Guides for depot managers

AV fleet detailing: what to ask a vendor before a weekly contract

Crew capacity, wash water, safety sheets, biohazard cleanup, sensor-safe washing and insurance. A vendor who answers all six in writing is ready for a depot.

By Greg Bessoni, Founder and CEO, XoomPark · November 6, 2026

Ask how many cars their crew finishes per night, where their wash water goes, which chemicals they bring and the safety sheets for each, how they handle blood or vomit, how they wash around cameras, sensors and charge ports, and what insurance covers a car while it is in their hands. A vendor who answers all six in writing is ready for a depot. One who answers with a price per car is selling a car wash.

Seven questions for a detailing vendor, what a good answer sounds like, and the answer that should end the call.
Question	A good answer	Red flag
How many cars does one crew finish per night?	A number per crew and per hour, for each service level	"As many as you need"
Where does your wash water go?	Captured on a mat or reclaim unit, or sent to the sanitary sewer where the city allows it¹	Into the lot's storm drain
Can we see the safety data sheets for what you bring?	One for every hazardous product, kept on site each shift³	"It's all safe"
What do you disinfect with, and for how long?	EPA-registered products, left wet for the label's contact time⁴	Spray and wipe, no dwell time
What do you do with blood or vomit?	A written procedure under an exposure control plan⁵	"We'll handle it"
How do you wash around sensors and charge ports?	By hand near them; no pressure wand on cameras, sensors or connectors⁶	A pressure wand over the whole car
What covers our car while it's in your care?	Garagekeepers coverage, with a certificate naming your company⁷	"We're insured"

How many robotaxis can one detailing crew finish in a night?

Night hours divided by minutes per car, per crew. At 45 minutes a car, a 2-person crew finishes 8 cars in a 6-hour window, so 40 cars detailed once a week takes 5 crew-nights.

Ask each vendor for their own minutes per car at each service level, then do the division yourself. The minutes below are our planning assumptions, not a vendor's quote; your vendor's figure decides the plan.

Cars per 2-person crew in a 6-hour overnight window. Minutes per car are our assumptions.
Service	Minutes per car	Cars per crew in 6 hours	Crew-nights for 40 cars
Interior wipe-down and vacuum	15	24	2
Exterior hand wash	20	18	3
Full detail, interior and exterior	45	8	5

Interior work can happen while the car sits on a charger, so it costs no extra yard time. The exterior wash is the step that needs a wash area and keeps water away from the charge port, so it is the one that sets the overnight schedule.

How should a detailing quote be built?

Per car, per service level, at your weekly volume, with every extra named: trip or minimum charge, water and power, biohazard cleanup and re-cleans. A single price per car hides which of these you pay for later.

A price per car for each service level, at the volume you will actually send.
A nightly minimum or trip charge, if they have one.
Who supplies water and power: the vendor, or your meter.
Biohazard cleanup as its own line, with a response time.
A re-clean of any car that fails your morning inspection, within a set time, at no charge.

Every $5 on the price per car is $200 a week, and $10,400 a year, at 40 cars detailed weekly. Hold the negotiation against that number, not the headline price.

Where does a mobile detailer's wash water go?

Not into your storm drain. EPA's fact sheet on vehicle washing says wash water carries detergents, oils, grease and heavy metals, and that municipalities should contain, treat or reuse it.¹

A mobile crew on your lot is discharging on your property, so the city's rules are your problem too. The City of Monroe, North Carolina, for one, lists mobile and stationary fleet washing and detailing among the wash water it bars from storm drains, which it says are designed to carry only rain water, and asks mobile washing operations to apply for a permit.² Ask the vendor what they capture the water with, where it goes, and which permit covers it in your city.

Which chemicals should a detailer bring, and with what paperwork?

A safety data sheet for every hazardous product, kept where the crew works. OSHA requires employers to have an SDS for each hazardous chemical they use and to keep them readily accessible during each work shift.³

For disinfecting, ask for EPA-registered products and the contact time on each label. EPA's guidance is to follow the label directions and keep the surface visibly wet for the full contact time.⁴ A wipe that dries in ten seconds has not done what the label promises.

What happens when a rider leaves blood or vomit in a robotaxi?

It becomes a bloodborne pathogens job. OSHA's standard applies to all occupational exposure to blood or other potentially infectious materials, and requires a written exposure control plan.⁵

The same standard requires surfaces to be cleaned and decontaminated after contact with blood or other potentially infectious materials.⁵ Ask whether the crew is trained for it, whether they carry the kit and how fast they respond. A shared car with a soiled seat stays out of service until it is done.

How should a crew wash around cameras, sensors and charge ports?

By hand near anything that sees or plugs in. Kia's 2024 EV9 owner's manual says not to spray the camera, sensors or the area around them directly with a high-pressure washer, and to keep the nozzle away from rubber boots and connectors.⁶

An autonomous car carries far more of both. Give the vendor your own sensor-cleaning procedure in writing and make following it part of the contract, not a verbal instruction to the crew on night one.

Who pays if a car is damaged in the detailer's care?

The vendor, if they carry garagekeepers coverage: liability cover for customers' vehicles left in a business's care. Auto businesses other than dealers get it through the Garagekeepers Coverage endorsement, CA 99 37.⁷

Ask for garagekeepers by name, not "we're insured", and for a certificate that names your company. Set the limit at the most cars they will hold at once times each car's replacement value. Know which form it is: IRMI notes the coverage is contingent on establishing the insured's liability,⁷ so a car damaged when nobody was at fault may not be paid.

We worked one week for a 40-car robotaxi depot

Forty cars, one full detail each a week at 45 minutes, and a 6-hour overnight window: one 2-person crew covers it in 5 nights, with 2 nights spare for re-cleans and biohazard calls.

Our method: minutes per car are our assumption, not a vendor's quote, and the window is midnight to 6 a.m. while cars charge. Five nights of 8 cars is 40. If the vendor quotes 60 minutes instead, 6 cars a night means 7 nights and no spare night, so you need a second crew or a longer window. That one number, minutes per car, decides whether the contract works.

When a detailing vendor is the wrong call

Your cars come back between every ride. Wipe-downs between rides belong to your own crew; a vendor on a nightly schedule can't do them.
You have no legal place for wash water. A mobile crew still needs one.
A wash can move your sensors. If cleaning can shift calibration, the job belongs with your technicians, not a detailer.
Nobody inspects the cars each morning. Without a daily check, a vendor contract becomes their word against yours.

Fleets that would rather send cars out than bring a crew in can use existing car washes with bays to spare. Car washes that take fleet work list their bays on XoomPark.

Questions depot managers ask

Should a depot do its own detailing or hire a vendor?

Your own crew for wipe-downs between rides; a vendor for weekly full details, once the vendor shows crew capacity, safety data sheets, a bloodborne pathogens plan and garagekeepers cover.

How long does a full detail take per car?

Ask each vendor. Our planning figure is 45 minutes a car with a 2-person crew, about 8 cars in a 6-hour night.

What should a detailing contract guarantee?

A free re-clean of any car that fails inspection within a set time, a response time for biohazard cleanup, and garagekeepers coverage with a certificate naming you.

Can a detailer pressure-wash an electric car?

Not near the cameras, sensors or connectors. Kia's EV9 manual says not to spray the camera or sensors directly with a high-pressure washer and to keep the nozzle away from rubber boots and connectors.⁶ Check each model's owner's manual.

Does a mobile detailer need a permit?

It depends on the city. Monroe, North Carolina, for example, asks mobile washing operations to apply for a permit.² Ask the vendor which permit covers your site.

Sources

Sources are public. XoomPark isn't affiliated with the companies referenced in this post.

Authorship

Written by Greg Bessoni in collaboration with Claude Opus 5.5

Role breakdown: Strategy, structure and final verification by Greg Bessoni; research synthesis and draft prose by Claude Opus 5.5.

About the author

Greg Bessoni is the founder and ceo, xoompark. He writes about fleet operations, curb logistics and AV infrastructure.