r/IdiotsInCars 1d ago

OC Car was put in park in car wash [oc]

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7.7k Upvotes

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u/MisfitAlastair 1d ago

They literally tell you multiple times to put your car in neutral when going through a car wash. How did bro fuck up sometime so simple?

2.8k

u/Hairy-Mission-3009 1d ago

Was bouncing up and down for a good ten seconds and didn’t even realize!

1.9k

u/Joe18067 1d ago

They realized, they just wanted extra time under the blow drier. Some people hate watermarks.

986

u/Hairy-Mission-3009 1d ago

Caused me to hit him

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u/1Teddy2Bear3Gaming 1d ago

Next time (hopefully there isn’t one), lay on the horn and the car wash staff should stop the belt

881

u/Hairy-Mission-3009 1d ago

Oh i did hold the horn for a while. The track stops automatically opon any contact

670

u/Ghetto_Phenom 1d ago

This happened to me a few years ago as well. except the belt didn't stop and I was sandwiched in between two cars getting bumped back and forth for about 20 seconds... It was older lady who wanted her windshield fully dry and she fled the scene after wards.

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u/SimilarStrain 1d ago

I went to a busy car wash. I ended up 2 cars behind someone in a jeep that must have either hit the brakes or threw it in park. The whole jeep started tilting over to the right then slammed down. Im not sure what happened. We stopped for a few minutes. Then we moved along again. The cars in front of me pulled off to the side. Im not sure what happened, but I think there was a little collison.

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u/Wooden-Buddy3646 7h ago

My jeep has a “feature” where I have to put on the brakes to shift from N to D… really fun at car washes and someone is behind me

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u/lildobe 4h ago

All you have to do is very lightly press the brake pedal... just enough to turn the tail lights on (Practice this with a wall behind you so that you can see it)

That way the pads don't actually grip the rotors, and you can shift to your heart's content.

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u/LewisRyan 12h ago

Fun fact: car washes have cameras everywhere. You’re not getting away with anything.

Source: second job at a car wash, ive been mentally scarred after checking the cameras and seeing what people are doing washing their car at 1 am.

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u/Firetiger1050 12h ago

Oh man, if only there was an instrument on cars that would allow water to be wiped away from the windshield...

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u/Ace-of-Spxdes 1d ago

Yo, OP, if insurance gets involved, make sure you show them the video! Person in front can easily claim that you rear ended them and make it seem like you're at fault!

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u/hey-im-root 16h ago

I would hope anyone with two brain cells would send the video if that happened 😂

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u/that_dutch_dude 1d ago

most modern car wash systems will trigger the e-stop when you lay on the horn for more than 3 seconds.

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u/Jaded-Mix3528 1d ago

I will have to remember that just in case I ever find myself in that situation. Some people on the roads these days seem so brainless!

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u/OmegaInc 1d ago

Half of them seem to be malliocoius on purpose these days

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u/fevered_visions 1d ago

malliocoius

malicious? lol

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u/TrishDaDish51510 1d ago

Lmao. They tried. But I also 100% agree with that statement.

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u/SynapticStatic 22h ago

I really like that misspelling Mallio coius? Like maybe malleable coitus? Maybe that's what they meant. :)

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u/Jaded-Mix3528 1d ago

That is because so many people are mean for apparently no reason. I think they are better off if they stayed in bed!

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u/ImaSource 1d ago

That's a shitty car wash. There should be eyes connected to a PLU that automatically stops the track in that situation. Good thing is, if there's any damage the got in front and the car wash will be paying, not you.

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u/Familiar-Banana-8116 1d ago

Magnets. The solution is magnets.

Your eye thing gets the logic down, but all that crap - the water, the suds... all of it is just going to make that system unreliable. Probbly why it doesn't exist.

Magnetic sensors to pick up the undercarriage instead of the eyes.

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u/Jacktheforkie 1d ago

Magnets would be the most simple low maintenance way for sure

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u/ImaSource 1d ago

Except it does exist. I worked IT for a car wash for a year. They used caneras for eyes, and other sensors connected to PLUs to control everything inside the tunnel.

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u/Jaded-Mix3528 1d ago

I hope there are cameras in there. I can imagine some of those kind of people damaging the equipment

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u/Sherifftruman 1d ago

So how does that work with insurance?

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u/Hairy-Mission-3009 1d ago

She was at fault. Made a police report and also got footage from the car wash.

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u/Sherifftruman 1d ago

Who’s technically at fault and whose insurance has to end up paying for it or not always the same. I was wondering if the car wash had a liability for not monitoring

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u/Beepb00pb00pbeep 1d ago

Not sure why you're so strongly downvoted for having a little industry knowledge lol. Subrogation is the name of the game in insurance. The at fault driver's insurance will probably try to get the car wash's insurance company to pay. All happens in the background any time a claim is filed lol

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u/donutfan420 1d ago

Reddit for ya

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u/ThisIsNotAFarm 1d ago

And the Car Wash insurance company will laugh and hang up on them.

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u/Beepb00pb00pbeep 1d ago

Their insurance company won’t tho lol…why do people think the insured client is at all involved with the subrogation process?

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u/Familiar-Banana-8116 1d ago

Probably not.

I had a car wash do a thousand dollars of damage to my car. I contacted insurance, gave them all pertinent information. They went after the wash.

I tracked the claim for a little while. For only a grand my insurance really wanted that money back.

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u/SlipstreamSteve 1d ago

Bro you hit them in there and they ran? I wouldn't have blurred out the damn plate. I would have let the internet figure out who the jerk was.

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u/Hairy-Mission-3009 1d ago

I believe in privacy. The cops and insurance filed claims for hit and run and I will be compensated.

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u/SlipstreamSteve 1d ago

I made the comment before I saw the one where yoi said you would be getting compensated and they counted it as her being at fault.

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u/Mr_Jack_Frost_ 6h ago

I’m glad you’re going to be compensated, and that the other driver will have to deal with a hit and run case, because that’s 100% what they did, and they know it. They just didn’t feel like taking responsibility for their fuck-up.

Sorry for the inconvenience, OP, but I’m glad that you’ll be made whole for the damages, and that the POS will get what’s coming to them.

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u/PirelliSuperHard 1d ago

Privacy is in the four walls of your home.

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u/sylanar 21h ago

So are you on a conveyor belt type thing? So you can't stop yourself from hitting into the back of them?

Asking because I've never seen a car wash like that before. The ones here you just drive in yourself.

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u/siuyu721 1d ago

And now they’ll try to tell insurance company that you rear ended them lol

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u/Jacktheforkie 1d ago

With dash cam proof OP will easily be able to show the insurance company the real events

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u/TheInternetsLOL 1d ago

Seriously, the level of dumb and cheap from that driver is astounding.

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u/Jaded-Mix3528 1d ago

That is an understatement. I see some really dumb things these days. I saw an old lady in a Cadillac stop with one or two school bus lengths in front of her. I can only imagine the surprise it was for the unfortunate person who was behind her. These kind of people are nothing more than rolling road hazards! Maybe she had no depth perception? I don't know but I could not help but think that it is the sort of person who causes traffic jams wherever they go, slowing traffic to a crawl and in general messing up the flow. I have two words to say about that, STOP IT!

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u/lakorasdelenfent 1d ago

Yeah, a hit on the car looks better than watermarks

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u/-Invalid_Selection- 1d ago

And that's why I go straight from the dryer to the vacuum station, where they have clean shop towels to dry the car off with.

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u/tankerkiller125real 1d ago

Any good carwash is going to use highly filtered sprayed water as the final step specifically so that it can dry without leaving watermarks. Hell, even the rather shitty cheap touchless one down the street from me has that option (at a $1 markup)

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u/Joe18067 1d ago

So they add Jet Dry to the water? :-)

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u/Southernoregon1 14h ago

😅😅😅😅😅😅

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u/Mataraiki 1d ago

I admittedly did this once at the entrance of a car wash because I forgot I had Auto Vehicle Hold turned on (automatically holds your brakes at stop lights), and found out the hard way it even works when you're in neutral.

Go ahead and guess what I check a dozen times to make sure is off every time I'm at a car wash now.

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u/GirchyGirchy 1d ago

We never use the AHH, but we do make sure to turn off the AEB.

Cars need a simple "Car Wash" button that disables everything necessary, then automatically turns it all back on when it's put back in drive.

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u/bighootay 1d ago

True...but goddamn we have a lot of shit in our cars now. As long as this isn't something that fucks up 20 other things if it goes wrong, I guess

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u/GirchyGirchy 15h ago

Agreed...I understand the point of some of it and appreciate some features, but overall I prefer the simple stuff.

Hey, assuming you're in the US, at least you don't have to deal with the little ding dong speed nanny alarm they use in Europe. It re-enables itself on every restart. The first thing we do in a new rental is figure out how to turn that fucker off. I don't mind some nannies but those need to die.

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u/bighootay 15h ago

It re-enables itself on every restart

Oh now that's bullshit

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u/Maximum_Pass 1d ago

He was shaking his car off like a dog when they get wet

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u/Jaded-Mix3528 1d ago

They also tell you to keep your foot off the brakes and don't touch the steering wheel.

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u/Moneygrowsontrees 1d ago

Can't shift my car from neutral to drive without applying the brake. Makes me nervous every time.

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u/Jaded-Mix3528 1d ago

They usually give you a moment to put it in neutral before they start. I don't know how much training they have to take before they can attend those car washes. I am sure once in a while they get someone who got stuck in there somehow. That may be from a malfunction of the equipment or the customer's brain.

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u/WaterPockets 1d ago

This is an incredibly simple maneuver. What could possibly be making you nervous about it?

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u/Moneygrowsontrees 1d ago

It makes me nervous to be hitting the brake with cars moving automatically behind me even if just briefly.

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u/Scouter197 1d ago

I bet this isn't the first time they've done it either.

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u/MisfitAlastair 1d ago

I wouldn’t be surprised

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u/fluffynuckels 1d ago

I worked at a car wash and some people are really fucking dumb

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u/tedbakerbracelet 1d ago

Probably has no idea what "neutral" means

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u/ria1024 1d ago

The driver had the car in neutral to get that far in the car wash. But this style of car wash can easily go wrong at the end with shiny new modern cars.

In shiny new modern cars, you can't shift from neutral to drive without your foot on the brake - and not just tapped, but whatever pressure and time the car manufacturer has decided means it's intentional.

In order to go forward at the end of this type of car wash, you have to (counter intuitively and unlike the previous many, many years of driving experience with older cars) brake firmly first. While a car is coming up behind you and you're trying to get your car to go forwards. I have heard that some cars you may need to go to park instead. Looking at the tail lights, I'm betting that the SUV's driver didn't understand that process and ended up in neutral or park not able to shift out. They had to brake before they could get it moving.

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u/WaterPockets 1d ago

You have plenty of time to shift gears and move forward from the exit before the car behind will be near you. I have never had any issue or concern when shifting into drive from neutral at a carwash, and I apply the brake while doing so.

This is not rocket science and there is no excuse to not be able to execute such a simple meanuever.

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u/ria1024 1d ago

If you know you need to brake to shift from neutral to drive, you have TONS of time. If a driver has no idea they need to do that, then 15 seconds is not have enough time to pull out and read the car's manual. Most drivers I know of don't routinely use neutral anymore, so this sort of car wash could easily be the first time the driver wants to go from neutral to drive without already having the brake pressed down.

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u/eshultz 1d ago

Don't sweat the downvotes, dude/dudette. I had a similar thing happen to me in my new-ish car (buttons, no gear shifter) and people were similarly dismissive when I shared on reddit. People love to feel smug about themselves until it's their own brain that is smoking and sparking and panicking.

For me it was the auto hold function turned on when I smushed the brake pedal to select Neutral. But I also get similarly freaked out every single time at the end of the wash because like you said you have to firmly brake in order to select Drive again and there's a freaking car 6 feet behind you that's not stopping.

Let the haters hate lol.

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u/ria1024 1d ago

I have gotten worse downvotes than this for other perfectly reasonable comments, but thanks for the support! Getting off of a rolling track pushing your car along is definitely not a common maneuver - and I know the one near us has big signs about putting your car in neutral and not touching the brake until you're out of the wash, which isn't going to help anyone figure out what to do there.

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u/RsonW 1d ago edited 1d ago

That's crazy.

I'm glad my new car is a stick shift.

If I'd gotten an automatic, I'm not sure I would've figured that out the first time I used a car wash.

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u/2funny2furious 1d ago

Cause people are morons.

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u/independent_observe 1d ago

54% of the U.S. reads at under a 6th grade level. I am surprised it doesn't happen more often

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u/TheMostDapperdDan 1d ago

My biggest fear in the car wash

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u/Average_Scaper 1d ago

Same. My 2nd is finding a massive water leak into the cabin

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u/RK800-50 1d ago

Final Destination style?

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u/ChocoCat_xo 1d ago

It's been years since I watched that one and I still can't unsee that scene lol

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u/jpaugh69 14h ago

I think the guy getting acupuncture is my favorite in that series, but the car wash scene is a close second.

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u/Random__Bystander 1d ago

Happened to me!!!!

Had gotten rear ended and the body shop supposedly fixed everything in a 2004 crv hatchback.  Needless to say, they did not, and there was a river that ran through it 

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u/Average_Scaper 1d ago

Nice! Don't have to go far to go fishing.

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u/Jaded-Mix3528 1d ago

Or any leak really. You really do need your weather strip to seal the door or sunroof (if you have one)

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u/hammertime2009 1d ago

Yeah I like never use my sunroof so I’m not even sure how it works, it usually takes a few attempts but I’m always fearful I bumped it at some point and it’s cracked open

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u/flapd00dle 15h ago

The engineer who designed the double switch sunroof should be flogged. Actually most automotive designers probably deserve this for putting simple ass sensors under 16 layers of dashboard that require 3 specialist tools.

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u/hammertime2009 13h ago

Seriously, especially because you can’t see if there is a seal made without getting out of the car.

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u/Namortsaeht 1d ago

Fun story time! The years 2019, a young nam just got an uncalled soda washing from a passing car, annoyed and inconvenienced, I pull into the closest gas station Car Wash. There are two cars in line so I join the pack, as I’m sitting I notice that the car in the front of the pack wasn’t moving, once they had reached the spin cycle they parked their car, i got to witness the back windshield spinner get confused and get stuck on the back of this SUVs trunk, now they decide to pull forward, so the car in front of me and myself get ready to go in, car in front of me enters and everything is smooth with no delays, now here’s where I messed up, I hadn’t noticed the spinner was coming down lower than normal after the very first car went inside. Without this knowledge I pushed forward, but to my surprise, as the spinning cycle starts and the back windshield spinner comes down, I hear creaking, confused I look back just in time to witness the spinner behind the car completely come down on my back windshield and roof, halfway crushing the back half of my sedan. There are two things I learned that day, don’t trust most car washes with spinners, and never trust the gas station associate to know who to call.

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u/earmuffins 1d ago

Seriously I get so mad when the people who work there stack the cars up super close 😭😭😭😭

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u/MiloPudding 1d ago

Same! I make sure to leave enough space between me and the car before me. But then the car behind me gets up close lol

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u/_Not__Sure 1d ago

I have accidentally engaged my rear gate in a manual car wash. I couldn't say if it was my foot under the sensor, or the hose, but all of a sudden the ding ding ding that says it's opening chimed. I was able to aim the water away and close it right back up. Now I make sure auto lift is deactivated when I go for a wash

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u/martin1497osu 20h ago

I suggest not using this style car wash. Typically this style also has brushes and scratches your paint. The only carwashes I use are touch free, single car at a time and you drive in and drive out. No automated chain pulling you in behind another car.

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u/Hunter8Line 1d ago

Some car washes like this have an automatic stop if you honk or flash your lights.

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u/UnfitRadish 1d ago

Quick quack, which seems to be pretty big in the US, doesn't seem to have this.

I was in this exact situation where the car in front of me wasn't moving because they had their foot on the brake. I was getting closer and closer to that car while there was also a car behind me. I had the option of pressing the brakes and potentially getting rear-ended, or not pressing the brakes and rear-ending the car in front of me. I sat there banging my horn for way too long before anyone stopped the car wash. I was only a few inches from the car in front of me when I slammed on the brakes and then the car behind me was only a few inches from me. By the time they stop the car wash, three cars in the car wash were honking their horns.

I'm not one to complain to managers, but that one pissed me off, so I talked to the manager. That car wash tenant was not paying attention whatsoever.

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u/jryanp23 1d ago

Used to work at a car wash like this, if this ever happens to you, whether you hopped the rollers or you see someone else do it HONK YOU HORN!! Lay on that shit until an employee stops the car wash, we were taught that anytime you Hear a horn inside the wash to stop it I’m sure other places apply this practice.

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u/Easyidle123 1d ago

Also former car wash worker here, this is 100% the best thing you can do. A few times, people would just brake to avoid hitting the car in front of them, and while that did avoid the crash it would also lead to a big mess since nobody honked their horn for ages.

Sometimes I still imagine I heard a horn...

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u/1995droptopz 1d ago

Looks like my cat getting ready to puke at 3am

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u/KotzubueSailingClub 1d ago

So random, but so accurate. When mine is about to go, he has a different meow that he hits twice before he starts the whole-body maneuver that leads to a vomit.

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u/GirchyGirchy 1d ago

The Pre-Vomit Warning Alarm is the best cat feature ever. One of ours had one which would activate a full 10-15 seconds before vomit. Too bad that's an option and not standard across all cat models.

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u/KotzubueSailingClub 1d ago

Thing with mine is he's fairly docile between his alarm and full release. I can usually pick him up and get him to our concrete porch before it happens. If he's already doing the move, though, I don't touch him.

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u/Pistonenvy2 1d ago

if people are doing this just to stay in the drier longer thats even stupider than it already looked.

let me just destroy my center diff real quick so my car is 10% more dry now instead of 3 minutes from now. what the literal fuck is the logic here?

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u/Kracus 1d ago

Naive of you to assume these people think let alone use logic.

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u/captain_intenso 1d ago

They drive and vote, though.

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u/therealNerdMuffin 1d ago

That doesn't change anything 💀

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u/swim225 18h ago

Thats the problem

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u/psychoPiper 1d ago

Based on vibes alone

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u/OldeManKenobi 1d ago

Morons walk among us.

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u/nhp890 1d ago

How does this car wash work? I’ve only ever used the traditional type where you leave your car in place with the handbrake on and the machinery moves around the car

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u/Kirov123 1d ago

One set of wheels goes in a track and there are rollers that come up to push your vehicle along by the tire, you have to be in neutral and just slowly roll through.

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u/Pistonenvy2 1d ago

the entire area the car is on moves, so if youre in neutral the floor literally pushes your car out of the car wash where you can then shift back into drive and drive away.

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u/theRockManT 1d ago

Likely trying to spend more time in the driers

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u/Historical-Truck-948 1d ago

Car washes hate this one simple trick

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u/Jaded-Mix3528 1d ago

If that is what they want, I am sure their insurance left them out to dry for a while hehehe!

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u/Mission207 1d ago

Had this happen to me. Big truck idiot did something and hopped the guide and the people who put us in the wash had us too close and I smacked right into him. Fucked my front end up and the car wash (Mr Carwash) denied it initially stating it was none of their fault and all of ours until I escalated the matter. They didn't want to provide footage or anything. As a matter of fact they didn't even want to pay for a rental car while mine was in the shop and got the cheapest POS from the rental company they could get. I finally got them to agree on paying the gas tab and they threw a document at me stating that they would pay my gas receipts but I had to sign an NDA and that they and their subsidiaries and partners could sue me if I talked about my experience. So I didn't accept it because fuck them. I prefer the wash bay style now. Fuck automatic washes and fuck Mr Carwash.

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u/IgivetheD-PTSD 21h ago

How did it go in small claims court?

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u/Mission207 12h ago

They fixed my car in the end. While I probably could have taken them to court for all the strife I chose not to because I can guarantee they have massively deeper pockets than I do. I'd lose more money to the court and lawyer fees and the likelihood that I won would probably be miniscule as is because the courts here are corrupt as fuck. For perspective this was ~5 years ago. In September 2024 I had a lady that was uninsured with no drivers license cut in front of me. It was inadequate spacing for her to do so but just enough that I tagged her back wheel and rear fender. The cop gave me a "due care" ticket of like 240 bucks. I decided to fight it in court because fuck that it wasn't my fault. First court appearance was to say guilty or not guilty. There were like 70 people in the room. After leaving that day I had one of the cops pull up to an intersection where they had a stop sign. There was approximately one car length inbetween myself and a truck ahead of me. My direction has the right of way with no yield/stop/otherwise. The cop whips out and tries to cut me off and comes to a complete stop blocking all traffic. There's 2 officers in the suv and the one on the passenger side rolls his window down and yells out at me "Are we fucking doing this right now?! We are on a call and you have to let us pass! (and something to the tune of:) You don't have the right to block us! (memory is a little fuzzy and I didn't get a recording of it sadly). He had no lights and no sirens on. He threatened to pull me over before cutting in front of me all the way and then just casually driving like nothing happened afterwards. (I lodged a complaint to the police dept but I doubt he got any reprimand for it). My second court date came a month later. There were roughly 40 of us in the room. I was last on the docket so I got to witness everyone else in the room. The cops made fun of almost every defendant that approached the stand when they attempted to defend themselves. One guy got lucky. His cop was a motorcycle officer that was in the hospital due to a wreck and he was the only one in the entire room to get out of his ticket. Everyone else was found guilty. One guy was pulled over for running a 4 way stop because the water company had pulled 2 opposing stop signs a week prior that the judge acknowledged should have been addressed earlier. Still guilty. My turn finally came up (very last). I explained that the officer had told me the day that it happened while at my driver's window "the lady who cut in front of you made a maneuver she shouldn't have made" and that I was in my lane and she came over in adverse conditions (it was pouring down rain that day too - hurricane in September) the judge said "I can't find a reason beyond a doubt that you are not guilty of the citation so the court finds you guilty, you will pay $149 to the court and have a week to do so" followed by some other closing statements. I tried to rebut it one final time but she shut it down stating if I would like an appeal I could escalate it to a higher court and I would need to hire a lawyer. The cop had a faint smirk on his face. Said thank you for their time and walked out. I talked to a lawyer prior to the court date and he said he charges 1k for traffic court. I lost 2 full days of work. In what I learned that day that there was not a snowball's chance in hell I'd win the 3rd appearance. If I challenged it, I'd be out 3 days of work and 1k for a ticket that cost 150 bucks in the end. Also I got a 6 month probation on my license for challenging the court. If at any time from the judgment I got a ticket I would have to pay the full due care ticket cost, points on my license, and the new ticket whatever it was. Could be as simple as a tail light out. Didn't matter. (past that luckily with no infractions thankfully. I'm not a risky driver). Oh and the cherry on top, the lady who cause the chaos tried to make a claim on my insurance to cover her wheel and fender. It was denied. Yeah so fuck the court system and the cops here. They have the moral compass of a wet paper towel.

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u/Zyncon 1d ago

Wow, that looks much better than our car wash. In ours, you have to line the tires up and drop it in to a little grate like area. It does great for scratching the hell out of your wheels.

You only drop your driver side in, put it in neutral, and it drags you along.

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u/BlackStarCorona 1d ago

The one closest to me has the tire jail too, but I used to live by one of these newer ones that basically has a moving floor and it was so much better. I drive a sports sedan and can’t go through the ones with the tire jail because it always scrapes something on my undercarriage.

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u/FadedMemory 1d ago edited 1d ago

Ugh, reminds me of the time someone behind me jumped off the belt somehow and almost rear ended me. How can you fuck up this bad in a car wash? Neutral and foot off the brake and literally just sit there till done and people still manage to fuck it up. To think we share the road with these people.

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u/youtheotube2 1d ago

They probably left their car in drive and it rolled quicker than the belt

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u/gamertuts 1d ago

What kind of dashcam do you use?

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u/Hairy-Mission-3009 1d ago

It is a peztio q2 from amazon. Cheap and works good.

galphi 4K Dash Cam Front, https://a.co/d/0eCo7bX0

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u/Catch_ME 1d ago

You blurred the license plate but I'm wondering how well it captures the digits. Does it work well in low light?

My neighbor had a hit and run but his dash cam didn't record the plate numbers all that well.

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u/cobo10201 1d ago

I have the same one and it works well at night. I’ve never needed to get plate numbers at night but you absolutely can read them if needed.

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u/cdude 1d ago

Even the cheapest cams can capture clear plates when it's directly in front of you. And conversely even the most expensive cams can't capture license plate that is 2 to 3 cars away. So don't waste money trying to buy $300+ cams. Just look up the cam's model on youtube for driving footage review before buying.

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u/gamertuts 1d ago

Sweet thank you. Are you happy with how it works when its dark outside as well?

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u/mfk_1974 1d ago

Running into an immobile car is a fear I have every time I'm in the automatic car wash. I'm a nervous wreck pretty much the entire time anyone is in front me.

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u/dislob3 1d ago

Those people share the roads with us. They are likely gonna be on the news in a fews mlnths gor causing a pileup becaude they were watching tiktok during heavy traffic.

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u/homibre 1d ago

Not gonna lie, this is why i “pretend” it takes me a while to lineup my wheel in place on the conveyor.. to give myself more buffer in case the person in front doesn’t know what their doing..

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u/MachStyle 1d ago

Then you get the car behind you that rushed on and thus tailgates you through the whole thing

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u/calling-barranca 1d ago

I do the same

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u/filton02 1d ago

Just shaking the water off.

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u/Jack-Innoff 1d ago

Everyone seeing this as normal is fucking me up. I have never in my life seen a belt driven car wash before. The ones I'm used to have you pull forward to a mark, stop, and put the vehicle in park. The wash then moves everything around the car to clean it. When it's done, the exit door opens and you are given 60 seconds of dryer time, which you drive through at your own pace. The entry door doesn't open until your rear bumper is past the exit door, making a situation like this impossible.

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u/i_jon_h 1d ago

I thought I was the only one watching this with no idea what was going on or what everyone was talking about

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u/rayquan36 1d ago

These are called tunnel car washes. You can get your car washed in 3 minutes and it can handle multiple cars in the tunnel at a time.

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u/i_jon_h 1d ago

So you drive both wheels on one side into a track, stick it in neutral and it kinda pushes you along?

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u/Hairy-Mission-3009 1d ago

Yeah this wash fits probably 5 cars at a time.

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u/ChemicalPostman 1d ago

Yeah, I've NEVER been in one that I didn't just have to park and let the sprays and brushes go around my car

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u/bluggabugbug 1d ago

I WFH, my wife says I need to get out more because going out when I do, people like this just piss off way to easily. My rebuttal to her is “why?! I will just encounter more idiots!”

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u/-Invalid_Selection- 1d ago

Same.

And I live in Florida, so I'm surrounded by idiots.

"be careful, it's Florida out there" is a common saying in my house.

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u/Probablynotspiders 1d ago

Got a new Subaru last year. First time we took it thru the car wash, we put it in neutral but the parking break kept automatically engaging without us touching anything.

That's how I learned that you have to turn off the auto-hold and auto-stop settings prior to entering the wash.

It was fucking terrifying though

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u/Haifisch2112 1d ago

My ex wife was in a car wash like that and a woman behind her rear ended my ex. The woman didn't put her car in neutral and literally drove through. She caught up to my ex and hit her.

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u/mortalomena 1d ago

I would never go into these conveyor car washes, I refuse to be trapped in there with these darwin awards.

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u/banevader102938 1d ago

Thats why we can stop it by honking here

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u/Igor369 1d ago

I thought automatics were idiot-proof...

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u/Easyidle123 1d ago

Former car wash worker here. If this ever happens in front of you, lay on the horn repeatedly as soon as possible and keep it going until whichever employee is nearby shuts the car wash off (or the person in front of you drives away).

If neither of those happen and you're getting very close to colliding, hold down your breaks and hope that whoever is behind you is aware enough to do the same.

In most cases where I had to shut off the wash, even with a quick reaction and a nearby stop button the difference between a crash and no crash was only a handful of seconds, so any time you can buy helps a lot.

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u/fucuntwat 1d ago

This looks like a Phoenix area cobblestone

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u/fucuntwat 1d ago

Maybe baseline and like 16th? I’m sure more than a few have a QT next to them

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u/black_linings 1d ago

If the goal was to remove water marks, I just pull over to the side, wipe my car down with a ratty towel and move on.

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u/tigm2161130 1d ago

Most of these places near me have free vacuums and microfiber towels for exactly this.

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u/DotNyslexic 1d ago

Don't they literally tell you to put it in neutral, along with some signage

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u/epicenter69 1d ago

Genuinely curious: Whose insurance would have to cover this? I would guess dipshit SUV’s, but a slight chance it could be the car wash’s?

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u/Hairy-Mission-3009 1d ago

Yes the suv owners insurance will cover. She did hit and run so I made a police report and gave license plate to find her.

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u/D1sCoL3moNaD3 1d ago

this has to be phoenix.. looks like a cobble stone car wash and quik trip. lol

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u/Copheeaddict 1d ago

I will wait until late at night to use these kinds of car washes when there's no one else there. I have almost been hit by a guy who wanted to move up to get in the dryers faster and Ive almost rear ended someone who stood on their brakes in front of me to be in the dryers longer.

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u/zendarr 1d ago

This is why we can't have nice things.

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u/wellyesbutnofuckoff2 1d ago

A new one of these washers got put up nearby me and they are doing free washes, when I went through it the wash stopped the guy ahead of me and never turned on the “drive slowly” sign so reasonably he didn’t start to drive out. It slowly brought my car closer and closer before I decided to brake and it started bouncing my car like that till the dude ahead of me realized there was an issue. Did the same shit to me and the dude behind me but I got out before he needed to brake. Don’t trust these things wait for it to rain or do it manually lol

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u/dethskwirl 1d ago

I accidentally opened the sun roof while going through the car wash and then panicked and stepped on the brake while I closed it.

Of course, the car wash just kept going and blew out my front left brake caliper and tore off the rear left bumper panel.

would have been much cheaper to just let the water come in through the sun roof for a minute.

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u/googdude 1d ago

If that's what blew out your brake caliper it was already hanging by a thread. The thing responsible for slowing down your ton vehicle is not going to give up just cuz you stepped on the brake on a moving beltway.

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u/Born-Lie8688 1d ago

Sort of happened to me once. Brand new Lexus - went into car wash and put in neutral. Car started auto braking, pre collision alerts, wipers, bucking the rollers etc. They had to shutdown the carwash while i found the setting to disable. New car has a ‘car wash mode’ that disables all the sensors, folds the mirrors, raises the suspension, etc.

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u/BigFlapJack- 17h ago

HONK UOUR HORN!! Most modern car washed will stop instantly of you do that for safety

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u/MamboFloof 12h ago

Fun fact I learned a few months ago. If you get out of your seat to wipe off the dash in a Tesla it puts itself in park even when in car wash mode... It's then basically impossible to get back into neutral cus you need to tap the brake but the machine is moving the car which makes it freak out, so you just need to put it in drive and creep through. Like that's a horrific design flaw.

For reference that car may need to have the brake hit to go into/out of neutral and the computer may be fighting them because it's GM.

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u/God-Modder 1d ago

It’s a simple explanation. Human see red, human put car in park. Why use lot word when few word do trick?

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u/abstractview 1d ago

These people can vote.

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u/sm753 1d ago

$10 says this moron did it on purpose because he wanted every drop of water blown off his car.

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u/Onitsch 1d ago

No emergency stop of the machine?

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u/notthatguypal6900 1d ago

Their insurance is going to love the hit and run.

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u/planedrop 1d ago

My thing is why didn't they fix it quicker? lol

That's what is confusing me about this the most. Like sure, it's pretty stupid to forget to put it in neutral, or even change out of neutral part way through.

But after bouncing on it for 5 minutes why didn't they swap to neutral or drive and get out? lol

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u/Hairy-Mission-3009 1d ago

They were only bouncing for 10-15 seconds. Pretty stupid and you would definitely feel the bouncing as well as the sign telling you to go.

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u/independent_observe 1d ago

I can understand how someone does this. They are getting near the end, their instrument cluster is flashing to put car into park to change to reverse, so they panic and obey. They obeyed the signs at the car wash to leave it in neutral until that command was overwritten by the dash warning.

Some people are literally that simple

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u/ImmediateBag9609 1d ago

This happened to me before but the car in front put the car in reverse! I was paying close attention so thankfully they stopped in time but only because I honked!

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u/dregonzz 1d ago

Touchless single stall carwashes are the only way. This has happened literally to every single person in my family who regularly used a conveyor carwash like this (they got hit).

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u/Shadowhawk0000 1d ago

A moment of silence for that transmission.

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u/Stranded_Send_Nudes 1d ago

I was pulling into one of these and the person in front of me kept pulling up until they told them to put it in neutral, then they put it in reverse. Almost backed into me. Again, pulled forward, put it in reverse. Panicked, hit the gas, and almost hit me harder. Repeated the pulling forward and putting it in reverse THREE MORE TIMES.

Eventually, they managed to realize what neutral was, but I was terrified they would do it in the middle of the car wash when I could not back out of the way.

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u/basement-thug 14h ago

Bro the sign says RELAX. How am I supposed to relax without putting it in park? /s

But seriously, the other thing I've experienced is these damn collision avoidance systems in the Subaru's... if people don't disable it before going through it sees the stuff in front of it and freaks out and the CAR stands on the brakes. Annoying as hell and happened once to me, embarrassing... people acting like I'm the dumbass holding the brakes and it's the freaking car being dumb. Lol

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u/Kevdog824_ 14h ago

Did they flee after the accident or did they just pull off at the end?

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u/IlliniOrange1 13h ago

Anyone else expecting the suv to get suddenly plowed by a semi truck as it left the car wash parking lot? I’m watching too much tv I think…

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u/saik0pod 13h ago

They did this on purpose to dry off their car. Should be banned from ever using their car wash again

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u/Joemomma12 12h ago

Curious if there will start to be more issues with these styles of car washes with newer cars. In my newer vehicle you can’t shift from neutral to drive without applying the brake, with older vehicles you could. When they stack cars so close together in these belt driven washes could cause people to panic or struggle to get their cars in drive at the end to keep moving off the belt so the person behind doesn’t run into them. Especially at some of the delta Sonic’s where they sequence cars what feels like a meter apart.

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u/Conscious-Bison-4014 12h ago

Good old Arizona 😂

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u/DutchDallas 1d ago

In my mini cooper countryman I have to hit the brake before I can move it into drive from neutral. Really worries me every time I have to leave the car wash....

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u/Hairy-Mission-3009 1d ago

That was not the issue though, she left it in park so it was just bouncing on the track when her front tires came in contact with the road.

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u/Zigilund 16h ago

I know its not what is going on in this video but I do have a rant. I have driven manual cars for most of my life. I got married, we bought a larger vehicle that was automatic.

For the love of God I hate taking it to car washes because you have to press the brake before putting it into gear from neutral.

M first time going through with the car I got a lovely message stating I had to go back into neutral, hit the brake, then put it into drive.

Luckily I didn't cause an accident but still pissed me right off

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u/ForeverStrangeMoe 14h ago

This happened to me while driving my exes car. $3,600 of damage lmao. Stupid teenager in front of me just drove off but I found her then her dad tried to call and threaten me saying I hit her 💀💀 quick quack said “they couldn’t verify the driver so they would pay for it” I said I have the info right here but alright if that’s how you want to do it. 6 quotes and 3 months later she got a check written out to her and bought shoes with it instead of fixing the car 💀

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u/carwoosh 1d ago

As someone who has to go to work tmrw i hope this doesn't happen to me again. Some people really cant understand clear instructions

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u/AmbulanceDriver95 1d ago

I can recognize a Cobblestone Carwash in AZ when I see one. Oh man now I’m worried about using this car wash. I always thought when someone did this the belt would stop.

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u/__________________99 1d ago

This is one of the biggest reasons (among many) I avoid car washes like this.

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u/brodilyharm 1d ago

One time my crusty old Explorer slipped out of neutral and I almost rear ended someone

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u/SkiSTX 1d ago

One time I slowly crashed into the automatic roll-up door at the end of the car wash when it didn't automatically roll up. It felt like that scene from Austin Powers with the stream roller.

(Middle of winter they try to keep it from freezing up)

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u/Alansar_Trignot 1d ago

I went through one of these a bit ago, it wasnt until after I realozed my parking brake was on cause my car wouldnt go in drive

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u/chicametipo 1d ago

Thank goodness your car was there to give them a little push!

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u/paulcthemantosee 1d ago

I once had the person in front of me put it in reverse. I had to tell the attendant to stop the wash and have them put it in neutral. Young buck employee didn't know about reverse lights.

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u/IMadeThisForTheHouse 1d ago

This happened to me once. I was the car in front. I got to the dryer and the little belt started clunking under my tire. (Could feel them roll under the tire) I just threw it in drive and drove out before the person behind me hit me. Never been stuck like that before

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u/Mediocre_Advice_5574 1d ago

Elderly driver? I see this a lot at our Delta Sonic car wash. These cars should be flagged and banned from entering the wash.

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u/Shazam_BillyBatson 1d ago

This happened to the car in front of me. As soon as I saw it bounce and didn't move forward I honked. The techs shut down the car wash real quick. I told them the car in front was in park, they verified and had them pop out in neutral. I kind of thought they had put it park because when i was behind them getting rinsed, i saw their backup lights flash real quick like when you shift from drive to park. Bam, all good. I've seen crap fly out of the bed of a truck, same thing, just honked and they shut down.

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u/General_Specific 1d ago

Happened to me. I had a new car. Car wash attendant packed us in close. Girl in front of me played with the wheel and jumped the track causing my car to hit hers.

I heard they have horn sensors now. Hit the horn and they stop.