What to charge relatives?

[74 thing]

OK, what do you guys charge your relatives-do you cut them a discount? Mom and dad get free details, but what about the sister in law`s mother, people like that who are not immediate family but you are going to see them around the holidays. I do not want to do it for free since I work hard. I was wondering what you guys do.

[BMW335i]

I don`t know, but I think if your normal full detail is 250, I would do it for 175.



Disclaimer: I am not a professional detailer.

[TrueDetailer]

Unless its immediate family, they get no discounts with me. I would say though, half off sounds like a heck of a deal.

[imported_GregCavi]

I usually give about a 25% discount for close family. My parents and sister and girlfriend are free, of course.



Greg

[stiffdogg06]

Mom,brothers are all free.



Cousins and such are half off.

[Johnnie27]

Though I`m not a professional, it would depend how close you are with them. If you`re close to them I`d probably only charge for products. My wife is a hairstylist and she charges family for products only. The good thing about that is they refer a lot of people to her so it pays off. If they are just using you and you are not that close to them then I`d only give them a slight discount.

[JDK]

Parents, wife and kids are free, my brother gets half off. Everybody else pays full price, although my close friends and co-workers usually try and get a freebie or big discount. I just explain that I don`t need the practice and they`d have to pay the same or more for somebody else to do it.

[imported_truzoom]

Depends on how your family is. I usually work for free but then I get free lunch, drinks, and I usually get paid at the end anyway.. of course I`m the young nephew of nearly everyone in my family.

[LQ9SS]

I do my dad`s Suburban for free, but he usually gives me a nice tip that is appreciated.

[optimusp517]

It all depends who they are and how close they are to me. Usually it`s a no charge for me, but no one has asked me :) HAHA.

[Envious Eric]

ask then what its worth to them, and do the according work...



or tell them your prices and cut them a deal

[mr.ikon]

Family is always half price. And when they pay me, i kinda dont want the money, but i take it anyways.

[imported_Ivan Rajic]

I think you already got the point, but I`ll get my post count up as well I guess haha



Family like parents, siblings and grandparents are all free... I feel like it`s one of the dumbest things in the world to charge your parents since they raised me, fed me, and wiped my crap... makes no sense... then again, some parents charge their kids to live with them...



Everyone else, just do a small discount.. before you know it, everyone will be asking for freebies... I think toyota guy said it best... see what it`s worth to them and do the job accordingly

[odonnellb]

if its not your main income.... everyone close to you should be free imo...grand parents, good friends, aunts, uncles... i usually give my best friends mother half off... granted my prices max out at 200 unlike some of you guys... but its not my main source of income....my sincerity is probably why i feel bad charging nice people too much haha... if your running a business, its completely understandable to charge your uncles or friends close to full price....its just not fair to everyone else.

[Less]

I`m not a professional. I work mostly on my own cars. I have done full details on Mom`s, Sister`s, and Brother`s cars. I didn`t charge them a cent.



See, it doesn`t matter who someone is, or how they are related to you, when they give you money, they expect something in return. And they expect that something to be commensurate with the amount of money that they paid.



Even at half off, people are still expecting their cars clean. What if you left a scratch? What if you didn`t get that stain out of the carpet? What if the windshield had streaks? Now that you`ve been paid, you`re obligated (at least morally I think) to provide quality service. And if you make a mistake, or if someone is super-picky, or if they were expecting something else, then you`re stuck. You get caught in this pickle where you either do more work than you`re getting paid for, or you`ve got a family member pissed off at you.



Lesson here: DO NOT CHARGE FAMILY MEMBERS FOR DETAILS



I don`t charge my family for details, but I do return favors. My mom`s car got done because she babysat my daughter while I was on a business trip. My brother`s car got detailed because he helped me tile my kitchen floor.