Mobile car wash across South East London

How Yikes came south of the river

Yikes started in 2023 with one cargo e-bike and one washer in north London, and has cleaned more than 15,000 cars across the city since. South East London is a lot of ground to cover by bike from Archway, so we have done it the way the best local services do: with local people. Washes here are done by vetted local washers from the Yikes Network.

Nothing else changes. You book on the same page at the same prices, your card is handled by Yikes, and the washer checks in at the car and photographs it before and after. You get the same wash report and receipt as any Yikes customer, and you can rate the wash or book the next one from the same text.

Driving in South East London, the short version

A few things every South East London driver deals with, and how a wash that comes to you fits round them.

• The ULEZ has covered every London borough since 29 August 2023. A car that is parked and not driven that day does not pay, which is one more reason to have it cleaned where it sits.
• The river crossings cost more than they used to. The Silvertown Tunnel opened on 7 April 2025, and both it and the Blackwall Tunnel are now charged from 6am to 10pm, every day except Christmas Day, with peak rates on weekday mornings northbound and weekday evenings southbound.
• Leaf season runs from October: Southwark adds street cleaners for six weeks, Greenwich switches to a leaf schedule until December and Bromley puts on extra crews until January.
• Road salt follows. Bexley's gritting season, for one, runs from late October to April.

Leaves, sap and salt all sit on paint for weeks if they are left. An outside wash every few weeks through autumn and winter is the simplest way to keep on top of them.