Looking locally, the amount people charge varies hugely and I was wondering, as a valeter myself, what backroomers pay or would pay?
Its hard to find people offering identical packages, usually they do combinations specific to the company but heres some samples.
* Wash&Hoover including doorshuts, bout 1hr 30 mins work
* Wash, hoover, polish & windows, 2.5-3 hours work
* Full valet, anywhere from 3- 6 hours work ( some charge extra if it over runs )
How much are these worth? I often wonder because the charges vary so much, there seems to be very little market average despite the basic result being the same.
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In Stockport the price varies by size of car, but to give a clue my bosses Merc CLS costs £25 for your 1st option, though if polished I think it costs another £5.
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See theres another variation - some charge for size of car and some dont.
£25 for a wash and a hoover is extortion in Northampton - the eastern europeans will do it for about £10! Thats why I asked really, there doesnt seem to be any baseline for it.
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There's a place over between Nuneaton and Bedworth run by Eastern Europeans. Basic hand car wash is £3. Wash, polish, vacuum and windows is about £12. That's the cheapest I know.
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London / south east
5 quid basic wash - inc door shuts, 10 quid for wash/vacuum
20 quid for wash/vacuum/windows/wax. Staffed by poles usually.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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For a proper valet to a high standard I paid £45.
This was for - wash including under all wheel arches and the underside of the bonnet, engine bay, wax finish, full interior vac and clean, windows inside and out, tyre black (including spare!), polishing stainless end of exhaust (!) and touching up stone chips.
The guy who does it has the contract for Audi, BMW, Range Rover and Jaguar delearships in our area.
He even offered to Diamond Bright it using spare fluids from the mugs who had paid dealers £300+ for it, but as I was selling I told him not to bother.
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I use a local underground car park, next to a well known supermarket. Staffed by Albanians. They used to charge £10, but have recently put it up to £12.50
For that you get hose down with jet wash; washed properly with mitt and soap; rinsed off; alloy wheels sprayed with something that brings then up perfectly;hoovered inside, inc boot (inc removable carpets hoovered outside the vehicle and boot dog mat being removed and washed); windows and inside surfaces wiped down; tyres painted; hanging air freshener (think that's a regular customer freebie)
Used to go more regularly, but now go about once every 6-8 weeks.
Total black economy, mate works for local waterboard and advised they don't pay business water rates.
There is always a queue of people using it, sometimes you wait 3/4 of an hour. Lots of local traders use it.
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Chappie i knew took his 2 week old bmw convertabubble to one of those closed down parapet chopped off setups and one of the things they used was the alkaline acid on his alloys,but,they forgot to wash it off quickly enough and every wheel went streaky black
Did they have insurance and sort it?
What do you think
Its mean on the streets--------------
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I had a customer with a BMW convertible who went and had his car washed for £5.
Prob was, the valeter used a nylon brush on the wheels then took the brush straight to the paintwork. They used something nasty on the wheels too - wheel acid is way over used in those quick stop outfits - and his wheels went very pale, almost white.
I nearly laughed when he had me have a look. I managed to buff the vast majority of the scratches out but the wheels were beyond help and he had to have them refurbed - Ive never laughed so hard because originally, he had saved all of £5 over what I charge, but it cost him £40 to have me sort the paintwork out and a further £160 to do the wheels - his wife tore strips off him as it was her baby!
Days like that make it worth getting up in the morning :-)
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Total black economy mate works for local waterboard and advised they don't pay business water rates.
How do they get away with that - it's not like it would work to hide a car valeting business.
Apart from the water use and all the other tax / NI etc issues, presumeably they're committing a pretty serious offence (as a business) by allowing waste water to flow into the surface drains?
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they're committing a pretty serious offence (as a business) by allowing waste water to flow into the surface drains?
Reading other posts on this site today, the reason appears to be because the local townhall Stasi are too busy trying to catch the public have a ciggie in a bus shelter and coppers are too busy hiding in bushes with hairdryers to worry about Poles and Albanians by-passing the system.
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I posted a thread about this a few months back - a £ 12 valet that I reckoned was a bargain.I now know why they were so cheap , the boss disappeared owing a lot of rent and wages but another crowd have taken over the same premises.
So there are still three hand wash and valet outfits on the local eatate within 200 yards of my office .
Local charge is still around £12 for the wash , hoover , cleaning glass and wheels and a bit of tyre black, again all Eastern Europeans who no doubt pay no taxes . They still seem to be well used by the local ( very ) second hand dealers to prepare their cars for the forecourt.
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Why not forget the budget priced competition & go the other way & provide a PREMIUM service?
Yes the local hand wash guys do an OK job, for what they charge, but can obviousley do only, so much.
If you were to spend several hours on the vehicle, using quality materials, you could be on £380/vehicle quite easily.
& you'd be working for more appreciative customers & better vehicles.
I employed quite a few mobile valeters, before taking on staff full time, that were prepared to work to my high standards - & that was vans!
Very few valeters know how to detail a vehicle properly. IIRC Autoglym still run training sessions, at their HQ in Hertfordshire - not that I'm a big fan of theirt products, although they do the job!
VB
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a lot of this comes down to the old 'supply and demand' rules doesn't it...i.e what can thet suppy it for and how much are you willing to pay?
my local cheapie, as mentioned above, used to cost me £10 and i used it fairly frequently. When they put the price up to £12.50, i reviewed it and now use it a bit less....not because it's not worth it, but because my budget kicks in and i'll sometimes wash it myself or through a machine for a fiver.
If someone said to me what i should be doing is paying £45 and having it done properly i'd politely decline, because i'm not willing to pay that much.
Before the local Albanians turned up i used to do it myself, so there's no reason why i couldn't go back to that.... and could easily do so.......but for the price of a tenner (as was) there was no real point in me unreeling the hose/hoover
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be on £380/vehicle quite easily.
Should have read before posting, sorry - meant £80/vehicle
VB
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I know what you mean about the higher end of the market and its where I aim anyway.
I have ten years experience, 3 of them running a valeting department for a large prestige dealer, so I know Im better trained than the local eurowashers :)
I also do pay tax ( when my accountant cant avoid it ) and I am insured too.
As such, I cannot work to eurowasher prices and have to charge more, but I still only charge £45-55 for a full valet which is anything up to 6 hours work on a dirty beastie.
Its not great money but I enjoy and love the craft itself and I guess that shows in my work - most of my customers are fussy bunch aswell, but wealthy and fussy, so they appreciate the detailing more than your average joe - competing with the eurowashers would be fatal so I dont bother.
I have customers who simply wouldnt employ such people to clean their cars - gotta love landed gentry, they sure are a loyal bunch once you managed to get behind the gates ( took me 8 months but was well worth it and they always tell their friends ).
The most I ever charged for a valet was £170 but it was a 3 day job so per hour, it was still good value, but the car needed it ( unbelievable dog hair and all associated smells ).
Ive found the the best money spinners are actually the wash and the wash&hoover - £10 and £15 respectively, they can be knocked out quite quickly, esp on cars I do regular which dont need that much doing, just a brush up usually.
Being mobile, its useful to get arrangements with local companies as you can pitch up and do a load of cars easily and quickly.
Ive also found that a willingness to work evenings and all weekend, when most people are at home ( and other valeters cant be bothered ), its a great asset as people can have their cars done while they do the garden or eat their dinner and dont have to go into town to have it done.
Its always interesting to hear what the state of the market is as I dont really advertise and rarely come across my rivals. I guess the overwhelming view is its the eurowashers versus guys like me, but theres enough work for everyone. The main hurdle is getting people to try it - many people dont even know such services exist and how cheap it can be, even for a good job.
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I had the inside of my new (secondhand) C-Max cleaned today. Previously owned by a skanky smoker and as C-Max's have a tiny ashtray way down by the handbrake, plenty of ash had found its way elsewhere. Also lots of sticky sweets here and there. Seats were a bit grubby and stained - apparently clean water stains them!
Local one man band with premises sandwiched between a used car sales and a bodyshop did a very good job of shampooing seats and carpets and cleaned dash, doors and headlining. Charged £30 for what must have been at least a couple of hours work. Good value.
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