Sending regards instead of just saying hi

When I meet with relatives, they’ll always ask about my mom. Then, they tell me to send their regards to her.

Why don’t they just say hi?

The American Heritage Dictionary defines “regards” as “good wishes expressing such sentiment“.

It’s more than just saying “hi”. Strangers on the street sometimes say “hi” to each other. Sending someone your regards means more than that – you actually care about that person. Does that make sense? (I didn’t learn this until now, but that’s only because I finally thought of looking it up in a dictionary.)