Don’t try this at your local car wash unless you want to get charged for theft or put the place out of business. This car wash hack featured in a viral TikTok is illegal and definitely shady, yet scarily effective.
@jays2smoove Educational purposes. 😂#fyp #foryou #foryoupage #funny #lifehack ♬ original sound – Jays2smoove
TikToker Jays2smoove (@jays2smoove) featured the “hack” in a video posted on July 15. The TikTok has now gone viral, picking up over 2 million views as of this article’s publication.
In it, someone, presumably Jay, circles a car stereo speaker over the coin slot of a self-service car wash machine. As the magnet in the speaker passes over the slot, more time is added to the car wash clock. In only a few seconds, there are 19 minutes of time on the counter.
In the caption and screen text, Jay claims what he is doing is for “educational purposes” and doesn’t show himself using the minutes to wash anything. But anybody considering putting the “hack” into use should be aware that the trick is illegal.
Many commenters didn’t look upon the hack as being so innocent.
“What if it was your small business,” one person asked.
“Kids buying $150 sneakers but stealing from small business not paying less than $20,” said another.
“All fun and games till the car washes go out of Biz due to losing money,” a third pointed out.
That didn’t stop other viewers from defending the car wash customer, though.
“Why everyone so mad,” asked one user.
“That’s some tweaker ish..I’m gonna try tho,” someone else wrote in response to the trick.
“So if we don’t have a speaker, what do we use? Asking for a friend,” another viewer asked.
“Thanks for sharing, now I just need to find a big magnet,” someone else wrote.
Many viewers were quick to point out an obvious “flaw” to the so-called hack.
“I managed a car wash in the early ‘90s and even back then, [there were] cameras everywhere and recorded plates,” someone commented.
Another viewer pointed out, “What about security cams catching all this?”
“My car wash has cameras everywhere bro,” one viewer added.
In a follow-up video, Jay states that an uncle taught him the speaker trick and that the original video is “three years old.” He encourages more views, however, “because I need my 100K followers back for real.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Jay via TikTok for comment.