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hmm someone has asked me to detail there car and pay me..

3K views 28 replies 19 participants last post by  AaronMc 
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#1 ·
ive been into detailing for a couple of years, got a fair amount of gear and paint reader etc. Ive done friends, neighbours etc and a couple of guys from detailing forum.

I did a neighbours range rover last year and it came out really well, His inlaws have just bought a sport, few years old, want me to detail it, flattered obviously but hes already told them that i use the best stuff plus i will need it for the whole of the weekend.

I was thinking of £150.00 for weekends worth of work and it will be back breaking as there big old cars. My missus thinks i'm mad for £150.00 for weekends worth of work....

£150.00 seems like a bargain in my eyes but if they went to pro then there looking at least £500 to be done properly.

what do you think, would you let some detail your car for £150.00 when you have seen previous work.
 
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#4 ·
cheers both for the nice comments, asking for money was never my strong point lol, i don't know why as i know exactly how much it costs from the pros but i dont want to go silly with the money or come over all greedy as they are people that are not into detailing there cars there just want the motor looking good. I'll add the materials up i think and go from there, on everyone elses car i just use my own stuff, but a range rover will seriously dent that !
 
#5 ·
Rob I would get the boat over and happily pay you £150 for you to do my car!! Absolute bargain given the attention to detail you put into your work. I definitely think you have underquoted your services though.

Sent from my ST18i using Tapatalk 2
 
#10 ·
Agreed. Bit generous on a Range too. Effectively, 2 x 8 hour days at £10p/h not factoring in products used.

Wash / Dry
Machine Polish / Correction / Clay Bar
Wash / Dry
Seal
Wax
Wheel seal?
Glass seal?
Interior?
 
#11 ·
When me and my mate started out we charged 100 pound per detail but people were that impressed they payed a bit more, we used to do the full works on them and took like 2 days to do but we weren't making much money on them by the time you take electric bills off and products used

All about starting off cheap then word gets round then you can charge a lot more, a lot will say its expensive but valeting and detailing are two completely different things

Charge about 10 pound per hour for labour the average time is about 15 - 20 hours to fully do a car I'd say so well worth it, also tell them to provide their own wax so you can wax it then obviously give it back to them and tell then to top it up every month
 
#12 · (Edited by Moderator)
sounds like your robbing yourself rob !
 
#13 ·
I would say if its a mate then just cover you're costs , I am doing a golf tdi over 2 x days for 50 to 70 quid,

But if its not a close mate 200 ish as its you're free time you are wasting, as said before a pro would charge 400 quid plus

That's what I would do :)

Hope this helps

Sent from my iPhone 9 in a Time Machine
 
#14 ·
200 easily if it was full clean inside and out with a polish, wax, clay, seal and ect.
 
#15 ·
I'd charge £250-275 being its a large motor... You will use a fair bit of product
this reminds me i got buy a new polisher

Sent from my blower by a cat
 
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#16 ·
cheers all, seems i was way off. I hate dealing with money and as my missus said someone will probably go out there charge them £300 and it will look all glossy and they will be over the moon, but you will probably do it, not be 100% with it and and be out there at 10pm at night still doing it lol. shes got a point i probably would.

ive done a bit of googling and seeing some pros websites, damn they charge quite a bit for a days detailing, £500 plus, one company wanted £795!! which seems a bit crazy, although i suppose not for a 100k car.

OK well as much as i could do with the money right now , i'll sort of pitch myself at the £250.00 mark and see what they say, i'll do the full works in and out and probably can get the engine bay looking tidy for that aswell, time allowing and i havent see the RR yet but they have apparently paid some money for it..
 
#17 ·
Is it definitely a full detail they are after? If they don't know much about cars they may not know the difference between a Valet and a Detail maybe give them an option for either choice explaining what is evolved.
 
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#20 ·
lol, an probably a dead r3oc member!!

seriously if anyone is local (or even if there not) and want to correct there car, i've offered to members on here before to come round and we will set the car up at my house and do it.
 
#23 ·
Very cheap mate!

I'm the same as you do it as a hobby and have a lot of people ask me to do there's.

But even my cousin is paying me £200 to do his Volvo C70 so for a range rover should be alot more!

I would love to start my own business doing it, I enjoy it more than my job!
 
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#26 ·
yeah it is a hobby, much to the amusement of my boss at work and he said you clean cars at the weekend!!! just dont get it..... I would love to start up on my own even if it wasnt full time but as you say the majority of people really wont get the money. I work in an office and i do enjoy my job but i do something that really had no end result well it does but you dont get to see it. With this sort of thing you take some shabby paintwork and turn it into a work of art.....
 
#24 ·
robp said:
lol, an probably a dead r3oc member!!

seriously if anyone is local (or even if there not) and want to correct there car, i've offered to members on here before to come round and we will set the car up at my house and do it.
Where do you live mate? Would definitely say £250-£300 for 2 days on such a big car. That's a lot of work mate and products aren't cheap!
 
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#27 ·
live is essex. Yeah its nota standard car by any means, i remember the previosu one and the side of the door was about as mcuh paintwork that i have on the one sid eof the golf and realised it was going to be a long day!!
 
#25 ·
My colleagues were impressed with my work, started thinking about dong theirs to pay for my products. That was before I spent 14 hours doing my own car (by hand) and realised they would never want to part with the sort of money it actually cost me in time and products.

My car detailing business was over, that said they dont drive Rangies! I was looking at doing an RX-8 and a Nissan 370.

We all love your work mate and you've got some kit to make it less of a chore, but realistically, £150 is not enough so I agree with the rest of the posters. If they want it done and they too have nice motors, they need to part with a few more readies!
 
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#28 ·
ta mate, yeah ive got tons of products that havent really been used, have that habit of buying the next big thing or new thing and well it doesnt give me anymore than what i had lol i'm learning.... i've text the guy atnd said £250.00 and explained the reason why, i basically done his car for free, well we went for a beer or two and i suppose his missus might ask why the difference, but he helped me aswell, clean wheels, trim, arches, and interior which left me to concentrate on the paintwork.
 
#29 ·
Thats it, for me its just such a satisfying thing to do, love turning things around!

I enjoy working on VW's as my job, but it just becomes a bit predicatable, you start to know what your doing, what to look for and it all becomes a routine. Car detailing is different everytime, and the reactions from the people you do it for is worth it alone.
 
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