The A1A Car Wash was an Albuquerque car wash that was used as a money-laundering business by Breaking Bad's lead character Walter "Walt" White. The high school teacher turned drug lord previously worked at the car wash as a side gig before quitting due to the constant disrespect from his boss.
The car wash was a recurring location throughout the series. It was first shown in the pilot episode and lastly seen in the highly rated Season 5 episode titled "Ozymandias." It is yet to be featured in the prequel Better Call Saul. And while plenty of things about it are obvious, here are some that viewers didn't know.
The Slogan
The slogan for A1A Car Wash is "You’ve Tried The Rest, Now Try the Best." This can be seen from the logo that is located on the wall near the teller desk as well as on the outside. Walt appears to have adhered to that slogan too, considering he tried everything else before settling for selling meth.
And after their car has been cleaned, each customer is always told to "have an A1 day" This is a phrase that Walt and Skyler came up with after purchasing the business.
The Previous Owner Was Pretty Bad At His Job
Walt initially had a side gig at the A1A as a cashier. However, the owner Bogdan Wolynetz frequently made him scrub cars because he was understaffed. But judging from a statement he made in the pilot, he wasn't understaffed because he lacked the money to pay more people. He just wanted to take advantage of his employees.
He told Walt: "The real important thing, and not everyone knows this, is to be tough! Boss has to be tough, has to say "no" to people, has to make cashiers wipe down cars even if they don't want to. Can you be tough, Walter?" No Bodgan! Boss has to hire enough people that match the amount of work present.
The Physical Address
The car wash's address is 9516 Snow Heights Cir NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87112. This little detail could be seen from the documents that Bodgan transferred to Skyler while handing over the car wash.
Judging from the amount of time that Walt and Skyler spent on the road while commuting from the car wash to the house, it can be assumed that it was very near where they lived. Walt Jr. was also able to ride a bike to the car wash before he got a car.
Employees
There have been six known employees at the A1A Car Wash. The first known employee was Walter. There was Mariano, Luis, Enrique, and Martin too.
Walter Jr. can also be classified as an employee since he worked as a cashier whenever he wasn't in school. Since Skyler was technically the co-owner, she cannot be credited as an employee even though she occasionally served as a cashier too.
The Real Value Of The Car Wash And How Much Skyler Bought It For
When Skyler and Walt wanted to buy the car wash, Skyler did her homework and came up with the conclusion that its real value was $879,000. This was after factoring in expenses and revenues. She thus approached Bogdan with the offer in Season 4's second episode titled "Thirty-Eight Snub."
However, the owner put a price tag of $10 million because he hated Walt. He later raised it to $20 million. Skyler was thus forced to use devious means to threaten Bogdan with a shut-down. He thus humbled himself and agreed to the $879,000 offer in the next episode titled "Open House." Knowing she had him cornered, Skyler reduced her offer to $800,000. That ended up being the final price.
The Real-Life Car Wash
A1A Car Wash's real-life business name at the time of filming "Octopus Car Wash." It was part of the large Octopus brand that had six car washes in various locations around Albuquerque. The business was owned by the Jurkens family.
However, in 2014 the business was acquired by America's largest car wash chain at the time called Mister Car Wash. The business chain boasts of 134 car washes all across the country. The specific car wash used for filming remains more popular among customers to this day.
The Student Whose Car Walt Washed
It's easy to remember all the major characters but the name of someone who appeared in only two seasons might be hard to recall. Chad was the name of the student whose car Walt found himself washing after being instructed to step away from the cashier desk and help out with cleaning.
Chad was the same student Walt had kicked out of his class for flirting with a girl. He later took his his Chevrolet Corvette C6 to A1A and after realizing it was Walt washing it, he began laughing and taking pictures of him.
How Many Customers Did It Serve?
Again, in Season 4's second episode titled "Thirty Eight Snubs," Skyler mentioned that 19 cars get cleaned at A1A Car Wash every hour. This means that if the business was open for around 10 hours each day, 190 cars were washed.
With that kind of traffic, it appears Walt didn't need to continue with his drug dealing ways at all. If A1A continued to be operational, the revenue would have sustained his family for many years ago. But like he said, cooking meth became more than just about money. It made him feel alive.
The Reason A1A Was Seized
Why was AIA seized yet Skyler was innocent? After Walt's status as a drug lord became public knowledge, the car washed was seized authorities because it had been purchased using illegal funds. Skyler was thus forced to work as a part-time taxi dispatcher and move to a new residence near Eubank.
This information was revealed to Walt by Ed in Season 5's penultimate episode titled "Granite" when he visited him at his hideout to bring him newspapers and food supplies. No new owner was said to have taken over the car wash after that.
It Could Have Had A Different Name And Owner
According to the initial pilot script that creator Vince Gilligan pitched to AMC in 2005, the name of the car wash was meant to be Velvet-Touch Car Wash. The owner was also supposed to be an Iranian man named Amir.
Amir's son was meant to be an employee at the car wash too. It's after the son quits that Amir orders Walt to go outside and scrub the cars. It's not clear why the names were changed but it would have been interesting to see how that would have turned out.