How Much To Charge

Evan.J said:
Wow tony lots of in depth info here. Excellent job on the info always good to hear first hand experiences from great guys like you. I think I speak for everyone when I say thanks for all your input and taking the time to type all that.:dblthumb2:
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Wow... thanks Evan, I really appreciate the kind words. Forum etiquette and all, well that I think comes into play somewhat. What I mean (its a little harder without emoticons using the app) is I've been online for 25+ years, and one has to learn to read between the lines, as well as write between them also. Hopefully along the way its helped me to get a more thorough message across, as well as understand the messages of others. ;)

But hey, the key is to always try and keep learning something... and as long as we ALL can keep doing that we'll do just fine. :)

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using AG Online
 
As long as the customer is not "hiring" you directly as a contractor/employee and wanting to provide you a 1099 at the end of the year you don't have to worry about the $600 per customer cap. They can still write off the expense without having to provide you a 1099 like you were an employee/contractor. I spend lots more than 600 a year with many service providers (including detailers the last few years) and have never had to give one a 1099 since I was just using their service and not "hiring" them to work for me.

The only time I've really seen a 1099 come into play with detailing was working for small car lots or fleets that wanted to pay by the hour. I just told them I would provide an invoice from my company and that worked without need for a 1099.
 
I know this is kind of late, but I looked into some other prices and thought of this as a price list:

Price List*

Hand Wash - $25-35
Includes hand washing of paint/wheels/tires and dressing of tires

Hand Wash + Basic Interior - $40-50
-Includes Hand Wash, interior cleaning, and vacuuming of floors and seats

Hand Wash/Wax - $55-75
-Includes Hand Wash and carnauba wax

Full Interior - $80-100
Includes cleaning of door jambs, cleaning of seats, vacuuming floors/seats/trunk, cleaning/conditioning/protecting of vinyl and leather

Full Exterior - $125-150
Includes wax stripping wash, clay bar treatment, two-step machine buffing/polishing with dual-action polisher, carnauba wax, engine cleaning and dressing of tires and exterior trim

Full Exterior + Basic Interior - $140-160
Includes Full Exterior, interior wipe down, and vacuuming of floors and seats

Full Exterior/Interior Detail - $180-200
Includes Full Exterior and Full Interior

Additional Services
Machine Buffing** - $50 for one-step, $75 for two-step
Paint Sealant - $20-30 (great if topped with a carnauba wax)
Paint Sealant + Carnauba Wax - $35-45
Leather Cleaning/Conditioning - $25
Cloth Seat Cleaning - $40-50
Headlight Restoration - $40
Engine Cleaning - $20-40
Metal/Chrome Polishing - $20

*Price varies by size of vehicle and extent of dirtiness
**Requires stripping of wax prior to buffing


What do you guys think?
 
I changed the names to not include "Basic" and added a Platinum Detail.

Price List*

Hand Wash - $25-35
-Includes hand washing of paint/wheels/tires and dressing of tires

Bronze Detail - $40-50
-Includes Hand Wash, interior cleaning, and vacuuming of floors and seats

Hand Wash/Wax - $55-75
-Includes Hand Wash and carnauba wax

Full Interior - $80-100
-Includes cleaning of door jambs, cleaning of seats, vacuuming floors/seats/trunk,
cleaning/conditioning/protecting of vinyl and leather

Full Exterior - $125-150
-Includes wax stripping wash, clay bar treatment, two-step machine buffing/polishing with
dual-action polisher, carnauba wax, engine cleaning and dressing of tires and exterior trim

Silver Detail - $140-160
-Includes Full Exterior, interior wipe down, and vacuuming of floors and seats

Gold Detail - $180-200
-Includes Full Exterior and Full Interior

Platinum Detail - $250-275
-Includes Full Exterior, Full Interior, paint sealant topped with carnauba, a glaze applied
after polishing to increase shine, headlight restoration, metal/chrome polishing

Additional Services
Machine Buffing** - $50 for one-step, $75 for two-step
Paint Sealant - $20-30 (great if topped with a carnauba wax)
Paint Sealant + Carnauba Wax - $35-45
Leather Cleaning/Conditioning - $25
Cloth Seat Cleaning - $40-50
Headlight Restoration - $40
Engine Cleaning - $20-40
Metal/Chrome Polishing - $20

*Price varies by size of vehicle and extent of dirtiness
**Requires stripping of wax prior to buffing
 
If I may suggest avoid using the term "Full". When you use the word full your customers will be expecting everything done under the sun.

Try to limit the options you give your customers. Make it simple for them to choice what they want. Ask them what their needs are and what specific things they would like to have taken care of.

Also make it simple for you to put highest interior sevice with the lowest exterior. So if the mom who drives kids here and there is running around all the time want you to clean up all the kid grim inside but just wants a wash and wax then make sure you make it easy to mix and match.

Save yourself some time and make more money by using something like a spray wax for you hand wash and wax. The spray wax can be applied while the car is wet so you can dry and wax at the same time and the customer gets a good protection and shine.

I would take the machine buffing off the services that will give you a chance to upwell your higher end detailing packages. $50 for a one step is just too low. If someone brings you and SUV and wants a one step you are going to be giving away your services and the same thing goes for the 2 step.

Remember most of the time paint sealants need cure time so if your selling the topping your going to need to come back the next day.
 
Full Exterior - $125-150
-Includes wax stripping wash, clay bar treatment, two-step machine buffing/polishing with
dual-action polisher, carnauba wax, engine cleaning and dressing of tires and exterior trim

^^ I would never do the above for that amount of money. This will easily run you over 10 hours and for that amount of money its not even worth it imo
 
what would you guys recommend? I'm trying to start out in business.
 
In all honesty you should get this book:
http://autogeek.commerce-search.net/redirect?url=http://www.autogeek.net/car-detailing-book.html

A great read and you will see where some of my suggestions came from.

Getting started is hard and takes time but don't give away your services. The normal price range for work should be around $30-$40 per hour but that can be lower and close to $20 per hour. Also match your service to your customers. Don't offer a show car detail if most of your customers will be daily drivers just wanting a good wash and a shine.
 
If someone wants there paint restored i give them a ballpark range . Ex 2 step plus coating 400-550
 
Rephasing, so around here there are some higher end detailing places and a lower end. The higher end places usually see clientele such as car dealerships, business owners, etc. while the lower end place washes just about everything from some well maintained daily drivers to some not so well maintained cars. My mom spoke to the lower end places a little while back about cleaning the inside of my grandma's old minivan. It was nasty and smelt like a pack of cigarettes were burning at all times. They were very cheap price wise, but they stay busy so I'm sure they do at least decent work for the price. However the higher end places get away with things like $300+ details on a friend's mom's escalade. He's the same friend that wants me to detail his truck soon.

I apologize for my wording previously. It was completely out of line and I'd like to thank CarDaddy for pointing that out to me.

Anyways, would $25 be decent to charge in this kind of enviroment?
 
Hand Wash + Basic Interior - $40-50
-Includes Hand Wash, interior cleaning, and vacuuming of floors and seats

Hand Wash/Wax - $55-75
-Includes Hand Wash and carnauba wax
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To start off why not combine these so its like this:

Exterior
  • Hand Wash 2 Bucket Method
  • Dry Exterior
  • Clean Wheels & Wheel Wells
  • Dress Tires
  • Apply Snythetic Spray Wax
  • Dress Trim, Chrome, & Bumpers
  • Clean Door Jambs
  • Clean Windows

Interior
  • Clean & Dress Hard Surfaces
  • Clean Cup Holders
  • Clean Leather (if applicable)
  • Vacuum Interior

That should take from 1-2 hours and should be recommended for cars that are already in good shape and well taken care of.
:props:
 
Evan.J said:
To start off why not combine these so its like this:

Exterior
  • Hand Wash 2 Bucket Method
  • Dry Exterior
  • Clean Wheels & Wheel Wells
  • Dress Tires
  • Apply Snythetic Spray Wax
  • Dress Trim, Chrome, & Bumpers
  • Clean Door Jambs
  • Clean Windows

Interior
  • Clean & Dress Hard Surfaces
  • Clean Cup Holders
  • Clean Leather (if applicable)
  • Vacuum Interior

That should take from 1-2 hours and should be recommended for cars that are already in good shape and well taken care of.
:props:
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How much would that cost?
 
MikeyL95 said:
How much would that cost?
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Depends on the size of the vehicle
I would say anywhere from $60 on up thats if your stay near the $25 per hour mark. Your larger vans SUVs full size pick ups are going to be more money as they are larger in size. Offer what you think you are worth.

The nice thing about this level is you can use a spray wax like D156 from Meguiars and spray down the vehicle while its wet then dry so you are drying and putting on your shine. Also using a dressing like Megs Hyper Dressing and a little bit of APC in the same bottle to clean and give a little bit of shine to the interior Killing to birds with one stone.

Finding products that do multiple things is great it saves you time and save you money. Like Hyper dressing its dilatable, use it on the interior with APC, and use it for tires and trim.
 
Evan.J said:
Depends on the size of the vehicle
I would say anywhere from $60 on up thats if your stay near the $25 per hour mark. Your larger vans SUVs full size pick ups are going to be more money as they are larger in size. Offer what you think you are worth.

The nice thing about this level is you can use a spray wax like D156 from Meguiars and spray down the vehicle while its wet then dry so you are drying and putting on your shine. Also using a dressing like Megs Hyper Dressing and a little bit of APC in the same bottle to clean and give a little bit of shine to the interior Killing to birds with one stone.

Finding products that do multiple things is great it saves you time and save you money. Like Hyper dressing its dilatable, use it on the interior with APC, and use it for tires and trim.
Click to expand...

I have some Chemical Guys products similar such as V7 spray wax, Silk Shine sprayable dressing that I spray on an applicator (microfiber for interior and trim and foam tire dressing applicator for the tires). I also have their All Clean+ and Nonsense cleaners.
 
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