Most car washes fall into certain groups the main groups include; self service - which is where the car sits stationary and there are cleaning appliances used to clean the car by hand. In-bay automatics - this is a car cleaner where the car stays stationary and the cleaning appliances move back and forth over the car to clean it automatically. Conveyers with this kind of car cleaner the car stays in neutral and is pulled through the various cleaning stages while the cleaning equipment stays stationary.

Automatic Car washes, especially those that have brushes, were at one time avoided by car owners because of the risk of damaging there vehicle's bodywork. The amount of complaint's caused the invention of the touch-free car wash facility. This new idea, proved to be an extremely difficult endeavor. A number of touch-free machines used dangerous chemicals to get a vehicle clean. Many of these chemicals have the potential to cause major damage rather than the brush types they replaced. Today, buffered chemicals, improved hydro-dynamic cleaning systems and modern foam based materials for friction washes have reduced the chances of damaging vehicles in car wash facilities.

These new car washes are more technical than the previous models for example when the car drives onto the conveyer of the washer the sensors tell the computer how long the vehicle is so it can cater the wash for that vehicle. When previously you would have the manual type where you would be given a soap dispensing brush and a water spray to de-soap the vehicle. So you would basically scrub the cars body with the brush as it dispenses the soap at the same time, then once the car is covered and scrubbed clean you would use the water spray to wash off the soap suds.

If you were to get your car professionally cleaned they would most likely use hand held tools and professional cleaning products. As well as the exterior of your vehicle they would more than likely clean the interior as well for an included fee. These kinds of companies tend to have various levels of service with the prices varying accordingly.

The car wash industry has become an attractive yet simple investment opportunity. It also has a growth of regional chain/franchise operations and has drawn interest of non-traditional players such as big-box retailers. It also remains an option for individual investors, as growth of "New Investors Seminars" offered within the industry.