Maintenance Contracts or Plans?

[hamza7]

Who here has maintenance contracts or plans for there clients? What are the terms, what are the average prices? How does it work?

[David Fermani]

I have done and still do them. Constant revenue and isn`t difficult work. I typically do a glorified wash once per month. Usually is based on my hourly rate. Very lucrative IMHO and is great fill in work.

[Jean-Claude]

I used to do them. A bit over a year ago I phased it out. I hate washing a car and going on-site to do it for even $65 was not worth it. I am too picky and ended up doing more than I should for $65. One could say that was a personal problem and not a problem that has to be tied to maintenance washes. At any rate, I`ve kept slammed not doing maintenance washes and have been super happy with setting up for 1~5 days per job rather than 3+ places a day.

[Driven Auto Detail]

I`m definitely a fan of "maintenance" services. It`s easy money and I`m caring for a car that in theory, is pretty clean since a) I`ve already detailed it and b) I`m taking care of it every 2-3 weeks. Plus, I usually come out making a lot more per hour than I do on higher-end detail services.

[hamza7]

Thanks for the reply guys. I`ve been wanting to do them for a while now but I`m mobile and going from clients house to clients house when the couple of clients that have showed me interest live 30-40 minutes away from each other may not be a good bet. I will definitely try to get people in the same area on a maintenance plan.

[Driven Auto Detail]

If you`ve got clients 30-40 minutes away, try getting your customer`s fleet of vehicles to care for, if they have multiple vehicles in their family.

[LeMarque]

I started a plan this year. Works something like this. I broke down my plan into compact, mid-size, full size/suv pricing. After the customer pays the full price for our `Geekster Grande Detail`, I did an Excel spread sheet listing all three `sizes` and pricing subject to the vehicle size and they get a wash and maintenance wax (spray or D301) every month and a `spruce up detail` (quick extraction, etc) every third month. They get a <ducking> 25% discount, but they have to pay in full for the entire year up front. They can share the plan with their spouse or other second car if that second car also pays full price for our GGDetail.

[C. Charles Hahn]

If you`ve got clients 30-40 minutes away, try getting your customer`s fleet of vehicles to care for, if they have multiple vehicles in their family.

Agreed, I`d set a minimum dollar value for the services on a single vehicle, or a minimum number of vehicles for maintenance services to make it worth your time traveling that far.

[Envious Eric]

there is NO money in car washing doing it yourself!!!! even if you charge 40 per wash across 4 locations with two cars each, and have to do it mobile, you are not making enough to make it worth filling up your days compared to working less time and charging 2 details @ just $150 per.



work 8 hours washing 8 cars to make 320 less expenses, or work 5 hours to make 300 less expenses...I value my time these days!!!! those etra 3 hours a day can be used for family, significant others, business development (key point there), etc



if you are charging 50-75 per WASH, and dont go above and beyond, its worth it

if you have someone getting paid 12-15 per hour to wash cars, and you are charging $25+, then its worth it WHILE you go out and do another job or two for the day.



I used to offer 7 car washes in 3 locations for 210 bucks a day...since Ive dropped those clients, I am filling the days up with 400-500 jobs....sometimes more! Not hard to see where the real money is at.



also, if you offer a monthly with 3 washes and a detail, you better plan on a lot of wear and tear on your car, gas, and boring work just to make a couple bucks.



IMO, its not worth it unless you have someone else doing that kind of work