Coin-Op Car Wash

Spoiler Alert: Ripoff Center. Poor, cheap equipment. Save your time and money! Go somewhere else. The owner is a cheap, bad businessman who cares very little for repeat customers. Next!

Their supplies are fine but the prices are a little high. I’ve never seen it really busy and have never had to wait, so that’s good!

I am not one to write negative reviews unless I am seriously bothered by an experience. Quite often the Spot Free Rinse is not functional. This has happened to me at least 3 times. If you don’t use Spot Free Rinse, the hard water leaves mineral deposits on your paint. You’d be better off leaving it dirty.
After 3 experiences where the Spot Free Rinse was not working, I went to have a conversation with the Asian dude that runs this place. He is wildly aggressive, overreactive, and unfriendly. He refused to refund any of my money and told me my issue was user error. I debated with him for a while until I could no longer handle his unpleasant nature.

I wash my car myself every week only because I’m OCD and can’t stand when the windows get dirty, plus it only costs a few bucks. So being new to this area I Unilocaled! And this place was closest but too hard to find cant really see the sign being tucked away in with all the other businesses and its kinda hard to get out after you’re done.
Long story short, definitely not for me! Brush bristles waaaay too stiff and it seemed that the nozzle didn’t spray just water or the spot free rinse bcz my car was covered in spots, streaks leaving foggy windows so I had to wash again someplace else.

The bristles on the soap brush left thousands of circular scratches all over my car!!! Do not use this place unless your not concerned with the condition of you paint! It’s really bad!
Will never use this place again.

This was the first coin-​op car wash I found on Lincoln Ave. It’s hard to get in and out of this location since it’s small and in a busy area, and you can’t use the neighborhood street that runs parallel behind Lincoln.
Honestly, this place is not great, and is more than a little run-​down. But their equipment works so if you’re in a pinch, stop by. When I visited, the change machine was out of order. The owner/​manager the issue right away and was very helpful and politely resolved the problem.
There are at least two other coin-​op car wash locations further north on Lincoln, so if you can hold-​out, I would recommend making the drive about a mile up the road.

Crazy Asian man operates the car wash/​smog shop. The first stall does not wash the car well… no soap pressure. We ask him about it and he goes mental! No joke. Asked for our money back since we had to move stalls and re-​wash. Holy crap, this guy is so out of touch with reality. Talk about an unusually exaggerated response and a waste of our damn time.

— Locale Destination —
It’s on Lincoln Blvd and W Washington Blvd in Marina del Rey, LA.
You need to get into this place from Lincoln Blvd since the back side is closed. It’s at not-​so-​fancy back side of MDR. The signage wasn’t so obvious, so you need to drive slowly to find the place if you wanna try this. It’s very old and run down looks. Nothing is clearly explained or displayed. I wasn’t sure what «Coin-​Op» car wash — I just went to the closest car wash on Unilocal app before I went to Venice…
— Gluttony Expedition —
I didn’t know how to do it — the sign really won’t help you anything even if you read the instruction… I’ve learned about the operation of self service car wash with quarters. Actually the guy next to me taught me how to do it ;p
****** How to wash your car ******
1. Put $ 2.25 with quarter (there’s a machine for changes if you didn’t have quarters).
2. Set the machine to «No.1», grab the thing for «soap» (you can see only soap/​shower thing and brush on the side wall) and spray it on your car quickly.
3. Set the machine to «No.2», and grab the brush and wash your car.
*** The machine beeps like 30 seconds before the quarters run out. If you need more time to do things, just add more quarters and finish it!
4. Set the machine to «No.3», grab the soap/​water thing, and rinse with the high pressure shower. The pressure is pretty high if you grabbed the thing strongly. So be careful adjusting the pressure. I warned you!
If you go back side of the place, you’ll see the vaccume (yellow one) for car interior and big hose for drying your car. Just put quarters to operate them. I wanted to dry my car, but I grabbed yellow one for vaccume by mistake ;(By the time I finished it, my car dried out and left dirty stains ;(The day was very hot… They also sell towel ($ 1) and stuff.
— Conqueror’s Deduction —
I hate everything about car: driving, car wash, speed, going to oil change/​mechanic (because they always scare me and rip me off), car insurance, DMV etc.
I’m careless which car you drive if you tried to impress me with it.
I thought driving with «Honda» was a lot better than with «Maserati» (True story. Honda can’t drive fast like Maserati nor Porsche. I feel safer with Honda ;p).
I wanted to find a machine washer because I had only little time. I just couldn’t find it and picked the place nearby on Unilocal app.
You need to work very quickly to do it all. I sweat by washing my car. It was sorta fun because what happened during washing process — surprised by the beeping sound, running to put coins, surprisingly strong water pressure etc…
I spent like $ 6 at the end and my car (outside) was still dirty… lol
Conclusion: It’s freaking cheap to use a machine or car wash guy for all the hassles. If you didn’t know what to do this, you’ll spend more $$ than the cheap machine wash to do it all. Never again for me ;p
But now I know how to do it ;)

Just washed my car here. The DIY is great and very cheap – they supply everything you’ll need. The bad rating comes from poor customer service. I asked the guy running the show if I could use their restroom (which I saw), and he replied «No. No, go to IHOP» (across the street). Yeah, as if I just gave IHOP my business.
Sheesh guy. Lousy customer service but what do you expect from a place that’s DIY. Go for the car wash, but don’t buy any of their services (this experience was enough to show me that next time I’m in and out).

Wow. All u guys review this place are lame. It’s just a freaking car wash. Instead of tell us ur life story revolving this place. Go find out the hours to this place is. Thanks

I can wash & wax my sedan for $ 2.00! Nuff said.

This place in all its hallowed antiquity simply rocks. No stress… inexpensive… and a solid $ 2.25 four minute workout trying to squirt soap, brush soap then water spray everything off in the minimal time allotted. For every extra quarter beyond the base $ 2.25 you will get an additional 30 seconds of fast and furious fun.
There is a coin machine in the front if you need quarters.
I love this run down conveniently located place! I’ll be back for sure :)

Kinda of ghetto looking facility, but cheaper than most DIY car washes in LA. Gets the job done.

What the eff. I thought my month of good deeds put my karma back to a zero balance. I was apparently wrong. Last time I ever rescue puppies from a burning building. Save your selves you little shits! Waste of my time…
Driving along 1^st street the other night I hit a pothole and a tidal wave of septic waste, trichloroethylene, and haunted tears of a 1,000 sacrificed pagan virgins crashed onto the hood of my car and seeped into residence in the wheel wells and under carriage. I immediately started to dry heave. The stench was a million multiples worse than the time I volunteered at a community health clinic during OB/​GYN week.
Living in Downtown means I have no yard and thus no water hose. Chances were no gas station car wash was going be open at midnight either. Luckily I remember passing this Coin-​Op wash a few times before. Granted it’s about 15 miles away, but it was the only self car wash I knew of and I prayed it would be open. So I made a mad bee line from Downtown to the Westside. My high revved engine started to bake the stank. I might have passed out at least twice.
It takes a minimum of $ 2 dollars (quarters only) for a 4 minute wash. You have your choices of; pre-​rinse, soap rinse, wax, high-​pressure rinse etc. I used $ 10. The abhorrent emanation of olfactory sorrow was still present. The soap didn’t seem to do its thing. I can’t imagine any over the counter substance being successful at washing away haunted tears or my black karma. So I won’t dock a star for that.
The high pressure wash was successful in getting the sludge off the surface and parts of the undercarriage. While the smell was reduced, it was very much still present. I would recommend to anyone as unfortunate or maybe deserving as I to take it here to do the initial water blasting to save your paint coat. After that get it cleaned at a real car wash and detailer.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
–There are I think about 4 stalls with a brushed hose and a regular stream hose in each
−2−3 Vacuum stations
–Quarters only, min of $ 2
–Tucked a little in the back of Venice and Centinela on Venice.
–If you go late at night like I did leave a note for a roommate or buddy with the following, «Gone to shady coin operated self car wash in Venice at 1am. If not back by 1:30am call the police and tell them to search the drains for traces of my DNA. Possible suspects of my murder 1) guy washing blood off the hood of his recent felony hit and run. 2) drug traffickers washing kilos down the drains before the DEA teams swoop in or 3) I loss consciousness from the odor emanating from my car and ended up drowning in a soup of shit residue, soap, and water.»
«P.S. You can have my dog.»

I used to go to the coin-​op car wash on Venice and Centinela, because I didn’t know about this car wash that was much closer. It’s hard to notice since it’s not that big and kind of tucked away in the back, but it’s right across the street from IHOP, and it’s next to some motorcycle gear shop.
Most coin-​op car washes are pretty much the same, all use the same machines… It’s $ 2.25 to use the wash thing each time (can choose, just water, soap, wax, high pressure rinse, etc…) — so for me it usually comes out to $ 5.50 since i bring my own stuff and just use it twice for the high pressure rinse. The water lasts I think 4 minutes each time. The machines only accept quarters, but there’s a change machine there. There’s also a vacuum machine that’s 75 cents, for I think a minute or two.
The thing I like about this coin-​op car wash over the other ones I’ve been to in the area is that this one isn’t usually that busy since it’s hard to find. I’ve been both in the afternoon on a weekend, and in the morning. I usually go on Saturday mornings though. This one’s also good because it’s on the west side, facing out west, so when you go early in the morning, the sun isn’t shining right on you.
But yeah, besides all that, not much else to say… it’s a coin-​op car wash…