What do you charge for paint correction?

[mini1]

I want to get a survey of all the pros that offer paint correction.

1.) What do you charge? Is it hourly or flat rate?

2.) How do you bill it (example: is the wash billed at the same amount as the correction?)

3.) Where are you located?



I just recently moved from one end of the state to the other and I just bumped up my hourly rate. I still think I'm undercharging but since so few of my competitors offer the service, its hard to determine what is fair or not.

 

[Envious Eric]

I want to get a survey of all the pros that offer paint correction.

1.) What do you charge? Is it hourly or flat rate?

2.) How do you bill it (example: is the wash billed at the same amount as the correction?)

3.) Where are you located?



I just recently moved from one end of the state to the other and I just bumped up my hourly rate. I still think I'm undercharging but since so few of my competitors offer the service, its hard to determine what is fair or not.

Its usually in the 40-80/hr range depending on location.

everything is billed the same...wash, the clay, the polishing, etc. You bill for your time, not for the step in paint correction. That would be like a dentist saying Ill charge you 10/hr to talk to you, $20/hr to open your mouth and have a look, $40/hr to scrape your teeth, and $50 flat to let you stare at my gorgeous hygienist. lol. Doesn't work that way with a service industry IMO. Sometimes things come up mid detail and if you say its 100 to clean the seats, but it takes you 10 hours because you didnt realize something about them, its on you. but if you said $20/hr, then its understood its going to be between 20 bucks, and 200.



charge what you are worth and make sure you deliver on it no matter what the price is...

 

[C. Charles Hahn]

Its usually in the 40-80/hr range depending on location.

everything is billed the same...wash, the clay, the polishing, etc. You bill for your time, not for the step in paint correction. That would be like a dentist saying Ill charge you 10/hr to talk to you, $20/hr to open your mouth and have a look, $40/hr to scrape your teeth, and $50 flat to let you stare at my gorgeous hygienist. lol. Doesn't work that way with a service industry IMO.

Agreed totally. But I want to know where you found a dentist with gorgeous hygenists! :lol:

Sometimes things come up mid detail and if you say its 100 to clean the seats, but it takes you 10 hours because you didnt realize something about them, its on you. but if you said $20/hr, then its understood its going to be between 20 bucks, and 200.

:werd: However as soon as you discover that something is going to take you significantly longer than you originally expected, it's probably a good idea to call the customer and get approval before you just start on a time consuming procedure. Give them the option to either pay your price, or tell you to just do the bare minimum on that particular component and move along. Customers won't like it if you spring a huge bill on them that goes way outside the parameters originally estimated.

charge what you are worth and make sure you deliver on it no matter what the price is...

And when it comes to charging what you're worth, be aware of your own limits. Always under-sell and over-deliver.

 

[JohnKleven]

Our exterior and full detsil packages include a single step finishing polish (example menz super finish) but I don't consider that paint correction, so we charge hourly for any paint correction on top of a detail at $75/hr. (example sip, power gloss etc.) I'm in the Seattle area.

 

[autoaesthetica]

If you are asking for yourself this will depend on your skills and experience, your costs and overhead and ultimately your market/crowd youre trying to appeal to.



We price on a package that is priced around a rough hourly rate on the understanding the quote is flexible. We confirm price after inspection but ultimately come to an agreement "if a situation" type of thing where we may bill a bit more.



Anything out of packages or custom is hourly, period.





No offense, we don't know much about your experience or skills or your costs, portfolio or what you typically serve as far as results and packages so its completely unfair to just bump your prices because another person(better or worse) has theirs for it. Its a good guide, but you have to be fair to yourself and the customer when adjusting.

 

[Nth Degree]

Always under-sell and over-deliver.

I cannot stress enough the importance of this advice in this industry.



I don't do a high volume and don't do detailing as my primary income. For corrections I usually quote a range before starting, explaining what potential issues might push it to the higher end. I usually quote based upon $30/hr. (Maybe a little low, but I still lose a lot of potential clients due to price.) I do not work fast, so charging per hour would make me feel uncomfortable and rushed. If something unexpected comes up that requires an increase in price I consult the owner first about options. If I estimate 15 hours and it takes me 18, so be it. I know that the results are worth the time. Many of my clients have commented about their appreciation and trust knowing that I am more focused on achieving the desired result rather than making the maximum amount of $. I find the attitude of customers looking for correction (mostly garage queens) is far better than those looking for a good cleaning. In either case I make it my goal to impress. I must be impressing as 95%+ of my business comes from referrals.

 

[Envious Eric]

Charlie, my dentist has one! super cool, good looking, and jokes!!!! Its awesome, thats why I pay cash to go there. i have to find a dental plan they are in that is worth it $wise! lol

 

[Richard Grasa]

I charge $50 - $65/hour for correction depending on the condition of the vehicle when it comes into the shop. Everything is included in the hourly rate including wash, clay, etc. I'm located just south of Hartford, CT. I plan to charge a little bit more starting next spring as I'm still new to the area and still working to separate myself from the other "detailers" in the area who do cheap work. If I start charging everything I'm worth now, people would look at the other guy's prices and go to them instead, not realizing there is a big difference between them and me.

 

[Envious Eric]

I charge $50 - $65/hour for correction depending on the condition of the vehicle when it comes into the shop. Everything is included in the hourly rate including wash, clay, etc. I'm located just south of Hartford, CT. I plan to charge a little bit more starting next spring as I'm still new to the area and still working to separate myself from the other "detailers" in the area who do cheap work. If I start charging everything I'm worth now, people would look at the other guy's prices and go to them instead, not realizing there is a big difference between them and me.

how do you charge 50 for paint correction on one car and 65 on another?

 

[Richard Grasa]

how do you charge 50 for paint correction on one car and 65 on another?

Price negotiations with the customer. I start at $65 but will (maybe) go down to $50 if the customer pushes back on the price. I consider the vehicle's size, condition, customer's attitude, etc in the negotiations. It's been tough going to get people to understand the differences between me and the other typical shops in the area, without badmouthing those shops. Once I get that my name out there more, those negotiations will stop and it will either be $65/hour or nothing, or I may up the price a little if I am able. I don't like to negotiate but would rather lower my rate a little to keep the customer from walking away, as I hope when they see my work they will be back and spread word of mouth. If they walk away, they prob won't be back.

 

[buda]

When you operate a service business you calculate an hourly rate for your services based on your costs of operation, complete costs including your salary and benefits. If the market will allow you to charge more per hour charge it, but never less than what it costs you to operate the business.



I see people saying charge this per hour and charge that per hour, but many are simply pulling an hourly rate out of the air that seems right. It is no different than saying you charge $200 for a complete detail.



Every detailer needs to talk with an accountant to determine their hourly service rate and these questions about what to charge would be irrelevant. No one can tell you what to charge for any detail service or what to charge per hour because no one has the same expenses as another person.



Regards

Bud ABraham

 

[Barry Theal]

Price negotiations with the customer. I start at $65 but will (maybe) go down to $50 if the customer pushes back on the price. I consider the vehicle's size, condition, customer's attitude, etc in the negotiations. It's been tough going to get people to understand the differences between me and the other typical shops in the area, without badmouthing those shops. Once I get that my name out there more, those negotiations will stop and it will either be $65/hour or nothing, or I may up the price a little if I am able. I don't like to negotiate but would rather lower my rate a little to keep the customer from walking away, as I hope when they see my work they will be back and spread word of mouth. If they walk away, they prob won't be back.

This will hurt your business in the long run! I was there and will not do it again. I wish I would have listen to people when they told me not to do this. You really need to have a conversation with Bob Willis " Auto Conceirge" He will change your thought process really quick.

 

[RaskyR1]

This will hurt your business in the long run! I was there and will not do it again. I wish I would have listen to people when they told me not to do this. You really need to have a conversation with Bob Willis " Auto Conceirge" He will change your thought process with a quickness.

Fixed!

















......

 

[David Fermani]

This will hurt your business in the long run! I was there and will not do it again. I wish I would have listen to people when they told me not to do this.

I disagree as it depends on the type of business you run. The point you bring up would be more prevalent in a non-volume based environment, but if you cater to high volume, you negotiate each deal individually. In these scenarios you could loose a dealer over $5 per car, so I don't see any reason to stick to your price structure and risk the potential of loosing income.

 

[Richard Grasa]

It works for me "for now" to negotiate a bit with some people. This is only done as a last resort when the customer is about to walk out the door because of price. I know that even at my lowest price point, my cost to do business is well covered so I'd rather drop the price a bit and get that customer's business than him or her go somewhere else. I don't do many full corrections at this point, mainly express and one-steps so negotiating on the few correction jobs I am approached for will help spread the word that this is a service I offer. For my regular detailing packages, there is no negotiation, unless I run a coupon or do a livingsocial deal which has been very successful.

On the wholesale side, as David said, there is lots of negotiation dealer to dealer because they will just go to the cheapest guy who does somewhat ok work, they don't care about top quality like retail customers. Not the dealers I've worked with anyway.

 

[autoaesthetica]

I typically give people that may have a budget cap a couple options.. with the expectation the car will be consistent ie. a 1 step may be a 1.5 step on some areas so the finish is consistent.



The other thing you can do is let people know that if they are paying for this permanent treatment, a good "starter" is to do less intensive correction to make sure they are capable of maintaining it. I always say, we can do a moderate correction(really 100% to the non-detailer, 90% to the detailer) and say, that way we can be sure you can maintain it with proper wash and dry stuff, and if needed a light polish once a year or so, to keep you honest. When I say "to keep you honest" the onus is on them that they really need to maintain the finish they are about to spend.



I have this one multi car luxury customer who really insists he doesn't want 100% correction, however he uses me on a regular basis and loves the work - with this, I can continually improve the surface as I know how he maintains them without dropping 1K+ on each car to get them perfect - plus if there is a mishap, we have all that much more material for potential future correction.

 

[Junebug]

"$50 flat to let you stare at my gorgeous hygienist" LOL - my dentist has one and I stare for free!

 

[Barry Theal]

I disagree as it depends on the type of business you run..

Why should it matter what type of business you run? If you give you one discount then everyone will want a discount? At what point does is stop?

The point you bring up would be more prevalent in a non-volume based environment,..

Ummmmmmmmm Duh:grinno: This is AUTOPIA so I would assume so that!

but if you cater to high volume, you negotiate each deal individually.

Your right here for sure. My main dealer account price structure is different then all the others because of the volume, but when a man spends 10 to 12k a week with me thats a different story.

In these scenarios you could loose a dealer over $5 per car, so I don't see any reason to stick to your price structure and risk the potential of loosing income.

This all depends on the numbers. Five dollars is a lot on some accounts but others its not. Usally its the smaller dealers that will bounce over 5 dollars. If your doing volume you shouldn;t be messing with these guys anyway. There not profitable. In the volume world, Its in and out, onto the next. No time to waste with small accounts. I'm sure you know all this anyway. I would at least assume so. :fermani: