Almost 20 years ago, Evan Porges teamed up with his father Norm to revolutionize the way that people in California wash their cars.
On the surface, the premise wasn’t all that different than what people had come to expect. Those small changes would eventually become Prime Shine Car Wash – which just opened its 12th location on Lathrop Road in Manteca – to pave the way for a groundbreaking new experience for motorists.
While drivers were previously forced to choose between either a gas station drive-thru or a full-service station that covered all of the aspects of washing your car, Porges conceptualized an almost completely automatic drive-through that does just about everything a person could do – from cleaning the undercarriage and stripping the road grime from the wheels to adding tire shine after everything had been completed.
And incorporating spot free water that has been filtered on-site using carbon at first and then a conventional water softener before incorporating a reverse osmosis system means that your vehicle is going to be as shiny as it was the day that you first rolled it off the lot.
But now that they’re closing in their 20th year anniversary, Porges is still proud of introducing the first external car wash to California, and building the largest chain of car wash businesses in the state.
“Nobody around had thought of this external model – where you go through what most people would expect as a standard car wash but then use our free vacuuming serving outside as well as our optional services like carpet vacuuming and air freshener,” Porges said. “We started offering our car wash for $3.95 almost 20 years ago, and that same wash today is only $6. That’s value that we’re able to spread to our customers, and that’s value that they’ve been able to recognize over the years.”
After expanding out of Modesto – where the Chamber of Commerce named Prime Shine the 2009 Chamber Member of the Year in their March 2010 monthly magazine – the business went north and set-up shop in Lodi.
After passing over Manteca – which had continued to grow– Porges realized that the growing community that they skipped would have been a perfect place to set-up shop.
After contacting developers Bill Filios and Art Nunes, he got the ball rolling on construction. A year later he opened the doors to his 12th site back in December. He then waited patiently for the spring sun to start bringing the customers in.
A recent warm streak brought a steady stream of first-timers, and a mass-mailer distributed to 9,000 homes will likely bring in even more when the weather is more cooperative.
“We’re excited about being part of this community, and we can’t wait for people to come see the state-of-the-art facility that we have that offers top-of-the-line equipment while at the same time presenting value.”
Prime Shine car wash is located at 1115 W. Lathrop Road, and is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. For more information about the business, visit www.primeshine.com, or www.savemoneysavetimesavewater.com.
On the surface, the premise wasn’t all that different than what people had come to expect. Those small changes would eventually become Prime Shine Car Wash – which just opened its 12th location on Lathrop Road in Manteca – to pave the way for a groundbreaking new experience for motorists.
While drivers were previously forced to choose between either a gas station drive-thru or a full-service station that covered all of the aspects of washing your car, Porges conceptualized an almost completely automatic drive-through that does just about everything a person could do – from cleaning the undercarriage and stripping the road grime from the wheels to adding tire shine after everything had been completed.
And incorporating spot free water that has been filtered on-site using carbon at first and then a conventional water softener before incorporating a reverse osmosis system means that your vehicle is going to be as shiny as it was the day that you first rolled it off the lot.
But now that they’re closing in their 20th year anniversary, Porges is still proud of introducing the first external car wash to California, and building the largest chain of car wash businesses in the state.
“Nobody around had thought of this external model – where you go through what most people would expect as a standard car wash but then use our free vacuuming serving outside as well as our optional services like carpet vacuuming and air freshener,” Porges said. “We started offering our car wash for $3.95 almost 20 years ago, and that same wash today is only $6. That’s value that we’re able to spread to our customers, and that’s value that they’ve been able to recognize over the years.”
After expanding out of Modesto – where the Chamber of Commerce named Prime Shine the 2009 Chamber Member of the Year in their March 2010 monthly magazine – the business went north and set-up shop in Lodi.
After passing over Manteca – which had continued to grow– Porges realized that the growing community that they skipped would have been a perfect place to set-up shop.
After contacting developers Bill Filios and Art Nunes, he got the ball rolling on construction. A year later he opened the doors to his 12th site back in December. He then waited patiently for the spring sun to start bringing the customers in.
A recent warm streak brought a steady stream of first-timers, and a mass-mailer distributed to 9,000 homes will likely bring in even more when the weather is more cooperative.
“We’re excited about being part of this community, and we can’t wait for people to come see the state-of-the-art facility that we have that offers top-of-the-line equipment while at the same time presenting value.”
Prime Shine car wash is located at 1115 W. Lathrop Road, and is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. For more information about the business, visit www.primeshine.com, or www.savemoneysavetimesavewater.com.
