Car Wash Membership

[PloddingInsight]

http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2232723#p2232723

From a "How do you wash your car?" thread on the bogleheads forum:

Car wash membership. $36 a month and you can go as many times as you want.

0.o

[Bob W]

That would equal about 50 times what I spend on all car washing, wax, and cleaning products for 2 cars.

6 washes and 2 waxes a year seems a good pace for me.  DIY

[Elderwood17]

My cars virtually never get washed, and when they do I don't pay for it.  The insides do get cleaned and vacuumed regularly but for the most part I quit paying attention to the outside dirt.

[PloddingInsight]

I have never washed my car.  I've had it for ten years.  Nothing bad has happened yet.

[Ashyukun]

One of the hosts of the morning show I listen to on the rare days I drive to work instead of biking RAVES about his car wash membership and how often he uses it. I'd only consider it if I were flipping enough cars in a month that it would be worth that saving the money on washing each one to get it looking its best before selling it.

[ketchup]

I spent quite a bit less than $36 earlier this year to get two buckets, a microfiber sponge and a gallon of car soap.  I think so far I've used it four times across two cars.  Still a few year supply left in the gallon of soap.  Replacing the sponge once a year might make sense, we'll see.

[GuitarStv]

Car washing is pretty important if you live in an area that heavily salts the roads for four months of the year like we do around here.  Washing the undercarriage of your car by hand in the winter at -20 is . . . difficult.  That said, 36$ a month seems silly . . . I could get three wash/waxes at the local car wash for that which is more than necessary in the winter.

[Ashyukun]

It could also be more reasonable for places where you're not able to wash the car yourself- in places under drought conditions you're not supposed to use water to wash your car, but car washes (ostensibly) recirculate the water so they can still operate.

[frugalnacho]

I was just about to post the same topic.  There is a billboard by my house offering an unlimited car wash membership for $20.  It blows my mind that people actually wash their cars enough to require an unlimited use membership.

In the 15 years I have been driving I have owned 5 cars and have never washed any of them and have never noticed any ill effects, other than a bunch of salt build up in the winter months, but that gets washed away fairly frequently on it's own.   I live in metro detroit and we salt our roads heavily.

[gimp]

As much as I appreciate not going to a car wash, I need to go wash my undercarriage. That's not looks as much as it's preventive maintenance.

Even so, during a winter in the northeast I'd only need to wash it a couple times.

[GuitarStv]

In the 15 years I have been driving I have owned 5 cars and have never washed any of them and have never noticed any ill effects, other than a bunch of salt build up in the winter months, but that gets washed away fairly frequently on it's own.   I live in metro detroit and we salt our roads heavily.

You have changed cars pretty frequently.  The effects of salt damage are slow and most visible on the undercarriage.  How often did you measure the rust damage under your vehicles?

[frugalnacho]

In the 15 years I have been driving I have owned 5 cars and have never washed any of them and have never noticed any ill effects, other than a bunch of salt build up in the winter months, but that gets washed away fairly frequently on it's own.   I live in metro detroit and we salt our roads heavily.

You have changed cars pretty frequently.  The effects of salt damage are slow and most visible on the undercarriage.  How often did you measure the rust damage under your vehicles?

A serious of shitty cheap cars to start with.  My first car had rust all over it at the time of purchase.  I have never seen any rust anywhere on any of the other vehicles.  Currently driving an '08 that has been checked out by a trusted mechanic as recently as this past winter.  He never mentioned anything.  Perhaps I will see damage manifest itself in due time, but none so far.

[fantabulous]

One of the hosts of the morning show I listen to on the rare days I drive to work instead of biking RAVES about his car wash membership and how often he uses it. I'd only consider it if I were flipping enough cars in a month that it would be worth that saving the money on washing each one to get it looking its best before selling it.

Bordering on foamy, but I recall once seeing an obviously closed used car lot called "<name>'s Sharp Used Cars". Right next to it was "<other name>'s Double-Sharp Used Cars", with presumably doubly sharp used cars in the lot. I suppose <other name> had some sort of unlimited car wash membership.

[frugalnacho]

One of the hosts of the morning show I listen to on the rare days I drive to work instead of biking RAVES about his car wash membership and how often he uses it. I'd only consider it if I were flipping enough cars in a month that it would be worth that saving the money on washing each one to get it looking its best before selling it.

Bordering on foamy, but I recall once seeing an obviously closed used car lot called "<name>'s Sharp Used Cars". Right next to it was "<other name>'s Double-Sharp Used Cars", with presumably doubly sharp used cars in the lot. I suppose <other name> had some sort of unlimited car wash membership.

I don't even look at cars less than triple-sharp.

[mydogismyheart]

Many of the cities around where I live have laws now prohibiting you from washing your car at home. Has to do with the soap washing down your driveway/street and into creeks and causing problems with fish and wildlife.  So since this has gone into effect tons of car washes have started popping up everywhere and I've known people that had memberships and went just about every day. I guess if you were actually washing your car that often it would be worth it, but I don't understand why you would wash your car that often... I go a couple or a few times per year but definitely not often enough to warrant a membership.

[MgoSam]

Yikes, there's a $3 place near me that I suppose I could go to if I wanted to get it washed, but I don't wash it all that often. I do vaccum and clean the insides. For me, I don't give a shit how my car looks on the outside, it's what's inside that matters :-). Mostly kidding, I do want to maintain the external.

[hodedofome]

My father-in-law I think pays $10-20 a month for a car wash subscription and goes twice a week. If someone offered that in my area, I'd jump on it in a heartbeat and let ya'll judge me all you want.