Earth-Friendly Ways to Keep Your Car Shiny and Clean

It’s a dilemma many eco conscious car drivers can relate to: wanting to keep the interior and exterior of their vehicles looking as nice as possible, but without using a ton of water or un-Earth-friendly soaps and waxes.

Take heed, “green” car drivers - thanks to some easy-to-follow tips, it is easy to keep your car shiny and clean, without harming the environment.

Leave the Driveway for Parking

As anybody who ever washed their parent’s car in the driveway knows quite well, it involves using a lot of water. This is exactly why eco conscious drivers should avoid cleaning their car at home. 

According to Organic Gardening, washing a car in the driveway can use up a whopping 80 to 140 gallons of water. Instead, take the vehicle to a self-service car wash, where the excessive and used water is collected and sent over to a water-treatment facility. As a bonus, people only use about 15 gallons of water at a do-it-yourself-wash place.

Skip the H2O

Yes, you read that correctly. Even though this might be difficult to envision, you really don’t need water to clean a car. There are several “water less” products to get your car looking clean, including once called Eco Touch.

Another option is to use a spray bottle of eco friendly window cleaner and some towels or rags to clean your vehicle section by section. This method can help to shine up even the grungiest of cars, trucks, motorcycles, and mopeds, and is also a great way to keep a vehicle spotless while on the road. Just throw a small spray bottle of Earth-friendly cleaning solution and a few microfiber cleaning cloths into the glove box, and use them for spot-cleaning the interior of the car.

Never Use Detergent

While washing the car as a kid usually meant squirting some dish soap into a bucket, the Mother Nature Network suggests skipping that. Instead, car owners should look for phosphate-free cleaners that are water-based and biodegradable. Even though these are more eco-friendly, people should still use as little of them as possible in order to minimize what ends up going down into the sewer. 

Research Car Washes

Just like eco friendly drivers may use a service such as Captain Compare to research how “green” their car insurance and roadside assistance providers are, researching car washes is vital for a truly green car. Like the self-wash establishments, automatic car washes must collect the used water so it can be cleaned up and used again. 

Try to find a “no-touch” wash that uses high pressure, rather than rotating brushes to clean the vehicle. These tend to be gentler on the car and reduce the chances of it getting scratched or damaged.