What the Sacramento market looks like
If you ring around Sacramento, Roseville, Elk Grove and the rest of the valley, the numbers land in fairly predictable bands:
- Maintenance wash and quick refresh — roughly $75 to $150. A proper hand wash, wheels and tires, a wipe-down inside. Not a detail.
- Interior detail on its own — roughly $150 to $300.
- Exterior detail on its own — roughly $150 to $350.
- Full interior and exterior — roughly $250 to $500.
- Paint correction and ceramic coating — $500 and up, often well past $1,000.
Our base prices sit at the bottom of the full-detail band, and they are not introductory rates that quietly climb later. A sedan is $250, an SUV is $300, a truck is $350, and that includes the whole car inside and out, done by hand.
The three things that actually move the price
1. How big the vehicle is
This one is obvious and it is the only part we charge for automatically. A three-row SUV has more carpet, more glass, more panels and more seats than a Civic. A truck has more of everything again. That is the whole reason for the $250 / $300 / $350 split.
2. What is actually in the car
Dust and road grime are normal and included. What costs extra is anything that has to be pulled out of the fibres rather than wiped off the surface: ground-in food, spilled drinks, pet hair woven into the carpet, smoke, a smell that has settled into the headliner. A car that has carried kids through several school years is a different job from a car that has carried one adult to the office and back, even if they look similar in the photos.
3. How far you want to go on the paint
A hand wash and a wax make a car look clean and keep it that way for a month or two. Paint correction removes the swirls and the dullness that have built up over years, and a ceramic coating locks the result in for a lot longer. These are genuinely different amounts of work, which is why the gap between a $250 detail and a $900 one is so wide.
What the base price already includes
No upsell hidden in here. Every detail we do, at every price, includes:
- Full vacuum — seats, carpets, trunk, under the seats, the seat rails
- Dash, console, door panels and all the trim wiped down
- Vents and interior glass
- Floor mats cleaned
- Two-bucket hand wash outside
- Wheels, tires and wheel wells cleaned and dressed
- Exterior glass, door jambs, a tidy finish
The add-ons, and when each one is worth it
These are the real prices, and we tell you the number before we start, not after.
- Steam and deep cleaning — $100. For anything that has dried on and bonded: door pockets, cup holders, seat stitching, the gap between the seat and the console. Worth it on any car that has been lived in rather than driven.
- Carpet and seat shampoo — $150. Hot water extraction, which pulls what is in the fibres back out instead of pushing it deeper. This is the one that fixes stains and smells. If you only add one thing to a family car, add this.
- Pet hair removal — $50 to $100. Price depends on the dog, honestly. Short bristly hair woven into cloth seats takes a lot longer than a labrador's shed on leather.
- Odor removal — $120. For smoke, milk, gym bags, anything the shampoo alone will not finish off.
- Wax polish — from $100. Gloss and a couple of months of protection. Good value on a car in decent shape.
- Paint correction — from $400. Multi-stage machine polishing to remove swirls and oxidation. This is a real restoration, not a shine.
- Ceramic coating — from $600. Long-term protection. Only makes sense on paint that has been corrected first, or paint that is already close to perfect.
- Headlight restoration — $120. Cheap next to new headlights, and it is a safety thing as much as a looks thing.
- Engine bay detailing — $80. Mostly for people selling the car or showing it.
Three worked examples
Take these as a way to estimate your own car, not as quotes.
The commuter sedan, kept reasonably tidy
Base sedan detail, nothing added. $250. This is the most common booking we get, and for a lot of cars it is genuinely all that is needed. If someone tells you your tidy commuter needs a $700 package, be suspicious.
The family SUV after a few school years
$300 base, plus $100 steam and deep cleaning, plus $150 carpet and seat shampoo. $550. This is the car with crumbs in the seat rails and something sticky in a cup holder, and this combination is what actually resets it. Add pet hair removal if there is a dog, and you are at $600 to $650.
The car somebody cares about
$250 base, plus $400 paint correction, plus $600 ceramic coating. $1,250. The high end, and worth it on the right car — not on a lease you hand back in eight months.
Does mobile cost more than a shop?
It should not, and with us it does not. We charge the same price in Roseville, Davis, Elk Grove, Vacaville and everywhere else we work, with no travel charge, because the driving is our cost of doing business and not yours. What you save is the half-day you would otherwise spend dropping the car off, arranging a lift home, and going back for it.
Two cars on one street, $30 off each
Once our van is parked on your street, the second car costs us almost nothing in driving or setup, so we pass that back. Two or more vehicles at the same address, or anywhere on the same block, on the same day, and each one comes down by $30. Both family cars, you and the neighbor over the fence, three houses that agreed on a Saturday — any combination works.
What about the $60 wash?
A $60 drive-through wash and a $250 detail are not competing products. The wash moves the dirt off the outside of the paint and gets you through the week. A detail cleans what you sit in, pulls out what is in the carpet, and treats the paint properly. Both are reasonable things to buy. Just do not expect one to do the other's job, and be wary of anyone advertising a "full detail" at wash prices — the time it takes to do the work properly has a floor, and that floor is not $60.
How to get an accurate number before anyone turns up
Text us a few photos: the driver's footwell, the back seat, the trunk, and one of the whole car from the front corner. We will tell you what we would do and what it costs, and we will tell you when the base detail is enough. We would rather talk you out of an add-on you do not need than sell it to you and have you feel it afterwards.
Common questions
How much is a full detail in Sacramento?
Across the Sacramento area a full interior and exterior detail generally runs $250 to $500 depending on vehicle size and condition. Our base prices are $250 for a sedan, $300 for an SUV and $350 for a truck, with add-ons priced separately and quoted before we start.
Is mobile detailing more expensive than a detail shop?
Not with us. We charge the same prices everywhere we work and there is no travel charge for Sacramento, Roseville, Rocklin, Davis, Elk Grove, Vacaville, Fairfield or anywhere in between.
How long does a full detail take?
A base interior and exterior detail usually takes a few hours. Adding steam cleaning, a carpet and seat shampoo, paint correction or a ceramic coating extends it, and we tell you the realistic window when we quote.
Do you need my driveway, water and power?
We arrive self-contained with our own water and power, so a normal driveway or parking spot is all we need. If it happens to be easier to use your outside tap, we will ask first. In an apartment complex, moving the car to a spot with a bit of room is usually enough.
Can I get a discount for two cars?
Yes. Two or more vehicles at the same address or on the same block, on the same day, and each one comes down by $30.
Text us a few photos
Driver's footwell, back seat, trunk, and one of the whole car from the front corner. We will tell you what we would do and what it costs — including when the base detail is all you need.