Car care
How often should you valet your car?
A practical, no-nonsense guide to how often to clean your car — by use, season and how you actually want it to look — without over- or under-doing it.
There is no single right answer, but there is a useful rule of thumb: a maintenance clean every two to four weeks, and a deeper detail two to four times a year. How you land within that range depends on how you use the car and how sharp you want it to look. Here is how to think about it.
Maintenance clean vs full detail — they’re different jobs
People conflate these, then either over-pay for deep details they don’t need or let a car slide until it needs rescuing. They are two different things:
- Maintenance clean — a regular, lighter touch: exterior wash, interior vacuum, glass, dash. Keeps a clean car clean. Cheap and quick because the grime never gets a chance to set.
- Full detail — the periodic deep clean: decontamination, paint protection, interior conditioning. Resets the car and protects it for the months ahead.
By how you actually use the car
Daily driver / commuter
A maintenance clean every two to three weeks keeps it presentable; a full detail twice a year (a spring reset and an autumn one before the salt arrives) keeps it protected.
School-run and family car
Interiors take the hit here — crumbs, mud, dog hair. Prioritise more frequent interior maintenance; the exterior can stretch a little longer.
Weekend or low-mileage car
Less often outside, but don’t ignore it. Bird mess and tree sap will etch paint whether you drive the car or not, so a wash before storage and a periodic protective detail matter more than raw frequency.
By season
- Winter is the demanding one. Road salt is corrosive and clings to lower panels, arches and the underside. Wash more often in winter, not less — counterintuitive, but it protects the metal.
- Spring is the natural moment for a full reset detail after a winter of salt and grime.
- Summer brings tree sap, pollen and bird mess that bake on in heat — deal with them quickly.
- Autumn is the time to put protection down before winter does its worst.
The easiest way to keep to a rhythm
The honest problem with "every two to four weeks" is that life gets in the way and you forget. That is exactly why we built HANDL Club: a standing 20-minute maintenance clean at your door, fortnightly or monthly, from £39 a month — the rhythm happens without you having to remember to book it. If you’d rather just sort the car out now, a one-off detail starts at £49.
