Terms of service

1. What I provide

The Clayton Reset (Premium Setup Wash) — the extended first clean. Decontamination, thorough exterior clean, full interior, and paint sealed. Its purpose is to bring the car up to a standard that can then be maintained.

The Clayton Round (maintenance wash) — the regular visit. Exterior wash and wheels, interior vacuum and wipe down, glass.

Add-ons — additional services quoted separately and agreed before the work.

All work is carried out with reasonable care and skill, using products suitable for the vehicle and its finishes.

2. Plans and prices

Prices depend on the size of the vehicle and are confirmed before any work begins. Maintenance visits are available weekly, fortnightly, three-weekly or monthly. Fortnightly is the one I recommend for most cars, and the one most customers are on.

Plans are quoted and charged as a monthly amount, not per visit. This is what allows visits to be moved around weather, daylight and access without changing what you pay.

Where several vehicles are cleaned at the same address in the same visit, a multi-vehicle discount applies: 10% for two vehicles, 20% for three or more.

3. Your 14-day right to cancel

Because we'll usually agree your plan at your home or by message rather than at a business premises, you have a legal right to cancel within 14 days of agreeing it, without giving a reason.

To cancel, just tell me — a message or a call is fine. I'll refund you within 14 days of being told.

If you'd like me to start work during those 14 days, you'll need to ask me to. If you then cancel within the 14 days, you'll only pay a fair amount for the work already done — for example, if I've already carried out the Setup Wash, that visit is payable.

This right applies to new plans and to one-off bookings made in the same way.

4. Payment

You can pay either by:

• Subscription — an automatic monthly payment set up through Stripe; or
• Per visit — paid at the time of each clean.

Subscription payments are taken monthly in advance. If a payment fails, I'll get in touch to sort it out. Visits may be paused until payment is up to date, but I won't cancel your plan without telling you first.

5. Booking and rearranging

You'll be given a regular slot — for example, Tuesday mornings, every other week — so you know when to expect me.

Rearranging is genuinely not a problem. Life happens, and I would much rather move a visit than have you feel awkward about it. Give me whatever notice you can and I'll find another time that works.

Cancelling or rearranging with less than 6 hours' notice incurs a £10 charge, as the slot can't usually be filled at that notice. This won't be applied where the reason is genuinely unavoidable — illness, emergencies, and similar. Use your judgement and so will I.

If I arrive as arranged and can't carry out the work — the vehicle isn't there, or there's no access to water or power — that counts as a late cancellation and the same £10 applies.

6. Access, water and power

I use your outside tap and an outdoor electrical socket on every visit — the machines run off your power, not a generator. We'll agree this before your first visit.

Please make sure before each visit that:

• The vehicle is accessible and not blocked in
• The outside tap is turned on and reachable, with a hose available if we've agreed that
• An outdoor socket is switched on and reachable

If you won't be home, just let me know in advance what to expect and we'll make it work. All outdoor electrical equipment is used with an RCD.

7. Weather, and winter in particular

The work happens outdoors on your drive, so the weather decides what is possible. Between November and February it will occasionally move a visit or change its timing. It never changes what you pay.

When a visit cannot go ahead

I will move a visit when conditions make a proper or safe job impossible:

• Freezing temperatures. Water freezes on paint and glass before it can be dried. Washing a car in a hard frost does more harm than leaving it dirty.
• Ice or snow on the ground where I would be working.
• Heavy or persistent rain, which makes a finish impossible to achieve.
• High winds, which blow grit and debris onto wet paint.

Timings in winter

From November to February there are only about eight hours of usable daylight, and I work outside in all of them. In those months:

• Later slots may be brought forward, or moved to a different day.
• A visit may start later than planned if I am waiting for a frost to lift.
• A visit may run shorter, or be split across two days, if the light goes.
• The order of the round may change at short notice.

I will give you as much notice as I can. Usually that is the evening before, sometimes the same morning if the forecast changes overnight.

What it means for your plan

• Your price does not change. Plans are priced monthly, not per visit.
• A moved visit is rescheduled to the next workable day, normally within the same week.
• If conditions mean a visit genuinely cannot happen within a month, it carries over. You do not lose it.
• Winter visits may lean more towards interior work, where exterior conditions do not allow otherwise.

What winter does to your car

Salt, grit and road film build up far faster between November and March. A car cleaned to exactly the same standard will look dirty sooner in winter than in summer. That is the weather rather than the clean, and it is the reason a maintenance plan earns its keep most in those months.

8. The condition of your vehicle

Before starting any job, I record a short video walkaround of the vehicle. This protects both of us: it shows the condition the car arrived in, including any existing chips, scratches, dents or damage.

These recordings are kept for a reasonable period and are used only if a question comes up about the vehicle's condition.

Some things can't be fixed by cleaning, and I'll tell you if I see them rather than charge you to attempt them:

• Scratches, chips and dents in the paint
• Etching or staining that has gone through the lacquer
• Existing damage or wear to leather, fabric or trim
• Cracked or pitted glass

Very occasionally, cleaning reveals damage that was hidden under dirt. That isn't damage I've caused, and the walkaround video will normally show it.

9. If something isn't right

If you're not happy with a clean, tell me within 48 hours and I'll come back and put it right at no charge. I would always rather fix something than have you quietly go elsewhere.

If I damage your vehicle or property through my own negligence, I'm insured and I will put it right. Please tell me as soon as you notice.

I'm not responsible for pre-existing faults, damage caused by defects in the vehicle itself, or items left inside the car. Please remove valuables before an interior clean.

10. Cancelling your plan

You can cancel at any time with 14 days' notice — a message is fine. There's no minimum term and no cancellation fee.

Any visit already scheduled inside those 14 days will go ahead and is payable.

I may cancel a plan by giving you 14 days' notice, and will refund anything paid for visits not yet delivered.

11. Changes to prices

Plan prices are held for a minimum of 12 months from the date you join.

If prices change after that, you'll get at least 30 days' notice and can cancel if you'd rather not continue. Customers who stay continuously on a plan keep their original price for as long as the plan runs.

12. Photographs

I take before and after photographs of vehicles I work on, and may use these to show the quality of the work — on my website, Google listing, or social media.

Number plates are blurred, and addresses are never shown or named. If you'd rather I didn't use photographs of your vehicle at all, just say so at any time and I'll remove them.

13. Your information

I keep your name, address, contact details and a record of the work carried out, so I can provide the service and keep proper business records. Your details are not sold or shared, and are not used for marketing by anyone else.

You can ask to see what I hold, or ask me to delete it, at any time.

14. General

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales.

Nothing here affects your statutory rights as a consumer, including your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 that services be carried out with reasonable care and skill.

If any part of these terms turns out to be unenforceable, the rest still applies.