That “steady” dealer or fleet contract feels safe — but is it quietly killing your profit? Enter the numbers and see your real profit per hour. Sometimes the most profitable move is firing a client.
Estimates based on what you enter — for guidance only. Add your true chemical and labor costs for the most honest picture.
Retail customers who call you are worth more than most fleet work, and they are the easiest of all to lose. We text them back automatically the moment you cannot pick up.
See how it works →How to tell if a volume detailing contract is making or costing you money — the questions detailers ask before signing (or firing) a fleet account.
Compare revenue to the real cost to service it. Take price per car × cars per period for revenue, then subtract chemicals per car and labor (hours × wage). Divide the profit by the hours the work takes — that's your profit per hour on the contract.
If it's below what you'd make on retail work, the 'steady' contract is quietly costing you. The calculator above shows this the moment you enter your numbers.
Volume accounts get a lower per-car price than retail — but there's a floor. Price so that, after chemicals and labor, you still clear a profit per hour close to your target (often $50–$80/hr for volume work). Never price a contract just to keep the bays full; full bays at a loss shrink the business.
Because the per-car price looks fine but time and chemicals eat it. Twenty cars a week at $25 sounds like $500, but if each takes 45 minutes and $3 of product, the real profit per hour can fall far below retail — and it ties up bays you could use for high-margin work.
If a contract clears well under your target per hour and there's no room to renegotiate price or volume, yes — firing it frees bays, chemicals, and labor for better-paying jobs. Run the numbers here first: sometimes a small price bump fixes it, sometimes it's genuinely dragging you down.
