How to choose a detailer or valeter in Livingston and West Lothian

Studio, hand car wash, or mobile

Of the 40 businesses covered here, 10 are mobile and come to your driveway or workplace, and 30 work from a fixed address or industrial unit you visit. Coverage by area is very uneven: Bathgate & Whitburn has 18 confirmed businesses, more than the other five areas put together, followed by Livingston itself with nine and Broxburn & Uphall with eight. Linlithgow has just three. Mid Calder & Livingston Village and West Calder are each thin, with a single confirmed business apiece – Aqua Foam at Bargain Motors in East Calder, and Prestine Car Wash West Calder at Burngrange. Several mobile detailers based in Livingston, Whitburn and elsewhere say they cover these two areas as well, but per business they are recorded once, under their real base, so that coverage doesn't show up as a second listing here. If you're in Mid Calder, Livingston Village or West Calder itself, it's worth asking one of the mobile operators listed under a neighbouring area whether it will travel to you, rather than expecting a wide local choice.

• Fixed sites and units range from a straightforward hand car wash bay to a proper valeting centre with a published price list: Livingston Car Wash washes vans and caravans as well as cars and adds a valet and cab test valet; Greensteam in Linlithgow Bridge runs a Valet Centre and a newer SmartWash from the same industrial estate with three tiers of valet; Bathgate Truck Wash & Valet Centre and STG Autos both serve vans and commercial vehicles alongside cars. Many of the remaining fixed addresses in Bathgate & Whitburn and Broxburn & Uphall – Auto Kleen, K E Valeting Services, Delux Mobile Valeting and others – are confirmed only by name, address and phone, with no services list or prices found anywhere in research.
• Mobile detailers and valeters cover most of the wider county from a handful of bases: VDS Auto Detailing and Forbes Signature Valet both work out of Livingston and cover the whole of West Lothian; CM Valeting & Detailing and MC Valeting & Detailing are both based in Whitburn and between them cover Broxburn, Uphall, Winchburgh, Linlithgow, West Calder, Polbeth, Addiewell and Longridge; RS Valeting Solutions runs from Armadale across West Lothian, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
• Credentials found in research are limited: CM Valeting & Detailing says it has operated across West Lothian for seven to eight years and has recently expanded into Glasgow, and Greensteam says it has 12 years' experience in machine polishing. 13 of the 40 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.

Confirm by phone before you book

Most of the businesses on this page are recorded here from a single online directory listing giving little more than a name, address and phone number, with no services, prices or opening hours confirmed anywhere else. That does not mean they are not genuine businesses, only that this directory could not independently confirm what a visit or a call-out actually includes. A few pairs of similarly named or co-located businesses turned up in research – Auto Shine Express here in Bathgate is a separate business from the similarly named Auto Shine Express in Edinburgh's Gorgie area, and Waterless Valeting Co in Broxburn is a separate business from a similarly numbered Edinburgh-based listing at the same address – so it is worth checking the address matches the one you found before you call. Whichever business you choose, ask what a wash, valet or detail actually covers, whether the quoted price is a minimum for a small car, and how far a mobile operator will travel to reach you.