Have British Drivers Lost The Car Washing Habit?

More than one in three British drivers have not washed their car for more than a month, according to a new survey.

More than 37% of British car drivers haven't washed their car for more than a month, according to a new survey by SimpleMotoring.co.uk. Just 20% have washed their car in the last week and only 43% of drivers have washed their car in the last fortnight, despite the UK emerging out of a long and cold winter, during which thousands of tonnes of highly corrosive salt have been spread on our roads.

SimpleMotoring.co.uk surveyed 1201 drivers in February and asked them when they had last washed their car and how they had done it. The results showed that hand washing at home is still the most popular way to clean a car, with 71.2% of drivers opting for this method. At the other end of the scale, just 1.7% of drivers use a mobile valeting service and only 6.2% choose self-service car wash facilities such as jet washes. Automated drive-through car washes and hand car washes accounted for the final 20% of choices, with roughly 10% choosing each of these methods.

When it came to regular washing, home washers came top of the pile. A massive 83.2% of those who had washed their car in the last week were home washers. The survey suggested that automated car washes and mobile valeting services were much more likely to be occasional treats – of those who chose these methods, more than half had not washed their car for more than a month.

SimpleMotoring.co.uk founder Roland Head says that although modern cars resist corrosion much more effectively than older cars, "it is still important to clean winter salt off your car regularly, including from the underside of your car and inside the wheel arches. Salt is widely used to prevent ice on UK roads in winter and is notorious for causing corrosion on unprotected metalwork."

For drivers who have not cleaned their car very often during the last winter, Roland Head advises that the next few weeks might be a good time for a spring clean and comments that some types of car wash provide a more thorough clean than others. "Using a self-service jet wash enables you to use the jet to thoroughly rinse the underside of the car and the insides of the wheel arches. Automated car washes with underbody cleaning are good for this, too, although they won't get your wheel arches as clean."

"In summer, salt isn't an issue and occasional hand washing with a good quality car shampoo, followed by a rinse, is all that's required. Consider treating your car to a polish before next winter – this will help seal the paintwork against salt and grit and should make it easier to keep clean subsequently."

About SimpleMotoring.co.uk
SimpleMotoring.co.uk is a motoring website aimed at helping motorists enjoy reliable, affordable and safe motoring. Its target audience is regular motorists – drivers who enjoy their cars but also care about reducing costs and improving reliability without spending a fortune on doing so.

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