Bit of an odd question, but I'm arranging for my car to be cleaned on a regular basis. This is mainly because I'm idle, and in my defence don't have the patience, discipline, or attention to detail to do a good job myself... 

 

I live in a rural area with grotty, muck-covered roads. With previous utilitarian 4X4s I haven't bothered, but my Superb is lovely and I'm enjoying driving it and would like it to stay relatively clean. I don't cover a big mileage each week though - no more than a couple of hundred miles generally.

 

I'm really not sure what sort of frequency I should go for - weekly seems like overkill and would probably be more costly than I could justify, whereas fortnightly seems quite a long period. 

 

For those valeters on here, how often on average do you go back to the same car? Anyone else have their done by a third party regularly? How often?

 

All views appreciated....

 

As a guide, this is the service I'm looking at:

 

• Pressure wash vehicle

• Hand wash bodywork

• Clean alloy wheels

• Liquid wax and rinse

• Chamois dry

• Dry door shuts & sills

• Treat tyres

• Treat exterior plastics

• Vacuum interior

• Interior & exterior glass cleaned

• Wipe down dash and console

• Hand polish bodywork

 

 

Edited 19 March, 20179 yr by CheshireBumpkin

This time of year when mud is everywhere and salt etc weekly wash is ok do you really need to hoover it every week though 

 

Drier months fortnightly is ok 

 

Depends how much  you want to spend 

Why not get it professionally done them maintain it yourself with you man coming back once a month say 

 

Initial outlay say £30-40 for buckets wash mitts and a few drying towels and a quick detailer spray between washes 

 

Price on Satisfaction of cleaning your own car is priceless  

 

Personally i would kill anyone who chamois dried my car 

5 minutes ago, malcster said:

Why not get it professionally done them maintain it yourself with you man coming back once a month say 

 

Price on Satisfaction of cleaning your own car is priceless

 

I don't disagree, just know what I'm like. I'd start off enthusiastically, do a rushed, rubbish job, and then never do it again. 

 

5 minutes ago, malcster said:

Personally i would kill anyone who chamois dried my car 

 

Why? Genuine question - I'm just your average car-owner and whilst I'm aware of the big no-no's this isn't one I've come across before.

 

Probably the easiest way to introduce swirl and micro scratches which in time add up 

 

It's up to you 

If it's more convenient to get someone in to do it Go for it 

• Pressure wash vehicle

• Hand wash bodywork

• Clean alloy wheels

• *

• Chamois dry - not ideal

• Dry door shuts & sills

• *

• *

• Vacuum interior

• Interior & exterior glass cleaned

• Wipe down dash and console

• *

 

 

Ask for a reduced rate if you wanted the above amended process carried out on a fortnightly basis. You can then tweak it accordingly after you've experienced the service for a couple of months.

 

cheers

 

Chris

2 hours ago, malcster said:

Probably the easiest way to introduce swirl and micro scratches which in time add up 

 

 

Ah, I see. To be honest, this wouldn't be top of my list of concerns. I know that will seem odd to a committed detailer, but I'm just an average owner looking at 3 years ownership. I'm working on the basis that a pro valeter, even if he uses methods not all would agree with, has got to be better than taking it down to the pop-up hand carwash down the road for the guys to scour the whole thing with a single wash-mit.... 

 

31 minutes ago, Chris_VRS said:

• Pressure wash vehicle

• Hand wash bodywork

• Clean alloy wheels

• *

• Chamois dry - not ideal

• Dry door shuts & sills

• *

• *

• Vacuum interior

• Interior & exterior glass cleaned

• Wipe down dash and console

• *

 

 

Ask for a reduced rate if you wanted the above amended process carried out on a fortnightly basis. You can then tweak it accordingly after you've experienced the service for a couple of months.

 

cheers

 

Chris

 

Good point, that's what I was thinking. I'm right on the edge of this guy's area, so I don't know if it will be worthwhile him coming for a 'lesser' service. Maybe if it is interspersed with the more in-depth one each month the numbers will work out for him. Definitely a question I'll be asking.

20 hours ago, CheshireBumpkin said:

Bit of an odd question, but I'm arranging for my car to be cleaned on a regular basis. This is mainly because I'm idle, and in my defence don't have the patience, discipline, or attention to detail to do a good job myself... 

 

I live in a rural area with grotty, muck-covered roads. With previous utilitarian 4X4s I haven't bothered, but my Superb is lovely and I'm enjoying driving it and would like it to stay relatively clean. I don't cover a big mileage each week though - no more than a couple of hundred miles generally.

 

I'm really not sure what sort of frequency I should go for - weekly seems like overkill and would probably be more costly than I could justify, whereas fortnightly seems quite a long period. 

 

For those valeters on here, how often on average do you go back to the same car? Anyone else have their done by a third party regularly? How often?

 

All views appreciated....

 

As a guide, this is the service I'm looking at:

 

• Pressure wash vehicle

• Hand wash bodywork

• Clean alloy wheels

• Liquid wax and rinse

• Chamois dry

• Dry door shuts & sills

• Treat tyres

• Treat exterior plastics

• Vacuum interior

• Interior & exterior glass cleaned

• Wipe down dash and console

• Hand polish bodywork

 

 

 

Let the valeter do a full valet first off to 'bottom' the car, inside and out.  Get the various materials treated with decent products to provide protection, so seats, carpets and other high traffic areas inside the car, then treat the glass, plastics, bodywork and wheels with equally good products for the same reason.

 

Once everything's protected you may have invested a tad more than you initially wanted to but you could reduce the cleaning frequency to say a fortnight and the valeter will know he has a well protected car to valet each time, so their job should be a little easier.  If you're a regular customer, then a discount is likely, so everyone wins!

 

Make sense?

I wash my cars as when they need it but they never get massively dirty. Washed my Octavia on Thursday with 2 buckets and mitt, hose, followed by AG Rapid Detailer and fast glass and it looked the business in the spring sunshine.

 

I love the beading on the paint work and glass. Satisfaction guaranteed!

3 hours ago, Chubbs said:

 

Let the valeter do a full valet first off to 'bottom' the car, inside and out.  Get the various materials treated with decent products to provide protection, so seats, carpets and other high traffic areas inside the car, then treat the glass, plastics, bodywork and wheels with equally good products for the same reason.

 

Once everything's protected you may have invested a tad more than you initially wanted to but you could reduce the cleaning frequency to say a fortnight and the valeter will know he has a well protected car to valet each time, so their job should be a little easier.  If you're a regular customer, then a discount is likely, so everyone wins!

 

Make sense?

 

Yes - that's good advice thanks. He's coming next week so I'll have a chat with him then....