How much to charge, PLEASE!

A

audipower

New member
I detail my car and people have been bothering me to do there's. One guys car '66 Chevelle a beautiful paint job. He did my brakes and rotors so I did his. Well, he got first place at the car show, Best in Class and Best Paint at Show. He's never one Best Paint. You should of seen what I had to do to get all the dirt out of the paint. No people are begging me to do there cars.

I clay, polish, Klasse AIO, Klasse Sealent Glaze 3 coats each on for 24 hrs., then 2 coats of P21S two different days. Preferable the last P21S the day or day before a show. I don't know how much to charge. I was thinking $150?

I did some other peoples cars just paint cleaner, polish, Klasse AIO, one coat of Sealent and P21S for $75. Mainly for family or friends.

I use all Microfiber, Concours Buffing towel, and buffer. How much do you guys charge for interior?

Always like suggestions from the pro's. I actually have to do a '69 Chevy Camaro, the 5th one made and a '67 Camaro , the 1st one made. Yeah, it's my Uncle's to. The '69 is retired and been entered in the Chevy Classic Hall of Fame. Yeah, alot of pressure. He's quote, "You make an Audi look this good I just wonder with you can do to the Camaro". My Uncle would tell me I suck, trust me.



Please Reply
 
I live in NE Ohio. Not a big city at all and not the richest. That's why I don't charge $300. I had a guy with a brand new Ferrari and I charged him $400 and he called me yesterday to do his car before winter storage.

First day takes me 3-4hrs depending on how they took care of the car.

2nd 3rd and 4th 1 hr

5th is depending on if they want a wax, but just Sealent removal 20-30mins.

First day is the pain, but the other days are just going over there to do it.

Alot of the guys around here love there cars, but don't have $200. I normally hit the rich and bargain with the poor. I'm getting a tint job, dents removed, and brakes routers done. Can't beat that for the mechanicaly declined.

How do you charge them? By hour or products?
 
a common way to charge is by the hour... that is, you know how many hours its going to take you and how much you want to make per hour. So if for that first day, you want to make $25/hr and you think it will take you 4 hours.. tell them that you are going to charge $100. Thats a pretty common way to do it.
 
This is a really easy actually if you think about it. You cant charge hundreds of more dollars if every other shop around you is charging say 150. You cant do the same 150 job for 300 or 400 dollars cause you will not get many calls no matter how good you are. It also depends on the area you live in on which the income for that area is either good or bad. When i started out I charged just about the same as the others did, but increased my prices just a little cause of my reputation and the convience of me coming to them. Dont get to insane with cleaning a car and charging $400.00 dollars, cause even in California the going starting rates from which I heard for a car was around $225 for a car.



I try to make 25-30 dollars per hour which suits me just fine. Also charge more on what you plan on doing, wetsanding etc. Also how good are your skills?
 
The price you charge should not be based solely on what the competition charges. It’s good to know what they charge, but I would not recommend that you base your price on that fact alone. In order to cover expenses and stay in business you should consider pricing your detailing services somewhere between what you want to make and what you actually need to make.



Another factor to consider is the size of the vehicle. A small compact car usually takes about an hour less time to detail than a mid-size car. And a full-size luxury car usually takes about one half hour more time to detail than a mid-size car. Of course, a full-size SUV can take much longer. From a marketing standpoint it’s important to let your customers see that your prices reflect the amount of time that you need to spend on a particular size vehicle. The owner of a small compact car will appreciate the lower price. While the owner of either a full-size luxury car or SUV will understand the higher price.



You may also want to think about using both a list price and a discount price. Your list price could be about thirty to fifty dollars higher than your discount price. The list price would be the higher price you want to make, while the discount price would be the price you need to make in order to make a profit and stay in business.
 
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