A few of my neighbors have come up to me when I am out washing my car and have asked me if I would detail there cars.

I did a Passat and a Volvo and just charged them $100 bucks, I thought it seemed fair since they were my neighbors. More people are comming up to me via word of mouth and asking for a detail.

I was wondering how much I should charge for a detail for regular sedans and SUVs

I do the following to all of the cars:

1)Clean out all of the crap on the inside
2)Vacuum all carpets and interior
3)Spray carpet cleaner on the mats and scrub with stiff brush
4)Detail leather/seats with conditioner
5)Armorall all interior vinyl
6)Wash exterior with 2 bucket process
7)Clean Wheels with wheel cleaners and soap and water
8)Dry Car
9)Clay Car
10)Polish with Synthetic Polish (By hand)
11)Buff out polish
12)Apply Syntheic Wax
13)Buff off wax
14)Go over entire car with Quick Detailer to remove any excess wax
15)Quick Detail all door jambs and misc areas
16)Clean Glass
17)Apply Tire Gloss
17)Spray incents to make car smell nice
18)Disposal of all of the random garbage found in the car

Everything is done by hand, I usually use Turtle Wax Ice Polish and Black Magic Wax. I have found out reciently that the Black Magic wax has cleaners in it so I can probably skip the polish step.

What would you charge / be willing to pay for this service?

Thanks

 

to be honest, $100 is all that's worth to me.

And if you told me the products you were using, i wouldn't even ask you. I don't mean any offense, but when you plan on working on others' cars, the turtle wax and black magic stuff is generally shunned. No detailers in the world like those products!

If you'd like to make money, I'd keep myself between neighbors and friends for you. They'll think you're doing an amazing job. The second you run into a lazy pro or even semi pro detailer, he'll immediately dismiss your products and take his or her business elsewhere.

 

I agree with you that the products I use are not the best, but I am also working on cars that have been neglected for some 5 odd years. Many of these people want a wax that is going to last 6 -12 months and dont want to think about there car untill then. I personally frown on that attidue and use poorboys wax every 2-3 months on my car with FMJ sealant and take amazing care of it.

I find that the people who I am detailing for just want their car to look clean inside and out. I have seen a few of the jobs dealers have done that cost about $200 and the only difference I really see is that they have a carpet shampooer. But they do buzz the car out in very little time, so I can not imagine they machine polish the whole car, but I could be wrong and they could just be very good at it.

All said and done it takes me about 6 hours from start to finish for a regular sedan sized car.

How much does it cost to get a car done with professional grade products from a pro detailer?

I appriciate the advice, I am just trying to get a prospective of things and prices

Thanks

 

There are a ton of variables in regards to price. Things like location, vehicle size, correction, and products used can vary the price greatly.

 

i own my own detail business in baltimore, and i generally start at $100. my detail is a bit more involved than what you describe, however most cars i encounter do no not get a polish step beyond the clay bar. some don't get that if it is not needed. make $100 your base price for clean sedans and small cars like the Z. add to the price according to the extra work required for each job.

feel free to pm me with any specific questions. i am a mobile detailer, and i work out of my titan. start by finding a good product line that you can buy by the gallon. auto-magic is great as well as production. i use some of both. my equipment list is as follows: honda generator, shop vac, 60 gallon water tank, pressure washer, carpet spotter
(not that important at first), orbital buffer, and a variable speed dewalt buffer. good luck. let me know if i can help you further.

 

I think you know that there is no way a wax is going to go past 2 and a half months. Not even the best sealant in the world can last a year.

Detailing isn't about the wash or the clay job. It's barely about the sealant and wax too. Detailing is ALL about polishing. Machine polishing beats hand polishing easily because it's way more powerful. I think you know this as well, and the main point between you being able to charge 100 and them being able to charge 200 is that they can do paint correction and you can't. The best you can do is try to fill imperfections. Every detail job ranging from 200-12000 depends on the polish job. What you are really paying for is the detailer's skill with the polisher.

 

a hand detail...about 20 bucks.

for what you listed, you are making it seem you are doing more. I rather spend 100 for a professional detail since their going rates are 100-180. Some of your steps are just things that has to be done like drying the car or buffing off wax. Plus you are using over the counter products.

 

Not sure. What is your time worth? $5/hour? $20/hour?

 

You charge enough to make it worth your time and resources, and still do the quality job you would want done with the products you have. The market will tell you if your price is right.

 

Thanks for the advice guys, it's much appreciated. I am not so much into making big bucks detailing, as much as helping my neighbors out and making a few bucks on the side.

I put together a spreadsheet for myself and found that I would have to charge about $125 to make approximately $12/hour.

My neighbors don't all that much care about paint correction, they really want their cars clean on the inside, because it kills me to say... and see it after I detail the car, but they only wash it once in a blue moon.

I am more of a garbage man in some cases. The crap I find in these cars is ridiculous, and I probably spend more time vacuuming and scrubbing than on the exterior.

Also the hand polish seems to take forever and I think I have thrown my shoulder out. I think its time to move up to Menzerna products and a PC

Does anyone know how much a good rug shampooer is? and where to get one? I figure if I spend some money and get a shampooer and a PC it will cut down some time and physical ware on my body

Thanks

 

i use a pretty nice rug steamer/extractor. Cost me 3500 though but trust me when i say it works great. You need heated water and solution to take out nasty staining in the seats and carpets. I also use an air compressor and a air blow gun to make sure i blow out EVERYTHING in the car. You would be surprised when you think you did a good job vacuuming then using an air gun to show a lot more stuff. Air gun is a must when detailing semi professionally.

you can look on ebay for a rug extractor.

 

You hit the nail on the head, thats what I am looking for, but $3,500 is out of my price range for the amount of work I am doing. I just wouldn't be able to make up for it unless I started detailing a lot more cars then I am currently.

Is there anything for a few hundred bucks that does a decient job? I understand it won't be grade A quality, but enough to make it look nice. I am amazed at the time and effort you put into your car Superblack. Have you thought about opening some sort of detailing school, or starting your own store. I have a hunch you would be pretty good at it.

 

thanks lento. I'm actually a detailer right now currently. I'll make some videos of me using the extractor once i get a really bad car in.

for a couple of hundreds, you can check out Bissels "the mean green cleaning machine". They sell it at walmart. Its about 125 and can do lighter jobs. Just make sure you pour in hot water in there.

For floor mats especially if it's tan or lighter colors, spray on degreaser and power wash it outside of the vehicle. THis will make them brand new again.

 

Cool, thanks

Let me know if you post those videos, Im sure they would be a huge help to everyone on this site.

 

A friend of my son washes/polishes my beaZt for $35; then sprays the tires
shiny. I take care of the rest. I'm running low on elbow grease at 59!

 

Lol nice. I gotta have me some kids sometime. Its like having a personal slave labor force

I hope you let him drive the car in addition to the $5/hr

It makes sense though when you don't have to pay for the water and supplies electricity and stuff. Thats what nails me. A lot of people just think I wash and wax the car, but there is so much more to it, and for me at least its very time consuming.

My dad makes me wash his car and doesn't pay me anything. He just threatens me with a backhand :0

 

This guy knows his stuff...check out his detailing thread when you get a chance. Thanks again for helping me with my question.