shampoo, mitts, amortised kit
Advanced options
0 = count DIY time as free
The GBP 5-8 hand car wash's price has an ugly side the sector's own regulators keep flagging (labour exploitation is documented: the legitimate ones cost more because legality costs more) and a mechanical one (brushes and recycled dirty water are where swirl marks come from). Two-bucket DIY washing is the paint-kindest option: the full valet twice a year + DIY between is the enthusiast consensus for normal cars.
What The Car Valeting Cost Calculator Works Out
- Annual spend: the price of the service you choose multiplied by how many times a year you have it, against the DIY equivalent. The ladder runs from a GBP 5-8 hand wash through a GBP 15-20 wash and vac, a GBP 50-70 mini valet and a GBP 120-180 full valet to GBP 250-450 for machine polishing.
- The mix most cars deserve: cheap or DIY washes for routine dirt, a seasonal mini valet for the interior and a full valet only before selling. A properly kept car costs a few hundred a year on that programme, not the GBP 1,800 of monthly full valets.
- Resale honesty: the pre-sale full valet reliably returns more than its GBP 150 cost in private sale price and time to sell. Paint correction on a GBP 2,000 car is a hobby, not an investment.
- Minutes per DIY wash and value of your time (advanced): a proper two-bucket wash takes 45-90 minutes. Pricing your time at an hourly rate shows whether DIY actually beats paying someone; at GBP 15 an hour, an hour-long DIY wash costs more than a GBP 15 wash and vac.
- Mobile valeter premium (advanced): doorstep valeters typically charge 10-30% more than a fixed site for the same work. Added to the per-visit price.
- Seasonal mini valets and pre-sale valet (advanced): adds GBP 50 mini valets (the interior's vents, seals, boot and child-seat archaeology) and a GBP 150 full valet in the year you sell, building the full-year programme.
- Saving vs full valet every time (advanced): what your chosen service saves against GBP 150 full valets at the same frequency. This is the gap the monthly-full-valet habit quietly spends.
- Over the years (advanced): the programme total and the DIY total (including your time) over the years you choose, which is how the GBP 8 hand wash's labour-exploitation and swirl-mark footnotes are usefully weighed against a GBP 200 pressure washer and some mitts.