Does anyone else get the heebies jeebies at a car wash?

[FirstFreedom]

I mean, you're all bent over, in compromising positions, with obstacles (your car and the car wash walls) blocking your views, etc. Even armed with a pistol, I feel quite vulnerable to a potential robber or ne'er do well.

[tjhands]

Yup, the carwash is one place that puts me on a higher alert. I usually can't go until after hours anyway. Thinking about it from a crooks point of view, it would be a good place for a car theft, mugging, rape, etc..

[HighVelocity]

Coin-op carwashes are very dangerous places. I just go to a full service wash and pay a little more. They do a great job though and it's a lot faster than I can do at a coin-op.

[Nimitz87]

I wash my own car and vaccuum it in my driveway usually on a saturday afternoon...so i dont feel vunerable at all.

i would suggest either going during the day or washing it yourself (its better...no scratches).

[Mannlicher]

Car wash? whats that?
My 1976 F-100 has not had a bath in 20 years.

[seb5]

Jees, in my small town the coin op car wash is the place to be on a saturday spring day. I can't imagine having to go on orange while washing my truck.

[Nnobby45]

I only have my car washed in the summer during the day when I can just sit there and watch the pretty gals. I Admit to being somewhatf more vulnerable to attack at such times.

[Rojoe67]

I smiled when I read it.........if a BG comes into my Citgo 2 buck special his butt is going to get blown over with a tidal wave of jet forced water.... To be honest I think I am as safe in there as any place? Now the coin op place down the street is another story.....I don't use it cause it's a crime waiting to happen... Way back off the street, few people there, train tracks 30 feet behind the bays, not to mention the 2.00 fee gets about half the grit off....

[38splfan]

Even the coin op on base at Ft. Lewis gets me nervous.
Don't mind the drive thru types, but the coin ops are a carjacking waiting to happen.
Don't mean to brag, but I do have a fairly nice truck, and i get nervous when people eyeball it with their hands in their pockets (especially with no other vehicles nearby )

[LAK]

Basically what Mannlicher said.

Nimitz87

I wash my own car and vaccuum it in my driveway usually on a saturday afternoon...so i dont feel vunerable at all

I know people who have been robbed in their own front yards.

[too many choices!?]

I did not feel vulnerable as I kept my eyes open as best I could while vacuming, but I could not avoid my g-23 in fobus holster sticking out under my shirt as I changed positions......with two sherrifs across the street I felt like I might get a real hassle job but they didint notice and I was done and on my way before i knew it ... I don't worry so much while I wash the car as I do bent over vacuuming...Sounds paranoid but I vacuum a spot (ex..front drivers seat and floor) then look around taking a visual "snap shot" scanning for any red flags, no flag next spot and repeat till done...

PS It doesn't hurt to use common sense like going at mid day and staying alert!

[Dwight55]

Though I don't use them much, when I do, . . . it is in an OPEN area, not over on the wrong side of the tracks, . . . and I make sure there is at least one other person there that looks like they came to wash their car/truck also.

If it is empty when I get there, . . . it stays that way.

May God bless,
Dwight

[tanstaafl4y]

Personally I have found the carwash to be a local BG hangout. Its one of the few places they can loiter (and sell their wares). I found this to be true in Fayetteville NC, Norfolk and Roanoke VA.

[Dusty Miller]

Best thing is not go to the coin-op car wash by yourself. Take somebody to stand guard and look for BGs.

[tokarevman]

When i was younger me and a friend of mine were at a carwash at night,he had a really nice 95 camaro Z28 with fancy wheels and sound system, we never thought anything about it but one night i hade the creeps and a guy came up and was talking to us and i did notice a handgun poking out of his pocket i emidiatly pointed it out to my friend when the dude was not looking and we took of with soap still on his car, we wernt old enough to have a gun and we were not going to stick around.

[Derius_T]

Geez, you guys wash your cars? Are you supposed to? I think the mud and
dirt are all thats holding my old truck together!


I've never felt weird at the carwash tho. The one I use is brightly lit, in the
middle of town, right next to the main drag. (and the local PD is across the
street)

[Nnobby45]

you're right--pretty girls and a pleasant daytime environment aren't the only reasons I never frequent 24 hr do it yourself carwashes and I simply would never do so at night. If you're alone, anyway, it's impossible to be attentive to your surroundings. In my opinion such places are more dangerous than using ATM's after dark. ATM's and self serve car washes aren't necessarily safe during the day, either.

[MrBill]

Some carwashes should be avoided, those secluded, near bad neighborhoods....go only to those with view to busy streets, good neighborhoods, during daylight hours only, or with a friend....always thought the lone girls at night were stupid or something...must not have anyone who cares about them..very dangerous.

[joab]

Every carwash I have ever seen has been in or near a bad area of town.
Even in the day my neck hairs stand up.

I finally bought a house so now I don't have to go to them anymore

[jlwatts3]

I only got to the car wash during the day. Usually I go to the hand wash and when I go to the coin-op it is during the day with my dad or sister, and that one is a block from the PD, and in the middle of downtown. So I haven't ever really been worried.

[43061]

I wasn’t ever concerned before reading this thread.

Now, I probably will be. I’ll be scarred for life.

First, I’ll go to the car wash and start thinking about everything that might happen.

Next, I’ll start cutting corners trying to hurry and my wife will undoubtedly start making comments, we’ll fight more often.

Then she’ll leave me for another man that will keep her SUV clean.

I’ll start drinking heavily; end up in treatment…..wait, that was the way it was done in America years ago.

There’s a new American way to handle these things, I’m going to hire an attorney, sue all of you for emotional scarring.

If you would like to avoid litigation, please send ALL of your weapons to my house. Mailing address available upon request.

[dasmi]

You know, I was thinking that most of you are paranoid ex-military folk, then I started thinking about how easy it would be for someone to hit me with a pipe and take my truck when I'm bent over back asswards cleaning the inside. Thanks, now another place I can't go without my eyes darting rapidly.

[Bullrock]

We have two full service car washes and 3 automatics in our small city. I mostly use one of the full service car washes at least a half a dozen times a year.

Up until the time I encountered this post, I have never given the matter any thought. As a coincidence to your post, yesterday, I was trapped in the middle of an automatic car wash for over 20 minutes, due to an equipment breakdown. It just didn't dawn on me that I was in any danger from anything other than being late for lunch.

I'll be ready next time tho! Next time, instead of tipping the guy in the wipe down area, I'll just come out blasting!!! NOT!!!

[9304]

Of course you could go with an obvious solution to this problem. Use the sray nozzle carwash instead of the automatic and make sure to use your off hand!

[Derius_T]

LOL, it would almost be funny to spray the hell out of a BG with one of those
high pressure carwash guns! With the soap on! Or the hot wax! HAHAHA!
Pin 'em against the wall.................rotflmao..............