Citgo Touchless Five Minute Car Wash: “If It Don’t Shine, It Ain’t Mine”

There has been an automated car wash located at the Citgo next to Shoney’s on Hwy 72 in Athens for nearly 19 years, and until late July it had been out of use for about 5 years. Thanks to the hard work of Charles Moore, the car wash is back in business, and I am one happy customer. But before I tell you about the great touchless car wash you can get beginning at $4.95, let me tell you a bit about Charles, and why I think you can trust your car to his capable and hard working hands.

Charles called me about advertising in Athens Now, and I went to visit his newest site to discuss with him how we could best meet his advertising needs. While we were chatting, a young married woman with two beautiful small girls managed to pull her car into the parking lot of the gas station, and then her car just died in the lane that led to the car wash. She was understandably upset, as she had been on her way to an interview at her girls’ pre-school, and was going to miss her appointment. Charles to the rescue! He tried everything to get the car to work, determined it was the alternator, cheerfully pushed the car over to the side, and we were able to make arrangements for her and her girls to get home safely.

Then, the weather turned ugly, I was no longer able to sit outside and take notes, and came back to finish the interview later. I planned to run my car through, and thought he would just quickly go over the worst of the dirt by hand, and then let the touchless system “do its thing.” Wrong. He went over every square inch of that car while getting soaked by the storm, and acted like that was just SOP, Standard Operating Procedure for all clients. Come to find out, it is. When another client came through, he gave that SUV the same care he gave mine. Getting people’s cars clean is something that just makes the guy’s day, and he truly does not mind getting drenched in the process!

Charles is a welder by trade, but owns 17 touchless system car washes throughout Alabama and Tennessee. They are in such locations as Enterprise, Tuscaloosa, Dothan, Nashville, and more. Having a clean, well cared for car with a good coat of wax on it has always been important to Charles, and his motto is, “If it don’t shine, it ain’t mine!”

As I have often said, one of the things I love about my job is the education I receive on a number of topics, and I learned all about the advantages of the touchless system. I learned that going through a car wash that uses brushes, puts the dirt back on, and can scratch the finish. Charles has always used touchless systems made in America by Mark 7, and each one costs 100K to install, not exactly a small investment.

For $4.95, you get the following: an intense 5 minute “human” car wash done by Charles, and then a 5 minute run through the touchless system that includes foam wash, undercarriage cleaning and a clear coat of wax. This constitutes about 85% of his business throughout his other locations. “It makes it affordable, and people can come through 3 times a week, keeping their car shiny.” If you wish, you can upgrade to the $19.95 car wash, in which Charles fully washes the car, the touchless system fully washes and waxes the car, the car is dried off, and then another coat of wax is applied by hand. There was a truck that had just gone through that process, and it was truly glistening.

There is a vacuum available at no charge to the customer, and with no timer to make you scramble to finish. So, for a more than reasonable price, you can get your car looking good and keep it that way for around five dollars of your money and a few minutes of your time, (plus a bit more for vacuuming,) or you can spend twenty of your dollars and minutes, and get a custom, state of the art car wash and wax for a fraction of the normal cost. It’s your choice, and either way, your smile will shine along with your car. Charles will be ready to serve you from 7am to 7pm, Monday through Saturday, and 8-5:30 on Sunday, so head on over to Citgo Touchless Car Wash at 1404 US Hwy 72 in Athens, and make his day!

Citgo Touchless Car Wash
1404 US Hwy 72 E
Athens, AL 35611
256-221-5354
Mon-Sat 7 am-7pm, Sun 8-5:30
By: Ali Elizabeth Turner