Unless the automated car wash is touch-less, I don’t use it. Dirty brushes are a great way to get swirls in your clear coat.
soapy wash down by a foam cannon followed up by the two bucket method is far superior.
this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2026
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In my area, we have about 8 car washes. 6 of them you could count in a row. It's weird.
Money laundering; like in Breaking Bad
You have to subscribe to your car wash in the US? Wtf
✨️capitalism✨️
It exists but not universal. At least not in car centric California.
This is America
We will own nothing and be happy
Also no, they still offer individual washes at places but they also offer a subscription service alongside them
Where are people going that have subscriptions? I have never seen that. Closest I've seen is you get a discount if you buy like 10 or something
One near me does it. They just happened to have a special where a month cost less than a single wash and my spouse went for it.
Nightmare to cancel the damn thing.
Mikes Car Wash, although it's more like buying washes in advance to get a better price. They do have an unlimited wash subscription thing too though
They might show up soon. I think they're popping up more frequently now that ALPR camera systems are more prevalent.
Some of them are weird where I am because you can buy a shitty/fast 3 minute wash for $15 or the good-soapy-with-undercarriage one for $25, OR you can buy the ultra-mega-unlimited monthly washes card for $32 or something.
I bet enough people buy the $32 unlimited one and only go one time, that it's basically free money to them. But if you're going to get at least two washes per month, you have to get the unlimited to get the better price. It's all very clever and designed to get the most value from you.
They all have "free" vacuums though, for paying customers.
I'm looking at all these prices, old and current, and I'm just thinking, how are these placed making money?!
It's between 20€ and 30€ here. Everywhere.
Nothing better than just doing it myself, stops all the hassle
I don't get my car washed that often. The basic wash gets the job done. I got my car washed last Sunday and it costed about $11.
Now the dent on my side mirror that was left from the car wash, well, that was a different matter.
When we had to work Saturday shifts, I used to take the delivery van I used to a local car wash. $2 for the basic wash. This was in 2013. They of course had the guys at the end of the wash that would dry your vehicle, and it was implied that you would tip them. So it really was a $3 wash. But still.
Last time I used one of those places, there was a pushy dude trying so hard to get me to sign up. He got very annoyed that I kept saying no. I got a single wash and never went back to that place again. Mission failed successfully, I guess?
These days, I just don't bother with it, other than to occasionally rinse off pollen or dust with my garden hose.
The local place that was an automated park n wash, not drive through or tunnel style, the cheapest was $4, $5, $6, and $7. This was pre covid so 2019. I went there religiously bc it was cheap. The same exact place now charges $8, $10, $12, $14. Kind of pisses me off it doubled by 2023-2024. I haven't gone back since.
Personally happened to mine, and I go back, but I don't get the high end wash anymore. I get the cheapest one, and I go less frequently. They can puzzle over all the metrics themselves to figure out why I'm not doing luxury items. I'm sure their geniuses in marketing will just think up "Let's just raise prices again!", and I'll go even less frequently.
You think they don't understand that higher prices lead to lower sales?
There are 2 issues I see anymore..
-
Everyone uses the bullshit "Amazon" price model. They make up inanely high and fake MSRP prices to then "discount it", but anyone with half a brain catches on (hopefully). Electronics especially, I noticed any other retailer could have a TV for $499 let's say, Amazon will list it for ~~$1200~~ $489. And it's funny because anyone can price check it's bullshit, but apparently so many people rely on only Amazon that they get away with it. I've noticed Best Buy now does it, as do most other retailers.
-
Move to ___aaS model. People might've only gotten a wash or 2 a month before, but Jack up the normal price then discount through a subscription model to appear like a deal. $15 per normal wash, but monthly its "only $25"! They'll tell you wash it twice and it pays for itself, only, it used to be a $5 wash.. They'll tell you anything to make it fell like a good deal so people don't think about how cheap it used to be.
It's also a catch 22 IMO. Money is getting tight, so sales drop, so prices go up to make up for the loss of profits. The issue is prices have gone up and up and up. Those 2 points above are marketing scams to ease people back into spending more money again.
I commented elsewhere but the subscription model is what I'm seeing pop up a lot. You can buy a shitty/fast 3 minute wash for $15 or the good-soapy-with-undercarriage one for $25, OR you can buy the ultra-mega-unlimited monthly washes card for $32 or something.
Enough people buy the $32 unlimited one and only go one time that it’s basically free money. But if you’re going to get at least two washes per month; well, you should just get the unlimited and go 3 times. It’s all very clever and deceptive and designed to extract the most money from you.
A handful of years ago that same wash was $7 and no club/subscription existed.