What is regular valeting?
Car valeting is when you get your car or other vehicle cleaned, waxed, and polished. Some of our customers have their cars done every month, and a few have theirs done every week. But on the whole, when we talk about regular valeting, we mean having the process done often enough for us to manage the condition of your vehicle. This means we can keep on top of problems, prepare your car for the seasons, and ensure your paint protection is topped up so you can enjoy the benefits of valeting. This is typically 3-4 times a year. Between these times, you should wash your car by hand yourself, not with an automated car wash! A well-waxed, valeted car washes easily.
What are the benefits of valeting?
Our main aim is to maximise the value of your vehicle and maintain it in that condition so that it makes you look good. You get a car in tip-top condition, not just because you decided to have it valeted when it is time to sell, but the whole time you own it, your car will always look brand new. When it does come to sell your car, it will be in pristine condition and fetch the highest price for a car of its age. At this point, you get back every penny you have spent on valeting.
How things are:
What many people tend to do when they get a new car is to start with good intentions. But we lead busy lives and after a while, the washing and waxing turns into just a quick wash. And then the time between washing gets longer and longer. Without regular waxing the paintwork becomes oxidised and probably stained. With the paintwork dull and flat it becomes harder to clean and an unrewarding chore. Your car is left dirty more of the time. The dirt contains road salts and pollutants which now cling to your paintwork and further attack your paintwork. Some of these harmful contaminants will eventually get through your paintwork to the metalwork where they cause rust, especially where the paintwork has become broken by stone chips and the kind of scuffs and scratches you pick up in supermarket car parks. You get more and more of these and they don’t seem to matter so much anymore. And that’s just the outside.
Before you know it you are calling your car ‘my taxi’ or ‘my old banger’ and thinking that it’s time you traded it in for a new one. But when you come to sell your car you find out that it is worth hundreds or thousands less than similar cars of the same age in better condition. Only then do you think of the benefits of valeting and getting booked in.
How we think things should be:
We think you should bring your car to us from new. We have a series of coatings that protect a range of elements, including paintwork, seats, and carpets. We even have rain and mist-repellent coatings for your windows! With all these coatings, your car becomes easy to keep clean. Just bring it back to us every once in a while for a check-up and top-up. So on those sunny afternoons (should it stop raining) there shouldn’t be much for you to do but wash, rinse, and leather off. With us keeping your paintwork highly polished, this becomes a rewarding task after each wash, producing an excellent glossy finish.
But unless you go to great lengths, you will not get your car 100% clean. Dirt will continue to accumulate in those hard-to-reach areas where your sponge won’t go. You will also get a build-up of road traffic film, you can often see this as an oily film on your windscreen. Bringing your car to us on a regular basis will allow us to remove this build-up with a variety of special chemicals and our hot-pressure washers.
Dirt causes damage and ages your car, which in turn devalues your car. The dirt on the outside contains pollutants and harmful compounds that destroy paintwork, whilst dirt and grit on the inside act like sandpaper as it is ground into your fabrics causing wear. Having it removed regularly keeps wear and tear to a minimum. If you keep your house, garden, and any other prized possession clean and in good condition, you tend to take more care and look after it better. The same should apply to your car. There has been a whole new genre of TV shows dedicated to houses such as ‘How Clean is your House’ and ‘House Doctor’. All the principles learned on these shows about cleaning and maximising value also apply to your car. Without a doubt, the time your car ages most is in the winter months. It is wet all the time, and the council puts salt and grit on the roads, both extremely harmful to your car. Wet mud gets into your car making it dirty and damp, and it stays damp for months. This can cause germs, bacteria, and mildew.
The best months to visit us are:
- October
- March
- July
Visiting us in October allows us to prepare your car for winter. This is the ideal time to repair all broken paintwork and apply a good thick coat of long-life wax. Then after the winter, we typically see customers return in March for a spring clean. This means our expert team can remove the winter from your vehicle and correct any problems caused by the harsh months (including damage caused by harsh salts on the road!). We would also like to see our customers again in July because the summer brings its own problems. On particularly hot days, the sun burns the wax from your car and leaves it vulnerable to UV radiation. Warm winds from the east and south carry with them a fine gritty dust that settles on your car. This dust causes fine scratches all over your car which require polishing to remove them.
Of course, regular trips to us mean we can maintain the interior of your car. We can get on top of any spillages or crumbs from throughout the year as busy life goes on. We use the specialist AROMATEK cleaning method that can help to deodorise your car – keeping the interior as fresh as the exterior.
Conclusion:
So there you have it, we believe you should bring your car to us from new to reap the benefits of valeting, and keep bringing it back at least three times a year. This isn’t as expensive as you may think, not just because we allow you to take advantage of special deals and discounts if you book regularly, but because if you allow us to keep on top of your problems, there won’t be so much work for us to do. You won’t need to buy a full valet every time you visit us. But every penny you spend will be an investment which will be paid back to you when you sell your car. Time and time again we have proved that cars kept in A1 condition fetch thousands of pounds more than those in average or poor condition. That in itself is a reason to have regular valeting. Having a car in pristine condition the whole time you own it is the bonus!