mileage

w/ the high gas prices i was wondering what you guys charge for mileage? Flat rate? per mile? if so how much per mile is fair? ive never been real clear on this one. i dont want to look like i gouging the customer but i dont want to be shorted for my travel time ,gas and time out of the shop. I am in the midwest so anyone in the midwest that could respond would be a great help. thank fellow tinters!~

im a delivery driver pt time for a detroit magazine company. The mileage i get paid for them is $.39/mile.

id factor in roughly .50 a mile if you are trying to get money for it. but i definitely wouldnt show the customer that you are including that. alot of people would blow you off just because of it

I quietly build it into the price. I don't break down the charges on the invoice anyways.

For mobile auto I charge a flat fee depending on where they are. This range is this much, etc.

you guys better hope customers arent reading these threads

believe me, they are! LOL

Quietly indeed. But if they start , you gotta let 'em know the score!

Well, luckily I get 40 mpg so I don't have too charge much. =)

But 90% of my business comes from 45 to 90 miles away and I'm just used to driving that far.

$0.06 a square foot can pay for it most of the time. =) I love having a fuel efficient beater.

If it's outside of a 30 mile radius I charge .40 per mile shop to shop. I've even started charging a small charge for estimates outside of a 40 mile radius. Of course, it's applied to the job if they go with me. But then with the Bravada, mileage sux big time!!!

If you keep a mileage log, you can write it off on yer taxes.2006 tax year was 48.5 cents per mile.

Just out of sheer nosiness, do a lot of you charge for estimates?

the vast majority of us do not but I am sure there are some that do

I don't... so I try to group things together if possible... do an est. after I get done a job that's in the same area. Doesn't always work out... but I try.
I had one guy call me today who was 15 min from where I was tinting, but he was at work so I had to set it up for another day.

Some days you win...

-R

So you don't have a full time sales person I take it?

Hey Roach keep in mind. If the bids close to where your working but the customer won't be home, sometimes you can measure a job from the outside, easy to screw up measurements doing it that way though. Big fat max tape measure is a must too.

-SF

Sure. Me. I do it all... sales, service, installs, etc. I'm a one man band!


Steelfly - I few weeks ago I did some homes in a development and this guy calls to get a price for his home. Unfortunately he had to go to the docs at the last min and I was already at his house. I had the paperwork from the other homes I did, which had the same windows so I was able to just leave everything for him. (Which he had asked me to do when I called to see where he was)

Oddly enough, he hasn't returned any of my calls yet.. But he has samples, prices, and his neighbor has their windows tinted so he can see what it actually looks like after install.

I don't charge for estimates.

If I can get INSIDE their house.....typically I get a sale.

It's when I give a price over the phone that I never hear back from them.

were all a bunch of stupid tinters that are afraid to charge for estimates, hey if your toilet breaks or your sink backs up you know what, the plummer will charge you 79.95 for the house call 5 minutes later he has the stoppage all cleared, might even charge you 19.95 for the work he did and then hand you a bill for 99.90 plus tax. we drive many miles for estimates and don't charge a dime why is that?

[quote]were all a bunch of stupid tinters that are afraid to charge for estimates, hey if your toilet breaks or your sink backs up you know what, the plummer will charge you 79.95 for the house call 5 minutes later he has the stoppage all cleared, might even charge you 19.95 for the work he did and then hand you a bill for 99.90 plus tax. we drive many miles for estimates and don't charge a dime why is that?

As a tinter we are not a necessity we are a luxury. Customer service.

Exactly Mharland!!!
We are indeed in a luxury industry.

When was the last time any window film installer was called out on an emergency job at midnight, like a plumber would have been if the basement was flooding because of a broken pipe...

Which reminds me... Emergency service calls of all kinds negate an increase in price. When you plop yourself into the dentist's chair because your impacted wisdom tooth is hurting like it is about to penetrate through your cheekbone; you don't really give a flying monkey's hiney what the invoice is going to say, now do you? LOL

every year the saturday & sunday before the SEMA show

Admit it. It is not the same kind of emergency...

no its not, but with some of the shops I do work for, you'd think it was worse than having no ac, or the shiatter backed up and over flowing