When your car's gas tank is low and your car is dirty, there is nothing as satisfying as pulling into a gas station for a quick fill up and a discount car wash.
Only problem: When you can't find the car wash.
Tim Luers stopped for gas during his lunch break the other day, at the new Kroger on Route 747 in West Chester, Ohio.
"I needed some gas," he said. "So I put the nozzle in there, and it said, 'Would you like a car wash?' So I looked at my truck and I needed a truck wash, so I said, 'Sure, I need a car wash!'"
He didn't have much time, so he did a quick look around.
"I looked down, and I was like, 'Where's the car wash?' There was no car wash," he said.
Flustered, he asked the attendant, and couldn't believe what he learned.
"He said, 'We have partnered with Mike's Express car wash, and you drive out of here you turn left, you turn right, you turn left, drive down the road."
Luers was out of time, and says he never would have paid for the wash had a sign or the receipt said the wash was not next door.
"It said Supreme Wash $16. It doesn't say Mike's car wash."
How far is the car wash?
So we decided to check out just how far is it from these gas pumps to the car wash.
We headed out from the West Chester Kroger, with our news van odometer at 108,519 miles, and headed down 747 past the old Beckett Ridge Kroger and through a couple of lights.
As our odometer rolled past 108,520 we spotted it, just over a mile from the Kroger.
We checked with Kroger, which confirmed this is a recent partnership, and that Kroger customers get a discount at Mike's.
A Kroger spokeswoman tells us the store will take another look at the Mike's car wash promotion, as it does not want its customers confused.
Luers says the stores might want to be a little more clear where the wash is.
"When they ask you do you want a car wash," he said, "you're not expecting to have to find the place you're getting your car washed."
Wherever you fill up, don't waste your money.
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For more consumer news and money saving advice, go to www.dontwasteyourmoney.com
