- Cobblestone will provide $1.35 million in consumer restitution.
- Eligible customers are slated to receive $19 each.
- The company must add easier cancellation options.
Monthly car wash memberships offer the promise of keeping your car cleaner for less. In Colorado, one automatic car wash chain offered exactly that but then, according to the state, kept billing customers who had tried to cancel. That business is Cobblestone Car Wash, and it just settled a lawsuit with the state to the tune of $1,353,465. Affected customers will get $19 checks in the mail.
According to the settlement agreement, the issue centers on Cobblestone’s automatically renewing monthly wash plans at more than 40 Colorado locations. The state alleged that, between August 2022 and February 2025, the company raised membership prices without proper notice, failed to provide required receipts and disclosures, and didn’t offer a simple cancellation process.
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In all, the settlement’s restitution fund covers 71,235 eligible consumers. That number includes members who signed up for plans of at least $25 per month and later experienced a price change without receiving at least $19 back. It also applies to certain customers who didn’t receive proper membership documentation and used the wash four times or fewer.
Cobblestone has denied liability and said nothing in the agreement constitutes an admission that it broke the law. Still, it agreed to overhaul its process for at least three years. And paying out this kind of cash is the thing plenty will see as an admission in its own way.
During the three years, Cobblestone will create clearer trial-period disclosures, retainable receipts or acknowledgements, and a one-step online cancellation option for customers who signed up online. The company must also tell members about material changes to their plans and provide periodic reminders that a subscription will continue unless it is canceled.
The settlement requires Cobblestone to submit its consumer-redress plan within 60 days and mail restitution checks within 150 days of the agreement taking effect. Any unclaimed money will ultimately go to the Colorado Attorney General’s office for consumer-protection work. Cobblestone had already refunded $253,406 to 2,204 Colorado customers during the investigation, according to the agreement. It will also pay $20,000 toward the state’s investigative costs.
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