what does your general "wash" include?

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xtremekustomz

New member
When you do a general wash are you you dressing the fender wells, tires, cleaning glass, wiping door jambs. Just curious to see how far you go into detail with it. I personally do it all but I'm wondering if I am going too far sometimes with what I am able to charge. I did find out the other day after I did a Yukon that I charged $20 more than the "local" detailer. The customer thought it was too much to start with but after I got through she (the husband had no problem paying more) was very happy. Even still I wish I could charge some of the prices you guys do. I figured up an hourly rate that I wanted to go buy and it actually came out exactly as I planned.
 
I do a wash, dry, vac, wipe dash/vinyl, wipe door jambs, spray detailer on paint, clean glass inside and out, dress tires/trim.



I usually charge between $25 and $50. Some of my customers are weekly, so it only costs them $25. Customers that I havent seen in a while or ones that are super super dirty, get the $50.
 
Brandon1 said:
I do a wash, dry, vac, wipe dash/vinyl, wipe door jambs, spray detailer on paint, clean glass inside and out, dress tires/trim.



I usually charge between $25 and $50. Some of my customers are weekly, so it only costs them $25. Customers that I havent seen in a while or ones that are super super dirty, get the $50.
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That is alot for $25 but I guess if the vehicles is already clean beofore you really get started then it is worth it. $25 for 30 min
 
Basic Exterior Cars start at $70 and up = Wash, Dry, wiping down the doors jambs, getting bar/tar spots, apply a chemical polish - Like AIO or 360, cleaning the glass, treating the trim, dressing tires/wheels/wheel wells.



And then I have a WASH AND QUICK DETAIL. This is for the customers I have already detailed and they are coming back for a clean up. I charge ~$25+ for that



Finally I have a WASH/paintcleanse/wax - This is for the people who I detailed and that haven't been to me for a while but still lack the appearance of swirls. I will wash, use one of the JW Primes, and then wax/seal it all for ~$35+.
 
I did a Yukon the other day which included: wash, dry, xmt360, dress fender wells, tires, trim, clean glass inside and out, DG AW on exterior glass, vac inside, wipe down plastic, removed 6 or more stains, cleaned the floor matts, wipe door jambs, leather conditioner on seats. I know the "local" place doesn't touch a polisher and washes with brushes and I'm sure that they don't anything like AW on the windows and they charged the people $60 for it. I ended up charging $80 to do it plus I got to do their 2007 dually. The man had no problem paying it and he said I am the only one that will ever do his vehicle. He bought a brand new truck a few years back and took it to the "local" place and swirled it up after the 1st wash. His wife thought it was too much to start with but I think after I got through she saw that she got her moneys worth.
 
thesacrifice said:
A general wash for my personal cars is just that.



Wash paint/windows/wells/wheels. That's it.
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Not to be rude, but that is a little skimpy. That person can get those steps down the road, what separates autopians from normal detailers is details. Trim dressing, spray detailer on the paint, tire dressing, wheelwell dressing, etc.



I could not imagine letting a car go back to a customer with only the wash/dry step. Even if it's just to keep people from thinking that is how my normal job is.
 
My Basic package involves.



Complete exterior wash with minor tar removal

Dress tires and wells

Wipe down the door jams

Clean the windows

A good vacuum

Wipe down the dash and dust on the interior.

And a clean scent wonder wafer



Thats my basic wash and vac, i charge $30 for average size vehicles in good shape. $35 for x-lg suvs and vans. I knock $5 bucks off those prices for weekly repeat customers.





I used to charge 35 and 40 and offered no weekly discount. But lately the brothas have been going door to door selling $50 details which is just a half *** wash and wax with stuff they got from walmart. I live in a small town where people don't know any better and they go for the more for their money option even if the quality is no where near mine.
 
stiffdogg06 said:
he said his personal cars. Not customers.
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Precisely. I maintain my car well enough that I don't need to dress everything everytime. I posted my general wash. If youd like me to post my general detail, then some of the things you'd like to see would be present.
 
Ok, well then I misunderstood what you said.



I think the origional question was more for customers cars, so thats how I got mixed up.
 
Vacuum interior

Clean windows

Wipe off (not clean) dash, door panels & console

Clean wheels, tires, wells

Wash & dry exterior

Dress Tires & wells

Wipe out jambs



The above is pretty much the same I've done for 17 years. I almost always do more but the above is what is stated, promised, advertised or to be expected.



For the most part all I do anymore is weekly and biweekly wash customers. I keep most in a nice detailed state. Leather is periodically cleaned and conditioned, stains and light soiling is removed, periodic claying and a protection of a paste wax, sealant or spray wax is applied. I do this a little each wash. Before I had regular weekly and biweekly customers I tended to target the people I liked the most, had the easiest cars to work with or tipped me nicely. I tended to "hook them up" with the hopes of getting them as a weekly wash. For the most part I don't tell the customer that I've done extras.
 
I personally dont touch interiors of any car. not that I dont know how, I just dont want the problems a former customer of mine caused me.



1st timers get this for $40 - 45 depending on size of vehicle

Clean Wheels/Wells, Wash/Dry,Dress all plastic/tires/rubber,Klasse AIO and a Wax Topper



for a basic wash/wax they get the NXT topper because it looks great for about a week



Returning customers get a $5 discount



I even throw in an engine detail on the 3rd weekly come-back, to give the customer a reason to come back. I show them my engine and tell them theres will look that good to on there 3rd return to me, and for no added charge!
 
Location, location, location :) My aunt lives in Jacksonville and said basically it starts out at $75 to wash the outside of her car. About $150 to do the works (no polishing, just waxing) I guess the way I need to look at it is this. In big cities, your house or apartment might be $200,000+ where here it would be $80,000. Property tax is killer in the city as well as everything else. But people make more so it kinda evens out really.
 
location is key, here the works goes up to $250 at a local shop that really knows what they are doing, where as a hack shop charges 125$ for the same service.
 
Noting that I only do my/my wife's vehicles...



I clean *everything* (except the inside of the windhield and backlight), every wash.



Wheelwells, back sides of wheels, undercarringe/suspension, under the hood, door/trunk jambs, even the area behind the front fenders that I can only access by shoving a MF in with the front doors open.



Given the rather extreme nature of my wash techniques, you can see why it takes me so long to do every wash. But I've *never* failed to find dirt in all the places that I thought I could perhaps do every other time (I tried washing the out-of-the-way spots with white MFs/Q-tips and sure enough, they got soiled).



But OTOH, I don't wash as often as many people here either...
 
two bucket wash (clay every other wash)

jambs

interior glass

all interior plastics

vac

clean rims (inside and out)

tire dressing

wells

QD



I only wash my car every three weeks, and the air here is very dirty. On top of this, my car sees sprinklers every morning.



Basically, I am just a few items short of a full detail. It usually takes four hours to do.
 
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