Cheongju hand car wash with seat-out interior detailing: Chikachika

Whenever I drive around, exterior grime is so visible that I end up washing the outside pretty often, but somehow I always keep putting off the interior. I think it's been years since I properly cleaned the inside of my car. At some point the interior got so dirty even I couldn't ignore it anymore, so this time instead of a simple wash I decided to try a detailing wash that would take care of the inside properly too.

This time I visited Chikachika Hand Car Wash Cheongju (치카치카손세차 청주점). Let me share what the difference between a basic wash and a detailing wash is, and how my car — neglected for years — turned out after trying it myself.

Where is Chikachika Hand Car Wash Cheongju, and what are its hours?

Chikachika Hand Car Wash Cheongju is located at 8-5 Songhwa-ro 183beon-gil, Heungdeok-gu, Munam-dong, Cheongju, Chungbuk. It's open Tuesday through Sunday from 09:00 to 20:00, closed Mondays, with a break from 12:00 to 13:00.

• Address: 8-5 Songhwa-ro 183beon-gil, Heungdeok-gu, Cheongju, Chungbuk, South Korea
• Hours: Tue–Sun 09:00–20:00 (closed Mondays, break 12:00–13:00)
• Naver Reservation available, waiting room on site, pet-friendly

Since Naver Reservation was available I booked ahead, and there was a separate waiting room where I could relax comfortably until the wash was done.

Inside the waiting room there was a CCTV screen so I could watch the wash in progress, plus AC, chairs, a massage chair, a coffee machine and vending machine. There was also a restroom inside, which was convenient, and I heard pets are welcome too.

Having a comfortable space to wait during the wash was really nice.

What car care can you get besides a wash?

Beyond the basic wash, Chikachika Hand Car Wash Cheongju offers a range of other car care services — vacuum suction interior cleaning, AC/heater cleaning (evaporator cleaning), polishing, and glass coating are all available.

There are plenty of options depending on your car's condition and what it needs, so it seemed like a good place to get a full once-over in a single visit.

Prices can vary depending on vehicle type and condition, so I'd recommend checking before your visit.

Basic wash vs detailing wash: what's the difference?

Chikachika Hand Car Wash is broadly split into a basic wash and a detailing wash. Here's the pricing I saw for both when I visited.

What the basic wash covers

The basic wash includes exterior steam wash, interior steam sanitizing, trunk steam disinfection, and tire dressing — a solid package for regular upkeep.

What the detailing wash covers

The detailing wash I got adds extra detailed care on top of that.

• Driver's and passenger's seat removal
• Semi wheel cleaning
• Exterior water-repellent wash & coating
• Tar & bug removal
• Exterior sticker removal
• Wheel-specific dressing coating
• Tire pressure check
• Interior trim and leather seat stain cleaning & protection

The biggest difference of all is that the front seats get removed, so they can clean underneath and around the rails — spots that are normally impossible to reach. So if you just want routine maintenance, basic seems fine; if you want a proper full reset, detailing is the way to go.

If there's extra work needed, you can also add it as an option. Since my car's interior was in really rough shape and hadn't been properly cleaned in years, I went with the detailing wash.

The car's condition before the detailing wash

Here's the state of my car before the wash. Honestly, since I hadn't done an interior wash in years, the inside was genuinely filthy.

Normally I'd just wipe down the visible parts, so spots like under the seats or in the crevices where my hands couldn't reach basically never got touched. So this time I thought, let's skip the regular interior wash and get a proper detailing wash — and that's why I came.

The exterior wash, step by step (no-brush automatic wash, 13,000 won)

The exterior wash area operates as a no-brush automatic wash zone, and the no-brush automatic wash costs ₩13,000.

If you want to manage the inside of your car thoroughly like I did, it might be better to go with the detailing wash rather than just the no-brush automatic wash, so both interior and exterior get handled together.

They combined high-pressure water and high-temperature steam to remove debris from the surface, loosened grime with snow foam, and then carefully went through mitt washing and steam washing.

In particular they did a water-repellent wash and coating on the paint, removed tar and bugs, and took care of the wheels and tires too. It wasn't just the body getting clean — with the wheels and tires sorted out too, the overall look after the wash felt totally different.

Interior detailing with the front seats removed

After the exterior wash was done, they wiped off the water and moved on to the real interior detailing work. The first thing that caught my eye was the seat removal!

This was my first time seeing my own car's seats removed, and once they lifted the seat out... let's just say all sorts of things came out. 😂

Stuff that had been hiding under the seat for years all showed up at once, and honestly I felt a bit embarrassed haha. Normally you can't see any of it because the seat covers it, so I never imagined it would be this dirty — seeing it in person made me realize I'd put off the interior wash for way too long.

The seats themselves get washed too

The removed seats were washed separately, and they carefully cleaned under the seats, around the rails, and the floor — spots that normally never get touched. It was a clear step up from just running a vacuum over the reachable parts like I used to.

This is exactly why people get the detailing wash, I thought.

Makeup stains that wouldn't come out for years (extra-cost work)

And this was the part I was most satisfied with in this whole wash. Since I usually wear makeup while driving, there were a lot of cosmetic stains around the driver's door and the headrest area.

Every other place I'd taken my car to said these stains just don't come out, so at some point I'd basically given up on them. But at Chikachika Hand Car Wash Cheongju, the owner didn't just skip past it — he went over it repeatedly, multiple times.

In the end, the cosmetic stains that had bothered me for so long got noticeably cleaner. This was extra work on top of the basic wash, so I paid an additional fee for it separately.

Still, since this was a stain no other place could remove, I was really satisfied to get it cleaned up properly even with the extra cost.

It had bugged me every time I looked at it for years, so seeing it this clean felt genuinely satisfying, haha.

How long the detailing wash takes: under 2 hours

I assumed a detailing wash would take forever, but since two staff worked on my car together at Chikachika Hand Car Wash Cheongju, my detailing wash was done in under two hours.

They removed and cleaned the seats, washed the inside, handled the exterior wash, wheel and tire care, water-repellent wash and coating — and it still finished faster than I expected, which was great.

While the wash was happening I got to wait comfortably in the waiting room and watch the work on CCTV, so the time didn't feel boring at all.

Dropped the car off for a wash, left with new wipers

And this was another thing I was really grateful for. I'd bought new wiper blades but didn't know how to install them, so they'd just been sitting in my trunk for months. 😂 But the owner noticed and installed the new wipers for me himself.

I went in for a car wash and came out with my trunk-stashed wipers finally sorted, haha. It wasn't even directly related to the wash, so I appreciated the extra care even more.

Detailing wash finished: the car, fully reset

Once the wash was done and I looked at the car again, it was clean all over, inside and out.

Since this car hadn't been properly cleaned in years, having even underneath the seats come out clean was the most satisfying part. Where before I only wiped down the visible parts, this time the seats were removed and even the hidden areas got a real clean — it genuinely felt like the car had been reset!

On top of that, the cosmetic stains that had bothered me for so long were cleaned up, and with the exterior getting a water-repellent wash, coating, and wheel/tire care, the whole car felt a lot fresher.

Is the detailing wash at Chikachika worth it?

I got a detailing wash this time at Chikachika Hand Car Wash in Munam-dong, Cheongju, and compared to a basic wash, the biggest difference was that it doesn't just end at wiping the car down — they remove the seats to clean spots normally out of reach, and take care of the trim, leather seats, wheels, tires, and paintwork in detail.

Especially if, like me, your car has gotten really dirty from years of skipping the interior wash, I'd say it's worth trying a detailing wash at least once. With the exterior getting water-repellent wash, coating, and wheel/tire care, and the interior getting a full seat-removal clean, it genuinely felt like giving my car a proper reset after a long time.

Above all, the cosmetic stains that no other shop could remove got repeatedly worked on and cleaned by the owner, and he even replaced the wiper blades I'd left sitting in my trunk for months — so what stuck with me wasn't just the wash results, but the owner's thoroughness and kindness too.

If you're in Cheongju and looking for a hand car wash or detailing wash that takes real care of the interior, it might be worth giving Chikachika Hand Car Wash Cheongju a try and getting your car properly looked after.

• Naver Reservation available
• Waiting room available
• CCTV in waiting room to watch the wash process
• AC, chairs, massage chair provided
• Coffee machine and vending machine available
• Indoor restroom available
• Pet-friendly
• Detailing wash finishes in under 2 hours (varies by vehicle condition)