End of lease car clean in Medway

What the inspector sees

Three years of Medway in one car

A car leased from one of the dealers along the A2 or in Strood spends three years doing what Medway cars do: the M2 to the Dartford Crossing or into Kent, the school run through Rainham or Walderslade, weekends at Capstone and Riverside, summers on the beach at Allhallows, and three winters of road salt, which the council spreads from mid October to mid April. By the end, the paint has a chalk and salt film that dulls it, the wheels carry brake dust, the sills carry tar, the seats carry the children and the carpets carry salt marks from every wet pair of shoes. None of it is damage. All of it looks like damage in a collection photograph.

The End of Lease clean deals with the lot in a single visit. Outside, a proper two bucket wash, wheels and arches cleaned, tar spots lifted from the sills, glass finished, tyres dressed, and the plastics brought back so the car looks cared for rather than tired. Inside, every surface vacuumed, the plastics and the leather cleaned, the inside glass done, the boot cleared of sand and the door shuts wiped. The interior shampoo add on is the one most Medway returns need: it lifts the salt tide marks and the stains that a vacuum leaves behind, and it is what separates a clean car from a returned one. Your washer photographs the car from every angle before and after, and the photos sit in your wash report with the date on them.

Why a dated record matters

An inspection report is written by the other side. Your wash report is the one you hold: the car's condition on the day it was handed over, with the time stamp, in case anything is later described as worse than it was. It costs nothing and it has settled more than one argument.

When to book it

Three to five days before the collection

Book the End of Lease clean for three to five days before the car is collected or driven back. That leaves a day for the shampooed carpets to dry fully with the windows cracked, which matters more in a Medway November than in June, and a few days in which nobody has to use the car for the school run or the dog. If the car has to be driven to the dealer, go on a dry day and do not stop at the beach.

If the car has had a hard life, book the Full Interior Detail as well, or instead, a week earlier: it shampoos, steams and protects every surface, lifts pet hair and smells, and gives the End of Lease clean a cabin to finish rather than rescue. For a car whose paint has gone grey and rough, the Exterior Detail's decontamination and clay the week before makes the final clean look like a different car. The booking page prices every one of these for your car's size, and Members Club takes 20 percent off each.

Lease cars in Medway, and what each needs

Medway's 111,458 households run 1.35 cars each, and a good share of the newer ones on the drives of Rainham, Hempstead and Wainscott are on three year leases from the dealers on the A2 and in Strood. The same car comes back in four conditions, and each has its clean.

• The commuter car, driven and rarely sat in: End of Lease clean on its own, with the salt film and the brake dust taken off.
• The family car, with three years of children in it: End of Lease clean with the interior shampoo add on.
• The dog's car: Full Interior Detail the week before, End of Lease clean three days before.
• The car with grey, rough paint: Exterior Detail the week before, End of Lease clean three days before.
• The car you are buying at the end of the lease: a Super Valet instead, because it is yours now.

More on this: what a mobile valet includes and interior cleaning in Medway.