How to choose a detailer or valeter in Ealing and Hounslow

Fixed pitches, mobile valeters, and a market dominated by hand car washes

This directory covers five areas across Ealing and Hounslow: Ealing (3 businesses), Hanwell (1), Hounslow (5), Isleworth (6), and Southall and Greenford (9). Hanwell is the thinnest area by some distance, with only one business, In 'N' Out Hand Car Wash, confirmed with a phone number; if you're based there, it's worth asking a business in neighbouring Ealing or Hounslow whether it covers your postcode too.

• Fixed hand car wash and valeting pitches make up most of the list: Euro Car Wash and Upscale Detailing in Ealing; In 'N' Out Hand Car Wash in Hanwell; Prestige PPF, Berkeley Hand Car Wash, Hounslow Hand Car Wash and RR.Detailing in Hounslow; JG Hand Car Wash and Quality Control Detailing in Isleworth; and City Valeters, Greenford Hand Car Wash, Golden Car Ltd, Tasko Hand Car Wash, Auto Shine Car Wash, Shine Factory Car Care Centre and Southall Hand Car Wash in Southall and Greenford.
• Mobile detailers and valeters come to you: ADH & Sons, trading since 1985 from Ealing; BJS - Car Detailing And Valeting from Hounslow; CarCare LM, Boydies Mobile Valeting/Detailing and Eco Kleen from Isleworth; and Prestige Car Detailing and Ready2valet Ltd from Southall and Greenford.

A handful of businesses share a building with another business in this directory. Prestige PPF and RR.Detailing both have units in the same Spring Grove Road complex in Hounslow, and Golden Car Ltd and Shine Factory Car Care Centre both have units on the Wadsworth Road industrial estate in Perivale. They are separate businesses in each case, but it's worth double-checking the unit number when you visit rather than assuming the first door you reach is the right one. A few other listings here were recorded once after two directories gave the same address and phone number under two different trading names, among them JG Hand Car Wash, Southall Hand Car Wash and Tasko Hand Car Wash, so the sign outside may not exactly match the name on an older listing you find elsewhere.

What the ratings show

6 of the 24 businesses listed here show a Google rating, taken from the business's own Google profile and linked from the listing; the rest have no rating from a source this directory can link to, which for many of them is because no website or verifiable profile was found at all rather than because reviews are poor. Golden Car Ltd, Prestige PPF, BJS - Car Detailing And Valeting and CarCare LM combine a rating with a confirmed website, so they're a reasonable starting point if you want more than a phone number and an address to go on before you call.

Questions worth asking before you book

• Fixed premises or mobile, and if mobile, does the operator bring their own water and power?
• Is the quote for a wash, a full valet, or paint correction and protection work? Several of the detailing businesses here, including Upscale Detailing, RR.Detailing and Quality Control Detailing, have only a trading name, address and phone number confirmed, with no service menu, so ask exactly what's included before assuming it covers machine polishing or a coating.
• For a unit-based hand car wash sharing an industrial estate or shopping centre with other units, confirm the exact unit number when you call.
• If you're in Hanwell, ask a business based in Ealing or Hounslow whether it also covers your postcode, since there is only one confirmed local option there.
• Several listings here rest on a directory entry rather than the business's own website. Ring first to check it is still trading and that the address and services are current before assuming the listing is accurate.