Do you wash your car/have it washed?

[safari]

I wash my car when it gets really dirty, but that doesn't happen very often, maybe once every few months at a hand car wash, and it costs me $6-7 including the tip. I almost never park it outside; I have a garage both at home and at work, and it never rains here from April until November, so my car rarely gets dirty.

[cschin4]

I wash my car more often in the spring and summer. Kids like to play with the hose and I enjoy washing it. I always give it a coat of wax in the spring and then a coat right before winter. In the winter, there isn't much you can do. If the temp goes up a bit in the winter, I will then run it through the car wash to get the road salt off. Probably do that a couple of times over the winter. Our cars are 05's so they still look pretty nice when cleaned and waxed.

[pearlieq]

I never bother with washing mine. DH gets his done occasionaly, but I don't know why. If it means enough to him that he'll use his own pocket money to have it done, why not?

[SnoopyCool]

We wash the van at home because I'm too tight to pay for it and the kids love to help wash it. We washed it about a month ago, and it is in dire need of a wash again - especially the inside. Having three small kids (and one on the way - pregnant me doesn't keep up with cleaning it so well) makes for a very dirty interior!

[Ima saver]

I do a load of laundry once a week, just for car towels!!

[project15]

I get free car washes whenever I want through the dealership I bought the car from. I've definitely gotten (or will get) my money's worth out of any extra markup they may have charged me.

[autoxer]

When I had a new white subaru, I washed it every other week, but now that I drive a 13 year old nissan that is all scratched & dented, it only gets washed twice a year.

[Homebody]

We own a couple of car washes and I still almost never do it because when I am in town there is such a long line and I don't want to work the employees any harder than they already are.

Before we invested in the car washes, we never paid to wash them. Did it ourselves.

[MonkeyMama]

I pay a few bucks a year to wash both cars - not exactly a big expense. Just do the cheap (machine ones) that come with the gas. Like once or twice a year - LOL. We drive silver cars which just don't really "look" dirty unless we start driving some road trips.

Doing it ourselves is not an option it runs off to the lake and I thought there was some ordinance against it anyway. But I wouldn't bother when I can just get a $1 car wash while getting gas anyway.

[disneysteve]

$1 car wash while getting gas

A bunch of you mentioned this. I'll have to look around. None of the stations I routinely go to have car washes but I know there are a couple around. I'll have to check and see if they tend to be the places that charge more for the gas.

[Fern]

I hardly ever wash my car.

In the winter when it gets filthy i will sometimes do it with a bucket and hot water, but that's it.

I used to use the drive thru car wash when they offered coupons, but they don't any more and it's just too much $, about $8 for 'basic."

[Kate Ann]

uh oh

I'm definitely not savings-wise on this issue based on the previous comments. I just bought my first nice new car of my life in October, and have a long commute that means my car gets filthy with freeway guck. I generally get my car washed every 2-4 weeks (the tenth wash is free) and less if I can get away with it. If I had the set-up for doing it myself, I would, but I don't, so I figure I'll pay someone to keep it clean. I try not to be excessive though.
The first car I owned was a year younger than I am (a VW bug) and I'd never washed a car before, so I pulled out a bottle of windex and wiped it clean....was told that was a bad bad idea .... so I don't trust myself so much to not scratch the new paint on my new car.

[fairy74]

DH washes the cars about twice a month at home. I can't remember the last time I went through a car wash.

[LuckyRobin]

Our vehicles are white and black. Both show dirt fairly well, but especially the white one. I take the white one to the car wash about 4 times a year. The one I go to now is $11 for the works and I think it is well worth it. That car is fifteen years old but the paint still looks new. People are always amazed at how old it is. Plus, it gets 3 or 4 washes at the dealership in a year when I take it in for oil changes or other work. I spray it off a lot in the spring and summer, and the rain keeps it pretty clean in the fall. Snow season is the worst though.

The black car we do twice a year. It's all dinged up anyway (bought it that way), and it is the four wheel drive workhorse, so I don't care as much about how it looks. Once in awhile I get it washed by cheerleaders or band kids raising money. The rest of the time it just gets sprayed off. We live in the watershed so I don't like to pollute. If it gets too bad I'll use a bit of my organic laundry liquid and give it a fast sponge down.

[Dave Rowtree]

I've never cleaned my van, but thats more to do that it only cost £250 and will most likely be written off in a few years time.