Just giving them what they pay for?

[Nth Degree]

start off lower to build your bank account for the business

increase as business goes up (supply and demand for your time)

get really good at polishing and refining a process to speed things up

decide if you want to continue with the volume work, or jump up into the paint correction game, or both

hire help to make your life easier and make more in the end! 2 cars @125 each while paying $50 out to your help is better and will be done sooner than 1 car @ $175...plus you will have two people spreading word for you

if you want to get into the paint correction game, you better have your game tight! Its not for everyone, and even fewer see that! Dont be the hack guy saying "holograms are a factor on black paint, cant do anything about it"

Some good points there, but I would caution about starting with low prices with the intent to raise them. Customers who you gain by low prices will drop away or be unhappy when you raise your prices significantly so you potentially end up starting all over again in building a client base at the higher prices.



Choose a price point that you want to operate at, then perhaps start by charging 10%-15% less than that. A later raise of that amount won`t impact your business as bad as starting at $75 then having to jump to $125-$150 to be profitable. A better practice is to offer a "discount" early on to build business, but make sure those customer understand what the "regular" price would be and why they are getting the discount. Many may not have you back, but it still gets your name out there. When they do have you back you don`t have to worry about them having sticker shock. Don`t succumb to pressure to offer the deal every time. I tend to give discounts based upon the number of referrals a customer sends me. Much cheaper and more efficient than any other advertising I can pay for.

[Scottwax]

I base all my prices on a starting point to give the customer an idea of what the minimum would be. After looking over the car I discuss with them how they intend to care for the car after the detail. No sense talking someone into a full correction if they will let the dealer or the local tunnel wash take care of it. Are they intending to keep the car a long time? Probably a good customer to upsell to Opti-Coat. I do a wide variety of services from basic washes (just a few a week now) to full on corrections and everything in between. Most of what I do are basic full details, full interior cleaning/protection, wash, clay, 1 DA polishing step and wax or sealant. For the vast majority of people, that gets them a clean, shiny, well protected car and that`s what they want. And they tend to be repeat customers so even though 1 step doesn`t always remove every last swirl or defect, over time their finish continues to improve. Plus, at some point, a few will decide to take the details to the next level.



Like the others have said, the worst thing you can do is position yourself as a low priced or budget detailer. Unless you really like detailing nasty minivans for people who have zero loyalty to anything but low prices.