Not Your Typical Laundry - Car Washes

Manpower fueled the first "Automobile Laundry" way back in 1923 in Detroit, Mich. Workers manually pushed the vehicles, usually cars, through the circular wash system until 1928 when automation eliminated the need for human horsepower.

Putting the Auto Into Automation

Car wash is typically a generic term that encompasses any type of vehicle that is washed-from home washing to bay washing. Coin-operated self-service car washes are easy, cheap and fun for children to sit inside the vehicle to watch their parent direct the powerful wand over the vehicle's exterior. Simply drive the car into the wash bay, pop in a few quarters and you have a timed surge of soap, water, and many times, wax. When finished, simply drive the car out of the bay, wipe it down and use the pay vacuum to sweep out the car's interior.

Automated car washes are washes that you or the attendant either drive into a bay where machinery in the form of huge swaths of cloth roll over the vehicle-first to soap, then to rinse. Many times, at the end of the wash, a wind machine will dry your vehicle to a drop-less finish. Other times, attendants will hand wipe the vehicle down and clean the interior. Most automated service is a combination of machinery and human touch and is mid-range in expense.

The tunnel washes use conveyor belts to run your car through the bay, but the driver usually has the option of either sitting in the car through the wash or exiting the vehicle and watching from inside a facility where a huge window allows you to see your vehicle through the wash system. It can be rather expensive, anywhere from $4 to $35 or more, the greater price for a human to "detail" your vehicle at the end of the run.

It's All In the Details

Car detailing is a systematic way to bring your vehicle into showroom condition. Think of it as spring cleaning for your car. Leather is rejuvenated, tires cleaned, hubcaps polished--the entire vehicle is renewed from top to bottom, inside and out.