How much should mobile detailers charge?
Mobile detailers price per vehicle per visit based on package level and size, not a flat hourly rate, but you still need to know your effective hourly rate so a package doesn't eat half a day for the money of a 90-minute job.
Estimate your rate
A starting point for mobile car detailing — adjust to your own numbers.
~$133.00 / visit
Based on a 120-minute visit at an effective rate of ~$66.50/hour. Formula: (target income + expenses) ÷ (billable hours/week × 50 working weeks), converted to a per-visit price. This is a starting estimate, not a guarantee — adjust for local market rates.
What moves the rate
- Vehicle size and type (compact car vs. midsize sedan vs. SUV/truck typically adds 20-30% to every package)
- Package level: basic wash-and-vacuum vs. full interior+exterior detail vs. premium (paint correction, ceramic coating add-on)
- Vehicle condition: heavy pet hair, mud, or years of neglect takes meaningfully longer than a lightly-used car
- Water and power access at the client's location (no hookup means running your own water tank and generator)
- Drive time and distance between appointments, since a route only fits a handful of full details per day
- Local market and climate (California and other high-cost-of-living markets run well above Midwest pricing)
Work out your target hourly rate first (labor rates for mobile detailing run $75-120/hour in 2026), then convert to a package price using a realistic full-detail time of 2 hours for a sedan, longer for SUVs/trucks or heavily soiled interiors. The $6,500/yr expense default assumes a used cargo van or truck buildout with a water tank, pump, and generator (financed or already owned, budget $150-300/mo in payment/maintenance = $1,800-3,600/yr), a pressure washer and wet/dry vacuum, ongoing chemicals and microfiber/pad consumables (~$1,200-1,800/yr), and general liability/garagekeepers insurance (~$400-600/yr) — lower than mobile grooming since many detailers start with an existing truck/SUV rather than a purpose-built van, but still meaningfully higher than no-vehicle professions. `typicalRateRange.high` raised from 350 to 450 (2026-07-01, competitor research) to reflect premium-package pricing (ceramic coating/paint correction add-ons averaging ~$443 across a multi-market operator sample, with metro full details reaching $450) that the previous range didn't capture.