Flash Gordon
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- Feb 6, 2010
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Tell them you broke your thumb
how much should i charge? light paint correction
- Thread starter ride5150
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Wills.WindowsAndWheels
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- Oct 31, 2009
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I had the same thing, i was doing a side job for a lady...she had a red malibu or something outside...mentioned to her about detailing. It looked like it had been washed with steel wool.
Told her $250 for an wash,clay,D151 pass and seal and full interior.
She got wided eyed...told me that the dealership quoted her less for 'the same thing'...im guessing 'the same thing' didn't include any polishing, probably not even a clay. I explained that to her, but she started saying oh if i pay 250 i better not see any of those scratches etc on my car. I told her about 70% would be gone. She said she'd think on it and would get back to me...never heard from her and honestly not worried about it. Some jobs aren't worth it ya know?
If you DO do the job...even on white...DO PICTURES. I try to always get customers emails if i do a polish job on them so i can SHOW THEM the difference. Even on black or darker colors.
White might be harder, but very possible. White to me shows swirls better than silver and even lighter gold colors. Personally I'd only do a single pass and seal w/that price...i didn't know you were talking about a full compound then polish then wax/seal. In that case, yes, thats a big under bid lol. Trust your instincts...if it doesn't go through and mr 55 does it then he gets what he deserves.
Told her $250 for an wash,clay,D151 pass and seal and full interior.
She got wided eyed...told me that the dealership quoted her less for 'the same thing'...im guessing 'the same thing' didn't include any polishing, probably not even a clay. I explained that to her, but she started saying oh if i pay 250 i better not see any of those scratches etc on my car. I told her about 70% would be gone. She said she'd think on it and would get back to me...never heard from her and honestly not worried about it. Some jobs aren't worth it ya know?
If you DO do the job...even on white...DO PICTURES. I try to always get customers emails if i do a polish job on them so i can SHOW THEM the difference. Even on black or darker colors.
White might be harder, but very possible. White to me shows swirls better than silver and even lighter gold colors. Personally I'd only do a single pass and seal w/that price...i didn't know you were talking about a full compound then polish then wax/seal. In that case, yes, thats a big under bid lol. Trust your instincts...if it doesn't go through and mr 55 does it then he gets what he deserves.
Flash Gordon
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- Feb 6, 2010
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Tell them your booked for 6 weeks
Wills.WindowsAndWheels
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- Oct 31, 2009
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Tell them flash will do it for $50!
- Thread starter
- #25
lol flash
i dont think this guy isnt trying to bs me into doing this for $55, hes a friend of a friend and was telling me that another "detailer" quoted him $55. BUT, i will remember your excuses and use them if needed i wont be doing multistep paint correction, just a light polish is needed here. id wash clay polish then seal and top with carnauba. eh i have a feeling that this is gonna fall through. oh well, another detail awaits :dblthumb2:
thanks for all your replies
Flash Gordon
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- Feb 6, 2010
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Sad part is I probally would
lol flash
If you have nothing better to do, then why not just do it. I usually just tell the person to pay me what seems fair to them. I'm not in this business trying to get rich anyway. Most times they give me more then I would've charged anyway, so this works for me
05xrunner
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- Jun 11, 2009
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I told my neighbor I would do his car for $150 after he got it back from getting repaired from hitting a deer..he thought that was high..so he said they would detail it for him at the shop after repairs..and this is what he got back for not spending the money
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/show-n-shine/38377-2008-impala-ss-body-shop-show-n-shine.html
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/show-n-shine/38377-2008-impala-ss-body-shop-show-n-shine.html
Wills.WindowsAndWheels
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What crap that is...i replied to the link you posted man...but if you didn't see...i was wondering what happened...did you get the job..and if so what did you bid it out at?
- Thread starter
- #29
WOW that is garbage. i cant believe they charged him for doing all that. They didnt even wax it if theres still compounding dust all over it, looks like they put tire shine on the wheels and called it a day.
i think im going to add "We fix $55 details!" on my website. lol
:dblthumb2:
I'm going to take a slightly different approach to answering this question. I mean no offense by it, it's just the direction my brain went when think about this.
You say that this is your first paint correction. Is that on any car, or just that you are getting paid for? If it's on any car, then I wouldn't be charging anything at all. I think I correct 3 of my own cars, and 5-10 family and friends cars before I even dreamed of touching a customer's car with my buffer.
Also when I first started there were plenty of jobs where I was making $10 an hour or less, just to get my name out there. I let my work speak for me and it wasn't too long before I was turning lower paying jobs away because I was so busy with customers willing to pay top dollar. I'm not saying that to brag, I'm saying that sometimes you have to work your ass off for not much money, to set yourself up to make the big bucks in the future.
You say that this is your first paint correction. Is that on any car, or just that you are getting paid for? If it's on any car, then I wouldn't be charging anything at all. I think I correct 3 of my own cars, and 5-10 family and friends cars before I even dreamed of touching a customer's car with my buffer.
Also when I first started there were plenty of jobs where I was making $10 an hour or less, just to get my name out there. I let my work speak for me and it wasn't too long before I was turning lower paying jobs away because I was so busy with customers willing to pay top dollar. I'm not saying that to brag, I'm saying that sometimes you have to work your ass off for not much money, to set yourself up to make the big bucks in the future.
- Thread starter
- #31
no offense taken, thank you for the response :xyxthumbs:
this is not my first time correcting (just first time correcting for money), ive done some correcting and even wet sanding before and i feel 100% comfortable with putting a polisher on a customers car(especially if its just taking out very minor swirls). yeah you're right its better to take less now and set yourself up to get your name out. thats kind-of what i did yesterday, i lowered my price to $110 and let the guy know. either way i know its going to take some time to get consistent work, hopefully by winter ill have a little more paint correction jobs.
ExoticAutoDetai
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- Nov 30, 2010
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Honestly you did great at first in telling him to go head and get the "$55" "detail" if he feels comfortable with that. You should have not called back to lower the price down, this will only prove to the customer you will low ball yourself.
If you feel your prices is fair for your work stay with it and take pride of that. A lot of times customers will come back to you after they notice what they get for cheaper detail prices.
If you feel your prices is fair for your work stay with it and take pride of that. A lot of times customers will come back to you after they notice what they get for cheaper detail prices.
- Thread starter
- #33
thank you for the advice, im starting to feel the same way. theres a huge difference in a hack detailers work and someone who knows what theyre doing. thats the last time i low ball myself.
Flash Gordon
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