In 2020, pandemic restrictions severely limited our interactions with those “outside of our bubbles”. Evening drives with friends or carpools with co-workers were off limits in the social distancing era, but - thankfully - we're beginning to ease back into normality. This is good! But are you ready to start car pooling again?
What would people see if they opened your car door right now? A bunch of dirty face masks and empty bottles of hand sanitizer scattered across the seats?
The time has come to get our four-wheeled houses in order and keep them that way. After all, a messy car can tell all kinds of stories about its driver, some of them not so flattering.
Your Auto Is Your Office: Lots of jobs require racking up mileage from stop to stop. Maybe you’re a lawyer who needs to appear at courts throughout the state, a salesperson making stops at medical offices, or a real estate agent walking clients through homes. We can all be forgiven for letting the binders and marketing collateral take over our seats this last year, but we shouldn’t make it a long-term habit.
You Need to Eat Better: What’s that on the passenger-side floor – a fast food bag stuffed with crumpled wrappers, a dirty plastic fork and an empty soda cup? For those whose work lives are spent on the road, it’s tempting to drive through the chain restaurants on the highway, hurry down a $7 meal in the parking lot and step back on the gas. It’s neither a healthy way to live nor a good look to someone stepping in the car.
Your Car Is Going to Have Problems: A messy inside is often a sign that that it’s messy under the hood. If there’s dust on the console and stickiness inside your cup holders, it’s a safe bet you haven’t been to the car wash in a while. A mess on the inside is mainly a cosmetic issue, but the salts, debris and chemicals that you run over get fanned into the undercarriage and engine area and are corrosive. You can extend the life of your car by getting a good cleaning once per season.
Your House Is a Mess: This one may not even be true, but people will think it is. If you’re comfortable traveling around in a tight, enclosed box surrounded by trash and clutter, it’s not a stretch to imagine your sink is stacked full of stinky dishes and your bathroom needs a scrubbing.
You Have Hobbies: So you’re a golfer! How did I guess? For starters, the muddy tees and spikes on the floor, the penciled-in scorecard on the console, and the scratched up Titleists rolling around on your back seat. Gear like this is better off stored in the trunk.
You’re a Smoker: If you’re a longtime smoker, you may not notice the smell of cigarettes that clings to the inside of your car, even if it’s pungent to a passenger. While that’s at least not detectable to someone looking through the windows, the same can’t be said for the scattered ashes, tray full of butts, or cellophane wrappers and empty boxes on the floor.
You’ve Got Pets: Nothing wrong with this one, obviously. But if you expect to ride more often with people in the near future, keep in mind that the excess tufts of hair on the seats can cause allergy problems for your passengers or stick to their clothes.
The common thread through all of these examples is time. As in, if you had more of it, there would be no mess.
Zabode can help. We can come to your home or office, get your keys and return your car to you in no time looking like it just rolled off the dealer’s lot. Your time is valuable – let us help you spend it the way you want to.
Call or text us today at 1-305-537-6666, to set up your appointment.
Live your life. We’ll do the rest.