Keeping your truck clean may seem like an impossible task but keeping your truck clean is about more than just its appearance. This statement can hold more relevancy for business owners who are looking to get the most out of their work vehicles. For example, a well-maintained truck will preserve its value longer as it reduces the amount of rust on the vehicle.
Whether you’re driving a company vehicle or simply looking to maintain the value of your personal truck, keep reading to explore several benefits of maintaining a clean truck year-round.
The Importance of Keeping it Clean
If you are a business owner, it’s important to note that your company vehicle often acts as a reflection of your business and can leave an impression (positive, negative, or indifferent) on potential consumers.
Additionally, allowing dirt, salt, and debris to linger on the truck’s surface for a long period of time will affect the vehicle’s paint. Getting a new paint job for your truck is expensive, so take preventative measures and commit to washing your vehicle regularly (we recommend bi-weekly at the minimum).
One area that commonly gets neglected is the underside of your truck. The underside of your vehicle is the most vulnerable to the factors we discussed earlier (salt, dirt, and other debris from the road) so putting a priority on keeping that area well-maintained is crucial to the condition of your truck.
Protecting the Underside of Your Vehicle
Although emphasizing the maintenance for the underside of your truck is helpful, underside vehicle deterioration is still possible depending on how often your truck is exposed to the elements. Due to this, it’s worth exploring a professional undercoating for additional protection. Despite incurring an upfront cost for the service, if you are on the road often in poor conditions, it may result in being a more cost-effective choice to prevent damage than potentially having to replace parts underneath your truck.
There are self-service options for undercoating your truck that may seem appealing given the cost difference, but we highly recommend leaving a service like this to a professional to achieve maximum effectiveness. We recommend doing price and quality research on the service to find the best option for you.
Keeping Your Tonneau Cover in Great Shape
An added bonus of keeping your vehicle clean is to better protect your truck accessories. If you’ve invested in accessories like truck racks, toolboxes or a tonneau cover, chances are you’ve spent quite a bit of money.
We often get asked which truck accessories (tonneau covers, toolboxes, etc.) our headache racks are compatible with. In light of these questions, we wanted to include some information about how to maintain a tonneau cover on your truck:
- If you’re washing a cover by hand, we recommend gently scrubbing the tonneau cover with a soft bristle brush using either cold water and soap, or a specialty cleaner for tonneau covers (always refer to the user guide for your specific tonneau cover before washing)
- Before washing a tonneau cover, it’s good practice to move the vehicle to a shaded and/or covered area. After re-locating the truck to an ideal spot, make sure you rinse the cover thoroughly with cold water to remove any loose and easily cleared dirt or debris.
As you can tell, it’s important to properly maintain your tonneau cover to ensure it lasts as long as possible. If you have more questions relating to tonneau covers, check out our other blog posts here.
Summary
It’s important to remain diligent with vehicle maintenance for a variety of reasons. Regardless of how you use your truck, sustaining regular maintenance on your vehicle is necessary to ensure smooth operation and functionality. Additionally, if you continue to add accessories to your truck, more maintenance may be required to keep your vehicle in prime condition. As long as you’re committed to maintaining your truck, accessories are extremely beneficial both visually and functionally.
