No mystery menu. This is the exact checklist I run on every Standard Interior/Exterior Detail, in the order I actually do the work, in your driveway.
Detailing menus are often vague on purpose. Words like refresh and enhance let a shop decide later how much work your car deserves. I run Eric's Mobile Auto Spa alone, so there is no crew to supervise and no reason to hide the process. This is the checklist I run on every $189 Standard Interior/Exterior Detail, in order. If a step is on this list, it happens on your car, whether that car is a compact in Tujunga or a 3-row in La Canada Flintridge.
Publishing it also keeps me honest. When I hand back the keys, you can walk the car against this list. If something looks short of the standard, I want to hear about it while I am still standing in your driveway with my equipment out, not in a message a week later. That is one of the practical advantages of hiring the owner: the person who set the standard is the same person holding the towel.
I start with the dirtiest part of the car: the wheels. Each wheel gets its own brushes for the face, the barrel, and the lug areas, and the tires get scrubbed so old browning dressing comes off instead of getting sealed under a new coat. Doing wheels first means any grime that splashes onto the paint gets washed away in the next step rather than after it, which is the whole point of working in order.
The paint gets a thorough hand wash from the roof down, using clean wash media and a method that minimizes marring, which matters here because our sun makes swirl marks painfully obvious. Door jambs, the fuel door, and the trunk jamb get wiped out. Then I dry the car by hand with plush towels, including mirrors and trim seams, because water left to evaporate on its own in the Crescenta Valley usually means mineral spots by lunchtime.
Along the way I treat what a wash alone cannot remove: bug remains on the bumper, light sap, and the film that builds on the lower panels of any car commuting the 210. If I find problems beyond this service, like water spot etching or heavy oxidation, I point them out and quote them separately. Nothing gets added to your bill that we did not discuss first.
Mats come out first and get cleaned separately. Then I vacuum the entire cabin methodically: seats, seat tracks, under the seats, console crevices, the trunk, and the seam lines where sand from dusty trailhead parking collects. Brushes chase debris out of vents and switches ahead of the vacuum. It is slower than a quick once over, but it is the difference between a car that looks vacuumed and a car that is actually clean.
Carpets and upholstery get spot shampooed where stains call for it, and I use steam on sticky spills, cupholders, and grimy plastics. Leather gets cleaned with a dedicated leather product, not an all purpose spray. Every panel from the dash to the door pockets gets cleaned and finished with a natural look, no greasy shine. Interior glass, including the inside of the windshield where haze builds from hot plastics, gets cleaned last so nothing drips onto it.
Once the car is clean, it gets protected. The paint receives a coat of wax applied by hand, which adds real gloss and a sacrificial layer against UV, fire season ash, and sprinkler overspray. Exterior glass gets cleaned, exterior trim gets wiped down, and the tires get a satin dressing rather than the wet, greasy look that slings onto your rocker panels on the first drive.
Then I do a slow lap around the car in daylight. I check jamb edges, mirror undersides, badge crevices, and wheel faces, because those are the spots where corners get cut in this trade. I would rather spend the last twenty minutes fixing small misses than hand back a car that is ninety five percent done. When I wave you outside to look, the car is genuinely finished.
Honesty about scope matters more than a long list. The Standard Interior/Exterior Detail does not include clay bar decontamination, machine polishing, paint sealant, or leather conditioning: those four steps are the heart of my Standard Interior/Exterior Detail, which runs $189 for a sedan, $209 for a small SUV or truck, and $189 for a minivan or 3-row. It also does not include headlight restoration, which starts at $50 to start and is worth doing if your lenses have yellowed in the sun.
Heavier problems are quoted on their own: smoke or mildew odor removal, severe pet hair, engine detailing, paint correction, and water spot removal beyond light mineral film. I price those after seeing the car, because pretending one number fits every case is how customers get burned. If your car needs any of that work, you will know the cost before I start, not when I finish. I go deeper on this in my guide, How Much Does Mobile Car Detailing Cost in the Crescenta Valley. I go deeper on this in my guide, How Long Does a Full Detail Take: Honest Times From My Driveway Jobs.
Plan on roughly three to four hours for a Standard Interior/Exterior Detail, longer if the car is heavily soiled. I need a spot where I can open all four doors fully, ideally with some shade, though I plan around the sun when I have to. Your driveway works perfectly, anywhere in La Crescenta, La Canada Flintridge, Montrose, Tujunga, Verdugo City, or the nearby Glendale foothills.
You do not need to empty the car, but clearing out valuables and personal items before I arrive saves time you are paying for. I work seven days a week, 7:30am to 7:30pm, which surprises people; early Sunday slots are quiet and the light is good. If you are unsure whether your car fits this standard scope, a couple of photos by text to (818) 797-5396 gets you a straight answer. Either way, this checklist is what your $189 buys, every time, from the same set of hands.
I am Eric Young. I detail every vehicle myself, at your driveway, seven days a week from 7:30am to 7:30pm. Tell me what your car needs and I will give you a straight answer.