What to charge for car detailing in the UK

Roughly what the UK market pays

These are typical 2026 ranges for a competent independent detailer outside central London. City prices run higher; a rural round with less competition often does too, because nobody else will travel.

• Mini valet (exterior wash, wheels, quick interior): £50–£80
• Full valet (full interior and exterior, properly done): £90–£150
• Single-stage machine polish / enhancement detail: £150–£400
• Multi-stage paint correction: £400–£900
• Ceramic coating including prep: £300–£1,500 depending on the coating and the paint's condition
• Add-ons — pet hair, engine bay, headlight restoration: £20–£60 each

Price by size, not by car

Four bands is the sweet spot: small (Fiesta, Corsa, Polo), medium (Golf, Focus, 3 Series), large (estates, Qashqai, Tiguan), XL (seven-seaters, Range Rover, vans). A 15–25% step between bands roughly tracks the extra time.

Publish all four. Customers do not find it confusing — they find it fair, and it stops the conversation where you try to explain why their car costs more than the price on the website.

Charge for condition separately

Size is predictable; state isn't. Heavy pet hair, mould, smoke, a builder's van interior — these can double the time. Make them add-ons the customer ticks, and keep the right to re-quote on the day if the car isn't what was described. Say so plainly in your terms and nobody argues.

Work out your real hourly rate

Take the price, take off materials (typically £8–£20 a car), then divide by the hours on the car plus travel plus setup and pack-down. A £110 full valet that eats five hours door to door is £20 an hour before tax, insurance, the van and the kit. That's the number to judge a price by — not what the detailer down the road charges.

If you're fully booked three weeks out, you're too cheap. That's not a rule of thumb, it's arithmetic — demand exceeding supply is exactly what a price is meant to balance.

Deposits

A deposit of 20–25% taken at booking is normal and nobody objects to it. It costs you nothing and it turns a no-show from a wasted morning into a paid gap. If you've never taken one, this is the single change most likely to improve your month.

Raising prices

Put the new prices up, honour anything already booked at the old price, and say nothing else. Almost nobody notices; the few who ask are usually fine when told it's the first rise in two years. Detailers routinely undercharge for years waiting for permission that never comes.

If you want prices by vehicle size, deposits and add-ons handled for you, that's what DetailerHQ does — you set four numbers per service and the site does the rest.