At our shop in Wexford, the cost to detail a car starts at $100 for an Express Wash & Vac and runs to $520 for a Showroom Premium Detail on a sedan, with the full interior and exterior Signature Full Detail starting at $290. Prices vary a lot from shop to shop, so the honest answer to “how much does car detailing cost” starts with publishing our own numbers, and that is what this post does.

Cost to detail a car at our shop

Here is the cost to detail a car at Wexford Detail, by package and vehicle size. These are starting prices; the final price depends on size and condition, and every price is also listed on our services page.

Package	Sedan	SUV	Truck and Van
Express Wash & Vac	$100	$110	$120
Exterior Detail	$160	$180	$200
Interior Detail	$185	$210	$235
Signature Full Detail	$290	$320	$360
Showroom Premium Detail	$520	$580	$645

The Signature Full Detail is the one most people mean when they say “get my car detailed”: complete interior, complete exterior, engine bay wipe down. It is our most popular service. If only one half of the car needs help, the Exterior Detail or Interior Detail alone costs less, and the Express Wash & Vac is upkeep between real details.

Why car detailing costs what it does

Detailing is priced almost entirely on labor. A full detail is four to six hours of one person’s focused work, plus professional extractors, steamers, machine polishers, and chemicals that cost real money. When you divide the price by the hours, most good detailers are earning a fair skilled-trade wage, not a windfall.

That is also why quotes vary. Three things move the number more than anything else:

Vehicle size. Our Signature Full Detail is $290 for a sedan, $320 for an SUV, and $360 for a truck or van. More surface area, more seats, more time.
Condition. A well-kept commuter and a kid-hauler with two years of spills are not the same job. Heavy pet hair, stains, or embedded grime add hours, so shops price them as add-ons or adjust at inspection.
What is included. Two shops’ “full details” at very different prices are usually not the same service. The cheaper one is often skipping the shampoo, the clay bar, or the hours.

Add-on pricing

Add-ons cover condition problems that only some cars have, which keeps base prices honest for everyone else. Ours run:

Carpet and upholstery shampoo: $65
Pet hair removal: $100 per hour
Odor and ozone treatment: $50
Stain and spot removal: $45
Leather clean and condition: $45
Clay bar treatment: $65
Headlight restoration: $85 per pair
Engine bay cleaning: $70

If a shop quotes you a low base price and then stacks four mandatory add-ons, that is really just a higher base price. Ask what the package includes before comparing numbers.

Paint correction and coatings are a different budget

Once you move from cleaning to paint work, pricing steps up because the labor steps up. At our shop, one step paint correction starts at $285, two step correction starts at $605, three step starts at $1,095, and ceramic coatings start at $520 for a 3 year coating. These are “from” prices confirmed at inspection because paint condition varies wildly. Whether that spend makes sense depends on how long you plan to keep the car and how much you care about the paint; a good shop will tell you when the answer is no.

Where you can safely spend less

We would rather tell you this than have you overspend: not every car needs the big package. If your vehicle gets regular care, an Express Wash & Vac at $100 keeps it maintained between deeper details. A lease you are returning in six months probably does not need paint correction. And if you only care about the inside, book the Interior Detail alone at $185 instead of paying for exterior work you do not value.

The reverse is also true. If the car has gone years without attention, a cheap wash will not touch the real problems, and you will have spent money without solving anything. Match the service to the car’s actual condition. Our post on how often you should detail your car covers how to keep costs down over the long run with the right cadence.