Question about pricing (car dealership)

A

aonavy

Well-known member
A company who owns multiple dealership really likes my work. I did quick 30 second shoot of different angles and shots I can get. (slider,"movi", hex copter ect) What their looking for is about 30 second video for each new car there selling. They want to send this to potential customers and have links on there site of each. we could be talking upwards of 50 cars if they want this for all there dealerships (Honda, Audi, Toyota ect). I'm not sure what to charge. My gut is saying $300 a car but if they commit to lets say 20, the price would be $250 a car. I'm not sure if this reasonable or way to high...or even to low.

side note, they want voice over, which they have an employee in mind to do this. (little more work for me)

Thoughts? suggestions?

thank you in advanced.
 
Do you have a normal day-rate? Just go with that, plus whatever rental you feel is necessary for the fancy equipment. Plus an estimate for editing time with some padding. If they want to see that broken down to a per-car value, that's easy math.

There are different philosophies on how to bill whom, but for me it's all about the time it takes me, not the client or the type of job.
 
Thanks for the insight. I usually charge per event that's why this is different to me. (Mostly weddings) I think charging per car is the way to do it since Ill be doing this work part time. Here's what I'm thinking:
1hr per car (max)- prepping, figuring the shots, filming
1hr for voice over- setting up, doing 3 or four takes ect
1hr to edit

3hrs roughly for one car. $100/hr rate for me and my assistant. (the assistant got the gig since he does there photos)

$300 Total

But I'm not sure if that okay considering what there using it for. Too high? Too low?




Finn Yarbrough said:
Do you have a normal day-rate? Just go with that, plus whatever rental you feel is necessary for the fancy equipment. Plus an estimate for editing time with some padding. If they want to see that broken down to a per-car value, that's easy math.

There are different philosophies on how to bill whom, but for me it's all about the time it takes me, not the client or the type of job.
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Charge a rate you feel is fair for your time.

That being said, I have done work for hundreds of car dealerships over the years, and what I am imagining is a company who thinks you will be able to knock out 30 second videos of used car inventory at a low cost which they can upload, then quickly change out when the car sells. Most of these type videos are done in-house by staff with a handheld consumer cam for no money at all. So to be honest, I think when you tell them it will cost $300 a car and take 3 hours to complete each 30 second piece start to finish, they will balk. But hey, I may be way off base.
 
There plan is for only new cars 2014 models. If someone asks about a new model, they send them a video of it. There not planning on doing any used cars at this time, but there was talk about ebay and selling used cars. Does that change the pricing? If they commit, it would be $250 car.

David W. Jones said:
Charge a rate you feel is fair for your time.

That being said, I have done work for hundreds of car dealerships over the years, and what I am imagining is a company who thinks you will be able to knock out 30 second videos of used car inventory at a low cost which they can upload, then quickly change out when the car sells. Most of these type videos are done in-house by staff with a handheld consumer cam for no money at all. So to be honest, I think when you tell them it will cost $300 a car and take 3 hours to complete each 30 second piece start to finish, they will balk. But hey, I may be way off base.
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David W. Jones said:
To to be honest, I think when you tell them it will cost $300 a car and take 3 hours to complete each 30 second piece start to finish, they will balk. But hey, I may be way off base.
Click to expand...

My Gut feeling on this one too. Charge for a half-day or full-day and sell them on how many you can get done in that time. Figure out a template you can use for each car (ext, front, rear, inside, back seat trunk) and stick to it. Shoot to edit and charge for your time, not a per-car basis.
 
You do realize they can download each manufactures 2014 running footage shots for a minimal charge from each manufacture? This is footage that thousands of dollars were spent to acquire, and is available to all dealerships.
 
David W. Jones said:
You do realize they can download each manufactures 2014 running footage shots for a minimal charge from each manufacture? This is footage that thousands of dollars were spent to acquire, and is available to all dealerships.
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I am not aware of this and apparently they are not either. Humm....
 
Well if I were the car dealership and you told me it would cost $6K for 20 30 second shots of cars, which I could get from the manufacture for $150, my answer would be… NO!
 
hummm.. So i guess maybe going a day rate might be the way. What do people usually charge for a day rate when shooting cars? I would think it be different since there isn't any audio, except the voice over. My guess is around $500-1000 (10hrs) but that doesn't include editing.

David W. Jones said:
Well if I were the car dealership and you told me it would cost $6K for 20 30 second shots of cars, which I could get from the manufacture for $150, my answer would be… NO!
Click to expand...
 
Just to chime in i dont charge different rates by who/what the CLIENT is, but rather what job position i have on each gig. So if im shooting/editing rate would be same no matter whether corp video, live event, lecture, etc. on the other hand do charge differently depending on whether im shooting vs gripping vs teleprompting.

But yeah, day or half day rate for sure rather than per car. Heres another issue with per car besides the price-- what happens if you agree to shoot one car on tuesday for the price you mention, and an offer for another gig comes along for that day that pays an event rate (more money)? Now you have to take less money that day for the dealership when you couldve made more elsewhere, or cancel on the dealership to take the better paying gig, creating bad vibes. If you charge them day/half day rate this wont be an issue cause everybody gets charged the same day rate so you dont feel as bad about having to pass on the other gig. Yes, if you charge a half day rate you could run into a situation where one gig is a half day and the competing gig is a full day and still lose out, but the difference wouldnt be as great.

Lets assume for the sake of argument you couldnt just schedule the car shoot around the other gig--its one or the other.
 
So this is what I figured out last night. Ill charge $100/hr that's including my assistants and travel cost ect. Half day is 6hrs and full day is 10hrs. I'm guessing I could, at the beginning, finish a car in about 45min-1hr. Faster as time goes on. That's including, prep, filming and moving cars ect. Editing time rate is $35hr. Here is quick estimate:

10hr day 8-12 cars
10hr x $100= $1000
editing: $175 (I too the total hours, 10, and divided it half,5. 5*$35=175

Total start to finish $1175 for roughly 10 cars


I talked with my assistant for some hours last night who works for the dealerships doing photos. They know they can get the footage from corporate them selves, but they want to show the exact car there selling, Not something done in a studio. He also said it takes while to get this footage. He also said, the manager in charge or marketing likes to have some influence on what is being being filmed. Makes sense to me.

with that said, what do you guys think? They will be able to use this footage how ever they like. Email, online (Their youtube channel ect) I might even offer hosting with my viemo pro account. It has statistics which they might also like.

Thoughts?

Thanks again
 
It's hard to say without being there. Really, I prefer to have them tell me their budget right-out and build a plan to fit that budget. Not all videographers are comfortable with that, though.

My experience with corporate clients has often been that I have a beautiful, arty, meticulous plan of how it will look, and they balk at both the price as well as the concept. So I end up cutting the budget in half and reducing the whole thing down to a very basic package. I would recommend coming to the table prepared to explain your process and be willing to negotiate not only the price, but also the scope of your artistic vision.
 
aonavy;1986409604 They know they can get the footage from corporate them selves said:
The exact car they are selling, and we are talking new 2014 models?

Either they are not moving inventory or you are going to be a very busy person.

If they have 200 units on the lot for example, it would take you 20 days just to shoot them all at a cost of $20K. This just seems unrealistic!

Are they not moving between 50 and 130 units a month?

Sounds like they need help with their TV commercials and ad placement rather than video of each car they are selling.

By the way, most automotive running footage is downloadable from ftp servers now so it takes no time to get.

Good Luck!

Dave
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I like you thinking. My initial thought was straight out asking what there budget is and build it from there. "you build it, they will come" :)
 
I believe mentioned that some of the footage will be acquired by a hexacopter.

If you are in the US, be advised that the FAA has prohibited using multi rotors for commercial purposes.
 
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