This car wash has two halves: a do-it-yourself half where you can put in coins and wash your own car...or an automatic touchless car wash.
I haven't used the do-it-yourself half. Frankly, I'm lazy and would rather pay a couple extra bucks and let a machine do a slightly less thorough job.
I used the automatic touchless car wash last night. With hours of 5am to midnight, this is open much later than other local car washes -- especially during the winter when some car washes cut back on their hours. I arrived and had to drive through one of the do-it-yourself bays to get to the entrance to the automatic car wash in the rear. (I have to wonder how you'd get back there if all the bays were occupied.)
There are four levels of car washing available which range from $7 to $11 (as of December 2008). The $7 level basically throws soap at your car and rinses it off. It's good for anyone who just needs to get one bird poop off or someone who wants to wash a car they don't own themselves. If it's your car, spend the extra $4 to get the $11 wash since it includes an undercarriage wash. If it's your car that extra $4 is worth it to get the road salt out from under your car. The middle two levels don't matter and nobody should ever really buy them.
After you use the computer screen to select the $11 wash, you put the money in or scan your credit card. (The machine at the left bay wouldn't accept any of my bills, so I had to put it on my card.) The garage door will open and you drive in until the light on the left says "Stop".
Once you've stopped in the proper place, the show starts. Shut off your car so that you save gas, stop polluting, and don't die of carbon monoxide poisoning. The machine will run through its whole process while you sit there. Use that time to get close to a girlfriend or to clean our your glove compartment. (So THAT'S where I put that CD!)
A few minutes later, the front door will open and you're on your way. Your car will still be fairly wet, so you may want to bring a towel in order to towel it off before you go.
While the touchless car wash will get most of the dirt off, it doesn't get the car as clean as ones that touch your car (or you doing it yourself), so it's a trade-off. However, if it's late and nothing else is open, if it's the winter and you want to get the salt off and it's just going to get dirty again, or if you like playing with automatic things because it seems like The Jetsons...then this car wash should be a rather obvious choice. read more