How Much Does Car Detailing Cost in Vancouver?

Car detailing in Metro Vancouver ranges from about $80 for an express wash to $1,200+ for a ceramic coating, with a full interior-and-exterior detail — the service most people mean by “detailing” — typically landing between $200 and $500 depending on the size of your vehicle and its condition. This guide covers what each price band actually buys, why two quotes for the same car can differ by $200, how mobile and shop pricing compare, and the specific factors that push a quote up. Written by our Metro Vancouver mobile detailing team based on real quotes we and other operators put out across Vancouver, Burnaby, the North Shore, the Tri-Cities, and the Fraser Valley in 2026 — no vague averages, no invented numbers.

What detailing actually costs in Metro Vancouver

All prices in CAD, reflecting Metro Vancouver rates as of 2026. Ranges reflect vehicle size, condition, and the level of prep involved.

What each price band actually gets you

Under $150 — the express wash

What it is: exterior wash, wheels, glass, quick vacuum and wipe-down. Genuinely appropriate for a car that's already in good shape and just needs a refresh. What it is not: it does not include the deeper interior work or meaningful paint protection you get in a real detail. If a listing advertises a “full detail” at this price, it is a wash with a better name — the labour hours alone make anything deeper impossible. Express washes are useful in the maintenance rhythm of a car that's already been detailed properly, not as a substitute for a real detail when the car has drifted.

$200–500 — the full detail

This is what most people mean by detailing and where most Metro Vancouver work sits. Deep interior cleaning with a two-step vacuum, surface conditioning, odour treatment, streak-free glass, a strip wash to remove old wax and buildup, then a wax or sealant. Three to six hours of actual labour by one or two detailers. The $300 spread inside this band is driven almost entirely by two things: vehicle size and condition — explained in the next section. A well-maintained Civic at the low end and a work-life SUV at the high end are honestly different jobs, not the same job with different pricing.

$400–1,200 — paint correction

Machine polishing that removes swirl marks, light scratches, and oxidation from clear coat. Priced by paint condition and how many correction stages are required, not by vehicle size — a badly swirled Civic can cost more than a well-kept SUV. One-step correction removes most defects and is what most daily drivers actually need; two-step chases finer haze; multi-step correction chases near-perfection and can occupy a full working day or more. If a shop is quoting correction on the size of the car, that's a sign the inspection wasn't done. The paint tells you the price, not the badge.

$1,200+ — ceramic coating

A bonded ceramic layer that lasts years rather than months. The reason the price jumps is that most of the cost is preparation, not product: the coating locks in whatever finish is underneath it, so correction must happen first. A coating quoted well below this band almost always means the prep was skipped — and the coating has just sealed in the swirls forever. If you want a fuller breakdown of what real ceramic actually buys you and how it compares to wax and sealant options, our ceramic coating vs wax vs sealant guide walks through the trade-offs in plain terms.

Why two quotes for the same car can differ by $200

You call three detailers about the same 2019 RAV4 and get quotes of $260, $340, and $475. It looks like the market is chaotic. It isn't — you're usually looking at four levers, and once you know what they are, the spread stops being mysterious.

1. Condition

A maintained car is roughly three hours of work. A neglected one is six or more and needs multiple passes across both interior and exterior. Most Metro Vancouver detailers price on condition; the ones who don't are either padding a flat rate to cover their worst cases, or planning to add charges on arrival once they've seen it. Neither is dishonest, but the second one turns a $260 quote into a $420 invoice you didn't agree to.

2. Vehicle size

More seats, more glass, more panels, more carpet. A two-door coupe and a three-row SUV are meaningfully different amounts of labour, and the market prices them accordingly. Three-row vehicles — minivans, seven-seater SUVs — generally carry an additional surcharge across the market, usually in the $40–60 range on top of the SUV rate.

3. What's actually included

“Full detail” is not a regulated term. Two $300 quotes can mean very different scopes. One might include a full interior clean with a proper strip wash and a paint sealant; the other might be a good wash with a nice vacuum. The specific things to ask about are: what the interior clean actually covers, whether the wash is a strip wash or a maintenance wash, whether any paint protection is included (wax, sealant, or none), and which add-ons are quoted separately versus rolled in. If any of those are “no” or “extra,” you're comparing different products at the same price.

4. Add-ons that get quoted separately

Pet hair, mould, heavy odour, engine bay, headlights. Pet hair and mould are almost never quotable over the phone — anyone who gives you a firm price sight-unseen is guessing, and the correction comes later when the actual scope is clear. Odour and mould in particular are risk work: if it's not assessed properly, it comes back, and everyone loses. For the pet hair side of that specifically, our pet hair removal guide walks through what the DIY method actually is and when it's past the point of it.

The upshot: two honest quotes on the same car can genuinely differ by $200 because they're quoting different amounts of work. Our own full pricing page lays this out with real numbers by vehicle size and condition, if you want to see what condition-based pricing looks like from one detailer.

Does mobile detailing cost more than a shop?

Generally, no. In Metro Vancouver, mobile and shop prices for the same scope of work are broadly comparable. The economics are simpler than it looks: shops carry commercial lease costs but batch multiple cars per bay, while mobile operators avoid the lease but spend real time driving between jobs. The two effects roughly cancel out, and the market has settled somewhere in the middle.

There are genuine differences that affect price and suitability, though, and honest ones are worth knowing before you book either.

• ·Mobile needs to be self-contained (own water and power) to work in parkades, condo stalls, and office lots — not all mobile operators are, so ask before you book if you live in a strata.
• ·Shops have controlled lighting and climate, which matters for multi-stage paint correction and ceramic curing. Serious correction and coating work is often better placed with an operator who can guarantee that environment, whether they're mobile with an arranged indoor space or shop-based.
• ·Mobile saves the customer half a day of driving and waiting, which is real money if you bill hourly. That's the actual saving — time, not price.

In practice, most Metro Vancouver clients choose mobile for a maintenance detail or full reset in the driveway, and go shop-based for a multi-day correction and coating. We're a mobile team serving Vancouver and cover Burnaby, Coquitlam, and Richmond among other cities, but the honest answer is that both models exist because both work for different jobs.

What we charge

For a snapshot of one Metro Vancouver operator's numbers, here's where our own two packages start. We price by condition within each vehicle type, so these are floor prices — a Light-condition car sits here, a Heavy-condition one is quoted higher.

The full breakdown — including add-ons, ceramic and correction tiers, and a photo-based condition self-assessment — lives on our pricing page.

How to make sure you're not overpaying

• ·Ask exactly what the interior clean covers and whether paint protection is rolled in — "full detail" means different things at different shops.
• ·Get the quote based on your car's actual condition, not a generic package name. Send photos if you can.
• ·Ask what happens if the vehicle turns out to be worse than described — the answer should be "we tell you before we start," not "we sort it out at the end."
• ·Be suspicious of a firm phone quote on pet hair or mould; both need to be seen in person before a real number is possible.
• ·For ceramic, ask what correction is included — if the answer is none, you're paying to seal in your existing swirls.

None of these questions require industry knowledge. They're just what a good detailer will happily answer in one phone call. If the answers are vague, or the person on the other end pushes back, that's the useful information.

FAQ