Car detailing and paint protection in the Netherlands

Treatments

Four treatments, and what separates them

Dutch detailers use these terms interchangeably and the prices vary by a factor of five. Here is what each one actually does.

Ceramic coatingA ceramic coating is a liquid silicon dioxide layer that cures into a hard, water-repellent film over your paint. It stops dirt from etching in and keeps the car visibly cleaner for longer. In Dutch it is usually called glascoating.From€ 999
Car polishingPolishing removes a microscopically thin layer of clear coat with a machine, down to the level where scratches and swirls disappear. It takes away, it does not add. That is why it makes paint look deep again but leaves it unprotected.From€ 295
Glass coatingGlass coating is the term Dutch detailers use for what the rest of the world calls a ceramic coating: a liquid silicon dioxide layer that cures onto the clear coat. If a Dutch quote says glascoating, this is what is being offered.From€ 999
Paint protection filmPaint protection film is a transparent, self-healing polyurethane film laid over the paint. Unlike a coating, PPF absorbs the impact of stone chips and deep scratches instead of passing it through.From€ 1.900
Car detailingCar detailing is the full return of a car to showroom condition: paint, interior, wheels, glass and engine bay, done by hand and panel by panel. It is not a wash with a wax on top.From€ 450
Paint correctionPaint correction is levelling the paint itself. Orange peel, dust inclusions and runs left by respray work are sanded flat, after which the paint is polished back up in stages until the gloss returns. It is a different job from machine polishing, and it costs more.From€ 650

How we check

5 points, and only then can a business join

Not a tick box on a form. We visit the workshop rather than phoning, we ask for unedited photographs of real jobs, and we go through their pricing and lead times in full. What we have not verified ourselves is never presented as verified.

Registration and ownership
Workshop visited in person
Method walked through
Their own work assessed
Prices and lead times complete

Where

Amsterdam, Amstelveen, Eindhoven and The Hague

These are the four places where most of our English-speaking requests come from. The rest of the country is covered too, in Dutch.

Amsterdam
Along the canals and on most residential streets you will find lime and plane trees. In spring they drip sap that bakes into warm paint, and the birds sitting in them do the rest. That is not an incident here, it is a season, and it is why a coating in Amsterdam pays for itself in cleaning time rather than in shine.
Amstelveen
Amstelveen is green and mostly low-rise, with a large international community around the Bovenkerk and Westwijk areas. Cars here usually sit on a private drive under mature trees, which means tree sap and bird droppings rather than the door dings and trolley marks you get in a city centre.
Eindhoven
Because of Brainport, Eindhoven has an unusually high share of lease cars. That changes the question. When you hand a lease car back you are charged for damage that counts as more than fair wear, and scratches in the paint often fall into that category. A treatment shortly before return pays for itself here more often than elsewhere.
The Hague
The Hague sits five kilometres from the North Sea, and on a westerly wind that salt reaches the city. Salt is hygroscopic: it pulls moisture out of the air and keeps it against the paint, which is why a car here stays wet longer than the weather suggests. Closer to Scheveningen you also get fine sand, and dry-wiping that is how scratches start.

Who runs this

Dit platform is opgericht door mensen uit de detailingbranche. Het bedrijf van de oprichter, Car Care Expert in Zwanenburg, is zelf aangesloten en ontvangt aanvragen in Haarlem en Amsterdam. Buiten die twee steden staat het bedrijf niet in de matching. Waar het wel meedoet, wordt het op precies dezelfde punten gecontroleerd als elke andere specialist en krijgt het geen voorrang: de matching kent geen uitzondering op bedrijfsnaam, en daar staat een test op die faalt zodra iemand er een inbouwt.

We earn from the specialist, never from you. They pay only when they accept a request, and what they pay has no bearing on who you are shown: the matching does not know the rate, and there is a test that fails if anyone changes that.

Tell us what needs doing

Six short questions, about a minute. You will see straight away what is available near you, including when the answer is nothing.

Find a specialist

Free to ask, nothing binding, and if there is nobody near you we say so.