Car valet prices.

[Drago]

I have a company car. It gets cleaned at the garage when it gets serviced.

A chap I know has to keep his compnay car very clean to impress the punters. Each Friday the boss apparently inspects the cars and the driver of the filthiest has the car taken off of him or her for the weekend, and they car given a pink Micra as punishment. The way he describes things it would seem to motivate peole to keep their steeds shiny.

 

[I like Skol]

They used to say you should spend 200 on a valet before selling a quality used car and it can add double that to the price you get.
A 3 to 5 year old car feels completely revitalised after a full valet, and smells fresh and new.

TBH, have never paid for car valeting in my life, always gone the DIY route, even shampooing the beige carpets & upholstery in one of my early cars which gave amazing results (anyone remember 1000-1 carpet shampoo, wonder if it still exists?). Anyway, fast forward 30yrs and I am now not so bothered to maintain the appearance so much, but it does seem a shame to have a much nicer car but neglect it this way. Even if I fork out £200 every 2-3 years and just keep it under control between deep cleans it is still way, way cheaper than buying a new car to get that new car feeling, which is what many people seem to do......

 

[CentralCommuter]

But a few of them were smoking, so I thought if they were vixtims of slavery, they wouldn't be able/allowed to smoke?

 

[Dave7]

'Just' the inside and outside. So all of it then?

I'm with Drago here. a proper job will be considerably more than £50-60. Just about to splurge on a proper job for my wife's car. It's black and has only been washed and hoovered with an occasional wash down of the shut lines, interior trim and windows by me for the last 3 years. Really needs a real deep clean. Not bothered with the engine bay detailing guff but the paintwork could do with the works, clay bar, etc as it is quite rough with residues and tar spots. I would be unsurprised by a price tag of a couple of hundred quid for the real deal, but would expect the car to come back looking as new.

Well that is the answer.
I don't want a deep clean.
I don't have tar etc.
I want an external wash, the wheels cleaned and the windows done.
These guys take 15/20 minutes.
I do maybe 2000 miles a year. So its not exactly coated in dirt.

 

[Milkfloat]

I have a company car. It gets cleaned at the garage when it gets serviced.

Me too, although with variable servicing that can take quite a while. I have had my latest car on the drive since the day before lockdown last year. It has covered a grand total of 1200 miles, zero of them business miles and not been washed. I guess it will get washed near its 2 year anniversary service.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Me too, although with variable servicing that can take quite a while. I have had my latest car on the drive since the day before lockdown last year. It has covered a grand total of 1200 miles, zero of them business miles and not been washed. I guess it will get washed near its 2 year anniversary service.

Yup. Got the latest one in July and used it until Sep, barely touched it since. Less than 6000 miles on it.

I get a new one in August, it's touch and go whether this one will ever get washed

 

[vickster]

Well that is the answer.
I don't want a deep clean.
I don't have tar etc.
I want an external wash, the wheels cleaned and the windows done.
These guys take 15/20 minutes.
I do maybe 2000 miles a year. So its not exactly coated in dirt.

Don’t you have time to do it yourself given you’re retired and the golf courses are closed? You could spend the cash saved on some new balls or something for when they reopen

 

[FrankCrank]

Over this way, we mostly do our own car cleaning. I give the outside a wash, and Mrs Crank does the inside. Occasionally we have it done at one of the local car wash places, and they do a reasonable job for around a tenner. When I wash it, I never use anything other than water, and a car brush thingy, then shammy to dry. In the UK I always used soap of some sort, so not sure why really.

During my days working in Brentford, we had a couple hipsters valeting cars out in the carpark. A fella in our office used to keep horses, and his car was in a right state, straw and horse muck all over the place. He asked then to give it a good clean - they refused, and don't blame them really, but after that the joke was about them only wanting to wash clean cars.

Anyways, its a chore, sometimes you could nearly grow spuds on our car before I get round to cleaning it.

 

[ColinJ]

I have never spent a minute cleaning any car that I have ever bought, and I have never got anybody else to clean them either. They remain as immaculate as the day they were manufactured...

 

[Drago]

Don’t you have time to do it yourself given you’re retired and the golf courses are closed? You could spend the cash saved on some new balls or something for when they reopen

He could use the money on new golf bats, or a tube of those Pringles the golfists like.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Now - cleaning bikes is a WHOLE other story.

Any bike valet companies?

 

[vickster]

Now - cleaning bikes is a WHOLE other story.

Any bike valet companies?

Nah just buy a new one

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Nah just buy a new one

When the ashtray's full?

 

[ColinJ]

Now - cleaning bikes is a WHOLE other story.

Ah, that IS a different story...

A pal used to be a bike mechanic. The mechanics got so fed up of having to clean bikes before they could work on them that the shop started charging £20 extra. Some customers got stroppy about it but they were told to clean the bikes before bringing them in, or pay up.

 

[vickster]

When the ashtray's full?

On the bike? Don’t you just put the fag ends in a hedgerow with the gel wrappers?