How often do you wash your car and do routine checks?

not often enough

I take it in for maintenance when the sticker says to go in. I wash it when it’s dirty… well, sometimes not even then. I wash it when three things happen at the same time: 1) It’s dirty, 2) I can’t stand how dirty it is and 3) I have time to wash it.

Maintenance- always.

Washing? With little kids the interior is always being excavated. Though it is more like damage control rather than keepnig the car pristine.

I just learned why you don’t leave bug splat on your paint for half a year. Now, my car has a bug splat tattoo.

Prior to that, I learned why it’s bad to take your car to one of those charity car washes. Now, my paint has charity car wash scratches.

When I had a car, I always took it in for washes more often than necessary… but that’s because there was a car wash in my town that had pink and blue soap bubbles that turned purple when they mixed in the middle.

Depends on how much I like the car, and whether or not it’s a high maintenance sports car or high maintenance junker car that needs to be kept working.

Washes – once a month (more often if someone I know is doing a fundraiser or the kids need money)

Interior cleaning – about once a month also, or before a long trip. Because I have kids this often entails first using a leaf blower and then the hose (all vinyl interiors are a wonderful thing).

Tires – I eyeball them daily but rarely have to do anything unless someone near by is getting a new roof.

Oil, transmission fluid, etc. – my car tells me when it wants things done to it – it sends messages via the odometer. I generally listen to what it says and give it what it wants.

I don’t worry about charity car wash scratches because my vehicle is a truck that works hard and looks like it.

I’m so behind on getting the oil changed :(
I don’t wash it enough either. I’m a bad car owner. I used to do it every Sunday, but then I just stopped.
Once it gets warmer, I’ll actually clean it out. (that’s what I always say.)

@casheroo I was so horrible at getting the oil changed on time. I used to feel so guilty that I was overdue for an oil change that I would just throw the little stickers they gave you away… which didn’t help the matter because then I’d take even longer to get the oil change done.

I got the car serviced twice a year probably… not nearly often enough. But it did last me 8 years anyway.

You don’t need to get the oil changed as often as the little stickers say. You can probably push a few thousand more miles out of it. If you pull the dip stick out and check the color of the oil you can usually tell…..

The other “service stuff” is largely pointless to do as often as they suggest. Unless you have a coolant leak, transmission problems, or something of that nature, you won’t need to change those fluids more than a few times in the life of the car.

(It isn’t a bad idea to get them checked though, as usually during those checks they can find problems that will lead to those leaks and problems).

I am OCD when it comes to my car… my car get’s washed at least once a week and is maintained at the dealership regularly. my car only requires the oil and such be done every 10,000 miles.

Routine check of my car once a year.
Washing it? About twice a year.

I never check the oil, I check the tire pressure maybe once a month. I always plan to do these things at every fill up, but who has time? I wash the car once a year if its lucky. I vacuum the Cheerios out of the back seat every few months. I do follow the scheduled maintenance, but I do it at the longer interval. This is the only time the fluids get checked.