The Super Valet in Medway

What it is

A valet, a wax and an interior brought back

A Deluxe valet keeps a car clean. The Super Valet takes it back to the state it was in before six months of Medway got into it. Outside, it is the full exterior valet, wheels, arches, tyres and glass, finished with a wax that fills the fine marks, deepens the colour and gives the paint a layer the estuary salt and the chalk dust sit on rather than in. Inside, it is restoration rather than tidying: the seats and carpets shampooed and extracted, the leather cleaned and fed, the plastics cleaned and dressed to a matt finish rather than a shine, the vents, the gaps and the boot done, the glass inside and out. Door shuts, sills, the fuel flap, the bits a valet skips.

It takes a half day booking, two slots on the booking page, and it is done on your drive with your washer's own water and power. The before and after photos in your wash report are usually the most dramatic we send.

Why twice a year in Medway

Medway's seasons are hard on paint and fabric in turns. From mid October to mid April the council's gritters salt the main roads and the bus routes, the estuary adds its own salt film, and the inside of the car fills with wet shoes, wet dog and the mud of Riverside and Capstone. From April to October it is chalk dust, tree sap, the sand of Allhallows and the crumbs of six months of school runs and days out. A Super Valet at the turn of each season resets the car, and a Deluxe every four to six weeks in between keeps it there.

When to book it

April and September, or before the car is judged

Book the spring Super Valet for the first dry fortnight after the gritters stop, usually April, so the wax goes onto paint that has just had the winter's salt washed off and the carpets lose their tide marks before they set. Book the autumn one in September, after the holidays and before the clocks go back, while the days are long enough for a half day on the drive. The booking page shows the two slot windows; the 10am start is the one to take once the clocks have gone back.

The other moment is whenever the car is about to be judged: the week before it goes on sale, before a lease inspection, before a wedding or a long trip. For a car that has missed a year or two of care, the Deep Clean is the right first booking and the Super Valet is the twice a year habit afterwards. For a car that is kept up with a Deluxe every month, the Super Valet is the treat, not the rescue.

The Medway cars that book it

Medway is a borough of family cars on drives: 81 percent of households have a car, 40 percent have two or more, and the typical Super Valet here is the big SUV or estate that does everything. Rochester, Strood and the peninsula add the newer car that faces the river; Chatham and Gillingham add the work van that lives at the kerb and the commuter hatchback that does the M2 to the Crossing every day.

• The family car that does everything: Super Valet in April and September, Deluxe in between.
• The dog's car: Super Valet with the interior restoration, the hair and the smell dealt with properly.
• The work van: Super Valet before the quote that matters, because customers judge the van.
• A car going on sale: Super Valet the week before the photos, and the wash report as evidence of its condition.
• A car that has been left a year: Deep Clean first, then the Super Valet as a habit.

More on this: the deep clean detail explained and everyday valeting in Medway.