Self serve car wash owner, and friend to the industry, sells her Citrus Heights Car Wash
It’s fitting that Kimberly Berg lives and owned a car wash in California. Known as the “Golden State,” Kimberly always has had an aura of positivity and zest around her, as if a golden ray of sunshine follows her wherever she goes. People like Kimberly are rare– pos- sessing kindness, humor and positivity, she seems to want everyone to succeed. From being a part of the Western Carwash Association’s Self Serve Summit, to regularly helping others on carwashforum.com, she was always offering advice and anecdotes all sprinkled with levity, and ‘good lucks’ and smiley faces. When I first met her in person, we were at a Car Wash Show and the first thing she did was tell me that I was doing a great job and she was so happy to meet me. I didn’t know she had been up for hours, having hosted an 8 a.m. educational seminar. She made me feel important and appreciated. Her mere presence was like drinking a cup of sunshine. So, it was with a lump in my throat when I found out that she was selling her Citrus Heights Car Wash, a beautifully run and maintained self serve located in Citrus Heights, California. She cannot leave us, I thought. We need her. And, I wasn’t alone. “I hope you [stick around] to spread your wis- dom and positive thoughts, Kimberly. Good on you! Congrats!” wrote one commenter on carwashforum. com regarding her retirement announcement. “Yes – please stick around, Kimberly!” wrote another. But the offer was too good to be true, and Kim- berly, after running the car wash at full-speed for the past 20 years, knew it was time. And in true Kimberly style, she couldn’t say enough positive things about the new owners. “Through my soap salesman, I found a great, local family to buy it,” she told me. “We share the same val- ues of quality, cleanliness and customer service. …and we get along perfectly. We have great trust and respect for each other!“ The new owner is Randy Pastor, a longtime car wash owner, who, along with his family, has been run- ning car washes in Citrus Heights since 1975. Kimber ly, too, had been in the car washing business for a while, after she and her former husband became owners of the Citrus Heights location in 2003. The car wash was built in 1982 by the Neal family, who built it at the site of their family’s two homes, on a quiet corner in Citrus Heights. Kimberly said in an interview back in 2019, “Little did they know, [decades] later, that the location would become a central part of town, where approximately 80,000 cars pass by every day.” In that same interview, Kimberly also shared what she likes most about running a self serve car wash. It is being of service and making a personal connection every day, she divulged. “For me, it’s not about mak- ing money. It’s about making a positive difference, and letting my customers know I care about them. I enjoy personally greeting all my customers and talking with them, making change, explaining the wash menu op- tions and how the equipment works, giving out extra tokens, and using my portable jump starter to help a customer when their vehicle battery dies. In this day and age, a little kindness goes a long way that custom- ers will long remember.” Kimberly passionately worked on the car wash over the years, making countless upgrades and im- provements. The term “set it and forget it” did not ap- ply to her. Some of the numerous changes she made, included: • Replacing the weeds with colorful flowers and bushes, and adding yellow pole covers and an asphalt overlay. • Replacing the original brown metal paneling with blue paneling and adding a “Clearance” bar over each bay. • Adding building signage “Citrus Heights Car Wash.” • Replacing sodium and metal halide lights with LED lights, which cut the electrical bills in half. • Adding custom menu signs and colorful instruction signs, advertising the hogs-hair foam brushes, in- bay dryers and discouraging bucket-washing (while others are waiting). •• Installing Diskin’s Super Air Shammee in each bay, and replacing the aging ceiling booms with Zierden’s booms. • Adding a 16-video camera surveillance system. • Painting the 4 original and faded fiberglass vacuums a bright yellow. • Upgrading the vending machines from mechanical pull-knob style with electronic retrofit kits. • Replacing the water softener and switching the wash chemicals from a mediocre generic brand to a high-quality line of chemicals. It’s no secret that Kimberly gave her car wash her all. Blood, sweat, tears… mixed with lots and lots of patience and laughter. In an announcement posted to carwashforum. com, Kimberly let her colleagues know that while she sold the car wash, she wouldn’t be going away entirely. “Fortunately, I’m still in good health. Feeling tired, but very grateful!! My plans are to slow down, relax, travel and spend more time in my garden and with friends and family. Rest assured, I will continue to read the postings here and will continue to chime in… You can take the girl out of the car wash but you can’t take the car wash out of the girl!!” And… she wasn’t kidding. Kimberly told me she has the honorable gig of working part time at her very own (former) car wash. “Later this week they’re going on vacation and they’ve hired me to work at my OLD car wash. I think it’s hilarious and heartwarming.” If you go back and read some of Kimberly’s state- ments, you will see words like “grateful”, and “posi- tive”, “heartwarming”, “kindness” and “respect”. Such inspiriting words are proof that Kimberly is every- thing that is right with the world. And, thankfully, the most important words she shared were: “I will contin- ue to chime in.” Thank goodness. So, congratulations on your retirement, Kimberly. You have been a true friend to the self serve indus- try, and now it’s time to celebrate. You certainly have earned it. Upgrading the mat holders and wand holders.
