GenesisCoupe
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- Mar 3, 2013
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For $120.00 I charge a general clean up. No fancy cleaning or machine polishing
How do you handle these types of people
- Thread starter brondondolon
- Start date
trekkeruss
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- Nov 25, 2013
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Since the OP did not actually see the car, I have to wonder how good it looks. Maybe the owner cheaped out on the custom work too, and the car looks like crap.
RTexasF
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- Jun 2, 2006
- 2,582
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First off..........why on earth would you quote without even seeing the car? That is a great way to get your a$$ caught in a sling dude.
Second.....I'm with Mike. I wouldn't have even considered doing a "show car" for $160. That price barely covers a wash, vac, and spray wax on some rides.
Third......you are very lucky that he found you too expensive even though you were giving it away. You would have never satisfied that guy and would regret taking the job for a long long time.
Sounds like you have some hard lessons to learn friend.
Second.....I'm with Mike. I wouldn't have even considered doing a "show car" for $160. That price barely covers a wash, vac, and spray wax on some rides.
Third......you are very lucky that he found you too expensive even though you were giving it away. You would have never satisfied that guy and would regret taking the job for a long long time.
Sounds like you have some hard lessons to learn friend.
EliteDetailing
New member
- Feb 27, 2013
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I can't tell you how many times I get a similar situation. The funny thing is once in a while especially on specialty deodorizing projects the people will call me after the carwash they take it to makes the odor worse. Then I usually charge more than I initially quoted them.
HD.Detailing
New member
- Jan 26, 2014
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you gave him a hell of a deal... the engine alone could take 160...I have recently converted to an hourly rate.
Some of you guys are incredibly expensive. Do you really expect to charge $40 an hour and be able to find enough customers to fill an entire week, after week, after week? In Brownsville texas and Franklin indiana ? (Sorry HD, I'm in Fishers, so I know the market) we all know full paint corrections are not constant work. A lot of times they are few and far between. The car is supposed to be a show car so it shouldn't be in too bad of shape. OP quoted $160, sounds to me like $30 an hour for 5 hours plus $10 for chemicals. Seems very fair. Can have it done by 1:00 and still do another full detail that day. Thats a 10 hour day making close to $300. Do that all year and you made $75,000. Are we expecting to get rich here?
GenesisCoupe
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- Mar 3, 2013
- 1,920
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I didn't read your entire post, just the first sentence... I charge $40 an hour and I'm booked 4 weeks out at the moment. I was 6 weeks out not too long ago. So yes, if you are good, they will come. I have many repeat customers so I do obviously give them a good deal, also to any referrals they give me.
cardaddy
New member
- Nov 20, 2012
- 3,937
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I can't see where *that* job on *that* vehicle was (or ever will be) "expensive". :dunno:
So in your annual income figure you're figuring 50 weeks solid, no off time (other than 2 weeks) and being booked all day, five days a week. Uhhhhh.... me thinks not.
That and if you really do bust your hump for 10 hours a day, 5~6 days a week..... you'll start hating the 'art' of detailing fairly quickly.
As Art has mentioned, production work and REAL detailing work are two totally different things.
:iagree::dblthumb2::iagree::dblthumb2::iagree:
Let's for argument sake say that that vehicle was indeed a "show car", and not a daily driver, and not terribly dirty or swirled. (Although in my experience most are swirled, just not dirty.)
Just WASHING the exterior, light cleaning (and basic spraying of the engine bay) and doing a quick once over in the interior would EASILY run $160. Heck our cheapest wash job runs $60 and will take from 2~3 hours. Don't EVEN touch the interior or the engine bay for that price either.
I have a dealership body shop manager that sends us work, and totally understands the difference between what we do and what he does (production work). Yet he texted me recently and asked me what it'd run to put a coating on a car. That's like saying what color blue is the sky!
I had to remind him that you can't just slap a coating on any old car like you would a production glaze. If it's new, and the paint hasn't been damaged yet (or had a recent paint correction) then it may be fine with a light AIO then coating. But most of the time you'll (we'll) spend 20+ hours prepping a vehicle for a coating. Unless the owner wants to permanently cover scratches, RIDS, & swirls then I'd advise against a coating. In other words.... I need to SEE THE VEHICLE FIRST.
To the OP:
Quoting a vehicle sight unseen is a surefire way to go bankrupt. Doesn't matter if you're doing it as a summer job, or as a lifelong career. Like I said earlier, let's say the vehicle was in perfect shape and just needs a bit of a freshening up. To do justice to a show vehicle you need to spend HOURS perfecting it. Even without paint correction, or even lifting a buffer for that matter.... you can spend 2 days on one. Heck, when we used to show our work trucks (rollback tow trucks) we'd pull it off the road on a Saturday and clean it till the next Thursday/Friday then head to the show. That meant we'd clean & polish it top to bottom, front to back, the metal, the wheels, the frame, inside and outside the tool boxes (including all new equipment that we could replace for the show), the interior, engine bay, even crawl underneath on a kreeper with a pressure washer and hydrofluoric acid. Then if any signage and/or hand pin striping needed addressing it'd make a trip to my sign guy. (And I'd be cleaning it while he worked on it all day.)
Show cars/trucks are a different beast all together. If anything, they are EXACTLY the people that need to be (and should appreciate) paying your highest rate (and then some).
rops:
Calendyr
New member
- Jun 9, 2013
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You can give an approximate price over the phone. People want to know what it will cost.
How do you do it? People actually hire you without a ball park price over the phone?
indeeed. if you can't throw out ballpark estimates over the phone, then i'm sure half of your potential customers aren't gonna bother. plus, youre wasting time driving to do estimates everyday. it'd be impossible to run a business that way.
we have set prices for our basic kinda stuff, interior detail, wash/wax/vac, aio polish work. anything beyond that and really bad cars with pet hair etc. get up charged. and thats something I make clear over the phone.
op, don't trip about these silly customers. 30% of the calls i used to get were from customers like that, that don't understand that we're a business trying to make money. recently, we have set prices up so people that are worried about price don't call. If they don't want to pay you what you think youre worth, dont bother at all. don't be a slave.
but whenever someone asks about price and says its too much, and says something like "well i know a guy that can do it for xxxxxxx" I like to say, "wow thats cheap! why don't you give that guy a call?" People are crazy if they think they can manipulate us to lower our absolutely reasonable price
we have set prices for our basic kinda stuff, interior detail, wash/wax/vac, aio polish work. anything beyond that and really bad cars with pet hair etc. get up charged. and thats something I make clear over the phone.
op, don't trip about these silly customers. 30% of the calls i used to get were from customers like that, that don't understand that we're a business trying to make money. recently, we have set prices up so people that are worried about price don't call. If they don't want to pay you what you think youre worth, dont bother at all. don't be a slave.
but whenever someone asks about price and says its too much, and says something like "well i know a guy that can do it for xxxxxxx" I like to say, "wow thats cheap! why don't you give that guy a call?" People are crazy if they think they can manipulate us to lower our absolutely reasonable price
You have to give some sort of price estimate over the phone. Customers arent robots, they're humans living busy lives and have finally taken the time to call about getting their vehicle cleaned. If you tell them to drive it across town for an estimate, most won't bother. Theres another detail shop nearby that has no problem giving estimates over the phone. We do it all the time. Have we gotten burned? Sure. Have we quoted higher than it probably needed to be once we see the car? Many times. You win some of those and lose some of those. After 12 years of this I have found that it averages out.
A lot depends on the location. In southern california the cost if living is 3 times what it is here. $200 means little. Where I live $200 is more than a full days wage for most people. They aren't going to $40 an hour for detailing. Matter of fact, you are probably going to spend a lot if time having to explain to people why you are worth that much. They have a masters degree and don't make that. And They don't value their vehicle that much.
Its like Mike says about a squirrel and swirl. Most customers dont know the difference and dont care. They want a clean, shiny, shampooed car and won't pay more than about $150 for it. If you say "well thats about an 8 hour job and I charge $40 an hour so that's $320", you're going to have to give them a minute to stop laughing. And then they drive across the street to the guy who has 3 employees cleaning cars all day for $10 an hour, and is more than willing to charge $150 to give the customer what they want.....a shampoo/wash/wax. I guess I look at it differently since I don't do much of the work. I look at a job that pays $150 for 5 hours of work and say "well that means I pay my employee $70 to do it, therefore I make about $70 myself" . Then it becomes all about quantity. You want as many as possible and aren't going to hold out for those rare $40 an hour jobs. This kind of work isnt worth that kind if money. I know "geeks" try to convince themselves it is. For every "geek" that visits these forums, theres about 100 other detailers that don't. But they still get the job done every day. Their customers are satisfied and they make a decent living, around $20-25 an hour.
Lot of people have much more difficult jobs than this and cant sniff $25 an hour. If you can make it work in your market thats great. But to expect that industry wide doesn't make sense.
A lot depends on the location. In southern california the cost if living is 3 times what it is here. $200 means little. Where I live $200 is more than a full days wage for most people. They aren't going to $40 an hour for detailing. Matter of fact, you are probably going to spend a lot if time having to explain to people why you are worth that much. They have a masters degree and don't make that. And They don't value their vehicle that much.
Its like Mike says about a squirrel and swirl. Most customers dont know the difference and dont care. They want a clean, shiny, shampooed car and won't pay more than about $150 for it. If you say "well thats about an 8 hour job and I charge $40 an hour so that's $320", you're going to have to give them a minute to stop laughing. And then they drive across the street to the guy who has 3 employees cleaning cars all day for $10 an hour, and is more than willing to charge $150 to give the customer what they want.....a shampoo/wash/wax. I guess I look at it differently since I don't do much of the work. I look at a job that pays $150 for 5 hours of work and say "well that means I pay my employee $70 to do it, therefore I make about $70 myself" . Then it becomes all about quantity. You want as many as possible and aren't going to hold out for those rare $40 an hour jobs. This kind of work isnt worth that kind if money. I know "geeks" try to convince themselves it is. For every "geek" that visits these forums, theres about 100 other detailers that don't. But they still get the job done every day. Their customers are satisfied and they make a decent living, around $20-25 an hour.
Lot of people have much more difficult jobs than this and cant sniff $25 an hour. If you can make it work in your market thats great. But to expect that industry wide doesn't make sense.
Bless you,
this world needs more people who think and live like this, it'll get there someday
rops:
HUMP DIESEL
New member
- Dec 2, 2013
- 930
- 0
What we have here is a failure to....Wait, no, that's not it. What we have here is two different approaches to the car car business. There is nothing wrong with either approach, a good production detail shop can make money and serve the customer and yes, sometimes they do damage, but there are good shops that can turn out "What the customer wants", and still do a great job.
Notice the quotation marks....
Here in lies the whole puzzle, how do you as a detailer provide what the customer is looking for, or provide a person who can give them what they are looking for without coming across as arrogant?
I have asked the person at times, "What is your budget?" that usually is a great place to start, because if they are only willing to pay "X" amount, then you know that you are not doing a full correction with coating and wheels off. You also will have the time then to do a little quick math in your head to know if you are going to be able to provide a service to them.
Many times, this can be the time when you talk to them about what you can do for that amount, and see if they still want you to work on their vehicle. If they have never used you before, this may be the time where you ease them into detailing at a higher level and over time, they may come to realize that "This this guy or gal is different."
I talk to Tundrapower all the time and he has one lady that comes to him on a regular basis for a wash and seal. She always talks about how much it is, but she always comes back. Why? Because she tells him that no one else will do the job like he does.
No, everyone is not going to be able to get $40,$50 or higher per hour, but that can come as long as you are willing to set yourself apart and also target those people who will pay that kind of money.
HUMP
Notice the quotation marks....
Here in lies the whole puzzle, how do you as a detailer provide what the customer is looking for, or provide a person who can give them what they are looking for without coming across as arrogant?
I have asked the person at times, "What is your budget?" that usually is a great place to start, because if they are only willing to pay "X" amount, then you know that you are not doing a full correction with coating and wheels off. You also will have the time then to do a little quick math in your head to know if you are going to be able to provide a service to them.
Many times, this can be the time when you talk to them about what you can do for that amount, and see if they still want you to work on their vehicle. If they have never used you before, this may be the time where you ease them into detailing at a higher level and over time, they may come to realize that "This this guy or gal is different."
I talk to Tundrapower all the time and he has one lady that comes to him on a regular basis for a wash and seal. She always talks about how much it is, but she always comes back. Why? Because she tells him that no one else will do the job like he does.
No, everyone is not going to be able to get $40,$50 or higher per hour, but that can come as long as you are willing to set yourself apart and also target those people who will pay that kind of money.
HUMP
Thats it. Do the most you can with what you have, where you have it. If thats a few $300 details each week, Do it. If thats a whole bunch of $100 details each week, do that. I just hate to hear people refuse work because they cant make $40 an hour. Charge $25 an hour, do twice as much work, get a couple helpers and let them make you money while you drive around looking for business and taking phone calls. Thats pretty much where I'm at right now.
HUMP DIESEL
New member
- Dec 2, 2013
- 930
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I did not say that you could not get $40/hr, you just have to know what you can do to keep that rate at the budget of the person.
Let's say someone comes in and says "I want my car detailed"..vague and widely misused term.
That is great, we can provide detailing service for you and your vehicle.
What would you like to accomplish with this detail and what type of budget have to set aside for this detail?
"Well, I could spend $150, maybe $200."
Okay, for what you have priced, we could comfortably give you an extensive wash with a sealant applied, this also would include a light vacuum of the inside, but not deep cleaning of the carpet.
"Man I really would like to have my interior done, it has some stains and the leather is looking rough."
We can do that as well, but not for the price I gave you. An extensive interior detail will start at $300 for a vehicle your size, but it will include a deep cleaning of all the interior carpeted areas, mats and also steam cleaning the doors, dash, and headliner. Then everything will be completely protected giving you and inside like new.
Would you like to go ahead and book a date to have this service performed on your vehicle?
"That sounds pretty good, you guys really do a lot more than most that I have spoken with."
That is what sets us apart from others, our commitment to higher quality products techniques and end results.
This is a scenario obviously, but in my mind, I have determined based off my work rate, what I can do for this person within their budget. I could easily have done the wash and seal, but I took the time to possibly sale the person on a full interior detail. Either way, if he books the wash and seal, or the full interior, I know that I have my rate covered.
Now, if he or she would have come in with a very low budget and a very high expectation, I would have also been very comfortable in telling the person that I could not help them.
HUMP
Let's say someone comes in and says "I want my car detailed"..vague and widely misused term.
That is great, we can provide detailing service for you and your vehicle.
What would you like to accomplish with this detail and what type of budget have to set aside for this detail?
"Well, I could spend $150, maybe $200."
Okay, for what you have priced, we could comfortably give you an extensive wash with a sealant applied, this also would include a light vacuum of the inside, but not deep cleaning of the carpet.
"Man I really would like to have my interior done, it has some stains and the leather is looking rough."
We can do that as well, but not for the price I gave you. An extensive interior detail will start at $300 for a vehicle your size, but it will include a deep cleaning of all the interior carpeted areas, mats and also steam cleaning the doors, dash, and headliner. Then everything will be completely protected giving you and inside like new.
Would you like to go ahead and book a date to have this service performed on your vehicle?
"That sounds pretty good, you guys really do a lot more than most that I have spoken with."
That is what sets us apart from others, our commitment to higher quality products techniques and end results.
This is a scenario obviously, but in my mind, I have determined based off my work rate, what I can do for this person within their budget. I could easily have done the wash and seal, but I took the time to possibly sale the person on a full interior detail. Either way, if he books the wash and seal, or the full interior, I know that I have my rate covered.
Now, if he or she would have come in with a very low budget and a very high expectation, I would have also been very comfortable in telling the person that I could not help them.
HUMP
hernandez.art13
New member
- Apr 8, 2013
- 6,958
- 0
Yeah APPROACHING or when APPROACHD by people with the whole $40 dollars an hour strategy hasn't really worked for me. Especially when you straight out tell them you charge $40 an hour. Something needs to get tweaked there... (Just saying) I'm going to say I charge $100 per hour just to see reactions lol.
I have had more success with "how much would you be looking to spend and what concerns you on your car?"
Like the red Datsun. He just said:
"The paint and I have $100"
Then I asked him, would you want any interior? He said no it's fine
Then I said well the paint will look polished and looking nice and shiny but the wheels and tires will not match if they are not detailed too and might as well and clean the outside windows too. Plus I'll look around the car and see what I can find on the car and maybe I'll add it as a bonus on your detail.
So for $125 (since your my neighbor) , I'll wash the paint, clay the paint, and polish the paint with my silver package paint detail.
Plus I'll go ahead and wipe down the outside windows, really clean the wheels and tires for you and see what I can find for you for $125 since we are always talking and your right next door to me.
So I said how does that sound? He thought about it and said ok sounds good.
So got the job, It took 3.5 hours plus I polished the exhaust tip of the car for him. Which took 3-5 min to do.
He then came to pick up the car, was extremely happy with it handed me the money. Then I became happy.
I then said to him, (in the Godfather voice) tell your friends and family and remember this was your price since your my neighbor and we are always talking.
I can help them out and take care of them too. Just like I did with you.
(Then the Godfather theme song came on)
I have had more success with "how much would you be looking to spend and what concerns you on your car?"
Like the red Datsun. He just said:
"The paint and I have $100"
Then I asked him, would you want any interior? He said no it's fine
Then I said well the paint will look polished and looking nice and shiny but the wheels and tires will not match if they are not detailed too and might as well and clean the outside windows too. Plus I'll look around the car and see what I can find on the car and maybe I'll add it as a bonus on your detail.
So for $125 (since your my neighbor) , I'll wash the paint, clay the paint, and polish the paint with my silver package paint detail.
Plus I'll go ahead and wipe down the outside windows, really clean the wheels and tires for you and see what I can find for you for $125 since we are always talking and your right next door to me.
So I said how does that sound? He thought about it and said ok sounds good.
So got the job, It took 3.5 hours plus I polished the exhaust tip of the car for him. Which took 3-5 min to do.
He then came to pick up the car, was extremely happy with it handed me the money. Then I became happy.
I then said to him, (in the Godfather voice) tell your friends and family and remember this was your price since your my neighbor and we are always talking.
I can help them out and take care of them too. Just like I did with you.
(Then the Godfather theme song came on)
RevitalizeAutoSpa
New member
- Apr 23, 2014
- 360
- 0
I then said to him, (in the Godfather voice) tell your friends and family and remember this was your price since your my neighbor and we are always talking.
I can help them out and take care of them too. Just like I did with you.
(Then the Godfather theme song came on)
You should carry a fluffy white cat with you everywhere.
