How often should your car actually be detailed?

Ask five detailers and you'll get five answers. Here's the honest version: it depends on how your car lives, not how much you love it.

The daily driver

If your car sits outside and racks up real kilometres, the South African sun is your biggest enemy. UV bakes paint, fades trim, and cracks dashboards. A good rhythm looks like this:

• •An express exterior wash every 3–4 weeks to clear fallout, bugs and bird droppings before they etch the paint

• •An interior refresh every couple of months — sand and dust get into everything here

• •A full detail (inside and out) twice a year, ideally before summer and after winter

The garaged weekend car

Covered parking buys you time. A proper detail twice a year with the occasional maintenance wash in between will keep it showroom-side. The bigger risk is the interior quietly gathering dust and the leather drying out — condition it at least twice a year.

The working bakkie

Mud, site dust and load-bin abuse call for the opposite approach: frequent cheap washes, and a deep clean whenever the cabin starts living a life of its own. Don't let mud sit in the arches — that's where rust starts.

The rule that beats every schedule

Protection beats correction, every time. A sealant or wax layer means dirt lets go easier, washes get cheaper, and the paint underneath stays better for longer. If you only remember one thing: never let bird droppings or tree sap sit longer than a day. They eat clear coat for breakfast.