Why does picking a mobile detailer take more than a Google search?
There is no license to detail cars. Anyone with a pressure washer, a Facebook page, and a few hundred dollars in supplies can call themselves a mobile detailer tomorrow. That is not cynicism — it is the structure of the industry. The gap between the best and worst operator in your search results is enormous, and the price difference between them is often small.
The stakes are real. A machine polisher in untrained hands burns through clearcoat on panel edges. A ceramic coating applied over contaminated, swirled paint locks that damage under a hard transparent layer for years. And if an uninsured detailer loses control of a buffer against your fender, that repair bill is yours.
The fix is a short interrogation: ten questions, five minutes, before any money changes hands. A professional answers all ten without flinching. This framework applies to every detailer — including DetailPros. Hold every shop you call to the same list.
Question 1: Can they prove insurance — with actual dollar amounts?
Do not ask "are you insured?" — everyone says yes. Ask for the certificate of insurance and the coverage limits. The standard policy for a small detailing operation is $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate in general liability, and that coverage costs an operator roughly $30 to $40 a month. A detailer who skips something that cheap is telling you how they run everything else. As one data point, DetailPros carries $2 million in liability coverage and will send the certificate on request.
Then go one layer deeper: ask whether the policy covers vehicles in their care, custody, and control. Basic general liability can cover damage to your driveway or garage door but exclude the car actually being worked on. Garage keepers or care-custody-and-control coverage is what protects the vehicle itself. A detailer who knows the difference has thought about worst cases. One who stares blankly has not.
Questions 2 and 3: Are they self-sufficient, and will they name their products?
Question 2 is water and power. A real mobile rig carries its own water tank, generator, and ideally a deionized water system for spot-free rinsing. This matters more than it sounds. In Las Vegas, driveway washing collides with water-waste enforcement, and HOAs and gated communities in both Nevada and Florida commonly restrict hose use. A fully self-contained van can work anywhere — an office parking lot included. A detailer who needs your spigot and an extension cord has quietly transferred the compliance problem to you.
Question 3 is product transparency. Ask three things: what brand they use, what its measurable spec is, and how long it realistically lasts. A straight answer names all three — for example, DetailPros quotes McKee's 37 Paint Coating, 10H pencil hardness, 5-year protection. Brand, spec, bounded number. An evasive answer sounds like "professional-grade ceramic" with no name attached.
Calibrate the durability claim against reality. Independent detailing writers consistently put real-world coating life at roughly two to five years on daily drivers, depending on sun exposure, washing habits, and maintenance. Anyone promising a lifetime coating is quoting marketing, not chemistry.
Question 4: Is paint correction included — or is the coating going over the damage?
A ceramic coating is transparent. It preserves whatever is underneath, including swirl marks, water etching, and embedded iron. Preparation is most of the job, which is why this question exposes low-ball ceramic pricing instantly. Ask specifically: does the package include iron decontamination, clay bar, and machine polishing before the coating goes on? Or is it wash, dry, coat?
Use standalone correction pricing to sanity-check quotes. At DetailPros, a 1-step polish is $199 and a 2-step correction is $399, and every ceramic package — starting at $599 — includes iron decon, clay bar, single-stage machine polishing, and an IPA wipe before coating. If someone quotes a complete "ceramic coating" for $299, the correction math does not work. Something on that list is being skipped, and it is usually the polishing.
One bonus question: ask how they assess your paint. A paint depth gauge reading before an aggressive correction shows how much clearcoat there is to safely work with. It is a 30-second measurement that separates methodical operators from improvisers.
Questions 5 through 7: What should the photos, deposit, and guarantee look like?
Question 5 is photo documentation. A pre-work walkaround that notes existing damage, plus before-and-after photos, protects both sides. If a dispute ever happens, photos end it in minutes. Detailers who document their work by default tend to be proud of it.
Question 6 is the deposit and reschedule policy, in writing. A small deposit that applies to your final invoice is normal and healthy — it filters no-shows, which are the biggest cost in mobile work. DetailPros takes a $50 deposit that applies to the invoice, with free rescheduling on 24 hours' notice. What you are screening for is the opposite pattern: full payment up front, or cancellation terms nobody will put in writing.
Question 7 is guarantee mechanics. "Satisfaction guaranteed" is a slogan; a guarantee is a mechanism. Ask: if I find a missed spot on Tuesday, what exactly happens? The answer should be a defined window and a defined remedy. DetailPros runs a 7-Day Redo Guarantee — report a miss within seven days and the crew comes back to redo it free. Whatever a shop's version is, get the window and the remedy before you book.
Questions 8 through 10: How do you read reviews, and what are the hard red flags?
Question 8: read reviews for recency, not count. Three hundred reviews that mostly stopped two years ago describe a business that no longer exists in that form — staff turns over and quality drifts. Sixty reviews with a steady stream from the last 90 days tell you what next Tuesday will look like. Read the 3-star reviews specifically; that is where honest customers describe real trade-offs.
Question 9: ask how they collect reviews. "Review gating" — surveying customers privately first and steering only the happy ones to Google — has been prohibited under the FTC's consumer review rule since October 2024, with civil penalties that can exceed $50,000 per violation. A business that gates has a star rating you cannot use.
Question 10 is the walk-away list: no insurance certificate, cash-only with no invoice, lifetime-coating promises, no written pricing, and pressure to book today before a price "goes up." Any one of these is reason enough to keep scrolling.
Then apply all ten to everyone — including us. Ask DetailPros for the insurance certificate, the coating spec, and the deposit terms in writing before you book at detailpros.co/book. The framework only protects you if no detailer is exempt from it.