How Long Does Car Detailing Take?

The numbers

Every service, with its real window

Service	Standard vehicle	Large SUV / truck / van
Interior Detail	2 to 2.5 hours	closer to 3 hours
Exterior Wash & Protection	1 to 3 hours	toward the top of that range
Full Package	3.5 to 5 hours	5 to 6 hours
One-step paint correction	4 to 6 hours	toward the top, or beyond
Two-step paint correction	6 to 8 hours or more	often a full day
Ceramic coating install	7 to 8 hours or more	usually a two-day job
Coating with correction first	Two days	Two days
Headlight restoration	Added to another appointment	Same

Ranges rather than fixed times because crew size and how much buildup we are dealing with both move the number. The window you are quoted is specific to your car.

What stretches it

What makes an appointment run longer

Add-ons, especially extraction. Hot-water extraction adds working time and then drying time on top. Two or three add-ons can add hours, not minutes.
Vehicle size. A third row means more seats, more seams, more glass and a cargo carpet that is usually the dirtiest surface in the vehicle.
Genuine neglect. Not dirt — bonded dirt. Embedded pet hair, baked-on tar and set-in stains all take a different process, not just more of the same one.
A full boot or cabin. We cannot clean carpet under a load. Clearing it beforehand is the single biggest thing you can do to keep an appointment on schedule.
Cold and damp. A San Francisco winter afternoon in the fog stretches every drying step, which is why we book extraction jobs earlier in the day where we can.
Access. A tight garage, a fob that has to be handed over, or a street spot with no room at one end. All workable, all faster if we know in advance.

Afterwards

How soon you can use the car

After this	You can drive	Notes
Interior detail	Straight away	If extraction was done, crack the windows and give it a few hours to finish drying — most of a day in fog or winter.
Exterior wash & protection	Straight away	No waiting.
Paint correction	Straight away	Give any finishing product a few hours to cure before it gets wet.
Ceramic coating	Straight away	But the car must stay dry for 24 to 48 hours. No rain, no sprinklers, no washing.
Any service	Straight away	We walk you through the care instructions before we leave, or text them if you handed us a key.

The 24 to 48 hour dry window after a coating is the only hard constraint on this list, and it is the reason coatings get planned around the forecast rather than booked into the next free slot.

Your time

How much of this is actually your time

None of it, if you do not want it to be. That is the point of the format.

SF City Wash is mobile only. We come to wherever the car is parked — a street spot, a residential garage, an apartment lot, an office parking structure or a driveway — and we bring our own water and our own power, so nothing is needed from you or the building.

You do not need to be present. Most customers hand over a key, a gate code, a lockbox code or a doorman's name. We text when we arrive, text if anything comes up, and text when it is done. There is a walkthrough at the end if you are around, and photos if you are not.

The practical version: a 5-hour Full Package on a car parked outside your office costs you the ninety seconds it takes to hand over a key. Compare that against a shop, where the same job costs you two drives and a day without the car.

We are open every day, 8 AM to 7 PM, and standard services can be booked instantly online across San Francisco and the northern Peninsula.

The window comes before the work, not after

When the appointment is confirmed you get a specific window for your car, your size and your add-ons — not the ranges on this page. If something on the day changes it, we text you rather than letting you find out.

If you have a hard deadline — a lease inspection, a buyer coming to look at it, a trip — tell us when you book and we will plan around it.

Book now What to do before we arrive

Questions

Questions we get asked

How long does a full detail take?

3.5 to 5 hours on a standard vehicle and 5 to 6 hours on a full-size SUV, truck or van. Add-ons stack on top of that, and you get a specific window before we start.

How long does an interior detail take?

About 2 to 2.5 hours. Larger vehicles or cars with heavy buildup run closer to 3.

Can you do it while I'm at work?

Yes, and a lot of people do exactly that. We work in office parking structures and street spots, we bring our own water and power, and you do not need to be present — a key, a gate code or a lockbox is enough.

Why does a ceramic coating take two days?

The install alone is 7 to 8 hours or more, and when paint correction comes first that is another 4 to 8 on top. Day one is prep, decontamination and correction; day two is the coating. Then it needs to stay dry for 24 to 48 hours.

Can I drive my car right after a detail?

For a standard interior or exterior detail, yes, immediately. After a ceramic coating you can drive it but it must stay dry for 24 to 48 hours. After correction, give any finishing product a few hours before it gets wet.

The services this guide is about:

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