GUIDES

How this works

Short answers to the things detailers ask most — getting paid, filling the calendar, and running a job start to finish.

How you get paid

Money moves in up to two parts: a deposit when the customer books, and the balance when the work is done. With deposits turned off it's a single payment, collected once you've finished.

The deposit

When a customer books on your page, they pay a deposit by card — 25% of the price unless you change that in Settings, where you can raise it, lower it, or turn deposits off entirely. A deposit counts toward the total, and it's why a no-show doesn't cost you a whole morning. With deposits off, nothing is collected until the work is done.

The balance

Open the job when the work is done. If the customer agreed to keep their card on file when they booked, press Charge — the card is charged for what's left, and the job marks itself paid. If there's no card on file, send the payment link instead, or take cash and mark it collected.

Where the money lands

Payments go to the bank account you connected during setup. They run through Stripe, the same company behind most card readers. The Payouts page shows your recent payouts and the day each one arrives — most take a couple of business days, and the first one takes longer while Stripe verifies your account. That first wait is normal.

If a card declines

You'll see it right away. Try the card again, or send a payment link so the customer can pay with a different one. Nothing about the job is lost either way.

Get your first booking

Your booking page is the whole pitch: your services, your prices, and a time picker. Getting booked is mostly about putting the link where people already find you.

Copy your link

It's the card at the top of the Business screen in the app — Copy link, or Share to send it straight into a text. Your link is your business name at detailcall.com, so it reads fine out loud too.

Where to put it

The places that work are the ones you already have.

Your Instagram or Facebook bio. One line — “Book here” and the link.
Your text replies. When someone asks how much for an SUV, answer the question, then send the link so they can grab a time while they're still thinking about it.
Your Google Business Profile, if you have one — add the link as your booking URL.
Anywhere you already put your phone number: flyers, business cards, the side of the van.

What the customer sees

Your page shows your services with prices by vehicle type, your service area, and your available times — pulled from your real calendar, so you can't be double-booked. They pick a service, tell you the vehicle and address, choose a slot, and pay the deposit if you take one.

What happens when they book

The job lands on your Calendar right away, and appears on Today once its week comes round. It carries everything you need: the service, the vehicle, the address, and what's been paid so far. If you take a deposit, that money is already collected. You didn't have to answer a single message to get it.

Run the day of a job

The day of a job is phone work, so this one describes the app. Everything about a booked job lives in one place — open it from Today or the Calendar.

Before you drive

The job in the app has the address, the vehicle, the service, and any note the customer left — gate codes and where the keys are tend to show up here. Directions opens your maps app. Message opens a text to the customer if you're running behind or can't find the house.

At the job

The job sheet is the ledger: the service, the price, anything already paid, and the balance due. Nothing on it changes while you work — the price the customer booked at is the price.

Getting paid on the spot

When the work is done, open the job. If the customer kept a card on file, you'll see Charge — press it, check the amount and the card, and confirm. The balance is collected on the spot. If there's no card, you'll see Send payment link instead: text it over, and the job settles when the customer pays it. Cash works too — mark it collected yourself. Either way, the job is done when the balance reaches zero.

If the job falls through

Open the job and cancel it. If a deposit was paid, you'll choose what happens to it: refund it, or keep it. If you're the one canceling, refund it — that's the default. If the customer flaked, keeping the deposit is what the deposit was for. Refunds reach the customer's card in 5–10 business days.

Add a job from a call or text

Not every job starts on your booking page. When a regular texts you or somebody calls, put the job on the calendar yourself.

Add the job

Press the + in the Today or Calendar header — it's there in the app and on the web dashboard. You'll enter the customer, the vehicle, the service, a date and time, and the address. The vehicle sets the price: pick a Bronco and it prices as an SUV. If you disagree, change it.

No deposit on manual jobs

A job you add yourself takes no deposit — nothing is collected up front, so the whole amount is still owed when you finish. If it's a regular who kept a card on file with you before, you'll see Charge on the job as usual. If not, send the payment link or take cash and mark it collected. Worth knowing before you go looking for money that was never taken.

Blocking time you don't work

Block time from the Calendar to take yourself off the schedule — a morning off, an appointment, a day you're driving. Blocked time disappears from your booking page, so nobody can book into it.

Make your page look like you

Your page works the moment it goes live, but a page with your own photos and words on it books better than a default one. Most of this is edited from Booking page — in the app's Business screen, or in the web dashboard.

The cover photo

The photo across the top of your page. Use a car you actually detailed, shot outside in daylight. It's the one thing edited somewhere else — it sits on the booking-link card on the Business screen, next to your link.

Show recent work

The job log is a short record of work you've finished: a photo, a title, and a line in your own words. You can keep up to twelve, and your page shows the three most recent. This is the section that does the most work — customers want to see cars like theirs.

Say who you are

A photo of you and a couple of sentences on how you got into detailing. This section needs both the photo and the words — with only one of them, it doesn't appear at all.

What shows and what doesn't

There are no show and hide switches anywhere on your page. A section appears when you fill it in and disappears when you clear it. An empty section isn't hidden — it doesn't exist yet.

Still stuck?

Email support@detailcall.com and tell us what you were trying to do. A real person reads it.