Here is my info on how much to charge

[NY detailer]

OK guys & gals, I posted before my info on how to start a business, now I am going to post a thread on how much to charge

First I would like to say that there are several different types of detailers. Some do it for the hobby & fun, some do it for spending cash & some do it professionally. The reason you are detailing should be considered in the amount you charge. If you are detailing your neighbor’s car for fun and you charge him $35.00 then that is fine, but if you are trying to make a living off detailing then you will not survive.

You need to take everything into consideration before you make your price list. Where will you be detailing? Will you need to pay for water? How much will supplies cost?

This would be a good example to help you understand what you should charge. Let’s say you are going to be detailing a 2000 Nissan Maxima today. You will need to get supplies. 1 bottle of car wash soap $5.00, 1 bottle of polish $10.00, 1 bottle of wax $10.00, 1 bottle of tire dressing $12.00, 1 bottle of interior cleaner $10.00, 1 bottle of carpet cleaner $10.00. All of this totals $57.00, now take in to the fact that it will take you around 3 hours of back breaking work to detail this car. Why would anyone charge only $35.00 to do this? You are loosing money not making money.

Here is what I can say that will really help people out with the profit to expense ratio.
1. Buy in bulk whenever you can. If can buy 1 to 5 gallon containers. They may cost more but you will have them longer and get a lot more cars out of them

2. Just because the price is high does not mean it is the best product out on the market.
(I think we all should now that) Don’t fall for the nice package or the nice car on the box. It’s all marketing.

3. Set your prices ahead of time and stick to them. Don’t change them from one customer to another. Customers will talk to each other and before you know it they will mention how much you are charging them.

This is the price list I have for all my customers.

Wash & Wax – 49.99
Includes: wash, tires cleaned & dressed, windows cleaned, one coat of wax

Mini Detail - $69.99
Includes all the above and one coat of machine glaze, interior vacuumed & dash cleaned

Full Detail - $140.00
Includes all the above and compounding or clay, machine glaze, final polish, wax, stain removal, leather cleaned & conditioned, etc….
The entire car will be detailed with the full detail

For vans & trucks I charge more. I also informed each customer that the prices are quotes and if they give me a car that has poop or blood in it I will charge more.

Hope this helps some people out
NYD

[KCPreki11]

Thanks...

[Jngrbrdman]

This would be a good example to help you understand what you should charge. Let’s say you are going to be detailing a 2000 Nissan Maxima today. You will need to get supplies. 1 bottle of car wash soap $5.00, 1 bottle of polish $10.00, 1 bottle of wax $10.00, 1 bottle of tire dressing $12.00, 1 bottle of interior cleaner $10.00, 1 bottle of carpet cleaner $10.00. All of this totals $57.00, now take in to the fact that it will take you around 3 hours of back breaking work to detail this car. Why would anyone charge only $35.00 to do this? You are loosing money not making money.

Just speaking as someone that has done this for $35 dollars, I can tell you that you won't neccessarily be losing money if you are only charging that. Those product prices aren't totally accurate. I don't know that I've ever paid $10 for a thing of carpet cleaner. You also have to understand that you are going to get 2 or 3 cars out of some of those products.

When you are first starting out sometimes you have to operate to break even just to establish a customer base. This is assuming that you start out as a weekend warrior and not as your bread and butter day job. Of course, if this was your full time job then you need to be competitive from day one. I started out at $35 bucks a car because that was a number that people I worked with could justify spending. Now I can be a little bit more realistic in the pricing and the customers that have been with me from day one don't mind paying the extra bucks because they've seen my work improve. People don't mind paying for quality.

Buying in bulk is an excellent idea. I just recently started doing that. My customer base is large enough that I know I can count on X number of cars a month and I hate running out of stuff. I picked up a case of Prestone Carpet Cleaner on ebay for 12 bucks. Not too shabby. That is awesome stuff too. You can get stuff in industrial strength or in concentrate form. I've got some stuff that can be diluted to be as strong as engine degreaser or mild as window cleaner. That was a wise investment. The cheaper your overhead is the lower you can set your prices and still make money. It makes it nice for when you want to give a "good buddy" discount or something. Those are just my thoughts though. NY Detailer's instructions are great.

[2wheelsx2]

So for a basic wash and wax you don't do the interior? I have been vacuuming and dusting, minor dressing work in the interior as part of a basic wash and wax. I guess this is too much for a wash and wax, and should be counted as a mini-detail?

[BradE]

Just to add some info, your prices should also be determind by the market in which you operate. Simple supply and demand. No two markets are alike and each market has it's own prevailing price. For example the market price for services is higher in California than it is in Ohio. The best way to "sample" you market is call around shops in your area and see what they charge for what services. Do this for enough shops and you will soon see the extremes and the median prices for your market.

Just some info to ponder.

[Jngrbrdman]

Originally posted by 2wheelsx2
So for a basic wash and wax you don't do the interior? I have been vacuuming and dusting, minor dressing work in the interior as part of a basic wash and wax. I guess this is too much for a wash and wax, and should be counted as a mini-detail?

I have seperate pricing for things like just interior or just exterior stuff. I have a seperate price for just engine detailing too. I don't get too many people that just want one of the 3 main things that I do. Usually they want me to do them all. I've been in sales for nearly all of my career so I usually do a pretty good job selling them on the whole package.

There is a car I'm doing on Saturday, for example, that just needs the exterior taken care of. They don't want me to do anything to the inside because they can handle that. They just want me to polish and seal the exterior and do an engine detail. While they were telling me that I asked them how their other car was doing and I managed to score a detail on that one too. Work is work I guess.

If you want to set up a seperate pricing structure for the "mini details" like when they just want the interior done or just the enigne or something, then I think that it's a good idea. I don't think you'll have to use it very often though. Most people want the whole car done. I've found it usefull to have a seperate price for half the normal service. Oh, don't just cut your normal price in half. IMO it is eaiser to detail an engine than it is to detail the interior. I wouldn't break your pricing down into thirds if you wanted to get a seperate price for engine, exterior, and interior. Definatly weigh how much time you spend doing it and how much product you have to use. Usually things are cheaper if they are purchased all at once so your customers should see that if they wanted an engine detail, an exterior detail, and an interior detail then they might as well pay for the full detail and not the seperate services. Make sense?

[Tortuga]

I'm not a professional detailer, I just play one on Autopia.

Keep in mind, that you should vary your prices based upon your location. Westchester County, NY is in the top one-quarter of one percent of all wage owners in the country. Here, the Elmsford AutoSpa does a similar level of detailing that NYdetailer does and they charge $165. I think if they charged $200, most people wouldn't care.

[2wheelsx2]

Thanks, Jngrbrdman. The reason I asked was because I recently charged $80 for a wash/wax for a Sequoia. No prep work was needed because I had done a full workup with SMR/clay the month previously. I vacuumed and cleaned the interior and then washed and sealed the painted with #20. Cleaned windows and dressed tired. Even sealed the wheels. Then when I brought it back, the lady was like "Oh, I thought you said it was going to be $50 per vehicles for wash/wax if I bring it to you monthly." and I gently reminded her that price was for a car, not a full sized truck.

It took me about 45 minutes just to vacuum the interior and dust, since it's pretty neglected. Then I can to compound the bumper, as they had rubbed it against something (couldn't get it all out, it was past the clearcoat in spots), so I charged her $10 for that work for a total of $90. I thought it was pretty reasonable. She didn't complain, but seemed surprised, and I was just worried that maybe she just wants to be cheap and do the exterior.

[Jngrbrdman]

I just enjoy the work so much that I frequently work for nothing. I'm just loving the sun and the experience. I did an Expedition with sap all over it and I charged her $75. She was with me when I did a 'once over' on the truck and I guess that was the first time she really looked at the damage. She was so happy with the results that she tiped me $25. Sometimes charging very little (respectivly) for a job pays off. I think that most people can really appreciate the expertise that it takes to do some of the things we do. Something that we see every day on cars might be an overwelming task for your below average car owner.

If you charge a price that makes you happy and the customers happy then you are fine. If I want to work for $5 an hour then I guess that's up to me, yes? I could be making $40 or $50 an hour on the same job but if I just want the experience then the $5 is payment enough. I did a Ferrari kit car for free just so I could say that I did it. lol I'm about to start begging one of the new Autopians from Salt Lake to do his Viper for free. lol

[2wheelsx2]

I know what you mean. I love to do German cars, especially the newer BMW's. They are so much better made. I often do this friend's 323i just for a free lunch. But I don't really like doing big trucks. Difficult to get to the top and just so much paint that I get bored from doing it after a while.

FWIW, if someone offered to let me do his Viper, I would do it for free too!!

[Intel486]

Also, make sure you remember what prices you put on your flyer... Don't make an *** of yourself like I did...

[Belicoso]

Make shure you list what is included in each "package"
Some people expect the interior to be dressed and carpets spot cleaned included in the wash... and those little things can add up.

Setting the expectation upfront saves disagreements and unhappy customers.

my $0.02