After months of freezing temperatures, it might finally be time to run your vehicle through the car wash.
“Now that the snow has melted and the streets are drying up, it is starting to get busy now,” Kirby Kazeil, the owner of Suds full-service car wash said with the hot Saskatchewan sun shining down.
“Everybody in the city has got a dirty car, so things are going to get super busy right away.”
The warm temperatures hovering around 7 C in the Queen City have been awful for those who enjoy the snow, but for Kazeil and his family’s car wash, times couldn’t be better.
“This time of year can be cold and miserable so people don’t get out and about,” he said. “When the weather gets like this, we love it because it’s just some spring fever. It brings lots of our customers out and we love seeing them. It’s just nice to be busy this time of year.”
And while some people like to avoid washing their car until spring when everything is completely dry, if you don’t wash your car, it could lead to some problems according to Anne Hauck, the Western Auto Body general manager.
“For older vehicles, salt will actually attack the metal and over time, causes rust from the inside to the outside of the actual body of the vehicle,” Hauck said.
“For newer vehicles, you don’t have to worry about rust as much, but you do have to worry about your safety systems that involve cameras. The salt and dirt sticks to the camera, and it can even cause your safety systems, blind spots, different types of things like that to not actually function.”
She said while a car wash isn’t particularly expensive, it could save you thousands of dollars.
“If you have to replace a headlamp module, for example, it can run anywhere from $600 to $2,000 for that part alone, not including installation,” Hauck explained. “Rust can cost you thousands, and then you have to decide if it’s worth it to fix the rust.”
Temperatures are expected to continue to be nice into the weekend, before cooling off once again next week.