DAD BOUGHT A CAR WASH TO GIVE HIS AUTISTIC SON A JOB
John D’Eri bought a struggling car wash in Parkland, Florida, so his son Andrew, who has autism, would have a steady job after struggling to find work once he finished school. That car wash became Rising Tide Car Wash, a business that, as My Modern Met reported on May 22, 2024, employed more than 80 people on the autism spectrum.
D’Eri’s family had been worried about what would happen to Andrew as he aged out of the school system, according to a report from PBS. Andrew was 21 when his father decided the answer was to buy a car wash and hire him, along with other people on the spectrum, according to the company’s mission page.
John’s other son, Tom, helped launch the business. They had been alarmed by estimates that unemployment among autistic adults runs as high as 90%, so they went looking for the causes and tried to fix them as business owners.
What they found, the company says, was a lot of capable people who rarely got a chance to excel. In the company’s words, they had been “labeled with a disability that society pities instead of a diversity that can be harnessed as a competitive advantage for business.”
A car wash built around its crew
The business started small. Bentley University reported that the co-founders first hired 35 people with autism, and that the workforce later quadrupled. Bentley also said the car wash turned a profit in October 2013, within seven months of opening. According to Charles Schwab, John and Tom got loan capital and technical assistance from the Disability Opportunity Fund to get the social enterprise going.
By the time of the May 2024 article, Rising Tide had two locations, and people with autism made up 90% of the workforce. PBS had earlier reported that one location was run entirely by neurodivergent employees.
The hiring process was built differently too. Rising Tide held job auditions and structured interviews meant to reduce bias, and it promised to offer openings to current team members before hiring from outside.
Training covered every part of being a car wash professional. A 2015 piece in Professional Carwashing & Detailing said employees were trained on a 46-step washing process.
The D’Eris say none of this happened in spite of their unusual workforce. “The truth is that Rising Tide’s success is because of our unique team,” the company wrote.
They say their employees excel at structured tasks, following processes and paying close attention to detail. The company also describes its workers as what organizational designers call “extreme users,” people with the same needs as anyone else, just easier to see. Designing systems around those needs, the company says, is how it reached its high standards for service and quality.
The numbers backed that up. Rising Tide washed more than 150,000 cars a year and reported employee retention five times that of its competitors.
The family also helped launch Rising Tide U, a separate entity dedicated to promoting people with autism in the workforce.
Where it stands now
Later reports gave different figures. In September 2024, NACS Magazine reported that Rising Tide had expanded to three locations within a five-mile radius of one another, with just under 100 employees with autism.
As of October 26, 2026, Rising Tide’s mission page said the company was creating jobs for more than 90 professionals with autism. The page describes customers’ purchases as helping build careers for those employees.
