Car valet prices.

[Dave7]

Think I said some time ago. We (pre Covid) would drop it off near town centre.
Valet, inside and out.....£15.00.
Included in that is free parking for the day which meant we could do our shopping or get the train to Liverpool.
Anyway.....on my walk this morning there was a mobile valet at at house so I stopped to ask him his price.
He says "what car"
I said "Astra.......I just want the inside and bodywork doing".
£55.00 .
Seems a lot to me.

 

[Milkfloat]

Quite likely the difference between slave labour doing a quick job and someone doing a proper job and paying taxes.

 

[PK99]

£15 = most likley a slavery issue!


Ten potential slavery victims have been rescued in a raid on a car wash, police have said.
Three men were arrested after officers swooped on the Drive and Shine car wash in Stockport Road, Levenshulme, as part of an investigation with police in the Czech Republic.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-engla...rested after,at addresses in south Manchester.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...s/warrington-car-wash-modern-slavery-17288009

https://www.gmvictims.org.uk/find-information/ive-been-affected-by/slavery-trafficking

 

[Mo1959]

Think I said some time ago. We (pre Covid) would drop it off near town centre.
Valet, inside and out.....£15.00.
Included in that is free parking for the day which meant we could do our shopping or get the train to Liverpool.
Anyway.....on my walk this morning there was a mobile valet at at house so I stopped to ask him his price.
He says "what car"
I said "Astra.......I just want the inside and bodywork doing".
£55.00 .
Seems a lot to me.

Depends what it includes I suppose. I treated my neglected Yaris to a £60 one but it looked like a new car when it was done. Wash, dry and exterior polish, wheel detail, tyre wall black, full interior clean. I felt it was worth it.

 

[Drago]

A valet costs a couple of hundred quid. Your local hand car wash can couch it in any temrs they like, it's still a hand car wash and not a real valet.

Modern slavery (or simply 'slavery' - we don't have modern shoplifting), illegal immigrarion, illegal working practices, even raising funds for terrorism, yadda yadda, are rife and when i had my own beat we used to have to monitor the comings and goings at the hand car washes and pass the info onto the Branch regularly. A noteworthy number weren't legit in some form.

I do mine myself - aside from doing a better job, it takes considerably less time than driving to a hand car wash, queuing, getting the job done and then driving home. Of course, it takes more effort but im not allergic to that.

 

[fossyant]

Depends what it includes I suppose. I treated my neglected Yaris to a £60 one but it looked like a new car when it was done. Wash, dry and exterior polish, wheel detail, tyre wall black, full interior clean. I felt it was worth it.

How much.

Always do my own car, never had anyone wash it. That said it looks mint for a 19 year old daily driver.

A job done properly will cost. It's probably a good hours work to hoover out, wash, dry and then detail. My sister has their cars done once every three months or so - costs quite a lot, but the cars look good for a few days, then are filthy for another three months.

 

[Mo1959]

How much.

Always do my own car, never had anyone wash it. That said it looks mint for a 19 year old daily driver.

A job done properly will cost. It's probably a good hours work to hoover out, wash, dry and then detail. My sister has their cars done once every three months or so - costs quite a lot, but the cars look good for a few days, then are filthy for another three months.

The old back doesn’t like bending these days plus I have just got over a badly sprained wrist so I splurged. Hopefully keep on top of it now it’s done.

 

[I like Skol]

I said "Astra.......I just want the inside and bodywork doing".

'Just' the inside and outside. So all of it then?

I'm with Drago here. a proper job will be considerably more than £50-60. Just about to splurge on a proper job for my wife's car. It's black and has only been washed and hoovered with an occasional wash down of the shut lines, interior trim and windows by me for the last 3 years. Really needs a real deep clean. Not bothered with the engine bay detailing guff but the paintwork could do with the works, clay bar, etc as it is quite rough with residues and tar spots. I would be unsurprised by a price tag of a couple of hundred quid for the real deal, but would expect the car to come back looking as new.

 

[swee'pea99]

'Just' the inside and outside. So all of it then?

 

[Eric Olthwaite]

You must all be pretty wealthy if you can afford a valet dedicated to cars. I have to cope with just one valet, who must turn his hand to whatever are the most pressing tasks of each day.

 

[CanucksTraveller]

Agree with Drago, Skol et al, a 15 quid car wash and interior vac isn't really a "valet", it's a quick once over to get the worst off. A proper car *valet* (I.e. a deep clean of the interior, fabrics, carpet, and a thorough wash, clay, wax and polish) is about 60 to 100 depending... it can even be more if it's a proper "detailing" i.e. every nook and cranny, engine bay clean etc. They used to say you should spend 200 on a valet before selling a quality used car and it can add double that to the price you get.
A 3 to 5 year old car feels completely revitalised after a full valet, and smells fresh and new.

 

[swee'pea99]

Have to admit I was amazed to discover recently that people were eagerly paying £70 a pop to have their cars done by some mobile hipster, and even more surprised that when I reported this to the assembled, no-one batted an eye. 70 quid! I've bought cars for less than that.

I gave ours the standard spring clean just last week - there's no point trying to keep it clean during the winter. Took maybe an hour or so - hoover, clean windows, wipe down interior. Not a valet, for sure. My wife pointed out that 'valet' includes things like shampooing carpets and seats, and I certainly don't go that far. But it looks transformed!

I was so inspired I went on to wash & wax the next day. It rained while me & the hound were in the woods, and when we came back to the car it was covered in these little silver balls of water.

 

[Drago]

It takes me 45 minutes, in and out, for a dirty great XC90. The trick is not to let it get too mucky, and to use "wax it wet" type products which are not only very speedy but also do less damage to the surface than conventional ungents.

It takes me 2 or 3 cleans to get a car how I want it, then 45 minutes a fortnight to keep it that way. Perhaps an hour if I chat with a passing neighbour or pause to sup on George Clooney's liquid refreshement. At best thats half an hour quicker than driving to a place and paying someone to do it would take, more if there's a queue.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

I have a company car. It gets cleaned at the garage when it gets serviced.

 

[Electric_Andy]

There is a place near me which was about 15 too. They were all Polish, and 3 of them would swamp the car and scrub like blazes. A colleague of mine feared they were victims of slavery, as she had seen a mattress in one of the offices. Well who's to know, but at peak times they must get 40 or 50 cars in there an hour. But a few of them were smoking, so I thought if they were vixtims of slavery, they wouldn't be able/allowed to smoke?

Anyway, back to the point, a deep and thorough valet would take all day, seats out, wet and dry vacuum on the floors and seats etc etc. But if they do a good job then why not