Am I odd or have I seen the light?

[l5foye]

Fot those of you who spend hours waxing and polishing their cars , now is the time to look away. You see, I used to be one of those who did exactly that. I spent a fortune on the latest products believing all the sales blurb. In more recent years, I have merely washed the car using a decent shampoo and conditioner. When the time came to sell, I went to the garage, discussed a straight sale and got a decent discount off the list price. I then introduced the trade-in, the sales manager merely looked at the car from his office vantage point, pulled out Glass's Guide and gave me top book price on the trade in. After haggling for a tank full of fuel, matts and mudflaps, a deal was done. I went away thinking of the fortune I had saved by not waxing, polishing etc. even mind the time saved. That started me thinking about matts. I came to the conclusion that only person who benefits from fitting matts is the next owner. So I sold mine and enjoy the carpets fitted by the manufacturer. So back to my original question, am I odd or have I seen the light?

 

[AMGeed]

So back to my original question, am I odd or have I seen the light?

You are odd

I enjoy giving the car a wash and polish. There is a certain amount of satisfaction looking at it afterwards knowing you have done a good job and it possibly attracts a few admiring glances in the car park. As for floor mats, if you are happy to wipe mud and cr*p over you nice carpets because you have sold the mats, good on you.
As a private buyer, I'd most likely look at the average paintwork and dirty carpets and move on to one that had been more cared for.
But if you are content with your methods and it works for you, who is to say its wrong?

 

[Doodle]

A dealer is not going to give a toss about any detailing regime at trade in time, just that the car is free of damage and not totally filthy.

However I think you're short-changing yourself on the floor mats, on most cars the mats are usually made of nicer material than the carpet!

 

[Scooby_Doo]

Has your wife/partner sold her hoover and duster yet ? Do you still own a lawnmower , go the whole hog , put your feet up.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Fot those of you who spend hours waxing and polishing their cars , now is the time to look away. You see, I used to be one of those who did exactly that. I spent a fortune on the latest products believing all the sales blurb. In more recent years, I have merely washed the car using a decent shampoo and conditioner. When the time came to sell, I went to the garage, discussed a straight sale and got a decent discount off the list price. I then introduced the trade-in, the sales manager merely looked at the car from his office vantage point, pulled out Glass's Guide and gave me top book price on the trade in. After haggling for a tank full of fuel, matts and mudflaps, a deal was done. I went away thinking of the fortune I had saved by not waxing, polishing etc. even mind the time saved. That started me thinking about matts. I came to the conclusion that only person who benefits from fitting matts is the next owner. So I sold mine and enjoy the carpets fitted by the manufacturer. So back to my original question, am I odd or have I seen the light?

I don’t think you’re odd at all, just different priorities; given the chance I do enjoy giving my cars a good bit of TLC but, with a young family, I’ve got a million and one jobs to do before I get a chance to even think about it!

 

[neilrr]

Congrats, you've seen the light. Detailing is a waste of time & money favoured by the marginally mentally unwell & sufferers of OCDs.

 

[350cls]

There is something special driving a nicely cleaned and smelling car than a visually dirty and not so nice smelling car. I need to give the exhaust tips on mine a good going over today, (didn't realize the time). For them to get filthy within hours of cleaning lol. Money and and elbow grease down the drain, suppose so, but looks bliming good while it lasts.

 

[DoberMan]

I have been known to put mats over mats, but you are right it's the next owner that gets the benefit.

Anyone want to buy beige mats for a 2014 E220 Convertible? Hardly used.

 

[baxlin]

Congrats, you've seen the light. Detailing is a waste of time & money favoured by the marginally mentally unwell & sufferers of OCDs.

Of which I have to admit I am one....

I know, the car will only get dirty again.

But, then I also shave, knowing I’ll only have to do it again tomorrow, and I mow the lawn. That’s a waste of time too, as it has a habit of growing back very soon. I hate doing both of these a lot more than keeping the car looking good, yet still do them.

I’m not as bad as my dear old Dad though, he always bought clear plastic seat covers FOR HIS COMPANY CAR (!) when he took delivery of a new one, taking them off as it went back. This was in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Often the cars had leather upholstery, and we had to sit on these awful plastic jobbies, which always seemed sticky in warm weather.

 

[Deleted member 150136]

Detailing is totally different to keeping your clean and looking better than most.
I clean and quick detail, tyre wall dressing regular, not detail.
People think my car is a lot newer than it is(private plate) but I dont waste days or hours on it.

 

[baxlin]

Detailing is totally different to keeping your clean and looking better than most.
I clean and quick detail, tyre wall dressing regular, not detail.
People think my car is a lot newer than it is(private plate) but I dont waste days or hours on it.

Yes, I suppose saying I ‘detail’ is stretching a point, but I do frequent Detailing World.

I make sure all the door/bonnet/boot shuts are cleaned, tyres dressed, exhaust tips shiny, but for instance I don’t remove the wheels to clean the inside faces.

 

[D-18]

All I do with my car is wash it regularly with a water fed brush. I know this puts tiny little scratch lines in the clearcoat, but I don't care. A lot of people really enjoy detailing their car and that's absolutely fine - we all like different things. I do give the car a quick wax every few years though.

 

[Eddy77]

I enjoy the process of cleaning and polishing. My wife thinks I’m mad. But for me - a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon - outside exchanging a few pleasantries with neighbours while cleaning the car, is one of life’s small pleasures. I’m not obsessive about it but I do clean, polish and wax our cars quite often. But not to detailing levels of perfection. To each their own I say! That said, With my CLK I have become a little obsessed. I’m trying to maintain it pretty much as new and I would say it is 90% as good as the day it left the factory. I find it hard to take pride in a tatty car so any minor damage is always repaired. Things like trolley dings, bumper scrapes. When I pick one up, I get it fixed pretty quick. Even on my 12 year old CLK. My local PDR man knows me well!

 

[alabbasi]

Dealer does not make money from buying your car, he makes money on selling you one. The price you got is based on the auction value of your car and more importantly, the other incentives they get for selling past a certain volume and other stuff.

 

[PenelopePitstop]

I don't bother with cars that are leased and don't belong to me. I had one that I hardly washed and kept it dirty (dusty) on purpose, to see if anyone scratched it or just touched it. It spent a lot of time at airports and it was good way to see if anyone came too close to it. It went to auction at the end of lease, and was stolen year later. So I'm glad I didn't bother with caring for it too much.

Currently have two cars on lease and it's possible I may purchase them at the end, so I take better care of them. But I don't do full detailing or anything like it.

 

[219]

You are odd

I enjoy giving the car a wash and polish. There is a certain amount of satisfaction looking at it afterwards knowing you have done a good job and it possibly attracts a few admiring glances in the car park. As for floor mats, if you are happy to wipe mud and cr*p over you nice carpets because you have sold the mats, good on you.
As a private buyer, I'd most likely look at the average paintwork and dirty carpets and move on to one that had been more cared for.
But if you are content with your methods and it works for you, who is to say its wrong?

My car goes through the automatic car wash once or twice a month , and it looks as clean as any other when it comes out .

I have about 3 sets of MB rubber mats which I’ve had for years and don’t get sold or given away with any car ; these are for winter ; in summer I have the MB fitter over carpets , again about 3 sets which I’ve had for about 40 years and go from one car to another .

if I acquire a car with faded paintwork , I’ll get my polishing machine out , and then apply a colour polish afterwards. But it is not something I do regularly.

 

[Deleted member 126251]

Fot those of you who spend hours waxing and polishing their cars , now is the time to look away. You see, I used to be one of those who did exactly that. I spent a fortune on the latest products believing all the sales blurb. In more recent years, I have merely washed the car using a decent shampoo and conditioner. When the time came to sell, I went to the garage, discussed a straight sale and got a decent discount off the list price. I then introduced the trade-in, the sales manager merely looked at the car from his office vantage point, pulled out Glass's Guide and gave me top book price on the trade in. After haggling for a tank full of fuel, matts and mudflaps, a deal was done. I went away thinking of the fortune I had saved by not waxing, polishing etc. even mind the time saved. That started me thinking about matts. I came to the conclusion that only person who benefits from fitting matts is the next owner. So I sold mine and enjoy the carpets fitted by the manufacturer. So back to my original question, am I odd or have I seen the light?

Did your car care products have gold flake in them? Shampoo & polishes/waxes are pretty cheap. I probably only wash my car 12 to 15 times a year so a bottle of shampoo will easily last a year and ditto the wax etc. Hardly a fortune in savings by not cleaning it. Mats are usually included in the purchase of the car.

I don't like driving in a dirty car.

So to answer your question. You sir are odd.

 

[John]

A shift in mindset I would say.

I've never bothered with any detailing malarkey as I've never believed in it and I don't really believe it makes any odds in most situations when it comes to buying and selling.

I've had some cars I wanted to keep looking nice but I've never done more than had the car washed and then waxed it in the warmer weather perhaps two or three times a year.

I've no doubt all the cars I've owned were covered in little scuff marks and certainly some had fine / small dents but I couldn't care less.

It only matters if a) you look up close and b) you care what you see. I don't do either - as long as they looked good in photos that's enough for me.

If I owned concours cars or collectable cars or cars for investment, maybe things would be different.

But I don't because I believe cars are there to be used and stuff happens.

I'd rather enjoy the car and not worry about every detail and mark or spend big money fixing something that isn't a problem to me.

It's stress and a cost I don't need so I don't care.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Looking at it as any sort of ROI is going to end in tears, 90% of car enthusiasts do it simply because they enjoy it.

The other 10% don’t like their mrs...

 

[Teego]

The light at the end of the tunnel is often a train coming towards you.