The Super Valet in Hillingdon

Why Hillingdon cars need it

The approach, the Lido and the A40 car park

Hillingdon's cars live three lives at once. Under the Heathrow approach, in Harlington, Hayes and West Drayton, the paint takes an oily film every week of the year, and the only thing that stops it bonding is a layer of wax between it and the lacquer. In the north, Ruislip Lido's sandy beach, Ruislip Woods and the borough's 239 parks fill the cabin with the countryside: sand in the seat runners by June, mud in the footwells by November, the dog in the boot all year. And everywhere, the M4, the M25 and the A40 put brake dust on the wheels and a commuter's working week inside the car.

A Deluxe valet deals with the surface of all that. The Super Valet deals with what has got into the material. Shampoo and extraction pull the Lido out of the carpet pile rather than flattening it; steam and protectant take the dog out of the boot rather than scenting it; fed leather stops cracking where the airport dust has dried it; a wax on the outside means the next month's film is a rinse rather than a scrub. It is the job that makes a three year old Hillingdon car look one year old, and it is why lease customers in Ickenham book it twice a year and keep the dated photographs.

Drives, bays and undercrofts

Ruislip is 37 percent detached and Ickenham 87 percent car owning, and the drives there are the easy case: both cars on one booking, the van on the road outside. In the HY and UX permit zones the car stays in its own bay and the washer parks nearby; the borough's permits are virtual, so the visit touches nothing. Under the blocks at the Old Vinyl Factory and the Yiewsley estates, the allocated bay works if every door can open, and the washer brings water, power and light.

Timing

September, April, and the week before it matters

September first, after the last Lido weekend and before the clocks go back, while half a day still fits in the light: the sand and the summer come out of the cabin and the wax goes on before the gritters salt the A40 and the A4. April second, in the first dry fortnight after the salt stops: the tide marks come out of the carpets before they set and the paint gets a fresh layer for the summer under the approach. After the clock change the 10am window is the one to book, and the washer does the outside while the light is good.

The third date floats. A lease car with a year left gets a Super Valet now, so there is a dated record of its condition twelve months before the inspection. A car going on sale gets one the week before the photographs, because a restored interior sells faster than a shiny bonnet. A car that has gone more than a year without any care starts with the Deep Clean instead, and the Super Valet becomes its twice a year habit afterwards. Between Super Valets, a Deluxe Inside & Out every four to six weeks keeps the car where it was left.

Who books it in Hillingdon

The 2021 Census found a third of Hillingdon households with two or more cars. The second car, the one that does the Lido, the Woods and the Saturday sport while the first does the airport or the tube, is the one that usually needs this.

• The Ruislip family SUV in September: the Lido out of every seam, the wax on before the salt.
• The Harlington car under the approach: September first, for the wax; April to take the winter off.
• The Ickenham lease car with a year to go: twice a year, photographs kept for the hand back.
• The Heathrow shift worker's car: the half day while they sleep, once it is unlocked.
• The Northwood car going on sale: the week before the photographs.
• The car nobody has cleaned in a year: Deep Clean first, Super Valet after.

More on this: the deep clean explained and every Hillingdon neighbourhood we cover.