The expenses for your car are likely the second-largest you deal with every month. This brings up the question of how often you should wash your car.
Your monthly rent or mortgage is usually the largest expense in any household; after that, it’s the items that add up for your transportation. Between the car payment, insurance, maintenance, and fuel, your car is a huge part of what you pay for every month. You want to care for it and treat it right, which includes washing it. Let’s explore this and other car care information.
Car Maintenance Includes Caring for the Outside
When you think of vehicle maintenance, you often think of changing your oil, checking the tire pressure, and replacing your brakes. These items are certainly important, but the same is true when it comes to keeping your car clean. The outside should be cleaned of road debris and dirt to allow the paint to remain shiny and healthy. The interior should be cleaned just as often to get rid of garbage, dirt, and dust. You want to make sure your car is cleaned regularly, but sometimes it’s required more often than at other times.
The Short Answer to the Question
In general, you should wash your car a least once every two weeks. This is the frequency required when you’re not driving on dirt roads or salt-covered streets. If you face only normal driving conditions in dry weather, you should take your car through a wash or wash it at home every couple of weeks. When you do drive out on the trails, you should clean the vehicle as soon as you get back from your adventures.
If it’s winter and you’re faced with salt on the roads, you’ll need to get your vehicle washed once a week. When salt is involved, make sure you pay a little extra for the underbody wash. If you don’t drive your vehicle every day, you won’t need to wash it as often. This is also the case when you keep your car in the garage every night.
Why Should Your Car be Washed Regularly?
We’re not simply telling you that you should wash your car every two weeks because we think you should keep a clean car. There are some sound reasons to make sure your vehicle is clean. You don’t want to live in a dirty house and won’t enjoy a dirty car either.
Regular Car Washes Protect the Paint Job
Can you imagine living your life without taking basic care of your skin? You need to wash your body regularly to keep your skin healthy. The same goes for the paint job of your car. Your vehicle comes in contact with a lot more debris during your drive than your body does. Whether you’re trying to get rid of dirt, bugs, bird droppings, salt, or grime, you want them gone, so they don’t cause problems during your drive. Take your car through a car wash regularly, and this will help get rid of the items that can damage your vehicle.
Dirty Cars Get Worse Fuel Mileage
You might not actually notice it during one tank of gas, but regular car washes help improve the overall fuel mileage of your car. The layer of dirt increases drag and cause you to use more fuel during your drive. When the surface of your car is washed and cleaned regularly, air moves freely across the surface, improving fuel mileage during your drive.
A Clean Car Gives You a Sense of Personal Pride
Just like your home, when your car is clean, you’ll feel a sense of pride and well-being in your vehicle. Your kids won’t write “wash me” in the dirt on the back window to remind you that it’s time to get your car cleaned up. Take pride in your vehicle and get it clean and ready to drive the next day. This vehicle is one of your most important items and takes you where you need to go. That means more people see your car than see your home. Clean it up and let it look great.
A Clean Car Protects the Resale Value
When you wonder whether or not it’s time to wash your car, that time has probably already passed. When you regularly wash and clean your vehicle, you’re protecting the resale value so that you can sell it for more when it’s time to let the next owner enjoy everything this vehicle has to offer. The more you care about and love your vehicle while you own it, the more you’ll get from it when it’s time to move on to the next car.
It Doesn’t Take Long to Run a Car Through the Wash
One reason many people avoid washing their own car is they don’t want to spend hours on the weekend doing this. You don’t have to. Take the car through a brushless automatic wash that has vacuums and get your car looking great and cleaned out quickly. You don’t always have to shine the tires or apply protectant to the dashboard, but you should sometimes. There’s probably a car wash on your way home from work. This could be something you do at the end of the week so that your car looks great and is ready for a weekend of showing off.
Regular Car Washes are Necessary to Care for Your Vehicle
If you don’t wash your car on a regular basis, your vehicle could become damaged and ugly very quickly. If you’re sitting in your vehicle wondering where “that smell” is coming from, it’s past time to clean your car and get things looking and feeling right once again. Take your car through a wash every couple of weeks, use the vacuum and clean up the messes, and add the protectants to the rubber, leather, and vinyl every few washes. If you create a regular routine of washing your car, you’ll feel much prouder to drive the vehicle and enjoy taking it out on the road.
Where’s the nearest car wash? Do you want to show greater care and wash your car by hand? Both are fine; just make sure your car gets washed at least once every two weeks.
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