The same two words cover a $60 wash and a $1,200 machine polish. So this page explains the trade's own vocabulary first, then tells you which of it your car actually needs — including the times the answer is “none of it”.
Swap for your own pair. Shoot both under the same light, from the same spot — a photo taken in different light proves nothing and everybody knows it.
What the words actually mean
Wash and wax — A proper clean and a few weeks of protection. It is not correction — the swirls are still there under the shine Machine polish, or paint correction — Removes swirls and light scratches by taking microns off the clear coat. Finite: a car can only be corrected so many times in its life Ceramic coating — A hard sacrificial layer over the paint. It makes washing easier and gloss last. It is not scratch-proof, whatever you were told Paint protection film — The only thing that genuinely stops stone chips. Different trade, different money — we'll name a fitter rather than pretend a coating does it Interior detail — Extraction and steam, not spraying scent over the top. This is where most of a used car's value quietly sits The thing nobody says — Most swirl marks come from washing, not driving. How the car is cleaned between visits matters more than what we put on it
Prices are for a standard hatchback in fair condition. A large SUV, heavy tar, a repaint or pet hair all change the day's work, so anything past maintenance is quoted after we see photographs. We would rather talk you down a tier than sell you a coating over damaged paint.
In every visit, whatever the tier
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Decontamination
Iron fallout, tar and bonded grit removed chemically before anything touches the paint.
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A safe wash
Two buckets, grit guards, pH-neutral shampoo and a clean mitt per panel. This is where damage happens.
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Dried with air
Blown out of the shuts and mirrors, then a soft touchless dry. No chamois dragged over the paint.
🛞
Wheels and arches
Faces, barrels and arch liners. The half of the car most people never see cleaned properly.
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Glass, in and out
The inside of the windscreen is the single most-noticed panel in the car once it's done.
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A written handover
What we found, what we corrected, what we left alone and why — with the readings where we took them.
Where it happens, and how long you're without the car
Maintenance — mobile is fine — We come to you. We need a flat spot, and access to your water and a socket unless you say otherwise Correction — in the unit — Machine work needs controlled lighting. Swirls hide from daylight and appear the first evening you park under a street lamp Coatings — indoors, always — They need a dry, dust-free, heated space to cure. A coating applied on a driveway in autumn is money set on fire Time without the car — Half a day, a full day, or two to three days for a reset. We book one car at a time, so the date we give you is real Weather — Mobile work stops in rain and hard frost. We'll call the morning of rather than turn up and do a worse job
What we ask you to do afterwards
Give a coating a week — It hardens over about seven days. No wash, no rain covers needed, just don't scrub it Never a rollover car wash — Those spinning brushes are exactly what put the swirls in. One trip undoes a day of correction Wash every couple of weeks — Two buckets, a clean mitt, pH-neutral shampoo. We'll show you the routine and it takes forty minutes Not in direct sun — Water spots etch into warm paint faster than anything else on this list Bird lime comes off today — Not at the weekend. It is acidic and it will mark through a coating given a hot afternoon
None of this is upselling — it is the whole difference between a finish that lasts two years and one that lasts two months. We'd rather you did it yourself than paid us to fix it again.
Book, or ask what it needs
Photographs beat any description, especially taken in the shade rather than bright sun. A minute of video walking round the car is better still.
