One of the most important things to consider when starting your own mobile auto detailing business in Louisville, Kentucky is what prices to charge for your services. The decision on what to charge is a lot more complicated than simply picking a number that you think is fair. There are many factors that go into deciding on what prices to set for your auto detailing services. Before putting prices on your website or in your brochures, check out our list of what you need to know when setting prices for the Louisville market.
1. Your Location
You need to do some research into what other, similar mobile detailing Louisville KY are charging. This will give you an idea of what people here are willing to pay for mobile detailing. The services offered by mobile detailers can vary widely, so be sure you primarily at those that closely resemble what you plan to offer. While doing this, be sure to notice what types of auto detailing business are in Louisville. If you see mostly luxury-type services in the neighborhoods you want to work in, then you should think about offering those services and pricing accordingly.
2. Your Costs
Starting your auto detailing business is going to require some overhead costs. You will need products, business cards, a website, and some marketing materials. You will also need to get insurance, and you may need permits. When you consider what to charge for your services, you need to figure out what your monthly costs will be. Your first goal is to make sure these costs can be covered.
To figure out how much product you will use per service will take some experimentation. Pay attention to how much you use when you detail your own car. Take this amount and add in a buffer amount in case you use more on occasion. You can use this figure to determine how much your product costs are per detailing service. This is a good starting point to use in determining price.
3. Your Living Expenses
You wouldn’t be starting a business if you didn’t think it could pay your bills, so you need to figure out just how much those bills are. Tally up your monthly living expenses, including things like groceries and entertainment. Then, based on your research into the competition, figure out how many vehicles you can expect to detail per day or week. (Don’t use the busiest and most popular mobile detailing business as your only guide, since when you first start out you should not expect to have the same number of customers.) Use your estimated customers per week and see if you can set a fair price that will allow you to cover your business costs and living expenses. Expect to spend more than you make while you are getting started, and make sure you have savings that can cover the income deficit until your mobile detailing business takes off.
You may find that you have over- or under-estimated your expenses, so you might find that you eventually need to adjust your prices. You may even discover that you can afford to charge less and thus beat out some of the competitors in Louisville. This is perfectly fine, but make sure to stay as consistent as possible in your pricing so that your customers don’t get confused about your charges.