked and dinged windshields. I drive a 9 year old car, with the original windshield, so it has been dinged and repaired many times. Having someone who puts the high pressure sales pitch to replace your windshield, and who argues that the repaired dings need to be repaired again. I think I had to say no four or five times to that asshole.
I will go back to my 3 bucket hand wash, and 2x a year bringing out the polishing tools.
