Detailing Guides

How Much Does Car Detailing Cost?

What detailing actually costs, taken from the published price lists of detailing shops across the country - by service, by city, and mobile versus shop. Updated as shops publish their prices.

Do You Tip Car Detailers?

Every guide says some number between 10 and 20 percent, and nearly every one of them is written by a detailing shop. Here is what detailers say among themselves, what the percentage comes to on real published prices, and when a tip is the wrong thank-you.

How to Get a Smell Out of Your Car

Smoke, weed, damp, mildew, spilled milk, the dog. What removes each smell rather than covering it, what detailers say among themselves about the jobs that come back, and what an interior detail costs - priced from shops that publish their rates.

How Much Does Ceramic Coating Cost?

What a ceramic coating actually costs, read from the published prices of detailing shops across the country - what the entry package buys, why one quote is triple another, and the preparation work that is most of any coating bill.