How much would this be worth??

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PlatinumRefl.

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I am detailing a 1991 VW Jetta diesel that was FUBAR upon delivery... its a single stage so the results are great but this car took TONS of work since it was so damn beat up... and now the $200 I am asking for seems to be too much for the customer to swallow.

engine bay:
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after:
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exterior:
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after 2 step polish, 2 coats of liquid glass:
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He had his "detailing" buddy who works at a dealership do it last time and charged 120, but says he only used 1 pad to do the whole car, while I had to change pads damn near every panel because it was so bad. I also did the engine bay, and ill be doing the interior... the last guy hit it so damn hard that he wore the paint down to primer in several spots, but has my customer convinced that I did it, even though I showed my customer the spots when he dropped it off.

I am sick and tired of people wanting the world, but only wanting to pay minimum wage for it.
 
I would've run from a customer that wasn't willing to pay more than 200 for a full detail on a car in that condition. It is not worth the time or overhead for you. Personally I never even pull out the polisher for less than 150 unless for a quick coat of sealant on already near perfect paint. 2 stage polishing needs to be in the 300 range with interior included.

You may want to advise cheap customers in the future of a local carwash that can give them an "express" detail for 50 bucks. That is what they want.

However, nice work on the car, it looks great.
 
I'd say take what he's willing to give you and then next time he calls you tell him to go to his dealership buddy. I would have charged double what you are asking him to pay but that's just me. Around here the local work release car wash charges more than $200 for what they call a full detail which consists of a one step product with heavy fillers applied with a wool pad only. The car looks very nice though. Good job!!
 
the customer is coming over tomorrow to get the car. he wont pay me what I want, and wants to talk in person, while viewing the car. I will gladly do so, but I am so pissed that people want the world, but dont want to pay more than a drive through car wash.

this is not anywhere near my first car detail, but I am thinking it's my last.
 
Here's the thing - you can't get a steak from McDonald's Dollar Menu.



I think $200 for what you did is a steal, but you can kindly tell your customer, "You want to play, you got to pay. You feel me homie?" Just my two cents. :props:
 
My Grandmother used to say, "steal from me once, shame on you...Steal from me twice, shame on me.."
 
You have his car and provided the work at a VERY fair price. Car doesn't leave till you get paid. Seems simple to me ;)

Really though, you added way more than $200 to the resale value of his car so where is his issue here? He couldn't get nearly that value anywhere else so I'd say stay firm on what you want/deserve.
 
Wow that was a nasty looking car and its beautiful now!

Giving the customer the benefit of the doubt he may notb fully understand all the work involved and how many hours you put in so make sure you explain that well to him and he may be more understanding and willing to pay.

I agree that was a steal for 200 bucks!

Dont get too discouraged . Most people are not like that in my experience !
 
I'm not understanding this. Didn't you agree on a price before you did the detail? If you did, and now he won't pay it, you can call the cops, etc. Of course this is all complicated if you don't have a written agreement, if you don't have a real business, etc. Oh, and it sounded like you didn't do the interior yet..if you're not going to get paid for your work, you'd better stop working, don't you think?
 
It will be very tough to hang on to the car until you receive payment if you're not a legitimate business. If this is just your hobby or side job for under the table cash, you will have to settle for what you can and avoid the customer in the future. Lucky for me I don't do this stuff for a living so I can be very picky with my customers. I hope this works out for you and you will be able to recover some cash for the time spent. As others have stated, you did way more than $200 worth of work and the car looks nice.
 
if you lived near me you would have a customer for life. I have 4 cars and would glady pay and tip for that level of service.

If the price was discussed up front then you cant just let this guy walk all over you. If he's not the professional type, well, things will probably get ugly. With holding someones car for money isn't received well. But you have to try.
 
yeah, i think it's MORE than fair. I have charged much more for other cars but it was his birthday present to himself, and he is in my local car club and I respect him a good bit for having such an old car and caring for it. well, kinda caring for it. lol

I have yet to have an unsatisfied customers, and I doubt he will be when he sees it, but it just pisses me off that he wants that kind of correction and protection, PLUS interior, AND that kind of engine bay work for the same price his dealership buddy did the exterior... "He has been doing it for years" is his justification as to why I should charge less.... yeah, ok, but who is good enough with just word of mouth and zero adverting to have people drive over an hour just to drop these cars off at my house and leave em here till I'm done?

I need to become an LLC or something and have people sign written estimates so this never happens again. If I just hit this sucker with some harsh cleaner wax and called it a day it would look good for a week or two and I would make a killer profit, but no, I spent 7 hours on the engine bay alone, removing seam sealer and wiping each individual hose because he wants to take this car to a car show and win... I spent another 8 hours polishing the next day... and another 4 the day after... then HOURS going over the area with low paint by hand with M205 and lots of patience.

the local detail joint that serves our car club offers this same "detail" for $149 for the interior alone, $40 for the engine bay, and OVER $300 for the paint... and it will all be done in 3-4 hours so you can sit and enjoy playing an x-box for a few hours. lol
 
I still don't understand--are you saying that you agreed to do it for $120? Or for $200? And that after you agreed to do it for $200 he only wants to pay 120? Or that you said you would do it and tell him how much later and you told him $200 and he said he would only pay $120 because that's what his friend charges?

I guess I don't care whether you are an LLC or not...not agreeing on some sort of pricing structure up front is the problem. If he agreed to some "hourly" rate, you should have known from looking at it that it would be a lot, and prepped him for that before he left the car. If you did agree on a price an now he's renegging...then he's not someone you should "respect" and you have a whole car club of people to tell about him.

And...show car??? He "takes care of it"??? He brings you a piece of crap (including puke stain on the fender) and wants to be able to win a car show and is going to complain about $200???
 
PlatinumRefl. said:
I have charged much more for other cars but it was his birthday present to himself, and he is in my local car club

I spent 7 hours on the engine bay alone, removing seam sealer and wiping each individual hose because he wants to take this car to a car show and win... I spent another 8 hours polishing the next day... and another 4 the day after... then HOURS going over the area with low paint by hand with M205 and lots of patience.l
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Sounds to me like you wanted the business, went above and beyond to please a friend and now want more money because, lets face it, you did a $400 job.
 
Going to have to bite the bullet this time. Hopefully your hard work will be well displays at your client/friends car show and people will ask about you.

Hard work almost always pays off. You should get a referral or two (just make sure your friend doesn't mention what he paid for the work)
 
If you and the owner agreed on $200 prior, he owes the $200.

You mentioned "wanting" more.

If you both agreed, he owes the $200. If he wants to pay more, that's his business. I agree you did a spectacular job, but that shouldn't be used as a reason to demand more money. Show him everything you did, and the before/after pix. If he wants to pay less, remind him he agreed to the $200 and you've put far more than that into the job, and results speak for themselves.

Any reasonable person would pay the $200 and run. I'd also not do any work for this person in the future. I'd suggest finding some way to get written agreement on a price beforehand - even if it's emails back and forth agreeing to the amount.
 
Sad as ForrestMothers points out, mentioning getting it in writing, that we can't just do the hand shake agreement with some people today. Unfortunate but even if you do they will still complain and say your end wasn't upheld. It's a no win.

Great job on the car, I wouldn't do the interior.

Some people you just can't please and we have to accept that there are a few that will always complain and make others feel bad. It's what they do.

Shrug it off, get this guy out of your hair and move on to some more cars. JMO
 
WestEnd said:
Some people you just can't please and we have to accept that there are a few that will always complain and make others feel bad. It's what they do.
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Truth. There are a few people on here that do that too.
 
In all honestly: If you both agreed on $200, he owes you that much. If you said you'd give him an estimate or price afterwards, it's sadly going to work against you. For furture scenarios, quote a "minimum" price, and say it could be higher. Never put yourself in a situation where a customer can bargain your price if you never stated one. I work in Semi truck sales, I know this first hand. One slip up on a quote and you've screwed yourself out of a lot of money.

However, since you say this isn't your first detail, I'm assuming you already mentioned it would be a minumum of $200. Which your client agreed upon. It's a shame it's a friend, because it could hurt your relationship with him and potential future clientel. I would ask what he can do now, and have him write a written agreement to pay you the rest within 'X' amount of time.

By having him sign an agreement upon seeing the car, he's contractually bound to pay you. In which case if you really did want your money back you could legally have the ability to do something about it (i.e. press charges or sue). I think this would be the most professional method, and it would show him that you're lenient but not a push over. Here: I've included a standard copy/past template of a 'promisary note here' to help you out. Just paste it in MS Word or Note Pad and Print it. :xyxthumbs:

P.S. I did pay attention to the Disclosure Agreement about copying that, you can use it.
 
I normally don't like to comment on other peoples posts when it comes to money issues, but I feel like I should step in here. I have personally worked on that particular VW in the past over a year ago. From what the client tells me, he has stated that you are calling yourself a professional detailer. While I am not one to doubt, but when your arsenal of tools is limited to a Porter Cable and Autozone's finest chemicals, I'm not sure what type of professional detailer that is. You say you spent a total of 12 hours polishing the paint on the exterior alone? You are aware that almost all VW's before 1998 were predominantly single stage correct? It took me 3 hours to completely correct that car, start to finish, using a Makita, M205, white and black CCS pads.

Now I see that you put some time into the car and you should be paid for your efforts, but at the same time, with the correct tools, it should not have taken nearly that long to correct a single stage car. The client initially brought that car to me in its original state, having never been polished since new. Based on seeing the car in person about a month ago, it was in much better shape than it came to me in. I would have been more than happy to take on the car but due to the clients time constraints, I could not take on the job as I had appointments for other cars already.

Now I'm not sure who his dealership buddy is, but when the car left my hands, there was plenty of paint left, which was verified by a paint depth guage. The client has contacted me on this subject stating that you were using M105 on a single stage paint job? Isn't that a tad bit aggresive for single stage? Personally, I reach for M105 when working on hard clears as found on the Audi R8 or Chevy Corvette, never on single stage.

The client has expressed to me that you have had the car for over a full week now? I'm sure you've put in quite alot of time into the car, but with the correct tools and methods, it seems as though the job could be completed much faster and more efficiently. From what I understand, the client is not upset with the end results of your labor, but that the car has taken quite a long time to complete and he is being charged accordingly especially since a price was not disclosed when he left the car to you. Previously, I had that car for 6 hours and completed the same job while the client waited and watched the work being performed. I'm assuming he is upset for being charged more and waiting longer for the same work.
 
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