Cost of products per car

[dano126]

Has anyone sat down and figured out how much the average detail costs in products used ? An educated guess for me is around $38.00. Am I low or high ?

[Billy Baldone]

I'm curious exactly how you came up with that dollar figure

[Hoytman]

Interesting question.

Here's another question.

Has anyone considered charging strictly by the surface area per vehicle? Rather than simply saying cars this much, SUV's this much, and trucks this much, RV's this much...each category having great variances in size.

I know some charge per linear foot on boats. There again with boats length isn't the only consideration. When you get above 25' in length, and especially above 30', the sides heights of boats can go from 3' sides to well above 7' sides and higher for those 40' and longer.

I'd like to see some comments considering the above aspects of very large projects...from those with experience. Perhaps in these conditions a better way to price the job would be by the hour.

[frankprozzoly]

$38 seems extremely high just for one car

[dano126]

I took all my products, estimated how much I use on an average car then multiplied buy cost per ounce.

[Hoytman]

You can't just figure cost per ounce. What about wear and tear on or replacement of pads, wear on your machines, towels, washing those towels or replacing them, etc. There's a lot to consider and much more than I've mentioned. Insurance...the list goes on.

[Audios S6]

Seems high, but if you include pad degradation (highly variable, but I used $1-$2 per pad per car), equipment wear (highly variable), trip charges, lunch, a lot of tape, towel degradation (highly variable). I could see you getting to $40 on a two step correction where you are working on the car for 10+ hours.

Wetsanding, chip repair and the like do take a lot of one time use materials.

[dano126]

Thanks, great responses. Back to the calculator and pencil.

[SameGuy]

I think the total package price has more to do with steps and amount of work, but even the true cost of product can be accounted for, also based on steps.

I've done rough calculations in the past (really more out of curiosity than for operations), and a simple wash/dry/dress costs about $3 in product (Meguiars Detailers line). Add two bucks for Iron-X. A dollar if I use D151. Two dollars per step for Meg's DAMF products (D300/301) and maybe 50 cents to two dollars of sealant or wax. Costs go up incrementally depending on the job required, if I resort to Menzerna products, etc. Also don't forget APC, window cleaner if used, and of course any clean-up products used (pad cleaner, Micro Restore, etc.).

When all is said and done, it's still safest to find and charge a fixed price (per level of service) with which you are comfortable, with enough room built-in to cover product overages and contingencies. If my total cost for products, water and electricity came out to $38 for ten hours of work including staging and cleanup, I wouldn't charge anything less than $300 for the job. Even though I'm a sideliner, I know my time is worth at least $25 an hour for the work I do. I know there are pros who don't work for less than $50 an hour, but my costs are certainly lower than those of a pro running a shop and marketing a business.

[LSNAutoDetailing]

I'd say it depends on the condition of the car. Obviously the guy who never drives his lambo but wants paint correction and a coating, cost mostly is man-hours, pads, MF towel (laundry- don't forget that!) and the coating costs.

If the car is in bad shape, iron-x is $1.10 per ounce, you may use all 32 ounces... The car may be covered in tar and dead bugs. It's not uncommon that I use an entire can of Tarminator on a car... That's 8.00.
Now add pads, pad cleaner, conditioner, APC, leather cleaner & conditioner, glass cleaner, electricity to run extractor, steamer, air compressor, and all the other things.

It adds up! I don't think the guesstimate of $38 is too far off.

[LSNAutoDetailing]

ps, my general rate is $45 per hr
Location will dictate that as well and will vary state to state.