Unless you have to run your car wash at full volume or have nothing better to do than pick up trash at your wash then hiring employees is the only way to go if you ever expect to have a sustainable and profitable business. The most effective way to increase the income of a car wash is to buy another one. Some operators work themselves to the bone selling tokens, fleet accounts, spit shining the bays, etc. That extra twenty hours per week they spent to get a slight boost in revenue could have been used to buy another location. While this takes some management skills on the operators part, it will pay off more most as running a second self-serve car wash isn't twice as hard. Plus life is too short spending hours a day picking up other peoples trash, unless there isn't a better alternative.

That being said, when you're in the business of clean, your image is vitally important. What kind of image will a car wash portray if the garbage cans are spilling over and hoses are laying all over the ground? Low volume locations will not need as much attention as a high volume one does and there is no sense paying someone to clean up if there were no customers there to make a mess. Most washes however are good with a once a day pickup on the weekdays and twice on the weekend. It's also good to have someone who is reliable if you decide to leave town for a couple of days.

Many car washes find the best employees by using retirees, who are looking to make a little extra spending money and like the flexibility of this type of work. If you can find someone to do the lawn that is a bonus too.

Don't expect to find a perfect person. If you can get someone to show, not be drunk and do the job about 80 percent of the way that you would do it, consider that an excellent employee. Remember this is your baby and nobody is going to work at the speed and detail that you will, especially when making minimum wage.