Mobile Detailing Pricing Calculator
Price a detail off your real hours, not what the shop across town charges.
Turn this into a quote you can send →
Everything stays in your browser — nothing is uploaded, saved, or emailed to anyone. The PDF is built on your device.
This is an estimating aid, not a quote. It doesn't account for insurance, equipment replacement, taxes, or licensing — build those into your target hourly rate, or your “profit” is really just overhead you haven't counted yet.
How detailing pricing actually works
Detailing doesn't price off square footage — it prices off hours, and hours move with vehicle size, how bad the interior is, and which add-ons you're actually performing. Pick the package price first and the hours become someone else's problem: yours.
Condition is the variable that wrecks margins
A maintained crossover and a neglected one are the same vehicle on your price sheet and a two-hour difference in your day. If your packages are flat-priced with no condition adjustment, the clean cars are subsidizing the disasters — and the disasters are the ones that book.
Charge for pet hair. Every time.
It's a separate job from an interior clean: it takes real time, it wrecks your brushes, and "I'll just throw it in" is how a two-hour interior becomes a four-hour one. This calculator treats it as its own line for exactly that reason.
Mobile means drive time is billable time
The convenience of coming to the customer is the product. If you're absorbing 40 minutes of driving on a $150 job, you're discounting the exact thing they're paying you for.
Common questions
Should I quote before seeing the car?
Give a range, not a number. Photos help but consistently understate interior condition. A range you can hold is better than a number you have to walk back in the driveway.
How do I price ceramic coating?
Coatings are priced on prep, not application. The paint correction beforehand is where the hours go, and it varies enormously by condition — quote it as its own job rather than an add-on with a fixed price.
What about a minimum charge?
Most mobile operators need one. Once drive and setup are counted, an express exterior on a sedan across town frequently prices below what the trip costs you.
Are these base hours right for me?
They're starting estimates. Time a few real jobs at each size and adjust your target hourly rate to match reality — that's what makes the output yours rather than generic.