Car Cleaning: How to Sell Your Car For More

Car cleaning is something that people either keep on top of, or only occasionally. What many people don't realize is that keeping your car clean, especially the interior, can help the resale of your car tremendously. If you are thinking to yourself all of the excuses of why you don't have to time to give your car a proper detailing, then lets put something into perspective. Most detailer's would probably recommend two exterior details a year. That includes washing and waxing the exterior. Depending on the type of car, about two hours. A full interior cleaning (probably twice a year when the exterior is done) is about an hour or less. That's only about six hours per YEAR that you spend giving your car a proper cleaning.

In my personal experience, a good cleaning of the interior (vacuuming, panel wipe down, windows, etc) should be done at least once a month. This should only take about 30 minutes or less. I don't use any detailer's for this, just a microfiber towel. For me, at least twice a year my interior gets a complete detail. I break out the brushes to get into all of the vents and cracks, and use a good quality detailer. Griot's Garage make outstanding products that I started using about a year ago. Do not use cheap detailer's (Armor All) as these leave a terrible finish and are very over powering with odor and chemicals. Griot's Garage Interior Cleaner is the absolute best interior cleaner I have used. I am not sponsored by them, I simply like their products because they do not leave any evidence behind other than a clean finish just as it left the factory. For leather seats, I use the Griot's' interior cleaner and then finish with a leather conditioner. I have found leather cream conditioners give better results than liquids.

As for the exterior, once or twice a year you should apply a coat of wax or paint sealant. Traditional wax works best with older paints and clear coats, while paint sealant works best on newer clear coats. I have used Wizard's paint sealant and Mothers carnauba wax, both of which have been fine. I may try Griot's Garage next since I have been so impressed with their other products. Wheels should receive a good scrub down with a dedicated wheel brush (Not to be used on the paint). Tires should receive a proper tire gel for faded tires. I usually use Invisible Glass for all of the windows and glass. The key with glass is to use a dedicated glass microfiber towel, they work wonders.

So there is my extremely short run down of car detailing. While keeping your car in top mechanical shape is priority number one, keeping it clean is much cheaper and can be done by yourself. When it comes to resale, I see private seller's getting 10% more when their cars are cleaned for the pictures, and even more when the car has been properly detailed most of it's life. Taking the time a few times a year to pamper your car pay off big time ten or twenty years down the road.