Do you own a car? Does that car get dirty? If so, you’ll want to stop by one of Rich’s Car Wash’s 35 locations across seven states in the southeast including three locations in Montgomery, Alabama. Not only will you be supporting one of the top 5 family-owned car wash businesses in the country, you’ll be supporting a Christian man and his family who have deep ties to Faulkner University and Alabama Christian College (ACC).
Tim Richardson, co-owner of Rich’s Car Wash was honored as Faulkner’s Alumnus of the Year at this year’s Marketplace Faith Friday Forums. The forums annually allow numerous distinguished and accomplished alumni to return to campus to talk with students about their careers and how they represent Christ in their workplace. Richardson was also honored as the Distinguished Alumnus for the Harris College of Business in 2022.
Richardson was a student on campus in 1975 when the school was named Alabama Christian College and it was there that he met his wife of 47 years, Phyllis. Richardson met Phyllis during a church service their freshman year.
“We met, or rather saw each other the first Sunday night at church. We did not speak. At the last song she was sitting in front of me and I was behind her and somehow my songbook dislodged from my hand and hit her backside,” he said. “The stare she gave me wasn’t too nice, but we started dating and it’s gone well after that. Forty-seven years later and we’re still going strong.”
He has his father to thank for him and his brothers attending ACC. Both of Richardson’s brothers O.B. and Rayford graduated from ACC along with their wives Sandra and Vicki.
His father, Buford Oliver “B.O.” Richardson was the reason Richardson and his siblings were sent to ACC in order to gain a Christ-centered education. Born to sharecroppers in Clay County, Alabama, B.O. Richardson only finished the 8th grade, but he knew the importance of a Christian higher education for his children.
B.O. Richardson started from nothing. He left his family’s farm with $17 and eventually settled in the north Mobile area, married and started the long, hard work of becoming an entrepreneur.
He became a homebuilder and built several apartments. He had money leftover to buy some land and build a self-service car wash. This was around the time Richardson was in his twenties, graduated from ACC and thought he knew more than his father, he said.
“I tried to talk him out of it. I figured the cost to make any money, there’d have to be someone putting in coins all hours of the day,” Richardson explained during a Q&A session with Faulkner President Mitch Henry. “At that time, I thought I knew more than him. When it was finally built, I asked him who was going to run it. He said, ‘Well, I guess you are.’ I’ve been in the car washing business ever since and that was 47 years ago.”
Richardson and his brother Rayford have been co-owners of Rich’s Car Wash from the beginning and have witnessed their business grow exponentially over the years thanks to God’s provisions.
“I really believe that God has a plan for each one of us. I also believe that it is very difficult to find out what that plan is in the moment. When you get older, you get to look back and see those times when yes, God was in my life. God was in my business,” Richardson said. “I believe God has equipped each and every one of us to be successful, but we have to be careful that we don’t take God’s plan for us and turn it around and say that this is my plan and I want God to get on board with it. I knew God was going to make me successful whether my business was successful or not. I think when you look at success in that way as a Christian, you’re never going to fail. God has his hand on us all the time and directing us in ways that we don’t always understand.”
In the same way Richardson’s past ventures in warehouses, mobile homes and restaurants never worked out, God closed those doors and kept the door open in the way of car washes.
Today, Richardson’s children and his brother Rayford’s children also have a hand in the family business. Richardson and his wife Phyllis live in Mobile and they have four children and six grandchildren. Just like his father, who was passionate about the university and its mission and served on the board of ACC and Faulkner for more than 50 years, Richardson is currently serving on Faulkner University’s Board of Trustees.
