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Service stations and cleaning companies enjoyed a boom in demand as
residents took advantage of clearer weather to have dust removed from
cars.
Photo (Courtesey National): Carwash queue at Adnoc
Abdul Kasim, who operates the “touch-less” washing bay at the
Manasir area Adnoc in Abu Dhabi, said he had seen as many as 15 cars
queuing to be cleaned with pressurised water. Some cars would
wait “maybe 40 minutes”, he said. But “some people have no time, so
they go and come back again. It depends on traffic”.
In Dubai, a car-wash attendant said that business had increased to about 50 customers per shift from 30 to 40 before the storm.
Abraham Philip, a car wash mechanic in Khalidiya in Abu Dhabi, said it
was common for customers to wait out sandstorms before bringing their
vehicles in for a wash.
James Day, the general manager of Smashing Cleaning Services, a company
in Dubai that specialises not only in exteriors, but also in cleaning
media signs and air-conditioning systems, said companies that had
neglected their outdoor advertising signs for more than six months,
possibly to cut costs, were now rushing to get them cleaned.
Fast Rent A Car, one of the country’s biggest vehicle hire companies,
said it had adjusted its car washing routine over the past few
days. Rather than having just one person clean each car, the
company has been assigning four people to each car before delivery.
Ahmed Abood, the company’s chief executive, said the change, while
costly, was necessary “to ensure that our customers continue to receive
their cars in immaculate condition”.
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