The High Cost of Washing a Car

I had a simple goal today. While I was out running a few errands I would wash the car.

My favorite drive through car wash was lined up the length of the parking lot, so I decided I would take this opportunity to go to a hand wash bay where I would get some bonus Air Miles by using this car wash.

The first thing I did was run into a curb while I was maneuvering through the gas bar as I tried to find a parking spot. I eventually found a spot, bought some tokens, came back to the car to discover my tire was almost flat.

Change of plans.

I drove my crippled car to our friendly neighborhood mechanic and they checked out my tire. It is damaged beyond repair. The rim is okay. He recommended I wait until next fall when winter tires are on sale and replace two of my tires. They were kind enough to come here to pick up my summer tires, exchange my winter tires for summer ones and I was good to go.

I needed to swap my tires anyway but this curb biting incident will cost two winter tires in about six months. Time to budget for the expense.

I was feeling pretty fortunate all in all. I went to my second job and decided to wash the car on my way home.

I was feeling pretty good. My car wash tokens cost $6.98 so I was thinking this is what I should do all the time. All I had to do was back out of the stall and go home.

Crunch ...

Yep. I hit the wall. It was just a tap so I was optimistic that it wouldn't be noticeable. I was wrong.

I will never complain about the price of a drive through car wash again.