$100 bucks for detailing

[IROCTPI]

Met an guy with an new camaro the other day, an imperial blue LS. I talked to him about detailing it and he offered me $100 bucks for exterior wash/engine bay, interior clean, and wax. Im getting an good deal RIGHT? And trust me i know how to detail, im not an idiot and both my cars mint paint wise and iv detailed others vehicles before to. So basically this is an good price, correct? (i plan on doing the waxing by hand.)

[jackka]

($100 - cost of material) / (hours of work) = your hourly rate

so if it costs you 20 bucks and takes you 8 hours, you'd be making 10 dollars an hour.

if it costs you 10 bucks and takes you 4 hours, you'd be making $25 an hour.


if you are not claying and machine polishing/waxing, it shouldn't take too long, so $100 sounds pretty good.

sounds more like a quick wash/wax than a 'real' detailing job.

[IROCTPI]

ya, i dont belive the guy is really looking for an DEEP DOWN cleaning, just something to spice of the look of the car pretty much. When he calls me i'll see if he wants claying, polishing, etc. If so i'll have to go out an buy an buffer, which i need anyhow. But if he does want claying and polishing how much should i increase the price to? $175?

[CamaroDreams07]

Originally Posted by IROCTPI

ya, i dont belive the guy is really looking for an DEEP DOWN cleaning, just something to spice of the look of the car pretty much. When he calls me i'll see if he wants claying, polishing, etc. If so i'll have to go out an buy an buffer, which i need anyhow. But if he does want claying and polishing how much should i increase the price to? $175?

Clay and buffer easily triple your work time. What you feel comfortable working for is up to you.

[rydahog]

$185..If you know your stuff and are confident you won't mess his car up...$185.

[Rogue Leader]

I pay $180 to a guy who spends about 3 hours on my car with a wash, claybar, machine polish, and wax, plus clean the interior.

Normally I do it myself but once a year I get this done.

[CamaroDreams07]

Originally Posted by Rogue Leader

I pay $180 to a guy who spends about 3 hours on my car with a wash, claybar, machine polish, and wax, plus clean the interior.

Normally I do it myself but once a year I get this done.

He does all that in three hours? It takes me that long to clay a customer's car sometimes.

[MuttGrunt]

^ exactly. To do thing right takes time and there's no way around it. Skipping steps / doing things quickly is usually the problem with most "detailing" places with the number one issue being not taking proper safety precautions. There's noway you can properly machine polish a car in three hours let alone add in a wash, claying, and wax as well.

To the OP: you get what you can. What's your time worth?

[DetailAddict]

for $100, i can only do quick polish and machine wax, no int...

[FloydSummerOf68]

For $100 I wash, AIO Machine Polish, detail spray wipedown and just BASIC interior to clean it up real quick.

$100 for what you're doing isn't bad.

If you get into claybarring and machine polishing $185 wouldn't be bad for a single stage polish, but more if you're doing multiple polishing steps to refine the finish down.

[Rogue Leader]

Originally Posted by CamaroDreams07

He does all that in three hours? It takes me that long to clay a customer's car sometimes.

Originally Posted by MuttGrunt

^ exactly. To do thing right takes time and there's no way around it. Skipping steps / doing things quickly is usually the problem with most "detailing" places with the number one issue being not taking proper safety precautions. There's noway you can properly machine polish a car in three hours let alone add in a wash, claying, and wax as well.

To the OP: you get what you can. What's your time worth?

It may have been a little longer than 3 hours (they do it for me at my firehouse, so I just park the car inside and let them have at it while I go play video games or something, lose track of time I guess), and its actually the guy and his brother together, so 2 people makes it faster as well.