Do You Think Mobile Fleet Detailing in Edmonton Is Too Expensive?
Do You Think Mobile Fleet Detailing in Edmonton Is Too Expensive?
All right, welcome back to Star Fleet Detailing YouTube channel. My name is Trevor, and this is Stephan. He is the owner, operator, and main guy that you want to talk to over at Starfleet. Today, the question that always comes up when it comes to detailing is what is the cost of mobile detailing.
Maybe let’s jump into that. First thing, what kind of questions are people asking when it comes to the cost of the detail?
Well, obviously the cost depends on where you live. Different markets. It also depends on what you’re detailing, the size of vehicle, very important. You can do a little sedan or you can do a big Suburban, and obviously the time involved to clean it will be different. Of course, how dirty they are.
If you have somebody that really takes care of their vehicle and they’re doing it regularly, obviously it’s going to be a lot quicker, so we have a better price for them, a more reasonable price. Then you have some that never have detailed their vehicle, and then you show up and it’s like, “Oh my goodness, this will take me a whole day.”
What we do is we have a list of general pricing, but we always make sure to let the customer know because this is mobile. We show up to do the job on scene, and we make sure that the customer knows that this job at least is rated for X amount of time. That way we don’t end up losing, and they also don’t end up upset because it’s one thing to give a price and then you give the invoice at the end and it’s totally different.
Mobile Detailing Pricing in Edmonton
It’s very important to cover all the bases. One is you tell your customer this is how much it costs for where the dirt and stuff like that is not extreme. If a dog did his business in the car, it’s a totally different thing. If somebody opened a can of Coke and it just sprayed all over, those are extreme things.
We make sure to ask, “Are there any type of special attention you want us to give to your vehicle?” That’s when the truth comes up, like, “Well, I spilled the coffee.” It’s very important to do that, and that way you know what to expect when you get there.
You can also tell them, “If you’ve got a spill, it will take more time.” This is our base price, but if we have to give special attention and use special chemicals. For milk, we have to use enzymes that will treat that. There are a lot of things that go into it, but a lot of people don’t realize that. They just think you come with your bucket, rag, couple brushes, and some Windex, and away you go.
When it comes to getting a detail in Edmonton from you guys specifically, a mobile detail, let’s say they have a smaller vehicle, a subcompact, relatively clean. What does the pricing start with?
It starts about $200. You’ll find cheaper. You have guys that are kind of doing it as a side hustle, and to them they just want to make extra bucks. For us as a business, it’s totally different. We have to have our insurances in place. We have four different types of insurances. One is the vehicle, one is the business, one is called garage insurance, and it enables you to be protected working on somebody else’s car. WCB as well.
All those insurances have to be in place so that both parties are protected, and a lot of customers don’t even realize that. They just think, “You come and clean my car.” Then when something happens, it’s like, “I wish I would have known that.”
Unfortunately, a lot of people end up paying the price for not being informed and hiring an unqualified detailer.
Why Professional Mobile Fleet Detailing Costs More
That’s why it’s good to pay a little bit more for a professional company to come in and do your mobile detailing. Even though they’re showing up in another vehicle and bringing their equipment with them, it’s for your convenience, but the insurances are for your protection. It’s better to pay a little bit more for that detail than it is to be sorry later.
Let’s say we’re talking about a large SUV, a Tahoe or Suburban, soccer mom vehicle type of thing. What would that cost?
Those are around $300 and up. If you have a Caravan, not only is it a van, but it’s got all these secret compartments everywhere. Things fall out of the seats. Those you have to vacuum three or four times. Those are the soccer mom vans, and those can be around $350, but it takes close to six hours to do. That’s just the interior. When it’s done, the car should stay clean for a while, and it looks brand new.
Now let’s get into that a little bit. How often should somebody get a mobile detail?
I would recommend it at least once a year. Some people go years and years without doing it, but at least once a year because what happens is, for example in Canada with the salts, the salt is on your boot, it’s mixed with water, mixed with dirt, and then it gets into the carpet. With time, it turns back into rock.
We can’t clean that out. It’s literally a piece of rock stuck in your carpet, and you’ve got to chip it out. That doesn’t address the stains from the salt as well. Whereas if you do it every year, you keep a handle on that, your carpets stay nice, and the car looks fairly decent.
If you can imagine when you have that buildup of rock and sand and salt, that looks kind of messy. Then you clean it and it still looks messy because the white salt has bleached the carpet fibers, and you can’t really fix that unless you replace the carpet or dye it or something of that nature.
How Edmonton Weather Affects Vehicle Interiors
You guys don’t do carpet dyeing?
No, we don’t do carpet dyeing. There’s not enough requests for it. I think we had one request in five years.
Anything else that people should know about the cost of a mobile detail in Edmonton?
The costs go from, I’ve seen Facebook detailers at $80, but their customers are never happy because you can’t make money at $80. Especially mobile detailing, it’s not just the products and the equipment, it’s also the gas to run around, your vehicle, your insurance. There’s a lot of costs involved.
When it comes to the cost for us, it ranges from $200 to $350 depending on circumstances. It can get higher. We’ve had one truck that we had to do from a coal mine. Two days.
Two days?
Yeah, a lot of scrubbing. Everything was black, and it was actually gray or beige. Black and used to be beige. It cost two days of work, but they were blown away when they got the truck back. It looked brand new.
At first the guy was like, “This is expensive,” but when he saw the truck, he was impressed. It was for a resale. He got it off auction, so to him he was like, “Okay, I’ll just make more money off it.”
Choosing the Right Mobile Detailer in Edmonton
Okay, that’s awesome. Thanks so much for sharing this with us today. I’m sure everybody who is in Edmonton looking for a mobile detailer, look no further than Starfleet Detailing. They are professional, they are insured, and they do an amazing job.
Just check them out, go to the website, and you can book your appointment right online or you can call Stefan or somebody from the company, and they’ll be happy to walk you through the process and get you booked in.
For more information about workplace protection and coverage requirements for detailing businesses, review WCB resources.
That’s all for me, and we’ll see you guys on the next video.