Auto detailing
What does mobile auto detailing include?
A detail is a defined list of work, not a vague promise to make a car nice. Here is what is on that list inside and out, what normally costs extra, and what detailing cannot do at all.
Car and SUV detailing at home
Sedans through three-row SUVs, pickups and vans, detailed where you park.
Everyday vehicles
The vehicle you actually use
This is the category most of our work falls into, and it is the one where the gap between how a vehicle starts and how it ends up is widest. A car that carries a commute, a car seat, a dog and a coffee for three years does not get dirty evenly — it accumulates in specific places, and those places are what a detail is really for.
Nothing here requires you to go anywhere. We arrive with our own water and power, work on your driveway or in your office lot, and leave the vehicle where we found it. The appointment is a real arrival window with the whole job reserved behind it rather than a guess that runs late by lunchtime.
A vehicle you sit in for an hour a day is worth more attention than one you look at.
What counts
Vehicles we detail in this category
Body style decides how long the work takes, which is what moves the price. Everything below is priced online without needing a quote first.
Cars
- Sedan
- Coupe
- Convertible
- Hatchback
- Wagon
Crossovers and SUVs
- Compact crossover
- Mid-size SUV
- Full-size SUV
- Three-row SUV
Trucks and vans
- Pickup truck
- Minivan
- Passenger van
- Cargo van
Lifted trucks, extended-length vans and anything with a wrap or a matte finish are still welcome — tell us when you book so the right method and the right amount of time are reserved.
Popular services
How far you want us to go
The order of work and the standard are the same whichever you choose. What changes is how much of the vehicle is covered.
01
Interior Detail
Seats, carpets, trim, glass and every touch point reset by hand. The right answer for a vehicle whose paint is fine and whose cabin is not.
02
Exterior Detail
Wheels first, foam, hand wash, decontamination, then protection. This is what makes the next month of rain run off instead of sitting on the paint.
03
Complete Detail
Both, in one visit, in the order that stops either being done twice. The service most people book when a vehicle has been left a while.
04
Signature Detail
Everything in the Complete, plus machine work on the paint and longer-lasting protection. For a finish you want looking its best rather than clean.
Inside
What we find in a family vehicle
Six things account for almost every interior we are called about. Each one needs a different method, and two of them are add-on work rather than part of a standard clean.
- Pet hair
- Dog and cat hair hooks into the weave and a vacuum pulls at the free end. It has to be dragged out mechanically with rubber tools, one direction at a time, and then collected.Quoted separately, because it adds real time rather than effort.
- Spills that reached the foam
- Milk, coffee, a bottle that leaked behind a seat. Once liquid is past the cover, hot water extraction is the only thing that removes it rather than spreading it.
- Odor
- An odor is a source, not a smell in the air. We find it, remove it, neutralize what is left and dry the cabin properly. Anything sprayed before that is a cover.
- Leather that has never been conditioned
- Body oils and dust wear through the finish at the bolsters. Cleaned and conditioned regularly this takes many years; left alone, a cracked bolster becomes upholstery work.
- The third row and the trunk
- The parts that get loaded and never emptied. Seats folded down, rails and runners vacuumed, cargo area done rather than worked around.
- Film on the inside of the windshield
- Plastics and vinyl off-gas onto the glass. It is invisible until headlights hit it, which makes it a night-driving problem before it is a cleanliness one.
Outside
What comes off, and what goes on
A wash removes what is loose. Everything else on a panel is bonded to it, and removing that is a separate step with separate products.
What we remove
- Road film — the gray haze that flattens light paint
- Brake dust and iron particles embedded in the clear coat
- Insect residue, which is acidic and etches in summer heat
- Road tar from the rockers and lower doors
- Tree sap and mineral water spots that have not yet etched
- Whatever is left, sheared off with a clay pass
What we put back
- A wax or sealant on a decontaminated surface, applied by hand
- Dressing on exterior trim so it stops going chalky
- Tires cleaned and dressed without the greasy finish
- Glass sealed so rain clears rather than smears
- Wheel faces protected, which is what keeps brake dust from baking on
On the day
How a driveway visit runs
You do not need to be there, and you do not need to provide anything. Roughly a parking space and a half is the only requirement.
We arrive in the window you chose
A real arrival window with the whole job reserved behind it. If anything changes you hear from us before it becomes your problem.
We look at the vehicle first
A walk around before anything starts. If it needs more than it was booked for, the figure is put to you before any work is done.
Outside first, inside last
Washing a vehicle re-soils a cabin through open doors. Doing the interior first means doing part of it twice.
We hand it back where we found it
A walk around together if you are there, photographs if you are not, and the vehicle locked exactly where it started.
Questions
Asked about cars & suvs
Do you need my driveway, or can you work in an apartment lot?
Either. A driveway, an apartment parking space, an office lot or a garage bay all work, as long as there is room to open the doors and walk around the vehicle. Some apartment and office properties ask for notice before a contractor works on site, which is worth checking with your management first.
Do you need my water or power?
No. Our vans carry their own water and their own power. If you would rather we used an outdoor faucet that is fine and slightly quicker, but nothing about the service depends on it.
Will you remove my child seats?
No, and that is deliberate. Reinstalling a child seat incorrectly is not a risk worth taking with somebody else's child. If you want the seat underneath cleaned, take it out before we arrive and we will do that area properly.
Can you get scratches out of the paint?
It depends on how deep they are. Run a fingernail across one: if it glides over, the mark is in the clear coat and machine polishing can address it. If it catches, it has gone through, and no amount of polishing will fill it — that is paint work.
How long does a detail take on an SUV?
Size and condition both matter, and condition usually matters more. A three-row SUV detailed every couple of months is a quicker job than a mid-size sedan that has not been cleaned in a year. The booking flow reserves the time your vehicle actually needs based on what you tell us.
What happens if it rains?
Interior work goes ahead in almost any weather. Exterior work moves, because protection applied to a wet panel does not bond and a wash finished in rain is a wash paid for twice. We contact you to reschedule rather than turning up and pushing through.
Read next
The services behind this
A vehicle page says what we will touch. A service page says what the work consists of, step by step, and how the exact price is arrived at.
- Interior DetailSeats, carpets, trim and glass, with the add-ons set out honestly.
- Exterior DetailHand wash, decontamination and protection, in the order that avoids damage.
- Complete DetailBoth halves in one visit, and what that combination is actually for.
- Recurring careChoosing how often, so each visit is upkeep rather than recovery.
Guides
Written about this kind of vehicle
What needs care, what damages it, and what changes the scope of a visit — in more detail than a landing page can carry.
Interior care
Interior detailing vs. deep interior cleaning
Both clean the inside of a car. Only one of them gets into the foam. Here is how to tell which your vehicle needs before you book, and what each one can and cannot remove.
Exterior care
What exterior detailing actually removes
A wash removes what is loose. Everything else on your paint is bonded to it. Here is what each contaminant actually is, what it does if left, and the step that removes it.
Other vehicles
We do not only detail cars
Motorcycles & UTVs
Bikes, quads, side-by-sides and golf carts, cleaned where they are stored.
RVs & buses
Motorhomes, towables, coaches and converted buses, measured by the foot.
Boats
Gelcoat, vinyl, canvas and cabin — on the trailer, on the hard or in the slip.
Semi trucks
Day cabs, sleepers, box trucks and trailers, cleaned where they are parked.
Book in two minutes
Cars & SUVs, detailed where they are.
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