Parkway Auto Wash

I’m a little mystified by all the vitriol here. I mean, sure — if these people (or anyone else) had damaged my car, there wouldn’t be any standing around asking them to make good on the problem while the manager argued with me. There’d be me taking their asses to court for a new body part and money. So I get it, for those of you who have had damage. I would be livid.
BUT — I can only speak to my experience, though, which is that they got my car REALLY clean, relatively quickly, during what I assume was a very busy period (like 5:15 on a Thursday after a long winter bout), and for a reasonable price. Yes, their prices are a little on the high end. I would not come here for a basic wash — I use the Car Wash Inn brushless places for that (like $ 9 or something for the whole shebang — eminently worth it). But every now and then I want a more thorough cleaning and don’t want to do it myself.
I’m very particular about my car. I baby it. I love the thing. So I’m not the world’s most easily pleased car wash customer. After moving to Cincy, I began to patronize Gil’s, which according to Unilocalers is pretty much the consensus best car wash in the city. Their prices are overall less expensive than Parkway’s, across the board. So at Gil’s I can get the Whale or Cthulu or whatever — their whole-​shebang package — for like $ 18, I think. Parkway’s «Ultimate» is significantly more expensive at $ 24.
But — you get the top shelf at Gil’s and that gets you an auto-​wash with all the extra chemicals (RainX, diamond tricoat, wax, whatever), and then you pull out — and you drive away. That’s it. Not even a towel dry. For $ 18. To me, for $ 18, that’s not just unacceptable, that should be kind of embarrassing to the proprietor. Now, there was nothing WRONG with the wash. It was just a $ 14 wash for $ 18. This is supposedly the best car wash in the city.
So, for $ 6 more at Parkway, plus $ 2 I popped in for tire/​wheel treatment (also more at Gil’s, and almost NEVER worth it ANYWHERE), here’s what I got: my car was vacuumed and Armorall-​ed by hand, then run through a brush wash. Afterward, a dude spent at about 15 minutes towel drying my car, buffing down the interior surfaces to get rid of smudging and the slickness of the Armorall, then hand-​applied a scrub-​on tire shine that looked better than any I’ve really ever done myself. And an air freshener and a coupon.
Granted, the interior vacuum was a quickie — all of the deeply dug-​in crap my daughters left in and under their car seats was still there. I have a tan leather interior with tan carpet and tan rubber inner doorsill moulding. It picks up and keeps dirt and scuffs really easily, and they did not get rid of that. I don’t imagine they even tried around the door sills. For $ 26, I don’t give a crap. It was still cleaner than it’d been inside for several months and cleaner inside than I normally have the will to make it, even when I am hand-​washing the exterior myself. I didn’t take it for a detail, I took it for a deluxe wash, and while it was a few bucks more than others I’ve been to, this deluxe wash was WAY more deluxe.
Granted, this place has its blemishes. You have to wait outside. The manager seems like she’s probably crazy. They get REALLY busy. The staff interact with you, the manager and each other like they’re real workaday people, rather than smiling corporate avatars — so while everyone was really nice to me, I could tell there’s some grounds for a salty exchange here or there. The cashiers are your typical dead-​eyed teenage high school students who appear not to want to be there any more than you or I wanted to be at our high school jobs. At one point, the manager did interrupt the gentleman who was finishing my car to yell at him, and an argument ensued. That’s bad form. I don’t much care — everyone has workplace static, especially when you’re in service and you’re THAT busy — but the manager should know you never put that shit out in front of the customers. I was mostly just peeved I had to wait an extra five minutes while the attendant defended himself for him to resume finishing off my car (which he did a great job at). But the single biggest problem it that when it’s busy, it’s next to impossible to figure out when your car is done and if you’re supposed to go get in the thing now. Not a big deal once you’ve been through the process a couple of times, I expect.
Ultimately I was REALLY pleased at how great the cleaning job was. The car was spotless outside, and nice and clean and smudge-​free inside. I thanked the towel/​finishing attendant for his obvious attention to detail (and tipped — I’m not a dick). I’ll be taking my wife’s car back for her post-​winter cleaning and I will be going back there for all my deluxe washes in the future. I’ll still do detailing myself and do my regular quickie washes at the Car Wash Inn brushless spots. But I won’t be going back to Gil’s now that I’ve seen the VASTLY more thorough job they do at Parkway for a couple more bucks.

They just trashed my 1 year old Jaguar F Type coupe. Car has less than 1000 miles and the front fender comes out of the wash damaged. Worst customer service in my life

Fast and easy. This place was very busy. Hand dried is something I always look for. I have this ritual of getting my hair cut and my car washed close to the first of the month. This place did the trick

I will never use this place again! My car was not totally «dirty» but not totally clean either. They were pretty busy for a weekday so I didn’t fully inspect my car before leaving (I was trying to be courteous of the other customers & workers). I made it about a mile down the road when I saw that my dash was still dusty… like, they didn’t even touch it. My friend looked in the back and noticed that the carpet didn’t look like it was touched either. I went back to the car wash and asked for the manager. I pointed out to her my concerns and she said that she was the one who «cleaned» the inside of my car. The dash must have simply been skipped but her exact words for the carpet were, «It didn’t look like it needed it so I didn’t do it.» I was there for 25min or so the first time then an additional 15min the second time. It looked fine when she was finished, but REALLY??? When I tell you the service I want, and I pay for that service, I expect it to be done regardless of what your opinion is! Never, ever again will I be back!

Attentive to detail. These guys are hands down the best place to get a car wash and interior scrub in Cincinnati. Always leave with a clean car and fr sh scent!

The woman who checks the cars in will ask you what kind of wash you want and then checks a more expensive wash off on your ticket. If you don’t think to look at it, you’ll get scammed out of a few bucks. And when they get busy, they get sloppy. My car had drip marks all over it by the time I got home today because they didn’t dry it properly. And they don’t bother to put anything down over the floormats, so I had to vacuum my car when I got it home, too. This used to be a good car wash. They don’t seem to care anymore. And their coupons aren’t worth anything. Who gets their car washed every ten days at those prices?

Awful experience!
Do not waste your time and money.
I am a long time customer and have noticed the quality of service has been steadily slipping.
Today the inside of the car was dirtier than when I brought it there due to an employee cleaning the interior with a dirty, car wax covered rag.
Not only did the manager not apologize when I reported this but actually yelled at me and called me a liar.
When he looked at my freshly «cleaned» car and observed the drips and stains (which he did wipe off with a clean rag) he shouted at me saying «now why would they mess up your car».
Even if they didn’t «mess it up» which they did — the real question is why didn’t they actually clean it as they were paid to do?
All in all real jerks with NO customer service skills whatsoever.

Our guy was great! I’ve been here before sometimes better than others overall a very good car wash.

DO NOT SPEND YOUR MONEY/​TIME FOR A CAR WASH!!!
This was a sorry excuse for a car wash! We arrived at 4:45pm. I paid for the basic car wash with the tire dressing. My car came out and I lifted the mat and it appeared that they did not vacuum the car, at all. The lady at the front desk called the «manager» and they pulled my car around again… to try to vacuum again. The workers are lazy and I had some «cleaning fluid» on my door inside panel. I asked them to wipe it and they said «we don’t do that». They created the mess… really?
Lastly, a doctor pulled up in a S500 Mercedes and they told him, no, we aren’t washing any more cars. So this place sucks and they turn down $$.
Keep driving…

Probably won’t be back here again.
Car washes just don’t seem to get all the dirt off the car, even when hand dried. I’ve gone twice and it seems to have missed a few spots particularly on the lower parts of the car. A regular wash costs about $ 13.00
The thing that really ticked me off though, coupons are only good for ten days. I don’t know about you but I’ve never needed to wash my car with that degree of frequency and I wonder who does. So, effectively, the coupons are worthless.
I can get a mediocre car wash at Rainbow and at least my coupon is always valid. Keeps me coming back!

So I went here for the first time about a month ago. I just bought a brand new truck, and as I was arriving home (only a few miles from here) I noticed my passenger mirror was moved forward. There was a big scratch in the chrome, and my alloy rim directly below also had a scratch. I went back down and they said they «I heard something» when driving it through but couldn’t find anything. So I showed them the damage and the manager denied it. Cowards, crooks, avoid these people if you care about your vehicle. Didn’t even offer my money back for the wash! Wish I could rate 0 stars.

While waiting to get my car wash my car broke down. I can’t give the specifics because my knowledge of cars is a mere start the car and drive. They moved my car, comforted me, gave my dog water and called Rob (mechanic down the road) to come look at my car. They knew right from the bat what the problem was and insisted it was an easy fix. They were right! My car is now fixed and it didn’t cost much.
I’m currently on my way back with thanks and a car wash.
I will also be returning to the mechanic for all my car needs.
They are genuine people, hard working and awesome.
I’m so grateful!

There is a distinct difference between the quality of the interior and exterior jobs. Every time I go here, the exterior of my car is great. The interior, however, is another story. This place has failed at least 10 time in vacuuming my cars interior well. The front two seats (I have a coupe) are done moderately well, but the back bench is always literally untouched. I think that the vacuumers are just too lazy to get back there. I will never go here again and if you want a full package I suggest you don’t go here.

Been going here for 10 years for car washes. The past 2 years they have really gone down hill. I was there today and will not return. I paid $ 20 and tip for basically an air freshener and the interior vacuumed. The exterior was horrible. Just rinsed the dust off of it and the guy who wiped my car down, left his finger prints all over the inside and outside without even wiping down my console and dashboard. Called and complained. The manager just made some other guy come out and wipe down my car. Had to tip a second time. No ‘Next time Free” or voucher for a half price wash. Don’t waste your time!

Finally, I have found an all around car wash that will make me forget Mike’s! I have always loved a car wash that takes your car and drives it through the wash for you and then cleans the windows, inside and out, while you wait. Simply tip the guy wash your windows and you will leave with a clean car, inside and out. Also, while you pay for you car wash, you can also purchase an air freshener from their huge selection.
This place is where it is at!

They did a good job cleaning the exterior of the car; poor interior job. The floor carpet still had crumbs in it after vacuuming and my dashboard was still dusty and dirty. I got the $ 20 full interior/​exterior service.
First red flag was the person wiping the car down at the end finished really quickly. Pointed out the spots on the dashboard left behind and he handed me his cloth to prove it couldn’t be cleaned; the cloth was really dry and clean with very little cleaning solution. He said I probably needed a tougher cleaning solution. Then I showed him how using his cleaner and elbow grease it came right up. Finished cleaning the board myself. I also showed him the crumbs from the poor vacuuming job. He explained that I would need a «detail» job for that. Shook the crumbs off the carpet. Spoke with a lady inside about the poor cleaning job. She explained that they don’t like to use the solution to wipe down the dashboard because it left a stain in a car once.
I have taken my car to be washed before, had these same services done, paid the same price, and have never heard so many excuses for a poor interior cleaning in my life. Basically, I paid $ 20 for a car wash.

This is a great place to get a full service car wash, the employees I have dealt with have been friendly, and really take there time cleaning and detailing the car.
Sure it costs more than a Mikes or Speedway or something, but consider they spend the time to make sure the car is cleaned to the customers liking.

This place does a great job of making your car look shiny and new. I must say I prefer Rainbow for their no tipping policy and just overall think the employees are friendlier and take more time with the details… but this is also a great place to come get your car washed inside and out. It can get really packed on a random nice day. so be sure to come at an off time if possible…

Best car wash in the city, nothing else to say really.
Reasonably priced not too bad, especially for the value you get

Great place to get the car washed inside and out for a great price. I take my car here at least once a month.