How to choose a detailer or valeter in Bath and north-east Somerset

Mobile, fixed site, or multi-town operator

Across the four areas covered here, only two of the twelve businesses work as mobile operators from a home base rather than a fixed site: Detail Sixty4, run from Peasedown St John since 2000, and Suds Mobile Valeting, based on Uphill Drive in north Bath. The rest work from a named site or registered premises: Fresh Auto Spa & Car Wash at Hillier Garden Centre, Ajw Valeting, Simpsons at Friary Dene, and Pop Up Valet on Lower Bristol Road, all around south Bath; Somervalet on the High Street in Midsomer Norton, Andrew Taylor Automotive Valeting nearby, Lellers in Radstock, and Western Tarpaulins in Farrington Gurney, all in the Radstock, Midsomer Norton and Paulton area; and Bath Valeting Services in Winsley, near Bradford-on-Avon. WK Professional Car Valet is based in Bath itself but covers a wide area to the south, including Keynsham, Saltford, Radstock, Midsomer Norton, Frome, Bradford-on-Avon, Warminster and Paulton. Lellers is one of three branches trading under the same name in different towns, though its Radstock branch has its own address and phone.

What the credentials found here mean

• More than 30 years in the motor trade, three generations: WK Professional Car Valet, based in Bath.
• 25 years trading, per a Trustpilot review: Lellers, Radstock branch.
• Registered company, active at Companies House: Pop Up Valet, incorporated 2020.

2 of the 12 detailers and valeters listed here show a Google rating, taken from the business's own Google profile and linked from the listing; the others have no rating from a source this directory can link to. Ask to see reviews directly, or ask how long a business has been trading, before you book.

Where coverage is thin

Bath city centre itself has only two confirmed businesses, Suds Mobile Valeting and WK Professional Car Valet, and Bradford-on-Avon has only one, Bath Valeting Services, based in neighbouring Winsley rather than the town itself. If you're in one of these thinner areas, it's worth asking a nearby mobile operator, such as Detail Sixty4 or WK Professional Car Valet, whether they cover your postcode.

Questions worth asking before you book

• Is this a mobile detailer who comes to you, or a fixed site you need to drive to?
• Several listings here rest on a single regional directory rather than the business's own website - Ajw Valeting, Simpsons, Somervalet, Andrew Taylor Automotive Valeting and Western Tarpaulins among them. Ring first to check the business is still trading at the address given before you make a special trip.
• If it's WK Professional Car Valet or Lellers, both of which cover a wide area or trade under the same name elsewhere, check they can reach your exact postcode and, for Lellers, that you have the Radstock branch.
• Is the price you're quoted for a wash, a full valet, or does it include paint correction or a ceramic coating? Only Detail Sixty4 publishes a price list; every other business here quotes once it has seen the car.