It's awesome if you have another job to fall back on, but this gentleman has indicated that he is starting a business. We don't have any idea where he's located. We don't really know much about his business at all. I can advise him based on my own experience that his pricing seems a little low, but telling every person that asks a question that he should be getting $100 for a basic wash is probably great advice for a weekend warrior making extra pocket change, but not great advice for a business. In my area, where people are considered pretty wealthy compared to the average person and have a lot of disposable income, the market will simply not bear a $100 car wash. Not to say you could not sell one or two, but you can't reliably sustain a business using that model.
The products that you've purchased for the jobs you do, the equipment, the vehicle, etc, are all costs that you've incurred before you do a single job. I read a lot of responses that say "my products cost more than that." If your product cost per vehicle is more than a few dollars, you're not running a sustainable business. I use pretty much Shine Supply, Meguiars, McKee's products exclusively and my cost per vehicle is very low. I use spot free water which I purchase for .12/gallon. I typically use 7-10 gallons of water per vehicle, which includes refilling my wash bucket and wheel/tire bucket throughout the day. So even water is only ~ $1 per vehicle on average. Again, gas, insurance, etc, already paid for before I do a job, so to try to say that it is a cost associated with doing that vehicle is invalid. If anything a business should concentrate on doing many vehicles throughout the month to help spread those costs across a wider customer base. I'll often take a customer that calls for a smaller job and schedule them behind another job that is very close to them. People are typically very accommodating. Instead of doing a $50 wash, I'm now doing two $50 washes using the same amount of gas and cutting down on my travel time between jobs and to and from home considerably. It typically takes me 1.25-1.50 hours to complete a wash, including setup and pack up. Because of my trailer setup, setup and pack up are very quick. Those two customers will tip, let's call it $5 and $10, which is pretty typical. So, $115 for 3 hours of work. That's $38/hour. There's really nothing wrong with a new business out busting ass for $30-40/hour. You go out and do a good job, look and act professional and one of those customers will call you back hopefully for a bigger job next time. Because after you finish your wash, you let them know that the vehicle is overall in great shape but next time you'd like to get a coat of wax on it for them before summer comes. They ask how much is that? You've now opened a dialog about future work. A full wash and wax is $95 for your vehicle and right now we are running a special for our improved silica based wax for only $25 more. Now they're on the hook for a $120 wash and wax. You also let them know that after you wax it with the silica wax, you can do future maintenance washes every month and use a silica based detail spray to keep that wax fresh. How much is that? It's only $25 to add it to the wash. Now you're talking to them about a monthly deal.
Do a little more for the customer. If you don't have anything pressing and their carpets are dirty, clean one area for them and do a good job. Let them know when you give them the car that their vehicle could use a good interior detail next time. Show them what you did. I did this a couple months ago on an exterior detail on an F350 that is in the gallery on my site. The guy called me last week, scheduled a wash for the F350, a full interior detail and a wash for his wife's Kia. Do a 2'x2' paint correction on a light swirled dark car if you already have the buffer out (we do to apply wax). I did this on a Camaro and he ended up scheduling a 1 step correction. We did a car yesterday that had ZERO debris to vacuum. I mean zero, not a crumb in the car. Her leather seats were grimy. Instead of spending 30 minutes vacuuming, I cleaned and protected her leather seats. She came out when we were done and said "OMG, I didn't think you'd be able to get that out because I tried to clean it and it wouldn't come out." It was basically dye from her jeans. I told her it's not a normal part of wiping down and vacuuming but I went ahead and did it for you. She gave us a $30 tip and specially said it was because of the seats.
It's called business. You're a salesman and a detailer. Your first job is to get the job (sales). Your second job is to go and do a good job (detailer). Your third job is to turn that job into many jobs (sales). Follow up with your customers especially the ones that were receptive to future work (sales). Recurring business is the lifeblood of this industry. If you're not able to take my example above and turn a lot of that low priced business into better business either on the spot or in the future, it might not be your pricing that is the issue. It might be the quality of your work or your approach with the customer.
I like to make money as much as the next guy, but to eschew a job that pays $30-40/hour where you're the boss working for yourself and if you do it right gives you the opportunity to increase that hourly rate as your business expands and improves is not doing any favors to this business owner asking the questions. Not everybody has the background where the opportunity cost for their labor is significantly higher than that. If you stay busy, $30-40/hour can be a great income to start with and everybody, even a business owner, has to start somewhere.
