You need to gauge the customers expectations. Ask them what bothers them most. For most women customers--not trying to be stereotypical though--but from experience--most women who aren't enthusiasts care much more that the interior is clean over the exterior. Heck my wife often asks me to vacuum her car and clean it, even though the exterior looks awful!

Then split up your time accordingly to do the job that you're hired to do. Spending a lot of time making the paint flawless but not getting the interior spotless and to the customers satisfaction won't win you any brownie points.

I had a customer once--who owned a beautiful Jag convertible. I polished that thing out flawlessly--it was a wreck. She had all kinds of issues. Her convertible top had red lint in it---from someone using a car duster! I got those all out. Her only comment 12 hours later was that I didn't vacuum out the ash trays and that the local car wash guys did a better job at cleaning the interior than I did. No comment about the outside at all.

Lesson learned.

I now ask the customer, Man or women----what bothers you most??--Then make sure to solve those issues--and then everything else is icing on the cake.

Richard

 

All good advice Richard. Most of my details are full in and out, so I never ask what they want, but if I hear "oh, there's some gum on thefloor mat, don't worry about it I'm going to order a new one" I'll do my best to make sure it's not there. I havne't heard anyone afterward say I missed something, but after hearing your jag story I'm going to make SURE I ask next time.

I only did a extreme detail on the outside of a soccer mom van once, and that was enough for me. Now, I use a one step polish that gets it to about 90% complete to the detailers eye, but the customer is still floored. On bad cars, it helps keep the cost down for them and I can focus on what they really want. On well kept cars, I have I'll do a two step polish, of whatever is neccessary because it will take that extra mile to impress.

I'm working on brouchures for this year that will have different stages of details, so they can get what they want/need, or just get a interior done if neccessary. I'm hoping it will bring more buisness and save me in the end doing something that will go unnoticed.

 

I too have been working on ways of offering less expensive "details". Although the majority of my customers have no problems about paying my flat fees, I have some ideas for bringing in other types of business.

One of them I'm calling, for now, the "You Buff" package which is aimed at enthusiasts who have PC's but want rotary work done and don't have the skill to use it, so they bring their cars prewashed, and clayed. I give them a roll of tape to prep it the way I want it, I perform the RB work on it-removing swirls, scratches, etc, they finish it with the PC. I charge by the hour my regular fee of $75/hr.

This way they can still have a flawless finish, at a lower price, and it minimizes my work as well. While I don't expect it to bring huge amounts of business, I think the enthusiast detailers may find it an appealing option.

Fortunately I don't work on Soccer Mom van's or Honda sedans etc. Other than MINIs, the majority of my cars are in the $60K to $130K price range--and the interiors are nearly always well taken care of.

There's quite a bit of work on the high end available in the SoCal area--and the nice thing is that each car has probably less work(mostly exterior) for more money with greater overall appreciation on the higher end.

I still spend 12 to 16 hours on a car though, lol. Since I charge a flat fee, it doesn't matter how long I work to the customer. I'm trying to get the best possible finish using the safest methods. One thing that I've started doing differently is putting more emphasis on why slower is better and how for the longevity of the paint why going at it hard and fast is only in the best interests of the detailer, and not the vehicle owner.

Richard

 

The best I had was a 50th anniversary T-brid, but it was still less that 30k.

I kind of have a flat rate now based one what it is, but it scares some people away thinking it's just a car wash for $150 to $300! Most don't understand what a full detail entails, or don't want it. Most of the time, I'm charging way under for what it takes.

I'm hoping the brochure will allow me to tell someone "well, I charge $xx an hour, here are my packages to choose from with time estimates, so you can choose what best suits your needs. Wash, wax, vacuum the inteior? done. Full out detail for a show? yep I do that. Just need it cleaned up for a hot date? sure! Just tell me what you are looking for an I can answer any questions you have. I can look at the car for you and recommend something for your needs if you like". It also opens the door for monthly maintenance plans lol.

I still trying to decide an hourly rate, because I don't want to lowball it too much that I'm wasting my time with unneeded full details, or go higher than local shops that charge a arm and a leg for a wash and wax. their rate for a "lifetime sealant" is a joke, in my opinion.

 

The reason people get scared away is that you're hitting the wrong market. If you're providing quality detailing services, you need to be charging those rates. It took a few years before people started realizing what I could for them.

When I get a call from a new customer, I always ask them how they heard about me. If they haven't seen my website, I'll tell them to go look at it so they can see the type of work I do as well as my rates. If they are still interested, they will call back and schedule a consultation. If it's more than they were expecting, then it's great, my site worked as the filter that it should.

I'd say 99% of my marketing is simply word of mouth from happy customers. I do a lot to make sure they stay happy including offering a solid guarantee on the work.

Once you start getting into higher end cars, word will spread. You still have to post your work on detailing enthusiast forums though--a lot of my customers come from or are referrals from Autopia. My two extreme details--the 68 Camaro and 65 Mustang were single stage jobs that have brought me the best publicity, and they were actually done mostly as favors, the Camaro belonged to a former architecture instructor of mine that I had recently connected at a Christmas party, and the Mustang belonged to a new neighbor that moved in next door to me. While I didn't make any money off those restorations, the results are amazing and gets people talking.

Your hourly rate should be as close to $50/hr as possible. For my long details, it usually works out to around $38 to $40/hr even though I'm charging a flat rate. But I've also given away plenty fo free work on things like fixing a birdpoo etching that took me 10 minutes or a wetsanding job gone bad--that wasn't my fault--but still gave it away for free because I felt bad for the customer.

Here in this market, mobile carwash/detailers guys go for between $125 to $300. If you want to compare your rates--find out how much the local hand car wash costs--you'll probably find that with a spray wax and dressings, it's close to $100 to $125. If that's the customer you're looking to get, then you will obviously tailor your rates for that, but giving them a complete detail is both bad business, bad for your reputation, and bad for the industry because you are telling customers that for the same amount of money as their local car wash, they can give a full complete buffing from a guy that charges $10/hr or less.

And that doesn't even consider that you might need a new pad or pads for the job ($20), chemicals, claybar($20), a roll of painters tape ($4), etc...you could be spending half of your money that you make on supplies for the job, bringing you down to $5/hr for the service you provide.

Figure out your expenses--gas, time, supplies, potential followup corrections, $$ for brochures (marketing)--and you'll know what your hourly rate should be.

Richard