The only reason I went to Auto Shine Car Wash (ASCW) is because my friend gave me a coupon for a…read morefree car wash and it expired within 2 days. First, I'll back up here and give you some background info. Auto Shine Car Wash is formerly, Royal Oaks Car Wash. Same location, different name, but now new ownership. The old signs are still up, so it's kind of misleading. In the past, I had read the reviews of Royal Oaks and friends had confirmed the poor reviews, so I had already crossed it out of my mind and continued the search as my poor car continued to accumulate the crumbs from my kids' snacks and the never ending blankets of pollen. My friend had gone to the car wash under its new ownership and obtained this free coupon and assured me that the work was much better, so with a free coupon, what did I have to lose?
When I arrived, ASCW was packed. There was a line of several cars to be washed and there was a team of guys busy working away at the end stages of the service. When you drive in to the property, you have to drive to the back of the lot and line up by the lady by the little booth. Basically, the back is the beginning of the process and the front is the end of the process. A little backwards, but it makes the most sense. She collects payment (or in my case, my coupon) and you leave your keys in the ignition. You get out and go into the building (which will be the back) and you walk straight down the hall where the right side is lined with windows all the way down so that you can watch the cars being washed in the car wash. You have the option to either wait inside in the waiting area or you can go outside on the patio and wait there where there are several Adirondack chairs for you to bask in the sun with other car owners. You can watch the team of guys finish up with your car (drying and any other extra services you have purchased).
Overall, it seems like the new ownership knows what they are doing as they own several other "Auto Shine" locations in other areas like Hinesville, Garden City, Savannah, Rincon, Statesboro and Whitemarsh Island. The company has definitely made some improvements already at the Richmond Hill location. There were some guys that seemed like leaders of the team and they run a tight ship! They were making sure all the cars were getting done and that the production line was flowing. I left with a clean car with great service. The guy who was wiping down my car was so polite, calling me Ma'am, like who you callin' Ma'am?! I'm not old, wink wink, but I guess I have to get used to the southern way. He did forget to wipe out my cup holder on the side of my door, but no biggie. Overlooking one spot is easy when the car hasn't been washed in awhile like mine LOL. He must have had to put some extra elbow grease on it! I'm not going to knock off points for one small spot. The main thing they need to do is change their actual sign to reflect the new name and new ownership, so people who were turned off in the past get a renewed desire to try out the car wash again. I'll definitely be back because my kids refuse to stop snacking and well, the pollen is unreal here.
Tip - The guys in the back (where you first start the car wash) do not get the tips like the guys do at the end), so consider tipping them too!
