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Beware the rise of the mobile car valet
The Observer
|May 11, 2025
What fresh hell is this? To the din caused by the leaf blowers and the pressure washers, it seems we must now add a new urban racket: the mobile car valet, coming soon to a roadside near you.
When I was a girl, my brother and I regarded a trip to the carwash as a rare thrill, those great soapy roller brushes coming for us as we cowered in the back wondering if there'd be leaks (the bad cars of the 1980s always leaked). So much less expensive than Alton Towers! But times have changed. Nowadays, people are far too busy and demanding for a quick dash to the petrol station. I've noticed with mounting dread that in our street such services now arrive to do their worst almost every week: cue 45 minutes of unbearably noisy, battery-powered washing, drying, vacuuming and polishing.
This story is from the May 11, 2025 edition of The Observer.
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