Carlisle becomes home to the UK's first touchless car wash

The site has opened on Church Street in Carlisle (Image: Stuart Walker)

CARLISLE is the home of the UK's first fully-automated, touchless car wash that uses technology already in use in America. The Intelijet360° car wash has opened on Church Street in Carlisle. The landlotrd for the space is Richard Miller, alongside his wife Sarah and their family, who partnered with the tech company to bring the new technology over to the UK.

The car wash uses a robotic arm which washes your car in different steps using only 'high pressure water jets and chemicals that can safely clean the car'. Detergents and wax are also used before it is dried off in four minutes and 30 seconds.

Richard said: "When I looked at the site, I looked at the technology that was in existent in America. "There were either hand self service or drive washes which all run the risk of a scratch."

Richard and Sarah alongside Inteljet developers (Image: Stuart Walker)

"There was no fourth option that eliminated that. The technology was new at the time, but Inteljet have all the technology from America and the UK division have a full network behind them. "The idea of having a contactless option at a competitive price was a no brainer."

Richard and his family were approached by Inteljet and were told that they are looking to launch the idea and were interested in the site at Church Street. After they accepted, and a 12-month negoitation period and solicitor conveyancing period, the new car wash was launched in Carlisle.

Richard spoke about what this means for Carlisle. He said: “These are big companies that are are investing in the area and Carlisle is not a second rated city anymore. "There are 30 other locations that are going live before the end of summer, but we are the first."

The car wash in completely touchless which means there is no risk of scratches to the car (Image: Inteljet)

"They [Inteljet] are so impressed by Carlisle's growth, they don’t just randomly open these sites, they have done their homework on Carlisle. "The evolution of this site, and the sustainability shows the growth of Carlisle, and future of this is great." Engineers from all over the world, including the USA and Italy have been at the site for the weeks building up to the launch to monitor the process. Elliott Rich, director of operations at Inteljet, said: "Using the mixture of detergent and high pressure water, rather than contact makes the process completely safe for the car, it means that nothing touches the car at all." "There are no brushes involved in the process it is fully touchless."

By Clare Hastings , 28/07/2023, www.newsandstar.co.uk