Hacker News Reader

Comment by jemmyw | Hacker News Reader

> while in the US you see automated car washes, in the uk most car washes are Albanians n other immigrants etc

Er what? I moved away from the UK in 2007 but even then the only place I or my parents washed a car was the ubiquitous petrol station automated car wash.

View on HN

No idea where OP is based but like most suggestions about the UK or London online it's bullshit. Most petrol stations have the same automated car washes they've always had. If you want your car hand washed there are lots of people doing that too, as there always have been. Like all places, the UK and/or London has plenty of issues including serious ones - but I'd still pick it over anywhere in the US regardless of salary differences.

Conversely, I've no idea where you or the parent has the idea that the UK is full of automated car washes and the OP is talking bullshit. I live in London and can think of a only a handful of the old fashioned automatic car washes.

Whereas I can get a hand carwash at pretty much any supermarket car park I land on. From a guy with a bucket and trolley to a full team of four going at it with a power wash. Tesco, Sainsbury's, wherever.

The Albanian angle feels loaded, but it's true that many of the employees do seem to be recent immigrants.

I don't see much point denying this reality, it feels a bit like trying to argue there's always been high streets full of betting shops, charity shops, vape stores and American candy shops.

London is an odd one as space is limited and the hand wash places can pop up anywhere quite easily. If I look at the more suburban place I'm from most petrol stations still have the automated ones (contactless payment now instead of the tokens). And most of the larger supermarkets there that have petrol stations still have the automated car washes too.

I know exactly what they're talking about and I lived in another city in the UK (not close to London). It's a thing.

London is a small part of the U.K. with a below average number of cars. It’s an anomaly compared to the 85% of the U.K. which is normal.

Is it that unimaginable things might have changed in the almost two decades since you left?

I live in the UK now, have done for 40+ years and there are (still) automated car washes everywhere.

Yes, it is unimaginable that the UK has replaced most of their automated car washes with immigrants washing cars manually. I've been back there and I've still family there, it's not that different "on the ground" as it were, despite the big political changes.

It did not, all the automatic washes are there.

I can see the reason why people see it this way though. For £20, you can have 4-5 people getting your car into the best state it can be in under 20 minutes. I would even say it is a joy to watch them work so efficiently.

Most people prefer that over automatic car washes, so after some point, while the automatic washes are there, you become blind to them.

Bear in mind that it's much, much harder to launder money through an automated car wash.

I can only think of one automated wash in my UK town, and well over 10 "Albanian" hand washes. Personally I go to the Albanians every time - they take pride in what they're doing, handle the vehicle with care and do a far, far better job than an auto wash.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com