Soapy Joe’s – Rancho Bernardo

The dryer was just replaced and less wiping down required!
The fees for individual has gone up making the unlimited package more of a value.
Keep your car or cars fresh and so clean clean!

Love the idea of unlimited car washes per month when you pay a small fee! We pay $ 15 per month to get the «super wash» plus the attendant hands us an air freshener every time we go through. The staff is so nice and always there to help guide you through.
When you come out, the lot is equipped with working vacuums and towels for you to dry off what didn’t get dry under the dryer. There’s typically always a spot open even though it’s a cramped area. (They share the corner with chevron and 711). I highly recommend paying for a years worth of unlimited washes! Especially for those of you with dark cars like myself.
5 stars for quality, convenience, staff, and all around great deal!
Ps: you can always upgrade if you want, and keep your receipt, give to a friend for 50% their wash!

Cheap place for a car wash. It is a drive thru and it does a pretty good job for the price. You have to dry parts of it yourself bc the drier doesn’t always work. They have few towels in bins for you to use after you pass through the car wash. They also have free vacuums and compressed air to use. Large trash bins are next to each vacuum station.
Pay for a car wash and then you drive through to where an attendant will guide you into the conveyor belt device that pulls your car through. This is a good time to ask the attendant for an air freshener. Make sure all of your windows are up. The side mirror on one of my cars gets pushed back by the wash, so you can tuck them in to prevent this. The attendant will tell you to put your car in neutral and take your foot off of the brakes and hand off of the steering wheel once you are in proper position. Takes about 1 minute and a light will turn to green when you are clear to drive off slowly.
They have monthly or annual passes. With these, you can go to any location for a wash as many times as you want. When you buy a pass, they put a small barcode sticker on the driver side of your windshield and it automatically scans it when your drive up. The gate opens after the monitor asks you if you want to add any more wash additives. I usually just press No Thanks, and I go right through.
Staff are all friendly and will help you out if you have problems while purchasing. If you drive through the slot on the left, watch out for the wall. There are lots of scratches on the wall from cars hitting it. If you go through the slot on the right, make sure you use a very wide turn to the right to make sure your car gets into the right position without having to back up.

Very convenient for a quick drive by to get your car washed unlimited. However, for me the problem is that I don’t get to the car wash often. There’s not enough locations to make it easy to stop in for a wash while you’re out. I wish they would have more. If you live close by or travel near Soapy Joe’s regularly it will be a better value. It’s good though that we are saving water and not washing cars at home due to the drought.

Bad experience this week! Went through the car wash and the track ruined my rim! Manager is not reliable!

Soapy Joe’s Car wash is very good. I typically will vacuum my car at home and visit a drive through car wash after when I know I’m going to be driving on the freeway (this way the car gets dried off with the speed). I needed to drive up the 15 so thought I’d give it a try. Went with the $ 11 choice. When I drove up to the machine to enter my code a Soapy Joe employee entered the code in for me … Cool! When I drove up to the start of the wash they gave me a complimentary air freshener deal … Cool! When my car started to enter the wash 2 employees had hand held water spray cleaners and pre-​cleaned my car before entering the the machine wash. The car turned out fantastic. Best drive through car wash!

Was recommended by a friend when I was asking where people take their cars for a wash that doesn’t cost a lot. Basic wash costs $ 7. You stay in the car while it goes through the wash thing (like a traditional gas station wash), but I was pleasantly surprised that they have nice clean dry towels in these little stations to dry your car off and use their vacuums for free! I was having trouble with one of my credit cards and there was an employee working there who got it all figured it out quickly and with a smile — will definitely be back!

I have been to this car wash three times. The first time, the overhead brush did not come down and clean my hood. I had to talk with the manager just to let me go through the wash again, because the attendant would not let me. The second time, the car wash removed my 4 Runner emblem from the tailgate. I went back later to retrieve this, but it is apparently not their policy to save loose parts. The manager offered me no compensation either. I chalked this up to possibly just being bad adhesive on the emblem. The third time (and last time I will ever use this car wash) was today. The car wash removed my SR5 emblem from the tailgate. It would be pointless to go back and discuss with the manager, based upon my experience last time. I thought I should at least warn other customers about the problems with this car wash, so they do not have similar bad experiences.

Everytime I come here they are either out of clean towels or people have mixed them up with dirty towels. They need to make clear sign where clean towels are, so people dnt get confuse.

False advertising on Unilocal.they don’t do any oil changes… had to drive 5 miles just to get disappointed.

Great place. I have been in San Diego for a year and I just stumbled into this place now. Will always go back to this nice express carwash.

Soapy Joes has recently decided to gouge Über and Lyft drivers for no good reason. I am cancelling my Soapy Joe membership and lodging a complaint to the BBB for the rude service I received as a result of me refusing Soapy Joe’s — ‘Cabbie Joe’ service. If you are an über or Lyft driver hide your tags.

I have been passing by this place a number of times and always seems to be busy. Wasn’t sure why until I took the plunge and decided to try it out.
The wash is adjacent to a ⁷⁄₁₁ gas station. Real convenient for those on the go. Soapy Joe’s is the same. It’s a machine/​brush wash which I’ve tried to stay away from for the most part. However, when I’ve gone to the «brushless» washes, I’ve noticed there is always a layer of dirt that hasn’t been removed by the wash. The only way to get it off is with brushes or handwash.
You drive up to the wash entrance and are greeted by the attendant wearing a blue shirt and bow tie. The tie adds a touch of class to any joint. He’ll guide your vehicle into position to be brought into the wash by the wheel guide and point out the next steps posted on a sign in front of the entrance. «Put the car in neutral, no brakes, no steering, (blah, blah, blah) etc.» Says the automated voice. They then brush off the windshield and back window with soap and brush.
Once the car is in the wash, you see all the grime and dirt that is built up on the exterior of your car. As you exit the wash, the sign in front directs you to gain control of your car again by putting it into drive, control brakes and steer. You then can pull into an area with free high powered vacuums and microfiber cloths to continue cleaning your car as needed. These vacuums aren’t your standard car wash vacuums from my past experiences. These things are super high powered! Beware of stray change or anything with value lying on the floor or seat of your vehicle. They’ll be sucked into oblivion. They have a wide fan and thin pointy accessory to the vacuums at every station as well as an air blower to blow away and standing water on the car. You can then towel down exterior and interior as needed.
There are plenty of stations with vacuums and towels to work on your car. Staff are all friendly. They also offer unlimited washes for $ 15! Pretty good deal for those of you who drive clients on a regular basis or just want a clean car. They have several locations throughout San Diego which makes it easy to pull into and clean up when driving around town. A very worthwhile experience.
Keep on Unilocal’n!

My new place for a car wash! This place is awesome! I got a $ 6 machine wash and they have a section where you can vacuum your car for free and get air for your tires. They even have towels. Just remember to bring your own Windex :-) Definitely coming back from now on cause you can easily clean your car to your own standards.

I have absolutely no complaints other than sometimes getting a bunk vacuum or being too crowded. Love soapy joe’s and pretty much use them exclusively if I’m not getting a detail. Not only is it so much less expensive than traditional car washes, but doing it myself feels much better than sitting for sometimes over an hour in the sun waiting for someone else.
Their complimentary air fresheners with the magic potion wash smell similar to capri blue volcano candles at Anthropologie… and a girl loves her scented car.
Sign up for the text alerts and get occasional 50% coupons. Radical.

The machinery in this car wash pulled a part of my front bumper off. I remained unusually calm as I explained what happened and the guys checked it out. They determined that there had been some preexisting damage on my bumper, a couple scratches from curbs like most cars probably have, and because of that they would not be reasonably held liable for any damages. IT PULLED A PIECE OF MY BUMPER OFF, mind you. They did absolutely nothing for me, didn’t even offer a free car wash. Horrendous service, I’ll not be returning to a Soapy Joe’s again.

If you’re going to get a car wash at a gas station, this is definitely the place to go! $.30 off a gallon on your gas. Then they actually have brushes at this place, so you’re not getting one of those half-​arse no-​touch sprays that don’t actually work.
I came here after driving to AZ and back and it got all the bug guts off my car. I’m sure it helps that I usually use the windshield squeegie to get as much of the stuck on stuff off as possible before actually going through the car wash, but my car has not ever been this shiny after leaving a drive through car wash.
Vacuums for everyone! Trash cans! And TOWELS! What’s not to love?

Tire scrubbers took the coat and paint right off of my car. Hard to believe I haven’t seen anyone else report this.
Update 1:
After several emails and phone calls, Joel (the manager) watched the video of my car going through and said, «It’s really hard to tell from the video whether our car wash did the damage.»
I asked him to look at the images (the same ones attached to the review) again and he said, «From the pictures, it looks like the brushes were going down, and all of our brushes go up.» I found this response bizarre.
He left it at, «I need to talk to another manager and get back to you.»
I am not optimistic.
Update 2:
Manager Joel Aguilar phoned again and told me that there was no way that his scrubbers did the damage shown to my car. I offered to return to his car wash and show that his tire scrubbers align perfectly with the damage done, and he quickly changed his story. «Well, the swirls in the photo indicate that your car had a bad paint job before you came.»
I clarified his statement, asking, «So, you believe that your car wash removed the paint from my car because my car had a bad paint job?»
«Yes, sir. It’s not entirely our fault. If it were entirely our fault, we would pay for the damages.» My car has never been painted (aside from the initial factory paint job).
The number of excuses Joel used for why he shouldn’t have to pay me was unbelievable.
Avoid this place. Just an awful way to run a business.

I have been to all three North County car washes and I vote Ranch Bernardo #1 and a zillion stars! as the very best employees and car wash anywhere.
This car wash has the most awesome Manager, Joel Aguilar. He is an example of what a manager should be anywhere. He goes the extra mile in every way. He has helped me with my Ultimate car washes with courtesy, caring, efficient, friendly, helpful, personable, great appearance, does what he says he is going to do and more. You just can’t ask for anymore then that! His employees are the best, friendly, helpful and fast workers,
especially Kristian, he is awesome too and I would like to thank him.
The car wash does a very good job. They keep it clean inside and out.
Thank you Joel for making life much easier for me! I wish I could find more people like you in this world!

You can’t go wrong with an unlimited wash pass. The quality is okay… I mean it keeps the car shiny for a few days but it only pretty much removes dust. The dryer really doesn’t do much as they provide towels, knowing that it leaves drops all over your car. The vacuums are great! This place does get crowded at nights so get here early morning or during your lunch break.

Whenever I’m in the area, I always take my car here for a wash! Starting at only $ 6 (it used to be $ 5) – now that’s a great value given everything that’s included.
What sets this place apart from other drive through car washes is that there’s an actual attendant standing there who pre-​washes your car, then you drive it through the car wash (car must be in neutral, folks). That’s not all, folks… they also have a free air/​vacuum station and also provide microfiber towels! I’ve never seen that before with any other drive through car washes!
Your car won’t be spotless, but you can use their microfiber towels to clean off any areas that the car wash missed. Also, it doesn’t completely dry off your car, especially the back area, but again, you can use their air spray or towel if needed.
Their vacuum is the best I’ve ever used – that thing is SUPER strong. They are not like those cheap ones at regular gas station who charge per minute and don’t really work well. It has a heavy duty industrial suction that sucks up even the tiniest little crumbs that my toddler leaves behind.
The place is usually crowded, even on weekday mornings, but the wait isn’t too bad.
TIP: If you live close-​by, I would totally recommend you taking advantage of the Unlimited Car Wash for $ 15/​month. Now that’s a great deal! Too bad I don’t live closer :((They also have the buy 4 get 1 free deal. You pay $ 24 at the machine and get a gift card that has 5 car wash credits.

Pluses:
you can get a $ 5 carwash
there is a helpful attendant at the front of the wash to help guide you
it’s really fun — your car moves in neutral, instead of the machine moving around your car
FREE powerful and conveniently stretching vacuums!!!

Today I went to get my car wash and it was horrible. The car was covered with soap, but hardly any water was washing it down. I have a mini van so there was a lot. Also, at the end of my car wash, usually there is a dryer and it was not working or it didn’t have any power. My car was a mess, worse than when I came in. It was a big disappointment.