Poll:How Often Do You Wash Your Car?

[Midpack]

My Dad dragged me out to help him hand wash and dry both family cars every weekend year round whether they needed it or not. I guess I’ve rebelled as an adult. I’d like to think today’s clear coat helps some with washing and waxing?

I know it varies by use, season, local climate and color. And I know the poll options are broad, but breaking it down to exact days (e.g. 14-28, 28-42) seems silly. Just whatever is closest ball park.

 

[pacergal]

approx monthly, more in the summer, less in the winter (DH likes to hand wash, I will occasionally sneak thru the car wash in the winter to get the rain and slush off)

 

[scrabbler1]

Once a year, in the spring, is enough for me. I drive very little, about 3,000 miles per year, so the car is rarely on the road. And when it is home, it is kept in an indoor, heated garage, protected from the elements.

 

[folivier]

We have the $15/month package from a local carwash place. Up to 2/day, so whenever we go to town we run it through the carwash.
The old Jeep Liberty? very seldom does it get cleaned.

 

[Aerides]

Another factor in frequency is (or should be): Color

I had a lovely black SUV for a while, but realized it looks like it's been 3 weeks since washed when it's only 3 days.

Now I have a metallic slate gray, and it can be 3 weeks and look 3 days (unless you look close or run your finger over it).

My desired frequency would be every 2 weeks, but it's probably more like "eh, when it gets bird poop on it".

 

[6miths]

My dear children cured me of my obsession regarding having a beautiful car. First the interior when they were little and now the exterior as they drive the cars. Perhaps I will reacquire it when they all have their own vehicles. So for now I put quarterly depending on how hard the last rain was.

 

[Fedup]

Not frequently, my husband would like to wash it more often. But I would vote more than once in a blue moon, but less than one quarterly. Also we’ve been parking our car outside to make room for space to do home improvement, so it’s not the cleanest.

 

[Dtail]

Sports car a few times a month. Other car about once a month.

 

[SheitlQueen]

Almost never, unless I am using it for a special reason. I live on a gravel road and as soon as I wash it it is dirty again. In the summer, dusty. In the winter, muddy. I gave up trying to keep it clean a long time ago.

 

[MRG]

After a snowstorm.

 

[Lukeee]

My dear children cured me of my obsession regarding having a beautiful car. First the interior when they were little and now the exterior as they drive the cars. Perhaps I will reacquire it when they all have their own vehicles. So for now I put quarterly depending on how hard the last rain was.

Lol. Ditto. I’ve gone from 1x per week to realistically 6-10x a year.

 

[Huston55]

Every two weeks-ish. Black car parked outside; gets dirty/dusty looking quickly.

 

[Texas Proud]

You did not include the choice of "when it needs it"...


I have gone months without washing... but sometimes I can do it twice in a month if it gets really dirt for whatever reason...


I do not hand wash anymore... too much trouble... back in my 40s I loved my Acura TL and clay barred it and put on polish... it looked great... now I just run what I have through the car wash and live with the grit being in the cracks...


I will clean off all bird poop and tree sap ASAP... and I have hosed it down sometimes 3 times a week to get rid of leaves and other gunk...

 

[street]

My Dad dragged me out to help him hand wash and dry both family cars every weekend year round whether they needed it or not. I guess I’ve rebelled as an adult. I’d like to think today’s clear coat helps some with washing and waxing?

I know it varies by use, season, local climate. And I know the poll options are broad, but breaking it down to exact days (e.g. 14-28, 28-42) seems silly. Just whatever is closest ball park.

LOL! WOW sounds like my early life also.

 

[marko]

By hand? Never once in.y 66 years. Car wash once a week

 

[MOSAT]

We had two black cars at one time, seemed like I was continually washing them so they looked nice. I gave up on my everyday commuter, after about ten years and washed it only when DW told me how awful it was getting to look. I vowed no more black cars regardless how sharp they look!

Now we have a silvery gray, doesn't show dirt much so it gets washed about once a month or after a beach trip to get the salt off.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Once or twice a year.

 

[smoghat]

We have two cars. While years ago we used to make a real effort to make our junkers look better and used rubbing compound, polish, wax etc. as we got older, had kids, and got new(er) cars, we started to ignore it. But my car started to look quite bad, with serious scratches in the paint from dumb things like kids using shovels to get snow off it and stuff. So a couple of weeks ago I started thinking, something has to change here. I called up a detailer. He wanted $800. But I'm FIRE'd, why shouldn't I do this? My car is from 2011 and it's embarrassing to me. My wife's car is from 2006 and she keeps saying it looks awful.

I watched a bunch of videos, figured out how to get rid of scratches with 3000 and 5000 grit sandpapers, and went to work. I spent a little bit of money on a random orbital polisher, bought a bunch of supplies and now both cars look fantastic. I watched videos on how to hand wash cars and again, bought some supplies for about the price of one 10 pack of car washes. These will last us way longer and if we do this every other week, we will keep our cars looking good and our paint protected.

 

[Midpack]

We had two black cars at one time, seemed like I was continually washing them so they looked nice. I gave up on my everyday commuter, after about ten years and washed it only when DW told me how awful it was getting to look. I vowed no more black cars regardless how sharp they look!

We bought a new black Audi TT, but we knew what we were getting into and consciously decided we'd do it once - we'll try most things once. It was hand washed and waxed it's entire life to minimize swirl marks, and it looked great when we traded it in - but we'd never do it again, as we expected when we bought it. It's hard to beat the look of a pristine black car, especially at night, but it's more work than most colors.

Glad we checked that one off...

 

[HillCountry]

Any time my car change oil. Even though it’s free car wash at the dealer, which is 10 minutes away.

 

[smoghat]

We bought a new black Audi TT, but we knew what we were getting into and consciously decided we'd do it once - we'll try most things once. It was hand washed and waxed it's entire life to minimize swirl marks, and it looked great when we traded it in - but we'd never do it again, as we expected when we bought it. It's hard to beat the look of a pristine black car, especially at night, but it's more work than most colors.

Glad we checked that one off...

Yup. Same goes for me. From now on, all my cars are silver. (I once heard that white cars are number 2 after red cars for getting speeding tickets). I'll keep them in shape, but it'll be a LOT easier than on my beautiful blue BMW.

 

[Huston55]

Every two weeks-ish. Black car parked outside; gets dirty/dusty looking quickly.

We bought a new black Audi TT, but we knew what we were getting into and consciously decided we'd do it once - we'll try most things once. It was hand washed and waxed it's entire life to minimize swirl marks, and it looked great when we traded it in - but we'd never do it again, as we expected when we bought it. It's hard to beat the look of a pristine black car, especially at night, but it's more work than most colors.

Glad we checked that one off...

BTDT...actually, still doing that.

It’s a blast to drive & I’m not nearly as meticulous about it as you were; plus, the weather here is decent. So, we will keep it a while longer.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

About once a month. One is white, the other is silver and they both don't show dirt too badly. They also are garaged in a nice climate controlled space and I tend to stay home when the weather sucks, so they stay clean. I have gotten several comments from the Infiniti dealership that my almost 10 year old car looks like it's still brand new...and I think that's mostly because it's kept inside.

 

[jjquantz]

About once a month. One is white, the other is silver and they both don't show dirt too badly. They also are garaged in a nice climate controlled space and I tend to stay home when the weather sucks, so they stay clean. I have gotten several comments from the Infiniti dealership that my almost 10 year old car looks like it's still brand new...and I think that's mostly because it's kept inside.

If we kept ours inside it would be covered with clutter and we could never drive it. Oh, you meant in a garage.

Twice each year for us, once in the early spring and once in late autumn.

 

[RockyMtn]

here in Az not very often...maybe 3 times a year.