# Clean your Car!!



## JTTwentySeven (Jul 13, 2017)

If you want tips, clean your car.

I clean my car weekly (for myself, not my passengers) on Sundays after my long Saturday night drive. You know, you typically average a couple bucks at random times, it's not really expected with Uber.

Anyway, I changed it up a week ago because I was going away on Sunday, so I cleaned my car on Saturday before heading out driving for the night. Out of 11 rides, 9 tipped! Made $37 in tips that night. 

I got SO many compliments (more than usual) of how clean my car is and how nice it smelt. I feel like that contributed to my tips. Maybe it was a coincidence, maybe it wasn't. I'm definitely going to try it again this weekend to see how my tips play out.

TIP: Maintenance is key. Clean your car weekly and it won't be a chore when you wait weeks or months to clean it.


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## Jcposeidon (Oct 3, 2017)

I clean everyday and deep clean twice a week. I always get compliments on how clean it is.


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## Mars Troll Number 4 (Oct 30, 2015)

to true...

I hear ALL the time how clean my car is for a taxi... I take it as a point of pride, that and this one time i found a crack pipe (or meth i can't tell the difference tbh)


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## rbort (Feb 19, 2017)

I clean my car every day, after every day's drive. People often say "this is a very nice car". But I don't get alot of tips. Cleaning the car doesn't make a difference for me. I think its demographics and who your riders are. Here is Boston most millenials are cheap. People from Texas always tip, I've had 2 or 3 of them and they tipped every time.

-=>Raja.


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## MadTownUberD (Mar 11, 2017)

rbort said:


> I clean my car every day, after every day's drive. People often say "this is a very nice car". But I don't get alot of tips. Cleaning the car doesn't make a difference for me. I think its demographics and who your riders are. Here is Boston most millenials are cheap. People from Texas always tip, I've had 2 or 3 of them and they tipped every time.
> 
> -=>Raja.


When I was driving CrossFit Games in August I had a very nice couple from Texas who tipped and said "we appreciate you".


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## Bpr2 (Feb 21, 2017)

Since we’re on the topic; what’s the cleaning process/products that y’all use? 

Looking for an effective way to get my leather to look a bit better. I’ve tried the wipes, but ehh


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## JTTwentySeven (Jul 13, 2017)

Bpr2 said:


> Since we're on the topic; what's the cleaning process/products that y'all use?
> 
> Looking for an effective way to get my leather to look a bit better. I've tried the wipes, but ehh


I just use the Armour All Leather Wipes. I use 1 wipe per seat, every other week and it keeps it shiny.


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## Swerves (Nov 16, 2017)

rbort said:


> People from Texas always tip, I've had 2 or 3 of them and they tipped every time.
> 
> -=>Raja.


Whenever you encounter a tipping Texan, please tell them to come back home. 

I've always had older cars and never really kept up with cleaning the insides. I'm a messy girl, my leave my clothes/make-up everywhere and I'm spoiled by my husband who pretty much picks up after me and tells me where my phone/keys/sanity are whenever I've misplaced them. I clean the house often but my idea of cleaning my car was throwing trash away while the gas was pumping.

But we just bought an Outlander with only 30k miles on it. It used to be and Avis rental car. It's clean, at least I think it is but now I'm wondering if maybe I don't know the difference. When you say you clean your car every week, or daily, how and where do you do this? Do you pull up at a self wash and vacuum? Do you have a membership at one of those expensive car washes? How much do you spend weekly on car cleaning?

I'm trying to pick up good habits here.


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## JTTwentySeven (Jul 13, 2017)

Swerves said:


> Whenever you encounter a tipping Texan, please tell them to come back home.
> 
> I've always had older cars and never really kept up with cleaning the insides. I'm a messy girl, my leave my clothes/make-up everywhere and I'm spoiled by my husband who pretty much picks up after me and tells me where my phone/keys/sanity are whenever I've misplaced them. I clean the house often but my idea of cleaning my car was throwing trash away while the gas was pumping.
> 
> ...


Yeah, exterior is a big thing, it's the first impression. Take your car to the car wash, an automatic one where it pulls you through. Who has time to self wash? Vacuum it when you start seeing crap like rocks/leaves/dirt/etc. on the floor or on the seats. Literally takes less than 4 minutes to vacuum.

Make sure your car smells nice. Sometimes our noses become blind to smells, like I had too many air fresheners because I couldn't smell it anymore but my friends said it was wayy too much.

Clean your windows with Windex maybe like once a month, get any smudges off from the inside.

Buy some wipes at Autozone or Walmart and just wipes down all the surfaces in your car. If you do it like every 2 weeks, it's easy to maintain and you'll be down in a couple of minutes. Wait to do all this a month or two down the road, you'll be in the car for like an hour trying to make it spotless.

Remember, your car gives off the impression of who you are. Ever see a beat up car or one with a ton of bumper stickers and say "wow, they look like trash"? You don't need an expensive car to make it look like you're "higher income" so to speak. My Kia Optima looks very premium compared to a BMW or Audi that is dirty. Washing and cleaning goes a long way. Because my car is so clean at all times, my friends think I'm a neat freak at home (I'm really lazy at home and is the complete opposite of what my car looks like)

Hope this helps!


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## Cndragon (Dec 8, 2016)

I tidy, wipe down and bang out the floor mats of my car every day before I drive and midway when I take a break as well...so twice a day. Wash the car once a week, earlier if its looking a bit rough. I dont use fresheners...keeping it clean keeps it smelling fresh naturally. I only use ozium if I have a bad smelling rider which isnt too often. I get many comments on how clean my car is, and how great it smells. Zero effect on my tips. 

Probably a regional thing..if you are in an area where many drivers have dirty cars, you probably stand out way more and make a better impression than if you are in an area where most of the drivers keep their cars clean.


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## Alma Meson (Nov 24, 2017)

Cleanness matters the most..


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## FTLIMITED (Oct 19, 2017)

If you have an auto wash in your neighborhood, find out if they offer a monthly charge for all-you want cleaning. My local wash does this and for $19 per month billed to my cc, I have unlimited car washes. Of course, tire shine and wheel bright is an extra $4.00 per wash, but I pay it. So worth it.


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## freddieman (Oct 24, 2016)

rbort said:


> I clean my car every day, after every day's drive. People often say "this is a very nice car". But I don't get alot of tips. Cleaning the car doesn't make a difference for me. I think its demographics and who your riders are. Here is Boston most millenials are cheap. People from Texas always tip, I've had 2 or 3 of them and they tipped every time.
> 
> -=>Raja.


Red states tip while the blue states generally don't. When they say some small town, tip is likely.


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## MadePenniesToday (Feb 24, 2017)

Having a dirty exterior in my experience doesn't matter much. I could go weeks without a carwash. But I always make sure the inside is clean and vacuumed. Every so often I will scrub my seats with upholstery cleaner since I have light cloth seats.


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## wk1102 (Dec 25, 2015)

JTTwentySeven said:


> Clean your windows with Windex maybe like once a month, get any smudges off from the inside.


Obviously you don't have kids.

I've become pretty slack on cleaning my car, I used to vacuum daily or every other day. Car wash 2-3 times a week. I was always wiping thing down between pings. Rims, tires armour all wipes ....

Now I'm to less than once a week maybe every 10 days- 2 weeks on the wash / vacuum.

Windows, daily sometimes 2 or 3 times a a day. I cannot stand dirty windows.


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## JTTwentySeven (Jul 13, 2017)

wk1102 said:


> Obviously you don't have kids.
> 
> I've become pretty slack on cleaning my car, I used to vacuum daily or every other day. Car wash 2-3 times a week. I was always wiping thing down between pings. Rims, tires armour all wipes ....
> 
> ...


No kids over here


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## wingdog (Nov 6, 2017)

I have screens that cover the windows so pax can't touch them and leave finger prints, or stick things out the window while I'm driving. Had a drunk pax once ask me on the freeway bridge, can I take the screen out so I can hold my phone out the window and take a picture? "I'm, sorry they don't come out. I would If I could" lie, they snap right out / in, but i'm not going to risk anyone tearing my screens, poping out the connectors due to incompetence, or getting fingerprints on my windows. carwash subscriptions are awesome, except when the wash breaks down while your inside of it, and the final rinse sprays mud and wax all over one side of your car instead of water...still finding residue from that after a few hours of hand scrubbing after getting it hand power washed sprayed.

I clean my vehicle weekly, spray, get TONS of compliments and kudos (not sure WHY i get the amount of tips i do yet) on cleanliness every single day that I drive. However, I also get reported for having a 'dirty car' everyday by someone on lyft to the point I'm thinking of not even using their app any more, I get plenty of uber pax. It seams like female liberal millennial's either love the fact I have a service dog that rides shotgun to me, and tip me extra cause of it, or they resent the fact dogs exist and people with disabilities are a thing and report me for 'dirty car'. Older pax, and males don't seem to care much either way. I use a good oder killer (I used febreeze before, but now use something that is more natural, targets 'dog odor' better (highly rated in this regard), and leaves a slight forest smell), and the dog is cleaned, eats healthy, doesn't have 'stinky dog' smell. only a very specific demographic complains, I can tell who they are. I only do like 4 lyft rides a week. so even though the reviews come in on a delay I can figure it out. The extra time I put in to cleaning the car doesn't seem to get me more money, but reduces the amount of things that snowflakes can complain about to get promo codes. They will find other things to complain about though (my poor navigation ratings when up proportionally to the number of 'dirty car' complaints I got went down after I started to seriously scrub it down before going on the clock each weekend.

For the record (I don't think I've ever said this on the UP forum yet.) I used to drive VIP's for the military. SS handled the president, but we where the people they hired from. We where trained to drive VP's, Generals, foreigner diplomats, etc. I give my pax the presidential treatment. very profesional but friendly, letting the pax set the ton for the ride as they wish. plus/premium/lux quality vehicle and service. (haven't been driving enough to do those officially yet though) on uberx prices. these people are entitled. I've been working customer service jobs practically my whole life(mostly within logistics and governmet/military but still customer service) Never had any complaints until these millennial lyft pax.

I feel like they are complaining about the mud on my mats they THEY brought in.


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## wk1102 (Dec 25, 2015)

wingdog said:


> I feel like they are complaining about the mud on my mats they THEY brought in.


It's the dog and/ or the odor killer.


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## JoeD16 (Jul 21, 2016)

I had a guy say to me "here's a tip for you, don't kick a sleeping bear in the nuts" and then he got out and shut the door


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## Mars Troll Number 4 (Oct 30, 2015)

JoeD16 said:


> I had a guy say to me "here's a tip for you, don't kick a sleeping bear in the nuts" and then he got out and shut the door


I have a counter to that...

Don't stiff someone who knows where you live and work, just like you don't stiff your food handlers.


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## O-Side Uber (Jul 26, 2017)

My car only gets "washed" when I take it to Nissan for an oil change...it's a free wash..Before a shift, I dust-off the outside with a towel..spot clean any bugs..Windex the windows if necessary..Bang out the mats...car vac the floors...I use a feather duster from the dollar store to dust off my cloth seats(it's faster than vacuuming). This HAS to be done between shifts because after 10 trips, my seats are full of dandruff, pet and human hair...it's pretty gross...but unavoidable.


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