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Article for My Business WebSite - Our Cars and Our Homes; Why Do We Tr


dipolley

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Hey Everyone,

 

So I started a facebook ad compaign and have nearly doubled my "likes" in a few short days. I am trying to give the page more content and, obviously, entice people to call and have thier cars detailed. I spent the morning researching and writting an article and wanted to see what you guys think. I am comaping how we treat our homes to how we treat our cars. I am thinking of writting the same article but with a focus on ourselves such as our cloths, beard, hair, makeup, etc. I am trying to bridge the gap on what most people do think about cleaning and taking care of on a regular basis versus how they treat thier vehicles.

 

Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks. Here it is

 

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Most Americans clean there homes on a weekly basis. We clean our kitchens, vacuum our floors, scrub our bath tubs, and dust the mantle. Usually this is a Sunday chore, unless we pay someone else to do it. All the same it must be done, because we spend a lot of time in our homes. We want to live somewhere clean, nice, and a place that friends and family will gather and relax in comfort. We treat our home with care, but can you say you treat you car the same way?

Denver has the 16th longest commute time in the United States. In Colorado, the average commute time is 23.8 minutes (That is 47.6 minutes round trip). That is nearly 4 hours a week in just getting to and from work. Then there are the trips to the grocery store, soccer practice, going out to dinner, and all the other errands we run that add on to that time. Just getting to and from work takes up a little over 206 hours, or 8.6 days, that we spend in our cars every year. Most people spend less time in the bathroom (7.58 days annually on average). Imagine cleaning the mirror, washing the floor, vacuuming a rug, or wiping down the sink in your bathroom as often as you clean you car. Everything you touch in your bathroom gets dirty and the bathroom is considered by most to be a very dirty room (the kitchen is worse actually). But what about the surfaces you touch in your car? The steering wheel, the door handle, the stereo knobs, the floor, and armrest. What about the surfaces your kids touch: the back of the seats, the baby seat, door handles, and who knows what was on their shoes that is now in the upholstery. Do you clean the window that you look out of when you are hurling 4,000 pounds of steel down the highway at 60 MPH as often as you clean your bathroom mirror? Would you want a guest using your bathroom that is cleaned as often as you clean your car? What about the kids? Think about what they are touching all day, and now they just got in an enclosed space where they touch everything. Is your imagination running wild yet?

This won’t help. On two episodes of BBC’s “Top Gear”, used cars were purchased by the presenters to conduct their automotive challenges. On these occasions the vehicles were subject to forensic testing to see what could be found inside the cars. Assuming the cars were just your average used car bought from an average Joe, what could possibly be found? It is rather surprising actually. Here is a list of the more interesting items: Potato chips, leaves, flakes of skin, saliva, nasal mucus, picked off scabs, dirty bandages, trace amounts of marijuana and cocaine, pubic hair, vaginal secretions, and fecal matter (yep, poo). In one car, the steering wheel was covered in trace amounts of nasal mucus and saliva. The driver had been touching that with his bare hands for days. He spent the rest of the show wearing gloves and a face mask. These are not surprising items to find in a car actually, and keep in mind these are trace amounts. The saliva and nasal mucus can be explained away easily with a simple sneeze. Flakes of skin are a primary component in household dust. The rest are not uncommon and a bit of imagination will lead you to the cause.

My point is we clean our homes, but not our cars.

So why detail your car or have your car detailed? For the same reasons you clean the house. Health, safety, and spending time somewhere clean that you can be proud of. A good thorough detailing is going to take care of some very key areas. The cleaning of your interior surfaces such as you dash, door handles, and seats will strip away all of the surfaces you touch of any contaminates such as dirt, debris, saliva, nasal mucus, or any germs. These surfaces are then treated with a conditioner to protect against the sun and from further damage and spills (think of it like washing your hands and then applying you favorite lotion, but for your car). The glass is cleaned and a sealant is applied to encourage water beading, providing you with a clear view of the road and your surroundings. The floors and seats are vacuumed and shampooed to get all of the same things out that you have in your home carpets like dirt, dust, mud, pet hair, and who knows what else that you or your kids stepped in.

Remember when you first bought your car? The perfect paint, the shiny chrome, the body lines. The outside of your car is its sexiest and most enticing area. It says “Look at me. Now take me for a ride.” The outside is what attracted you to it in the first place. A familiar feeling not unlike seeing the outside of your dream house. The outside is what gets our attention. If you see a disheveled yard or an unkempt store front you wouldn’t want to go inside would you? What about messed up hair and a wrinkled shirt on a man or woman? Would you approach them for business or a date? How is a car any different? What does the outside of your car, like your home, say about you? Think of the outside of the car like the outside of your house. You mow the lawn, trim the trees, wash the windows, and keep the driveway clean right? Why? Because, if your house looks nice on the outside it shows everyone that you take pride in your home, you live somewhere nice, and you get to show off a little. Your car is no different, especially if you are trying to sell it.

Like any household chore we have certain tools and products to get the job done. Bathroom cleaners and a toilet wand, an upright vacuum, dust rags, brooms, lawn mowers, rakes, and so on. Occasionally we rent a steam cleaner or hire someone to clean our carpets. We spend a lot of money keeping up on our homes. Cleaning your car is no different and should be done for the same reason. There are chemicals for cleaning your dash, your leather, your paint, and your windows. Then there is the wax, polish, leather conditioner, and let’s not forget the buffers, towels, rags, vacuums, and steam cleaners. And you can’t use the same chemicals on your car as you do your home. Dish soap (especially Dawn) strips wax right off of your car, home glass cleaner (such as Windex) can be harmful to the tinting on your windows, and kitchen/bathroom cleaners will strip the oils and protection from your dash and seats. You can spend thousands of dollars to have all of the right tools and equipment to clean your car. Or for a fraction of the cost, you can hire a detailer, who has the tools, products, knowledge, and in many cases, a passion for cars.

When the lawn is mowed and the outside of your house is perfect, you look at it from the street with pride and say “Yep, that is MY house. Looks good, huh?” When the inside of your home is clean, you WANT to spend time in it and enjoy it. Feel that way about your car. Call High Point Detailing today to schedule your appointment.

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