Doing a BMW i3 on Thursday

J

JamMaster Jay

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This is my third week in business and so far I've done 5 cars. No paint correction yet but hopefully soon. Mostly washes and sealants applied with interior details and some quick vacuums. Today a guy called me about his 2015 BMW i3. Says he's doing a photo shoot on Friday and wants it to shine. No interior just wash and wax is what he wants. I quoted him $95 -$105 depending on the shape its in. I also have to travel 35 mins each way which I factor into the price.
Any tips or something I should pay attention specifically to? Just thought I'd throw it out there and see what feedback you all may have. Mahalo in advance!
 
Engine bay was not in my quote. I really think he's just wanting it to shine. But thanks for the heads up.
 
What are you planning to use as far as wash suds, sealant/wax/coating/tire shine wise?
 
At that price I would do a wash, spray wax, dress the wheel wells and tires. Anything more than that and you aren't charging enough. I know, we've all been there, giving away our services pretty much for free when starting out to gain word of mouth advertising. Let me tell you, it's a lot easier in the long run to grow the business on high price high quality very slowly, rather than undercutting the market to get customers then raising prices and realizing you've been targeting the wrong demographic the whole time. It's amazing how fast word of mouth grows when you charge high rates.
 
Ryan, that's exactly what he's getting @ my quoted price. Anything else is charged for if time allows.
Dorado, I'm currently using Meg's D111 in my foam gun. I've got Collinite 845 for my sealant & PERL or Meg's D170 for the tires.
 
FinishingTouchA said:
At that price I would do a wash, spray wax, dress the wheel wells and tires. Anything more than that and you aren't charging enough. I know, we've all been there, giving away our services pretty much for free when starting out to gain word of mouth advertising. Let me tell you, it's a lot easier in the long run to grow the business on high price high quality very slowly, rather than undercutting the market to get customers then raising prices and realizing you've been targeting the wrong demographic the whole time. It's amazing how fast word of mouth grows when you charge high rates.
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$105 to do just that on such a small vehicle? That's like bare bones service though. Where's the value in paying $105 for just a wash, spray wax w/o even claying, [might as well be more like a drying aid, which is what it sounds like] dress the tires? Who washes a car and doesn't dress the tires? Every local "hand wash" spot in the country dresses the tires with something... Ooh wheel wells. For $105?? People could get more than that at a carwash for $9-11 bucks. Just sayin...
 
Guess I'm lucky, lol. I will nanoskin the paint before I apply the wax. Been using my nanoskin with the born slippy lube and getting good results. Should be able to knock this car out in about 1.5 hours.
 
I also have a full time job. I'm right in line with the local competition and if I don't get the job because of price I'm fine with it. I'd rather be at home with my daughter than running around for peanuts.
 
Damn yall charge a lot for wash and wax lol. I charge 40-50 per car. wish i was in the market where wash and wax could charge that much.
 
OTSDetail said:
Damn yall charge a lot for wash and wax lol. I charge 40-50 per car. wish i was in the market where wash and wax could charge that much.
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I just changed my prices tho... Too late. It's $150 for a 2BM w/grit guards in both buckets, I put some spray wax on your vehicle, Hyper Dressing in the wheel wells, and I'll even dress your tires, how bout that? For $200 I'll bust out da foam cannon like wut! Lol
 
Eldorado2k said:
$105 to do just that on such a small vehicle? That's like bare bones service though. Where's the value in paying $105 for just a wash, spray wax w/o even claying, [might as well be more like a drying aid, which is what it sounds like] dress the tires? Who washes a car and doesn't dress the tires? Every local "hand wash" spot in the country dresses the tires with something... Ooh wheel wells. For $105?? People could get more than that at a carwash for $9-11 bucks. Just sayin...
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You aren't getting 2 bucket method, d156, and service on your doorstep for 10 dollars. ;)

OTSDetail said:
Damn yall charge a lot for wash and wax lol. I charge 40-50 per car. wish i was in the market where wash and wax could charge that much.
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Take into consideration he's spending over an hour in drive time alone. If you you guys are content working for minimum wage come on down to my shop with an application.

This is the reason so many people give up after a year, they never grasp the business side of things.
Allow me to tally up the costs of this simple wash & spray wax:
Insurance $2-5
Shampoo, wheel cleaner, tire shine, spray wax $5
Depreciation of supplies [towels, grit guards, buckets, hose, nozzle, mitt, brushes (total ~$200)] $1-5
Cost to drive vehicle ($.50/mile) $20-30
_______
Can we agree upon ~$40?
Now his time
1 hour driving
2 hours on vehicle, talking to customer, loading/unloading, etc.
_______
3 hours total
at $100 this comes out to $60 profit, right?
Wrong, Uncle Sam takes 40-50% from self employed persons.
so you're left with a measly $10 an hour (not including customer acquisition costs/time)

Yeah, my figures might be a little off but lets pretend you don't have any of these costs, you take home $20 an hour after taxes, that's a decent living.

Why in the world would you do all this and charge the customer $40-50? THIS is what holds the detailing industry back, customers not understanding the true value of a quality detailer because there are plenty of people who will do it for nothing (either because they aren't paying taxes or they are just in it to make some money part time and never actually build a business out of it)
 
@Finishing Touch. Ok, I see your point, especially with the driving distance and all. And yea some of your figures are a bit off. For example I don't think self employed tax is 40-50% According to Darren from Auto Fetish it's 15% here in California, his most recent video talks about this very subject. But anyways..

IMO the thing is, when you stated it the way you did it sounds too much like a bare bones car wash, yet you/we call ourselves "detailers"
Shouldn't you/we be providing at least a notch above -wash, spray wax, tire and wheel well dressing? IMO there needs to be a bit more meat on the plate in order to balance out the value of the product.

Sure we show up at a customers doorstep/workplace and do the other things.. But the real meat of the situation comes in the ability to produce results on a vehicle that the local "hand car wash" cannot. IMO that should be the 1st thing the customer thinks of when making his/her decision to call on me over settling for the results/swirls that a local "hand car wash" will give him.

But for the sound of -wash, spray wax, tire & wheel well dressing @ $100 when they can get it for $11 at the carwash.... Meanwhile we call ourselves "detailers"? For anything costing $100 and up, we should be doing less complaining about our own costs and driving time and more producing our skills making vehicles look like only skilled and knowledge detailers can do!

Not everyone is rich out there... Pay someone $100+ to "wash" my car and damnit there better be something Special coming out of that performance! And "spray wax" isn't anywhere near that kind of special.
@$100 that's a flat out insult, and we know it!

I know your description was short and I'm not trying to say you literally meant nothing more than those 4 basic things for a normal $100 service, but cmon now, $100 and not even a mention of trim dressing, headlight protectant? Leather conditioner? Tire coating instead of the water based dressing that might disappear in a couple days when it rains maybe? Anything of actual distinctive value that sets this service apart from the local "car wash"?

This is why it's so difficult to deal with when 1st starting up. At least for me it is.. I want to provide customers with value they can see. I just have to find that honeyhole..

But who am I to speak on this... You've worked your way into a successful deal. I obviously have not reached anywhere near yet. There's no cookie cut path to success at this. Good thing I love it. Otherwise I wouldn't even care.
 
Eldorado, you're getting waaayyyy off track here bud and I'd hoped for more feedback on the car. So if we could get back to the original question of any feedback on these cars. Like what the hell is going on in the backend of that bugger?
Please remember I live in Hawaii and costs are astronomical in comparison to 99% of the rest of the world. I'm not taking home $100 at the end of the day somewhere around $70 I'd say after expenses for 3 hours of my day. Where I'm from that isn't much money.

Ryan - Great breakdown and more small business owners need to realize how to actually make money and not just more work.
 
@Jam Master Jay. Sorry bout that. You're right. $100 bills get me a lil excited sometimes. Nomore
 
Also my local car wash starts out @ $20 & you vacuum yourself. Maybe there's someone to dry your car off with terry towels (yes terry towels) at the end, maybe not. Gotta pay extra for the car scents and anything beyond running it through the tunnel.
 
@Jam Master Jay. Does the customer have a preference on how shiny he likes the tires? What dilution do you apply D170? And what method do you use to apply it on tires? I'm guessing he wants everything including the tires to be as shiny as possible? If so go 1:1 spray directly on the tires and allow to dry.

Use spray wax on all exterior glass minus the windshield. It's adds a good finishing touch of gloss.
 
Eldorado2k said:
@Finishing Touch. Ok, I see your point, especially with the driving distance and all. And yea some of your figures are a bit off. For example I don't think self employed tax is 40-50% According to Darren from Auto Fetish it's 15% here in California, his most recent video talks about this very subject. But anyways..

IMO the thing is, when you stated it the way you did it sounds too much like a bare bones car wash, yet you/we call ourselves "detailers"
Shouldn't you/we be providing at least a notch above -wash, spray wax, tire and wheel well dressing? IMO there needs to be a bit more meat on the plate in order to balance out the value of the product.

Sure we show up at a customers doorstep/workplace and do the other things.. But the real meat of the situation comes in the ability to produce results on a vehicle that the local "hand car wash" cannot. IMO that should be the 1st thing the customer thinks of when making his/her decision to call on me over settling for the results/swirls that a local "hand car wash" will give him.

But for the sound of -wash, spray wax, tire & wheel well dressing @ $100 when they can get it for $11 at the carwash.... Meanwhile we call ourselves "detailers"? For anything costing $100 and up, we should be doing less complaining about our own costs and driving time and more producing our skills making vehicles look like only skilled and knowledge detailers can do!

Not everyone is rich out there... Pay someone $100+ to "wash" my car and damnit there better be something Special coming out of that performance! And "spray wax" isn't anywhere near that kind of special.
@$100 that's a flat out insult, and we know it!

I know your description was short and I'm not trying to say you literally meant nothing more than those 4 basic things for a normal $100 service, but cmon now, $100 and not even a mention of trim dressing, headlight protectant? Leather conditioner? Tire coating instead of the water based dressing that might disappear in a couple days when it rains maybe? Anything of actual distinctive value that sets this service apart from the local "car wash"?

This is why it's so difficult to deal with when 1st starting up. At least for me it is.. I want to provide customers with value they can see. I just have to find that honeyhole..
Click to expand...

Yeah, self employment tax is 15%... above employee tax rate (25-35%). That's the big one, and the other one is the vehicle at $.50 a mile (fuel, preventative maintenance, tires, repair, vehicle cost, etc.)

The going rate for a half hour swirlfest hand wash is $20... some shops will rub a cheap paste wax on the car for another $15 or $20.

Maybe I wasn't clear enough on what sets us apart from hackjobs:
  • 2 Bucket Method (not causing swirls, saving the customer hundreds if not thousands in repair costs)
  • Quality Products
  • Service that comes to you

I'm all for "providing more service than you get pair for" but there has to be a limit when you're trying to run a profitable business.

I guess this is why I don't offer wash & wax anymore.

For new vehicles I offer HydrO2 ($75-100) or a coating ($400-1200)

For used vehicles I offer AIO ($150-300) or correction ($$$)

For coated vehicles I offer 2-bucket wash ($30).

I try my best to avoid new customers who just want a wash.

Do what you gotta do, just try to avoid losing money.
 
JamMaster Jay said:
Also my local car wash starts out @ $20 & you vacuum yourself. Maybe there's someone to dry your car off with terry towels (yes terry towels) at the end, maybe not. Gotta pay extra for the car scents and anything beyond running it through the tunnel.
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So we're talking about car wash prices again? I thought you said get back to your questions? Lol.
 
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