Welcome to the official documentation for Plugixa Car Wash, a
booking and operations plugin for car washes, detailing studios and mobile wash
teams. Customers book through a step-by-step form that you place on any page with
a shortcode or a block: they pick their vehicle, a package, extras and a free
time. Your staff run the day from one app: a bay schedule, a job board, the
bookings and the customer list.
The plugin ships in two editions:
- Free - the booking form, any number of locations with opening hours,
breaks and closures, bays and teams, vehicle types with their own prices and
durations, packages, services and add-ons, several booking forms, coupons, pay
at the wash and bank transfer with part payments, the customer account page,
booking emails, and the staff app with its dashboard, bay schedule, job board,
bookings and customers.
- Pro PRO - everything in Free, plus Stripe card payments,
memberships, gift cards, loyalty points, company accounts with monthly
statements, mobile service with a travel fee, a dispatch board with checklists
and photos, reminders and text messages, reports, a calendar feed, signed
webhooks, roles and permissions, a dark theme and an installable app.
Nothing in the free edition is switched off or limited. See the complete
Free vs Pro comparison.
What makes it different
A few decisions shape how the plugin behaves. They are worth knowing before you
take your first booking.
| Decision |
What it means for you |
| The price is worked out on the server |
The form asks your server for the price every time the customer changes the vehicle, the package, an extra or the promo code. When the booking is saved, the server prices it again from the same rules. A price sent by the browser is never used. |
| Prices and times follow the vehicle |
Each package and add-on has a price and a duration, and each vehicle type can override both, or mark the item as not available for that vehicle. Without an override, a vehicle type’s Extra fee is added to every package price and its Time multiplier stretches or shortens every duration. |
| A bay is given away under a lock |
The form only offers times when a bay or team is free for the whole wash. When the customer books, the plugin locks the location, checks again, picks a free bay and saves. Two customers pressing Book now for the last bay at the same moment cannot both get it: the second is told the time was just taken. |
| Availability counts real durations |
A 3-hour detail fits fewer gaps than a 20-minute wash. The times on offer come from the length of what is being booked, plus any buffer you set after each wash. |
| The form is sealed from your theme |
The booking form and the account page draw inside a shadow root, so your theme’s and page builder’s styles for buttons, inputs and headings do not reach them, and the form’s own styles do not leak out. |
| Deleting moves to the trash |
Lists such as booking forms, locations and packages have a trash to restore from. Something an upcoming booking depends on cannot be deleted until that booking is cancelled or moved. Deleting the plugin keeps your data unless you ask otherwise. |
| One admin screen |
The WordPress menu has one item, Plugixa Car Wash. Every screen is inside it, with its own sidebar and search. Staff can also open the same app on a private page of your site. |
| No outside service in the free edition |
The free plugin loads its fonts and icons from your own site and contacts no outside service during normal operation. The only exception is the Freemius SDK, used for licensing and updates. |
Key concepts
| Term |
What it is |
| Location |
A site you wash cars at, or the base a mobile team drives from. It has opening hours with breaks, closures, a time zone, a tax rate and its booking rules: slot length, buffer, minimum notice and how far ahead customers can book. |
| Bay or team |
One unit of capacity at a location. A bay takes one car at a time; a team does the same for mobile work. A bay can be limited to certain vehicle types. |
| Vehicle type |
What the customer drives, such as Car, SUV or Van. The first thing a customer picks, and what prices and durations follow. |
| Package |
A wash you sell, such as Express or Full Detail, with a price, a duration, the services it includes and the add-ons it offers. |
| Service and add-on |
A single piece of work. Services make up packages; add-ons are sold on top. A form can also sell services on their own. |
| Booking form |
A set of choices (layout, what customers choose, locations, vehicle types, packages, fields, agreements, colour) that produces one form with its own shortcode. |
| Booking status |
Where a booking stands: Awaiting payment, Pending, Confirmed, In the bay, Done, Cancelled or No-show. |
| Job stage |
Where the car is on the day. The free job board has three lanes: Upcoming, In the bay and Done. With Pro, the dispatch board adds the steps of a mobile job: Scheduled, On the way, Arrived, Washing and Done. |
| Reference |
The booking number given to the customer: CW, the year, a dash and the booking’s number padded to four digits, such as CW2026-0413. |
Getting started
| Section |
Description |
| Getting started |
Install, see what activation creates, and take a first test booking |
| Free vs Pro |
What each edition contains |
On your site
| Section |
Description |
| Booking form |
What the customer sees, step by step, with the confirmation |
| Shortcodes and block |
The three shortcodes, their attributes, and the block |
| Customer account |
Sign-in by email link, upcoming washes, cancelling and the customer’s details |
Running the day
| Section |
Description |
| Dashboard |
Today’s figures, the setup checklist, the app’s sidebar and search |
| Schedule |
Every bay on a timeline, with drag to move |
| Job board |
Cars from upcoming to in the bay to done |
| Bookings |
The list, booking at the desk, statuses and payments |
| Customers |
Customers with their vehicles and visit history |
Your catalogue
| Section |
Description |
| Vehicle types |
What customers drive, with an icon, an extra fee and a time multiplier |
| Packages |
Washes you sell, with prices and times per vehicle |
| Services and add-ons |
The work that makes up packages, and extras on top |
| Coupons |
Discount codes and their limits |
Configuration
| Section |
Description |
| Locations |
Opening hours, closures and booking rules |
| Bays and teams |
The capacity of each location |
| Booking forms |
Create forms, choose what they offer and which details they ask for |
| Payments |
Pay at the wash, bank transfer, part payments and balances |
| Emails |
Which emails are sent, and when |
| Settings |
Every option, section by section, with its default |
| App manager |
Switch modules on or off |
| Roles and permissions |
Who can open the app and what they can do |
Pro features
| Section |
Description |
| Stripe PRO |
Card payments online, with the slot held while the customer pays |
| Memberships PRO |
Monthly or yearly wash plans |
| Gift cards PRO |
Cards with a balance that pays all or part of a wash |
| Loyalty PRO |
Points for every completed wash, and rewards |
| Company accounts PRO |
Fleet customers with a company rate and monthly statements |
| Mobile service PRO |
Washes at the customer’s address, with a travel fee |
| Dispatch PRO |
Mobile jobs by stage, with route order, checklists and photos |
| Reminders and SMS PRO |
A reminder before the appointment, by email or text |
| Reports PRO |
Revenue, bay use, packages and coupons, with CSV export |
| Webhooks PRO |
Signed notices to other systems |
| Calendar feed PRO |
Bookings in your staff’s phone calendars |
| Appearance and app PRO |
Dark theme and installing the staff app |
For developers
| Section |
Description |
| Hooks reference |
Actions and filters |
| REST API |
The plugin’s REST routes, capabilities and rate limits |
Support
System requirements
- WordPress: 6.5 or higher
- PHP: 8.2 or higher
- Browsers: a current version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Edge. The staff
app, the booking form and the account page need JavaScript switched on.
- REST API: the booking form and the account page talk to your site through
the WordPress REST API, so it must be reachable by visitors who are not signed
in.
- WP-Cron: a job every five minutes releases online bookings whose payment
never arrived. WP-Cron only runs when someone visits the site, so on a quiet
site add a real server cron that calls
wp-cron.php every five minutes.
Bookings, customers, locations, the catalogue and forms are stored in the
plugin’s own database tables. They stay in place when the plugin is deactivated,
and by default when it is deleted. See
Privacy and uninstall.
Getting help
- Check Troubleshooting first.
- Read the page for the screen you are using.
- Contact support through your Plugixa account.
License
Plugixa Car Wash is licensed under the GPL v2 or later. Pro
features are part of the Pro build of the plugin, distributed through Freemius.
