Six tests, ten minutes
Run these on your phone, on mobile data, away from the office wifi. Score each pass or fail and fix in the order the failures come.
1. Price a large estate on a full valet
The test: as a stranger with a Qashqai or a Passat estate, find the exact price of your mid-level package.
Pass: a grid with package levels against vehicle sizes, real numbers in every cell, and example models so they can place their car.
Fail: "from £120", a single price per service, or a request to message for a quote.
The fix: publish the grid. Add a one-line note on heavy soiling and pet hair, and what happens if the car is worse than described.
2. See a transformation as bad as their own car
The test: find a before-and-after of an interior or paintwork in genuinely poor condition.
Pass: pairs from the same angle, grouped by service, with a close-up per job.
Fail: a grid of finished cars in the sun, or a gallery last added to a year ago.
The fix: ten jobs shot to a fixed standard — before from the worst angle, after from the identical angle, one close-up. Then a gallery you can add to from your phone.
3. Book a Saturday slot with a deposit
The test: try to book your busiest slot as a customer would.
Pass: the slot is bookable, a deposit is taken, and the cancellation terms are in plain words beside the button.
Fail: a contact form, a booking with no deposit, or terms written as legal small print.
The fix: switch deposits on in Booksy, Fresha, Square, Acuity or Urable at twenty to twenty-five per cent, and rewrite the terms as two normal sentences.
4. Appear in under two seconds
The test: on mobile data, count until the price table or the main heading is usable.
Pass: under two seconds, gallery included.
Fail: a hero video, a slider, full-size gallery images loading immediately, or a booking widget on every page.
The fix: resize to what the layout shows, modern formats, real thumbnails, lazy-load below the fold, and load the booking tool only on tap.
5. Add an engine bay clean while booking
The test: try to add the extras you sell.
Pass: add-ons appear in the booking flow with prices, and they are listed on the package page too.
Fail: add-ons mentioned nowhere, or offered only when the car arrives.
The fix: configure them in the tool and list them beside each package. Offered in advance they get taken; offered on the drive they get declined.
6. Find out whether you come to the second town on your patch
The test: search your own site for the areas you cover.
Pass: a real page per area with travel conditions — where you can work, whether you need power and water, and any minimum spend at distance.
Fail: one location page naming your own town, or forty generated pages with a name swapped.
The fix: four to eight genuine area pages with something true and local in each.
Scoring
Six passes and the site is doing its job; spend on advertising rather than rebuilding. Four or five, fix the failures and leave the rest. Three or fewer and the structure is wrong, which means patching costs more over two years than rebuilding once.
Where this sits
Our car detailing websites are built to pass all six at a fixed price. The version of this checklist for the wider trade is on the automotive page. Run the tests on the three detailers nearest you as well. Most fail the first two, which is the opening.