A mobile detailing quote template, field by field, with placeholders for your own numbers

What to take away

Condition tiers, not adjectives

A tier is a number you can defend. Tier 1 is a maintained vehicle: light dust, no staining, carpets vacuum clean. Tier 2 adds embedded dirt, sticky cup holders, salt film on glass. Tier 3 is pet hair, spills, or a vehicle last cleaned a year ago. Tier 4 is biohazard or heavy soiling you may decline.

Write the tier on the quote with the evidence behind it: photographs the customer sent, a video walk-around, or your own inspection. Name the features that put the vehicle there. "Tier 2: salt film on glass, crumbs in seat seams, no pet hair observed" survives a dispute. "Interior detail" does not.

The template, field by field

1. Header. Business name, registration number, contact, date issued.

2. Quote number. Sequential, and repeated on the invoice so the two match a year later.

3. Customer and vehicle. Name, contact, service address. Make, model, year, color, plate. The address sets the travel zone and the site conditions.

4. Condition assessment. The tier, the evidence, and the observable features behind it.

5. Scope, as outcomes. What the customer sees when you leave, with the stages that produce it. Results, not a chemical list.

6. Exclusions, explicit. Defects that remain at this tier. Pre-existing tears, burns, wear. Biological contamination. Anything needing disassembly. Engine bay work if not included.

7. Site requirements. Space to work, shade if the package needs it, whether you draw water or power from the property, and how long the vehicle stays off the road afterward.

8. Duration. A window, not a single time, plus what would extend it.

9. Price breakdown. Base service by size class, condition adjustment, travel zone, named add-ons, minimum job value.

10. Worse-than-described clause. What happens when the vehicle on arrival is a tier above what was assessed. State the three options and who chooses: a surcharge disclosed before work starts, a reduced scope at the quoted price, or a rebooking.

11. Payment terms. Deposit if any, when the balance is due, accepted methods, late payment.

12. Cancellation and weather. Notice required, what a postponement means, whether the deposit is retained.

13. Validity. An expiry date.

14. Acceptance. Signature or recorded electronic acceptance, with a date.

Travel zones and site access

A zone is a band of drive time from your base, and each band carries its own minimum job value. Zone one is inside fifteen minutes; zone two reaches thirty; zone three is by arrangement on a set day. Booking zone three jobs on one day is what makes the drive time pay.

Site access decides whether the job is possible at all. A covered apartment garage may have no hose bib and no outlet, so you bring your own tank and generator, and that cost sits in the zone price.

An HOA may restrict washing in visitor parking. Ask about water, power and parking when the booking is taken, not when you arrive.

A worked example using your own numbers

Fill these from your records. The letters stay letters because a price copied from a page reflects somebody else's labor cost, drive times and vehicle mix.

Then check Q against your minimum job value for that zone. If Q falls below it, say so and offer a different zone day or a larger scope rather than absorbing the drive.

The hourly rate behind B, C and T is derived step by step in how to price for a fair margin.

Whether Q clears fixed costs is answered by the break-even arithmetic in profit margins and break-even points.

For the labor assumption inside the rate, the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes occupational wage estimates by metropolitan area in its employment and wage tables. Check them when a technician rather than the owner performs the work.

Wording that gets you into trouble

Everything in a quote is a representation to a customer, and representations about results are advertising claims. The FTC's advertising guidance for small businesses sets the standard: claims must be truthful and capable of being supported. Three phrases to strike from a detailing quote:

• Removes all scratches. Say which defects improve and which remain.
• Permanent protection. Give a range from your own repeat customers, and state what shortens it.
• Like new. It sets an expectation nobody can measure and you will be judged against it.

Two habits around the quote

Photograph before you touch anything. Store the images with the quote. This one practice resolves most arguments about pre-existing damage and costs nothing.

Keep the accepted quote with the completed job record. The IRS describes a recordkeeping system as one that clearly shows income and expenses with documents supporting each transaction, and an accepted quote is such a document. It also lets you compare quoted time against actual time, which is how the price list improves.

Quoting for packages and for commercial work

For packaged residential work, the quote confirms a published price plus a condition assessment. The package shapes behind it are catalogued in the seventeen package options.

Commercial quote documents differ. They price per vehicle class against an access window, name water and power suppliers, and say what happens to vehicles unavailable that day.

Where customers cluster is a territory question, covered in choosing a market to operate in. The structural rules covering all surcharges and discount authority sit in the pricing and profit guide.

Common questions

Why are there no dollar figures in the example?

Because they would be wrong. Labor cost, drive distance, water access and vehicle mix all move the number, and a figure that looks authoritative is more damaging than none.

How long should a quote stay valid?

Long enough for a customer to decide, short enough that your costs have not moved. Many operators use weeks rather than months.

Should I quote without seeing the vehicle?

You can quote a range from good photographs, but state that it is a range and that the tier is confirmed on arrival. That is what the worse-than-described clause is for.

Do I need a signature?

You need recorded acceptance. An email reply confirming the quote number and total is usually enough, and it beats a verbal agreement remembered differently later.