Biggest Pet Peeves --- and solutions

[Kimberly Berg]

Lol! Maybe I should have said "bees" instead of "flies". I just know that being positive, kind and respectful to all my customers has helped my business. It's not always easy. I've learned the fine art of being assertive and direct, with a BIG, HAPPY smile on my face!!

 

[Starrwash]

In cold Minnesota, people who open the doors, pull in, scrape off windows and kick snow off wheel wells and leave. I can just see the heat following them out!

 

[Kimberly Berg]

MUD!!!!! My busiest wash also has the smallest pits and a healthy customer base of college kids that go mudding a LOT! I always tell them to please go elsewhere as my drains cannot handle all that mud so they just seem to go late at night when I am not usually there. I do plan on posting signs right above the meter boxes so it cannot be claimed they were not seen and also state there will be a cleaning fee billed to vehicle owner and that they have been under video surveillance since entering the property. Maybe that will slow it down.

I have an issue with mudders too! We're not talking dirty cars here, but 4-wheelers that wash off enough mud to fill a 5-gallon bucket! When my car wash was built in 1982, they only put in 4" drains. The bay floors are made with aggregate cement NOT smooth concrete. The mud settles between all the rocks and is time-consuming to clean up. It takes several passes to clean up. We start with a push-broom to sweep up the mud, shovel it, then spray it, and repeat again. Although there is a slotted mud basket under the grate, some mud gets into the 4" drain. So, I'm literally on my hands and knees, using a slotted spoon to scoop mud out of the drain. Often, we have to use a balloon hose to clear the mud in the pipe. Not pretty or glamorous! Last year I raised my wash prices from $2 / 3.5 minutes TO $3 / 5 minutes and created this fancy sign... There's a sign in each bay - posted over the coinbox meter. I'm often on-site and can point to the sign and ask innocently, "did you happen to notice this sign?" I tell them to go to the cheaper car wash down the street, who can better handle the mud (they welcome the business). I'm a Car Wash - NOT a MUDDY Truck wash! I also have 31 video cameras, and live within 5 minutes of my car wash! Fortunately, I have noticed less muddy vehicles coming to my car wash, and more expensive, luxury cars - who appreciate the cleaner bays. Signage and consistency are important.

 

[Carwash_Fix_It_Man]

I have so many Pet Peeves I don’t know where to start, most of them have already been listed. Garbage, freeloaders, those who clean out there car, dump their trash and leave, rude customers, the list goes on. We get to the car wash at 05:30 and we are out of there by 08:00 so we don’t have to interact with any of the customers that’s my solution.

Same thing here, I've found out it is best to work on my carwash from 10pm to 4am because then you do not have to deal with any customers.

 

[kg00273]

The "not my problem" or "I don't care" attitude.
-Customers that can't walk five feet to put trash in a trashcan and just throw it on the ground. (i hate when people use steel wool pads and leave them in the bays)
-Customers who bring mud caked trucks and ATVs and just leave the bays full of mud (screw the next customer I guess).
-Customers that tangle up the hoses and just don't want to take 5-10 seconds to hang them back up.
-Customers that use anything other than quarters in our vacs, even though we have multiple signs that state "Quarters Only". ( i currently have about 60 carwash tokens in a jar that have jammed my vacs in the last few months.

-Honorable Mention-
Dirt Bandits: people that break into our vac cleanout door and dump the trash out on the ground and just leave them open.

 

[sjb]

I have been pleasantly surprised by the number of customers that only want to hand bucket wash and are now willing to keep the meter running ….

When I approach a customer bucket washing for the first time, I apologize for being a bugger, reference the sign, and then they usually apologize to me and correct the situation…. Of course this does not happen all the time, but it is awesome when it does!

fyi… put locks on your vacuum doors to keep the deadbeats out of the vacs…

My biggest pet pev is the deadbeat that is constantly coming on the property to hussle customers, and wanting to wash the customers cars… even with a police station across the street, it is a challenge to get the police to reinforce these laws…

 

[MEP001]

fyi… put locks on your vacuum doors to keep the deadbeats out of the vacs…

But don't just put padlocks on the original hasps, they'll just twist the hasps off. I had to make lock brackets out of 1/4" angle stainless to keep them out.

 

[kg00273]

But don't just put padlocks on the original hasps, they'll just twist the hasps off. I had to make lock brackets out of 1/4" angle stainless to keep them out.

I can't believe I hadn't thought about that. Many thanks

 

[Randy]

But don't just put padlocks on the original hasps, they'll just twist the hasps off. I had to make lock brackets out of 1/4" angle stainless to keep them out.

We did that years ago and it worked out pretty well until they started taking a crowbar to the hinge on the door, ruined the door and dented in the housing of the vacuum. We leave them unlocked now, we put a cable tie where the lock was and clean them out every day.

 

[MEP001]

We did that years ago and it worked out pretty well until they started taking a crowbar to the hinge on the door, ruined the door and dented in the housing of the vacuum. We leave them unlocked now, we put a cable tie where the lock was and clean them out every day.

I did that for about six months. People coming through every 15 minutes or so and leaving the doors open made that not an option. I've had one issue with someone prying on the heavy hasp, minor damage, but since then they haven't been touched.

 

[Bricks]

People doing dangerous activities. I tuned into this yesterday. If his door would have jammed, he’d have a face full of low ph…and 1000psi through zero degree nozzles. He jumped back in it and drove it through the dryers.

 

[Kar B Kleen]

Simple. Have your trash man go thru the vacs often. My trash man goes thru the vacs every day or two and the bums know they won't find anything.

 

[MEP001]

Simple. Have your trash man go thru the vacs often. My trash man goes thru the vacs every day or two and the bums know they won't find anything.

I also tried that for six months. Didn't even slow them down. A couple times I'd see one guy at one end of the wash going through the last vac and another guy would be walking up to go through the first one again. There is no "simple" solution other than to keep them out.

 

[Greg_T]

I have an issue with mudders too! We're not talking dirty cars here, but 4-wheelers that wash off enough mud to fill a 5-gallon bucket! When my car wash was built in 1982, they only put in 4" drains. The bay floors are made with aggregate cement NOT smooth concrete. The mud settles between all the rocks and is time-consuming to clean up. It takes several passes to clean up. We start with a push-broom to sweep up the mud, shovel it, then spray it, and repeat again. Although there is a slotted mud basket under the grate, some mud gets into the 4" drain. So, I'm literally on my hands and knees, using a slotted spoon to scoop mud out of the drain. Often, we have to use a balloon hose to clear the mud in the pipe. Not pretty or glamorous! Last year I raised my wash prices from $2 / 3.5 minutes TO $3 / 5 minutes and created this fancy sign... There's a sign in each bay - posted over the coinbox meter. I'm often on-site and can point to the sign and ask innocently, "did you happen to notice this sign?" I tell them to go to the cheaper car wash down the street, who can better handle the mud (they welcome the business). I'm a Car Wash - NOT a MUDDY Truck wash! I also have 31 video cameras, and live within 5 minutes of my car wash! Fortunately, I have noticed less muddy vehicles coming to my car wash, and more expensive, luxury cars - who appreciate the cleaner bays. Signage and consistency are important.

We live in an area with lots of farms and 4WD tracks, so mud is simply a part of life for us. We have a 3 bay SS wash, and I shovel out about 50 gallons of mud each week. We also have 4" drains, and have to really keep on top of any muck building up.

 

[Ryancross11]

In cold Minnesota, people who open the doors, pull in, scrape off windows and kick snow off wheel wells and leave. I can just see the heat following them out!

people that put snow in the eyes to leave the doors open to let the steam escape, but don’t take the snow out when done…..

 

[traveler17]

People doing dangerous activities. I tuned into this yesterday. If his door would have jammed, he’d have a face full of low ph…and 1000psi through zero degree nozzles. He jumped back in it and drove it through the dryers. View attachment 6395

What a jackleg, people like that NEED a face full of low ph!!

 

[99Roadking]

We get really tired of people coming and using the car wash as their personal restroom. We had one guy who’d come every morning between 05:05 and 05:20 and pee on the vac island. When he got caught he thought it was perfectly OK, saw no problem in peeing on the vac island. He didn’t think it was too funny when the police get involved. He thought we were “A” holes for getting the police involved. The public has little or no respect for the car wash business and they can do whatever they feel is right at the car wash.

We have lost all respect for Mr and Mrs Public. I could write a book and I haven't been doing this nearly as long as most of you older vets. We have now been doing it for 11 years if you can believe that Randy. We actually had a Granddaddy that once a month would come around the building from the back. Get out and wash his little Subaru Wagon, then go back to the car and get his napkins, open up the back hatch on his car and squat and drop the deuce right in the bay. I found out who he was and while I didn't know him personally I knew someone very well that knew him. I sent word that I was going to embarrass Grandpa in front of Grandma and the Grandkids at Walmart if he ever came on my property again. Needless to say it's been eight years and i haven't laid eyes on him again. But he thought he was real cute until the possibility was real that everyone in our community knew what he had done. I know he had some sleepless nights from what I've been told. What kind of a man.....well i'm not even going there. This would normally occur at 5:30 to 6:00 AM.

 

[Kimberly Berg]

I lock the door behind me when I am in the pump room. You might consider that.

Yes, you're right. I always lock the door when my back is towards the door. Don't need customers wandering inside. I have a small pump room, no place to sit down. When I take a break, I stand in the door way, facing out towards the 1st bay.

 

[99Roadking]

But don't just put padlocks on the original hasps, they'll just twist the hasps off. I had to make lock brackets out of 1/4" angle stainless to keep them out.

You will not totally keep a rogue out of your business. Has anyone noticed these plastic tooth picks laying around your site? I was told crooks keep them to try and pick locks or trigger machines to drop products with.

 

[MEP001]

Has anyone noticed these plastic tooth picks laying around your site? I was told crooks keep them to try and pick locks or trigger machines to drop products with.

That's unlikely. It takes pretty strong metal tools to pick locks. It takes longer reach than a 3" plastic pick to get a vendor to drop product.