World's most expensive car wash

When car valet Gurcharn Sahota started out washing motors, his equipment ran to little more than a bucket and sponge.

But the accountancy graduate has turned his love of fast cars into a booming cleaning business with an eye-watering price list - charging up to a £7,200 for each bespoke valet.

Mr Sahota now counts a £5,000 police forensic microscope to detect minute scratches, £8,200-a-tub wax and more than 100 different cleaning fluids amongst the tools of his trade, after starting the business in his parents' garage.

The 30-year-old has lined the walls and floor of the double unit with specialist tiles imported from Italy which help reflect flecks of dirt on the cars.

Each vehicle takes up to 250 hours to clean, and his premier service includes polishing and buffing every inch of the car inside and out FIVE times.

Since launching his business, 'Elite Detailing', five years ago, Mr Sahota said he had washed hundreds of supercars such as Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Rolls Royces and even the Le Mans-winning McLaren F1 GTR, of which only five of the 28 ever built were converted for road use.

He said that clients including rock stars, Premiership footballers, lawyers and actors have continued to flock to him despite the recession because the cost of his service is 'peanuts' compared to the value of their cars.

'People come to me and they want the best treatment going for their car', Mr Sahota, who is single, said yesterday. 'If you've got a £500,000 car then a few grand for cleaning is worth it.'

He begins every clean in the same way - washing it with a lambswool mitten and water mixed with Ph neutral shampoo and applied by a jet wash reaching temperatures of up to 120C (248F), depending on the body panel.

The wheels are then steam cleaned at 150C (302F) with a machine purchased from the NHS and designed to kill the MRSA superbug, before the car is dried with a microfibre towel and an industrial blower.

A clay bar is then rubbed over the bodywork to pick up any remaining decontaminants like tree sap or atmospheric pollutants, before the car is then rinsed, dried again, and any scratches are examined under the microscope.

Standard valets, which start at around £700 depending on the car, involve a two-stage polishing process to remove any scratches and then 'sharpen up' the paintwork.

But the £7,200 service involves sanding the car down twice to make sure the paint is exactly the same thickness all over the car, then polishing it by machine in three stages. This not only brings the car's colour back to life but also leaves each body panel offering a perfect reflection.

Three coats of the highly-concentrated carnauba wax, which is imported from Brazil, are then applied to seal the paint, compared with one coat on the standard valet, while plastics are also treated in a special sealant at a cost of £50 per 15mililitres.

Mr Sahota said clients who opt for the premier valet tend to be those who display their cars like ornaments, rather than drive them. Each car will only need one such treatment in its lifetime.

Mr Sahota said: 'The first time I cleaned a Ferrari Enzo it took a week and when I tried to sleep all I could see was Ferrari red.

'I just want perfection. Finishing is the best part because you know what it was like when you started. That gives me great satisfaction.'

Mr Sahota, a long-time car enthusiast, began researching car cleaning methods whilst at university. After graduating, he enrolled on a valeting training course, only to quit because he realised he knew more about the process than the bodyshops and technicians who were supposed to be teaching him.

He set up the business after convincing an Aston Martin dealer to let him clean a DB9 for free.The dealer was so impressed with his work he passed Mr Sahota's details on to clients.

He is now in the process of moving the business from his parents' home in Derbyshire to a new workshop he is opened in Worcester.

Despite spending his days cleaning other people's supercars, Mr Sahota is currently car less, having recently sold his boyhood favourite car, the Mk I Volkswagen Golf GTI.

He would not reveal the identities of many of his super-rich clients, but said he did regularly clean an Aston Martin DBS Volante belonging to the millionaire celebrity lawyer Nick 'Mr Loophole' Freeman.