[ITSv40]

It isn't just the dealers standards that have fallen, but the expectations of joe public are way off the bottom end of the scale. Apart from a few oddballs that frequent car forums and take a pride in having a clean well maintained car very few folks take any more interest in a car than they do in a washing machine.

I am old enough to remember when car ownership was something to be aspired to and it was a Sunday morning ritual to wash and polish and carry out basic servicing and checks. Nowadays with PCP and service contracts very few know how to open the bonnet and have no desire to find out.

A young family live near to me and have a Vauxhall people carrier - yes, I know there is no accounting for taste - it went through last winter without a wash, other than a quick wipe over of the lights. At the start of lockdown both parents were furloughed and were at home all the time - still are - yet the car has still not had a wash.