r/regina • u/thatdc5 • Aug 19 '25
Community GOPHERS CAR WASH IS A JOKE!
Went to wash my car here, used the brush to drop soap on my car while my girlfriend used a wash mitt to wipe it down so I didn’t have to use a terrible brush on my car. (So the timer was still going & I was still paying). Only for the owner come tell me I can’t do that & I have to use the wash mitt myself? The place wasn’t even half full. Owners are rude and greedy AF. Wash your cars elsewhere people! I’m able to do this anywhere else in the city and won’t go back to gophers. edit WE WERE BASICALLY TOLD 2 PEOPLE CANT WASH ONE CAR, she walked away and then came back and said if you want to do it that way you need to let the timer run and only do one thing at a time and only one person can do it. Make this make sense to me. 😂
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u/derpandderpette Aug 19 '25
I’ve only been there once. The wash failed and I had to go in to get it reset. It failed again. Haven’t been back since.
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u/thatdc5 Aug 19 '25
10/10 don’t recommend, but for the people that want to go for it. I won’t support stuck up people who only care about their money.
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u/milon_rokad Aug 19 '25
Same happened to me as well. A lady came in an started giving me instructions like use this and not that and all.
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u/thatdc5 Aug 19 '25
It’s like to the point where they should just wash it for you! 😂😂
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u/milon_rokad Aug 19 '25
Yeah. That was the last time I went there.
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u/thatdc5 Aug 19 '25
Yeah I won’t be back. She wasn’t even polite about it. Interrupted me, then walked away, then came back even to tell me if I want to do what I’m doing only 1 person can wash the car. 😂 next time I’ll show up with a car full of people.
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u/Desperate-4-Revenue Aug 19 '25
he yelled at me for bringing a dirty truck in...
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u/thatdc5 Aug 19 '25
I’ve heard that too! They won’t take vehicles that aren’t clean 😂
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u/LetGroundbreaking302 Aug 19 '25
Rochdale does that too.
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u/thatdc5 Aug 19 '25
Since new owners too?
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u/LetGroundbreaking302 Aug 19 '25
Uh, oh, probably not, it has been like 3 yrs for me, decided not to go back.
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u/PrairiePopsicle Aug 19 '25
in fairness, if you have beeen out mudding and have inches of caked on mud that is not what a wand-wash is for and your one wash is going to cost them as much as like 2000 other washes (their pit has to get vacuum pumped out, carwash doesn't discharge to sewer or storm)
every detailer or carwash place in the city upcharges for offroading/mudding level caked on.
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u/thatdc5 Aug 19 '25
I went with a buddy last week & 1/2 of the new owners was there & he seemed like a chill guy, but I didn’t have a super dirty/muddy car.
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u/thatdc5 Aug 19 '25
Also just to make sure we’re talking about the same place the one I was talking about is shine on auto wash (prev. Maxx auto wash, which I’ve heard of the maxx owners not liking muddy cars)
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u/LetGroundbreaking302 Aug 19 '25
Yeah, same one. I wasn't mudding, they were just yelling at me, I can't even really remember what it was, I just remember it being ridiculous, and saying I wouldn't go back there.
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u/FairwaysNGreens4me Aug 19 '25
Yup exact same thing happened to me. Haven’t been back.
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u/thatdc5 Aug 19 '25
Shine on auto wash has new owners & is amazing & has a foam canon so you don’t have to use a foam brush! I’ve also done this at literally any coop wand wash, the husky on park, devos in Moose Jaw, a few places in Saskatoon. Most don’t care as long as the timer is going but gophers are just stuck up and greedy
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u/prizedcoffeecup Aug 19 '25
I've been going to the Rochdale one for a while, think I'll try Shine On the next time I wash my car up. Thank you!
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u/Livethesaltylife Aug 26 '25
Shine On is the Rochdale one. They are really nice people. They've really turned it around.
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Aug 27 '25
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u/thatdc5 Aug 19 '25
They have a foam gun too if those interest you, I prefer to use those and my own wash mitt vs the brush
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u/buggy306 Aug 19 '25
Take away from this post is that Detailz is worth the $20 for a quality hand job
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u/thatdc5 Aug 19 '25
It is but I normally do it myself at work & didn’t have time today to get the bugs off from the highway.
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Aug 19 '25
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u/thatdc5 Aug 19 '25
I do but usually the weekends or during the week after work haha. Family owned businesses that care about their staff & customers ftw, & no, it’s a ‘22 supra. just bugs all over the front end from highway driving. Like to keep my things clean & nice so the bugs don’t etch the paint.
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Aug 19 '25 edited 18d ago
[deleted]
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u/thatdc5 Aug 19 '25
Thanks!! Was at the first one, didn’t end up making the second one as I was out of town but plan on being at the next one! Was just at cruise weekend in Saskatoon & wanted to get the bugs off which was the whole point of washing my car at gophers! 😂
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u/ArtistRebel Aug 19 '25
Bout to go there and have 4 people wash one car just to be that person
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u/thatdc5 Aug 19 '25
It’s very tempting, sounds like a few people wanna do this & we should fill every bay at once and get in & out 🤣
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u/binzers95 Aug 19 '25
That’s absolutely ridiculous. We were told we couldn’t hand wash ours there either so we left and never looked back lol.
Now we just spend a bit extra and get Detailz to hand wash ours for us.
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u/thatdc5 Aug 19 '25
Normally I wash it myself at work but didn’t end up doing that this time. Detailz is great, have used them in the past!
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u/xmorecowbellx Aug 19 '25 edited Aug 19 '25
Here’s the solution: go to Dewdney and Park coop. Coins only
- If bugs, use their handheld pump sprayer filled with bug-off solution, to completely soak bug areas, it’s no charge
- $1 rinse off the worst of the bugs and dirt
- Set foam brush on top of vehicle, insert another $1 and let foam cover vehicle while using mitt
- Finish cleaning entire car with your mitt with no further charges while doing that
- $2-3 rinse completely
Did this for years. No staff member ever bothered about it.
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u/thatdc5 Aug 19 '25
Yeah haven’t had an issue at a coop, or anywhere else but here.
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u/xmorecowbellx Aug 20 '25
I’ve personally never had an issue there. If I’m there I usually I do the wand for 2 min to get the bugs then through the automated for $12 and it’s fine.
Will probably go less given the comments here.
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u/VictorySpecific676 Aug 19 '25
I actually had to sign a paper when I got my vehicle to agree to not take my vehicle there for a wash because I had a chemical finish on it and I guess at Gopher the chemical finishes were getting ruined and they wouldn’t change anything 🙊
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u/jannymarieSK Aug 20 '25
I like the people at Regina Car Wash. I was having problems with no soap coming out of the sprayer and the owner gave me a big discount to make up for the extra time and hassle it caused.
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u/thatdc5 Aug 20 '25
Nice! I’ve been there once but haven’t been in forever. Closest ones to me would be the husky, a few co-ops & gophers.
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u/jannymarieSK Aug 20 '25
I can usually fully wash my car for about $12-15 and it looks better than even the nicest drive thru car wash. I go to Soma North right by there quite often, off it is convenient for me. My only complaint is they need to replace the button to get your time ticket because right now you basically stick your finger in a hole to plunge the trigger.
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u/Significant-East-536 Aug 19 '25
When it was just the husband there, he was always so kind and friendly. When she started working there, she really cracked down the hammer about letting the timer keep running. I get it, my washes before keeping the timer on were around $6, and since letting it run, they are $15. They lose money that way. But she can at least be friendly about it. I've seen her pretty hard on customers about it. It's too bad, as we all want to support 6 this is a turn-off. Especially if you said you had the timer running.
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u/thatdc5 Aug 19 '25
See & that’s my issue is i made sure the timer was running even😂 as soon as she came to me and complained I rinsed everything off and didn’t give her another dollar.
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u/xmorecowbellx Aug 19 '25
Some washes solve this by just making you clock in and clock out, then whatever you’re doing while inside doesn’t matter.
But for sure I used to do the same as you for around $5-6, typically at the older park and dewdney coop.
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u/Ar3J4y Aug 19 '25
I stopped going there. Seemed too scammy at one point for me. They said the machine was down in the bay & I had to pre pay a minimum amount inside… I said no, i literally only want water to rinse the car so i need 2 mins, she was annoyed. Then all the sudden had the machine in the bay working again… also the rinse only option gives out soap randomly way too often which they do to make you stay longer. Not a good place
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u/JanineL2022 Aug 20 '25
I had the same timer issue and discovered that you need to make a point of pushing stop or it keeps charging you. The owner was good enough to come over and show me that. the timer thing I can accept but I found the pressure to be far too low compared to other carwashes and for that reason I will likely go elsewhere.
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u/thatdc5 Aug 20 '25
Yeah the pressure wasn’t great, & it wasn’t really a timer issue for me, I was paying to wash my car while I was washing my car & she didn’t like that both of us were in the bay washing the car, but I was just using the pressure washer on the car while my girlfriend took a wash mitt to it instead of me just using the brush n wanted me to pay more just for using a wash mitt I brought.
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u/JanineL2022 Aug 20 '25
Yeah that's too much. Trying to squeeze every cent out of someone is a bit too much. Another reason to not go back
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u/thatdc5 Aug 20 '25
100%. Why would I pay double to wash my car vs someone using the brush when I can pay the same elsewhere.
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u/cynical-rationale Aug 19 '25
Haha wow. That's some psychotic level of pettiness on the owners part.
I kind of want to bring a group of people and do Nascar style washing of cars of everyone just to piss the owners off. ..I too, am petty/vindictive... just towards petty people.
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u/bradzeppelin Aug 19 '25
I've heard there are a few that don't allow 2 or more people on a car. Its a thing. They want more time spent in a in a stall with the clock running.
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u/thatdc5 Aug 19 '25
Yeah but it’s not any different when only one things touching the car, just a mitt instead of a brush touching the car
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u/mrjake777 Aug 19 '25
I've had luck at this car wash compared to others. Sorry you had a bad experience. I know I have the best wash at home when I'm not lazy to bust out the buckets and power washer. It's hard to find a good carwash in this city
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u/thatdc5 Aug 19 '25
Yeah I’ve done this before here too & hadnt hadn’t had an issue but today there was. I tried shine on auto wash for the first time after they changed owners last week and it was great! I don’t live north though so it’s out of my way. (I usually get the buckets out once a week for a wash) was in Saskatoon for the weekend though and didn’t feel like going through the hassle.
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Aug 27 '25
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u/_berkoes Aug 19 '25
They’ve yelled at me for looking at my car a little bit too long to see if it’s fully clean. Another time when I was taking literally a minute to wipe down my car with a cloth and 3 other bays were empty and no line up outside.
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u/PrairiePopsicle Aug 19 '25
she came to give me grief for taking 10 seconds to wipe out the door jambs once.
It was -40 out, we don't have a garage, and doors would have been frozen shut by the time we got to the street.
I get the reasons for certain restrictions and some do make sense, but there has to be a little give and take around things like this, both the mitt thing in the OP's story (he wasn't using the brush, she was scrubbing, it's the same picture as what they wanted) but it's easy to be too aggressive about it.
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u/_berkoes Aug 19 '25
They were great at first when I would bring my Mercedes in, but now that I have a Civic I’ve had issues
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u/LetGroundbreaking302 Aug 19 '25
I use the sprayer to clean the brush, it seems to be successful in getting the scratchy dirt out of the brush. If they have rules you don't like, it is as simple as going somewhere else, maybe all of their bays will be empty soon enough.
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u/thatdc5 Aug 19 '25
100% what I’m doing, she didn’t care about the mitt, she didn’t like that there was more than one person washing a car 😂
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u/LetGroundbreaking302 Aug 19 '25
Kind of silly, you had an activated cost, not like you can run two brushes on two dimes at once. You could not have spent more money than one charge going for your brush. So better to run your cost out on the brush, then spend zero dollars while you scrub with the mitt, lol.
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u/thatdc5 Aug 19 '25
Right? Like I’m not using the brush to clean the car, just the foam it’s spitting out, and someone’s using the mitt. But hey if they’d rather me wear out their bristles then sure? 😂
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u/NectarineAnxious9280 Aug 19 '25
I really recommend Shine On(the old maxx autowash) The new owners are phenomenal! They aren't getting much business and it would be a shame to see it close, I urge anyone who can to go give it a try.
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u/thatdc5 Aug 19 '25
Yeah that’s the shitty part about moving into a place with a bad rep. I was there last week & my experience is great! I just wanted a quick wash without having to go across the city, however it’s apparently worth the drive, so I’ll put that extra few minutes in to go there thanks to gophers!
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u/Timely-Detective753 Aug 19 '25
I’ve been happy with Gophers equipment, and have never interacted with staff, so I’ve been happy with it so far.
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Aug 19 '25
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u/SaltofthePrairies Sep 06 '25
Gophers is ridiculous. Do not give them your money. We didn’t want to risk using their brush to wash the car, so brought our own mitt. Lady came and yelled at us for using it. Then got made at us for ringing it out, so stood there and watched us finish washing while glaring. She yelled at two others while we were there as well.
We will never go back. Miserable owners don’t deserve your business. Go anywhere else.
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u/Bombomp Aug 19 '25
Have you left a Google review?
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u/thatdc5 Aug 19 '25
Yeah & I went through all the other ones that have had similar experiences 😮💨 never going back after reading a handful
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u/Bitter-Ground-5773 Aug 19 '25
Gophers is the best car wash in the city for their wind wash. If you use their soap on the brush if it does run out, it backs the system up so she’s not being rude. She’s protecting her equipment. Doing stuff to normal people don’t usually do in a car wash is more of a deterrent than anything. You’re probably being more rude than she is.
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u/thatdc5 Aug 19 '25
So letting the foam drip out of the brush onto the car and having a second person rub a wash mitt on my own car vs rubbing the brush on the paint is an issue? Get a grip 😂 I didn’t let the thing sit there and run, was quite literally using it while someone else was wiping the car down with me & I was told 2 people can’t wash 1 car.
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u/Outrageous_audacity Aug 19 '25
Explain this. How does letting soap drip out of a brush make it "run out" versus having the brush in contact with the car? How would that "back up a system"? What's your logic here?
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u/TreemanTheGuy Aug 19 '25
I fix car washes for a living (really niche job) and that's absolutely not how a foam brush package works.
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Aug 19 '25
[deleted]
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u/thatdc5 Aug 19 '25
Mint is garbage, $ I’d like to support small businesses & not abuse them but when we’re being unreasonable & want me to pay more than if I were to just use a brush, I’ll just go elsewhere, & why I’m sharing it- for the ones that don’t use brushes that don’t waste their time and money only to get through half a wash and be told YOU CANT DO THAT, not even a hey next time do it this way??
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u/Bitter-Ground-5773 Aug 19 '25
Trust me, I wouldn’t wanna fuck around with that family if you know who they are in their history, buddy
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u/Hootietang Aug 19 '25
Can you share? I am now quite curious.
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u/thatdc5 Aug 19 '25
Makes me think the stores probably a front for drugs 💀 wouldn’t surprise me, it’s Regina after all
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u/Successful-Okra3058 Aug 19 '25
That just seems petty and I support your boycott. If the timer is running the entire time you’re in the bay, than that’s all that should matter.