I consider claying a car an "extra". I charge $150 for a complete detail. What I consider a complete detail is...Hand wash. Machine apply my best wax. Remove by hand with microfiber. I vapor steam clean carpets, door panels, seats, mats, door jams, clean glass in and out, vacuum trunk, detail dash, console. Apply leather or vinyl treatment. Dress tires and clean rims. My price is very reasonable being a new mobile detailer. But I am trying to get a good client base. If the customer wanted the paint clayed, what should I charge for this above my Full detail? Dan
Claying
- Thread starter icunjl
- Start date
Envious Eric
New member
250+
if you have to clay, you have to polish as clay is an abrasive on its own!
if you have to clay, you have to polish as clay is an abrasive on its own!
AuAltima3.5
New member
Scottwax said:
Bingo.
I would never polish without claying before. I feel the chances of thing getting stuck in the pad go way up and it becomes counterproductive.
Jean-Claude
Keeper of the beautiful
Set up a minimum charge for claying. Let's use $45 as a figure.
How long are you taking on claying a car? If it's a well-kept car it may only take 15 minutes to do a quick wash/clay session. In that case, you're making fine money.
What if the car is in need of serious attention? It may take 2 hours....in that case you explain to the customer the fee for claying is more than the basic price by $xx(= to your time). If they give you grief for charging more, put it back on them, "Mr. Sam, I understand that you didn't have this in mind before coming, but let me ask you now that you understand why it's so important to clay(make sure you've already explained this), do you want your car detailed right or cheap?"
/end
How long are you taking on claying a car? If it's a well-kept car it may only take 15 minutes to do a quick wash/clay session. In that case, you're making fine money.
What if the car is in need of serious attention? It may take 2 hours....in that case you explain to the customer the fee for claying is more than the basic price by $xx(= to your time). If they give you grief for charging more, put it back on them, "Mr. Sam, I understand that you didn't have this in mind before coming, but let me ask you now that you understand why it's so important to clay(make sure you've already explained this), do you want your car detailed right or cheap?"
/end
I'm not a professional nor do I play one on TV but I think I'd be very careful with the up charge mentality based on condition. If I were to do it, I'd do it as part of the initial appraisal of the condition of the car. I might take the customer and do a section of the hood of trunk and show them what the clay is picking up - having them feel the surface of the paint in the small area you clayed and the surrounding washed but not clayed area.
imported_WhyteWizard
New member
icunjl said:
I charge enough to include clay since every street car I've ever done needed it.
David Fermani
Forza Auto Salon
WhyteWizard said:
Exactly. Claying should be a Standard Procedure with any kind of polishing. Without it, you reduce the effectiveness of the correction and the bonding of the LSP. If claying takes an excessive amount of time, I'll just scuff the surface down with 4ooo grit sandpaper. If more effort is required, then I'm charging for a full blown overspray removal.
Barry Theal
New member
Charging extra to clay a car doesn't make sense to me at all. Its like wiping your asss before you shiit. I just don't get it. Claybarring is a vital part of the detailing process it should be done.
brwill2005
New member
I will disagree a bit here. I rarely clay a car I detail. Unless of course the customer insists on it, or the car has severe contamination issues. If I do clay, it is an extra charge. Out of hundreds of cars I have polished I have never had an issue because of not claying the car. The cars always turn out well, and the customer is happy. If I clayed every car, my prices would have to increase by $25-50. In most consumer's eyes, the value in claying is just not there. Ad this to an already price sensitive market, and people will go somewhere else.
Barry Theal
New member
brwill2005 said:
Well I will respect your Opionion here Brad, But If I may ask what do you do to remove such items as tar, embeded fallout? Clay truely cleans the paint prior to polishing. I could see if your just washing cars not to clay them. Not sure what you really do in your business. If your polishing cars and not claying, well I feel bad for your customers.
WAS
Driven
Every vehicle that gets polished at the shop gets clayed. Yes, from my perspective, it makes sense to since it removes all the bonded contaminents, blah blah blah. From the business perspective, it's something the customer can FEEL. Every customer dropping off a paint correction is asked to drag their fingers along the front fender. When they come back at the end of the day, they're asked to do the same again. Sure they can see the difference in the paint, but feeling a difference as well just solidifies the experience.
Barry Theal
New member
WAS said:
well said :2thumbs:
brwill2005
New member
Barry Theal said:
I remove tar with an orange solvent. As I said, I would recommend claying to a customer who has moderate to severe contamination; and they would pay extra. Most of my other customer's cars are very well maintained, so this is not an issue. Why would you feel bad for my customers? Ultimately they are the ones who have to be satisfied with the service I provide. I have made an educated business decision to not include claying in my packages because I feel it ads very little value beyond removing some contamination that is not even visible, but only tactile.
David Fermani
Forza Auto Salon
WAS said:
:thx
Even when we did high volume dealer work for minimum $$, we still clayed every vehicle. If it didn't make a difference in the end product I sure as heck wouldn't have wasted all that time doing it.
brwill2005
New member
David Fermani said:
I am curious as to what difference it made in the end product, considering this was dealer work. The paint may have been a bit smoother, but did that have any effect on the selling price if the car or its attractiveness to a potential buyer? Obviously, the extra step would have been absorbed by your operation, reducing your profit. In a high volume operation, claying every car would get pretty expensive both in materials and labor. I imagine some areas of the Country experience much higher levels of environmental contamination than others. In those situations, claying makes some sense. After all, detail clay was invented in Japan to remove severe environmental fall out and rail dust. Companies such as Auto Magic and Mother's have marketed it as a product that needs to be used every time you wax and/or polish. As always, this is forum and everyone is entitled to their opinion. This just happens to be my position on claying, especially when considering it as an absolute necessity when polishing a car.
David Fermani
Forza Auto Salon
brwill2005 said:
Brad - Are you really telling us that you don't know how clay can make a difference in the end result? Clay is considered Detailing 101 in some(if not all) reconditioning classes and even many OEM recon certifications. Even many auctions have incorporated claying a vehicle into their SOP. Doing High Volume doesn't mean skipping the basic fundamental steps in detailing. Atleast not for me. Every car got clayed or sanded and I flaunted the buttery smoothness of every car I delivered. :2thumbs:
brwill2005
New member
David Fermani said:
Yes, I do understand how it can make a difference in the end result, however, it is usually only a matter of making the paint a bit smoother. Most of the cars I detail do not have contamination issues, so claying has very little impact on the results. Please do not act like I am a novice or something just because I do things a bit different than you. I feel I have explained my position on the matter quite clearly. I run a business, and I am not inclined to give away a service because an internet forum says a step must be done.
Accumulator
Well-known member
What about Decontamination systems being used as a substitute for clay, at least in certain cases?
(Yeah, I get the diffs between chemical and mechanical decontamination, and I'm a proponent of claying, well, of both approaches really...)
I often clay while the acidic step is dwelling, and/or after the decon is completed, so for me it's not an either/or choice. But I'm just curious whether anybody sees the decon as a true *substitute* for claying :think: I'm thinking along the lines of pros who're being very conscious of time being money...hey, you gotta wash with *something* anyhow.
(Yeah, I get the diffs between chemical and mechanical decontamination, and I'm a proponent of claying, well, of both approaches really...)
I often clay while the acidic step is dwelling, and/or after the decon is completed, so for me it's not an either/or choice. But I'm just curious whether anybody sees the decon as a true *substitute* for claying :think: I'm thinking along the lines of pros who're being very conscious of time being money...hey, you gotta wash with *something* anyhow.