How often do you wash your car in an automatic car wash?

[ls1mike]

Never.

 

[DaHen]

Never. Bucket and hose.

 

[64bawagon]

not for the last 62 yrs. No future plans in sight.

 

[ZZman]

Rarely ever. Maybe every 3-4 months. Since the wife got a nicer vehicle I might consider the monthly subscription. It is actually the smarter way to go if you want to keep it looking nice.
The new carwash I town wants 20.00 for their top wash....ouch

 

[Crashbox]

Some years back I ran my '95 Civic through the local car wash a few times, but that is it. My 2017 Accord EX-L V-6/6MT has only been hand-washed by myself, mostly with rinseless washes. The Honda dealer gave me free car wash cards when I used to take the Accord in for an oil change, but there is no way I could bring myself to do that to the only car I ever bought brand new

 

[jmillet]

NEVER! One bucket with ONR, sponge and plenty of The Rag Company microfiber towels.

 

[John105]

Some years back I ran my '95 Civic through the local car wash a few times, but that is it. My 2017 Accord EX-L V-6/6MT has only been hand-washed by myself, mostly with rinseless washes. The Honda dealer gave me free car wash cards when I used to take the Accord in for an oil change, but there is no way I could bring myself to do that to the only car I ever bought brand new

How did you get Honda to comply? I figure you made sure it went in dirty so you could tell it came back unwashed?

On my 335i I would say not to wash it, but it would be washed anyway so I gave up. Back then (2007-2011) M cars were hand wash only. But I found it’s hard to do things when creating an exception (like you want synthetic oil when the car didn’t come with it and they put Dino juice but charge for synth)

 

[wlk]

1 to 2 times per week normally. If salt is on the roads we take them the next day after driving in it.

 

[RAVL]

We have a nice one not far from the barn my wife uses for her horses. We have all three of the daily drivers on the unlimited plan. They do a very nice job and I will typically hit them with a wipe down of spray wax (typically Griots but sometimes 3M) after they get home. Nice time savings, one less thing to do. And in the winter it helps to get the salt and brine off as quickly as possible.

My non daily drivers I do with a rinseless wash. They are washed less frequently because they don’t generally get driven in inclement weather.

I used to detail cars professionally as one of many jobs I had when I was in school, so I say this as someone who is very particular about the cars.

 

[Patman]

I never take my Corvette through an automatic wash, I just use those do it yourself coin washes. I don't often drive it in the rain, so I'm mainly just spraying it down once a month to get rid of the dust and then I immediately drive it on the highway to blow most of the water off and then I'll stop after 5 minutes to lightly wipe of the rest of the water with a microfiber cloth.
With my Civic I have a monthly package at a soft cloth car wash and I usually go through it about 3-4 times per week. I'm not as picky about the paint on the Civic, I just like it to always be clean and as long as it looks good from 5-10ft away I'm ok with that. I can always buff out the minor scratches with my UDM buffer anyway (mine is the more powerful first generation version before they got taken over by Porter Cable)