Shout out to all you mobile guys

[UncleDavy]

Do you mobile guys have jobs that will take all day? I would imagine that a full detail inside and out with cleaning, leather treatments, hot water extraction, tire coating, paint correction and coating would take a full day even with 2 guys. Do you accept jobs like that and charge accordingly?

[sudsmobile]

All day? LOL Seriously, I've never run across anybody wanting to spend that kind of money, I wish. People will typically break those jobs up into smaller, more affordable chunks. My pricing for is set up to end up being $70-75/hour when there's two of us on the truck, when I'm by myself it works out to $50-55. For example, if we're there for four hours, the charge is going to be right around $300. There's SO MUCH competition here that if you price yourself any higher you won't book many jobs.

As an example, yesterday, we had two washes first thing in the morning (maintenance, every other Saturday). 1:45 and they paid $120 (they don't tip ever, they don't even talk to us. The cars are in the driveway, the keys are in them and a check is on the seat). Then we went and did a full exterior detail, spot cleaned a few interior stains and headlight restoration. The vehicle was a 2011 Cadillac SRX in pretty awesome shape. Total time was 2:30. She paid $225 with tip. Our last job was two mini details which is wash and wax on two Cadillac CT6s we regularly maintain with no set appointments. They paid $175 with tip. Time on that job ~2:15 but we spend a lot of time talking to the wife because she's super nice and pretty attractive. So $520 yesterday in 6:30 of working time, not including travel, works out to $80/hour which is right where I like to keep the truck rate after tips. Total travel time was probably 45 minutes as our first and last job were really close to home.

Those are typical of the jobs we get. Some people might say I'm a car washer, but my average ticket is a little north of $150. A lot of the guys I know in this business say they do 85% washes for under $50. I've had four tickets under $60 in the last two weeks, one was a paint transfer removal on a bumper that took me 20 minutes and I charge $50 minimum for getting a buffer out and touching your car with it, one was a $50 headlight restoration for a neighbor (I normally don't do HR ala carte. I offer it, but I usually sell it with some kind of wash service).

[sinister84]

Do you mobile guys have jobs that will take all day? I would imagine that a full detail inside and out with cleaning, leather treatments, hot water extraction, tire coating, paint correction and coating would take a full day even with 2 guys. Do you accept jobs like that and charge accordingly?

I only accept a mobile detail that could potentially run through to the next day, if the client is notified that it could take longer. If the client requires paint correction I recommend they bring it in. Most often, a mobile detail for me means 3-4 hours and usually consists of a complete interior and a basic wash. It also helps to have some extra stuff. For example, I keep and extra extension cord. One for mobile, one for stationary. This can save time on prep and cleanup. Just leave your extras in the work vehicle when applicable.

Sent from my PH-1 using Autogeekonline mobile app

[UncleDavy]

All day? LOL Seriously, I've never run across anybody wanting to spend that kind of money, I wish. People will typically break those jobs up into smaller, more affordable chunks. My pricing for is set up to end up being $70-75/hour when there's two of us on the truck, when I'm by myself it works out to $50-55. For example, if we're there for four hours, the charge is going to be right around $300. There's SO MUCH competition here that if you price yourself any higher you won't book many jobs.

As an example, yesterday, we had two washes first thing in the morning (maintenance, every other Saturday). 1:45 and they paid $120 (they don't tip ever, they don't even talk to us. The cars are in the driveway, the keys are in them and a check is on the seat). Then we went and did a full exterior detail, spot cleaned a few interior stains and headlight restoration. The vehicle was a 2011 Cadillac SRX in pretty awesome shape. Total time was 2:30. She paid $225 with tip. Our last job was two mini details which is wash and wax on two Cadillac CT6s we regularly maintain with no set appointments. They paid $175 with tip. Time on that job ~2:15 but we spend a lot of time talking to the wife because she's super nice and pretty attractive. So $520 yesterday in 6:30 of working time, not including travel, works out to $80/hour which is right where I like to keep the truck rate after tips. Total travel time was probably 45 minutes as our first and last job were really close to home.

Those are typical of the jobs we get. Some people might say I'm a car washer, but my average ticket is a little north of $150. A lot of the guys I know in this business say they do 85% washes for under $50. I've had four tickets under $60 in the last two weeks, one was a paint transfer removal on a bumper that took me 20 minutes and I charge $50 minimum for getting a buffer out and touching your car with it, one was a $50 headlight restoration for a neighbor (I normally don't do HR ala carte. I offer it, but I usually sell it with some kind of wash service).

That sounds like a perfect business model for a mobile guy. You can make more money by serving as many customers as you can in one day with your standard services. I was wondering if any of your clients request heavy paint correction with a nano coating. I know that a full compound, polish and coating is very time consuming.

[sudsmobile]

We tend to stick to one steps that may also require some minor heavier correction. We're not adverse to doing a two or three step, but for most people's daily driver, we're selling a job that's pretty good and very affordable. I did three one steps last week, this is one, I posted another one in the what did you do detail related thread.



I mean for most people, this is more than adequate. As for coatings, I've only done like five and I tend to reserve those for newer vehicles that need little to no correction. There's absolutely no shortage of brand new vehicles to work on, I don't feel like I need to chase coatings that are super time consuming. But, again, I'll do just about anything that somebody wants to pay for. This is a maintenance wash on a new X3 that we coated.

[sudsmobile]

BTW, that F-type was absolutely beat. The guy bought it at night, got it home and then saw it in the morning and was super disappointed at his purchase. It was swirled to hell and already oxidizing. Here was the test spot I did for him before he scheduled the appointment. Disregard the small amount of debris that my son didn't wipe off good before he took the pic. LOL

[UncleDavy]

BTW, that F-type was absolutely beat. The guy bought it at night, got it home and then saw it in the morning and was super disappointed at his purchase. It was swirled to hell and already oxidizing. Here was the test spot I did for him before he scheduled the appointment. Disregard the small amount of debris that my son didn't wipe off good before he took the pic. LOL

Was that test spot with just a polish and a white pad?

[sudsmobile]

HD Speed and a white Force Hybrid pad on a forced rotation DA.

[UncleDavy]

I had some business in Manhattan today and I saw this on 43rd Street. A mobile setup with two guys. One guy does the soaping and the other guy does the rinsing. The Chevy truck has a water tank and a generator.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk