1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

BANNED from my car wash!!!

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by Schmika, Mar 17, 2006.

  1. Schmika

    Schmika New Member

    Joined:
    May 27, 2005
    1,617
    2
    0
    Location:
    Xenia, OH
    I have been to this car wash a half dozen times. This time an employee comes out, asks "Is this one of those push button cars?", I refuse to be so pedestrian so I reply "It's a hybrid". He says, we can't do those anymore.

    I go see the owner and he says a couple weeks ago an employee was wiping the dash and hit the drive lever and the car took off. It is not worth the risk so...No more Hybrids.

    Oh well, I really ought to care for it myself anyway. Just a little cold. SO I went and gave a little less money to one that lets you drive it through yourself.
     
  2. mikepaul

    mikepaul Senior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 2, 2003
    1,763
    6
    0
    Location:
    Columbia, SC
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Huh. Perhaps they should ban the practice of cleaning cars while they are RUNNING?...
     
  3. Betelgeuse

    Betelgeuse Active Member

    Joined:
    Oct 11, 2005
    1,460
    24
    1
    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Also, they would have had to have their foot on the brake to actually shift it into drive. Ahh well; less money for them!
     
  4. gilahiker

    gilahiker New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2006
    186
    2
    0
    Location:
    New Mexico
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    Good one MikePaul...when I read Schmika's post all I could think of is why didn't they turn off the car??
     
  5. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

    Joined:
    Mar 2, 2005
    15,232
    1,563
    0
    Location:
    off into the sunset
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Banned?! Karl, you rebel you. Call the cops! :D
     
  6. Godiva

    Godiva AmeriKan Citizen

    Joined:
    Apr 8, 2005
    10,339
    14
    0
    Location:
    San Diego, CA
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Perhaps they should learn to drive.

    Got news for them. If they continue this policy they'll eventually lose a lot of business. More and more cars are going to move in this direction.

    Better for your Prius anyway. You should be washing it yourself to reduce swirls and paint damage from the car wash.
     
  7. galaxee

    galaxee mostly benevolent

    Joined:
    Mar 14, 2005
    9,810
    466
    0
    Location:
    MD
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    and if they wipe at the dash fast enough, they'll get some terrible kind of electrostatic shock from the high voltage that runs through the car!

    oOOoooohhhh! :rolleyes:

    what a ridiculous thing for them to do.
     
  8. mrbigh

    mrbigh Prius Absolutum Dominium

    Joined:
    Sep 6, 2005
    3,686
    699
    2
    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    Vehicle:
    Other Electric Vehicle
    I got a similar situation, (and I was paying $9 and change) and gess what, few blocks down the road I found another car-wash and you can drive through it (something very uncommon around here in Long Island), nobody interfering with the controls of the cars and or teaching how to operate it, having a blast!! watching the "fingers and spaghettis" doing their job, after washing and air drying ( and $3.00 bucks) I pull a a clean towel and finish the job in their lot in 2 minutes. I'm their customer twice a week. Allways there is an alternative with the competition ;)
     
  9. Walker1

    Walker1 Empire

    Joined:
    Jan 13, 2006
    911
    6
    0
    Location:
    FL
    Vehicle:
    2014 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    I must be different. I have a pressure cleaner as I live on a filthy dirt road-(Never again!!!). Sometimes we just pull out the hose & bucket. I can't remember the last time I paid anyone to wash or wax my vehicles. I know if I do it it's done right. I also like to play with the pressure cleaner. Oh, the joy of owning motor vehicles....
     
  10. cattail722

    cattail722 cattail722

    Joined:
    Mar 2, 2006
    47
    8
    0
    Location:
    Bay Area, California
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    I wonder why they just don't make sure the parking brake is on?? The car can't move on it's own with it on, you have to really press the gas pedal to make it move. Idiots!
     
  11. hycamguy07

    hycamguy07 New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2006
    2,707
    3
    0
    Location:
    Central Florida
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    every time I take mine in I have to give a 5min lesson on how to start shut off neutral ect.. I love those guy who say yeah I know and jump in and start looking for where to incert the house key lol :D
     
  12. Mystery Squid

    Mystery Squid Junior Member

    Joined:
    May 18, 2005
    2
    3
    0
    You should have raped him with your night-stick...

    :ph34r:
     
  13. Widdletink

    Widdletink Member

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2005
    218
    4
    0
    Location:
    Claremont, California
    Vehicle:
    2022 Prius Prime
    Model:
    LE
    Hi All,

    Well, from this story I think there is only one thing that it brings to mind for me "consider the source". You have to remember that if the folks working there at the car wash were all Rhodes Scholars they probably wouldn't be working there at all.

    Push button cars, indeed! I am surprised that the worker did not preface the comment with the phrase "the new fangled" just to make my image of the rube complete.

    Honestly, if this establishment decides not to service hybrids anymore they are going to be awfully quiet in the not too distant future.

    Wash your baby yourself. You will do a better job, save yourself some money and may actually find (as I have) that this is one "chore" that really is quite a pleasure to perform.

    Take care all & have a super weekend,

    Tisza
     
  14. feemia99

    feemia99 Junior Member

    Joined:
    Aug 15, 2005
    17
    2
    0
    Location:
    Eastern Washington
    Sounds like they did you a favor for letting them know that they're not a safe place to trust with your car.
     
  15. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

    Joined:
    Apr 13, 2004
    15,140
    611
    0
    Location:
    South Puget Sound, WA
    Vehicle:
    2013 Nissan LEAF
    Model:
    Persona
    i pay $1.50 at the coin-op and wash my own car. once in a while (if washing after eating and moving sluggishly) i get up to $2. cant wash car at home any more, that was banned here (only applies to me though since im about the only one who seems to follow this law) unless you have specially set up area for it that catches and filters the water first. some large apartment complexes have designated areas. few of these are maintained though...
     
  16. Schmika

    Schmika New Member

    Joined:
    May 27, 2005
    1,617
    2
    0
    Location:
    Xenia, OH

    Good LORD!!! You watch too much TV. (besides I was off dity and didn't have it with me) :lol:

    This is the kind of wash where they take the car from you. vacumn it out, clean all the windows and let it roll thru the wash. SO it has to stay in neutral. No parking brake can be on. I am sure there is a work around (Hey, they did it 6 times already) but the owner said....you gotta look at who we hire.
     
  17. Mystery Squid

    Mystery Squid Junior Member

    Joined:
    May 18, 2005
    2
    3
    0
    Speaking of night sticks...

    Did I ever tell you about a shop class I had in grade school? Well, I was bored, and for a shop project, I decided to create a night stick (figures right? :lol: ). When I figured out a neat way to make the body spin around the handle, other kids were like, "WOW!", and not more than a week went by before a bunch of kids started building them and attracted the ire of the administration.... Made the body of it nice, light, Pinewood, which IMO, hurt more (particularly if you got some velocity behind it) than a heavier wood one... Made a nice THA-WACK! noise when you nailed someone wearing a jacket...
    :ph34r:
     
  18. Excellerator

    Excellerator New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 11, 2006
    13
    0
    0
    Location:
    Vermont
    Just because it's a Hybrid doesn't mean it has a push button. Doesn't the Classic Prius and Honda Insight have conventional key slots?
     
  19. Godiva

    Godiva AmeriKan Citizen

    Joined:
    Apr 8, 2005
    10,339
    14
    0
    Location:
    San Diego, CA
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Hmm. A teacher friend and I used to joke about using yardsticks. Thin enough to bend a little upon impact. Then I got the idea to take a hammer to "fray" the end. That was our running joke, thwacking with the frayed yardstick. Since it was only a mind game I have no idea if you can actually fray a yardstick with a hammer, or if it will bend upon thwacking.

    It would probably break. And the hammer would probably just break the ends off.

    But I don't want to know.

    It would just spoil it for us.

    Other means of imaginary torture were green pez, tin foil beanies and duct taping to the ceiling.

    We are a twisted lot.