Service Agreement

Version 1.0 · effective 21 August 2026

This is the agreement you sign when you book. It exists so that both of us know exactly what was promised before anyone touches the car — not so we can point at fine print afterwards.

01Parties

This agreement is between Cipher Auto Lab LLC, a Connecticut limited liability company ("we", "us"), and the person who signs at booking ("you"). It covers the single appointment identified by your CAL- reference.

02Your authority over the vehicle

You confirm that you are at least 18 years old and that you either own the vehicle or have the owner's permission to have this work carried out on it. If you are booking on someone else's behalf, you are responsible for having their agreement to these terms.

03Access and permission to work

You confirm that we are permitted to carry out mobile detailing at the address you gave us, and that you have checked any landlord, HOA, employer or property-management rules that apply. If a property owner or manager stops us part-way through, we will charge only for the work completed and refund the rest.

You will provide roughly fifteen feet of clear space around the vehicle and lawful parking nearby. We supply our own water and power.

04Condition of the vehicle

We photograph the vehicle on arrival to record its condition. Those photographs are the reference point if a question ever comes up.

We are not responsible for pre-existing conditions, and some of them can worsen under normal detailing work through no fault of ours:

• Clear coat that is already failing, peeling or thinned, which can lift under a machine polisher
• Rock chips, scratches through the paint, dents, rust and previous body repair
• Repainted or filled panels, which behave unpredictably under correction
• Brittle or cracked trim, perished seals, loose badges, and aftermarket parts, wraps or films
• Existing water leaks or electrical faults that only show themselves once the car is wet
• Stains, burns, tears and odours already set into the interior

If we see something during inspection that we think is a genuine risk, we will tell you before we touch it and let you decide.

05Personal belongings

Please empty the vehicle before we arrive, including child seats. We are not responsible for cash, electronics, documents, valuables or anything else left inside, and we cannot clean areas that are buried under belongings.

06Price and re-quotes

Published prices are starting prices for a sedan in normal condition, and the figure shown when you booked is an estimate.

07Deposit and cancellation

Your deposit holds the slot and is credited against your total. It is not an additional charge.

Refunded in full if you cancel or reschedule with 24 hours notice or more; if we reschedule for any reason including weather; if you decline a re-quote on arrival; or if the site turns out to be unworkable.

Forfeited only if you cancel with less than 24 hours notice, or if nobody is there and the vehicle is not accessible when we arrive.

08What the work can achieve

Detailing has physical limits, and you are agreeing to a service, not to a specific cosmetic outcome:

• Paint correction reduces defects, it does not resurface the vehicle. A single-stage polish targets roughly 50–60% of light swirling; two stages target roughly 80–90%. Damage deeper than the clear coat cannot be polished out and requires paint.
• Paint has a finite thickness. We measure it and we stop while it is still safe to stop. If your clear coat is too thin to correct responsibly, we will say so and refund rather than take the risk.
• Some marks are permanent. Dye transfer, ink, bleach, sun-damaged plastics and heat-set staining may improve without disappearing.
• Odour removal is not guaranteed, particularly smoke, which soaks into foam and headliner.

09Workmanship and warranties

If you are not happy with something we did, call within 48 hours and we will come back and put it right.

Headlight restoration carries a 12-month clarity warranty, or 24 months with the ceramic topper. Ceramic coatings carry a 3 to 5 year warranty depending on the product, conditional on following the written care instructions and completing the free six-month check-up. Warranties cover our workmanship only — not later damage, accidents, automatic car washes, or ordinary wear.

10Damage

We carry business liability insurance and will send you the certificate on request.

If we damage something, you will hear it from us first, and it will be repaired or covered. Any damage you believe we caused must be reported within 48 hours of completion, while it is still possible to establish what happened. After that we cannot fairly distinguish our work from later events.

11Limit of liability

Except for damage caused by our negligence, which our insurance exists to cover, our total liability for any claim arising from a job is limited to the amount you paid us for that job.

We are not liable for indirect or consequential losses, including lost time, missed work, rental costs or loss of use of the vehicle. Nothing here limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited under Connecticut law.

12Weather and rescheduling

Rain, ice, high wind and extreme heat can force a reschedule, and paint correction in particular needs conditions we can control. If we move your appointment you get first choice of the next slot, or a full refund of the deposit if the new date does not suit.

13Payment

The balance is due on completion, after you have inspected the vehicle with us. We accept card and cash. Card payments are processed by Stripe and card details never reach our systems.

14Photographs

We photograph every vehicle as a condition record, whatever you decide here. That is separate from marketing.

At booking you can tick a box allowing us to use photographs of your vehicle to promote the business. It is entirely optional and declining it changes nothing about the service or the price. If you do allow it: license plates are removed, we never publish your address or personal details, and you can have any photo taken down at any time by asking.

15Electronic signature

Typing your name at booking is your signature. You agree it has the same effect as a handwritten one, and that this agreement may be formed and kept electronically.

We record the version you signed, the name you typed, the date and time, and the IP address the signature came from. That record is your protection as much as ours. Your confirmation email is your copy — keep it.

16Governing law

Connecticut law governs this agreement. Any dispute goes to the state or federal courts in New Haven County, Connecticut.

Before anything gets that far, call. Almost everything turns out to be a misunderstanding that one phone call fixes.