Pricing for Car Wash.

Eldorado2k said:
What exactly do you do for $65? And not even a quik vacuum of the interior..
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Wash, clay, cleaner wax, dress all exposed rubber, wipe door jambs and dress the rubber seals, dress all trim, clean and dress tires, wheels, and wells, all exterior glass. For $25 more I will do a light interior detail.
I am mobile so convenience factors into that price.
 
bill110 said:
Wash, clay, cleaner wax, dress all exposed rubber, wipe door jambs and dress the rubber seals, dress all trim, clean and dress tires, wheels, and wells, all exterior glass. For $25 more I will do a light interior detail.
I am mobile so convenience factors into that price.
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Oh ok, I gotcha. I didn't know it included a clay and wax, and dressing all the bits etc..

@GSKR. You can Texas all to yourself bud, I'm stayin put in California.
 
bill110 said:
I'm just starting out, but for exterior only I start at $65. Those who think that is too much are not the clientele I'm targeting.
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I feel what some people charge has to do with how successful they are in life. If you are a full time Mobile Detailer looking for work and its slow you may agree to a $15 to $20 wash. If you are a Doctor or Lawyer and you are washing your Corvette in your driveway and the neighbor says "Looks great!! How much you charge to wash my car?" There is no way you would accept $15 to wash the neighbors car since you make $200 an hour or more at your regular job
 
Very interesting in seeing price point thresholds.65.00 is a bargain for all that work,I get that without the clay and wax.I spraywax after the wash and do all the above.But I only have 4 wash clients that's it.35.00 is the cap around here for wash vac and Windows and being mobile.I only cater to them when there is nothing going on.
 
Eldorado2k said:
Oh ok, I gotcha. I didn't know it included a clay and wax, and dressing all the bits etc..

@GSKR. You can Texas all to yourself bud, I'm stayin put in California.
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For me at least, it's not worth just going out to do a wash. I guess i misunderstood the OP about it just being a wash. I have an amount per hour I strive to meet and price accordingly.
 
bill110 said:
Wash, clay, cleaner wax, dress all exposed rubber, wipe door jambs and dress the rubber seals, dress all trim, clean and dress tires, wheels, and wells, all exterior glass. For $25 more I will do a light interior detail.
I am mobile so convenience factors into that price.
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Now you lost me... ha ha.

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Regardless of what I do I usually make around $60 an hour and that includes 10% for product.

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I work out of my home garage. I do it part time and work full time to eat... that being said I usually do a wash for $35 and I really limit that to someone whos car has been washed sometime before a year ago. Anything that has been longer than that I have to get more.

Wash= Powerwasher rinse, clean wheel faces, wheel wells, and tires, wash car (2BM) dry with either Opti-seal/D156/Aquawax, spray some D160 in the wheel wells, dress the tires and clean the exterior windows.

Bugs/Tar etc are extra sometimes, I usually only wash peoples cars I know somehow or another so I mostly throw that in for free unless its terrible.
 
so im in the same boat, im redoing my prices now but i think my packages are set and im just working my add on's. i live in a very small community in SoCal, nothing like those in LA or frisco here are roughly only 400 homes in my area that i target as thats all that live in a 45 mile radius. so im doing good for where im at. i have cars just about daily and am pretty much booked through mid sept.

compacts
exterior (just hand wash, also tire shine) 20
hand wax-25
quick vacuum and dash dressing-15
pkg discount for 50 (includes jams)

sedans/coupes
exterior (just hand wash) 25
hand wax-30
quick vacuum and dash dressing-20
pkg discount for 65

this is were im struggling, not sure if i need to make another pkg for 7 seaters/ XL suvs and trucks because i feel like these prices dont pay enough for the amount of work i put into it

vans/suvs/trucks
exterior (just hand wash) 30
hand wax-35
quick vacuum and dash dressing-25
pkg discount for 80

for add ons i do the following

shampoo/steam starting at $40
waterspot removal atarting at 40 per panel( to much?)
AIO (so far in the last year ive only had 2 2 step or more customers) starting at $40
odor eliminating 20
headlight restore 20
clay bar $50 (not sure about this one either)
trim restore $20

so this seems to have been the best formula for me, has kept my business consistent. average customer is a family sedan or small suv/van. only had a handful of bmw/merc's

id really love to get everyone's input on these prices and breakdowns as well before i have new price list printed up and a website is also maybe in the works.
 
is it only me or does anyone else think 25$ is very cheap IF you are buying expensive detailing stuff (car shampoo, detailers, wax, etc...) and applying on your customer vehicle ??

I think that guy was shocked coz he got a cheap car (or is it ?) and prefer normal car wash for 5$ or so...

also i wouldn't pay 50$+ coz the weather really sucks b**** in my country and no point paying that high if the price going to get dirty in 73 hours or possibly even less !..

as a second thought, try to give cheap price first, and IMPRESS the client with the results, then you can guarantee he will come back to you every month or so, it's really hard to find someone who takes a good care of your car if you know what am saying ;)

good luck with your business...
 
Trying to help so don't take it personal.your pricing deosnt make any sense and you are not profitable with those numbers.I would ditch the whole carwash gig,and offer 4 simple packages. #1 wash and wax # 2 exterior only polish and wax.#3 full detail #4 interior only.who is your nearest competitor what do they charge.If there isn't any in that small town it makes your services and you more valuable which equals more $$.
 
I haven't read this whole thread nor do I do detailing for a living. But $25 sounds awful cheap.
 
People get so used to go through a automatic car wash they don't realize that their car is still filthy after.

Not to mention the tires and wheels are not even close to clean.

To properly clean wheels and tires that process alone can take up to 1 hour depending on how bad it is.

Washing a car properly is not a 5 minute process.

25$ is a bargain, you can go through a automatic car wash and spend up to $3 for "hot shine wax" and "undercarriage shine" and the car will still be filthy.

There is nothing you can do, people must appreciate what you do and understand.

The automatic car wash person that once and a while wants a hand car wash will always be shocked at your prices.

But my personal favorite is the guys that come and just want me to clean the inside of their cars with no outside washing, i guess they feel they will get the inside done and go to the $3 automatic car wash. However if their really concerned about saving $17 on a high quality car wash that is not going to scratch and degrade your paint. Sometimes you can't win.
 
i had packages at fors but every caller was asking for just a wash with no wax or just interior wipe down and vacuum. so i changed it to my current list and its been very great so far BUT either im way to hard on myself cause some cars take a while but i never feel like they are done or i need to raise my prices. hourly i average about 33-45 an hr when its broken down
 
Real Riders said:
I washed over 160 cars last month -- Hand Wash, dry and wipe down the wheels for $5 each at a car dealer. -- I Rinseless Wash private customers cars for $10 to $15 according to how dirty. I am always busy. I never have a slow day unless it rains
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10-15$!?! Id only do that if they only asked to wipe down the windows.. That seems really cheap?
 
My "car wash" costs $100. I don't touch the interior. Some of my regular clients get discounts if their car is coated or if it is normally pretty clean.

Are you sure you are even making a profit at $25/car? You've got to be using at least $3-5 in product. Then there are all the other business related expenses to operate legally. By the time you take everything out you are pretty much working for below minimum wage. If you had to pay an employee say $10-15/hr you would literally be losing money with each car.
 
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