When we buy our cars, the chances are that they’ll arrive looking (and smelling) fresh and tidy. It almost seems a shame in those heady early days to wear wet or muddy shoes in the car. Despite vowing to keep the vehicle looking just the same for the rest of our ownership, for many this resolution soon goes by the wayside after a few trips to the local drive through fast food outlet or supermarket. Kids? A couple of trips to collect them from football training or perhaps a messy birthday party can make us all quickly forget just how much we loved our car when we first bought it.
But it doesn’t take a great deal of effort, or cost, to feel those loving vibes again. After all, our cars are also an investment of sorts, right? It goes without saying that a good car wash can massively improve the vehicles appearance, and value, but we’ll suggest a few other ways to help you prove how much you really (still) love your ‘whip’:
1/ Have your car professionally detailed and ‘coated’. A ‘ceramic coating’ is a liquid ‘film’ applied by detailers which contains protective agents to lock the shine in and help keep the muck off. It’s no miracle solution of course, and if you drive down muddy lanes or don’t wash your car for weeks on end, it’ll look like every other unwashed car in the street. But the beauty of ceramic coatings is that washing the car after a film has been applied normally helps restore the paintwork to close to the standard it was when you left the detailers very quickly. You can even pay for scratch repair coatings which help magically heal small scratches and abrasions. Ceramic coats aren’t cheap and before a coating can be applied, a professional detailer will normally insist on a full decontamination and polish of the vehicle first to remove swirl marks, pollutants and small scratches. But a ceramic coating, if kept topped up in accordance with the coating or detailers recommendation (often an annual top up and 2, 3 or 5 year re-coating) should also add value to your vehicle re-sale value.
2/ Vacuum clean carpet ‘lines’ like a pro. Ok, so this may seem a little odd, but nothing says ‘this car has just been cleaned, and the owner loves it’ that opening the door or boot to a clean carpet with neat straight lines, or pattern. And the best thing is, this shouldn’t cost you anything aside from your time if you have a good enough vacuum cleaner, or just a few pounds if you decide to use one at the local petrol station.
3/ Air freshener. Have you ever got into an Uber or mini cab and been hit with a fresh, clean, scent? It just screams professionalism and cleanliness. An air freshener can also help disguise the smell of last night’s takeaway that you ferried home for the family, or that mouldy sports kit that you forgot to retrieve from the boot. Car air fresheners aren’t simply just those dangly things that you find on Petrol Station shop counters nowadays either (though regular replacement of these are still very effective). There is a growing market of specialist and professional car air freshener ‘brands’ whereby, upon needing replacement, you can just purchase an insert to go into a semi-permanent ‘holder’. These are often clipped into the car air vents, so the car’s heating or aircon will help waft the scent around the car continuously. And the holders themselves can look quite smart. Some manufacturers and main dealers sell air fresheners and holders like these with the vehicle brand, make or model emblazoned. Expect to pay around £20 up for a holder and initial scent.
4/ Car mats. Car mats can take a lot of wear and were never designed to last the lifetime of the vehicle, hence every few years it could be a good idea to replace them. This is particularly pertinent if your mats have any colouring or logos on them, as these will show the dirt and staining more easily. New mats will also normally arrive ‘flat’, so if your current mats have ridden up over the years, a new set could help restore the correct fitment too whilst also helping improve driver safety (loose mats can ride up and get wedged under pedals).
5/ Finally, don’t overlook your engine bay. You don’t need to fork out for a full ‘bay detail’ for your engine to look clean and new. Professional engine bay ‘detailers’ are available at popular car accessory stores, and by spraying these onto a rag and cleaning any plastics and accessible top hoses (whilst car is cold and engine turned off) in accordance with the spray detailer instructions, you can quickly add a gleam to an otherwise ‘dull’ area.
