Survey: detailing estimates from 47 shops.

[602rwtq]

Is your pricing competitive?



This might be the toughest decision an auto detailer makes. Price yourself low and you’ll be busy…but will you make money? Set your prices high, and you’ll make a healthy profit on each car, but just how many cars will you service?



We emailed 47 detailers for quotes. The Results:



Highest quote received: $399.

Lowest: $100.



Average time of service: 4.1 hours.

Longest estimate: 7 hours.

Shortest: 2 hours.



Average response time: 86 minutes.

Longest time to respond: 10 hours.

Shortest: 10 minutes.



56% of shops didn’t respond at all.

This was alarming. We were expecting roughly a 25% non-response rate. Good news for the “good shops�: half your competitors are lazy.



What it means to you: 2 lessons.



Price matters: don’t be the high bid, and don’t be the low bid.

Imagine yourself as the customer. A bid of $399 is so far from average that it gets tossed. But with an average quote of $215, $100 is suspiciously low. And you would be right to question that quote: it can’t possibly be a thorough service. You`re going to choose the bids near the middle, read online reviews, and probably call 2 shops before you finalizes an appointment. A few times a year, check in on your competitors’ pricing to be sure you’re where the customers are: the “middle� of the market.



Respond to every email within 3 hours: no exceptions.

Let’s face it…a lot of emails are tire kickers. When I ran Ace Car Reconditioning, only 20-30% of them became customers. But not responding is unacceptable. And responding late–anything past 3 hours–says to the customer “you’re not important to us.� Think of the last time you needed a plumber, electrician, or accountant. Did you hire the late responder? Be sure that all emails reach your cell phone. Check every 2 hours. Every email gets a response, every time.



Certainly, you work mostly off referrals, and may think these email estimates don`t matter to you. But the trend in the services trade is:



1. Research online.

2. Email for quotes.

3. Check reviews.

4. Call favorite business to book appointment.



Respond quickly, price yourself right, and you`ll be attractive to the modern detail shopper.



See the data and survey methods.

The full article:

Auto detailing price survey: estimates from 47 shops.

[JohnKleven]

I can definitely agree with a lot of what you said. However, depending on the clientele you are trying to attract, if you`re anything like us, our price for that car might be above your highest quote. I know to detail that car well, it`s going to take 8 hours or so. That being said, I will not discount my hourly rate just because it`s a cheap car. I also will not inflate my rate because your car was built in Maranello. I also will not sacrifice my reputation and do a quickie just to compete with their price point. If you do a quickie you will end up missing spots, and the customer thinks that you were by far the most expensive anyways, why would you miss spots? The only car that ever gets a quickie in my shop, is MY CAR. Although I`m sure you can get more jobs at a lower price point like you said, I believe when you educate your customers properly, the jobs will come in.

[602rwtq]

I can definitely agree with a lot of what you said. However, depending on the clientele you are trying to attract, if you`re anything like us, our price for that car might be above your highest quote. I know to detail that car well, it`s going to take 8 hours or so. That being said, I will not discount my hourly rate just because it`s a cheap car. I also will not inflate my rate because your car was built in Maranello. I also will not sacrifice my reputation and do a quickie just to compete with their price point. If you do a quickie you will end up missing spots, and the customer thinks that you were by far the most expensive anyways, why would you miss spots? The only car that ever gets a quickie in my shop, is MY CAR. Although I`m sure you can get more jobs at a lower price point like you said, I believe when you educate your customers properly, the jobs will come in.

We only contacted "volume" shops, so a used Saturn was the kind of client they were after. I used to do a lot of cars for sale in the $5k - $15k range. They always wanted spotless interiors and a clean exterior. None of them even knew what paint correction WAS. We 1-stepped the exterior, got our price down to around $200, and 99% of them were happy.



The real epiphany of the survey was that less than half of the shops responded. These are the businessmen that are setting the standard for the whole industry, so this is why we all deal with some skepticism from the general public.

[Scottwax]

No surprise you got so few responses, seems alarmingly typical in this industry.