As a car washer, you will clean different vehicles ranging from cars to minibusses. Depending on how advanced your business is, you may either wash cars by hand or by handling machines. Your duty as a car washer is not limited to the outside of the car. You may also be expected to clean the inside of the car by vacuuming and scrubbing interior carpets and cleaning the dashboard.

In order to become a car washer, you need to be attentive to detail and have extensive knowledge of the products that will aid in achieving a squeaky-clean car - inside and out. This position requires you to have physical endurance because you may need to clean the hard-to-reach parts of the car. You need to be a brilliant cleaner and know how to work with different tools to achieve the best results.

This position does not require any tertiary education, but experience in retail and customer service will be highly advantageous when communicating with customers. You need to have a driver's license and be familiar with different types of vehicles.

What Does a Car Washer Do

There are certain skills that many car washers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed customer-service skills, listening skills and physical strength.

Learn more about what a Car Washer does

How To Become a Car Washer

If you're interested in becoming a car washer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 9.3% of car washers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 0.4% of car washers have master's degrees. Even though some car washers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Car Washer

Car Washer Career Paths

Average Salary for a Car Washer

Car Washers in America make an average salary of $28,701 per year or $14 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $35,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $22,000 per year.
Average Car Washer Salary
$28,701 Yearly
$13.80 hourly

What Am I Worth?

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Roles and Types of Car Washer

The role of a car washer includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general car washer responsibilities:

  • Cleans interior and exterior of automobiles for dealerships
  • As an car washer you will be responsible for the exterior cleaning of vehicles according to company standards
  • The service agent is responsible for the care

There are several types of car washer, including:

Detailer

Role:

All about the details. It's true, detailers are focused on the details. Whether it's detailing a car to a client's request or polishing off construction plans, detailers make sure they go over all the fine print before anything.

You'll notice that becoming a detailer will mean you'll become pretty nit-picky about things. After all, if you want to do your job right it's all in the details. In general, you'll probably only need a high school diploma. As long as you're good about getting into the nitty gritty of specific details, we're sure you'll do just fine.
  • Average Salary: $29,506
  • Degree: High School Diploma

Car Detailer

Role:

Car detailers clean the exterior and interior of automobiles to meet the company's or client's specifications. They wash, wax, and buff the exterior of vehicles thoroughly to remove debris and dirt. Likewise, they clean the windows using the proper cleaning products. They shampoo and vacuum the interior fabrics in the vehicle, such as the floor mats, overhead linings, and seats. Similarly, they wash vehicle tires, wheel wells, and mudguards. Also, they maintain all automotive cleaning tools and equipment.

This career path does not require any special education or training. With a high school diploma or higher education, you can get this job. However, you need a valid driver's license. The employer may provide on-the-job training. However, you must be able to use cleaning equipment and tools and possess communication, attention to detail, customer service, and sales skills. Annually, you will earn $31,472 on average. This will range from $22,000 to $45,000.

  • Average Salary: $29,125
  • Degree: High School Diploma

Auto Detailer

Role:

Auto detailers are responsible for detailing vehicles according to the customer's instructions. They work in car dealerships, auto-detailing shops, or mobile services. Primarily, they clean the exterior and interior of automobiles. Their duties revolve around cleaning mechanical parts like the engine, waxing, and buffing the vehicle's body. Asides from that, they prepare new, used, and demo vehicles for sales. They remove stickers, add decals, and check vehicles to confirm they are clean. Additionally, they use special equipment to dry the inside and outside surfaces.

A minimum of a high school diploma or its equivalent is the educational requirement for this position. You may be required to have a valid driver's license with a clean driving record. You must possess customer service, attention to detail, communication, multitasking, observational, problem-solving, and time management skills. Auto detailers are paid about $24,893 yearly. Their salary ranges $17,000 and $36,000.

  • Average Salary: $28,746
  • Degree: High School Diploma

States With The Most Car Washer Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active car washer jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where car washers earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Car Washer Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1Florida209$24,984
2Texas189$23,332
3Pennsylvania171$25,015
4Georgia120$24,825
5Massachusetts114$34,034
6New York108$31,702
7Illinois107$24,281
8Tennessee94$27,647
9California88$32,758
10Ohio76$26,968
11New Jersey64$28,410
12Michigan63$26,851
13North Carolina60$22,381
14Colorado58$31,500
15Maryland56$28,579
16Arizona56$26,318
17Virginia56$24,796
18Indiana54$27,603
19Alabama54$22,349
20Oregon47$33,865
21South Carolina41$24,863
22Louisiana39$22,332
23Minnesota37$31,842
24Missouri36$23,246
25Nevada30$24,458
26Washington27$37,248
27Oklahoma27$24,958
28Wisconsin25$29,196
29Arkansas25$25,072
30Mississippi25$21,064
31Utah23$27,192
32Connecticut19$29,400
33Hawaii19$28,293
34Rhode Island17$32,250
35Iowa17$27,497
36Kentucky17$24,725
37Kansas11$25,820
38Maine10$33,905
39Delaware9$29,282
40Nebraska8$27,980
41Idaho7$29,739
42Alaska5$34,221
43Montana5$29,460
44New Mexico5$23,963
45New Hampshire3$31,869
46South Dakota3$28,100
47Vermont2$32,125
48North Dakota1$32,006
49Wyoming1$31,526
50West Virginia1$23,331

Car Washer Education

Car Washer Majors

17.8 %

Car Washer Degrees

High School Diploma

63.9 %

Diploma

12.4 %

Associate

9.4 %

Top Skills For a Car Washer

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 35.8% of car washers listed clean vehicle on their resume, but soft skills such as customer-service skills and listening skills are important as well.

  • Clean Vehicle, 35.8%
  • Customer Satisfaction, 14.0%
  • Cleanliness, 12.8%
  • Vehicle Exterior, 6.2%
  • Customer Vehicles, 4.8%
  • Other Skills, 26.4%

Choose From 10+ Customizable Car Washer Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Car Washer templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Car Washer resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Car Washer Demographics

Car Washer Gender Distribution

Male
Male
87%
Female
Female
14%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among car washers, 13.5% of them are women, while 86.5% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among car washers is White, which makes up 55.2% of all car washers.

  • The most common foreign language among car washers is Spanish at 86.1%.

Online Courses For Car Washer That You May Like

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Best States For a Car Washer

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a car washer. The best states for people in this position are Washington, Alaska, Massachusetts, and Maine. Car washers make the most in Washington with an average salary of $37,248. Whereas in Alaska and Massachusetts, they would average $34,221 and $34,034, respectively. While car washers would only make an average of $33,905 in Maine, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. Massachusetts

Total Car Washer Jobs: 114
Highest 10% Earn:
$41,000
Location Quotient:
1.52

2. Rhode Island

Total Car Washer Jobs: 17
Highest 10% Earn:
$39,000
Location Quotient:
1.71

3. Oregon

Total Car Washer Jobs: 47
Highest 10% Earn:
$42,000
Location Quotient:
1.39
Full List Of Best States For Car Washers

How Do Car Washer Rate Their Jobs?

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What do you like the most about working as Car Washer?

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Top Car Washer Employers

Most Common Employers For Car Washer

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1UPS$33,452$16.0837
2Chevron$32,716$15.7318
3WASH$32,277$15.5216
4Mrc$30,188$14.5110
5Mercedes-Benz USA$29,205$14.0416
6Red Car$29,060$13.9718
7Crown Cars$28,878$13.8810
8Golden Gate Partners Inc$28,741$13.8221
9National Holdings$28,356$13.6342
10KAR Auction Services$28,305$13.6137

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