Ever feel like you are ripping a customer off?

J

JpiRally

New member
I did a Forester this weekend and spent about 5 hours on it. The interior was in good condition, but the exterior was a bit worst off. I went over the interior and cleaned and treated it, vacuumed, and the usual stuff. I did the exterior...jacked up the car and took all the wheels off, cleaned the underside of the car, the wheel arches and springs, both sides of the wheels. I then washed the car, stripped it, and then sealed it for winter because thats all she wanted. No multi step stuff.



When I was letting the wax set I shut the "clock" off and sat and talked to my fiance. I mentioned how sometimes I felt like I was ripping the customer off. I NEVER cut corners or skip over anything...I take more pride in my work than I do getting the money. When I was doing my final walk around I had people walking by comment on how amazing the car looked. When the customer came and picked up the car she loved it. She was blown away...and asked why I only charged her $125 for all of that! She even said the car looked like it was just driven off the lot. I know my attention to detail is very good and I know I deliver a fantastic product, but when I give the car back sometimes I feel like I might have missed something and therefore I am jipping them of their money.



Do you ever feel like that?

Do you think its because we, autopians, have a higher standard over most?



what is it?



Joe
 
I'm not a professional detailer, but my 2 cents is that you can't feel guilty that you may have missed a detail, because if you did, the customer could always tell you and you could fix it. There's no permanent damage or anything.

In terms of whether or not what you did is worth 125, I would say that it is. How many people have the equipment, skill, and experience to jack up their car, remove the wheels, and clean everything? Not many. I polish my own car, but I don't have a jack, know how to remove tires, or would even feel comfortable trying because they'd probably fall off the next time I'd try to drive.

$125 for five hours of work is 25 dollars an hour. So, when you factor in the cost of your products, you're not even making that much. I wouldn't call making less than 25 dollars an hour some sort of robbery, especially when skill is involved.



I wouldn't feel guilty about it if I were you. You might feel that way because there are other people in this country who are making 7 bucks an hour as a cashier or something, but if they had the initiative, they could learn a skill and provide a more specialized service to the world. Would the world be a better place if there were no car detailers? Absolutely not! Would people be better off if their number one most valuable possession (probably their car unless they're a home owner) was never cared for by somebody who knows what they are doing? No! Some people care about their car enough where they would rather pay somebody 25 dollars an hour to do a good job rather than 10 dollars an hour to screw it up or do a half-assed job. They chose to go to you voluntarily. If there were only 10 dollar an hour detailers, they would be deprived, that's not a good thing.
 
I dont want this thread to be about me...its mainly an over all general question for the masses of great detailers out there.



I think for me its a fact that no car once it leaves the assembly plant will ever truly be free of some dirtiness. I strive for perfection in everything I do...and with detailing that is a quick way to get let down.



Plus very few customers truly and honestly appreciate a truly clean car!
 
I fail to see how $25/hr could be construed as ripping someone off. That's a very reasonable rate for something that takes physical effort, expertise, and attention to detail. Not to mention supplies...
 
NOpe!!!! I provide a service where they know the cost, they agree to the cost, and I perform the approved work = win win situation where no one is getting ripped off! Now, if I worked only 2 hours and did crap work and still charged the agreed 4 hour price, then I would be ripping the client off, but I dont do that, more so go above and beyond giving out free work all the time!
 
You just have to beleive in yourself. Your time is worth x amount of dollars. I do what I do because I love doing it. I know what I make. I know what some others make. And then I know what some people claim to make. Sometimes when I'm in the middle of a difficult detail I scream to my inner self that I'm going to charge them a friggin grand to deal with this mess. But I never do. I average a few hundred dollars for an all out job. And I think that's pretty fair. I know guys charging thousands.. Some deserve it other *coughholdencough* obviously don't. In the end if you feel your doing right by your customer and not cutting corners to get the rsults then you shouldn't ever feel bad about collecting on the bill.
 
Obviously you don't value your own worth. If it bothers you that bad then do the same work for $25. Get real man, you are providing a professional service and being paid for it. I charge $25 per wheel to remove, clean, and seal them. You think you are overpaid??? Re-evaluate your work, perhaps your prices will rise after you put some thought into it.....
 
RTexasF said:
Obviously you don't value your own worth. If it bothers you that bad then do the same work for $25. Get real man, you are providing a professional service and being paid for it. I charge $25 per wheel to remove, clean, and seal them. You think you are overpaid??? Re-evaluate your work, perhaps your prices will rise after you put some thought into it.....
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Perfectly said!!
 
its not that I dont think I am worth it.....I know my work and attention to detail is right up there. I know I could charge $40 or so an hour...:)



I dont want this to be about me....k? lol



joe
 
JpiRally said:
its not that I dont think I am worth it.....I know my work and attention to detail is right up there. I know I could charge $40 or so an hour...:)



I dont want this to be about me....k? lol



joe
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If you really think that you are worth $25 an hour, you'd not have posted the question.
 
tdekany said:
If you really think that you are worth $25 an hour, you'd not have posted the question.
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here is the thing...I am a perfectionist. I just patched a hole in the wall at my fiances place. I sat there for ever sanding and smoothing out something that is textured..lol. After i was done I hit it at every angle with a light to see if I could tell where it was.



I think its like a constant search for perfection that might now be attainable.



joe
 
Charge more or do less work; what you're currently doing isn't cutting it obviously (For yourself)



What I'm more curious about is for those of you who remove the wheels to clean them, are you carrying some form of mechanic's insurance - if something ever goes wrong (e.g., they crash and claim their steering locked up), regardless of whether or not your actions were at fault, your *** is going to get sued.



I never take rims off of anybody's car I clean; I do my best and if they want better, they can do it themselves at home.
 
tdekany said:
Do you think you may have a bit of OCD?
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lol...maybe. I just look at it as though..'I am going to do it I am going to do it 100%" nothing with me is ever half assed. I take after my dad.



joe
 
Im opposite here. I am actually affraid to charge what I think I'm worth. I don't think I'm worth a whole lot, but I should probaly charge a little more.
 
Good value for money will keep you in business when times get tough, but giving your time away will leave you broke and hungry.



I the "Don't have to think about it." method. I set the price based on what I know will be respectful of my time and my clients money. Then I forget about it and get to work. If I find myself taking more time than I thought I'd need I discount, if I find I'm taking longer than I thought I would I take note of what I judged badly and remember it the next time a similar situation comes along. I don't ask for more money, that would be unprofessional.



The real problem for me is telling someone their car isn't worth my time. I don't want to be rude, but there are cars out there that don't need the level of attention I take, what they need is to get hosed out and scraped off and that doesn't require a lot of finesse. In those cases, sometimes I just do the work as sort of a public service and sometimes I tell them to take it to the cheap detailer.



A few years ago I figured out that by charging more I culled out a lot of the excavations. People who don't care about their cars or my time and would leave three big bags of crap in the car and have fallout a quarter of an inch thick on the outside, with wheels that had brake dust from the day they bought the car - I know you guys know what I'm talking about. They won't pay $225 dollars to get that scrubbed down, but a guy who has a nice car that he cares about will not only pay a decent price but he'll hand you a car you can do something for and he'll appreciate your skill and attention.



Robert
 
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