Go Car Wash is, as its name indicates, a US chain of car washes, operating 130 sites in 8 states, including Kansas, Missouri, Nevada, Texas, New York, California, Oregon and Virginia. They are majority owned by Imperial Capital and are rapidly becoming one of the biggest chains in the country with their goal for 2025 being surpassing 200 sites, in addition to being known as the number one customer-centric car wash brand. But their meteoric rise might be about to stall because of a class action lawsuit after a customer accused the company of signing people up for automatic payments without making the terms clear, violating both state and federal consumer protection laws.
The Go Car Wash lawsuit
The lawsuit was filed in a California federal court on March 18 by Aaron Rodriguez, according to whom, when people join the Go Car Wash membership, they are not properly warned that their plan will automatically renew each month. The formula of the car wash chain is simple, you go in, sign up for a membership believing it is a one time payment, and the system automatically enrolls you in a monthly payment plan without consent.
The lawsuit expanded on this stating “Plaintiff and other consumers have been deceived by Defendant’s actions, and consequently have been deceived into signing up for an automatically renewing payment plan.”
The class action suit claims that Go Car Wash did not clearly disclose the renewal terms on its website or at its locations, which means that no customer could make an informed decision over the membership fees or renewal clauses as they could not be referenced in any written piece of information. On top of that, the suit says canceling the membership was a hassle, and in some cases, like Rodriguez’s, it did not even work and customers were stuck with payments that they did not wish to make and had no way of refusing without tanking their credit.
The situation really is outlandish, according to Rodriguez, he cancelled his membership, even going as far as calling the company and having a Go Car Wash employee confirm the cancellation, and yet he was still charged $34.99. And he knows he is not the only one, which is why he is hoping to represent a group of California residents who were part of the membership program and paid at least one renewal fee. He is also considering doing the same at a national scale, including in the suit anyone who was billed repeatedly without written permission or after they already withdrawn their authorization.
The lawsuit accuses Go Car Wash of violating multiple laws, including California’s Automatic Renewal Law, the Electronic Funds Transfer Act, and other state-level consumer protection rules but they believe that this practice is uniform across all of its car wash locations and not just a company oversight.
Rodriguez’s aim with the suit is clear, he is asking for a jury trial and wants the court to force Go Car Wash to pay both damages and restitution to those affected. Additionally he wants an official order to stop the alleged practices and a public declaration from the company stating that what Go Car Wash has been doing is illegal. This might mean that a settlement is not on the table should the case go forward, unless most of the conditions are met, but he does not seem to be backing down from the challenge.
Rodriguez is being represented by a legal team from two law firms: KalielGold PLLC and Jennings & Early PLLC. The case is titled *Rodriguez v. Go Car Wash Management Corp.*, Case No. 5:24-cv-02085-SSS-DTB, and it’s being heard in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.