Can an automatic car wash damage your vehicle?

This is a common question for people who have never had their car washed at an automatic car wash. The answer is: it depends on what type of automatic car wash you go to. First, let’s talk about how to avoid damaging your car with the right precautionary measures.

There are three main ingredients in most automatic car washes: water, soap, and wax. Water is important because it helps to remove dirt from your vehicle’s surface. Soap helps to create a barrier between the dirt and your paint job so that it doesn’t scratch off as easily when you drive away from the wash. And finally, wax helps to protect against UV rays, which can break down your paint job over time if left unprotected by a layer of wax or sealant (this is referred to as fading).

Not washing your vehicle can cause more damage to the exterior, especially the paint. Washing your vehicle regularly can help to prevent and avoid long-term damage.

Choose your car wash carefully
Not all automated washes are created equal. The quality of the equipment used at different carwashes varies widely, and there are some car washes that don’t care about how they treat your vehicle. While some car washes may be safe bets, others might not be worth the risk.

An automatic car wash can damage your paint if you don’t take care of your car afterward. If you don’t dry it off thoroughly after washing, the water can create scratches in the paint that will show up later. It’s also possible for dirt particles or other contaminants to get stuck under the clear coat of your paint job and cause rust.

Some may argue that the brushes also damage your car. However, the brushes used in automatic car washes are designed to scrub away any dirt or grime from a car’s surface, but they are also designed to be gentle enough not to damage a car’s finish in the process. Automatic car washes that do not allow excessively muddy vehicles to go through their wash tunnel protect the equipment and vehicles from damage.

So choose your car wash wisely!

How to tell if you have car paint damaged?
Look closely at your vehicle’s paint to determine if the paint has been damaged. If it looks dull, you may be dealing with a problem. If it has faded or changed color over time, there may be a problem that needs to be addressed. The shine of your car’s paint should come back to life when you use a good wax or polish. If not, it could be time to call in the professionals and get a new paint job.

You can also get an idea of whether or not your car has been damaged by looking at its clear coat—if there are cracks and chips in it, it probably means something happened during its lifetime and now needs fixing.

The good news is you can slow down this process and even save your paint by using a good car wash that keeps your car clean. A car wash may not restore your car’s paint fully but it can protect it and prevent further damage.

There is always a risk
Whether you hand wash your vehicle or take it to an automatic car wash, there is always a risk. Automatic car washes are automated by machines that are programmed and calibrated to wash your vehicle efficiently but accidents can happen. Things can get caught in the equipment, broken, or damaged.

Hand car washing is generally not as thorough as automatic car washes. They don’t have the technology or manpower to do a thorough job. You can easily end up with streaks or spots on your vehicle that can cause rusting if you don’t closely inspect it before leaving the manual car wash facility. There are experts in this field but they also do charge more for their expertise.

Employees at manual car washes may be inexperienced or careless with their work, so they could scratch or dent your car while washing it or even damage something on your vehicle.

Risk versus Reward
When it comes to car washing and the risk of paint damage, the answer is “it depends.” There are many variables to weigh the risk versus reward, including the type of car wash you go to and the kind of soap or wax they use. In addition, there is a lot of information out there that isn’t always reliable.

If you do the maintenance to keep your car clean and dry after leaving a car wash, you’re making a better choice than not using an automatic car wash at all in fear of what could happen. The only way to truly know is to decide what you value and choose the car wash that cleans and protects your car while keeping the risk of damage low.

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Suzie Behm

Saratoga Springs, UT

Hi! My name is Suzie Behm. I am 66 years old. My husband and I have 6 children born to us and we adopted 3 of our grand daughters when they were 3 years old, 6 months and then brought the baby home with us from the hospital. They are now 21, 17 and 16. We have 32 grandkids and 7 great grandkids. I LOVE my family! This year my husband and I will be celebrating our 48th wedding anniversary! We were high school sweethearts and he continues to be my best friend! I have also been a registered nurse since I was 19 years old and am still working full time. I LOVE my job!

Our breast cancer journey started in May of this year (2024) and totally caught us by surprise. We feel so blessed to have had a radiologist at American Fork Hospital that, quite frankly, probably saved my life. He found a small lump that he really thought was “nothing” but decided to “prove it was benign”. Had he not done that I would likely not sought additional imaging for a year. By the time I had surgery 6 additional tumors were found and positive lymph nodes found during surgery. I am so very grateful this radiologist who erred on the side of caution and likely saved my life.

I am blessed with wonderful children, their spouses and grand children and great grandchildren. I am blessed to still have my 89 year old mother in my life as well. Life is good. Treatment has progressed well. I am so grateful to Tagg-N-Go for this very kind and generous offering. How wonderful that you are doing this for me. I am humbled and grateful. Thank you so very much. With much Gratitude, Suzie Behm

Stephanie McCurdy

Rexburg, ID

My journey with cancer started when I was a young wife of 3 years and mother with a beautiful 1 year old little girl. Having had no cancer in my family that I knew of at that point, the “c” word was a very scary word. It was something that I hadn’t ever even imagined having but quickly found myself and my little family lives changing in many ways. Those ways included many physical, emotional, mental, financial trials as well as blessings in each of those areas.
I remember sitting in the doctors office, after being diagnosed with colon cancer, realizing that I had to make a decision. Was I going to fight or give in to this “C” beast. I knew in my heart that fighting was the only way, but I didn’t realize at the time just how much of or long of a fight it was going to be.

I fought through a whole year of chemo with the constant help from my husband, family, and many friends as well as my little girl who needed a mom. What was I supposed to learn from this trial? I learned that I didn’t need to have long thick hair or eyelashes to be able to read her a story and that we could snuggle and have naps together on those days that I was so sick after a chemo treatment. A year went by and I thought I was done, only to find out that after that 1st diagnosis and a 52 chemo treatments, the “C” word was back. Well that started the next several years of fighting. I fought through many more treatments, being so sick and worn down but not willing to give up the fight for myself and my family. I learned that having a pity party for myself didn’t make anything any better than having a positive attitude, in fact it made things worse. I found things to be thankful for and after many long months, I was finally cancer free and so proud of having won the battle. Again, little did I know what was in store.

Growing up in a big family, I had always dreamed of a family of my own and I found myself sitting in the doctors office being told that I would not be able to have any more children. At first I was devastated and felt defeated but I remembered that I had won a hard battle before and I wasn’t going to give up on this dream already. So again we fought. We fought through several years of adoption agencies, fought for 15 different kids who were in the foster system who we loved as our own for no matter how long they were in our home. After several years of fighting and loving those kids, we were blessed to add 4 more handsome little boys to our family. My dreams were coming true and life was good.

Then 20 years after my last chemo treatment, I found myself back in the doctors office after having a few symptoms and the cancer was back. Same kind, same place. Call me stubborn or whatever you want but my attitude wasn’t going to change. I still didn’t have the answer as to why me, but it didn’t matter. I focused on the how. How was I going to win this next fight? Because that was what I was going to do! After a 17 ½ hour surgery during which they found that I also had uterine cancer, 6 more months of hard chemo treatments I had won yet another fight. A year later, a small surgery was needed to remove a cancer diagnosis #5 from a lymph node. I had decided throughout all these years of fighting that I was going to look for the positive in whatever happened and so no chemo that time was definitely a win!

At that point, I had learned so much through all my experiences, I was sure that I was done with the “c” word and had learned all I could. But not yet. As of today, I am still fighting. “You have cancer” came again 6 months ago. This time has been different. I have continued to fight physically but the emotional and mental fight has been so much harder. I have had many experiences that have helped me understand what others struggle with on a daily basis when mental issues are involved. I have learned empathy and love for everyone. I have continued to learn the importance of looking for the positive, as little or as big, as those could be. I have continued to have the support of a loving family, many friends and community members. I am going to continue to fight because I have so much to live for.

Through all these fights, I was never alone. I was blessed to be part of an amazing family who I love. They definitely fought with me. I was blessed to live in several communities who loved and supported me in so many ways. I was blessed to have learned many lessons along the way, one of which is the importance of service. I have been the recipient of so much service and I am so thankful. I can’t wait until the day that I can feel good enough to repay and even pay forward all of those acts of service given to me and help others in need. That is my next dream and I am going to fight until it happens! In the meantime, my son who is serving an LDS mission in Pittsburg Pennsylvania is helping me by his example of serving others. I am so blessed to live in such a loving and wonderful community who take care of each other and have helped me learn yet another lesson throughout out all my trials.

Melanie Holman

St. George, UT

My name is Melanie Holman. I am a secretary at Riverside Elementary, a wife, a mother, and a grandma. Here is my cancer story.

In May I received a routine mammogram. But unlike all of my previous ones, this time the doctor ordered a follow up ultrasound where they requested to do an immediate biopsy. In the following days I was told I indeed had breast cancer.

Hearing YOU have cancer I imagine is never easy, but imagine being told you have cancer when your sister and your life’s best friend has just been diagnosed with terminal cancer and is literally on her deathbed. That was my reality, and waiting to receive how serious of a stage my cancer was in was excruciating, as daily I was faced to confront the deathly effects of cancer as I visited my sister. All of this happened while my child was being hospitalized for severe depression.

My sister’s kids delayed their mom’s funeral so I could have my cancer removal surgery two days before we laid my sister to rest.

Luckily, they believe they caught the cancer early enough, and that radiation should have me cancer free.

I am beyond grateful that I have more time to enjoy the things that make up my life, especially as I have a daughter getting married this month and a granddaughter I am so enjoying watching grow up.

I had wonderful doctors and appreciate all they have done for me. However, cancer treatment is not cheap. And with my school’s insurance starting over again in August, I had to pay the out of pocket expense for the surgery in July and then pay the out of pocket expense again for radiation in August. I was unsure how I was going to pay for everything. Then I was nominated for Tagg-N-Go’s Scarewash. This was truly an answer to prayers and I thank them and all who will support me me in the Scarewash.

Connor Cleveland

Cedar City, UT

Connor was born and raised here in Cedar with his 3 siblings, while Jill moved here with her family 10 years ago. They got married here in Cedar City in August of 2022. They plan to stay in Cedar and have hopes to start a family soon!

“Earlier this year, I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of lymphoma known as Large B-Cell Lymphoma. This is a non-hereditary cancer that can grow rapidly. We fortunately caught it early on and were able to start treatments right away. We did a lot of running to Salt Lake and back this summer as I received my treatments. We are so thankful for all the hospital staff in SLC and Cedar City for all they did and still do! As of mid August, I have completed all six exhausting rounds of chemotherapy. We have a follow-up scan in the beginning of November that will let us know what the future will look like and if any further treatment will be needed.

“We appreciate all the love, support, and prayers we have gotten from family, friends, and our amazing community! We are also very thankful for Tagg-N-Go holding a fundraising scare-wash where all the donations will help us ease our financial burden. It is truly an amazing thing they do each year to help local families in their fight. We have been extremely thankful for Gods sovereignty and grace throughout this challenging time.”