Even in a country at war, people still go to work, visit the cinema and wash their cars. Last week we learned about a brand-new Adriateh carwash in Poltava, in the northeast of Ukraine. So we reached out to the man who installed it. The very resilient Dmitry Filonenko.

He runs Autopena.pro, a company that specializes in self car washing and that teamed up with Croatian-based Adriateh. “We are the Adriateh partner and distributor of their products on the Ukrainian market”, says a proud Dmitry Filonenko.

Bomb shelters

The entrepeneur has just finished building a new car wash in the city of Poltava, for which he used the striking Tertis-model. But since Poltava lies in a territory threatened by the Russian army, building the car wash certainly has had its challenges. “Its always a challenge to build something good in Ukraine, even in normal times”, Dmitry Filonenko laughs. “During the construction of this project we had certain problems with logistics due to (Polish) farmers blocking the borders with the European Union.”

But that was not the only problem. Even if the requested materials arrived, construction sometimes had to be interrupted because of air raids. Imagine laying down your tools and running to the bomb shelter several times a day, only to return later to continue your job. Dmitry Filonenko: “Of course it’s not safe. But thanks to our army and air defense, we were able to do everything right. We continue to live and work successfully despite all the events in our country.”

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The now finished Poltava car wash offers  6 Tertis self-service wash boxes with foam and powder technology and electronic payment. Water comes from a a diesel powered boiler, payment is possible at each washing station via PAYPASS using Nayax or the Ready2wash mobile application. Furthermore it offers 3 large multifunctional vacuum cleaners, rubber blackening, dry cleaning, liquid screen cleaners and even blow drying.

According to Dmitry Filonenko, he refuses to stop his business just because there’s a war going on. For this client alone, Autopena has installed three different Adriateh objects. “Soon there will be another Tertis for 6 cars”, he promises. “So our work is in full swing. And not one russian orc or ghoul sitting in the Kremlin will prevent Ukraine from developing”, he promises, after which he ends with “slava Ukraini”.

Also read: 

• How Poland became a self-service heaven
• These are the seven most common mistakes made in wash bays
• Self-Service on the rise in the UK