Survey: detailing estimates from 47 shops.

Is your pricing competitive?

This might be the toughest decision an auto detailer makes. Price yourself low and you’ll be busy…but will you make money? Set your prices high, and you’ll make a healthy profit on each car, but just how many cars will you service?

We emailed 47 detailers for quotes. The Results:

Highest quote received: $399.
Lowest: $100.
Average time of service: 4.1 hours.

Longest estimate: 7 hours.
Shortest: 2 hours.
Average response time: 86 minutes

Longest time to respond: 10 hours.
Shortest: 10 minutes.

56% of shops didn’t respond at all.
This was alarming. We were expecting roughly a 25% non-response rate. Good news for the “good shops”: half your competitors are lazy.

What it means to you: 2 lessons.

Price matters: don’t be the high bid, and don’t be the low bid.
Imagine yourself as the customer. A bid of $399 is so far from average that it gets tossed. But with an average quote of $215, $100 is suspiciously low. And you would be right to question that quote: it can’t possibly be a thorough service. You're going to choose the bids near the middle, read online reviews, and probably call 2 shops before you finalizes an appointment. A few times a year, check in on your competitors’ pricing to be sure you’re where the customers are: the “middle” of the market.

Respond to every email within 3 hours: no exceptions.
Let’s face it…a lot of emails are tire kickers. When I ran Ace Car Reconditioning, only 20-30% of them became customers. But not responding is unacceptable. And responding late–anything past 3 hours–says to the customer “you’re not important to us.” Think of the last time you needed a plumber, electrician, or accountant. Did you hire the late responder? Be sure that all emails reach your cell phone. Check every 2 hours. Every email gets a response, every time.

Certainly, you work mostly off referrals, and may think these email estimates don't matter to you. But the trend in the services trade is:

1. Research online.
2. Email for quotes.
3. Check reviews.
4. Call favorite business to book appointment.

Respond quickly, price yourself right, and you'll be attractive to the modern detail shopper.

See the data and survey methods.
The full article:
[appliedcolors.com]

GTR :
When someone asks for a quote without giving you a chance to present your program to him, it does not pay to respond with a price . If you state a price, you validate his notion that detailing services are similar, with price being the important variable .
Always insist on examining the vehicle to determine its needs before quoting a final price.

If you still wish to quote prices, consider having a " loss leader " detail to quote . Example : " Our base detail is only $ 99 but that only includes a wash, wax and vacuuming the carpets. The prices are higher if you want wheel cleaning, bug and tar removal, carpet shampooing, interior vinyl and leather cleaning / conditioning, polymer sealant....stuff like that ... ".

Doug

Doug:

" Our base detail is only $ 99 but that only includes a wash, wax and vacuuming the carpets. The prices are higher if you want wheel cleaning, bug and tar removal, carpet shampooing, interior vinyl and leather cleaning / conditioning, polymer sealant....stuff like that ... "

That is the best adivise I have read in a long time. I have no idea why I had not thought of it before....