As the winter months and the long dark days start to become a distant memory, March is finally here and with spring literally just around the corner, it’s time to give your vehicle or vehicles a spring clean and make sure everything is looking its best.
Let’s start with the basics
If the budget will stretch to it, a good vehicle valet will get the season off to a good start. But there is much that can be done to keep things in good order in between, and maintaining a smart, tidy vehicle will always create a good impression with existing and new customers.
Keeping the vehicle tidy on a day-to-day basis will go a long way to ensure it always looks good. There’s nothing worse than a van with piles of litter such as used coffee cups, empty sandwich packets and sweet wrappers cluttering up the dashboard and throughout the rest of the vehicle. This will not create a good impression when turning up at the customer’s premises, so try and remove your litter on daily basis to avoid it building up.
A good idea is to keep a refuse bag in the vehicle so you can easily collect and dispose of your rubbish, remembering to recycle where appropriate. You might also use the vacuum facilities at the filling station when topping up with your fuelGenie cards. Keep any receipts and paperwork tidy and in order, take a few seconds before driving off to store everything in the appropriate place so there are no bits of paper ‘floating’ around the interior.
We all know that smoking in a work vehicle is against the law nowadays, and that’s good for vehicle maintenance. As well as the mess created by ash and cigarette ends, the smell of smoke will linger for a long time and the smoke itself will ‘fog up’ your windscreen very quickly, impeding your view of the road.
Looking after the exterior
In the UK it is not always easy to keep the outside of the vehicle clean and presentable. Very often do we give it a wash until it gleams, only for it to be wet and muddy the following day to completely ‘mess up’ all the effort! Look out for car wash facilities at the fuelGenie filling stations on your regular route. This way you can always pop in for a quick wash before you get to the customer if you need to.
If you’re washing the vehicle yourself, timing is quite important to achieving the best end result. Try and avoid doing this in direct sunlight as it can dry too quickly, leaving streaky marks before you’ve had a chance to rinse it properly.
This is also important if you’re planning to apply wax. Ensure the vehicle is completely dry before waxing and avoid carrying this out when the weather is too hot or cold as the wax will dry too quickly and will not perform properly.
The finishing touches
Cleaning the glass is also key – both on the outside and inside. Find a good automotive glass cleaning product to ensure a sparkling finish. It is particularly important during the months of the year when the sun is low in the sky to ensure a wide, clear view throughout.
Finally make sure you don’t forget the wheels and a good tip to really spruce up the appearance is to polish the bumpers, which can become faded over time. A good bumper polish will really bring up the colour and shine.
First impressions are the most important, but ‘keeping up appearances’ will go a long way to preserving a company’s reputation with its customer. By sticking to these few easy hints and tips, your vehicle will always have that ‘spring cleaned’ look.
