Car detailing questions, answered

It depends on three things: the size of the vehicle, the condition it's in, and which service it needs. We don't publish a price list because the same job on a well-kept hatchback and a neglected seven-seater aren't remotely the same job — quoting from a list means one of those customers gets a number that's wrong. Tell us about the car and we'll come back with a firm figure, not a range, and not something that changes when we turn up.

We come to you — home or workplace, whichever suits. We carry our own water and power, so we don't need your outside tap or an extension lead. All we need is enough room to open the doors fully. If parking is tight where you are, mention it when you book and we'll bring the compact setup.

A Full Deep Clean is typically 4–6 hours. A 1-step paint correction is a full day, 2-step is two to three days, and a ceramic coating needs two to four days including cure time. Headlight restoration is 2–3 hours. We'll confirm exactly when we quote so you can plan around it.

Light rain is usually fine for valeting work. Paint correction and coating work needs dry, controlled conditions — if the forecast turns we'll call you and move the booking rather than rush a job that will look wrong. We'd rather reschedule than hand back something we're not happy with.

Yes — vans, pickups, motorhomes and fleet vehicles are all welcome. Just pick 'XL / Van' on the quote form so it gets priced properly rather than as an oversized car.

Valeting cleans the car: dirt out, protection on, inside and out. Detailing corrects the car — machine polishing to physically remove scratches and swirls from the paint itself, then sealing that finish in with a coating. Valeting maintains what you have; detailing restores what you've lost.

Your clearcoat picks up thousands of microscopic scratches over its life, mostly from washing. Those scratches scatter light before it reaches the colour underneath, which is why older paint looks flat or grey rather than deep. Paint correction machine-polishes a fraction of a micron off the clearcoat to level those scratches out. The colour hasn't changed — you're just seeing it properly again.

Black cars aren't harder to clean — they're harder to clean badly. The paint shows every swirl, water spot and speck of dust that a silver car hides completely, so poor technique you'd never notice on a light colour is glaringly obvious on black. That's why so many black cars look permanently hazy: it isn't dirt, it's fine scratching from sponges and automatic washes. Correct it once, protect it with a coating so dirt struggles to bond, and wash it with the two-bucket method — a black car is then genuinely no more work than any other. It just punishes shortcuts.

It depends on depth. Run a fingernail across it — if your nail doesn't catch, it's in the clearcoat and machine polishing will almost always remove it entirely. If your nail catches, it's through to the basecoat or primer and polishing will improve how it looks but not erase it. We'll tell you honestly which one you have before you commit to anything.

A 1-step removes roughly 60–70% of swirl marks in a day and suits most cars that have simply gone dull. A 2-step adds a dedicated cutting stage and a refining stage, takes two to three days, and gets you past 90%. If you're having a ceramic coating applied, a 2-step is usually the right foundation — you're locking the finish in for years, so it's worth getting right.

If you keep your cars more than two years, yes. It protects the clearcoat from UV, road salt and bird lime, holds gloss for years rather than months, and makes every future wash roughly half the work. If you change cars annually, a good sealant is usually the smarter spend — and we'll tell you that rather than sell you the bigger job.

We fit 2, 5 and 9-year systems. The honest caveat: those figures assume the car is washed properly and inspected annually. A 9-year coating cleaned with a brush at a hand car wash will not last 9 years. We give you an aftercare kit and a written maintenance schedule so the warranty means something.

They solve different problems and work well together. A ceramic coating is a chemical barrier — brilliant against UV, salt, sap and bird lime, and it makes washing far easier. It does nothing against a stone off a lorry at 70mph. PPF is a thick, self-healing film that physically absorbs impacts, so it's what actually stops stone chips. Most people put PPF on the front end and coat the rest.

We won't, even if you ask. A coating is transparent and lasts years, so whatever the paint looks like when we coat it is what you're stuck looking at. Sealing swirls in doesn't hide them, it makes them considerably harder to remove later. Anyone offering a cheap ceramic coating with no correction stage is selling you a problem with a warranty attached.

It's the cheapest insurance in detailing, and much cheaper applied at the same time as a clean than as a separate visit. Fabric coating gives you a few minutes to blot a spill instead of a few seconds — the difference between a wipe and a permanent stain. Leather coating stops dye transfer from jeans and the cracking that always starts on the driver's bolster.

Correction is not an annual job — you're removing clearcoat each time, so it should be done once and then protected. Most people have a full correction and coating once, then a maintenance valet monthly to keep it there. If you're not on a plan, a proper deep clean twice a year keeps most cars in good order.

Please don't. Automatic washes and hand car washes are where almost all swirl damage comes from — the same brushes and sponges go across hundreds of cars. If you're washing at home, use two buckets and a grit guard. If you'd rather not think about it, that's exactly what the monthly Maintenance Plan is for.