You track your oil changes. You change your tires. Before a road trip, you have your brakes checked. But when was the last time you washed your car, really washed it, and not just because it looked embarrassing in the parking lot?
For most millennials and young adults with busy schedules and even tighter budgets, car washing is an option. It’s just about appearances, right? But it’s a lot more than that, it turns out. One of the easiest and most overlooked ways to protect one of the biggest purchases you’ll ever make is to wash it regularly.
Your car is fighting off damage every single day
Every time you drive, your car gathers a cocktail of pollutants: road salt, bird droppings, tree sap, industrial fallout and plain old dirt. They're not just ugly, sitting on your paint. They are actually eating away at the protective coating on your car.
Bird droppings are acidic enough to damage your paint in days. Road salt eats at metal and the undercarriage, especially in states that do heavy de-icing in winter. If you're anywhere near the coast, such as Miami, Boston, or LA, you've got the salt in the air working against you all the time.
Washing and polishing your car is one of the best ways to protect its finish from the damaging effects of acid rain, says the Car Care Council, the non-profit behind the “Be Car Care Aware” campaign. They suggest keeping vehicles consistently clean and not letting chemicals and grime build up, which can gradually ruin a car’s exterior over the years.
