For some reason, in my area car washes are everywhere. I recently signed up for a membership at one, where I can get my car washed once a day for a monthly fee.
I pretty much go every day. Washing my car has become a new hobby.
When you arrive, there are attendants that will scrub your front and back (especially good for getting the bugs). Then you ride through a conveyor belt while soaps and sponges and water wash and rinse your vehicle. It finishes with blow dryers, then you can drive your car to a bay with vacuums and towels. A few minutes of wiping down and my car gleams!
I live on a dirt road, so it’s a bit pointless to wash my car. I did get it washed once a few months ago, because I had a free pass to a nearby place, and it was a very special feeling to have a nice shiny ride for a few hours.
It also gets washed when it gets serviced, so…a few times a year?
I have a similar “all you can eat” subscription, but to a full service car wash. Drive up, get out, they do everything inside & out, get back in, and drive off.
I get there about twice a week, sometimes more often. Between the frequent brief light rain, and the large volume of landscaped medians around here with sprinklers running seemingly constantly, the car only lasts a couple of days’ driving before there’s visible water spots someplace. I like a car that looks showroom new all the time.
Years ago when I lived in snow country a local convenience market chain got drive through automatic car washes. For a nominal monthly fee you could become a “member”, then washes were IIRC $2 each. Drive up, punch in your phone number, ride through the tunnel while the exterior gets washed & blow dried, then drive off. There was one near the house along the route to work and I stopped in nearly every day in winter. I timed it: 4 minutes flat from entering their driveway to leaving it again. Soo nice to not have a salt- and gunk- encrusted car like everyone else had.
I wash my car every few years. It’s a ten year old car now, and it’s been through a car wash maybe 3 or 4 times total. I chose a tan color so you can’t really see the dust on it anyway
On the other hand, we got a subscription for my partner’s car. Not really because we care how it looks, but because it has no rear windshield wiper After a few days, all the volcanic dust in the air makes it too dirty to see out of and we have to go and wash it. That only marginally improves the situation. Really need some sort of power glass cleaner tool…
I voted once a week. I have a membership to one of our local car washes and will usually go through on my way to the grocery store when I do my weekly shopping.
However, in the spring when the oak trees are in full-on pollen-spewing mode, I will go about every other day just to get the tree schmutz off my car.
I have the cheap unlimited drive-thru wash for $25. I go every week or two. I probably wouldn’t go at all without the subscription because it actually does rain here in California during every third blue moon or so.
My “schedule,” such as it is, is once a month, right around the first so it’s easy to remember, weather permitting. Usually, I don’t feel like it needs it more often. After a month, I’m looking at it and thinking, “Okay, it’s not filthy, but it’s ready to be spiffied up a bit.” But sometimes it gets dirtied up outside the parameters I think of as acceptable, and I’ll give it an extra wash.
And I, too, have a membership. Twenty-five dollars every three months for unlimited. So it’s $8.33 per run at the minimum usage of once a month. That’s not bad, and the membership is sort of an incentive to use it. I’m paying for it anyway, so use it. All I have to do is show up.
Like others, I fall into the big gap between “less than once a week” and “never”. Although I guess every year or so qualifies as less than once a week.
Probably about once every one or two months. Once a day sounds insane to me. Even if it were free, I can’t imagine spending that much time on such a pointless task.
I indulged myself with a membership, so a couple times a week. At the end of the tunnel, next to the green go light, is a video screen that plays a little commercial for the car wash. You’d think they’d have a camera so customers could admire their cars as they come out.
Yeah that is a big gap. Similar frequency to you I choose “never” as closer to the intent even if not literally.
Seriously. I am happy to waste my time on things I even marginally enjoy, I am posting here after all! But that is a chore that costs me even if you paid me.
I suspect that frequent car washes are actually bad for the finish. We had some discussion here once about how frequently washing salt off in winter just gets the salt to where it causes more harm.
Rarely. It’s garaged and I rarely drive it more than a few blocks a week. But there are a lot of cars in the garage, so the carbon emissions take a toll, so I probably wash it once a month to get the gunk off. I also use Griot’s “Best of Show” or “Speed Shine” detailer from time to time, which is a tough finish and holds up for quite awhile.
I have the same kind of service as the OP, and I go several times a week. No matter where I’ve lived, I’ve always had to park outside. A few years ago, when I was not diligent about car washing, the combination of bird poop and tree sap combined with the Texas summertime sun to form a new molecular substance that I could not wash off when I tried. They should use this stuff to coat spaceships. I had to get the body detailed, with buffing, and other expensive remedial measures. When I moved to The Home, where I also have to park outside (I could pay $60/month for covered parking, but no thanks), I joined the monthly service. Now the outside of my car is always pristine.
I try to park under trees to provide shade from our rather relentless sun. Which often leads to poop. Poop is acidic and can etch even new high quality factory paint if left on for days, much less weeks. When I spot poop on the car, it’s time to detour to the carwash today if practical, otherwise tomorrow for sure.
For me, the ride through the wash isn’t remotely a chore; it’s fun going through the conveyer belt that covers your car in suds before rinsing it off.
I also have a small 2 door car, so drying it off takes just a few minutes. And it’s very satisfying when it has that really deep shine.
Really? As others have now mentioned, things like bird poop can ruin a car’s finish. But the washes include things like sealant that is supposed to enhance the finish. I think my paint job is better reinforced by frequent washings.
Seems odd to have a commercial for a service you just bought. Ah, marketing.
I bought a virtually new car last year and have trees overhanging the driveway with birds so I have a monthly service and use it several times a week. It’s the cheapest service so most of the time it’s just a run through the tunnel without even a prewash unless the one guiding me in feels like it.
We have starlings and grackles here so about every two weeks a murmuration will pick our trees to roost in overnight and I swear they have a crapping contest when they do.
After a few days, all the volcanic dust in the air makes it too dirty to see out of and we have to go and wash it. That only marginally improves the situation. Really need some sort of power glass cleaner tool…