should i let my dealer wash my car?

To start things off brief and frank- NO.

Now that you know my view on this question, here are few of my reasons as to why car washing and detailing should be limited to either yourself, or handed over to a professional detailer to take care of it. Here are those reasons:

cost

Dealerships often charge a lot more to do a “detail” on a car than most reputable detailers would charge for the same service–simply because they can get away with it. Many customers aren’t aware of the exact type of service they are getting.  I have personally see a dealership charge $500 for a wash, glaze, wax and interior vacuum.

damage

I have a few friends who worked as a dealership porter for about 4 months while in high school.  The buckets they would use were full of mud in the bottom, only rinsed once a month, and had enough dirt accumulation to make the water mostly brown.  YMMV, but it is safe to say that most, if not all dealerships do not know how to wash a car properly.  With the 2 bucket method using a grit guard you are safely keeping the contaminants at the bottom of the buckets, and away from the paint…something dealerships do not do.  So with all the dirt and mud, and pebbles at the bottom of the buckets, you can only imagine the kind of damage brought on by dragging the dirt across the paint such as severe swirling and scratching.

Here’s a video example of a dealership “detailing” a customer’s vehicle.

final notes

Finally, lets touch on cost a little bit more.  There are two basic ways to get around going to a dealership for a car wash (or just as worse, those “Hand wash” centers on the corner of the streets where 5 people tackle one car).  As I had outlined in the beginning, you could either do it yourself, or hire a professional, reputable detailer to take care of the maintenance for you.  I’m personally partial to the tried and tested tools I outline in the Washing and Drying page as it’s under $100, and gives you the most options for a safe easy wash. Not only do the supplies last you more than one time, as opposed to having a dealership do it, but it allows you to gain the satisfaction of doing it yourself, within a reasonable budget.

The other option is having a professional, reputable detailer do the maintenance and any other detailing related work for you.  The pros to this option is you don’t have to buy any products yourself, or store them.  You don’t need any knowledge of how to care for a car, and you let them do it at your convenience, and in your garage (in some cases).  This will cost more in the long run than doing the job yourself, but will pay dividends to the life, and look of the paint for many years to come.

Thanks for reading, and I encourage you to contact me for any questions or comments on this post.