How to price auto detailing jobs by vehicle size, condition and the clock

Detailing customers shop by package name and vehicle size, so many detailers publish a grid: sedan, SUV, truck, then maintenance, interior, exterior and full. The grid is a sales tool. The price inside each cell has to come from how long that package really takes on that size of vehicle, what it uses up, and what it costs to run your rig for those hours. A grid copied from a competitor loses money the first time a minivan full of sand and dog hair books at the sedan price. This guide builds each cell from your own logs, shows how condition fees and maintenance prices fall out of the same math, and covers the costs mobile detailers forget. The cost-per-hour groundwork is in how to price service jobs.

What sets the price of a detail?

• Vehicle size class. Sedans and coupes, crossovers and compact SUVs, three-row SUVs and minivans, full-size pickups and vans. A third row of seats and a deep cargo area add interior time that the exterior size alone hides.
• Package. Maintenance wash, interior, exterior, full. Each one needs a written list of exactly what it includes, so the time behind it stays stable.
• Condition. Pet hair, sand, heavy stains, smoke or other odors, mold and biohazards. Grade each one (light, moderate, heavy) on the booking form and price the grade.
• Paint condition. For correction, the number of polishing steps the paint needs, decided from a test spot on that car.
• Coatings. Surface area, prep work, the product and its cure requirements.
• Add-ons. Headlight restoration, engine bay, trim restoration, water spot removal, glass treatment, each priced per item.
• Fleet and multi-car stops. Per vehicle at one location, where setup is shared.

How do you time packages and condition work?

Log every job in three pieces: setup, the package work, and pack-up. Setup on a mobile rig is fixed time at each address: positioning the van, laying the containment mat, running water and power, setting a canopy if the sun or weather calls for it. Pack-up mirrors it. The package work is the part that changes with vehicle size.

Build a time standard for each package on each size class from your own jobs. Keep condition time on separate lines, so you can see that a large SUV interior took its usual time plus a measured stretch for pet hair. After enough logged jobs, you will know what light, moderate and heavy pet hair cost you on each size, and the condition fee writes itself.

Correction is estimated differently. Polish one test section, time it, and check the result. Then scale that time up to the car's total panel area, and multiply by the number of steps the test showed the paint needs. Paint hardness and defect depth differ from one manufacturer and one car to the next, which is why a correction price copied from a photo is a guess.

Weather changes the rate too. Direct sun dries product on the paint, wind blows dust onto wet panels, and cold slows drying and curing. Note the conditions in your log, so a slow job on a hot afternoon does not get mistaken for your normal pace.

Worked example: a full detail and a maintenance plan on one SUV

All figures in this table are hypothetical and are used only to show the arithmetic. The times, wage, overhead, product costs and margin are not industry averages or local prices. The job is a full detail on a three-row SUV with heavy pet hair, and then a maintenance wash on the same SUV every two weeks.

Two points from the table. The pet hair fee is a calculation, so you can publish it as its own line and explain it in one sentence when a customer asks. And the maintenance price comes from the time a kept-up car takes, which is why plans can cost less per visit and still earn the same 30% margin as the full detail. The hourly rate calculator works out your labor and overhead rates, and the job price calculator turns hours, products and margin into a price for any cell in your grid.

Products, pads and coating costs

Work out product cost per vehicle from what you actually use. Divide the cost of a gallon of shampoo, interior cleaner, iron remover or dressing by the number of vehicles of a given size it covers in your logs. Microfiber towels, polishing pads, brushes and clay wear out on a schedule, so count their replacement cost per job too. Totals per package are usually small, but they are never zero, and a full detail on a large vehicle uses noticeably more than a sedan maintenance wash.

Coatings change the balance. The product, the panel prep and any installer training or registration the coating brand asks for can make materials a large share of the job. Enter them at your cost and let the margin formula carry them. A markup on product that feels generous can still leave the job below your target margin once you convert it.

Sales tax is a separate question from price. Whether detailing services are taxable depends on your state, and sometimes on how the invoice separates labor from products. Read our guide to sales tax on services, check with your state's revenue department, and add any tax on top of the price instead of inside your margin. Nothing here is tax or legal advice for your state.

Maintenance plans, route days and travel

Maintenance plans are where a mobile detailing business gets steady. A car washed on a fixed cycle of a few weeks stays easy to clean, so each visit takes less time, and you know weeks ahead where the van will be. Price each plan interval from logged time on the second and third visits, since the first visit after signup often looks more like a full detail. Write a condition standard into the plan: if a plan car shows up with a beach trip's worth of sand, the condition fee applies that visit.

Plan prices only hold if the van spends its day detailing. Your overhead rate assumes a certain number of billable hours each week, and every minute between driveways cuts into them. Assign neighborhoods to days, offer plan customers set day windows, and look for multi-car stops: two cars at one house, or several at an office park where the employer has approved it. Each extra car at a stop skips setup and the drive, which is margin you keep or a discount you can offer on purpose.

For addresses outside your core area, add a travel line: the extra drive hours at your labor and overhead rates, plus the vehicle's cost per mile. The business standard mileage rate the IRS publishes (72.5 cents a mile for the first half of 2026, raised to 76 cents from July 1, 2026) is a reasonable outside check on your per-mile figure, though a van hauling a full water tank and a generator may cost more to run. Track your own fuel and maintenance per mile and use the higher number. Setup for monthly billing and card on file is covered in card on file and autopay.

Water, runoff and site costs

Containing wash water takes equipment and time, and both belong in the price. Some cities spell out the requirement. A City of San Diego car washing fact sheet, archived on an EPA site for stormwater outreach, says that auto detailers and other businesses washing vehicles for commercial purposes must "control, contain and capture the wash water" so that none of it runs off the property or into a storm drain, and it calls failing to do so illegal. Where a rule like that applies, laying the mat, pumping the reclaim and emptying it only where your sewer utility allows are part of every exterior job. Rinseless and waterless methods change the time and products for maintenance work, so log them as their own standards. Check your own city's rules, since they vary.

Site access also costs time. Gated communities, parking garages with low clearance, office parks that need a certificate of insurance, and apartment lots where washing is not allowed all add calls, paperwork or a move to another spot. Ask at booking and price the extra time instead of absorbing it.

Quote from photos or inspect the car first?

Package prices for maintenance, interior, exterior and full details can be booked online, if the booking form asks for the vehicle, the package and photos of the interior. The photos let you grade condition before you drive there and quote the condition fee in writing. Confirm it during the walkaround, before you start, and photograph any chips, scratches, wheel rash or interior wear that was there before you arrived.

Correction and coatings need an in-person look in good light, ideally with a test spot. Photos hide swirl depth and hide prior repaint work. Quote these jobs after the inspection, and say in the quote what level of defect removal the price covers.

Re-dos, coating follow-ups and damage claims

A missed spot on a lower panel, streaks on the inside of the windshield, or an odor that returns after a hot day can mean a trip back. Each return costs setup and drive time for a small amount of work. Track re-dos, total them yearly, and spread the cost over your jobs as a reserve, as the example does.

If your coating package includes follow-up inspections or maintenance washes, those visits are labor you owe later. Count them in the coating price now. Damage to a customer's vehicle is the larger risk: a scratched panel, a stained headliner, a scraped wheel. Ask your insurance agent exactly how vehicles in your care are covered and what the deductible is, because the deductible comes out of your margin. Our guide to warranty policies helps you write the re-do promise clearly.

Detailing pricing mistakes

• One price for every SUV. A compact crossover and a three-row SUV are different jobs.
• Condition fees decided on the spot. Grade condition from photos and use fees built from logged time.
• Correction priced from a picture. Do a test spot first.
• Plan prices with no condition standard. One neglected car at the plan price can erase the margin from several easy visits.
• Free travel to the edge of the map. Drive time is unbilled time, and it is paid out of every other job.
• Coating follow-ups left out. Promised visits are future labor that the original price has to cover.

Plans, vehicle records and condition photos are easier to keep straight in one system. Route schedules, notes and photos for each car, and the card on file all sit together in the custom CRM behind our own service companies. How we set up websites and phones for detailers is on the auto detailing page, and building the rig and the business from scratch is covered in how to start a mobile detailing business. Plan billing options are compared in recurring service billing.

Frequently asked questions