# Car washing question



## dpebbles (Oct 28, 2011)

How much do you typically pay the guys who wash your cars in the parking lots of the grocery stores?


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

*Car wash*



dpebbles said:


> How much do you typically pay the guys who wash your cars in the parking lots of the grocery stores?


The ones with power washers or the ones with 5 gallon buckets? 

I pay the guy at my corner OXXO $50.00 pesos. He has a 5 gallon bucket but cleans the inside also, not just the exterior.


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## chicois8 (Aug 8, 2009)

In Guayabitos, one with a power washer 40 pesos exterior and 20 more for inside also, total 60Pesos.


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## Mexicodrifter (Sep 11, 2011)

I don´t let the guys do the inside of my car at those kind of places. Tthey want too much money for just the outside.. I don´t want to loose anything. I pay $25 at the Autolavado.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

15-20 pesos for the smart car, 30-40 for the Pathfinder.


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## circle110 (Jul 20, 2009)

Honda Accord - 

At the supermarket to the guys with power washers - 30-35 pesos for the outside only. Sometimes they tell me it'll be 30 when I park and charge me 35 when I come out to pay but I don't argue; I just think of it as a tip. 

There is a guy who has a roadside car wash and he charges 40 for inside and outside and does a great job. The negative is that you have to stand around and wait while he does his thing. We used to live 200 yards away so it was easy to walk home and come back when it was done but we've moved so now we bring books and read while we wait.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

*Car washes*



circle110 said:


> Honda Accord -
> 
> At the supermarket to the guys with power washers - 30-35 pesos for the outside only. Sometimes they tell me it'll be 30 when I park and charge me 35 when I come out to pay but I don't argue; I just think of it as a tip.
> 
> There is a guy who has a roadside car wash and he charges 40 for inside and outside and does a great job. The negative is that you have to stand around and wait while he does his thing. We used to live 200 yards away so it was easy to walk home and come back when it was done but we've moved so now we bring books and read while we wait.


This is great information. I always have my car washed in Mexico, inside and out. I have for 10 years. I live 15 minutes from the border [TJ] and visit Mexicali regularly so I remember the places in TJ or Mexicali where a house was turned into a hand car wash charging $50.00 pesos 10 years ago which at the time was about $5.00 US. Then about 6 years ago they all starting charging $5.50 pesos, still about $5.00 US. The few American styled they built then charged about $70.00 to $90.00 pesos 6 years ago depending on liquid wax and Armor-all etc.

This then shows the price on the border is much higher than inside Mexico for the same service. The American style ones now charge about $90.00 to $125.00 pesos and the hand wash lots about $70.00 cheap and mediocre job to $80.00 very good job on the border. I have only seen the power washers in Costco and a few parking lots in TJ the last year or so, none in Mexicali. I would expect them to charge much more than where you are.


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## circle110 (Jul 20, 2009)

Yes, it sounds like they charge more or less US prices near the border. Ouch.

Those same costs I quoted are also about what we pay in DF when we get the car washed there while visiting family, although most times there we pay my fiancee's 14 yr old nephew the 30 pesos to wash it. He doesn't mind the work and loves the extra 30 pesos in his pocket!


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

*Car wash*



circle110 said:


> Yes, it sounds like they charge more or less US prices near the border. Ouch.
> 
> Those same costs I quoted are also about what we pay in DF when we get the car washed there while visiting family, although most times there we pay my fiancee's 14 yr old nephew the 30 pesos to wash it. He doesn't mind the work and loves the extra 30 pesos in his pocket!


I do not see many difference in Central Mexico but do notice the wages and labor costs [mechanics, construction, gardeners, maids etc.] in San Luis Potosi are generally lower, as is the rent so far that I have compared. This is another thing that is higher now. Buses also are 50% higher in TJ and Mexicali and taxis have no working meters and charge higher or lower there depending on who and where, so overall Americanos get charged 2x if they don't find their own taxi driver. IN SLP for me taxis are much cheaper and all have working meters. Restaurants for high end, so far, are more expensive on the border but regular ones about the same. The Chinese food in SLP is no where near as good or cheap per volume as Mexicali, so far. The Chinese helped build the All American canal at the beginning of the 20th century and many stayed there. This I feel helped the gene pool and the Americans marrying locals and Mexicali has many very beautiful women. There are very many restaurants per capita in Mexicali and that is what people do there for entertainment.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

AlanMexicali said:


> The Chinese helped build the All American canal at the beginning of the 20th century and many stayed there. This I feel helped the gene pool and the Americans marrying locals and Mexicali has many very beautiful women. There are very many restaurants per capita in Mexicali and that is what people do there for entertainment.


I find the phrase "helped the gene pool" rather distasteful. It implies that there was something wrong with the gene pool before the arrival of the Chinese.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

*OK*



Isla Verde said:


> I find the phrase "helped the gene pool" rather distasteful. It implies that there was something wrong with the gene pool before the arrival of the Chinese.


Diversified the gene pool. Better?


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

AlanMexicali said:


> Diversified the gene pool. Better?


Definitely! Not to mention improving the quality of the local Chinese food, which is abysmal in Mexico City.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

*OK*



Isla Verde said:


> Definitely! Not to mention improving the quality of the local Chinese food, which is abysmal in Mexico City.


Good. Yes the Chinese food in Baja is very good. I have seen the way the Chinese stuff Christmas turkeys sometimes, which is different. One year I bought a complete turkey dinner from a Chinese restaurant and it was stuffed with cut up vegetables, no bread at all. The Chinese also have a habit of giving free bananas at Christmas to customers. I forgot the story behind that but at Christmas for many people in Mexicali it is customary to eat grapes in as symbolic way at Christmas, which I also forgot what it signifies.

A couple years ago when staying in Tepic Nayarit every meal in every restaurant was served with a plate of thinly sliced mango, papaya and pineapple, even with breakfast. That was a nice treat.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

AlanMexicali said:


> for many people in Mexicali it is customary to eat grapes in as symbolic way at Christmas, which I also forgot what it signifies.


Eating grapes on New Year's Eve is a traditional Spanish custom, a way of assuring yourself good luck in the coming year. You're supposed to consume one grape for each time the clock strikes at midnight. I've never been able to get down more than 3 or 4, but a friend from Seville can do it without blinking, or choking!


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

Evidently, you have not had the pleasure of meeting some of the world's more attractive genetic mixes. Unfortunately, most of them are the result of wars and occupations, since tourism doesn't add much to the frequency of such 'blends'. However, many of these do produce very attractive people, physically. It then takes a well established gentle culture to produce a truly beautiful package.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

*Who?*



RVGRINGO said:


> Evidently, you have not had the pleasure of meeting some of the world's more attractive genetic mixes. Unfortunately, most of them are the result of wars and occupations, since tourism doesn't add much to the frequency of such 'blends'. However, many of these do produce very attractive people, physically. It then takes a well established gentle culture to produce a truly beautiful package.


RV Whom are you responding to? Thanks in advance.


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## Guest (Dec 4, 2011)

I eat my grapes without washing them (New Years Eve or not), the Chinese in the car washes in MX surely by now must have "clean genes" (right? ), and they charge 25 pesos locally for a hand wash, including getting most of the goop inside on the mats.

Speaking of which, has anyone seen signs that say "Auto Lavado Bajo Presion"?

I always have visions that when things are a bit slow, two of the guys with drying rags go out into the street, force passing cars inside, tell them "we're gonna wash your dirty car whether you want us to or not. And then you're gonna pay us, OK?"

Happy Sunday afternoon, and Merry Christmas to all.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

*Car washes*



GringoCArlos said:


> I eat my grapes without washing them (New Years Eve or not), the Chinese in the car washes in MX surely by now must have "clean genes" (right? ), and they charge 25 pesos locally for a hand wash, including getting most of the goop inside on the mats.
> 
> Speaking of which, has anyone seen signs that say "Auto Lavado Bajo Presion"?
> 
> ...


"Auto Lavado Bajo Presion" No I haven't. Maybe it it the way they describe the latest thing going on in Automatic Car-washes of "Soft Brushes" that won't scratch your paint job.


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