Every price I publish is a starting price. This post lists what each service starts at, what can push a job above that, and how I settle on your number before I pick up a tool. It's the plain answer to how much mobile detailing costs when I'm the one coming to you in the Sacramento area.
Starting prices, service by service
- Full detail, inside and out: from $380 for a midsize vehicle
- Interior detail: from $200
- Exterior detail: from $200
- One-step paint correction: from $275
- Ceramic coating: from $800 for a newer midsize vehicle, or from $1,000 for a large SUV or truck
- RV exterior detail: from $300, and an RV wash from $110
- Boat exterior detail: from $250
Read each of those as the floor. On cars, trucks and SUVs, the vehicle's size and condition set where the final number lands. On RVs and boats, the scope of the job counts as well.
I do this work where the vehicle already sits, at your home or your office, so there's no drop-off. You don't supply anything. The truck carries a generator and a water tank that holds up to 300 gallons. If there's an outlet I can use, I ask first.
What moves the price: size, condition and scope
Size. On a full detail, SUVs with a third row and other full-size vehicles usually take me an extra 30 to 60 minutes compared with a midsize. Lifted and custom trucks get priced one at a time, because some of them need underbody work.
Condition. Heavy pet hair and tired paint both stretch a job. A heavily soiled interior takes me about 2.5 hours, against about an hour and a half for a normal one. Older, set-in stains take more work than fresh ones. On paint, heavier swirling means more correction, and the price rises with it.
Scope. This is simply what you want done. Only the inside, only the outside, or both. One stage of paint correction or more than one, where every extra stage adds about an hour. A few extras are quoted on top when you ask for them: machine waxing as an upgrade on the hand wax that comes with a detail, hard-water removal on glass, and work on faded trim.
Whatever it is, you hear about it before I start. Never after.
Travel fees may apply depending on location and service, and will be confirmed with your quote.
## Paint correction is separate from ceramicI'll be direct about this one. A ceramic coating price covers the prep and the coating. It doesn't include paint correction.
The prep does include a light polish, but that polish only gets the surface ready to take the coating. If your paint has swirls or scratches you want gone, correcting them is a separate job, and its cost is added on top of the coating price.
On a newer vehicle with healthy paint, that often isn't needed at all. On older paint it usually is, and often at least two stages. Correction is also separate from any detail package, so a full detail ends with a hand wax, not a polish that takes out defects. My paint correction and ceramic coating pages go into what each one involves.
How I work out your price
Most of the time I can quote over the phone from what you tell me: the year, make and model, roughly what shape it's in, and the work you want. For paint work, photos help a lot. I can estimate correction from them, but I need to see the paint in person to confirm it.
On the day, we start with a walk around the vehicle together. You show me what bothers you. I tell you which marks and stains I think will come out, which will improve without disappearing, and anything that can't be fully fixed. If something would add to the job, that conversation happens right there, before I begin.
When we're done, I take all payment types.
RVs, boats and company vehicles
RVs and boats aren't priced by the foot. I price each one as a job, by its size, its condition and the scope you want. The starting prices above are where those jobs begin. See RV detailing for what an RV wash covers compared with an exterior detail.
Company vehicles don't have a published price. Every fleet account is set up for what that business needs, from a regular wash to a full detail when a vehicle changes hands, and billing can go on an invoice with Net 30 terms or a card. The fleet detailing page explains how those accounts work.
If you'd like a number for your own vehicle, send the year, make and model, where it's parked and a few photos through the quote request form. For the full inside-and-outside service, start with my full car detail page.