Mobile headlight restorers: per-vehicle quotes with route time and the seal trap. Free, no signup.
One flat $99 number dies here. The drive between stops and skipped seals decide whether the day pays.
Mobile headlight restorers lose money on the flat $99 number. One price per vehicle sounds fine until the heavy crust, the fog lights, the UV seal, the drive between stops, and the free comebacks all get priced at zero. Start with your bar (60) and profit margin percent (20). Pick an oxidation preset: Light haze, Yellowed, or Heavy crust, each filling on-site sanding and polishing minutes as editable starting points. Enter the lens count, materials per lens, the fog-light add-on (plus 15 minutes and $4), and the UV seal toggle (plus $8 and 5 minutes, which turns off the comeback warning). The leaks card prices your route honestly: vehicles per stop for ZIP clustering, drive and miles per stop, vehicle cost per mile, and a comeback rate times minutes per comeback, priced as a reserve for the free redo visits. Results show the full breakdown, the true cost, your effective rate against your bar, and the recommended quote per vehicle rounded to $10. Verdicts are PRICED RIGHT, CLOSE, BUT LEAKING, WORKING TOO CHEAP, or LOSING MONEY. The gut check grades your instinct price; the route planner turns your goal into vehicles. No signup; runs on your phone.
Example only, not typical pricing. Default settings at a $60 bar with 20 percent margin: on-site time is 40 minutes plus 5 for the UV seal equals 45 minutes of labor at $60, which is $45. Materials are 2 lenses times $6 plus the $8 seal equals $20. Drive share is 30 minutes divided by 2 vehicles per stop equals 15 minutes at $60, which is $15, and the vehicle share is 10 miles at $0.67 equals $6.70. The comeback reserve is 5 percent times 45 minutes divided by 60 at $60, which is $2.25. True cost is $45 plus $20 plus $15 plus $6.70 plus $2.25 equals $88.95. Recommended quote is ceil(88.95 times 1.20 divided by 10) times 10 equals $110 per vehicle. Effective rate is $110 divided by 1.0 hour equals $110 per hour, which clears the bar, so the verdict is PRICED RIGHT. A $99 gut quote would pay $99 per hour and leave $11 on the table. With a $500 day goal entered, the route planner turns $21.05 of profit per vehicle into 24 vehicles and about 24 route hours, and flags the over-10-hour day: raise the quote or tighten the route.
Why does the UV seal toggle turn off the comeback warning?
Sealed lenses stay clear, which is what stops the free redo visits. Unchecked, the tool keeps the comeback reserve in the true cost so the comebacks are paid for in advance.
What does vehicles per stop do to the math?
It splits drive minutes and miles across the vehicles at one location. Stacking two cars per stop halves the drive share per car, which is why route density decides the day.
How is the comeback reserve calculated?
Your comeback rate times minutes per comeback times your bar, spread across every vehicle. It prices the expected free visits as a real cost instead of a surprise.
Why does the tool grade my gut quote against true cost?
Because gut prices are usually anchored to what competitors advertise. Grading against true cost shows whether your number pays you or just matches the market.
What does CLOSE, BUT LEAKING mean?
The quote clears true cost and your effective rate sits between 80 and 100 percent of your bar. Drive share, materials, or comebacks are usually the leak.