7 Simple Reasons Why Car Detailing Is Worth It

Car detailing might seem like an unnecessary expense to most people.

At first, you might think it’s a luxury commodity for sports car owners to make their cars look brand-new, feel more comfortable, and make car journeys a lot more enjoyable.

So, is car detailing worth it?

Here are all the reasons why car detailing is worth it:

Car detailing removes car odors.
Car detailing stops the buildup of allergens and bacteria.
A clean car interior makes for a more comfortable ride.
Car detailing protects the exterior of your vehicle.
Regular car detailing can increase the car’s resale value.
Regular car detailing is good for your health and safety.
You can take pride in your car when it’s well-maintained.

Below, I’ll explain everything you need to know about car detailing, why it’s worth every penny, and why it’s so essential to maintain the cleanliness of your vehicle.

I’ll also answer if your daily driver is worth detailing.

Although it’s an added expense, car detailing will preserve your car in the long run and keep it pristine if you ever decide to sell it.

Table Of Contents

Why Car Detailing Is Important

Getting your car detailed regularly — or at least once a year — can help maintain its maximum resale value.

Additionally, it has health and safety benefits and can even help your mechanic if something goes wrong with the car.

I’ll go through all the particulars of why it’s essential to get your car detailed regularly and how it can benefit you in the long run.

Car Detailing Removes Car Odors

Your car is subject to all sorts of germs and bacteria, especially if you use it daily.

Maintaining your vehicle and keeping it clean ensures that it doesn’t smell bad, making driving a comfortable experience.

Several things you might bring or do in your car promote inescapable bacterial growth, such as:

Dirty Shoes. We often forget how dirty our shoes can get, especially if we step into something wet.
Dust. Just like in your house, a good amount of dust in your car is composed of dead skin cells that bacteria love to munch on.
Oils from skin and clothes. Again, most oils are the fuel bacteria need to flourish.
Smoking in or near your car. Cigarette smoke increases microbial growth.

Preventing dirt buildup can help keep your car smelling fresh for weeks or even months.

If you smoke in your car, the smell can sink into the fabric of your car surfaces and even build up irreversible damage over time.

Eating in your car can also create foul odors, especially if a mishap leaves a stain or spill.

Therefore, giving your car a regular detail can prevent smells from building up by keeping your car smelling minty fresh.

Food particles and all manner of dirt get into nooks and crannies that simple car washes can’t get to, resulting in a smelly buildup.

You can try using air fresheners to mask the smell, but that’s only a temporary solution.

Furthermore, frequent exposure to air fresheners can have adverse health effects.

The synthetic chemicals used to manufacture such products can cause headaches, nausea, liver and kidney damage, and more.

Car detailing gets to those hard-to-reach areas of your vehicle where odors are likely to emanate.

Car Detailing Stops the Buildup of Allergens and Bacteria

If you have a pet or live in a warm climate, dander and pollen can quickly build up in your car.

If you have allergies, giving your car a professional clean will help enormously.

Even the air conditioning units, after some time, can have a heavy accumulation of bacteria, thus making any allergies worse over time.

Moreover, a study on mite and pet allergens exposure in cars has found that pet allergens are a major concern for pet-allergic owners.

Cleaning your car periodically, especially if you have allergies, can diminish any symptoms and make driving a lot more pleasant.

Unfortunately, bacteria buildup in your car can be difficult to notice.

Bacteria thrive on dirty surfaces, and even when surfaces appear clean, they might hold dangerous microorganisms.

A study found that an average car has 19 times more bacteria per square inch than you’d find on a toilet seat.

That stat blew my mind, and it likely blew your mind too.

The common bacteria found in cars can cause respiratory infections and skin rashes.

The most effective way to deal with bacteria in your car is to detail it. Detailing involves decontamination, which removes the bacteria in your vehicle.

A Clean Car Interior Makes for a More Comfortable Ride

As a driver, your comfort is paramount when operating a vehicle.

If the car is filthy, it can distract you from driving and make you prone to mistakes on the road.

Additionally, if you’re a professional driver (i.e., you get paid to drive), your customers/clients will be much happier if the car is spotless and smells fantastic. If interior surfaces are filthy, be sure that business will go down over time.

If you have leather seats and have a habit of eating in your car, spillages will be very difficult to remove on your own.

Sitting in a sticky car interior isn’t an enjoyable experience for anyone, so maintaining the interior is worth it.

It’s difficult to imagine that some car users rarely wash their cars. A study found that one in five British drivers seldom clean their vehicles.

22% of the drivers surveyed clean their car inside and out once every six months, and 6% never wash their cars!

Keep in mind that it’s recommended that you wash your car every two weeks, which only 10% of British drivers do.

I wouldn’t be comfortable in an untidy car, and you shouldn’t either. We spend way too many hours in our cars for us to feel uncomfortable in them.

Therefore, go beyond a scruffy car wash and have your car detailed once in a while. You’ll beam with joy every time you think about driving.

Car Detailing Protects the Exterior of Your Car

Although you might not know that the exterior needs protection, the sun’s heat can often have a very damaging impact on your car.

It promotes paint chipping and fading, which can be expensive to fix if left for long.

Car detailing provides an extra layer of protection your car desperately needs, especially if you live in a warmer climate.

In a way, the shield acts as sunscreen for your vehicle, allowing it to last a lot longer.

Furthermore, contaminants such as bird droppings, tar, pollen, and rock salt contribute to the degradation of your car’s paint.

These contaminants eat away the clear coat layer of paint, exposing the base coat.

An unprotected base coat will degrade quickly, forcing you to fork out money for a paint job.

The extra coating added by detailing protects the clear coat from damage.

Some protective layers have hydrophobic qualities that repel fluid contaminants.

Regular Car Detailing Can Increase the Car’s Resale Value

Buying a car is a serious investment. If you plan on reselling your vehicle sometime in the future, you need to make sure you maintain its appearance.

The vehicle’s lifespan depends on regular upkeep. A car that impresses the customer visually will likely sell at a higher price than an unkempt car.

Other factors such as mileage and car age do come into play, but how you treat your car means more than anything to detail-oriented buyers.

On average, a car in mint condition sells at 10 to 20% higher than a car in poor condition. That percentage can amount to thousands of dollars depending on the car’s value.

At first, it might seem expensive to get your car detailed. However, it’ll ensure that it’s attractive to buyers when it comes to selling it.

Furthermore, you’ll likely recoup the money you spent detailing the car when you sell it.

Detailing the car will prove a worthy investment once you place it on the market.

Regular Car Detailing Is Good for Your Health and Safety

Any harmful irritants that your car is exposed to could affect you in the long run.

Removing dust and other particles through car detailing lets you keep a healthy atmosphere inside the vehicle.

Additionally, the regular cleaning of the windows and mirrors facilitates proper visuals, ensuring you can drive safely enough to avoid having accidents.

One of the car detail services you can find is headlight restoration, which helps you drive safely at night.

If your headlights are not working correctly or have a buildup of dust and grime from the road, your probability of having an accident will inevitably increase.

If you drive on winter roads, it’s doubly important that you get your car detailed.

Winter roads punish your tires as they struggle to find grip on the slippery surface.

Detailing clears any debris that might reduce traction or increase the wear rate. Furthermore, detailing helps one spot damage on the tires before it becomes a serious issue: a tire blowout on the road, especially in winter, can have disastrous consequences.

Furthermore, your car picks up a lot of grime and road salt during winter. Car detailing will clean up the car and add a protective coating against contaminants.

You Can Take Pride in Your Car When It’s Well-Maintained

Let’s be honest: your vehicle is a reflection of you. If you have a filthy car, passengers might judge you for it.

And if you own a professional car service, you can bet your clients won’t want to ride with you.

Keeping your car pristine inside and out through a regular car detail is an excellent way of maintaining outward appearance and a consistent, pleasurable driving experience.

You want your car to look so good that you don’t want to drive it and risk making it dirty — you just want to look at it all day.

Car detailing provides that pristine look your vehicle had when it was new.

Some paint protection solutions enhance the car’s looks, making it appear better than when it left the garage.

Car detailing will make your vehicle the envy of other motorists. And there’s no better feeling in the world than that.

Is It Worth It To Detail a Daily Driver?

Quick Answer

It’s definitely worth it to detail a daily driver. If you’re using your car every day, especially for long journeys, the likelihood is that there’s a lot of grime and dirt that has built-up over time. Detailing your daily driver is a great way to maintain it and improve its resale value.

Some drivers opt not to detail a daily driver because it might seem worthless to do so. Why detail a car that’ll get exposed to dirt and grime within a week? They ask.

They end up detailing the car that spends most of the year inside the garage, which I don’t concur with.

Your daily driver needs detailing more than the car that spends most of its time indoors.

Sure, it will get dirt and grime, but that protective layer detailing provides will protect the paint from damage.

An undetailed daily driver will suffer paint degradation, which looks ugly and demands expensive repair.

Furthermore, we spend a lot of time in our car. The average American spends 18 days behind the wheel of their car every year.

Therefore, your car needs to be safe and clean to ensure that you make it through the year safely.

The best way to survive 18 days of driving per year is to do it in a car that’s detailed regularly.

Using your car daily will be a much more comfortable experience for you if you get it regularly detailed and maintain its condition.

It’ll be much more likely to maintain its value should you decide to sell your car down the road.

When a potential buyer enters your 10-year-old car and notices it’s squeaky clean, they’re more likely to buy it.

Key Takeaways

Car detailing is definitely worth the money due to the following key reasons:

It gives the car that extra professional attention it needs.
It keeps you safe in the driver’s seat.
It protects your vehicle from internal and external damage in the long term.
Consistent car detailing is paramount if you want to maintain your investment’s appearance and value and ensure a great driving experience all around