Photo by Severin Demchuk on Unsplash
A serviced car is a happy car. But what exactly does service mean and how to know which kind of service your car needs? To simplify for all you laypeople out there, we are going to divide car service into two categories – car wash vs. car detailing.
A car wash is something like taking your car to have a bath. Yes, a car needs baths too! Basically, the service center shampoos the car thoroughly and this gets rid of all the nasty debris and contaminants that get stuck on the car paint. On the inside, the servicers vacuum the carpet even the hard-to-reach places. So basically, a car wash is an on-the-surface car cleaning.
Unfortunately, a car wash isn’t thorough enough if you want to get serious with all the cleaning. As the name suggests, car detailing is much more thorough. It enhances the look of the paint, cleans the leather seats, and cleaning the chassis, wheels, head and taillights, and chrome trim.
A car detail is much more expensive than a mere car wash. A car wash may cost you anywhere around $35 and $100 depending on the package and the add-ons. It may take a maximum of an hour if your car is heavily contaminated but nothing more than an hour. Meanwhile, a standard car detail may cost you around $100-200 and the service would include a wash, wax, interior vacuuming, window, and mirror wash, tire cleaning, and trim cleaning. It may take at least 2.5 hours to get a car detail mainly because it’s a much more extensive servicing of the vehicle on multiple fronts.
Having stated all the facts, is car detailing worth all the time and money? There is no simple answer to that. If you are a cautious car owner who deeply loves their car, chances are that you’re regularly having it serviced (at least once a month) and having it washed at least once a week. If you’re a bit callous car detailing is something you can benefit from though of course, the cost of not regularly maintaining your car will be higher and it will cost you much more time. Overall, car detailing is all about keeping the value of your car intact throughout the changing seasons. At the end of the day, it’s all about how much you’re willing to care for your car and ready to dispense resources on its care.
