Hinsdale Car Wash Faces Bankruptcy, Discloses Lavish Spending
HINSDALE, IL – Fuller’s Car Wash and Service Center, the site of a tragic pedestrian death in 2023, has filed for bankruptcy, revealing details about its finances that raise questions about the company’s priorities. The business, which operates in Hinsdale, Illinois, filed for bankruptcy protection in January, according to court records.
The financial disclosures paint a picture of a company that, despite its financial struggles, maintained a fleet of luxury vehicles and distributed significant bonuses to its co-owners shortly before seeking bankruptcy protection.
According to court documents, Fuller’s Car Wash and Service Center owned 18 vehicles, including several luxury models. Weeks before the bankruptcy filing, co-owners Doug Fuller and Susan Groenwold each received a $51,402 bonus, seemingly as holiday compensation.
The bankruptcy documents reveal that Fuller’s owes a total of $452,000 for 14 of the vehicles. The cars listed as part of the company’s assets include a Mercedes and a Cadillac Escalade. The filing details the company’s debt on the vehicles:
- 2020 Cadillac Escalade: $65,973
- 2024 Audi Q5: $64,800
- 2023 Chevrolet Silverado: $52,964
- 2022 Chevrolet Silverado: $48,905
- 2024 Audi Q5: $46,520
- 2022 Ford F150 pickup: $44,810
- 2022 Chevrolet Colorado pickup: $26,556
- 2022 Chevrolet Colorado pickup: $26,325
- 2021 Dodge Ram pickup: $19,970
- 2020 Chevrolet Colorado pickup: $12,610
- 2020 Chevrolet Colorado pickup: $12,592
- 2020 Chevrolet Colorado pickup: $12,112
- 2021 Lexus RX 350: $9,913
- 2020 Audi Q5: $7,949
Before the bankruptcy filing, the five co-owners of the Hinsdale business received nearly $1.2 million in compensation and dividends in the 13 months leading up to January. Doug Fuller and Susan Groenwold increased their regular pay to $8,950 in the two twice-a-month cycles just prior to the filing, up from $5,293.
This recent disclosure comes after a tragic event in July 2023, when a 14-year-old boy, Sean Patrick Richards, was struck and killed by an employee driving a vehicle from Fuller’s. His father, Brian Richards, stated that the bankruptcy filing delayed the legal proceedings in the lawsuit filed against Fuller’s.
