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7 Flags has it All
By By Jim and Elaine Norland

"Any way you want it” might aptly describe car care at 7 Flags Car Wash in Fairfield, CA. Drivers can choose from a wide range of services and speed-of-visit options — and even enjoy gourmet coffee if their choices mean a wait.

An array of exterior express washes, with or without interior service; self-serve wash bays; a big variety of lube and related maintenance services; plus detailing ranging from express to total vehicle treatments await drivers here.

All these services are neatly arranged on a 400-by-125-foot site on N. Texas Street, one of the places where Jack Anthony Sr., now retired, and his family launched their car washing enterprises with self-serve installations back in the early 1960s. It’s still very much a family business.

The latest improvements in car wash choices show up brilliantly at the Fairfield location, where all the choices named above are profitably meeting the needs of northern California drivers.

The company began with self-serve washing and still offers it in multiple locations including Fairfield, but the big lure at Fairfield is a “$5/5 minute” express-exterior tunnel wash. An attention-grabbing sign appeals to motorists who want to clean up their cars without slowing up their travels or even getting out of their cars. Most drivers upgrade, however, says Jack Anthony III, president and CEO of the 10-wash family operation.

Wash choices can go up to $32.99. The deluxe package includes features ranging from high-tech wax manually applied with a paint sprayer to interior fragrance. Less expensive offerings include an exterior and interior package at $15.99 and exterior express at up to $12.

The Fairfield site is open seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays during the summer, and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays. From 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., during the week, only express exterior washes are offered, and customers have free use of vacuums during that time. Winter hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day.

Return business is encouraged with an unusual 7 Flags program. When drivers enter, a service writer asks them if they’d like today’s wash free. After getting their attention, the service writer explains that if they buy a package of four full-service washes, today’s wash will be free of charge.

Drivers choose between exterior express and full service options and drive paths as they enter the Fairfield 7 Flags location — overhead signs as well as cheerful service writers help them decide. In any case, they’ll stay in their cars as they travel through a 125-foot tunnel that thoroughly cleans and dries their car. Anthony has invested in wheel and other cleaning equipment at the start of the tunnel that eliminates prepping on 95 percent of vehicles, which move into and through the tunnel without delay.

It’s up to service writers to check over an incoming vehicle and determine if it’s one of those rare cases that need prepping. “If mud is caked in the wheel wells, no car wash in the world can remove that so we prep in such cases,” Anthony explains. In general, he says California cars come into the wash looking cleaner than many coming out of washes in other states, but drivers also expect outstanding results and get them at 7 Flags.