Whats your criteria for charging? Big/small?

9

98RegalGS

New member
I was wondering how you guys go about picking a price to charge someone.



I felt I undercharged the prior car I did because of how bad it was, but now Im going to be doing a 2002 Yukon (white) with a good exterior but a sub-bar interior. Does 110-120 sound fair, even if I know the person?



:think:
 
What exactly do you do? I am about to do a mediocre condition mini van with zaino (extra $20 over carnauba) for about 120. This includes wash, clay, paint cleaner, then about 2 coats of zaino. Thne follow it up with stain removal, carpetts cleaned, cleather cleaned, vinyl clewaned.
 
I usually wash, clay, polish with AIO, and wax. Interior gets carpet cleaned, seats cleaned, etc.



Whats a good process for cleaning carpets/cloth seats anywho?
 
120 sounds fine to me. If you are new to the business (like me) then it sounds right on. In the future you should raise your rates as you gain experience, but for now I'd say its right on. It should take 4 hours or so which equates to about $30 an hour.









I'm gonna use some carpet stain removal spray for the stain removal then use some highly dilluted oxi clean for the rest. Dry vac first, then vacuum again after spraying oxi clean to vacuum up the water.
 
Yukons are $200.00 in my book..............You really need to pre-inspect before giving the estimate. You never know what your up against until its seen 1st hand.....
 
Thats what I was going to say, thats too cheap for an SUV and you will see what I mean after your done, heck while your doing the job sweating your going to be kicking yourself. 120 is what I charge for cars in good condition. 150 is what I charge for SUV/mini vans in decent condition. Think about it SUV's tend to be heavily used autos (camping/soccer games/ fishing trips/ carpooling kids etc which = alot of cleaning. Your time is your time. If you have a good appreciation for clean vehicals and enjoy making them shine your going to do a good job, charge'em its not like its black you know. If your confidence level is ify ask questions do some searching in the areas your unsure of. Like I said your drive to turn out quality work will ensure that you atleast do a good job leaving your customer/ family member very happy. UNLESS you don't know the first thing about cleaning a car and can care less but need some pocket change, well, in that case you shouldn't touch it.
 
I agree with patrick, in that you have to examine the vehicle first in order to give a fair estimate. You dont want to short change yourself!
 
You guys also probably do awesome work. If you have to ask the rates odds are you are somewhat new to the detailing game. I know this beacause I was in this siuation last week. I am sure I could charge much more than I do right now, but seeing as how I am using new products and still perfecting my techniques it doesn't seem fair for me to charge "professional" rates just yet.
 
The problem with selling yourself short is that if you keep doing it, people will expect you to do it for that price. If you can charge more you will be able to do a better job.
 
salty said:
The problem with selling yourself short is that if you keep doing it, people will expect you to do it for that price. If you can charge more you will be able to do a better job.
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Couldn't agree more. IMO opinion it's much better to over estimate slightly than to under sell yourself. What I've found so far in my short (6 months) detailing career is that people generally have no idea how long it takes to get a car looking Autopian.



When I first started I was doing "mates rates" just so I could get a few cars in the portfolio, and you wouldn't believe how hard it was to stop charging at this rate, simply because that's what people though the going rate was.



I now always estimate on a "subject to inspection" basis. If the potential customer doesn't want to pay what I honestly think it should cost, then I let them go as there are plenty of other people out there who will.



You don't want to set a precedent for under charging, otherwise you'll get the "well you did my mate's car for x so why can't you do mine for that even though it's in 20x worse condition" situation.



Ben
 
BenP said:
Couldn't agree more. IMO opinion it's much better to over estimate slightly than to under sell yourself. What I've found so far in my short (6 months) detailing career is that people generally have no idea how long it takes to get a car looking Autopian.



When I first started I was doing "mates rates" just so I could get a few cars in the portfolio, and you wouldn't believe how hard it was to stop charging at this rate, simply because that's what people though the going rate was.



I now always estimate on a "subject to inspection" basis. If the potential customer doesn't want to pay what I honestly think it should cost, then I let them go as there are plenty of other people out there who will.



You don't want to set a precedent for under charging, otherwise you'll get the "well you did my mate's car for x so why can't you do mine for that even though it's in 20x worse condition" situation.



Ben
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i guess I never thought of that. As of now (well, after I finish the next car I already quoted), prices are going up! I think I am going to go for around 150 on a decent condition car with light swirls/oxidation and a decent interior. Actually, what do you guys consider to be your hourly rate?
 
Visit my website and look at my packages page, at the bottom I have a chart for vehicle size and the cost related to it. This usually works about 95% of the time but there are cars that do get turned away or cost more than what is listed. Hope that helps. I tried to figure the pricing mathmatically using an excel spreadsheet with labor and product etc. figured in so I could have definitive answers for customers on pricing.
 
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