A Guide to Maximizing Your Profit Potential Through Price
As a car detailing business owner in Missouri, one of the biggest challenges you face is determining your prices. Setting the right prices plays a crucial role in increasing revenue and ensuring your success. The key to maximizing profit is having a pricing strategy that is data-based and research-driven.
It’s important to acquire in-depth knowledge of your competition. Your competition is not only limited to your town – it also includes competition from detailers across your state and country. The data in this article will look at car detailing prices in Missouri, providing insight into standard industry rates.
Average Car Detailing Prices in Missouri
The average price of detailing in Missouri is $248, which is significantly higher than the national average of $160.16. That means detailers in other states have the opportunity to increase prices because customers are willing to pay more.
Most and Least Expensive Cities
Saint Joseph is the least expensive city across the board with a low average price of $137. Even the high average price in Saint Joseph is below $200. Saint Charles, Saint Louis, and Kansas City are close behind with low prices below $200.
Lee’s Summit has the highest average price at $346 and had the highest prices overall. Independence and O’Fallon also have high prices in the $300 range. This means other cities in Missouri have the opportunity to drive prices up.
Range of Car Detailing Prices in Missouri
Akron, Ohio has the lowest range in prices with the average price between $187 and $218. Canton and Dayton come in close second, with prices in the mid $200 range. Detailing businesses in Akron, Canton, and Dayton have the opportunity to up their prices. These numbers may also reflect on the kinds of clients that live in these cities.
Though Independence has the second-highest prices, they also have the greatest range. The average low price in Independence is only $184, with the average high price clocking at a hefty $333. It may be hard for customers to justify spending almost twice as much when they can find a better price. That is why it’s so important to look at local pricing.
Saint Charles and Chesterfield also had a great range in price. The low and high prices in Saint Charles differ by over $100. Not only would detailers in these cities benefit from higher prices, but it would also create more consistency industry-wide.
Cities like Columbia and Saint Joseph are more consistent in their pricing. Columbia offers services priced within the $200 range. Saint Joseph’s prices, on the other hand, don’t exceed the $100 range. Most detailers in Missouri are charging at least $200. This means car detailers in Saint Joseph would benefit from increasing prices to align with the rest of the state.
Maximize Profit with Variable-Based Pricing
| City | Low | Medium | High |
| Kansa City | $191 | $225 | $281 |
| Saint Louis | $187 | $239 | $284 |
| Columbia | $215 | $245 | $287 |
| Independence | $184 | $290 | $333 |
| Lee’s Summit | $254 | $325 | $346 |
| O’Fallon | $260 | $289 | $319 |
| Saint Joseph | $137 | $160 | $199 |
| Saint Charles | $150 | $235 | $280 |
| Florissant | $230 | $267 | $303 |
| Chesterfield | $196 | $230 | $296 |
Earn More With Variable-Based Pricing
Some of the cities that charged higher rates include upcharges for certain variables. This includes additional charges for pet hair, caked-on mud, and the general condition of the vehicle.
We highly recommend variable-based pricing so you don’t charge the same price for cars in completely different conditions. Mobile Tech RX provides tools and resources to help detailing and auto recon professionals create perfect estimates. Learn more about the #1 app for detailing and how you can grow your business with Mobile Tech RX.
The Bottom Line
Local competition is important to consider when determining prices for your business. However, creating a benchmark with the prices in your state, rather than just the city, will help you maximize profit. It’s also important to continue checking competitors’ pricing as inflation and population changes occur. Align your prices as trends in the industry change. Using technology to your advantage can help you adjust prices as needed.
Research Methodology
To pull numbers for this report, we used data from Yelp to find the low, medium, and high prices for auto detailing in cities in the state of Missouri. The cities are listed in descending order by population size, where data was available.
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