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When Can I Raise Prices?

Waxman

Waxman

Super Moderator
Other times, I have raised my prices prior to December so I can reap the benefits of doing so during the gift certificate season.

This year there are a few things on my price list that need tweaking. Some I may even bring down a bit, like my express aftercare, which hasn't caught on as I would like.

What are your thoughts?
 
Good luck with that. There has been a noticeable consumer shift towards value. That's a nice way of saying everybody is getting tight. I don't know what your current pricing is now, but I couldn't think of a worse time to raise prices at my place.
 
Well, guess I should pay more careful attention to the area I'm posting. . I am no detailer. Regardless, I still think it's a terrible time to raise prices.
 
To clarify, I was thinking of raising my per-hour buffing rate by $10 and that's about it for raising prices.

I was thinking of lowering my express detail packages by $10 or so.:o
 
Waxman said:
To clarify, I was thinking of raising my per-hour buffing rate by $10 and that's about it for raising prices.

I was thinking of lowering my express detail packages by $10 or so.:o
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I don't see a problem with you raising your per hour buffing rate?

I would not lower your express pricing! The problem is not pricing its a question of marketing and express is a numbers game. Express is very difficult to do if you don't have a captive audience like a full service car wash where you are seeing 100-500+ customers on a given day. I can almost guarantee with a certainty that lowering your price will not increase your business and only serve to pay you less for doing the same amount of work. Get creative, but do not lower your price!
 
Thanks for the input.

I may not lower express pricing but instead try to implement the 'express bash' concept, where we cut the price for a weekend and advertise as such and hope to turn more customers on to the concept/service. Another carwash I know has had some success with this type promotion.
 
Raising prices in a down econony? Good luck? That is not what customers want to hear. Why do you think you have to raise prices? You believe you are entitled to a price increase or you want to get more out of the customer's wallet?

What is express aftercare? Is this express detailing or is it additional services you offer your full service car wash customers?

What services do you offer and how much are they?

What are your prices for full detailing which I assume you do when saying you are raising your "buffing price" by $10?

Do you do interiors too? They take as much time or more than an exterior? Why not raise that price too?

Your only reason for raising prices is because your costs of operation have gone up and you are not making, bottomline, the net profit you have calculated you need to make.

Check out some of the postings on the INTERNATIONAL DETAILING ASSOCIATION forum at Mobileworks on pricing, they may help you.

Regards



Waxman said:
Other times, I have raised my prices prior to December so I can reap the benefits of doing so during the gift certificate season.

This year there are a few things on my price list that need tweaking. Some I may even bring down a bit, like my express aftercare, which hasn't caught on as I would like.

What are your thoughts?
Click to expand...
 
My current rate for buffing is $50/hr so it would be raised to $60/hr.

Express aftercare is a carwash followed by either express polish or seats/carpets express or vac dust and windows(mini-express).

If you want to know all my prices look at my website.

Isn't the goal for every 'for profit' business endeavor to maximize profits, or as you put it 'pull $ from a customers wallet'???

My prices are related to my specific market area, Marnie. There are other shops in my area charging what I charge. They smell like sewer water inside. Mine smells clean and nice. They are dark and dingy; mine is clean and bright and well-organized. They do not dispose of washwater properly; I am connected to municipal sewer. They do not advertise or have signs; I do. They do not take care of the property, have nice landscaping or attractive curb appeal; I do. They are not properly licensed or insured; I am. They offer no other services like carwash or vending; I do.

Pricing isn't solely a factor of the world economy; it's based on customers who pay for services within a marketplace.
 
From your website:

Machine Buffing: $50 per Hour. Most vehicles require 1-2 hours for machine buffing. We do it right! From the initial wash and prep to taping up emblems and mouldings and final clean-up, we know how to buff. We were taught by industry veterans like Hank Stott and Rick Michaelian in the proper techniques, tools and products to create a deep, lustrous, swirl free finish. Buffing truly is the next best thing to a new paint job. Try it and see!
 
I wouldn?t raise your prices; I?d spend more time buffing. There?s really no way any kind of quality correction can be achieved in 1-2 hours. I am simply at a loss for words if you believe that you abrade away enough paint to level the paint and restore a high gloss in 2 hours vs. actually removing paint and polishing in 8 hours (or whatever). So while I do applaud the fact that you cut time from the process, I would hope from a moral stand point you explained to the customer that instead of removing the defects and polishing the paint (which taken longer) you choose to remove some surface damage, but filled in the rest. Some clients only care about the end result; others want a permanent solution. Glazing a car with a one step is going to mean defects come back after a time. IME, a lot of people are going to notice this, in fact I built my client base off of car washes & detail shops that were doing the same process. Charging 200-300 dollars and having defects return. I told them for 900-1200 I could fix it permanently. It's all about perceived value, but then again, that is assuming that you are running an honest shop and educating the client that you really aren't making the paint look as good as it looks when they pick it up. You are making the car look as nice temporarily, but you are also filling in a lot of defects. Perhaps the people taking 6-8 hours are really removing defects, so in this case, I think your results would be substandard. And if you are really telling your client you are doing the same work in less time (with better results even, lol), and not telling the customer that you are not correcting your paint, then I don't care how much money you make, in my eyes it is the same as fraud. The decision is totally yours. IMHO being sucessful in detailing is all about maximizing profits & and being able to build value.
 
Sounds like you're talking about a high-end detail shop in an affluent community. I'm detailing in Orange, Massachusetts and I know my market and my customers quite well. We provide retail-level detail services. Not show-car details. I have detailed show cars but it's not something I do every day. I believe there's more profit in buffing a car in a timely manner and moving some vehicles through the shop. You have your way, which is great. There's no need to minimize what I do because you've corrected some poor-quality workmanship. Guess what? I have, too. I've sanded complete cars, compounded them back to shiny and flat and spent days not hours. I've chosen a different route to money-making at my business, cross-marketing the carwash and detail shop and streamlining operations while creating satisfied customers.

I will take your advice into account about slowing down a bit and focusing on sufrace correction, which is a worthwhile goal. However, the idea that I'm somehow cheating the customer by buffing their car in 2 hours is nuts, IMNSHO.
 
I?m plainly going off your web-site description of what you claim to focus on: ?We do it right?.... not in 2 hours ? sorry. Spending 2 hours buffing an entire car is nothing more than temporarily hiding defects by glazing over them. Which I?m sure you know is not ?doing it right?. As long as your clients are made aware and are satisfied so be it??

If you ever get a chance you should check back with Autopia and take a peak at RickRack & Rydawg's work. I believe they are in your area and stay pretty busy.



Waxman said:
I will take your advice into account about slowing down a bit and focusing on sufrace correction, which is a worthwhile goal. However, the idea that I'm somehow cheating the customer by buffing their car in 2 hours is nuts, IMNSHO.
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You can write your meal ticket to more $$ by just slowing down and charging the same hourly rate. You'll never scare off your customers that way and the quality will be a little better. Win-Win!!
 
Okay, I'll bite; how long should I spend compounding and finish glazing? 4 hours?

The proof is in the pudding, so to speak; meaning that customer satisfaction is my goal. If defects were in fact coming back customers would say so and I would see them myself on repeat details.

Not every car needs to be flattened out and re-glossed. Some cars do need a nice machine glaze with a couple spots compounded or sanded/compounded.

Is 'doing it right' spending 4 + hours of buffing alone on every car? Seems to be what you're implying and if so I disagree. But I do agree on the point of slowing down while buffing.

'Nuff said.
 
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