In business, respect and appearance give you an edge — and even your ride can be a deal-maker or deal-breaker. Your car’s appearance reflects on your attitude, personality, and success. Brand new cars with vibrant colors will certainly impress, but buying cars periodically can get expensive. Cars lose their vibrancy and luster in 2-3 years.
Even the best cars can look faded and ragged. However, you can prevent your car from looking weathered and battered — preserving the look it had when it first came out of the dealership.
Park in a Proper Garage
If you’re playing with the big boys, you should at least have a proper garage. Leaving your car exposed to the elements ages it prematurely. Sun, wind, and rain can slowly erode your car’s paint — making it appear dull and damaged. Even bird droppings can seriously damage your car’s appearance due to their acidity.
Parking your car in the safety of a garage keeps it safe from the elements as well as whatever damaging factors there may be in the environment. A garage keeps your car safe from vandals and thieves, while also reducing the need for cleaning. If you have more cars than your garage can hold, make use of vertical space by installing car lifts. You can get a 2-post car lift with 10,000 lbs capacity for less than $2,000. Even the biggest SUV doesn’t get to that weight, so any vehicle you use should be fine.
Wrap It Up
Your car is constantly bombarded by harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation, wind-blown particles, and insects that get smashed as you drive. Little impacts can directly damage your car paint, creating minute cracks that provide a foothold for oxidation. Minute cracks eventually grow into large visible ones. By then, it would be too late to correct things and your car will need a fresh coat of paint. Constant exposure to UV slowly takes away the luster from your vehicle. The effects accumulate every passing day.
Red paint fades the fastest, but even white paint can fade into a dull gray in 2-3 years. Clear wrap or vehicle wrap adds a layer of protection to your car. The clear vinyl coating protects your car from minor impacts while also blocking the effects of UV radiation. Wrapping a car does not in any way change its appearance — however, it can ensure your car keeps its current look.
A vehicle wrap can preserve your car’s brand new look for years to come — with some manufacturers even guaranteeing protection from fading, cracking, and peeling for the first 5 years.
Clean It Right and Often
Small debris that hit your car like insects, dirt, bird droppings, and other particulates can damage your car given enough time. Even dirt can become corrosive to the metal once it mixes with rainwater. Cleaning your car is of the utmost importance if you want to preserve its looks — but how it is cleaned is also important.
Automated car washes might be convenient, but they can also be a little rough. Older car washes often have abrasive brushes that can damage your car’s wrap or even leave scratches on your car’s finish. Make sure the car wash you go to uses cloth brushes, and make sure the soap/chemicals they use aren’t strong enough to eat away at your car’s wrap.
To be safe, it’s better to do the cleaning at home. Use the two-bucket method, where you load one bucket with car shampoo solution and the other with clear water. Rinse your wash mitt after every application to make sure no dirt and particulates get into your shampoo solution.
Protect Its Interior as Well
The interior of your car matters too — especially if you’re giving a potential client a ride. Cleaning and basic maintenance should keep the interior of your car looking good, but you should also take measures against heat and UV radiation. Heat can dry up your leather seats, causing minute cracks that continually grow. Constant exposure to UV can also cause pigments and dyes to fade, leaving your seats dull and discolored.
Keep your car in the shade and apply UV-filtering film on its windows. UV film blocks 99 percent of UV radiation as well as 80 percent of heat from direct sunlight. You’ll also have safer drives as you won’t be exposing the left side of your body to UV radiation.
Get to ride a brand new car for 5-10 years. Proper care and a few trips to the car shop can preserve your ride’s new look. Your vehicle reflects your image. Make it look as good as possible for as long as you can.
