The eco car wash London actually needed

Designed backwards from the problem

Most car washes are environmentally expensive in two places: the journey (a diesel van to your door, or your own drive across town) and the water (hoses run freely into the gutter). Yikes was designed in 2023 to remove both. The journey became a cargo e-bike. The water became a measured, carried supply used at about a quarter of the typical volume.

The result is a wash your street barely notices: no van double-parked, no engine idling, no flooded kerb, and a rider who arrives and leaves in near silence.

Low water, not low standards

The numbers are worth spelling out: an average car takes around 30 litres, and a car that only needs a light refresh can take as little as 8. A quarter of the water does not mean a quarter of the wash, though. The method we developed is a careful top-down hand wash with clean mitts and fresh water, kinder to paint than any rotating brush, and it finishes by leaving a layer of protection on the paintwork: the showroom finish every Yikes-valeted car drives away with.

We are deliberately not a waterless wash: fully dry products struggle on a genuinely dirty car and can mar paint. Low water is the honest middle: enough to lift and carry dirt safely, nowhere near what a hose throws away.

Why this suits London

A city of permit bays and controlled parking is a terrible place to drive somewhere for a wash and give up your space, and a brilliant place for the wash to come to you. Our riders are busiest in Islington, Hackney, Camden and Haringey, from a base in Archway N19, and the same service covers the rest of London, Cardiff and Southampton.

Over 15,000 London cars have been washed this way. If your street is next, the booking page shows live slots for your postcode.