When 30-year carwash industry veteran Vahid David Delrahim opened the first Bliss Car Wash in 2019, he knew he wanted to use his business as a vessel to do more than just clean cars — while still providing a stellar express washing experience to the Southern California community. In just a few short years, Delrahim and the Bliss Car Wash team have opened eight locations from San Bernardino to Oxnard, California, with washes scattered all over the greater Los Angeles area. Additionally, four more Bliss Car Wash locations are also projected to open in 2022. A wash in Van Nuys, California, will be the first new location to open in January 2022.
Despite Bliss Car Wash’s rapid growth, the leadership has kept their mission to “make a difference one car at a time” at the front of their organization’s operations. Through eco-friendly initiatives, donations to international non-profits and a satisfaction guarantee program, Bliss Car Wash strives to positively impact the planet, those in need and all of its customers.
Water warriors
Bliss Car Wash team members are self-proclaimed water warriors, meaning they do everything in their power to preserve water. “When creating the Bliss concept, we always wanted it to be about more than cleaning cars,” says Delrahim, “We want to help the planet by being very responsible with how we use our Earth’s most precious resource — water.”
Traditionally, the average express carwash can use anywhere from 15 to 85 gallons of water per car that comes through the tunnel, according to Earth911, the largest recycling database in the world. The home carwasher reportedly uses even more H20, averaging 100 or more gallons of water used per driveway wash. Bliss Car Wash, however, averages 24 gallons of fresh water used per car at its locations — a number the company proudly provides.
On top of its low water-use, Bliss also utilizes a water reclaim system. The premise of water reclaim is simple: operators take one of the most important aspects of a wash — water — and repurposes the already used water to wash such areas as the tires and undercarriage. According to Delrahim, Bliss Car Wash reclaims 70% of the water used at its wash.
With water conservation becoming of the utmost importance worldwide, especially for an industry like carwashing that depends on readily available water access, morphing businesses, like Bliss Car Wash, in a way that promotes environmentally friendly practices is a very smart and beneficial business move — and a decision that also benefits the greater good.
“We believe water is life, so we fight to conserve it at every turn,” notes Delrahim.
On top of the water-conserving initiatives Bliss utilizes, the wash also uses energy efficient equipment and 100% of its cleaning products are biodegradable. Bliss Car Wash is proudly Blue Coral Beyond Green Certified, a sustainability program designed by Ecolab.
Giving back
While Bliss Car Wash cares deeply about bettering the planet, it also actively helps humankind. Staying on theme as “water warriors,” Bliss donates funds to provide clean drinking water to people in Niger, West Africa. Partnering with Wells Bring Hope, an organization that “saves lives with safe water” by drilling wells in Niger, Bliss Car Wash has provided the funding to drill nine wells in the most under resourced country in the world. “Giving back is a key component of who we are,” Delrahim explains about Bliss Car Wash’s partnership with Wells Bring Hope.
In its own community, Bliss is currently supporting the Los Angeles Mission, an organization that provides homeless members of the Los Angeles community with food, clothing, shelter and more. Bliss Car Wash donates money to provide meals to the Los Angeles Mission and has plans to take all its employees to serve meals at the Los Angeles Mission food bank as a team.
Additionally, Bliss Car Wash works with the Wounded Warrior Project and is hosting a sock drive to benefit the Los Angeles Mission at all eight locations.
Bliss app
Being a newer business has its advantages. For Bliss Car Wash, one of those advantages is the way it was able to embrace and integrate innovative technology into its business from the start. Bliss launched a smartphone application, the “Bliss App,” where customers can buy washes, manage their unlimited wash membership and earn points for prizes, all through the app.
Bliss also keeps a steady digital presence through its social media accounts. Through these platforms, Bliss shares wash promotions and sales, employee shout-outs and helpful infographics about carwashing, such as its most recent, “3 reasons why rainwater is bad for your car” feature. The company can be found on Instagram @blisscarwash or Facebook at www.facebook.com/blisscarwash.
The amethyst frog
Branding was an important aspect of the vision Delrahim had for Bliss Car Wash prior to the 2019 opening. In fact, Bliss Car Wash’s Head of Marketing Rodney Brown says that strong branding sets Bliss apart from the competition.
“We spent years developing our frog logo and colors,” Brown adds. According to Brown, the brand color, specifically amethyst and not just purple, is carefully consistent across all brand promotions, whether on storefront signage, marketing materials or social media.
The prevalence of the amethyst color fits well with another theme of the business — tranquility. The Bliss Car Wash team wants the customer experience of getting a carwash to not just be about the routine of cleaning the car, but also about relaxation. According to www.blisscarwash.com, “Soothing lights illuminate your path while the aroma of lavender and essential oils immerse you.” Using these calming resources, the Bliss team strives to be a place where patrons can unwind.
Satisfaction guaranteed
The strong Bliss Car Wash brand paired with state-of-the-art equipment has created a loyal customer base in the three years the carwash has been in operation. Recently, Bliss has seen an increasing number of unlimited membership plan members. The wash has three tiers of unlimited plans. The lowest priced option is the “Sparkle” plan, which costs $19.99 a month; the most comprehensive “Transform+” plan costs $29.99 a month.
The Transform+ plan consists of a wash, clean and dry, spot-free rinse, tire scrubber, vacuum use, triple foam rainbow wax, clear-coat sealer, carnauba extreme shine wash, tire conditioner, UV protectant, wheel brightener, undercarriage wash and ceramic seal. All these benefits of the Transform+ wash, along with all other washes, fall under Bliss’ “satisfaction guarantee” program, where any unsatisfied customer can go through the wash tunnels for a second carwash at no additional cost.
After going through the carwash tunnel, every vehicle is also inspected by “quality control.” The quality control team member does a final sweep of the vehicle, making sure that it is properly cleaned, and finishes the wash by wiping off the excess water in the vehicle’s nooks and crannies.
“Our guests really love this,” proclaims Delrahim.
Bliss Car Wash’s owner has created a wash that boasts love. “David believes if you do everything with love you can’t go wrong,” says Brown. Whether that is the love for customers that shows itself in an enjoyable wash experience or the love for the planet and the people that the Bliss team helps through non-profit and eco-friendly initiatives, the carwash promotes love. There is no doubt that as the business continues to grow, Southern California will remember the name and mission of Bliss Car Wash.
Camille Renner is the associate editor of Professional Carwashing & Detailing.
Check out our follow up video interview with David Delrahim of Bliss Car Wash below.
