Pricing by Vehicle Type: Sedan, SUV, and Pickup Should Not Cost the Same
A sign with one price looks simple and bills poorly. An SUV is not “a taller sedan”: it brings more surface, more bay time, and more shampoo. Charge it the same and Saturday feels full while margin does not show up. This guide builds the ladder the counter charges every day — sedan/compact, SUV, pickup, and truck — with an MXN example, the math for when the premium covers cost, and the sentence that makes the customer see size, not a penalty.
If you are still choosing service, package, or membership, start with the . That article defines the model. This one defines the size jump inside each service.
Flat pricing gives the bay away to the larger vehicle
A wash is billed by body, not by “a car.” Three things change with size, and all three cost money:
Minutes in the bay
A basic sedan fits in about 18 minutes. An SUV runs ~25. A pickup, because of the bed and the height, is around 32. Those minutes do not wash the next customer.
Chemical and water
More surface needs more shampoo, more wheel degreaser, and, on a pickup, extra product on the bed. It is not double, and it is not “the same.”
The slot you already used
Twelve SUVs on a Saturday are more than an hour of bay time versus twelve sedans. If the price does not rise, you gave that time away and spent more soap.
Example table: basic and full wash in MXN
These numbers are an example for a mid-size car wash in Mexico in 2026, not a national rate card. Use them to see the proportion. Basic is exterior (wash and dry). Full adds the interior. Time is for the basic wash, to anchor the ladder.
| Type | Basic | Full | Basic time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Motorcycle | $90 | $140 | 8 min |
| Sedan / compact | $180 | $280 | 18 min |
| SUV | $250 | $390 | 25 min |
| Pickup / van | $310 | $460 | 32 min |
| Truck | $400 | $620 | 40 min |
The practical rule: the price percentage should look like the time percentage. From 18 to 25 minutes is about 40% more bay, and $180 to $250 is almost the same jump. A “+$20 because it is an SUV” does not pay for the 7 minutes or the extra shampoo. From sedan to pickup, time rises more (18 to 32 minutes): that is why basic goes from $180 to $310, not to $200.
Sedan and compact share a cell on purpose. A subcompact and a mid-size sedan differ by a couple of minutes. Splitting them on the sign trains a counter argument (“it is a compact”). The jump that pays is SUV, pickup, and truck. In Brilloo that first step is one price: Sedan/Compact.
When the SUV premium covers time and chemical
Take the example basic wash and a teaching variable cost (this is not your payroll: measure it at your shop). Loaded labor at $1.50 MXN per minute, plus chemical and consumables.
Sedan / compact · $180
- 18 min × $1.50 = $27 labor
- Chemical and consumables: $23
- Variable cost: $50 · contribution: $130
SUV · $250
- 25 min × $1.50 ≈ $38 labor
- Chemical and consumables: $33
- Variable cost: $71 · contribution: $179
The price jump is $70. The cost jump is about $21 (7 minutes and more soap). About $49 remains per SUV. Had you charged $180, contribution falls to $109: less than a sedan, in more time. The example pickup costs about $88 variable against a $310 price: the $130 premium versus the sedan leaves about $92 after soap and bed minutes.
A Saturday of 36 basic washes — 20 sedan/compact, 12 SUVs, and 4 pickups — bills $6,480 if everything is $180. With the ladder it bills $7,840. That is $1,360 more (+21%) without an extra car. Of that $1,360, about $400 is extra soap and minutes. About $960 stays. The shop did not “wash more.” It stopped subsidizing size.
The menu has to say size, not penalty
Customers accept the jump when they see the same service list and size columns. They reject it when the cashier “adds it on” at the end, as if the SUV were a fine. Three rules for the sign and the public page:
Same service row, several columns
“Basic wash” on the left. Sedan $180, SUV $250, pickup $310 on the right. The customer compares size instead of discovering a surcharge.
One sentence, not a percentage
On the sign: “Price follows size: more body, more time, and more product.” Skip “+40% for a large vehicle.” A percentage sounds like a penalty; minutes and soap sound like work.
The counter sentence, before the wash
“The sedan is $180. The SUV is the same wash, with more surface: $250.” Say it when you receive the car, not at payment. If the price shows up on the ticket for the first time, it feels negotiable.
Do not apologize for size. “It is a bit more because it is an SUV” invites haggling. “It is the same wash, with more surface” closes the conversation on the work, not on a discount.
Packages, promotions, and memberships inherit the ladder
A $249 combo for every body is a disguised discount on the SUV. The package has to repeat the ladder, or be built from services that already have it. The covers counter checkout; vehicle-type price is what keeps the combo from “including” the pickup for free.
Twenty percent off everything takes $36 off the sedan and $50 off the SUV. The vehicle that already costs you more time gets the larger peso discount, and it eats the size jump. Prefer a fixed amount on an add-on, as in . A flat percent flattens the ladder.
Memberships too. A plan sold for a sedan should not redeem on a pickup: the $0 redemption costs you the large-vehicle time. In Brilloo the plan limits allowed vehicle types. If you are about to launch one, cross this ladder with the .
What happens to break-even and to what the shop “earns”
If the mix shifts toward SUVs and pickups and the price stays at $180, variable cost per ticket rises and you need more washes to cover rent. Recalculate with the using the real mixed ticket, not the sedan price. The ranges in assume an average ticket. A shop full of pickups at sedan prices looks busy and bills like a smaller one.
Measure your own mix for a week: count sedan/compact, SUV, and pickup, and the real time of ten of each. If your SUV takes 22 minutes and not 25, lower the jump. If the pickup runs to 40, raise it. The table above is the starting proportion, not yours.
How to make Brilloo charge it for you
The POS already distinguishes five types. You do not need a separate service per size: on each catalog service you enable the type and set its price.
- On the service: Motorcycle, Sedan/Compact, SUV, Van, and Truck. Turn off the ones you do not wash. The full wash is another service (or the same level with its own ladder), not an off-the-cuff add-on.
- Activate the service on the branch. If it exists in the catalog and not at the bay, the counter cannot charge it.
- When checking out a counter customer, pick the type before you close. The default is sedan/compact. Leaving it on a pickup means charging $180 for a $310 job.
- On the public page you can group the menu by vehicle type, so booking shows the same ladder as the sign.
Mistakes that flatten margin
One price “to avoid arguments”
The argument goes away, and so does margin. The SUV customer learns that size does not matter and comes back with the pickup.
Splitting compact and sedan on the sign
The one-minute gap does not pay for the fight. Keep them together and spend the energy on SUV and pickup.
A +$20 “because it looks big”
It does not cover the minutes. If you do not want to measure, use at least the same percentage as the extra time. 40% more bay, about 40% more price.
Leaving the default type on a walk-in
Sedan/compact is the starting point for a fast checkout, not the rate for everything that pulls in. Change it before you close the sale.
Conclusion
Charging the sedan and the SUV the same is a discount nobody asked for. In the example, the 36-car Saturday bills $1,360 more with the ladder, and most of that jump is not soap: it is the bay the larger vehicle already used. Publish sedan/compact, SUV, and pickup on the same row, say it when you receive the car, and let the POS charge the right type. Size margin is defended on the menu, not in an apology at the end of the ticket.
Ready to charge size automatically?
Try Brilloo for 30 days: a price per vehicle type on each service, per-branch activation, and counter checkout with the type you pick. The sign and the ticket say the same thing.