Additional charges

D

dsms

New member
I outlined a detailed process that will have some substituions and exeptions depending on the vehicle and its condition but generally its a wash,clay, full paint correction, sealant, clear seal, leather treatment, wheels and tires, all trim,carpets,glass etc.. In setting a starting price for a standard sized car(2dr/4r) I figured around $270 and for a regular sized SUV about $300. Now when it comes to oversized SUV's like Hummers,EXT's,Excursions and such should I charge an additional fee? I dont not want to nickel and dime my customers in ANY way and would like to be as fair as possible but I feel that the work and time that goes into a BMW X3 and an Excursion will be very different and that I should charge more for the oversized SUV being as it will take longer to detail. I was estimating maybe a $30 charge for an extra large SUV. I dont know what to charge and I dont really know what is fair. I thought about charging extra after a certain amount of time spent but I feel like it may be a bit subjective in a customers mind. What do you pros do when it comes to detailing an oversized vehicle pirce wise?
 
i cant speak from that much experience here but ide charge like 40 or 45 instead of 30 over for your SUV's. And maybe another 30 or 45 for extra large SUV's.
 
You can't charge enough extra on a black XL suv if you're doing paint correction. If I charged 270 for a sedan, SUV's would be 350, Expedition/Navigator class would be 400, Suburban/Excursion would be 550. The prices would be maybe 3/4 of that for silver.



If paint correction isn't your thing, it'll only take 2 hours or so extra to do a big SUV. For me, I book cars out to around 8 hours, Navi's out to 12, and Excursions out to 16, but I do a lot of black in bad shape.
 
Now I understand that I need to vary my pricing structure quite a bit to accomadate different sized cars. I was thinking maybe something like this to start out with. I know some cars may fit into an in between bategory but I dont want to have a huge list of size pricing. This is what I came up with, feel free to add opinions and suggestions.



compact 2/4dr- $259(c230,325i,mini cooper,IS350,Z4,VW golf etc.)



full size 2dr coupe/4dr sedan- $289(CL,650i,LS460,S550,Bentley GT etc.)



standard SUV- $339(X5,ML,RX330,fx35, Explorer)



XL SUV- $379(Expedition,Hummer,Suburban, QX56 etc.)
 
Never charge an additional fee.

Price on a vehicle by vehicle basis.

For a black H2 Hummer I would charge much more than a white Mini Cooper.





How do you justify $45 in either direction for those two?



I can do. A white Mini in 4 hours and a black H2 takes me over 10, plus the black H2 I work on has got a poor paint job.



With the average car taking me 7.5 hours right now, how could it make any business sense to charge 45 more or less?



As soon as a customer hears you say, SUV's are an additional XXX, they get ill. Plus, if the car is a train wreck, you will need to charge more to meet the customers expectations....:hm



t's like parking in Manhattan, I was paying 15% extra for my SUV which had the same wheelbase and overall length as my car!!!
 
I get what your saying and it makes perfect sense. Im just affraid that I go to detail a customers car and after I see it needs heavy paint correction or extensive interior care that I have to "estimate" a price for them on the spot, which might be quite a bit higher than what they were expecting. Maybe I should advertise a single "starting" price which will be paid for the general detail process that would be done on every car reguardless of its size and condition(like the wash,clay,wheel and tire care and sealant etc) and then charge accordingly for additional work in paint or interior care with vehicle size facotred into the price also. I would never not include this info in advertising or else it would be misleading for a heavily swirled expedition owner to believe is going to pay only the flat rate which is the same as an okay condition mini owner, I could advertise the staring price and then say "pricing varies based on vehicle condition" or something like that . How do you handle customers when you are in a posistion to estimate the cost of "extra" work and such. Also what justifies your price, how can I say this car needs heavy paint correction so I will charge X instead of Y, or this car this is this size so I will charge this price? Of course I can say, well the starting price for the basic process is X and your car is in bad shape so I am going to charge $70 more than X, but couldnt a customer say why not $50 extra instead of $70 even if they have no problem paying my estimate wouldnt they maybe feel a bit swindled? I know this sounds silly becuase I am a service which they pay for and I make the prices because its my buisness and I am doing all the work and sure I have the right to say I will not do this detail for this amount because I demand to be paid this amount(I would say that in a nicer way to a customer of course), also its not like the only estimate they have been given in their life by a buisness or service especially if they have delt with carpenters or repair shops. But I feel like I need a pricing chart that covers the cost of all cars and the specified work that needs to be done and a vehicle size price list too. I wouldnt advertise this but it might to a good idea to have a copy along with me on a detail so I can say I charge this much for this work on this vehicle here is my detailed price chart. Sound like a good idea or no, I mean could just be looking at this the wrong way and overcomplicating things.
 
Then get out of paint correcting and buy products with high fillers and slap on a cleaner wax!

Serve your clients, give them what they want. But don't be afraid to sell what you do. And if you think people are not going to pay, you are looking in the wrong places for customers.



Dont sell in steps, it just gives people too many confusing choices. If the car is a wreck, charge $500 instead of your usual $350. You will be working for it anyway, its not swindling. Don't tell them because its a wreck, I have to up charge you $150. It will turn them off, and they will want to see what you can do for the original $350. You will just short change yourself and the client most likely will never come back.



The whole idea of being a high end detailer and learning to resurface paint is to work on cars as if they were works of art.
 
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