Fleet and van washing in Medway

Medway's vans

Trade vans, site vans and the estate on the peninsula

Medway works for a living. The Medway City Estate, opened in 1986 on 106 hectares of former marsh on the Frindsbury peninsula and home to around 600 businesses and more than 6,000 jobs, is reached by the Medway Tunnel and the A289, and with Gillingham Business Park, Hoath Way and the yards along the Strood waterfront it is where the borough's vans sleep. The rest sleep on drives: Medway has 1.35 cars a household and a good share of the second vehicle on a drive in Rainham, Walderslade or Wainscott is a trade van, plumbers, electricians, carpet fitters, the trades that keep a borough of 111,458 households running. On top of them come the site vans of the house builders, because the Local Plan asks for 26,176 homes by 2041 and the estates at Hoo, Rochester Riverside and Chatham Waters are being built now.

All of them get filthy in the same way. Winter salt from the gritters between October and April, the chalk dust of the Downs in summer, mud from every site entrance, brake dust from the M2 and a film from the Tunnel. A van that is washed every fortnight looks like a business; a van that is washed twice a year looks like a problem, and customers notice before they ring.

One visit, every van

Your washer brings water and power, so a yard with no tap and no socket is fine, and works through the vehicles one after another, photographing each before and after. The Essential Exterior is the fortnightly wash; the Essential Inside & Out adds the cab vacuum and wipe down that drivers appreciate; the Deluxe Inside & Out is for the van that meets customers. Larger vehicles cost a little more because they take longer, and the booking page shows the price for each size before you pay.

When to book it

Early windows, quiet yards and the salt season

Fleets book the 10am window, the earliest on the page, so the vans are washed before the drivers are back and the yard is quiet. A fortnightly outside wash through the gritting season, mid October to mid April, is the one habit that keeps a white van white; monthly is enough in summer with an Essential Inside & Out every other time for the cabs. For a van on a drive, the driver books it like any other wash and the business pays; for a yard, one person books every vehicle on one form.

For several vehicles on a standing arrangement, the fleet page sets out how a plan works. For one van, just book it: the booking page takes a van as readily as a car, prices it by size and sends the photos to the phone that booked.

Medway fleets, and the wash that suits each

The vehicles we wash for Medway businesses fall into a few kinds, and each has a sensible rhythm.

• The sole trader's van on the drive: Essential Exterior every fortnight, Deluxe Inside & Out before the quote that matters.
• Three vans on a yard at the Medway City Estate: one booking, one visit, Essential Exterior each, cab vacuums monthly.
• Site vans at a new estate: Deluxe Exterior after the mud, because the arches and the sills take the worst of it.
• Pool cars at an office on Gillingham Business Park: Essential Inside & Out monthly, in the office car park.
• A minibus or a welfare van: priced as the larger size, washed where it is parked overnight.

More on this: fleet cleaning plans and which size your van is.