When did people stop caring about their cars?

[Accumulator]

The introduction of clear coat has absolutely contributed to the problem. people look at their cars and do not think they have to do anything other than run through the car wash....and in many ways they are right.

Well, at least the neglected cars look better with today's b/c than they used to look with single stage. The average car used to look frightful after a few years. If you're not gonna do anything except run 'em through the tunnel wash, b/c is a godsend.



For some reason I always notice PT Cruisers...utterly neglected yet still looking fairly decent. I can picture them with '70s-era paint- they'd be all dull and chalky-looking.



Heh heh, early clearcoats seemed like the worst of both worlds! They'd *really* look awful after a few years of neglect and there'd be no way to bring 'em back.

 

[sftempest66]

Being an avid car enthusiast as well, I mainly find myself looking at the condition of the vehicle, and then checking out what's under the hood . For instance, I'll be at a car meet late at night and I'll casually squat down to check out "the wheels" when in reality, I'm dragging the light over their car inspecting the paint for swirls and imperfections haha...



I think that about 95% of people out there believe that their car is just a way to get from point a to point b, when in reality, a car is an investment and a valuable piece of property...Ever since I joined Autopia I found myself inspecting cars that were on the road, it is next to impossible to find a car thats in decent shape and to be honest, its really quite depressing...But then I find myself thinking that, "Without these people, us Autopians wouldn't have a job right? :grinno: "

 

[RAG]

A lot of good points. And whenever somone tells me that "people don't care about cars anymore," I usually reply something to the effect of: "then why does almost everybody I know of buy they nicest car they can afford (or even cars they can't afford)?"



Oh well, I'm doing my best to education one customer at a time (I probably do 20 "clay, polish, and wax" details to every 1 "wax only" detail...I may be costing myself some business, but ethics are important to me...cause of course I can do 3 or 4 wax details in the same amount of time I do a clay, polish and wax).

 

[stilez]

I'd have to go with a combination of time, convenience, and effort.



We're talking about a depreciable asset that can stay "pretty clean" with the weekly drive-thru and annual detail (if that). It's hardly worth it to try harder, especially when you have people like ebpcivic and picus (to name a couple) who can preform an artful transformation for under $500 before you sell it off.



So why spend all that time in the middle when it's just not going to benefit the extra outlay for the standard commuter?

 

[Guy]

Most people can't even see bad paint. I detailed a friends red Neon and shined the light on it before hand, there were tons of swirls but she couldn't see it, just shiney red paint.

 

[Accumulator]

Guy- I know exactly what you mean! I'll be complaining about a flaw on one of my vehicles...I'll point right at it and people will either claim they can't see it (what, are they blind?) or, they'll say say "what, that scratch right there? Nobody can see that.." Well, if nobody can see it how are *we* seeing it to discuss it Sometimes the people saying this stuff are folks who really oughta know better, supposed "expert professionals" of one kind or another.

We're talking about a depreciable asset that can stay "pretty clean" with the weekly drive-thru and annual detail (if that). It's hardly worth it to try harder..So why spend all that time in the middle when it's just not going to benefit the extra outlay for the standard commuter..

I agree about the "middle ground" between neglected and (for lack of a better term) "Autopian". People simply don't appreciate the differences within that wide range covered by this middle ground.. where a vehicle isn't a showcar but sure looks OK.



I know a lot of people who are leasing, and, as long as it doesn't look hideously beat, the lease company doesn't care at all whether it's been kept immaculate or not. Who's to say that those people oughta spend more of their [resources] keeping those vehicles nicer :nixwiess



Heh heh, the guy who wants to buy my Blazer would never notice if I quit doing all my extreme wash method stuff; I could mar it up something awful (well, awful to me), quit doing the undercarriage and engine compartment, and he'd give me the exact same money for it. But OTOH, he wouldn't even *want* it had I not performed the extreme makeover after I bought it....

 

[itb76]

Three reasons I can think of...



(1) Don't know any better--I thought I was doing great, then found VWVortex's detailing site, then this one. I learned a lot here.



(2) It's just transportation. My wife wants her car clean, but doesn't care how shiny it is. Door dings bug her though, so she parks like I do--far away from other cars when possible.



(3) Then there are the slobs. Last summer I got harassed by a friend of mine about how clean the windows in my house were. She thought I was nuts for keeping them clean. Needless to say she did not let me look inside her car.