car wash lcd monitors brands

All of us have a tendency to treat the driver"s seat as our personal throne. That"s where we"re in our element, so we get comfortable—and complacent. Whether our fingers were last tapping on our phone screen, grasping the handle of a wrench, or carefully unwrapping a half-melted Hershey bar, we all tend to jump in, tune the radio, adjust the AC, and set a destination on the nav screen—all without first washing our hands.

And if you have a family? Other drivers use the car and its touchscreen, too. Of course, kids can"t resist touching any kind of screen, ever, and who knows where those tiny fingers have been? All parents have swiped their car"s touchscreen and felt... mystery muck. Yuck.

Sure, it"s cheaper and easier to use plain ol" Windex or Glass Plus, mainly because you"ve probably already got that stuff. Despite the temptation, though, you should avoid using household glass cleaner on your car"s touchscreen unless you"re positive the one you"re using contains neither ammonia nor alcohol. Besides, you may already own a great screen cleaner and not realize it.

Many modern automotive detailing products, including Chemical Guys Interior Cleaner and Meguiar"s Total Interior Detailer, are safe and effective to use on your car"s touchscreen. Read the label to be sure.

The fact is, there"s an even less expensive method to clean your car"s touchscreen, no products required—except a microfiber towel. (Again, you want to avoid scraping dust particles across the surface of your touchscreen to prevent scratches, so always use a clean microfiber towel.)

As a parent, however, I"m left asking the question: Will a simple water wipe eliminate germs in the family SUV? Yeah, no. Sorry, but knowing my children, and the impressive but disgusting level of filth they can achieve, I"m going to use a cleaning agent on my car"s touchscreen.

To get to the bottom of whether car screen cleaners were truly necessary, we used a very scientific methodology. That is, we got our fingers and hands dirty, and touched the heck out of a screen in a test vehicle in the Hearst Autos stable. We let it dry for a while, and then cleaned it according to the product"s instructions. We did that five times.

Word to the wise: Don"t discount a screen cleaner because it leaves streaks on your screen. Take your time and do it right. We noticed far too many people online complaining that the product they used wasn"t some sort of magical solution that cleaned perfectly with just one wipe. All screen cleaners—all glass cleaners, really—will streak unless you take the time and care to give the surface a soft buff at the end of the process.

With a combined 206 years of automotive publishing experience, Hearst Autos—Car and Driver, Road & Track, and Autoweek—knows cars better than just about anyone. The Gear Team is committed to delivering honest evaluations, hands-on tests, and product reviews driven by decades of knowledge and experience. We get our hands on almost every product, tool, and piece of gear we feature.

You made a significant investment to get the ideal location for your car wash – why not capitalize on it? Digital signage is the one advertising medium that cannot be turned off, fast-forwarded or ignored. With most consumers choosing to wash their car on impulse, it’s important your digital signage presents the reason they should pick your facility. With 85% of consumers saying digital signage influences their future buying decisions, there"s no better way to attract attention and revenue.

Digital signage is a marketing tool that hits each of the "P"s" and can amplify other advertising efforts – your rewards program, mobile app promotions, car wash specials, etc.

Car washes are a method people use to “treat” themselves – making it a luxury item they splurge on when the moment is right. Whether it be indoors or out, digital signage is the solution to drive impulse buying and differentiate your offerings from other nearby establishments.

Learn how to put digital displays to work for you – making the right impression at just the right time. Attract attention with LED and LCD displays, inside and outside. See how your business can improve the customer experience, influence their decisions, and enhance your brand.

Use a digital menu board to highlight the advantages of each service offered, provide pricing options and suggest add-on services. Digital signage also provides opportunities to upsell as customers exit the bay. Highlight services offered after the wash – detailing, washing mats, vacuums, car fresheners, drying towels or even dog washes.

Your efforts to reach your community are just a click away with car wash content packages. View and purchase content created by our professional creative services team from our easy-to-use online store. Just shop, click, download and use.

LED Monuments and Pylon signs from Signdealz are designed to turn commuters into customers. We will work with designers, architects, and Car Wash service companies to coordinate design efforts to make sure the monument sign will meet your municipal codes and blend with the overall Car Wash design. We offer Watchfire Digital Displays for our monument signs. They come with a 5 Year Parts Warranty and 5 Year Labor Warranty.

When you own a car wash, the best way to get your return on investment (ROI) is to get as many cars in your car wash as possible. You need to increase total traffic into your wash. Digital signs allow you to effectively advertise to any type of audience and demographic you want to go after. You can inform your customers with specials and membership offers that will help you build your recurring monthly revenue.

The LaserWash 360 Plus car wash system allows more opportunities to enhance your revenue stream with new service offerings and improve car wash package differentiation to better align with your customer"s needs. New services include; Front Bug Prep, dedicated Super Sealant applicators, FlashDry® rinse and enhanced arch control for better detergent coverage and improved bug removal. Substantially faster wash speeds will increase your vehicle throughput - reducing a customer"s total time at the site and putting a smile on their face.

Cost reductions in water, electricity and chemicals drop right to your bottom line while simpler parts replacements and easier troubleshooting reduce on-going maintenance costs. The Smart 360™ Technology system dramatically reduces the interaction needed by an attendant while the non-corrosive structure fights the harsh wash environment for the long-term. A "keep-it-simple" design goal is realized by significant reductions in sensors, swivels, valves and the use of common electronic parts throughout.

With the PDQ LaserWash 360 Plus, your return on investment is a combination of wash volume increases, improved revenue per wash and reduced costs per car. You’ll enjoy a quick payback from your initial investment, plus the peace of mind of knowing that you have a new machine and the true "Green Savings" from a faster, simpler and more efficient system that confirms the profit-increasing potential to your bottom line.

Typical first year impacts show that car wash volume increases from faster speeds and quicker lines. Your revenue increases per wash through the addition of new services and the ability to better differentiate wash packages and cost decreases from chemical, water and electricity reductions, lower maintenance costs and less attendant labor.

We desperately needed to upgrade our point-of-sale system and needed a solution that could bridge all of our washes with the latest technology. Micrologic and their “can do” attitude were able to provide us with that solution and more. One of the most important benefits of using Micrologic’s system is that our people love it and we can wash more cars per hour with their waterproof touch screen. It is easier to use than anything else I’ve seen. On busy days we are able to wash 200 car per hour using wireless hand held computers and the waterproof touchscreen. No other system is easier to use and we strongly recommend their solution. Tom Hoffman, Jr.

It’s a well-known fact that when you wash a car at home, you end up consuming three times more water than a professional mobile car wash. Washing a dirty vehicle in the driveway or the yard is also detrimental for the environment because a typical home drainage system does not boast a separation technique that would expel the greasy water to a waste treatment plant and stop it from contaminating local streams or lakes. Not surprisingly then, many people opt to clean their cars at a professional self car wash.

The history of professional car washes can be traced back to 1914. Two men opened a business called ‘Automated Laundry’ in Detroit, United States, and assigned workers to soap, rinse, and dry the cars which were manually pushed into a tunnel. It wasn’t until 1940that the first ‘automated’ conveyor-style car wash was opened in California. But, even then, the actual cleaning of the vehicle was done manually.

The world got its first semi-automatic car wash system in 1946when Thomas Simpson opened a car wash with an overhead sprinkler and an air blower to take some manual labor out of the process. The first completely touchless automatic car wash came up in Seattle in 1951, and by the 1960s, these fully-mechanized car wash systems had started popping up across America.

Now, the car wash service market is a multibillion-dollar industry, with its global worth expected to grow to more than USD 41 billion by 2025.Let’s take a look at some of the most technologically-advanced and customer-centric car wash companies from across the world that can be trusted to help the industry grow.

Latvia-based Wash&Drivewas established in 2014 to fulfill the burgeoning demand for automatic car wash outlets in the Baltic state. Today, with multiple branches in eight Latvian cities, Wash&Drive has already become the biggest self-service car wash chain in Latvia. Some of its happy clients include Latvia’s Emergency Medical Service (EMS), carbonated water producer Venden, laundry services provider Elis, as well as the biggest casino of the Baltic states, Olympic.

Wash&Drive gets its auto car wash technology from some of the biggest players in the industry, including Europe’s Kärcher and Coleman Hanna. In the express service option, the car is placed on an automated conveyor line and is thoroughly washed in only 3 minutes.

Further, Wash&Drive is the first car wash chain in Latvia to provide a complete touchless car wash experience to its patrons. The company has teamed up with integrated solutions provider Hansab to equip its car wash stations with Nayax card acceptance terminals for contactless payments and 24×7 operations.

As construction material supplier Profcentrs, a client of Wash&Drive, says,“We have signed a contract and received contactless payment cards for each employee. This allows for easy operations in the car wash and also ensures accurate accounting of the money utilized by each user in our company’s books.”

It should also be noted that by reusing and recycling 80 percent of the wash water, Wash&Drive ensures that it is both economical and environmental-friendly.

Wash&Drive will continue to grow to realize its vision of servicing up to 20,000 cars every day with a planned investment of EUR 12 million. The company also plans to install more Nayax POS terminals to be able to remotely monitor its equipment status and sales.

College Park Car Wash is a family-owned business in the City of College Park, Maryland, and a popular self car wash choice for customers ranging from college students and law enforcement agencies to everyday motorists in the area looking for a swift and economical option to clean their vehicles.

The 24×7 facility was opened by owner David DuGoff on Feb 3, 1997, with state-of-the-art self-service car wash equipment in eight bays. Since then, College Park Car Wash has continually reinvented itself with modern technology, replacing the meter box doors, pump stands, hoses, boom configuration, etc., as needed and expanding its service offerings.

Today, everything from a wheel brush to low-pressure carnauba wax can be availed at this full-service car wash. DuGoff has recently expanded to a second outlet in Beltsville, Maryland, as well.

DuGoff has taken a very customer-centric approach to his self-service car wash business, equipping the facilities with ample lighting so customers feel safe no matter what time they visit, setting-up live-streaming webcams to allow patrons to anticipate the wait time, installing vending machines stocked with top-of-the-line car detailing products, and putting in award-winning card reading machines that offer quick and safe contactless payment options.

DuGoff, who had spent almost two decades in the oil business previously with his family, saysthat connecting with the community and taking proactive steps to build customer loyalty has also been instrumental in keeping the business running for 24 years. So, it’s not uncommon to see the car wash tie up with local schools or churches to organize fundraisers or give away free baseball tickets to customers.

A leading innovator in the car wash industry, Beacon Mobilehelps car washes and automotive brands to increase their profits and improve customer loyalty through interactive technology solutions, such as sales-driven mobile apps and branded websites.

Headquartered in the United States, the team at Beacon Mobile has been creating mobile apps since the early days of 2009. However, since most wash brands typically don’t have the budget to hire a software firm to build a mobile car wash app from scratch, Beacon Mobile offers a readymade marketing and sales platform that can be customized rapidly by a small business at a fraction of the typical cost. The feature-rich platform allows the car wash owner to have complete control over the app while Beacon Mobile keeps everything running smoothly in the background.

Under the leadership of Founder and CEO, Alan Nawoj, Beacon Mobile has also invented a novel way to manage membership programs and fleet accounts for automatic car wash facilities. This patent-pending method promises to wean members off of conventional RFID and/or number plate scanning systems and offers a unique, tamper-proof way to prevent non-members from getting free car washes.

Further, Beacon Mobile offers an integrated sales and marketing solution to forward-thinking car washes that offer a multitude of services – wash bays, vacuums, dog washes, vending machines, etc. – under one roof. For this, the company hasjoined forceswith Nayax, a global leader in complete cashless solutions, as well as telemetry and a management platform, to unattended automatic equipment.

Today, Beacon Mobile has become a one-stop-shop for any auto car wash that wants to transition to a touchless car wash with solutions like in-app payment for washes, gamification, geofencing, and beacons, made-to-order loyalty programs, fleet account management, and much more.

is run by Greg Scott, an owner-operator of unlimited car wash facilities since 1999. His experience, knowledge, and passion for the full service cash wash industry put Scott in a league of his own when it comes to buying, selling, leasing, or developing a car wash in any part of Australia.

To date, Scott has sold over 150 car washes nationally since establishing National Car Wash Sales in 2013. The company has also partnered with several market leaders ranging from financial institutions (ANZ) and cashless payment solutions providers (Nayax, TapNGo) to water recycling system manufacturers (Purewater) and laundry equipment suppliers (GC Laundry Equipment) to ensure that clients maximize their gains from their full-service car wash facility.

Scott’s endless knowledge about the car wash industry means that not only will he be able to help you establish the type of wash suitable for the population and demographics in your area, but he would also assist you with the planning of your car wash design to ensure trouble-free operations in the future.

Getting on board with National Car Wash Sales means that you don’t have to worry about nitty-gritty questions like what should be the width of the bay or what size of the outlet pipes would ensure a sustainable yet optimum wash. Scott’s company even helps you find the right real estate and organize all the construction works.

Scott’s ability to provide impeccable advice on choosing new equipment and machinery has already earned him many loyal customerswho swear by his recommendations for branding and advertising the car wash site as well. As part of the continued after-sales support, Scott also arranges training sessions on the day-to-day operations of a car wash.

As Europe’s largest steam cleaning equipment distributor, Green Steamhas quickly become a force to be reckoned with in the self-service car wash industry. Today, if you were to search for a steam car wash near me in Poland, the company’s headquarters, chances are you would be directed to a petrol station or car wash facility housing Green Steam’s flagship Self Service Steam Car Wash Vacuum product. The company also has touchless steam car wash clients in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Romania.

Green Steam was established to fill the last existing gap in the touchless car wash segment – upholstery cleaning. The company realized that mobile car wash customers want to clean their car comprehensively not only from the outside but also from the inside. As such, Green Steam’s self car wash devices are designed to allow self-service car washes, automatic car washes, and petrol stations to extend their range of services and attract new customers who wish to clean the interiors of their cars on their own.

With an extremely short drying time (since only pressurized dry steam is used), Green Steam enables drivers to wash, disinfect, and deodorize their car upholstery on their own in a matter of minutes. Motorists also enjoy the advantages of cost savings and the comfort that comes with being able to choose the place and the date of the service on their own.

Green Steam’s productscome in several configurations – steam only; a combination of steam and vacuum; steam, vacuum, and tire inflator combo; and a combination of upholstery cleaning and disinfection of car details, which are often left dirty even after an exterior mobile car wash.

To provide its customers with a complete and detailed solution, Green Steam also offers an accesorythat allows payments by a credit or debit card. This added convenience, Green Steam notes, has empowered car wash owners to increase their income by as much as 15 percent.

Calgary, Canada-based 24H Car Washhas been operating at the Horizon Auto Center for over 25 years now. With six self-service bays operating 24×7, including twooversized bays designed especially for large trucks, customers can clean their vehicles anytime at their convenience.

Interestingly, Calgary’s Drainage Bylaw states that only water may enter the storm sewers. This means no resident can wash their car on the streets with soap or detergent – not even biodegradable ones. The law also prohibits “overly dirty” cars from being washed on the streets, with the first offense attracting a fine of $500. As such, self car wash facilities like 24Hr Car Wash provide an attractive and affordable car cleaning solution to drivers.

Using only the highest quality products and leading-edge mobile car wash equipment has earned 24Hr Car Wash many loyal customers. A quick look at their reviewspage tells that customers don’t mind driving long distances simply to benefit from the water pressure which is kept at a level powerful enough to get salt off cars with minimal brush use, and hot water is provided too.

Keeping customer convenience in mind, the facility has outfitted its bays with an all-in-one solution for cashless payments, ensuring that drivers can pay via tap and go cards, chip credit cards, as well as digital wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Valet Auto Wash has been delighting customers since 1994 with its automatic car wash technology and professional customer care. The company takes pride in repurposing historical and unused buildings in its communities, and as such, its sites are usually massive.

The company’s ‘crown jewel’ is a 55,000-square-foot site in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, United States, that houses a 245-foot-long tunnel and provides customers with a ‘never-ending experience’. When it opened in 2016, the Lawrenceville site became renownedas the longest conveyor car wash in the world. Today, Valet Auto Wash is spread across nine locations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and its owner Chris Vernon is living his dream of being known as an industry icon or beacon.

The goal for Vernon and his team has been to make his full-service car wash sites as much an attraction as they are a utility. A few Valet Auto Wash sites have a ‘Brilliance Wax Tunnel’ where state-of-the-art buffing equipment is engaged to deliver eye-popping all-over shine. Then there is the 23-point oil, lube, and filter service, as well as indoor self-service vacuum stations.

Now, all these bells and whistles do not mean that Valet Auto Wash is not committed to the environment. The full-service car wash captures all of the water used in each wash and then filters and treats it for reuse in the wash process, effectively saving hundreds of gallons of water every year.

The journey of UK-based Wilcomatic Wash Systemsbegan in 1967 as a specialist vehicle washing operation. In a history that spans more than 50 years, the company has come to be known as the UK’s leading vehicle wash company, diversified its offerings to provide a wide range of products and services for multiple sectors, and accumulated a robust customer base across Europe, Asia, the United States, and Australia.

In 2019, Westbridge Capital acquired the company to support its global growth. Today, Wilcomatic has more than 2,000 car wash installations across the world servicing 8 million vehicles every year.

A pioneer in the touchless car wash segment, Wilcomatic is creditedwith developing a new kind of wash chemical in collaboration with Christ Wash Systems. This new chemical revolutionized the concept of the touchless car wash by replacing a strong chemical that required that it be left on the vehicle for soaking before it could rinse off any dirt and blemishes.

Environmental concerns necessitated that this aggressive chemical be replaced and Wilcomatic provided the industry with the first system where a less harmful chemical was able to achieve great results on each wash, clocking an incredible success rate of 98 percent! The company is also committed to rainwater harvesting, reclamation, and wash water recycling.

One of Wilcomatic’s satisfied clients is Tesco, the largest supermarket retailer in the UK that provides a self-service car wash facility on its sites. Evolving its car wash service continually, Wilcomatic has installed contactless payment systems at Tesco sites and is also leveraging telemetry technology to remotely monitor each site for usage and maintenance issues.

Technology trailblazer WashTeccalls itself the world leader in the car wash industry. And the Germany-based company provides numbers to support this claim.

The company says that over 40,000 self-service and automatic car washes from WashTec are in use around the world, in which more than two million vehicles are washed every day. Furthermore, the company employs over 1,800 car washing experts in more than 80 countries. Its extensive service and distributorship network adds another 900 technicians and sales partners to the system. And, also, its parent company has been manufacturing car wash systems since the early 1960s.

WashTec is the creator of the three-brush gantry car wash system, the first in the market to combine a fully automatic car wash and drying system to create a complete car wash solution, and the developer of the SelfTecs concept for self-service car washes that makes it possible for washing and polishing to be performed in a single program step.

A recent innovative digital solution comes in the form of the EasyCarWashapp, using which the subscribers of the unlimited car wash program can then drive directly into the washing bay and choose their preferred service through their mobile phones. A camera scans the license plate number to confirm the membership and starts the program.

WashTec manufactures self-service car wash systems to suit every site size and requirement. Be it compact rack systems or tailor-made cabinet systems or even a mobile car wash solution that can be integrated with any existing business without additional steelwork construction, WashTec’s cost-efficient and flexible solutions come with the added convenience of a cashless payment system.

Founded in 2004, N&S Servicesis an independent maintenance service provider that came into existence to help car wash owners maximize revenues. The UK-based company can install, repair, and maintain all types of self-service car wash equipment, and also manufactures its own high-quality cleaning products that promise excellent wash and dry performance.

The founders, Paul and Neil, have 40 years of experience in car wash equipment maintenance. They ensure that all N&S Services engineers are trained to a very high standard and obtain a safety passport from the UK Petroleum Industry Association before working at any filling station.

The company takes pride in maintaining a central reserve of spares for almost all makes of car washes that have been installed in the UK for the past 20 years. This allows N&S Services to respond to customer service calls within 24 hours and provide an early solution to any problem swiftly.

The company makes it a point to create customized maintenance contracts for each customer, factoring in parameters like the age of the self car wash machine, the type of machine, its service history, washing capacity, etc. With a system that suits every location and budget, N&S Services has been able to count among its client’s private car wash operators, independent forecourt owners, car manufacturers, and commercial operators alike.

N&S Services offers a complete turnkey package for mobile car wash, outfitting its forecourt equipment with cashless payment solutionsfrom global telemetry leaders like Nayax. This ensures that the self-service car wash will continue to generate income for its owners even when unattended.

Headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, Zips Car Washis one of the largest and fastest-growing tunnel car wash companies in the United States. The company began as a single location outlet in 2004 and has now grown to over 185 customer service centers in 17 US states.

This rapid growth has come through hard work, dedication, and a series of smart acquisitions. In 2016, Zips acquiredBoomerang Car Wash, which added 31 unlimited car wash sites to Zips’ network. Then, in 2018, Zips acquired seven locationsfrom Rain Tunnel Car Wash. This was quickly followed by the buyout of five sites from American Pride Xpress Car Wash. Another self car wash site was taken over from Eco Express.

Interestingly, many stores were added in locations where Zips already had a strong customer base, effectively ensuring that anyone looking for a car wash near me would be directed to a Zips unlimited car wash site. But Zips doesn’t only want to grow; it also wants to make a difference in the lives of its customers and communities.

With its catchphrase being ‘We’re a green kind of clean’, the company uses only eco-friendly chemicals at each site and makes sure that its recycling system saves energy and water with every wash. Meanwhile, to encourage road safety among young drivers, Zips has started an initiative called DriveClean. Zips’ locations also serve as a collection site for homeless shelters and food banks, with the company giving back thousands of dollars to the community each year.

One of the most popular services at Zips is the three-minute Ride-Thru Tunnel Wash. Then, there is a plethora of waxing, shining, and cleaning services that would help any vehicle to look great. As a plus, all car washes include access to free self-serve vacuums for interior cleaning.

The Auto Spa and the Auto Spa Express are a part of the Maryland, United States-based WLF Automotive Groupwhich has been active in the car care industry since 1987. The Group, which also has auto repair and vehicle maintenance centers, serves more than 800,000 customers each year.

Offering both full-service car wash and express mobile car wash services, the Auto Spaswork on a monthly membership model that gives members the convenience to wash their cars once a day, every day, at a low price.

Featuring some of the most innovative stainless-steel car wash equipment in the United States, the Auto Spas are currently operational at eight locations across Maryland. Five more locations are under construction, with one of them being in Pennsylvania.

The Auto Spas are known not only for their state-of-the-art facility, but also their sleek, custom design based on an open concept. There is colorful LED lighting throughout their wash tunnels, with a rainbow rinse adding enjoyment to the overall experience.

BlueWave Express Car Wash was founded in 2007 with the goal of becoming the ‘Starbucks of Car Washes’. Now operational in 34 locations, the California-headquartered company has been ranked 14 in the 2020 Top 50 Us Conveyor Carwash ListbyProfessional Carwashing and Detailingmagazine.

BlueWave’s managing partners have more than 60 years of experience in the car wash industry. And their expansion strategy entails purchasing properties that are located near well-established businesses, such as Wal-Mart, Family Dollar, or McDonald’s. These kinds of high-visibility, high-traffic premier retail locations have allowed the self-service car wash company to tap into high-income households and grow its business quickly.

Despite being an express car wash, and not a full-service car wash, the company offers its customers several amenities that help it to stand out from the competition. For example, a free vacuum service is included in the low-cost wash price with no time limitation.

The unlimited car wash company also reclaims and reuses up to 80 percent of the water used in the car wash process. It also makes it a point to use only biodegradable soaps and detergents, the contaminants of which are captured and disposed of properly. BlueWave is further known to work locally with city groups to spread awareness about the importance of water conservation.

A relatively new kid on the block, Champion XPressopened its doors in New Mexico, United States, as recently as August 2015. Interestingly, its General Manager Jeff Wagner did not have any experience in the car wash industry, but he was hired by his brother-in-law and nephews (all co-owners in the company) to run the family-owned business.

Champion Xpress offers monthly recurring plans, gift cards, and prepaid washes to its customers. Though standard prices vary by region, the company offers significant cost savings on family plans.

A 40-year-old family-owned and operated business, Fast Eddie’s Car Wash and Oil Changeis a formidable force in the Michigan, United States, car wash market. Its high-quality, convenient, and affordable mobile car wash services throughout Michigan have made Fast Eddie’s one of the most trusted brands in car cleaning in the state.

With 250 employees at 16 locations providing customers a combination of car wash, detailing, oil change, and preventative maintenance services, Fast Eddie’s has also been named among the Top 50 car wash and oil change facilities in the United States, in addition to being hailed as the ‘Best Car Wash’ in many communities it serves.

As for their services, the company offers a variety of unlimited car wash packages to keep customers’ vehicles shining all year round. Vehicle-specific products and used, and the monthly price is charged through credit card rebilling since cash is not accepted.

ASpanish multinational group, Istobal comes with over 65 years of experience in the car wash business. Istobal exports its products and services to more than 75 countries across the globe and boasts a workforce of more than 900 employees. An extensive network of distributors and nine commercial subsidiaries in the US and Europe regions have made Istobal a market leader in the design, manufacturing, and marketing of vehicle wash care solutions.

The company started in 1950 as a small repair shop. By 1969, it had entered the car wash sector and gained complete specialization in the car wash field by 2000. Today, the ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certified organization is well-known for its state-of-the-art solutions for automatic car wash and tunnels as well as jet wash centers.

To improve the touchless car wash experience, Istobal leverages a variety of digital solutions and innovative cashless payment systems. ItsSmartwashtechnology can transform any self-service car wash into a fully connected, autonomous, controlled, and monitored system.

A mobile app allows users to activate the automatic car wash machines without having to get out of the vehicle. At the same time, a loyalty wallet card enables drivers to accumulate their credit and enjoy various deals and discounts.

For a truly hassle-free experience, Istobal provides car wash owners with everything they need to connect their self car wash equipment with its digital platform, and extract and save valuable data on the cloud. The digital management of a car wash business, Istobal says, can radically improve the efficiency and profitability of the business.

Glasgow, UK-based Electrajetspecializes in designing and manufacturing pressure washers for the car care industry. After 20 years in the game, Electrajet boasts an ever-growing customer base ranging from the UK’s largest automotive dealerships, agricultural vehicles and haulers to the food industry.

The company’s jet wash machines offer several scenario-specific wash options, including hot snow foam trigger reel, safe traffic film remover hot wash, genuine reverse osmosis streak-free high-pressure rinse, and iron exact wheel cleaner trigger. All machines can be outfitted with Nayax debit and credit card readers and support Nayax virtual money fobs for a contactless payment experience.

Another factor that has helped Electrajet to make a name for itself and get featured on this list is that it offers a same-day call-out facility should there ever be a problem with any of its products. The company’s trained engineers carry a full catalog of spare parts in their vehicles to carry out immediate repairs and modifications.

The story of Australia-based Shiners Car Wash Systemsstarts in 1992. Intrigued by the rapid advancements in the car wash industry, good friends Richard Davison and John Whitechurch decide to take a trip to the birthplace of the modern car wash – the United States. After two weeks of nonstop meetings with operators, distributors, and equipment manufacturers Davison and Whitechurch get convinced that they need to bring this new concept of car washing to ‘the land Down Under’.

By May 1993, Shiners Car Wash Systems’ first self-service car wash site, housing two rows of six washing bays, was ready for business. With the car wash becoming an instant request, the owners were flooded with inquiries from people who wanted to develop similar facilities.

Today, Shiners Car Wash Systems have installed more than 200 car wash systems across Australia and New Zealand, with their robust partner network consisting of leading car wash brands such as Coleman Hanna Car Wash Systems, Washworld, Lustra, Blue Coral, and Unitec.

The company has won dozens of awards, both for the robust sales of self-car wash systems and for radically reducing the average water use at its own car wash site. So much so, the Australian Car Wash Association (ACWA) has given Shiners’ car wash site in Melbourne a 4 and 5-star rating for using less than 40 liters of water per vehicle in the self-serve bays.

The success stories of these car wash companies are proof that when it comes to providing the best self-service car wash experience, customer focus is the key.

By leveraging technology to increase the speed and efficiency of the entire car wash process, offering special deals and amenities to increase brand loyalty, creating a thoughtful, environmental-friendly car wash program, and giving back to the community are some practical ways through which companies can ensure that clients will keep coming back for years to come.

Planar® CarbonLight™ VX Series is comprised of carbon fiber-framed indoor LED video wall and floor displays with exceptional on-camera visual properties and deployment versatility, available in 1.9 and 2.6mm pixel pitch (wall) and 2.6mm (floor).

Planar® CarbonLight™ VX Series is comprised of carbon fiber-framed indoor LED video wall and floor displays with exceptional on-camera visual properties and deployment versatility, available in 1.9 and 2.6mm pixel pitch (wall) and 2.6mm (floor).

Carbon fiber-framed indoor LED video wall and floor displays with exceptional on-camera visual properties and deployment versatility for various installations including virtual production and extended reality.

a line of extreme and ultra-narrow bezel LCD displays that provides a video wall solution for demanding requirements of 24x7 mission-critical applications and high ambient light environments

DRB unites DRB Systems® and Unitec® under one brand with a singular goal: To help all car wash operators squeeze every ounce of profitability out of their investments with our car wash POS and related technology.

Trusted by more top 50 conveyor car wash chains than all other technology providers combined, DRB Tunnel Solutions is the proven partner to provide the POS and optimization technology that tunnel car wash operators need to achieve long-term growth.

DRB In-Bay Solutions provides innovative services and point-of-sale software delivered through rock-solid, reliable Unitec® hardware. Our solutions are designed to meet the unique needs of the unattended and C-Store car wash market across the U.S. and Canada.

Rainforest Car Wash is a successful chain in Northeast Ohio, but the road to success was rocky. Learn how the owners overcame technology problems to achieve their goals.

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We invite any customer with a Sewell license plate frame or Sewell badge on the back of their vehicle to schedule a complimentary car wash using the reservation tool below. Car washes may be scheduled up to one week in advance. Thank you for being a Sewell customer and we look forward to your visit.

We understand customers may have questions about cleaning and disinfecting options for their Dell products. The guidance below applies to all Dell-branded PCs, monitors or display screen, docking stations, keyboards, and mouses.

A creative, attractive sign can help your business stand apart from the competition, and can be an essential component to your washes overall marketing strategy. A sign that contains a business’s logo can help reinforce its brand. Signs are also used to draw attention to promotions and to convey information about the business.

The hardest part of using an automatic car wash—the kind where machines do all the work while you wait—might be making the right choice from a staggering menu of options. Should you pay more for spray-on wax? Is an undercarriage wash worth it? And what the heck is “wheel brite”?

Whether you"re washing off a layer of pollen or stubborn dirt, it’s confusing. That’s why CR checked in with our own experts as well as paint specialists, car-wash owners, professional detailers, and soap manufacturers to find out just what goes on behind the scenes at a car wash.

Although extras like wax and tire cleaner may make your car look better, we found out that it won’t hurt your car to skip them—and it might just save you some cash.

Cleaning a car isn’t just about cosmetics. According to John Ibbotson, Consumer Reports’ chief mechanic, regular washing can help protect your car"s finish. “You need to remove that road grit and residue left from rain and birds, or it can lead to damaged paint and corrosion,” he says. That"s true even if your car has sat outdoors in a driveway or parking space without being driven.

What does regular washing mean? Dennis Taljan, director of global technology at the paint company PPG has a simple rule of thumb: “When you see stuff on it, wash it," he says.

Taljan points out that today’s cars aren’t as susceptible to rust, peeling paint, and faded clearcoat as older cars used to be, but they still need thorough cleanings to keep grime, salt, and mud from accumulating in places where they can get stuck.

Car washes also keep that grime and dirt from settling into paint, says Paul Lamberty, who was a technical manager for automotive coatings at BASF before retiring recently. “The dirt will actually sweat into the paint film, and that detracts from the gloss.”

The same goes for bird droppings, which can degrade the finish on paint as they dry, and bugs, which release amino acids that can damage a car’s clearcoat. “It’s a very slow process, but it will etch into the film,” Lamberty says.

Drivers can check out what online reviewers have to say, but “the best thing is just to pull in and look at it,” says Patrick Mosesso, owner of the Auto Bright Car Wash in Framingham, Mass. Eyeball the cars coming out of the wash: Are they clean? Is the building well-cared for?

Car washes that seem really cheap may have a hidden cost. Gina Budhai, a professional detailer and managing partner at Car Pool Detail in Richmond, Va., cautions that those car washes may save you money but hurt your car.

They might not replace dirty towels, or use more caustic soaps that remove dirt easily but aren’t as good for a car’s finish. “They’re looking for added revenues,” she says. “What kind of brushes are they using? Are they too harsh for the car? Are they using the cheapest soaps?”

They also might be rushing the job. Cheap car washes might get straight to scrubbing, but a good car wash will apply soap at the beginning and give it a few seconds to soak in.

Without presoaking, dirt will be dragged across a car’s surface instead of being washed off, Mosesso says. “That soap is not just soap,” he says. “There’s lubricants in there; there’s surfactants in there that break the bond the dirt has with that surface.”

So-called “touchless" washes use chemicals and a powerful water spray to remove dirt. Taljan says that automotive finishes are durable enough for any kind of wash, but that poorly maintained bristle or soft-cloth washes could create problems. “As designs, they’re all capable, and I don’t have any hesitation with any of them,” he says. “But as they’re maintained, that’s where you can get a difference.”

If you can, take a look at the brushes before your car goes through the wash. If they look dirty, Taljan warns, they’re probably embedded with dirt from other customers’ cars, which can damage yours.

Dirty cloths or brushes can transfer dirt from one car to another. “You don’t know who came before you, and what was on their car,” Lamberty says, but now it"ll be on your car.

Trouble is, the gentler touchless combination of sprayed-on water and soap alone doesn’t always remove all of the dirt. “You’re relying solely on chemistry,” says Al West, a sales manager at Simoniz, a company that makes chemicals and cleaners for car washes. He says that drivers who usually use touchless washes should occasionally switch it up and get a soft-cloth wash.

You don"t need this option every time you hit the car wash. But it’s a good idea to opt for an undercarriage wash at least once a season, especially if you drive through mud or live in a part of the country where roads are salted in winter, CR"s experts say. According to Taljan, rust can start when a car’s built-in protective layers are breached, or if mud, sand, and salt get stuck in hard-to-clean recesses of a vehicle’s underbody.

A high-pressure wash of a car’s undercarriage sprays off those attackers and prevents rust. “Just getting all that stuff off is the focus," he says. "I like something that cleans the underbody, that’s just getting the junk out.”

Still, some car washes clean undercarriages better than others. “You really have to know the car wash,” he says. “It really comes down to how much water is coming out of those nozzles.”

If you want to get some brake dust off, sure. Brake dust—that black powder that accumulates on rims—has a different chemical composition than road grime and salt, so it requires a different kind of soap to remove it. But unless you’re especially finicky about your car’s appearance, your wheels probably won’t be in trouble if you skip the extra service.

There’s actual science behind using specific cleaners for specific parts of cars. For instance, glass and chrome need a different soap than painted surfaces do, Mosesso says.

“The finish on a car built anywhere in the last 10 years, frankly, it’s strong, it’s going to last,” says Taljan. While spray-on wax can have some purely cosmetic benefits, he says that a modern car’s finish will last and look good even without frequent waxing, unlike the ’73 Chevy Chevelle he used to drive, which would get chalky without constant care and attention.

Even car-wash owners and soap salespeople agree that spray-on wax adds only cosmetic benefits. “Is it as good as hand-waxing your car? Of course not. It takes 2 minutes,” says West.

More expensive spray waxes—like carnauba wax—last longer. Still, both Mosesso and West say that even a basic silicone-based wax will enhance the vehicle’s existing shine and help prevent water spots during drying.

Many enthusiasts prefer to have their cars detailed and hand-washed for the ultimate in appearance and paint protection. But for the average consumer, an inexpensive automatic car wash is a good way to go. Even professional detailers see it that way.

“Car washes are meant to maintain a clean car,” says Budhai. “It’s kind of unrealistic to expect that it’s going to scrub it all off and make it perfect.”

According to her, detailing isn’t just about restoring a showroom shine. There are also some messes that an automatic wash just can’t clean. “You can’t get mildew off from an automatic car wash,” says Budhai. “You can’t go off-roading and you’ve got mud stuck onto it and it’s going to clean it all off.” Machines also give the same wash every time. Only a human knows to spend extra time removing bugs from a front bumper or scrubbing tire rims.

CR and other experts warn that hand-washing at home with the wrong materials might do more harm than good. For instance, using the wrong type of soap—Ibbotson says he"s seen folks even use dish detergent—can strip a car’s finish of its protective qualities, and using a sponge improperly may cause swirl marks.

The bottom line, says Jake Fisher, CR’s director of auto testing, is that owners need only keep their cars reasonably clean over time. “Absolutely, owners should make sure the dirt and salt that attack your car’s paint and undercarriage get cleaned off regularly," he says. "But some of the extras are just for vanity’s sake. You’re better off saving your money.”

Washing a car is pretty straightforward, right? On the "Consumer 101" TV show, Consumer Reports expert Jen Stockburger reveals the top tips for keeping your ride sparkling clean.

Despite my love for quirky, old European sedans like the Renault Medallion, it"s my passion to help others find a safe, reliable car that still puts a smile on their face—even if they"re stuck in traffic. When I"m not behind the wheel or the keyboard, you can find me exploring a new city on foot or planning my next trip.