Columbia Automotive

If your shady parking spot rests beneath bird-filled trees, or someone scrawled carpetbagger into the layer of grime on your car window, today's Groupon can give your vehicle its original off-the-lot shine. For $18, you'll get Auto Spa Hand Car Wash's Wax Works Way package, including a complete hand wash, wax, and interior clean, a $38 value. Baltimore Magazine's Best Car Wash of Charm City, Auto Spa is located a cool 15 miles outside the city in Cockeysville, making the return trip in your newly perfected vehicle a ride you'll wish would never end. This Groupon isn't just great for sprucing up your own car: it also makes the perfect passive-aggressive gift for your dirty carpool driver.

Today's automotive technicians working their today hadn't yet been born when Fenkell Automotive Service first opened its doors in 1932. But they benefit from the business's tradition of astute customer service and professional courtesy. In addition to oil changes, maintenance, and windshield repair, the crew demonstrates their commitment to customers with preventative maintenance plans that not only meet cars' factory service recommendations, but also insures against mishaps with free towing, tire hazard coverage, and roadside assistance.

For more than a quarter-century, Sears Auto Center-Old Forge Motor Cars has been keeping rides cruising smoothly with maintenance services and fresh brand-name tires. An online tire-size finder lets drivers peruse available rubbery soles based on tire size or their vehicles' year, make, and model; customers can also search for brands such as BFGoodrich, Cooper, Michelin, and Yokohama. Ailing cars can roll into the shop and let experienced technicians diagnose and treat their issues, from loose belts and hoses to squeaky brakes or wheels that become clumsily misaligned when cute convertibles whiz by. Sears Auto Center-Old Forge Motor Cars is open seven days a week and also harbors used vehicles available for purchase.

During detailing sessions, Rick's Professional Auto Detailing technicians remove dirt from the interior and exterior, as well as from the trunk and the engine compartment if desired. They give vehicles a great shine by washing and polishing them by hand and kissing them with just-glossed lips. In addition, the staff provides other cosmetic services, including odor removal, hand-painted initials and pinstripes, burn hole repair, and paintless dent removal.

Harnessing the years of dealership experience that he keeps tucked under his belt, FR Auto Detail owner Felton Robinson transforms sullied vehicles into sparkling rides. During detailing sessions, agile technicians hand-wash exteriors, sweeping dirt, smears, and stains from victory-lane champagne baths off of outer shells. Hand-applied wax outfits each car with a lustrous cloak that stands guard against weather elements and road debris, and underbody sealants protect road-exposed undersides from seasonal weather hazards and saboteurs riding luges.

From more than 350 facilities in six countries, Precision Tune Auto Care has spent the last three decades keeping more than 2.5 million vehicles on the road with an array of maintenance and auto-repair services. Professionally trained mechanics lube engines with signature precision oil changes, rotate tires to ensure even tread wear, repair busted brakes, and test spark plugs to safeguard against ignition failure during dramatic drive-thru getaways. Whether performing complicated services on fuel-injection and cooling systems or simply aligning tires, the mechanics back all their services with a 12-month, 12,000-mile warranty.