Mobile car detailers

Magpie books your details at the customer's address and keeps time free to drive between them. It takes the deposit for a coating and bills the rest by card.

Your bookings, quotes, customers and receipts are in your own Magpie account. A second detailer can join you in a team.

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Gleam & Go’s Appointments overview: the booking page’s address, today’s full detail and interior detail, and this week’s washes, details and a ceramic coating, each with its customer.

This combination of six Magpie areas fits a mobile detailer.

Appointments
Appointments gives customers a page to book an interior, exterior or full detail at their address.
Forms
Forms takes a quote request with photos of the paint and the car's size.
Proposals
Proposals quotes paint correction and a ceramic coating as packages, signed with a deposit.
Invoicing
Invoicing bills each detail with a Pay online link the customer opens on their phone.
Contacts
Contacts keeps each customer's cars and the follow-up for their next maintenance wash.
Expenses
Expenses keeps the receipts for products and fuel, photographed at the till.

Customers book a detail at their address, at times you are free.

Appointments gives you a booking page with your services. An interior detail, a full detail and a maintenance wash each have a price. The service says that you come to the car, and customers book without signing up first.

A buffer after each booking keeps time free to drive to the next car. The page offers only the times your hours and calendar leave free. A minimum notice stops same-hour bookings. A confirmation email lets the customer move or cancel.

Gleam & Go’s public booking page for a full detail: four hours at the customer’s address, its price, and the free times to book it.

A quote request arrives with photos of the paint and the car's size.

Forms builds your quote request: the car's make and size, the work wanted, where it is. A File question takes a photo of the swirls or the stain. The Form asks whether there is water and power within reach.

Each request is emailed to you, and the responses are kept in one list. You answer with a booking or a proposal.

Gleam & Go’s quote request form in the builder: the car’s make and size, what the customer wants done, where it is parked, whether water and power are within reach, and when.

Paint correction and a coating are quoted as packages, signed with a deposit.

Proposals sets out the correction stages and the coating as packages, each with its price. Optional lines add the wheels or the glass. The customer chooses, signs on the page and pays the deposit by card.

You see when the proposal is opened, and how long each section is read. The balance is invoiced when the car is done.

Priya Desai’s proposal page from Gleam & Go: the cover, the correction and coating packages to choose from, the wheels and glass as add-ons, and the total in a bar at the foot of the screen.

You bill the detail on the drive, and the customer pays by card on their phone.

Invoicing bills each detail with lines for the service and any extras, and your tax rates. Sending it emails the PDF with a Pay online button. The invoice's payment link can be sent another way, such as a text.

Card payments go to your own Stripe account, with no Magpie fee. Cash or a bank transfer is recorded by hand.

Each customer's cars are on their page, with a follow-up for the next wash.

Contacts keeps each customer with their address. A pinned note holds their cars: the make, the colour and the plate. Their page lists every booking, proposal and invoice.

A follow-up is a To-do with a date and a reason. One reason is a maintenance wash three months after a coating. Follow-ups lists every open one as Overdue, Today or Upcoming.

Gleam & Go’s follow-ups: maintenance washes due after coatings, a fleet quote to chase and a headlight check, grouped as Overdue, Today and Upcoming with the day each is due.

Every receipt for products and fuel is photographed at the till.

Expenses keeps each receipt, photographed on your phone. A receipt can wait in Receipt Inbox until you add its details. Categories such as Products and Fuel total what the month cost.

An expense can belong to a customer, such as a trim clip bought for their car. It goes on their invoice as a line.

Gleam & Go’s expenses: this week’s products, fuel and a trim clip bought for a customer’s car, each with its receipt and category.

Six more areas cover your hours, your kit, the van's stock, your card and the books.

Time Tracking
Time Tracking runs a timer on each job, so you know what a full detail takes.
Asset Tracker
Asset Tracker keeps the polisher, the pressure washer and the generator. It records when one is in for repair.
Inventory
Inventory counts the chemicals, pads and towels in the van, and lists what to reorder.
QR Codes
QR Codes makes a code for your card or the van that opens your booking page. It can point somewhere else later.
Social Media
Social Media schedules your before-and-after photos, cropped for Instagram around the point you choose.
Accounting
Accounting adds each invoice, deposit and card payment to the books, with your receipts beside them.

A ceramic coating goes from the quote request to the follow-up wash.

Each step starts from what the one before it made.

  1. The request

    The customer sends photos of the paint and the car's size on your Form.

  2. The proposal

    They choose the correction and the coating, sign, and pay the deposit.

  3. The booking

    The day goes in Appointments, with time kept to drive there and back.

  4. The job

    A timer runs while you work, and the receipt for the coating is in Expenses.

  5. The invoice

    The balance is invoiced when the car is done, and paid by card on the drive.

  6. The follow-up

    A follow-up in three months reminds you to offer the maintenance wash.

Setting up takes four steps.

  1. Set up your booking page

    You choose Home services, add your details as services and set a buffer to drive. Help: Set up Appointments.

  2. Add your price list

    You add the correction stages, the coatings and the extras you quote. Help: Proposal starters, saved sections and the price list.

  3. Add your customers

    You add each customer with their address and a note for their cars. Help: Keep a contact list.

  4. Connect Stripe

    You connect your Stripe account, so customers can pay by card. Help: Connect Stripe to receive money.

Plans

A detailer working alone fits Pro, for your own work in Personal. The free plan includes 5 invoices a month, 5 proposals and 100 contacts, and Pro has no limit.

Magpie adds no fee to invoices or deposits. Stripe's processing fee is taken from each card payment. Prices are on the Pricing page.

Other businesses that come to the customer have pages of their own.

Cleaning companies

A cleaning company schedules cleaners at each client's site and bills every month.

Personal chefs

A personal chef books cook days at clients' homes and bills them with the groceries.

Questions mobile detailers ask

Can customers book a detail online?

Yes. Your booking page lists your services with their length and price. A customer picks a day and a time your hours leave free. They enter a name and an email address. They book without signing up first, and get a confirmation email.

Can I offer an interior, an exterior and a full detail at different prices?

Yes. Each service has its own length and price. A two-hour interior and a four-hour full detail are two services. A service can be switched off for the winter without losing its bookings.

Can customers book me at their home or workplace?

Yes. A service's location can say that you come to the car. The address is on your quote request and on the customer's contact. A buffer after each booking keeps time free to drive to the next one.

Can I stop same-day bookings?

Yes. A minimum notice sets how soon before a start time a detail can still be booked. A maximum range sets how far ahead. Both are in the booking rules every booking follows.

Can a customer move or cancel a booking themselves?

Yes. The confirmation email has a link to choose another free time or to cancel. Once the notice you set has begun, the link asks them to contact you instead.

Will my own plans block my booking page?

Yes. A time is offered only when your calendar is free. An event you put in Calendar, or answered Going to, takes that time off the page.

Can customers send photos of the paint before I quote?

Yes. Your quote request Form can take a photo or a PDF of up to 10 MB. Only the people who can see the Form's responses can open it.

How do I quote paint correction and a coating?

You send a proposal with packages: a one-stage correction, a two-stage one, or correction and coating. Optional lines add the wheels or the glass. The customer chooses, signs on the page and pays the deposit by card.

Can I take a deposit for a coating?

Yes. The proposal's payment schedule starts with a deposit, invoiced when the customer accepts. They pay it by card into your own Stripe account. The balance is invoiced when you bill it.

Can customers pay me on the drive?

Yes. Each invoice has a payment link. The invoice's page shows it, so you can send it another way. The customer pays by card on their own phone. The payment is recorded on the invoice.

What does Magpie take from a card payment?

Magpie adds no fee. Stripe's processing fee is taken from each payment. The rest goes to your own Stripe account, and Stripe pays it out to your bank.

Can I add HST or VAT to my invoices?

Yes. Invoicing has named tax rates, such as HST or VAT, each with a percentage. Each line uses one of them or no tax. A combined rate such as GST + PST shows each tax on its own line.

Can I keep each customer's cars and plate numbers?

Yes. A customer's contact holds their address. A pinned note stays at the top with the make, the colour and the plate. Their page lists every booking, proposal and invoice.

Can I remind myself to offer a maintenance wash?

Yes. A follow-up on the contact has a date and a reason. It is a To-do with the usual reminders. Follow-ups lists every open one as Overdue, Today or Upcoming.

Can I keep receipts for products and fuel without paper?

Yes. You photograph each receipt on your phone, up to 10 MB each. Totals export as CSV, with the receipts as a ZIP file.

Can I charge a customer for something I bought for their car?

Yes. You mark the expense as reimbursable and choose the customer. Add unbilled expenses then puts it on their next invoice as a line. It is marked billed when the invoice is issued.

Can I track my hours on a job?

Yes. A timer runs on the job's project, at its rate. It keeps going if you close the browser. You can also add time afterwards, such as 3h 30m.

Can I keep track of my polisher and pressure washer?

Yes. Asset Tracker keeps each machine with its tag, serial number and condition. Start maintenance records one in for repair, with the date it is expected back. Its receipt and warranty are kept on its page.

Can I keep track of the chemicals and towels in the van?

Yes. In Inventory, the van can be its own stock. You count each product, and one below its minimum is listed to reorder. An order to your supplier can be emailed from Magpie.

Can I put a code on my business card that opens my booking page?

Yes. A dynamic QR code opens any address, such as your booking page. You can point it somewhere else after the cards are printed. Its page counts the scans.

Can I post before-and-after photos?

Yes. Social Media schedules posts to Bluesky, Mastodon and LinkedIn at the time you choose. For Instagram, Magpie reminds you and opens the post filled in. Each photo is cropped to Instagram's shapes around a point you set.

Take your next booking on your own page.

Create a Magpie account and publish your booking page.

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