If you are a car owner, you might have observed that different car wash businesses are offering various car wash services. All these choices and unfriendly terminologies may intimidate or confuse you.
In case you’re not familiar, we’re here to help you understand each type. Being aware of your options will help you know what type of service to avail for your car.
Two types of car washing based on machinery
- Manual – This is the type of car washing purely done by humans or without any help from any machine.
- Automatic – In contrast to the manual car washing, automatic car washing is the cleaning of your car without any human help. It mainly uses a machine to do the lifting and cleaning.
Two types of car washing based on the car wash structure
- Tunnel – This is the type of car washing wherein your car moves through the washing equipment. A conveyor belt usually pulls the vehicle inside the stationary and large wash machine.
Important note: All tunnel car washing will observe an automatic type of washing, which means there’s no human intervention. However, not all automatic washing is done inside a tunnel washing structure.
- In-Bay – When you avail of an in-bay car washing, your car is in a stationary position, and the cleaning machine moves around it.
Two types of car washing based on the washing method
- Friction – Most car washes are friction-based. In this method, your car is cleaned using cloth, brush, or any other physical elements that touch your vehicle.
- Touchless – No other objects come into contact with your vehicle during clean up. Your car is washed using a combination of chemicals in high-pressure water.
Other types of car washing
- Self-serve car wash – In this method, the owner does the cleaning and washing of their car. The car wash service only provides the location and some cleaning equipment, such as a brush, sprayer, and some chemicals. These washing stations are usually coin-operated.
The number of vehicles washed in this method depends on the customers availing of the service. Because the owner has full control over their car, they are also allowed to spend no matter how much time they want in cleaning their vehicles.
- Hand car wash – This is the type of car wash that is usually done at home. From the name itself, it’s cleaning the car using hands.
The number of vehicles washed using this method also depends on how fast and how thorough the washer is. Usually, in this method, the business gets lower throughput.
- Express car wash – This is the fastest-growing sector of the car wash industry and also the cheapest kind of service you can avail. It is a tunnel type of washing that uses a pay machine or an automatic teller. For the cleaning of the interior, they often provide a free vacuum cleaner inside but the car owner is responsible for doing the cleaning.
Conclusion
Now that you know the different types and terminologies used for car washing, be confident and specific in telling what type of car washing you want for your vehicle. If you’re planning to start a car wash business, knowing the terms and different types of car wash services will help you determine which kind of car wash service you want to offer. It will also make your communication with your car wash builders easier.
Thinking about starting your own carwash business? We got you! We’re your car wash supplier that will work with you from the planning phase to the building phase. Get in touch with us to know how we can help.
