What Is Fleet Washing? Methods, Water Recovery, Employee Perks and Tax

A fleet car wash is an ordinary wash bought differently: by vehicle count, on a calendar, with one invoice. The fleet can be sales cars, service and delivery vans, work pickups, rental or rideshare cars, dealer stock, or a city's trucks. EPA notes that cities with small fleets "might find it more economical to contract with commercial car washes" than to build their own (EPA).

A program differs from a stack of single washes in four ways: a schedule that keeps vehicles on their routes, a method chosen for the vehicles, a plan for the wash water, and a per-unit record. Workplace wash days and apartment programs are bought the same way, for cars that belong to employees or residents.

A van's graphics are washed to the film maker's rules, not the vendor's habits: 3M, for one, caps pressure washing and states that "Graphics damaged by improper cleaning are NOT covered by the 3M warranty" (3M). Tell the vendor which film is on the vans; 3M's limits, point by point, and how we apply them: fleet washing.

Fleet wash water carries "sediment, detergents, oils, grease and heavy metals", in EPA's words; one Washington city estimated that vehicle washing added 190 gallons of gasoline, diesel and motor oil and 14 pounds of dissolved copper to its stormwater in a year (EPA). On a business lot in the City of Los Angeles, commercial wash water must stay out of the storm drain; the code sections and how we meet them: the LA rules we follow.

EPA's recovery options for fleets (EPA):

1. A wash rack draining to a sump, then to the sanitary sewer with the sewer authority's permission (often through an oil/water separator), to a holding tank or to a recycling system.
2. A small job outside a wash rack: "a bermed wash area" and a wet/dry vacuum, with the water discharged to a sanitary sewer.
3. A larger job: berms and a vacuum truck.
4. A commercial car wash under contract.

A mobile crew washing cars and vans works at the small-job end: a water-capture mat under the vehicle, the water collected and taken away. The rules at home, on the street and in garages: is it legal to wash my car in my driveway in California.

• The vehicle is the brand. A lettered van is seen by every customer it visits.
• A clean vehicle can be inspected. Dents, a cracked lamp or a lifting graphic show on clean paint, and a per-unit wash log dates when each appeared.
• Graphics stay within the maker's care terms when the vendor follows its limits.
• No driving to the wash. On-site washing happens while vehicles are parked.
• One invoice per location instead of drivers' receipts, which also simplifies the tax records below.
• Cabs stay usable. Shared vehicles collect food and smoke smells: odor removal.

Delivery vans. Amazon's delivery service partners (DSPs) and other delivery operators run cargo vans on daily routes. If the vans park together overnight, that window lets a mobile crew wash them without taking one off its route. The operator and the vendor set the schedule. A cab a driver works in all day needs its own vacuum and wipe-down.

Trucks and trailers. Tractor-trailers, trailer washouts and buses go to truck washes with bays large enough, or to pressure-washing contractors who bring berms and vacuum recovery to the yard. Our programs cover cars, SUVs, pickups and cargo vans, not the heavy units.

Employers and buildings buy washing for cars they don't own in three ways:

1. A workplace wash day. A detailer works in the office garage while staff work; the building approves the space and access, and the company pays one invoice, employees pay at booking, or they split it: workplace car wash programs.
2. Corporate car wash memberships. Some tunnel chains sell employers unlimited memberships, which buy drive-through washes. A mobile membership books a hand wash where the car is parked, on a fixed day (car wash membership; what is a maintenance wash).
3. An apartment or condo amenity. Residents book on set days in the building garage and pay at booking; the building approves the bays, the days and access, and none of its water is used: car wash amenity for apartment buildings.

What an employer gets is time and presentation: a weekend errand is done during the workday, where the car already parks, and the cars staff take to client visits arrive clean. What it costs is the washes, plus the tax side when the company pays for a perk on employees' own cars. Pub 15-B values a taxable fringe benefit at what the employee "would have to pay a third party" for it, puts in pay only the part above what the employee paid, and says a benefit to an employee is "generally subject to employment taxes and must be reported on Form W-2" (Pub 15-B). So a wash day where staff pay the full price at booking adds nothing to their pay, while washes the company pays for may, unless an exclusion such as de minimis applies: the tax table below, and your accountant, decide which. For a building, it is an amenity it does not have to run.