Cancelling appointments

[lecchilo]

Like Todd I too use a deposit to schedule that goes toward the actual detail service. If paint correction/polishing is involved, which for me is $250 and above, then a 50% deposit is required. For all services above $100 where no paint correction is involved, such as a light clay with a wash & wax, wash & wax with interior, etc. it's $50. For wash & wax, which are usually below $100 for me, and regular washes I don't require a deposit because I schedule does on evenings after my 'real' job so even if they cancel it's no biggie to lose $50 as I usually don't have many clients coming for such services other than a few regulars who are already scheduled.

Definitely make it clear in a nice way why the deposit is required and that it will go toward the detail and it's not an extra fee.

Honestly though, I do this for probably only 25% of my clients because I try my best to simply judge a person by our initial conversation, pre-detail inspection, how they treat and talk about their car, etc. I have had maybe 2 cancellation issues and no lost clients in 2-3 years of doing this regularly so I think it's working pretty well.