San Francisco Car Wash Charging $100 For Vehicles Returning From Burning Man
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- San Francisco car washes are charging as much as $100 to clean vehicles covered in dust from the Burning Man playa.
Cars lined up at Touchless Car Wash where more than 500 people were expected to get their cars cleaned.
"We woke up and we were covered in a quarter inch of dust," Chris Messina said, who had just returned from Black Rock City.
The dust from Burning Man is difficult to clean, and clogs water recycling filters, so car washes charge big fees to clean them.
"For a Burning Man car, $100. One hundred big ones," Patty Schmek of Touchless Car Wash said.
Schmek says it takes twice as long to clean a car coming from the festival and the normal recycled water filtration system has to be bypassed because the silt would ruin it.
To help pick up the pace at the car wash, 80 workers are on hand to wash, dry, and return the cars to their pre-Burning Man beauty.