should i discount?

central

central

New member
got a job today:

Blazer: horrific interior - average exterior quoted $200 for the job.

She turned around and added 3 more cars to the mix:
escort- good shape ($300 paint job 6 months ago, some chipping) quoted $99

Truck- ex shape, quoted $130

Camaro- classic ex shape quoted $130

based my prices on how long i would take to detail at $30 an hour.

Now being that its all in the family, should i discount??

comes to $559 total.. discount to $500??

any advice appreciated.
 
Hey Central,

I just ran into the same scenario (5 cars one family, and 3 cars on another). Anything over 2 cars, which would require me to put them into 2 seperate days, I will typically discount slightly. Sure, there are factors to consider that would otherwise deter me to change.

What you could also offer is a montly/bi-monthly wash n' wax service. If you make it sound like that this is the way to go to ensure protection and a great looking vehicle, you can easily make a residual income on it.

On the flip side, did she balk at your quoted price of $550? If she didn't, and doesn't want a maintenance detail, then stick to your guns. Sometimes I'm good at estimating times, and others I am horrible at it. At the same time, if you offer the $50 discount, I have had the customer say, "Well, take it as a tip then." It could really fall either way.

Good luck on them, and I would love to see some pictures and the regimens you used.
 
Give them the 'bitchin camaro discount'! Do the 500 bucks. That sounds like a good customer. Good customers deserve the discount. Besides, they will probably tip the extra 60 bucks for your good business skills. As long as you aren't opperating at a loss then discounts keep customers. Pass them out whenever somebody brings you 4 cars to do. This could turn into a regular thing with this client and you don't want to blow that by appearing not to appreciate the business. Maybe they won't care, but if I brough you 4 cars to do then I would expect some kind of discount for it. Its customary.
 
$599 vs $500 is a little over a 15% discount, sounds good to me to give them the multi-vehicle discount. I might also throw in a free wash or a 10% discount off their next complete detail to the person who refered them to you ;)

Look what it says below... A happy customer does what? :)
 
central said:
Now being that its all in the family, should i discount??

comes to $559 total.. discount to $500??

any advice appreciated.
Click to expand...


Instead of offering an up-front discount, you could always offer your customer something like a 'fifteen-dollars off' certificate, good towards their next detailing, for each vehicle detailed. That's always a good incentive to get your customer to use your service again and get each vehicle detailed again. It shows that you truely appreciate getting the extra work.

In the future, you may also want to think about raising your list prices about 20%. Then you can always offer a discount and still get the price you need to in order to make your hourly rate.

It's always better to focus on the quality of your work, not the price.
 
thanks for the input!

Nick: will post them as they come, doing the first one on Mon.

Fuzz: i was think along the same lines and she would be back for my services.

Dr: That apply to all of them or just her car?! Im sure she'll want the same for the whole family.

mirror: "It's always better to focus on the quality of your work, not the price." .. believe me and im sure you are on the same boat most of the time you detail, your work is never done and you can always do something better.... In other words, im sure you've stayed an extra hour or two to get the job done right:D or atleast i do.
 
It looks to me like your prices are already more than fair. If the person was happy with the quoted prices, I would leave them as they are. You might want to give her a coupon for a free future wash or a % off coupon to use within a certain time frame as a "thanks for doing business with me". The problem with discounts are that people come to expect them every time. When quoting any type of service, there are going to be times when you miss something and the job will take longer than expected. (I have been there) So stick with your prices and do something, in addition to your quality work, to get the customer back in the door again.
 
I Like to offer my customers a 10% discount for multiple vehicles. I agree with Fuzz it is usually customary to offer a discount to multiple vehicles. Unless you are to busy to offer a discount then supply and demand will come into play.
 
central said:

Dr: That apply to all of them or just her car?! Im sure she'll want the same for the whole family.
Click to expand...

If it's paid on one invoice, in one location -- sure I would give 15% off for a multi vehicle discount... if it's on multiple tickets, in multiple locations -- it would depend on my mood at the time, and the customer.
 
Re: Re: should i discount?

dr_detail said:
So if a wash and wax takes 45 minutes, would you charge $22.50?
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If I were charging $30 per hour then there would always be a one our minimum charge regardless of the time it took unless another price was quoted. I would charge like $20 for a basic engine cleaning and that takes much less than an hour to do. I wouldn't charge $30 if all they wanted was the dash detailed either. Unless another price is quoted then I would go by whole hour prices.
 
Re: Re: should i discount?

Every job i do, i end up staying to complete running over about 15 to 30 mins. time i dont mind staying for to get the job done right. But still charge on an hourly rate. Usually rounding off to the lower hour rate.

dr_detail said:
So if a wash and wax takes 45 minutes, would you charge $22.50?
Click to expand...
 
So if a wash and wax takes 45 minutes, would you charge $22.50?
Click to expand...
I asked this question for some ponderance... and to help in calculating pricing structures. If a wash & wax takes 45 minutes, and one charges $55, that's a labor rate of close to $75/hr. Thus when one transfers that to a full detail which will take 3 hrs, why only quote $30/hr? Since the profit margin is greater in doing quick wash & waxes, why not charge a little bit more for the complete's --
Just thinking out loud I guess :cool
 
damn, then im really under charging :mad: i usually do the mini's for $50 - $60 assuming i did an initial detail. And they usually last an hour upwards to 2 hours for it. My quarterlies last about 2-3 hours for $75... think im under/over charging? curious.:confused:
 
central said:
... mini's last an hour upwards to 2 hours... quarterlies last about 2-3 hours... think I'm under/over charging? :confused:
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I'm not sure what you consider a "mini" and a "quarterly," :dunno but I think the pricing sounds about right for a wash n wax @ $50-60. Sounds to me though that the processes and cycle times might need some improvement. On a well maintained vehicle for a wash and wax here are some breakdowns on the cycle times I have surmised over the years: vacuuming takes about 5 minutes; wiping down the interior, 2-3; washing & drying, 10-20; applying wax, 5-10; dressing 2-3; removing wax, 5-10; windows 2-3.

Total time -- 31-54 minutes or an average of 42.5 minutes. This is based on one professionally trained person using a self contained mobile unit; with two people, cycles may overlap allowing for a vehicle to be completed in 22-36 with an average time of 29 minutes.

Side note: I once bet an employee when I managed a detail center, who insisted that it could not be done in less than 45 minutes, that If I could get out there and wash and wax a car in not only less time than him, but in less than 30 minutes, and maintain a satisfied customer, he would no longer work for us... If he did it, he would have a weeks paid vacation... It was quite the uproar in the shop, and the towels were a buzzin' --

I don't quite know what ever happened to him, but I did wish him well on his future endeavors. :-p
 
dr_detail said:
I asked this question for some ponderance... and to help in calculating pricing structures. If a wash & wax takes 45 minutes, and one charges $55, that's a labor rate of close to $75/hr. Thus when one transfers that to a full detail which will take 3 hrs, why only quote $30/hr? Since the profit margin is greater in doing quick wash & waxes, why not charge a little bit more for the complete's --
Just thinking out loud I guess :cool
Click to expand...

This is a very good point.

You would be leaving money on the table if you provide one service at a labor rate of $30/hr and another at $75/hr. One way to equalize the difference could be to offer your complete detailing at a 'List Price' of $225. That's based on 3/hrs of work at $75/hr.

Charging $75/hr may seem like an overly inflated price to many detailers. However, that's just the 'List Price. It's a starting point. If the vehicle is either detailed on a regular basis or in like new condition then you could always adjust the price down by offering a lower 'Discount Price'. On the other hand if the vehicle is going to require at least 3/hrs or more to complete then you would be certain to be fully compensated for your work.

In summary, I think it's important to understand that if a customer is willing to pay you $75/hr for a wash/n/wax service there is also a good chance that same customer may be willing to pay you $75/hr for a complete detailing.

Just my thoughts...
 
I think it just depends on what the market can bear in your area. I charge $40 dollars an hour for what I do here. I might be able to get away with charging more than that if I lived in a nice place like Dallas or somewhere that the weather was a little nicer for a little longer than here. When the people know that its going to rain once a week or snow at any time they generally want to go as cheap as possible and still get quality.

As long as you are staying competitive with the rest of the industry in your area then you should be fine. If every other detail shop in the city charges $80 for a full polish and detail then you are going to look pretty silly trying to charge $120 for the same job. I charge $40 an hour because that's pretty close to what the rest of the shops in town charge. I stay a bit below them just to have the edge, but I think I am going to do the same kind of job at possibly better quality for that price. It takes usually 2 hours for a full interior detail and exterior wash and wax. Usually 4 hours for a wash, clay, polish and wax. Prices are handed down accordingly. Unless I'm doing a full detail (with clay and polish and all that fun stuff) on something like a van or SUV with a ton of paint, then I'm not usually going to charge more than $150 or $160 for a detail. I'll discount that for regular customers because I know I'm going to get their business again and its good customer service to give loyal clients a break.

The key is just being able to really nail the estimate on how long its going to take. If you quote $80 for a job and it ends up taking 5 hours to do then you just ate a lot of money. They may not have hired you for a $200 job, but why waste 5 hours of your time to not harldy get paid anything? Unless its an excellent photo opportunity vehicle that you are going to test out several products on then its just better to give an accurate estimate on time and price.
 
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