Driven Auto Detail
New member
Do you work in a minimum amount? Do you go by miles, time, etc.? Basically, just wondering how you work it into the cost of the detail.
Thanks in advance!
Thanks in advance!
Mobile Detailers: How do you charge for mileage/fuel/travel time?
- Thread starter Driven Auto Detail
- Start date
imported_Picus
New member
I'll go anywhere in the GTA (greater Toronto area, extends about 50km out from the center), built into my pricing. If it's a little outside that area I *usually* don't worry about it (ex: I get a lot of customers in Aurora, which is ~60km out). If it's 65-100km (give or take) I add $25, if it's more than that the customer and I work something out. Usually in cases where more than an hour of travel is needed the customer has a few cars lined up for me to do (two or three of their own, or friends), in which case I don't bother with a travel charge. So for the most part, it's built in. 
I've actually only charged a fee for travel a few times.
I've actually only charged a fee for travel a few times.
I factor in 1 hour of roundtrip driving time from my home location. For each additional hour, I add $25.
Like Kevin, if there are a few vehicles, I will knock out the travel costs as it helps with everything. One, I am doing multiple vehicles at one location so no extra driving, and two, the customers are getting a deal. Win-Win.
Like Kevin, if there are a few vehicles, I will knock out the travel costs as it helps with everything. One, I am doing multiple vehicles at one location so no extra driving, and two, the customers are getting a deal. Win-Win.
Driven Auto Detail
New member
Good info, thanks! One more question. For those of you that build it into your prices, how much are you adding to cover the cost? G35, I know you figure in an hour of travel time, so does that equal your hourly rate?
imported_mirrorfinishman
New member
When you offer mobile detailing services, the distance you will travel to the customer becomes an important part of your overall costs.
You can figure that about 80% of your business should come from within your primary territory. Your primary territory will depend upon whether or not your located in a city or a rural area. If you are located in a city you may consider using city limits as a guideline to your primary area of service. If you are located in a rural area you may consider using township or county limits or mileage limits. You will want to consider your traveling expenses, such as; gas and wear and tear on your vehicle. You can figure that it costs about forty-five cents per mile to operate a vehicle. So a good guideline of mileage limits for your primary territory is about twenty-five miles. Another expense is travel time. Ideally, you will want travel time in your primary territory to be less than thirty minutes. You can estimate that about 20% of your business will come from beyond your primary territory. When you have a good customer that’s located more than twenty-five miles away you will almost always have to consider it worth the extra distance and travel time.
It is always a good idea to try and make the most of your travel time by scheduling at least two cars on the same day when they are both located outside your primary territory. As you begin to gain more and more customers, you may actually want to consider accepting less business from outside your primary territory.
Remember, you save more time and have less expense when the majority of your customers are located within your primary territory.
You can figure that about 80% of your business should come from within your primary territory. Your primary territory will depend upon whether or not your located in a city or a rural area. If you are located in a city you may consider using city limits as a guideline to your primary area of service. If you are located in a rural area you may consider using township or county limits or mileage limits. You will want to consider your traveling expenses, such as; gas and wear and tear on your vehicle. You can figure that it costs about forty-five cents per mile to operate a vehicle. So a good guideline of mileage limits for your primary territory is about twenty-five miles. Another expense is travel time. Ideally, you will want travel time in your primary territory to be less than thirty minutes. You can estimate that about 20% of your business will come from beyond your primary territory. When you have a good customer that’s located more than twenty-five miles away you will almost always have to consider it worth the extra distance and travel time.
It is always a good idea to try and make the most of your travel time by scheduling at least two cars on the same day when they are both located outside your primary territory. As you begin to gain more and more customers, you may actually want to consider accepting less business from outside your primary territory.
Remember, you save more time and have less expense when the majority of your customers are located within your primary territory.
Driven Auto Detail
New member
Awesome info mirrorfinishman! Thank you!
I state my working area on my website and those who are not in it are subject to a travel fee unless they have a really big job. I don't do washes outside of an even smaller area, about 10 miles in any direction. It just isn't worth setting up and breaking down, plus the travel time-and most people don't want to add a travel fee on top of the cost of a wash.
When I go down to Austin (200 miles one way) or Waco (100 miles one way) I charge a premium to cover my gas and lodging. Plus they usually have several cars for me to do.
When I go down to Austin (200 miles one way) or Waco (100 miles one way) I charge a premium to cover my gas and lodging. Plus they usually have several cars for me to do.
Figure out your mileage on the vehicle.
For every mile above a certain, preset limit, add in the cost.
Thus, if its a 40 mile drive which is outside your 15 mile preset limit and your vehicle only makes 15mpg, charge both ways for fuel. At present fuel costs, 20 dollars should do. If you want to charge for time lost, add in another premium that is fair with your clients.
For every mile above a certain, preset limit, add in the cost.
Thus, if its a 40 mile drive which is outside your 15 mile preset limit and your vehicle only makes 15mpg, charge both ways for fuel. At present fuel costs, 20 dollars should do. If you want to charge for time lost, add in another premium that is fair with your clients.
TrueDetailer
All About The Bling Bling
I don't charge extra for all that stuff. Whatever the price is of the service they want, thats what they pay. Guess what i'm saying is, include it in the price of your services.
miracle agent
New member
When Paul Dalton (UK detailer, Miracle Detail www.miracledetail.co.uk) started getting a lot of national UK (and international, mainly Europe work) we worked out that the fairest and simplest system was:
- No charge within local area (Paul lives just outside on the M25 circular motorway surrounding London, so we'd use 'within the M25' as the local region, but 30 miles, 50kms or an hour's travel time would also work). Really, it's only mentioned if he has to travel for more than an hour or hour and a half.
- Travel time (both ways) charged at hourly rate for 'drive-to' commissions. He has left to go to Belgium today and will drive there, because he likes to detail with his van close to hand, wherever possible. We looked at charging for mileage and fuel and it's not worth it. His real problem is the opportunity cost of travelling for half a day when he could be doing a local 'mini-detail' instead at his hourly rate. He will stay over in Belgium but he's covering that cost himself... the travel time charge and day rate will be enough to cover it.
- Travel time (both ways) plus airfare for 'fly-to' commissions. It's obviously quicker to fly than drive, so it evens out a bit.
All in all, no more money is made on longer distance commissions, but it is all part of the service and he needs to be compensated for time 'not working when he could be'. He is working 27 days this month to cope with emergency bookings because it can be seen to be bad customer service to say 'no'.
Hope this helps,
Miracle Agent
- No charge within local area (Paul lives just outside on the M25 circular motorway surrounding London, so we'd use 'within the M25' as the local region, but 30 miles, 50kms or an hour's travel time would also work). Really, it's only mentioned if he has to travel for more than an hour or hour and a half.
- Travel time (both ways) charged at hourly rate for 'drive-to' commissions. He has left to go to Belgium today and will drive there, because he likes to detail with his van close to hand, wherever possible. We looked at charging for mileage and fuel and it's not worth it. His real problem is the opportunity cost of travelling for half a day when he could be doing a local 'mini-detail' instead at his hourly rate. He will stay over in Belgium but he's covering that cost himself... the travel time charge and day rate will be enough to cover it.
- Travel time (both ways) plus airfare for 'fly-to' commissions. It's obviously quicker to fly than drive, so it evens out a bit.
All in all, no more money is made on longer distance commissions, but it is all part of the service and he needs to be compensated for time 'not working when he could be'. He is working 27 days this month to cope with emergency bookings because it can be seen to be bad customer service to say 'no'.
Hope this helps,
Miracle Agent
Like most other professional companies who have to travel in order to get to a scheduled job, we have whats called a remote surcharge. Our remote surcharge is by the mile and it is currently $0.97 per mile. This changes when gas prices change but not by much unless the gas prices were to change by a lot so would our remote surcharge. The remote surcharge is set by me manually within the software we use to run our business called Detail Bookie. I provided a screenshot of a recent ticket as an example. I noticed that nobody in this thread charges remote surcharges by the mile and some add fixed travel rates into their packages. Come on guys you have to be charging your customers a per mile remote surcharge not only is that standard procedure but its professional to do so! Same with sales tax if you have sales tax of course. Both of which should go into some form of savings, one being for your vehicle (remote surcharge) and the other being well for your taxes (sales tax). I used the ticket below as a reference for examples 1 and 2.
Excample 1_Remote Surcharge: Lets say you do one job a day and each job is 18.4 miles at $0.97 per mile and it cost the customer a remote surcharge of $17.84. So 5 days a week would be $89.20, Thats $356.96 a month and you work all year long like this, thats $4,283.52 a year you should have saved for your vehicle. This is for vehicle maintance, repairs, upgrades and if you so chose, gas for work. Hell you could save for two years and have damn near $10k stacked up for a down payment on a bran new vehicle. Thats what I did. Now I get jobs just because my brand new truck is repping my company plus I get to go to work everyday feeling real good in my nice truck with cold ac and shiny ass paint! The vehicle I had before that pssshhh smh its was a turd that got me where Im at today.
Example 2_Sales Tax: Lets say you do the same as Example 1 except we are talking about Sale Tax now. If you do one job a day, each job brings in $433.64 a day and the sales tax is $30.36, 5 days a week, 4 weeks a month, all year long. Thats $151.80 per week, $607.20 per month, 7,286.40 per year. This is standard procedure for any and all business owners who mean business.
I can talk further on how to save money for detail companies to reach a more successful level if its requested even by just one individual.
Excample 1_Remote Surcharge: Lets say you do one job a day and each job is 18.4 miles at $0.97 per mile and it cost the customer a remote surcharge of $17.84. So 5 days a week would be $89.20, Thats $356.96 a month and you work all year long like this, thats $4,283.52 a year you should have saved for your vehicle. This is for vehicle maintance, repairs, upgrades and if you so chose, gas for work. Hell you could save for two years and have damn near $10k stacked up for a down payment on a bran new vehicle. Thats what I did. Now I get jobs just because my brand new truck is repping my company plus I get to go to work everyday feeling real good in my nice truck with cold ac and shiny ass paint! The vehicle I had before that pssshhh smh its was a turd that got me where Im at today.
Example 2_Sales Tax: Lets say you do the same as Example 1 except we are talking about Sale Tax now. If you do one job a day, each job brings in $433.64 a day and the sales tax is $30.36, 5 days a week, 4 weeks a month, all year long. Thats $151.80 per week, $607.20 per month, 7,286.40 per year. This is standard procedure for any and all business owners who mean business.
I can talk further on how to save money for detail companies to reach a more successful level if its requested even by just one individual.
