Run a hand car wash or mobile valeting business

These rules apply in England. The minimum wage and right to work rules apply across the UK.

Before you wash the first car

Vehicle washing produces trade effluent: contaminated water that must not cause pollution. Wash water with detergent, oil or road dirt must never go down a surface water drain, because surface water drains empty straight into the environment with no treatment.

Find out which of your drains are foul and which carry surface water before you start. Ask the site owner for a drain plan. Manhole covers are painted blue for surface water, red for foul water and red with a 'C' for a combined system.

If you plan to rely on an oil separator

An oil separator does not make detergent wash water safe for a surface water drain.

Your water company's consent

Wash water that goes to a foul or combined sewer needs consent from your water company before you start. Use the sewer whenever it is reasonable to do so. As the occupier, you commit an offence if you discharge trade effluent without consent.

Each water company sets its own fees and conditions, so apply before you sign a lease. Conditions can cover the daily quantity, the rate and temperature of the discharge, and an inspection chamber.

If wash water would reach a river or the ground

You need an environmental permit from the Environment Agency only for wash water released to surface water or groundwater. A discharge to the sewer under your water company's consent needs no permit. If your water company refuses consent, you must give its reasons when you apply for a permit.

Taking a site

Councils generally treat a hand car wash as a use in its own right. Opening one on land used for something else is usually a change of use that needs planning permission. Ask the council's planning team for pre-application advice before you sign a lease.

Conditions on car wash permissions can include a drainage scheme approved before you open and washing only under a canopy. A stand-alone hand car wash is rated as its own type of property, so expect a business rates bill.

Mobile valeting

The wash water rules apply wherever you work. Gullies on a customer's driveway and in the road usually carry surface water, so detergent water must not run into them.

Collect the water instead. Take it to a foul drain your water company has given you permission to use, recycle it, or have a registered waste carrier remove it.

Pay and right to work for your staff

Pay everyone who works for you at least the minimum wage rate for their age. A valeter who works personally for you, and for whom you are not a client or customer, is a worker. Calling them self-employed does not change that, and any term that limits the minimum wage is void.

You also need employers' liability insurance from the day your first employee starts.

Check each person's right to work before they start. Since 1 October 2026 that covers people you engage under a worker's contract and individual sub-contractors, not only employees.

Signs of labour exploitation

Signs of labour exploitation include workers who are paid below the minimum wage or not at all, are driven to work in a crowded vehicle, have no protective clothing or training, have no written contract, or have their identity documents kept by the employer.

Where to get help

Ask your water company's trade effluent team about consent before you sign a lease. Ask your council's planning team about the site, and the Environment Agency about permits or a pollution incident. For pay questions, ask the Acas helpline.