Short answer
Price each detailing package from its hours: hours x loaded labour rate, plus products used, plus overhead per hour gives break-even; divide by (1 minus margin) for the price. With a $22 wage, 27% burden and $10.23 overhead an hour, a 4-hour full detail using $28 of product breaks even at $180.67 and sells for $301.12 at 40%.
- Package price = (hours x loaded rate + product cost + hours x overhead per hour) / (1 - margin).
- Worked full detail: 4 hours, $28 of product, break-even $180.67, price $301.12 at 40% margin.
- A 1.5-hour basic package with the same inputs prices at $108.75.
- Mobile travel: 30 minutes and 20 miles round trip adds $39.81 to the ticket.
- Adding 40% as a markup keeps only 28.57% and loses $48.18 per full detail.
On this page
- How do I price my detailing business?
- Mobile detailing pricing calculator: test your packages
- How much do auto detailers charge per hour?
- Worked example: pricing a full detail
- How to price detailing packages: basic, interior, full
- How much should I charge per mile for mobile detailing?
- The common mistake: markup instead of margin
- Detailing price sheet in Excel: formulas
- What to put on your detailing price sheet
- Spreadsheet, calculator or booking app?
- Step-by-step
- FAQ
How do I price my detailing business?
Price every package from the hours it takes, not from a competitor's menu. The number of hours is the one thing that changes between a quick wash and a full detail; your loaded rate, overhead and margin stay the same. Work out those three once, then every package is one line of arithmetic.
I'm not a detailer; I build pricing math. Every figure below shows its working, and every wage, product cost and time is an assumption: replace it with what you pay, what you use per car and how long your jobs really take.
- Loaded labour rate: wage x (1 + burden %). If you work alone, use the wage you would pay a detailer, so the price still works when you hire.
- Product cost per vehicle: chemicals, pads, towels written off, water and power if mobile.
- Overhead per sellable hour: insurance, the van or trailer, equipment payments, phone, booking software and marketing, divided by the hours you actually bill.
- Margin: the share of the price you keep after all costs.
Mobile detailing pricing calculator: test your packages
Type the hours for a package and your costs. Break-even shows first, then the price at your margin.
The free mobile detailing price calculator uses the same maths and shows what markup pricing would cost you over a year.
How much do auto detailers charge per hour?
Your hourly figure should be your cost per hour divided by (1 − margin). Start with cost.
A $22 wage at an assumed 27% burden is 22 x 1.27 = $27.94 an hour. Assume $18,000 a year of overhead for a one-person mobile operation. Billing 220 days of 8 hours gives 1,760 sellable hours, so overhead is 18,000 / 1,760 = $10.23 an hour. Together that is $38.17 of cost per hour before product. At a 40% margin the matching labour rate is 38.17 / 0.60 = $63.62 an hour, before products are added.
Check that 8 billed hours a day is real once you count driving, rain days and admin. If you bill 5, overhead per hour rises; the break-even guide shows how many jobs a month cover your fixed costs.
Worked example: pricing a full detail
A full detail on a sedan: an assumed 4 hours and $28 of product. Same wage, burden and overhead as above, priced at a 40% margin.
Worked example: Full detail, sedan, 4 hours, one detailer (all inputs are assumptions)
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Workers (input) | 1 |
| Hourly wage paid (input) | $22.00 |
| Labour burden % (input) | 27% |
| Materials (input) | $28.00 |
| Overhead for the year (input) | $18,000.00 |
| People in the field (input) | 1 |
| Billable days a year (input) | 220 |
| Target margin % (input) | 40% |
| Jobs a week (input) | 8 |
| Hours on the job (input) | 4 |
| Loaded labour rate (per hour) | $27.94 |
| Crew-hours | 4 |
| Labour cost | $111.76 |
| Overhead per sellable hour | $10.23 |
| Overhead share | $40.91 |
| Break-even cost | $180.67 |
| Price to quote | $301.12 |
| Profit on the job | $120.45 |
| Price if you MARK UP instead | $252.94 |
| Margin you actually keep with markup | 28.57% |
| Lost per job by marking up | $48.18 |
| Lost per year by marking up | $20,042.22 |
Computed with the same formulas as the free calculators on this site. Change any input in the calculator above to see your own numbers.
Labour $111.76 + product $28.00 + overhead $40.91 = break-even $180.67. Price: $180.67 / 0.60 = $301.12. The profit on the job is $120.45.
Larger vehicles simply take longer and use more product. Assume an SUV takes 5 hours and $34 of product: the same maths gives a break-even of $224.84 and a price of $374.73. That is your size upcharge, derived rather than guessed.
How to price detailing packages: basic, interior, full
Build each package from its own hours and product, then round to a clean menu price. Rounding up is fine; rounding down below the computed price gives away margin.
Worked example: Basic wash and interior tidy, 1.5 hours (assumptions)
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Workers (input) | 1 |
| Hourly wage paid (input) | $22.00 |
| Labour burden % (input) | 27% |
| Materials (input) | $8.00 |
| Overhead for the year (input) | $18,000.00 |
| People in the field (input) | 1 |
| Billable days a year (input) | 220 |
| Target margin % (input) | 40% |
| Jobs a week (input) | 8 |
| Hours on the job (input) | 1.5 |
| Loaded labour rate (per hour) | $27.94 |
| Crew-hours | 1.5 |
| Labour cost | $41.91 |
| Overhead per sellable hour | $10.23 |
| Overhead share | $15.34 |
| Break-even cost | $65.25 |
| Price to quote | $108.75 |
| Profit on the job | $43.50 |
| Price if you MARK UP instead | $91.35 |
| Margin you actually keep with markup | 28.57% |
| Lost per job by marking up | $17.40 |
| Lost per year by marking up | $7,238.50 |
Computed with the same formulas as the free calculators on this site. Change any input in the calculator above to see your own numbers.
| Package | Hours | Product | Break-even | Computed price at 40% | Menu price (rounded up) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic wash + interior tidy | 1.5 | $8 | $65.25 | $108.75 | $110 |
| Interior detail | 2.5 | $15 | $110.42 | $184.03 | $185 |
| Full detail, sedan | 4 | $28 | $180.67 | $301.12 | $305 |
| Full detail, SUV | 5 | $34 | $224.84 | $374.73 | $375 |
| Paint correction (machine polish) | 10 | $160 | $541.67 | $902.79 | $905 |
The last row answers “how much does it cost to have a car buffed”: price the polishing hours and pads the same way. Correction time varies widely with paint condition, so inspect before you quote it.
Try it with your numbers — free
The free calculator does this whole method in about a minute: loaded labour, overhead share, break-even and the price to quote at your margin. No signup, nothing to download, and your numbers stay in your browser.
Open the free calculator →Get the free spreadsheetWant it built around your own rates, services and branding? Done-for-you custom calculator ($497).
How much should I charge per mile for mobile detailing?
Charge for the drive time and the vehicle cost, priced on margin like any other hour. Per-mile on its own misses the time you are not detailing.
Vehicle cost per mile: assume fuel at $3.60 a gallon and 15 miles per gallon, which is $0.24 a mile (add wear and tyres if you track them, or use the IRS standard mileage rate for the current year as a stand-in). A 20-mile round trip is $4.80 of fuel and, assumed, 30 minutes of driving.
Worked example: Mobile travel surcharge: 30 minutes and 20 miles round trip (assumptions)
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Workers (input) | 1 |
| Hourly wage paid (input) | $22.00 |
| Labour burden % (input) | 27% |
| Materials (input) | $4.80 |
| Overhead for the year (input) | $18,000.00 |
| People in the field (input) | 1 |
| Billable days a year (input) | 220 |
| Target margin % (input) | 40% |
| Jobs a week (input) | 8 |
| Hours on the job (input) | 0.5 |
| Loaded labour rate (per hour) | $27.94 |
| Crew-hours | 0.5 |
| Labour cost | $13.97 |
| Overhead per sellable hour | $10.23 |
| Overhead share | $5.11 |
| Break-even cost | $23.88 |
| Price to quote | $39.81 |
| Profit on the job | $15.92 |
| Price if you MARK UP instead | $33.44 |
| Margin you actually keep with markup | 28.57% |
| Lost per job by marking up | $6.37 |
| Lost per year by marking up | $2,649.49 |
Computed with the same formulas as the free calculators on this site. Change any input in the calculator above to see your own numbers.
The travel cost breaks even at $23.88 and prices at $39.81, about $1.99 per round-trip mile. One way to handle it is a free zone with a surcharge beyond it: set the zone where travel is already covered by your overhead assumptions, and charge the computed surcharge outside it.
The common mistake: markup instead of margin
A 40% markup is not a 40% margin. On the full detail:
- Margin price: $180.67 / 0.60 = $301.12.
- Markup price: $180.67 x 1.40 = $252.94, which keeps only 28.57%.
- Lost per job: $48.18. At 8 full details a week for 52 weeks, $20,042.22 a year.
The other mistake is pricing labour at the bare wage. See the markup vs margin guide and the labor burden guide.
Detailing price sheet in Excel: formulas
Put your settings (wage, burden, overhead, billable days, margin) in one block and one package per row. Change a setting and the whole menu reprices.
Loaded labour rate
=$B$2*(1+$B$3)B2 = wage, B3 = burden % (27%).
Overhead per sellable hour
=$B$4/($B$5*$B$6*$B$7)B4 = yearly overhead, B5 = detailers, B6 = billable days, B7 = hours billed a day (8).
Package break-even
=B11*($B$8+$B$9)+C11Row 11: B11 = package hours, C11 = product cost; B8 = loaded rate, B9 = overhead per hour.
Menu price, rounded up to $5
=CEILING(D11/(1-$B$10),5)D11 = break-even, B10 = margin (40%).
Travel surcharge
=(B13*($B$8+$B$9)+C13*B14/B15)/(1-$B$10)B13 = drive hours, C13 = round-trip miles, B14 = fuel price per gallon, B15 = mpg.
Add a column for actual hours from your booking notes. If a package keeps running long, the fix is more hours in the row, not a smaller margin.
What to put on your detailing price sheet
A price sheet should let a customer pick a package without a phone call, and let you add the extras that change the hours. Everything that adds time gets its own line.
| Line | How to price it |
|---|---|
| Packages by vehicle size | Hours and product per size, priced on margin |
| Condition add-ons | Pet hair, heavy soil, sand: extra hours at the same rate |
| Extras | Engine bay, headlight restoration, odour treatment: hours plus product each |
| Travel | Free zone, then the computed surcharge |
| Terms | Deposit, cancellation window, water and power access for mobile jobs |
Price condition add-ons in half-hour steps. With this guide's inputs, half an hour of extra labour ($13.97) and overhead ($5.11) costs $19.08 before margin, which is $31.81 at 40%. That turns an argument about a dirty car into a line item.
Spreadsheet, calculator or booking app?
Use the free calculator to check one package, a spreadsheet to keep your whole menu, and a booking app if you need online scheduling, reminders and deposits. Jobber-type apps suit busy mobile operations; a sheet suits an owner who wants to see every formula.
- Free: the detailing pricing calculator and the free Job Pricing Starter for Excel or Google Sheets.
- Built for you: there is no ready-made detailing template in the shop. The done-for-you custom calculator is a $497 one-time build with your packages, product costs, travel zones and a branded quote page, in Excel and Google Sheets, with one round of revisions.
Step-by-step: How to Price Auto Detailing Services: Packages Built From Time and Product Cost
- Find your loaded labour rate. Wage x (1 + burden %). A $22 wage at 27% burden is $27.94 an hour.
- Find overhead per sellable hour. Yearly overhead / (detailers x billable days x hours billed a day). $18,000 over 1,760 hours is $10.23.
- Time each package. Record real hours and product used per package and vehicle size over a few weeks.
- Compute break-even per package. Hours x (loaded rate + overhead per hour) + product cost.
- Price on margin and round up. Divide break-even by (1 - margin), then round up to a clean menu price.
- Add a travel surcharge. Price drive time and fuel for trips beyond your free zone with the same formula.
Run your own numbers — free
The free calculator does this whole method in about a minute: loaded labour, overhead share, break-even and the price to quote at your margin. No signup, nothing to download, and your numbers stay in your browser.
Open the free calculator →Get the free spreadsheetWant it built around your own rates, services and branding? Done-for-you custom calculator ($497).
Frequently asked questions
How do I price detailing packages?
Time each package, then price it as (hours x loaded labour rate + product cost + hours x overhead per hour) / (1 - margin), and round up to a menu price. With this guide's assumptions a 4-hour full detail with $28 of product prices at $301.12 at a 40% margin.
How much do auto detailers charge per hour?
Work it out from cost. With a $22 wage, 27% burden and $10.23 overhead per hour, cost is $38.17 an hour before product, so a 40% margin needs $63.62 an hour of labour pricing, plus product. Your inputs will give a different rate.
How much should I charge per mile for mobile detailing?
Charge for drive time plus fuel, priced on margin. With a 30-minute, 20-mile round trip and fuel at $0.24 a mile, the surcharge is $39.81, about $1.99 per round-trip mile. One option is a free zone with the surcharge charged beyond it.
How much is a typical detail?
The honest answer is: whatever your hours and costs require. A full detail that takes 4 hours with $28 of product breaks even at $180.67 under this guide's assumptions. Price published elsewhere reflects someone else's costs, so use it only as a sanity check.
How much does it cost to have a car buffed?
Price buffing, or paint correction, by the polishing hours plus pads and compounds. An assumed 10-hour correction with $160 of product breaks even at $541.67 and prices at $902.79 with this guide's inputs. Inspect the paint before quoting.
How much to tip on a $200 car detail?
Tipping is the customer's choice, so detailers should not build it into prices. Set each package price so the job is profitable with no tip at all; any tip is then a bonus for the detailer rather than part of the business plan.
How do I charge for mobile detailing vs a shop?
Use the same package maths, then add travel. A mobile operation also carries its own overhead, such as the van, water tank and generator, which belongs in yearly overhead. A shop carries rent instead. The per-hour overhead figure captures either.
Is there a free mobile detailing pricing calculator?
Yes. The free mobile detailing calculator on this site prices one package from hours, wage, burden, product, overhead and margin with no signup, and the free Job Pricing Starter spreadsheet uses the same maths in Excel or Google Sheets.
I'm not a contractor, landlord or accountant. I build the pricing maths, and every number on this page shows its working so you can check it instead of trusting it. Watch the breakdowns on YouTube →