San Diego Car Care – Costa Verde

As I sit here for over an hour waiting for my basic car wash I obviously have nothing better to do than write a Unilocal review. Bad service. Won’t waste my time again.

Firstly, I am very annoyed that they send you coupons but expect you to print them out. I specifically went here to redeem my birthday month gift: a free drink and 50 more points toward free wash. The cashier refused to give me the points or drinks without printing the picture out from the email. They need to make a better system for their coupons and clean the inside of cars with more detail. Secondly, the interior of my car still dog hair left in the cracks after being so called cleaned. I will not be coming back here any time soon as I did not get my coupon and did not get a clean car. Way too expensive for not paying attention to really getting a car clean inside and out.

Brush and Towels they use damage the paint and scratches the car
37,99 car wash isn’t worth repainting your car

Great service! The prices are very reasonable too. The employees missed a patch that required cleaning and a Mexican employee (don’t remember his name) went an extra mile to clean up our car. Will definitely visit again.

Paid for the $ 37 package, when the guy was done cleaning my car I inspected it and there was a scratch on my door that wasn’t there before, while I was driving also noticed there was still streaks on my windows and around my car, the inside sunroof wasn’t even touched. Another thing when I went to go check my car before it entered the wash a group of workers were blasting music in my car + had the AC turned up all the way to full.
Will not be coming back.

I’ve come here off and on over the years. It’s close to where I live. Today will be my last time. I pulled up where customers are greeted, and the two attendants not only didn’t greet me, but the have me dirty looks, frowned, pointed and laughed. They didn’t help me. There was only one car that was there, and that was the one they were both vacuuming, all while giving me the evil eye. It made me uncomfortable, and almost like I was back on the school playground, so I left. In all the times I’ve come here… off and on for over 13 years… I’ve only complained once… and it was over the car wash, not anyone’s attitude. I know I didn’t do anything to merit that.
What’s worse is when I called the manager to complain, her tone indicated that she didn’t care. Oh well, that’s what Unilocal is for.

I came here early afternoon on a Tuesday and it was surprisingly busy. Business is booming, must be a good sign, right? Ended up settling on the Ultra Seats package ($ 65) and paid the extra $ 10 for my fabric seats. After waiting nearly 1.5 hours for the car wash I get it back and despite «shampooing» the seats they’re still dirty. Okay, maybe the seats are stained? Not having time to sit another hour and have them re-​shampoo the seats I just accept the disappointing job and go on my way. The worst part was I ended up cleaning my own seats with just a little water and dish soap and all the dirt that was on them came right off. If they charge an extra $ 40 on top of the car wash for seat shampooing, what exactly did they spend at that time doing? Imo, I would avoid this place if possible. The lines are long and the quality of car wash is pretty poor, probably became they cut corners because they’re so busy. This is the closest car wash to my apartment so was hoping to become a regular customer, but definitely won’t be coming back after a sour first experience. 2-​stars instead of just 1-​star because the exterior was clean, but paid an additional $ 40 for seat shampooing which I’m skeptical even happened.
Moral of the story: Don’t come here and waste your money if you want clean seats.

I have been to this car wash many times. It is close to my office and I can take care of business during my lunch hour. I had my car detailed and waxed a couple of months ago and I have been very pleased. Today, I took my son’s 2001 Civic that had stained and oxidized paint. For what I think is a reasonable price, I got the «Clay Bar Treatment and Ultra Wax» package and I have to tell you, the vehicle looks fantastic. Those guys worked hard to get that car to shine! It is a «day and night» difference. My only issue is the fact that they underestimated the time. I was given a one hour time, which turned out to be almost two, which is important when I need to return to work.

I moved to UTC a year ago and found San Diego car care by using the chevron Gas station here. I made the mistake of not checking reviews before coming to get my car detailed, the first time. The convenience made it a no-​brainier. The first time I came in for a full detail I brought my jeep. I specifically wanted the dog hair removed. I waited over 2 hours. It was a Monday at 2pm, they were hardly busy. The pet hair was not removed and I had to wait an additional 15 mins for them to remove it. Today I made the mistake of coming back with my wife’s vehicle. I found a great place I typically go to Called, Prestige Auto in Kearny Mesa– I highly recommend checking them out. Again, because of the convenience I came to San Diego auto care. I waited over 40 mins for them to just bring the car through the car wash. A lady that was a head of me decided to get her refund and and leave because they took so long to get her truck washed. As a business there is no sense of urgency and customer service. Once the car was washed I asked nicely if they could get my car done quickly because I have already been waiting for over 40 mins. They said it will be another 30 – 40 mins. I understand detailing a vehicle can take some time and a little sweat and hard work, but that’s what your job is and that’s why I come. I understand waiting an hour. Not waiting 2 – 3 just to get a clean car! I don’t ask much as a customer. Just for a great service and a reasonable wait time. I will not come back no matter how convenient it may seem. San Diego car care please understand you need to fix your business if you want to keep your doors open. Your not keeping a customer base and doing anyone any favors by running a lousy company…

I’ve always been your loyal customer and in the past 4 years I never went to any other car wash. But your place has change since my friend and ex manager Armando left in April.
Since I moved from New York I was shock the way they wash cars in California, I tried many places and finally met Armando who understand my needs. We agree on $ 45 hand car wash, including inside. Since then I was regularly washing my cars at least twice a month for each car, plus every 3 month waxing and buffing.
You can image how much I spend there in the last four years; but it was win-​win situation for both of us.
Recently Armando left the car wash, and I guess you promoted the assistance manager. She has zero business skills, and her business IQ is below zero, which you will see why.
When I came to wash my car business genius told me it will now cost $ 95 per car– $ 45 is not enough. I didn’t argue, since I can’t stand blunt incompetence and went to look for another car wash. And guess what? I found an excellent car wash located by UTC mall, even cheaper than my previous deal! If you come around the back they take your car and hand wash it for $ 35, including cleaning and applying leather conditioner to seats. The car wash called Towne Center Valet and Wash, and for $ 95 they will clay, wax and buffer your car.
As you can see, you can lose even the most loyal customers. I found the new car wash which is better prices wise and quality-​wise. All one has to do is to look. Best of luck with your new management, and they superb business skills.

This is the 3^rd time they did a sloppy job. My car was still full of crumbs. The wash is just decent. Won’t be coming back. If you are looking to get your money’s worth, it won’t happen here.

Have been here 3 times. I have a black car, don’t EVER bring a black car here. EVERY SINGLE time I’ve been there they leave my car dirty. The roof is always dirty, the bottom of the doors, and my car front bumper… AFTER they wash it. So expensive too. This whole area has issues with overpriced and underperformed services (Supercuts). They always dry my car w their towels in a circular motion like they NEED to cause swirls, isn’t that common sense on a black car? I need my own garage again asap. I should become a black car car wash consultant hmmm…
In the workers defense they didn’t go to «car wash school» and they have to deal with volume and moving cars out. The managers need to change the culture and practices.

Two stars because the quality of the car wash is excellent. The quality of the management sucks.
This is the second time in a row I have gone in the middle of the day, during hours they advertise as being open. They have big flags flying in the breeze to draw my attention, signs everywhere advertising various services, and even a sign stating that drivers should pull forward to the vacuums (wherever those are).
Yet, the last two times I have been here they have no employees present to guide customers. The first time, I went into the store for the solo clerk (who was clearly busy with his own store business) to tell me they were closed, despite all of the signs indicating otherwise. Today, the lanes were clearly open again. So I tried getting a car wash, as the one wash I got there months ago was great. The store was chained shut and the employees in the kiosk weren’t about to come out to tell anyone anything useful. They finally told me the wash was closed and that I shouldn’t have pulled in, «That’s why we have the signs and the cones!»
Do you mean the signs and flags advertising your business hours and services offered? Or the cones not blocking the lanes? Has the manager of this place ever heard of a closed sign and some kind of predictable business hours? I don’t blame the actual wash employees one bit. Anyone else there is incompetent at their job.

Though I have not had a chance to go back since my previous visit I had left a review over, I can say that I was very pleased by the quick response of the management and their effort to make things right. Management got back to me and sent me a very nice email and apology. I will definitely give them another chance very soon and update!

Waiting now for over an hour and still waiting. When they took my car in, they said they would start ob it right away. I went to the store and 20 mins later i came back and my car was still out by the vacuum area and had not been started on. When i asked why, the manager said they let other cars go ahead of me because my car was extra dirty and would take longer to wash. Car still dirty after i was finally done.
Dont bother with this place. They dont have enough staff to handle the job in a reasonable amount of time.

We were hoping this would be our new go to spot for car washes but unfortunately that is not the case. When we arrived we were told it would be 45 minutes for the 5 star service. After 45 minutes they told us it would be another 25 – 35 minutes. After 1.5 total hours they were «done». They did a decent job on the exterior but the interior seems like they did the bare minimum. Vacuuming clearly only happened on the floor mats and there is still tons of dust in the center console. Although this place is conveniently located, we won’t be coming back.

Not surprised that this place has so many bad ratings on Unilocal.I’ve been going here for about 4 years and for the past 2 years, this place has continually gotten worse. I’ve actually taken one of my vehicles back immediately after driving off to have them clean a few things they missed (It’s very rare that I would ever take the time to actually do something like this, but I was pretty dissatisfied).
The sad part is the manager (I think Alonzo or something) tries to make things right but the awful work keeps happening. I can’t remember the last time I went and someone wasn’t complaining to him.
The good news about this last trip is that I am finally moving on to another car wash location. Only took me two years of crappy car washes to make the move ;(Don’t make the same mistake I did.

It was a long road trip in the new Mercedes for my birthday. A little too staid for me, but I still needed to take care of it as my friends did get it for me.
I am averse to driving around town in a dirty vehicle, unless it is a work car or truck.
So, after partaking of a quick bite to eat near La Jolla, I decided to get a car wash and keep the car’s pristine appearance.
The positives, which should’ve earned it at least 4 stars is that they really did a good job in getting nearly every aspect of the exterior cleaned. I only got the exterior wash because the interior was still immaculate, and I didn’t want them to take longer than they needed to since we had a long day ahead of us.
The negatives were that even for such a small shop, they really did take quite some time to get through the cleaning process. In fact, I had a very long and detailed conversation with a native La Jollan discussing the immense financial benefit of the annual San Diego Comic Convention, and by the time we were done with the impromptu analysis, they were only finishing his Audi, and my car was still sitting waiting to be dried.
Furthermore, the gentlemen cleaning my car neglected to read the additional item that I paid for, which was the tire detail. He insisted that I didn’t pay for it, and I had to show him the receipt that clearly indicated what I had paid for.
Would I come back here again? Certainly.
In spite of the issues with the lengthy waiting and cleaning process, they really do a great job in this establishment.
I will reserve the next star for when I return to see if they have addressed this. In any case, I will bring a book next time, and enjoy the California sunshine.

I was hesitant about coming here due to the Unilocal rating, but I was in a but of a bind yesterday and needed to get my car washed and didn’t want to drive all the way down to my go-​to shop in Bird Rock.
Overall, they did a good enough job for $ 15. The sign inside does disclose that cup holders and the middle console are not included in a basic wash, but it still irks me that for $ 15, you don’t bet a bit more attention to detail. I do like the fact that they are so eco friendly and that if there is a bit of a wait, I can stroll
Over to Bristol Farms for a snack or a few groceries. If I was in a pinch again, I would
Use them because of the convenience factor but otherwise I like my other place, which I won’t mention in the review because I dont think it’s fair to Costa Verde:)

Girlfriend: «How come you never clean that coffee stain in your car?»
Me: «What coffee stain?»
Apparently since I’ve been dating her in September, I’ve had a big coffee stain that’s on the passenger side of the center console. I can’t see it since I always drive but it’s clear as day to anyone who’s in the passenger seat. During that entire time, not one of the SDCC cleaners bothered to take 2 seconds to spritz and wipe the spill, including today. I finally noticed it today when I was filling up gas and had one of the detailers clean it up (for an extra tip).
I’m not particularly anal about the cleanliness of my car. It’s a car, it’s going to be driven so I don’t need everything spotless. But these guys always seem to do a subpar job cleaning. In addition to the coffee stain, I also noticed a few more easily noticeable spots on the seats that could have easily been wiped up.
And it took 40 min from the time I arrived till I pulled out to get my car clean. It wasn’t particularly busy.
Nevertheless I probably will continue coming here since they’re nearby and I’ve got their points card, which I guess makes it worthwhile.