I've been coming here almost every Sunday with every car I've owned since 2011, ranging from a classic '95 BMW M3, to a 2011 Camaro SS, to my current BMW 335i. They used to be the only touchless automated car wash in the area, and two years ago I would've given them a 6/5 score due to both service and cost. Back then I had never encountered a single issue.
Fast forward to today for a minute. I paid the $10 for the premium wash "with wax-like shine, tri-color foam, and streak-free rinse". The first issue: the foam they use is no longer the real tri-color foam which is a mix of products giving it it's color, but an off-brand white foam that they use flashing colored lights while spraying. My main complaints were that my car was A: not clean on the front bumper, hood or rear and B: my car was covered in streaks. Being a longtime customer who's always recognized when I pull in I really didn't want to cause any problems, but I went to approach the employee to ask for a partial refund, and he asked to look at my car. Upon inspection he told me " the wash isn't supposed to get the bugs off, and the car is still dirty because you don't wash it enough. Because of the water streaks though, I'll let you go through again." I mentioned that I was my car every Sunday and asked if he still recognized me to which he responded "yes, of course" so I'm not sure how he thinks my car isn't washed enough but that's besides the point. After going through the wash a second time, he came over to inspect the car again and we both saw all the same issues. I demonstrated how even a wet rag was getting dirt off better than what the wash did. He reiterated that the reason there was dirt is because I don't wash the car enough and the bugs aren't supposed to come off, and decided to ignore the streaks and asked if I'll be coming back next Sunday so he could give me another free wash.
Last year I noticed that they bumped every tier up at least a dollar or more, which I just chalked up to changing times and shrugged it off. However, earlier this year is when things started getting very disappointing.
This year they removed the undercarriage wash from all but the top two tiers ($9 and $10), and cut ALL tier's dryer time down to 30 seconds. Previously the dryer times ranged from 30s for the (formerly $5) fast wash up to 90 seconds for the (formerly $9) premium wash. They used to offer two free fresh rags per customer to touch-up your mirrors and wheels with, but early this year they got rid of that and started selling rags out of a dispenser for you to dry your car with for $3+, coupled with the reduced drying time in order to make more money. Thankfully they brought back the two free rags per customer a few months ago, but they certainly aren't fresh anymore and there are no longer microfiber rags to pick either.
They seem to have cut every corner possible nowadays. The only explanation I can find is that in addition to the other cost-saving, profit-making measures they took they also started to further dilute the soaps and rinses they use. I took pictures of how my car looked after the *second* wash, and you can see both big blotchy dust/dirt spots as well as how dirty the rag got after wiping one section of the hood after the second full wash in less than 20 minutes. The only reason I'm giving a second star is due to the offer of free washes, but they clearly aren't going to help unless something is changed drastically. read more