Is the cleanliness of your vehicle a reflection on you? Poll.

[Ralph III]

Hello All,
I just wanted to inquire whether you think a person who keeps an immaculately clean car is the type who is unlikely to litter? In other words, it's a reflection of their personality. They are obviously conscious of such.

I'm not saying everyone who keeps a car as such never litters but generally speaking. In addition, we are talking about personal cars and throwing a bubble gum wrapper out on occasion isn't the sort of littering I'm referring to.

I managed a detail business for 14 years, btw. I have my experience and opinion but would like to hear from you simply out of curiosity.

God Bless,
Ralph

 

[the great him]

this is a hard one... i for one like to keep a clean truck/car, and i dont litter, but also because i dont littler i find that i am cleaning out my truck constantly because trash or other things end up on the floor or in the back seats, so after a while my truck can look like a utter mess inside, thus i go a clean it out and get back to being all nice. now with that being said i have no qualms about tossing a banana peal out the window or other bio-degradable items -orange peals, apple cores, ice. as long as its in the country or rural areas not populated.

and having worked at a dealer i have seen how other people keep the insides of their vehicles, and yeah some of them are just pigsties and grose which leads me to believe they do not litter either and thus they trash their vehicle because they either dont care about their car or they are just too lazy to clean the trash and clutter out.

 

[TOY2G]

Back when I did the hiring for PepBoys I always made it a point to walk a potential employee to their car. I would consider the condition of their vehicle when considering them for employment. I have held on to the habit to this day, and I can tell you with certainty, the way people maintain their car does reflect on how organized they and their work station will be.

 

[02SE]

In my experience; If a person is a pig in one aspect, they're likely a pig in all aspects.

 

[Buckles]

I think it depends on what part of the vehicle you are talking about. I am very organized and borderline OCD with a lot of things in my life, especially work and home. Particularly my desk and general organization of things. That being said, I usually keep the inside of my truck spotless. Aside from my jacket laying in the back seat there is rarely any trash or dirt left in it. The outside of my truck is another story. I work in a very dirty place and my truck is parked outside, uncovered on the edge of a ship channel in a dusty steel fabrication yard. If I was to wash it, the outside would be covered in dust/mud the next day. Therefore I don't wash the outside near as often as I'd like simply because it feels like a waste of time. Washing my car is more of a weekend hobby as something just to do rather than a necessity. I'd love it if I could keep it clean for more than a day, but with my current job that's just not an option.

 

[TOY2G]

I think it depends on what part of the vehicle you are talking about. I am very organized and borderline OCD with a lot of things in my life, especially work and home. Particularly my desk and general organization of things. That being said, I usually keep the inside of my truck spotless. Aside from my jacket laying in the back seat there is rarely any trash or dirt left in it. The outside of my truck is another story. I work in a very dirty place and my truck is parked outside, uncovered on the edge of a ship channel in a dusty steel fabrication yard. If I was to wash it, the outside would be covered in dust/mud the next day. Therefore I don't wash the outside near as often as I'd like simply because it feels like a waste of time. Washing my car is more of a weekend hobby as something just to do rather than a necessity. I'd love it if I could keep it clean for more than a day, but with my current job that's just not an option.

For me I am not concerned with the outside of the vehicle, you cannot call someone a slob just because their vehicle got dirty at work. It's always based on the inside of the vehicle, how many food wrappers, random frenchfries, empty cups, and trash.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

My best friend's car is a mess inside, granted he doesn't have rotting food or anything like that. But it is filled with wrappers, clothes, junk, ect. You can tell which side of his bed is his and which is his wife's (we both make fun of him for it.)

He's a good guy and he doesn't litter; but he's typically disorganized, spacey, unfocused (he does have ADD), and so on. But he's a hard worker and when stuff gets serious he can be absolutely focused, but in general he's a bit of a slob sometimes.

I typically keep my room and my car immaculate (my home desk is a bit of a mess because people leave crap on it all the time...) but my tool box is organized and everything goes back in its place, cleaned at the end of every job I do. But as the stress in my life has gotten worse and my personal problems get worse I have unfortunately neglected my 4Runner a bit. There's a dried up soda stain on my WeatherTech Digitfits I haven't cleaned up (I have Clorox wipes in the truck, my truck is still highly organized, everything has its place) because I have just been too tired at the end of the day to do it...for about a month now.

Both my friend and I are outliers in your pole here, to sort of give a counter point that its not 100% accurate. But I do have to agree with most people that the people who treat their cars like a dumptruck are usually not very well put together.

 

[gshadow325]

Surprised no one mentioned kids, lol. It's a loosing battle. No matter how many, "you better not make a mess in my car or else" you say. ..I always get a OK daddy, I'm sorry it won't happen again. It happens again and again.

My front passenger seat is like my desk. Front passenger foot well has a cardboard box for trash.

It's getting better as my kids get older. They are the reason I never want to buy a new vehicle. It hurts to see it get destroyed and hurts more every month that check goes out to pay for the new truck lol

 

[MikeDUBS]

Surprised no one mentioned kids, lol. It's a loosing battle. No matter how many, "you better not make a mess in my car or else" you say. ..I always get a OK daddy, I'm sorry it won't happen again. It happens again and again.

100% agree. I bet if I go out to my 4R right now, I'll find dolls, trash, jackets, something. Doesn't matter how many times I tell my girls to "take out what you bring in," they always leave stuff behind.

 

[02_SE_Runner]

I would say its a reflection of someones personality to a point. There is dirty, then there is disorganized. All of our vehicles get disorganized once in a while right? I can tell you my 4Runner gets disorganized during winter with coats,beanies and scarfs, because its to cold to organize. (Usually) When I travel it gets disorganized again, because you just want to get to your destination. (I usually pack every in the 4Runner nice and neat, but when you need to get to something, thats when it gets disorganized) But I always find myself organizing it again, because that's how my personality is. I always keep clean in every aspect of life, as I do with my 4Runner.

Now, My best friends (parents) vehicle, is a mess and is dirty on the inside and I can tell you their house is exactly the same.

So bottom line I believe, however you treat one thing is usually how you treat everything.

 

[USMCASA]

i wouldn't think they would litter, i would think they would keep it in their car with the rest of their nasty trash. i've seen both, clean car people toss a fast food bag out the window to keep their car clean and dirty car people freak out when a cigarette butt goes out the window.

 

[91'4bee]

I clean all my cars very well and once a month if I can. You know the usual, vacuum, clean windows, car wash, wax, and clean interior. As for my 4runner it is a bit different. I do all of the things I said but because it is 23 years old and doesn't have the notorious cracked dash, that all the 2nd gens seem to have, I armor-all it and basically the whole interior panels as well. Needless to say the inside of my 4runner is immaculate. The outside is a different story with sunbaked paint on the roof and peeling clear coat on the hood(but no rust!). However I still wash it and polish the chrome to make it pop still!

Is it a reflection on me littering? Yes, because I don't litter. Is it a reflection of OCD-ness? No. I just like to keep my cars clean(and I guess my house too, now that I think about it) and it irks me when I get in a car and my feet is touching trash. I just think that most car guys/enthusiasts feel that the CAR(how it looks too) is a reflection of the owner; and you want it to reflect well.