Luton Town
Active Member
3 year pcp would you detail it or just wash it yourself?
To detail or not to detail
- Thread starter Luton Town
- Start date
wash myself.
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If you get it detailed you'll definitely have to wash it yourself!!
C280 Sport
Member
Wash it and detail it yourself.
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- Apr 26, 2013
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- North West of London
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- Not driving currently - medical
+1 for this.
When my MB was collected at the end of its lease it was described by the BCA inspector as 'showroom'. Which I have to say, it was!
Apart from which, just because it's leased, why drive a car that doesn't look good?
HappysmileyMOD
Member
Like most other replies wash and detail myself
Alex225
MB Enthusiast
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- CLS63 AMG
I detail my 15 year old E Class and I'm pretty sure that's no helping it retain any value haha. It does make it look it's best though, which is the main reason I'd detail a car.
On a PCP deal though, I certainly wouldn't be paying for someone to detail the car. Assuming I knew it was going to be handed back at the end of the term anyway. If it was a car I loved and planned to buy at the end, then I would probably detail it myself.
Yugguy
MB Enthusiast
We're on PCP for the wife's Fiesta. When it comes time to take it to the dealer for valuation and possible trade-in I will give it a damn good clean myself. They gave us this comprehensive cleaning kit with the car, obviously hoping we'd use it to keep the car looking good, so it would be rude not too.
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When you say detail it, I assume you mean professionally detailed?
It really depends upon what your personal definition of detailing is (it can mean so many things), why you would do it yourself, why you would get someone else to it, what you intend to do at the end of the PCP, how fussy you are about your cars, whether you consider professional detailing to be part of the cost of running a car (or an unnecessary extravagance), etc.
Whether it’s on PCP or not, my hunch is that you’ll wash or detail it the same as you would if you had paid cash, HP, PCP or leased it, because it will be your car for that period.
When I leased a car I didn’t want to get attached, as I knew it would go back. I wanted to view it as a tool, something to get a job done, something I wouldn’t care too much about. For this reason I got a white car so I could have it washed at a cheap car wash with minimal risk of visible damage. I knew that keeping it super clear wouldn’t change the financial outcome at the end, but damaging it would cost me.
I like having a nice clean car, and I like it done right - it’s important to me. However I would rather spend my spare time doing something more even important to me. So if I’m going to get someone else to do it then I want them to do as good as job as me, or ideally better, and I know that’s not cheap. So I have a professional detailer who looks after my other cars, and I really thought the leased car would be odd one out.
Despite what I had thought, it never did go to a cheap car wash, my detailer looked after it. It didn’t have any kind of paint correction (it was white after all, which limits the benefit of correction), and it never had an expensive ceramic coating. But it did get a maintenance session every two weeks and a biggie every quarter. It made no difference to the value when it was stolen, but I felt happy driving it.
It really depends upon what your personal definition of detailing is (it can mean so many things), why you would do it yourself, why you would get someone else to it, what you intend to do at the end of the PCP, how fussy you are about your cars, whether you consider professional detailing to be part of the cost of running a car (or an unnecessary extravagance), etc.
Whether it’s on PCP or not, my hunch is that you’ll wash or detail it the same as you would if you had paid cash, HP, PCP or leased it, because it will be your car for that period.
When I leased a car I didn’t want to get attached, as I knew it would go back. I wanted to view it as a tool, something to get a job done, something I wouldn’t care too much about. For this reason I got a white car so I could have it washed at a cheap car wash with minimal risk of visible damage. I knew that keeping it super clear wouldn’t change the financial outcome at the end, but damaging it would cost me.
I like having a nice clean car, and I like it done right - it’s important to me. However I would rather spend my spare time doing something more even important to me. So if I’m going to get someone else to do it then I want them to do as good as job as me, or ideally better, and I know that’s not cheap. So I have a professional detailer who looks after my other cars, and I really thought the leased car would be odd one out.
Despite what I had thought, it never did go to a cheap car wash, my detailer looked after it. It didn’t have any kind of paint correction (it was white after all, which limits the benefit of correction), and it never had an expensive ceramic coating. But it did get a maintenance session every two weeks and a biggie every quarter. It made no difference to the value when it was stolen, but I felt happy driving it.
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I wash and detail because I enjoy it, so I would do it anyway, but probably wouldn’t be as anal if it were pcp
But I’m not doing it to retain value... I’d just feel like I was putting loads of effort into ‘someone else’s car’
But I’m not doing it to retain value... I’d just feel like I was putting loads of effort into ‘someone else’s car’
ash59fifty-uk
MB Enthusiast
Doing it yourself is inexpensive, all you need is to keep it clean with a process that doesn’t involve a sponge or anything resulting in swirls
Really not the hardest thing to do wether you own it or not
Or pay the penalty at the end and no doubt the proud new owner down the line will have to deal with it
Really not the hardest thing to do wether you own it or not
Or pay the penalty at the end and no doubt the proud new owner down the line will have to deal with it
Doodle
MB Enthusiast
I never cleaned my PCP from Renault, never really needed to as it was broken and in the garage so often.
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Do you not detail a car so it looks good when you look at it?
mercmancdi
MB Enthusiast
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As above you are the one to look at it every day.
D
Deleted member 126251
Guest
Who wants to drive a dirty or mucky car......When I was younger working in the engineering business I had many company cars for getting around to our sites -I always treated company cars as my own ....
