Automatic car wash etiquette

Sort things out while you wait

The time to decide on a package, find your payment and get the car ready is while the car ahead of you is in the bay, not once you reach the entrance. Close the windows and sunroof, switch off rain-sensing wipers and the rear wiper, and fold the mirrors if your car allows it. If you have a mast antenna, take it off.

In winter, knock heavy snow off the roof and hood before your turn. A slab of packed snow will not wash off properly, and it tends to slide down onto the windshield halfway through. Large clumps of mud or ice packed in the wheel wells are worth kicking loose too, so they end up on the ground outside rather than in the bay.

Read the signs once, properly

Every automatic wash posts its own rules at the entrance: height and size limits, whether accessories need to come off, what gear to be in. They are not all the same, so read them even if you have used other washes. If your vehicle is close to the posted height or carries something on the roof, decide before you pull up, not with three cars behind you.

In the bay

Drive in slowly and straight, and follow the signal that tells you when to go and where to stop. Stay in the car with the doors shut for the whole cycle. Keep your hands off the controls once you are positioned and do what the posted instructions say about gear and brakes.

If something seems wrong partway through, stay put and let the cycle finish or stop, rather than reversing out. Equipment in an in-bay wash moves around the vehicle, and a car that moves unexpectedly is far more likely to be hit than one that stays where it was told.

On the way out

When the signal shows the wash is done, drive out and pull well clear of the exit before you stop. That is where people tend to get out with a towel, and it blocks the next car from leaving the bay. Find a parking spot or a wide part of the lot, then dry the mirrors and handles there.

If something on the car looks damaged or out of place, take photos where you have stopped and report it then, while you are still on site.

Late at night

At a 24-hour wash there are often people using it at odd hours: shift workers, people just off the highway. Keep the music down while you wait, and dip your headlights if you are pointed straight at the bay entrance or at someone towelling off their car.

If you are the one towelling off, park under a light, away from the exit lane, and keep your doors from swinging into the path of cars leaving the bay. It takes a minute and nobody has to wait for you.