By Jim Utter
Director of Journalism
A settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit that was filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California that targeted GO Car Wash for alleged violations of federal and state consumer protection laws.
Aaron Rodriguez, who formerly held an unlimited wash plan with GO Car Wash, filed the suit on March 18. He claimed GO Car Wash failed to clearly disclose the terms of automatic renewal of its car wash membership plans, misleading customers to sign up for recurring payments.
Late last month, a Notice of Settlement was filed with the court indicating both sides had reached a settlement “on an individual basis.”
GO Car Wash, founded in 2019, is based in Greenwood Village, Colorado, and has approximately 150 sites across seven states, including California.
Per the notice filed on April 25, “Plaintiff Aaron Rodriguez and Defendant GO Carwash Management Corp., by and through their counsel, hereby inform the Court that they have reached a settlement on an individual basis.
“The Parties need additional time to process the documentation of their agreement and expect to be in a position for Plaintiff to file his dismissal paperwork within thirty (30) days. In light of the foregoing, the Parties respectfully request that all current deadlines and hearing dates be stayed.”
As of May 30, no dismissal has yet been recorded with the court.
In his original complaint, Rodriguez argued GO Car Wash failed to clearly disclose the automatic renewal terms of its unlimited membership plans, leading customers to unknowingly sign up for recurring payments.
“Consumers that visit Defendant’s physical car wash locations are regularly signed up for car wash memberships when they believed they were only purchasing a single car wash,” the lawsuit claimed.
“Further, when enrolling customers into the membership program, Defendant fails to clearly and conspicuously disclose that the membership will automatically renew each month.
Rodriguez also alleged GO Car Wash made it “difficult or impossible” for customers to cancel their memberships and even charged customers after they had canceled.
Rodriguez claimed he was charged $34.99 after canceling his membership despite being assured by a GO Car Wash employee that it had been canceled.
The lawsuit claimed the car wash’s actions violated the California Automatic Renewal Law (CARL), Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA) and various California consumer protection laws.
Rodriguez is represented by Jeffrey D. Kaliel, Amanda J. Rosenberg and Sophia G. Gold of KalielGold PLLC and Christopher D. Jennings, Tyler B. Ewigleben and Winston S. Hudson of Jennings & Early PLLC.
