Start with the hours you can actually sell
The biggest pricing mistake is counting only the time spent polishing the car. A mobile job occupies far more of your day than that. There is the drive to the address, unloading and setting up, the clean-down at the end, the drive to the next job, and usually a gap you leave so you are never late.
Add those up and the time a job blocks in your diary can be well over the time you spend working on the car. Price the blocked time, not the working time. A job that takes 90 minutes of work, 30 minutes of travel each way and 15 minutes of buffer blocks your diary for roughly two and a half hours.
- Working time. The hands-on time for the service, honestly measured on a typical car.
- Travel. Time to the job and time on to the next one, which is part of the cost of that booking.
- Setup and finish. Unloading, water and power, packing away, and a last look with the customer.
- Buffer. A margin so one slow job does not make every later customer wait.
A simple formula you can use today
Once you know the blocked time for a service, the price is the time multiplied by the rate you need to earn per blocked hour, plus the materials that job uses.
Price = (blocked hours × your hourly target) + products and consumables for the job
Here is a worked example with made-up numbers. Replace them with your own. Suppose an express wash blocks 90 minutes in total, and you need to earn £40 for every blocked hour to cover your wage, the van, insurance, tax and slow weeks. That is £60 for the time. If the products for that wash cost £5, the price comes to £65.
Now compare that with what you were charging. If you were charging £45 because a competitor does, you were working for roughly two thirds of what you needed. The formula does not tell you what the market will pay. It tells you the floor below which you are losing money.
To find your hourly target, work backwards. Take the annual income you need, add your running costs, such as fuel, products, insurance, vehicle costs, phone and software, and a margin for tax. Divide that by the number of hours you can sell in a year. Be conservative: weather, holidays, quiet weeks and admin all reduce the number. If you are unsure about tax or insurance, ask an accountant. This guide is about pricing, not financial advice.
Turn the numbers into packages
Customers do not want a price built from your costs. They want a clear choice. Three packages is a good shape: a simple option, a standard option that most people pick, and a thorough option for the customer who wants the best result.
- Name them by the result, not the process. "Interior refresh" says more than "steam and vacuum package".
- Say what is included and what is not. A short list prevents the argument about whether a dirty engine bay was part of the price.
- Make the middle option the obvious one. Price it so the step up to the top option feels like a small extra for a large gain.
- Keep add-ons separate. Pet hair, headlight restoration or a ceramic top-up are easier to sell as extras than to bake into every price.
Handle vehicle sizes without confusing people
A hatchback and a large SUV do not take the same time or the same product. The simplest fix is to price by size in a way the customer can work out for themselves, such as small, medium and large, and to say which cars fall in each group with a couple of examples.
In DetailersEye, each service has one price, so you create a version for each size, for example "Full valet, small car" and "Full valet, large car". That keeps the booking page clear, and the deposit and duration are right for each one. Give each version its own realistic duration, because a larger vehicle really does block more of your day.
Price distance honestly
Travel is a cost whether or not you show it. Choose how far you will go and build normal travel into your prices. For anything beyond that, either add a clear extra charge or politely decline.
It helps to set a hard limit. If your furthest job is a 25-mile round trip, say so, and do not make exceptions that cost you a morning. DetailersEye lets you set a maximum travel radius, so the booking page will not accept an address outside it.
Show your prices, and take a deposit
Hiding your prices behind "message for a quote" creates work for you and friction for the customer. Publish your standard packages with a start price, and say that very dirty or very large vehicles may cost more.
Pair the price with a deposit so the booking means something. A deposit of 20 percent on a £65 job is £13, small enough to pay without thinking and large enough to make a customer turn up. The rest is paid on the day.
Prices start from the amount shown and cover a typical vehicle. Heavily soiled or very large vehicles may cost more, and I will always tell you before I start.
Keep your best customers with a plan, not a discount
Regular customers are the most profitable work you have, because there is no travel to a new area and no quote to give. Rewarding them with a lower price each time wears down your margin. A plan does it better. A monthly maintenance wash, paid in advance for a set number of visits, gives the customer a reason to stay and gives you income you can count on.
DetailersEye supports membership plans, with recurring payments through your own Stripe account and a limit on the visits included each period. The Free plan includes one plan with a small number of members, which is enough to try the idea.
Raising your prices without losing customers
Most detailers wait too long to raise prices, and then do it by a large amount out of frustration. Smaller, regular increases are easier on everyone. A good sign that you are overdue is a full diary with no pushback.
- Work out your new prices from the formula, using today's costs.
- Give existing customers a few weeks of notice by message, with the new price and the date.
- Keep it short. Do not apologise or explain at length.
- Expect to lose a few customers. Count the income from the ones you keep, not the ones you lose.
- Review again in twelve months.
Hi Sam, a quick note that from 1 January my full valet will be £95, up from £85, because my costs have gone up. Your booking on 15 December stays at the current price. Thanks for being a regular.
A one-page pricing checklist
- Measure the blocked time for each service, including travel, setup and buffer.
- Set an hourly target from your real income needs and your running costs.
- Calculate each price with the formula, then check it against the market, not the other way round.
- Group your services into three clear packages, and keep add-ons separate.
- Price vehicle sizes explicitly, with an honest duration for each.
- Set a maximum distance and build normal travel into your prices.
- Publish your prices and take a deposit at booking.
- Review your prices once a year, and raise them with notice.
How DetailersEye helps with pricing
DetailersEye does not set your prices for you, but it makes the numbers above easy to apply.
- Every service has a price, a duration and a buffer. The booking page only offers times that fit, including the buffer, so the blocked time you priced for is the time you protect.
- A deposit rule you choose, as a percentage or a fixed amount, paid by card at booking into your own Stripe account.
- A maximum travel radius, so you are never booked for a job too far away to be worth it.
- Descriptions for each service, so customers see what is included before they pay.
- Membership plans for the regulars you want to keep.
The Free plan covers booking and deposits, and the pricing page shows exactly what each plan includes.
Common questions
How do I work out my hourly rate as a mobile detailer?
Add up what you need to earn in a year, including your own wage, your costs and a margin for tax and slow weeks. Divide that by the number of hours you can realistically sell, not the hours you work. Travel, setup and gaps between jobs are hours you cannot sell, so the number you divide by is smaller than you think. The result is the rate to aim for on every hour of your diary that a job occupies.
Should I show my prices online?
Yes, for your standard packages. Customers who can see a price book faster and ask fewer questions, and you spend less time in message threads. For unusual jobs, show a starting price and say that heavy soiling or large vehicles may cost more. Publishing prices also filters out people who were only ever going to shop on price.
How much should I charge for travel?
Decide how far you will travel and build the usual travel time into your prices, so the cost is not a separate argument. For jobs beyond your normal area, add a clear extra charge or decline them. A maximum travel radius stops you accepting a job that costs more to reach than it earns.
How often should I raise my prices?
Review them at least once a year, and sooner if you are fully booked, if your costs have gone up or if customers never push back. Being fully booked with no pushback usually means you are too cheap. Give existing customers notice before a change, and keep the message short and confident.
Should I offer discounts to regular customers?
A discount for a commitment is fine. A discount because someone asked is a habit that is hard to stop. A monthly maintenance plan, paid in advance for a set number of visits, rewards loyalty and gives you predictable income in return.