I need pricing ideas

T

Tassadar

Car Detailing Whore
I need ideas for pricing my detailing work.

I typically do a prep on a car of a wash, clay, wash, and vacuum.

Thats something I will do to every car. I need an idea for a base price for this.

Then I need ideas for how much to charge for vinyl , leather cleaning & conditioning, and anything else (Except extractor, no extractor to extract with :) )

Any help is appreciated.
 
best advice IMO is to call around to other detailors in your area and see what they are charging for similar jobs. Then decide if your new if you want to start on paar with them or get a starters edge and go a bit lower.
 
The only place that does that stuff around here charges $100. They do some good interior work, but their exterior work sucks. Thy use wax-as-you-dry wax, and they do not clay bar.

However, they have an extractor they can use on your interior carpets.

How much should I charge...$75?
 
You should key in on the quality of your work. I have about two decent detailers in my area, they are not doing the level of work that I am. I also charge a bit more but my customers come back and I get referals.

Full detail in and out (no motor) $200
Inside or outside full detail $100
motor is $50
plain wash and wax with the in side wiped up $75

These may sound a bit higher for your area but you can use them as a sounding board. Again key on how you differ from the others in your area. If you need a cheap extractor look at The Little Green Machine for about $100
 
Definately will be looking into that Little Green Machine. And I have been thinking that the $75 is a good idea, most people around here do not care about the looks of the motor compartment.
 
Best bet is to check out the competition and find out what the market bears and what you need after all expenses.
 
i agree, the market will differ from area to area. plus figure out how much you need to make and how long it takes to do the job. i have been an electrical contractor for years and do a lot of bidding/pricing. my motto is "i'd rather over bid a job and not get than under bid a job and get it and go broke." your time is your most valuable asset.

i have a little green machine and they work well. don't know how well it would hold up to everyday use though.
 
Tascar is totally right. I could stay busy working for lousy wages all day by being the cheapest guy around BUT I wouldnt be making any money and Id be killing myself for nothing.

I suppose if a guy is starving for work and needs it bad it might be ok but you have to price the job where you make the profit you need.

Anthony has guided me on several points and his suggestion is to do the best work around and make a reputation with the right clients and you can charge what you want and get the high dollar job due to your high quality and reputation.

Dont worry about what the other guys in town charge because alot of times there are guys doing hack work with no insurance or overhead and they do work for cut throat prices and you cant base your price against these types. Do good work for a good price that makes you the profit you need and thats the only way to make it.

When you can offer experience and quality that beats the other guys around your pices can afford to be higher. People will come to you for the superior service and the price will not be a problem if its a fair charge.

I bet Tascar will know what I mean. He bids against other contractors who will do work for amazingly low prices and even though those guys get some of the jobs he wants in the end they cut corners and do hacker work and in the end the customer is often times unhappy. Alot of times the guy who's bid was higher end up getting hired to come out and fix the crap the cheap guys did. When the customer realizes you were the right one for the job you then have won over a customer and ultimately it builds a reputation for your quality and standards and you get loyal customers out of the experience.

Some guys do work for just the labor selling the products at cost, not to mention they have no insurance. A good shop has these expensed and they haveto charge more. A person looking for high quality work will end up coming to you in the end and if they want the cheapest solution you didnt want the job probably anyway.


Good luck,
John
 
hey john, i heard a saying once; "working too cheap is like eating soup with a fork, you work your tail off and still go hungry." plus there's a stigma with being too cheap. people equate quality with price, within reason of course. run a good reputable business, be professional and pricing will not be a problem. if someone is working really cheap there's probably a reason for it.

and yes, we have went back and finished projects that we were initially beat on. one was a bunch of duplexes. some guy came in beat our price by a huge amount. the builder said their price was just too good to pass up. well to make a long story short, it ended up costing the builder a bunch of money to have us come in get the final inspections on the job because the original electrical contractor was no were to be found.
 
Yeah I am thinking I will charge around $75 per car.

I have allready spent the $65 I made off my first car, I made the mistake of going to O'Reillys (Walked out with oil filter, fuel filter, K&N cleaner kit, Chilton's Manual, WD-40, and Seafoam)

:rolleyes:
 
Something that applies here is a sales slogan.

" sell by price die by price"

That way you will be very busy as you go out of business.
 
Well I need a price to charge these people. THey dont want me to be subjective to each car, they want a base price.

Plus I am doing this part time as a 16 year old, its not my life line.
 
75 it is then, if you get the car and it looks like more work tell them at that time. You will handg yourself if you do not allow some movement on the price. Tell them that it could be more or less.
 
What would you guys recommend for a product that is good to quickly wash and wax a car? And I mean something faster than Megs GC Wax. Some of the people I am doing dont want their car clayed, and dont want a full wax job either (in hopes of lowering the cost I presume)

I am doing a CLK Benz tommorow, I am going to concentrate on the interior. The outside will get Megs GC Wash and Eagle one Wax-As-U-Dry because she does not want it waxed, only washed.
 
Dude

You have some strange customers, you need to sell these people on your work. Wash and wax should be a standard. I like to use P&S Products they go on easy and come off easy. I'm not going to promo another product on this site. You can e-mail me and I will send you the link of you are interested.
 
Well I thought it was strange as well. I normally atleast do a wash,clay,wash,wax (ATLEAST THIS). However, this woman simply wanted the car to be cleaned up a bit. She also only gave me 1 hour and 30 minutes to do it in! I managed to get it done (barely), however, to show that I am dedicated to my work, I am going to offer to pick up her car again on Friday after school and redo the interior work again (Instead of just conditioner, I will go through and clean and condition the leather).
 
Re: reminder to all u kids !!!!!

detaled by hans said:
"Good work is not cheap. Cheap work is not good."
Click to expand...

Excellent quote...Im gonna write that one down.....use it and make millions!!!!
 
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