Is Washing Your Own Car a Waste of Time or Point of Pride?

Photography by David Marvier for Petrolicious

I have discovered a sense of satisfaction in washing and waxing my own car. I will admit this is a fairly recent development. Living in Los Angeles means I have many detailing options at my fingertips. Services that will come to your office, mall parking lots where they detail while you’re at the movies, standard drive-through car washes with ‘hand drying’, and full detailing spas for your car… Many of these services do a decent job, yet many more do not. In fact I am slightly uncomfortable with the notion of dirty hands, sandy rags and…strangers, buffing, polishing, and otherwise touching my car. It’s not that they don’t do a great job, they often do, but they aren’t me.

As a result, I have come to the conclusion that having a car you love means you should take care of it. I could continue to provide a living to strangers to clean my car but having purchased the equipment (buckets, soap, wax, clay bars, chamois’, and various assorted sprays and applicators…), I have come to believe that there is enormous value in doing the job yourself. Why? Due to the fact that you are making an investment in your car that pays dividends in pride. Sure, you’ll get admiring glances regardless of who did the work, but those same glances become a form of real validation when you do it yourself.

What about you? Do you spend the hours doing the work or is your time more valuable?