FEW valeting tasks provide you with the sense of satisfaction you get after polishing your car. Not only can you take pride in your gleaming bodywork, but you will also have helped slow the steady drop in the vehicle’s resale price by adding protection to the paint.

You have to graft for it, though – and let’s be honest, this is a big job. With very few exceptions, you need to go over the entire car at least twice, applying and buffing the polish. With some products, there will even be three stages to be worked through. And don’t forget, before you can even consider starting to polish, you will have to go to all the effort of washing and then drying the bodywork.