The Car Guy: To Wash or Not to Wash

To wash, or not to wash--that is the question.

Well actually, I think the question should be: should I wash my car myself or should I pay someone else to do it for me?

In order to answer that question, you need to ask yourself a couple of other questions first. Do you care about your car getting damaged? And do you care about the environment?

Before we get to answering those questions, however, let’s first talk about why it’s important to wash your car.

Washing your car is an important part of your vehicle's maintenance. You may only care that your car looks nice and shiny, but in actuality, washing is important for the overall health of your car as well. While washing your car won’t help it run any better, it will indirectly prolong the life of your paint, the metal under your paint and help you find any problems with the outside of your car.

Think about it like this: if your car is covered in dirt year round (like mine usually is) you won’t know if there are any pinholes in your paint that will allow rainwater and salt to slide underneath. If you have ever seen paint that has those ghastly looking bubbles underneath, that is the likely cause, and it can lead to corrosion and rust.

If your car gets washed on a semi-regular basis you will be more likely to find these problems and address them before they cause any issues. And, like I said above, discerning which method of washing your car is best for you depends on your own thoughts and values.

Washing your car yourself can be great. It can be fun if you have someone else to wash with you and can save you money. The drawbacks are that it can be time consuming and doing it yourself uses a lot of water. There are some ways to cut back on the water usage, though. For example, some spray nozzles are designed to reduce the amount of water that comes out.

For the eco-minded car owner, getting a car wash done at a commercial place might seem like a better option because a lot of these facilities recycle the water used. There is a drawback here as well, however. There can be more damage to your car after you leave than before you went in.

These instances are few and far between, however it can happen. If your car is damaged, you will be held liable, because there is usually a certain amount of fine print affixed to the facility stating that the company will not be held responsible if damage occurs.

Personally speaking, when I have time to wash my car, I do it myself. I have nothing against the car wash places, I’d just rather do it myself, much in the same way that I despise getting gas in New Jersey (even though it is cheaper) because they have pump it for you.

The bottom line is that whether you choose the convenience of the car wash or doing it yourself, just do it.