
Startup will wash your car wherever it is located - pitdesi
http://cherry.com/
======
nlh
Interesting (and clever idea), but immediate concerns come to mind:

1) "Wherever it is located" might be the wrong approach. In a place like NYC,
I can assure you that if your car is parked on, say, 74th & Lex, you're not
going to get away with doing a car wash there. Same goes for almost every
commercial parking lot in the city -- they're not going to let a random guy
come in and start washing cars (they don't let owners do that).

2) As others have pointed out, there are environmental considerations here,
not for tree-hugger reasons, but for legal ones. Car washes are one of those
things that many places are quite strict about technically, but when it's
applied for personal use it's overlooked. So in other words, Jonny Law isn't
(necessarily) going to give you a ticket for washing your car in your driveway
and not recycling the wastewater/solvents/etc., the situation becomes
completely different when a commercial enterprise is involved. Similar to my
point above, you can bet your bottom dollar that NYPD is going to give any
semi-commercial car washer a VERY hard time if he's found washing a car on any
public street in Manhattan. Likewise for the local PD of a smaller town if
it's a guy washing cars in an office parking lot.

This may be the sort of business that works only in suburbia or places where a
Cherry-supplied vendor is literally replacing a guy in his driveway - which,
to end on a positive note, is most of the country.

~~~
waterlesscloud
A perfect example of the schlepp mentioned in pg's essay. Lots of grindy,
sloggy details that most startups don't want to have to deal with.

------
TWSS
I love the idea ("Uber for carwashing!") but I have some doubts.

The price point is too low for me to believe they'll do a decent job. There
are already mobile car detailers here in Portland, and a good exterior detail
costs around $100. That's because the companies are licensed and bonded. If
I'm going to go cheap on a car wash, I'll do a $6 drive-through special at
Washman on my way to the grocery store.

Not knowing the coverage area before signing up is a problem for me as well.
My email address and phone number are private - I'm not giving them up until a
company gives me something in return.

~~~
Casc
They need to define what's in a wash. A detail usually involves a bit more
than a basic "wash", if that is in fact all they are offering. Maybe their
MVP?

~~~
dangrossman
> Our washers use an eco-friendly carwash concentrate and the carwash sprayers
> use a small fraction of the water that normal carwashes use.

[http://help.cherry.com/entries/20209442-are-cherry-
carwashes...](http://help.cherry.com/entries/20209442-are-cherry-carwashes-
environmentally-friendly)

> Yes, the carwash pro will do a full exterior wash including wheels and also
> wash the interior if you leave the doors unlocked.

<http://help.cherry.com/entries/20211376-is-it-a-full-carwash>

------
eps
Pick a Ferrari, schedule a $29 wash, grab popcorn and observe owner's
reaction.

~~~
encoderer
Exactly. I'd never let anybody like this wash my car. It's just too easy to
cause damage. (Not a ferarri, but still a fairly nice german car)

------
wheels
I'll qualify this with the fact that I don't own a car, nor did I have mine
washed often when I did, but...

Isn't having your _car_ washed one of those things where portability matters
_least_? It really feels like the ultra-local meme taken too far.

Car washes are abundant and reasonably fast, and a car, in its usual course of
being driven, will pass them often.

It just seems like sunglasses for the blind or something ... a product where
its benefit is negated by the nature of the problem.

~~~
klinquist
A hand wash at two places near me are $29 and $31. I always seem to show up
when there is a ~30 minute wait. If someone can hand wash my car for the same
price with no wait while I'm in the office - I'm in. I'm going to try this
next week.

~~~
caw
The places near me are $17 and $18 for the basic wash package (hand wash & dry
+ vacuum + dust + tire shine). Interior dressings will bring it up to about
your price, and opting for a wax will probably make it ~$45-50.

The shortest time it's taken is about 15 minutes, and the most is about 45
minutes for the wash + wax, but I try to avoid peak times.

I would do it myself but my apartment complex is rather strict on car stuff.

------
Casc
Yes, please come to NY. I would use this regularly.

Also, more insight regarding the materials your service utilizes (ie soaps,
brushes, mits, wax, compound - if any, etc) would be great. If this is on the
site already, I apologize, I did not register nor did I really dig around
(Maybe I wanted to know a bit more to justify my time spent registering).

People dish out serious amounts to pamper their automobiles. Some take this
very seriously and can be critical of the process.

Once established, there is plenty of room to both deepen and widen the product
offering here - premium services: compound treatment for swirl marks, waxing,
3m clear bra, paintless dent removal, and so on.

I'm assuming you may be trying to create a labor network of sorts and started
with basic car washes. Either way, I believe there is a market here, more
details on the execution would be great.

 __*Provided these are hand washes and you're targeting a middle-upper class
market, the price point is actually perfect. In my area (NY) I pay ~$30 for a
hand wash, and I have to bring it in. I will not bring my car to a regular car
wash, even so called "brushless" as they are terrible for your paint. If
you're targeting the general public, it may be a bit high.

Given the whole, "we come to you", makes me think of washing the car in the
office parking lot, which could indicate a White Collar demographic. I also
see homes, but personally I'd just do it myself if I had a house and driveway.

One more question, how do you handle water at an office building?

~~~
dangrossman
"One more question, how do you handle water at an office building?"

Sounds like they bring it with them.

> You fill up the portable sprayer before you leave in the morning. It holds
> 5-gallons of water. It's battery powered so you don't need plug in either!

[http://help.cherry.com/entries/20210796-how-do-i-get-
water-p...](http://help.cherry.com/entries/20210796-how-do-i-get-water-power-
for-the-sprayer)

~~~
Casc
I had a feeling, thanks for digging.

------
DVassallo
_Park anywhere, check in online, and we'll wash your car right where you left
it._

I like the idea, but I wonder why most US service owners seem to assume that
all their website visitors are from the US. I tried looking in the "Help" and
"Terms" sections, but after ~3 minutes of searching I can't confirm that the
service is available only within the US... I'm pretty sure it is, but would
have liked to know without having to read all the fine print, especially since
it says "park anywhere".

~~~
sdkmvx
More than that. The US is a really really big place and I highly doubt they
really cover all of it. Apparently they're based in San Francisco.

Orbitz is claiming $830 to get them to the nearest airport. Add shipping their
supplies and actually getting them to me. I'm sort-of tempted to give them my
rural South Carolina address and see what happens.

I just hope their system doesn't automatically charge credit cards, or they
may have some refunding to do after being featured here for a day.

------
antoncohen
Cherry.com washed my car for free 3 months ago, and I didn't even ask them to.
They did a great job, really, it was a excellent car wash. I intend to use
them in the future.

[http://www.antoncohen.com/2011/10/what-cherrycom-washed-
my-c...](http://www.antoncohen.com/2011/10/what-cherrycom-washed-my-car-for-
free.html)

~~~
dotBen
I would be REALLY pissed if someone washed by car without my permission. I'm
surprised it had a positive effect on you.

I might still try the service - I currently pay ~$30 with tip at the local car
wash place where they wash your car by hand.

~~~
demallien
If you pick a car that is dusty / muddy, you can be pretty sure that the owner
is not overly fussy about their car, and hence quite likely to have a positive
reaction to a free wash. The probability that someone with an obviously dirty
car getting actively upset about an unsolicited wash would seem to be
sufficiently low to justify the risk, I would have thought.

~~~
dotBen
Equally though, someone who has a dusty/muddy car (esp in a city rather than
rural area) probably values a car wash less than someone who actually has
their car washed every week so their car looks relatively clean.

I keep my TT looking clean because I care a lot about the car and so have it
washed every week. I'm probably the target customer for a service like this.
I'd also be pissed, as I said above, if someone unsolicited washed my car.

------
waitwhat
It appears to be (quite literally) impossible to determine which areas they
cover without signing up for an account.

~~~
dangrossman
It's also impossible to determine which areas they cover after signing up for
an account. I've gone through the process right up to the credit card form and
there's no indication that any less than the entire US is covered. There's no
information about coverage on their Zendesk either.

A November article about the startup's launch mentions 20 washers hired in San
Francisco. The fact that the website lets me order (and presumably pay) a car
wash in Pennsylvania is strange. Why have a state dropdown if you only serve
one state?

~~~
nroach
I just ran through the same process, including putting in a credit card number
and all kinds of personal information. At the end, all I was told was

"We're Closed We’re currently closed for business. Our normal hours of
operation are from 9:00am to 5:00pm, 7 days a week. See our how it works
section to learn more about Cherry."

Presumably, this is because they're not in my time zone, but it's within
operating hours here. I hope these guys are successful and wind up with a
nationwide business someday, but if you run a local service and don't disclose
that before taking on reams of personal data (including payment info), that's
not "customer validation", it's a breach of trust.

------
Nate75Sanders
Interesting to me that they were able to get that domain name, being such a
small outfit.

Particularly, I would have thought there'd be porn or some other domain-
specific thing that would have grabbed that up and held it.

~~~
kolektiv
You and me both, as my surname is Cherry and was supposed to be notified if it
ever became available on the market!

~~~
Nate75Sanders
It's possible that it became "available" because the owners were approached
with a price and decided to take the money.

I think you may be referring to some automated agent that would tell you if it
became available through standard channels (Sedo, etc).

------
duncans
Remove the apostrophe from "tip's". It may well be that you meant "tip _is_
included", but it could also be interpreted as poor grammar.

~~~
ComputerGuru
Not that "tip's" is a valid abbreviation for "tip is," anyhow.

EDIT: Sorry. Don't know what I was thinking. I will refrain from deleting this
comment so as to not leave future readers wondering about replies, but I would
appreciate if it's not up- or down-voted any longer.

~~~
corin_
" _Just $29 per wash, tip is included_ " isn't great wording, certainly, but
is there anything wrong with saying "tip's"?

I mean, certainly it's not formal, but then neither are pretty much all
contractions in English. "Your tip's included in the bill" would sound fine,
no?

~~~
whichdan
Is "is" even required? _"Just $29 per wash, tip included"_

~~~
corin_
Well yeah, that;s what I meant about it not being great either way - I was
just disagreeing with parent comment about "tip's" not being a valid
contraction.

~~~
brightsize
"tip's" leaped out at me too - was just going to bitch about it here. I
understand the "tip is" contraction. But it still sounds weird, still sounds
like a plural. Un-contracted it would read "Just $29 per wash, tip is
included". If that read "Just $29 per wash, THE tip is included" or "Just $29
per wash, THE tip's included" it wouldn't have made me cringe.

------
rohansingh
While there is a claim in there about ecofriendly solvents and methods being
used, I am somewhat skeptical and concerned about the potential ecological
damage and waste of water.

At least in the state where I live, there are regulations that require car
wash locations to recycle the runoff water. I don't see how this would be
possible with this model.

~~~
rythie
It's waterless apparently: <http://sachinhd.posterous.com/cherry-com>

~~~
dangrossman
It's not waterless

> You fill up the portable sprayer before you leave in the morning. It holds
> 5-gallons of water. It's battery powered so you don't need plug in either!

[http://help.cherry.com/entries/20210796-how-do-i-get-
water-p...](http://help.cherry.com/entries/20210796-how-do-i-get-water-power-
for-the-sprayer)

> Our washers use an eco-friendly carwash concentrate and the carwash sprayers
> use a small fraction of the water that normal carwashes use.

[http://help.cherry.com/entries/20209442-are-cherry-
carwashes...](http://help.cherry.com/entries/20209442-are-cherry-carwashes-
environmentally-friendly)

------
Cmccann7
2 comments on usability if the site owner is reading this.

1) On the payment screen you have Paypal has an option but I can't actually
click on it to allow the paypal option. I'm using the newest version of
Chrome.

2) I went through the whole registration with credit card details and
everything and I got an error message back saying "We're closed" and to come
back 9-5pm. It would be much easier for me and probably for you just to take
down all my information and process it when you're open or let me pre-pay for
a wash or something. It's a little frustrating that I will have to do that all
over again.

------
herval
I know at least two "startups" doing this per city, in Brazil. Except you
don't need a smartphone to call them... :-)

It's amazing how the obvious in some countries is, sometimes, a novelty in
others. Another example: I found out a couple of months ago that, in Chile,
there's simply NO ONE offering lockers on beaches. Meaning you have to drive
to the place and leave your stuff in the car, or simply not take a
wallet/cellphone/etc when you're out to surf...

~~~
rdouble
I've never seen lockers on beaches in the US, Australia, Canada or Mexico,
either.

~~~
herval
they're quite common in brazil and spain (on the most touristic / surf
beaches) - some times operated by companies, other times by the city hall
itself

~~~
personlurking
I'm guessing you aren't talking about Rio. I live in the Zona Sul and haven't
come across lockers on the beach (though I had the idea literally a few days
ago). If they do exist here, whereabouts can I see them?

~~~
herval
I remember seeing some in Paraty... Didn't see any in Rio indeed (only those
"refreshment units" that spray water on your face :-))

------
badclient
Funny, but in countries like India, it is fairly common to have a guy come in
and wash your car _every_ morning. Put another way: a subscription service for
car wash. In countries like India, it is inexpensive enough and there is
enough pollution to call for a daily car wash.

In the US, I can see my Dad signing up for a weekly car wash at our suburb
home.

~~~
catch23
Not as funny as you might think -- if you own a car in India, you're probably
upper class. In India, lots of paid inane chores are common, like carrying
one's luggage from the taxi to the airport, even if it's a small backpack.

~~~
badclient
_if you own a car in India, you're probably upper class_

source?

~~~
catch23
Aside from kahawe's excellent comment, one doesn't necessarily need figures
here. Can't I be a primary source for this? I think anyone who has visited
india/china can probably tell you that car owners are definitely upper class.

------
anotherjesse
Not only do they not provide enough information, the information they do
provide is contradictory...

The homepage says:

    
    
        We believe our customers should use Cherry 100% 
        worry-free. So, we’re introducing the Cherry Guarantee:
    
        Accidents happen. But when you use Cherry, we’re
        accountable for those accidents, not you. We cover 
        any scratch or ding and replace anything broken in 
        or stolen from your car.
    

But the terms say:

    
    
        THE COMPANY OFFERS INFORMATION AND A METHOD TO OBTAIN 
        SUCH THIRD PARTY CARWASH SERVICES, BUT DOES NOT AND 
        DOES NOT INTEND TO PROVIDE CARWASH SERVICES OR ACT 
        IN ANY WAY AS A CARWASH PROVIDER, AND HAS NO 
        RESPONSIBILITY OR LIABILITY FOR ANY CARWASH 
        SERVICES PROVIDED TO YOU BY SUCH THIRD PARTIES.

------
rwhitman
Definitely needs an availability map.

That said this would be a huge deal in Los Angeles, where hoses are in short
supply, street parked cars are in abundance, and the dry air and smog leaves a
visible layer of dirt on your car within a week of a wash.

------
Bricejm
What happens if someone claims cherry scratched or left a ding in their car
when they didn't. Couldn't someone pay $29 for a wash just to get something
fixed.

------
teyc
How did the startup that made cheese sandwiches go?

~~~
dangrossman
It got $10 million in funding in June.

[http://gawker.com/5807591/grilled-cheese-sandwich-
gets-10-mi...](http://gawker.com/5807591/grilled-cheese-sandwich-
gets-10-million-in-venture-funding)

<https://themelt.com/>

~~~
spartango
This place is actually pretty legit. They've got a location in the Stanford
Shopping center in Palo Alto, and its rather impressive. I'm sure the founder
is exaggerating the "innovation" in his descriptions, but who says someone
can't start a restaurant chain?

~~~
teyc
If you squint your eyes, and tilt your head slightly to the left, a franchise
is like a software business.

------
keeptrying
In India this is something thats offered by your security guard. They will
wash your car EVERYDAY for $20 a month.

I'm kind of saddened that the idea never even occurred to me.

I think its a great idea in practice but they are going to have the
environmental police on their ass in the USA.

------
highlander
What's new apart from the web front end? I thought every city has had
businesses like this for years. Here in Scotland, we have a number of
'Waterless' car cleaning services who will come to your home of place of work.

~~~
jarek
Having a web front-end makes it much easier to raise VC money in the Valley.

Related, regarding Uber: "It always surprises me how easy it is to wrap an
existing product in a smartphone and persuade young people that it's something
new. Manhattan bankers and lawyers have been taking black cars home from those
perilous downtown dinners for decades, a necessity since the city has fewer
yellow cabs today than in 1937 and important men in suits can't ride the
subway after 8:00. I guess the current batch of clueless nouveau riche yuppies
was terrified by the prospect of calling for a car and is very excited that
they can now text for one." - from
[http://felixsalmon.tumblr.com/post/15253035246/it-always-
sur...](http://felixsalmon.tumblr.com/post/15253035246/it-always-surprises-me-
how-easy-it-is-to-wrap-an)

------
SudarshanP
A useful service could be N washes per year with a minimum interval. The user
chooses N. Out of this a fraction would be "on-demand". The others would be
optimized for availability of resources like manpower and suitable places
where there is no objection to washing. For Eg. the user can indicate some
travel patterns which can help identify optimal schedules. This approach will
enable the user to have a generally clean car and summon a cleanup when there
is a special occasion. Such a subscription service would charge lesser per
wash.

------
rythie
I wonder if their model is to franchise out the cleaning to local
companies/people, since having 1000s of staff around the country would seem to
be impractical for a startup.

~~~
dangrossman
> Washers apply to Cherry through our site here, we then select a handful of
> applicants and setup phone calls to vet the washers. If they pass, we send
> them all the equipment they need to get started and start pushing them your
> carwash requests in real time.

[http://help.cherry.com/entries/20351222-how-does-cherry-
hire...](http://help.cherry.com/entries/20351222-how-does-cherry-hire-washers)

------
stuntgoat
This is a really good idea to create much needed employment opportunities. I
know they won't the best jobs available but it's something people needing a
job would be happy to have. I am sure there are plenty of people that lost
their jobs in the last 4 years and would jump at the chance to work for this
company.

Best luck Cherry. I won't be using this service, since I don't wash my car
until it rains.

------
mcphilip
A few questions come to mind:

1\. Can you request a car wash for a car you don't own? If so, how can you
prevent car owners who don't want the service handling their care washed as a
gift (or prank)? If not, how does a user of the service prove ownership of a
car?

2\. Does the service require cars to be parked in a relatively unoccupied area
so as to minimize impact on other cars and/or pedestrians in the area?

------
sunsu
I totally had this idea for a business in Austin. I was thinking about $20 for
a basic car wash. Other tiers would be $30-$40. Washers would qualify to do
the other car wash tiers based on their previous performance and reviews.
Every washer would start out at tier one and have to earn the ability to wash
in tiers above it. Hope it works out for Cherry!

------
templaedhel
Using site:cherry.com pulled this up
<http://help.cherry.com/entries/20208543-where-do-i-wash-cars> which clears up
the location (somewhat). There are no defined locations, they matchmake
cleaners with dirty cars. It's a chicken egg problem.

~~~
dangrossman
They're not independent cleaners though, they're cleaners that applied to work
for Cherry, went through training, and were sent portable sprayers and vacuums
to do the cleaning with. There's a November article saying they hired 20
cleaners in SF.

------
antidaily
Wonder how much they paid for that domain.

------
mrleinad
_Cherry is the carwash that comes to you. Park anywhere, check in online, and
we'll wash your car right where you left it. Just $29 per wash, tip's
included._

But, what if I don't believe in tipping?

~~~
earbitscom
"This typing automatically is for the birds." -Mr. Pink

------
west
Do they show you the forecast for the next week before you schedule? "There's
a 95% chance it will rain tomorrow. Are you sure you want to schedule a wash
today?"

------
maalox
All I can say is if your startup doesn't work out (which I hope it does, I
love the idea) you could probably get a mint for the cherry.com domain name.

------
samstave
They should merge with Uber.

Uber could add a whole range of services to their app.

~~~
biot
It's always nice to be driven in someone else's clean car.

------
FPSDavid
Sounds kinda sketchy...

------
vaksel
the question is...what is included in the "wash"

is it just a spray from a hose or do they also wax the car

------
gavanwoolery
So do hobos. Just saying...

------
error54
I think it's a good idea. It will be interesting to see the implementation of
it.

------
superkinz
Old news.

------
twelvechairs
Regarding the name - its too close to the Chinese car manufacturer 'Chery' for
my liking. If they expand into the USA (as they have recently into other
countries) it may cause confusion....

