Tommys Express Car WashCar Wash
  • Join TommyClub®
  • Locations
  • Services
  • Gift Cards
  • Fleets
  • Giving Back
  • Franchise

Blog Home

The Story of Tommy’s Express: Seatbelt Safety Day

October 3, 2022 Tommy's Express Company Culture

The story of Tommy’s Express starts when the Essenburg family established Quality Car Wash in 1969 and expanded to seven locations across West Michigan. Years of innovation and operations experience propelled the Essenburgs to offer their car wash parts and equipment through Tommy Car Wash Systems. In 2016, the Tommy’s Express franchise was born with a vision to establish a recognized national car wash brand and expand globally.

One of the most significant community events hosted and sponsored by Quality Car Wash began in 1992 and was known as Seatbelt Safety Day. On this day, the Holland community was invited to convene at the Quality Car Wash on South Washington St. for a full day of eating hotdogs and popcorn, meeting racecar drivers, and learning about seatbelt safety.

Seatbelt Saftey Success

This event was held in combination with the Holland Police Department, which had a strong presence at the event. The police would set up crash simulators for children where they could ride down a slide on a sled-like vehicle and experience the importance of wearing a seatbelt when driving.

Some years later, the police would even bring in crash test dummies, which kids could take pictures and play with.

To bring more interest to the event, Quality Car Wash reached out to local racecar drivers to attend, giving families and children the chance to talk to the drivers and check out their speedy rides. One year, even Indy 500 driver Scott Brayton made an appearance!

Along with the yummy food that was grilled in the parking lot, there were even Quality Car Wash pogs and slammers that kids could collect, trade, and battle. Although these toys are a tad outdated today, they were a much-beloved pastime in the 90s. 

Seatbelt Safety

The success and turn-out of the first Seatbelt Safety Day led to this becoming an annual event in Holland. For the next five years, drivers and the Holland Police Department would meet at a Quality Car Wash location for an evening of informative fun and community involvement.

It’s events like these where the Essenburg mantra of giving back to the community shines through. That same goal continues to drive Tommy’s Express and Quality Car Wash today. Check out your local Tommy’s Express location to experience a clean like no other.

Company History

Continue Reading

How does PayPerWash work?Previous post
Tommy’s Express careers: Now hiring for car wash jobs!Next post

Recent Posts

  • Tommy’s Express Opens Fourth Omaha Location
  • Tommy’s Express Opens First Norfolk, Virginia Location
  • Tommy’s Express Celebrates Scranton Grand Opening
  • Saratoga Springs Tommy’s Express Celebrates Grand Opening
  • El Paso Tommy’s Express Celebrates Grand Opening

Categories

  • Adding Value
  • Car Wash Benefits
  • Company Culture
  • Enriching Lives
  • Grand Openings
  • Green
  • Groundbreakings
  • Local Partnerships
  • News
  • Serving Communities
  • Tommy's Team
  • TommyClub
  • Uncategorized
  • Water Mission
Tommys Express Car Wash
download on the app storeget it on Google Play
  • At the Wash
    • Locations
    • Services
    • Gift Cards
  • TommyClub
    • About
    • PayPerWash
    • Fleets
    • Refer A Friend
    • Download
  • About Us
    • Newsroom
    • Blog
    • Careers
    • Giving Back
    • Fundraising
  • Franchise
    • Getting Started
    • Why Tommy’s
    • Real Estate
  • Get Support
    • FAQ’s
    • Contact Form
    • Help Center

© Tommy's Express 2025. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy. Terms and Conditions.

Manage your privacy
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
Manage options
{title} {title} {title}
Manage your privacy
We use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. We do this to improve browsing experience and to show (non-) personalized ads. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
Manage options
{title} {title} {title}