Car Wash Chain Adopts AI Maintenance System After Rapid Expansion

Regional Colorado car wash chain Autowash grew from 13 to 26 locations between 2021 and 2022. During that period the company still tracked maintenance with handwritten sticky notes, text messages, and employee memory. Maintenance issues affected operations because each bay contains more than 20 pieces of equipment. A single part failure could shut down an entire location.

Autowash began using MaintainX software in 2023. Adoption remained limited until the company added an AI copilot feature that supplied step-by-step guidance drawn from equipment manuals and prior repair records. Technicians now receive automatic summaries of required steps before starting work. The system also logs completed tasks and builds a searchable database of past repairs.

Repair times fell 74 percent after the AI feature was introduced. Labor productivity rose as technicians accessed institutional knowledge that had previously existed only in individual memory. The same data improved inventory tracking and purchase-order creation.

Autowash integrated the system with its warehouse to schedule parts deliveries more efficiently. Erin Dreeszen, cofounder and chief of staff at Autowash, said the platform became the backbone of operations. Nick Hasse, cofounder and head of go-to-market for MaintainX, said the AI now functions like an additional colleague that surfaces solutions from other sites.

Dreeszen added that the company had to integrate the software into existing workflows rather than simply turning it on.