# How much should I pay my kid to clean my car? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 23, 2013, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-i-pay-my-kid-to-clean-my-car/671987 "2013-10-23T00:31:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-i-pay-my-kid-to-clean-my-car/671987/21 "2013-10-23T16:44:51Z")
> [@cherry](#): > > I know this isn’t a detail but I pay $150 for a detail that takes 4 hours roughly. So my best guess is that I’d offer him $20-$40 if he is doing a basic detail. I doubt the kid is going to wash the car to the level of a $150 detail service, which presumably has some special tools and skills to do it to that level. (And I hope the kid doesn’t wash the car like the two kids in [this Subaru commercial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx35O_SPOxo).) ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-i-pay-my-kid-to-clean-my-car/671987/22 "2013-10-23T17:37:36Z")
My son is 16 and has plenty of chores that are expected of him as a contributing member of the household. But I do also pay him for tasks that aren’t part of his regular roster. For cleaning the car I’d offer $20. If upon inspection I found he did an outstanding job (cleaned out the cup holders and the dash and all the glass) I’d probably end up giving him $25. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-i-pay-my-kid-to-clean-my-car/671987/23 "2013-10-23T17:52:38Z")
I’d give him between $20 and $25, at least, just on the basis that he’s doing his own laundry, so presumably he’ll do a decent job. If he exceeds expectations, then give him more. And congratulate him for asking about ways to make some money. ---
**Author:** ![JerrySTL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@JerrySTL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerrySTL)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-i-pay-my-kid-to-clean-my-car/671987/24 "2013-10-23T17:55:15Z")
I clean my kids’ cars and they don’t pay me anything! My first real job was in 1967 and it was working at a full service car wash. I’ve appreciated clean cars ever since. But to answer the OP, $30. $40 if he waxes it also. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-i-pay-my-kid-to-clean-my-car/671987/25 "2013-10-23T18:44:04Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > Well, first of all, he asked me what he could do to earn some extra money. I offered up washing the car. He didn’t just ask me “how much to wash the car”, he just wanted to know how much I was willing to pay him since I said I would. I really had no idea how much the job was worth and neither did he. > > Second of all, he has been doing his own laundry since he was 10 yrs old and sometimes does the kitchen laundry without being asked. He does his household chores without complaining. He’s an only child, so he has a lot of them. He recently lost his regular lawn mowing gig due to the neighbors needing the money and doing it themselves. He already mows our lawn as part of his chores. > > If you are trying to imply that my kid is acting entitled or presumptuous. You are sorely mistaken. For the record, he’s 15. Well, he sounds like a good kid. Some of the posters above are being too generous with money, in my opinion. People do not give you money for nothing. It is hard to earn and that is a lesson to be learned at his age. I’d give him about $25 and see what kind of effort he put into it. If he did a **great** job I would throw in another $10. You don’t want to set the expectations of reward too high or else he will get his first real job at minimum wage and think to himself “hell, I’ll just quit this shit, I can make more money washing Mom’s car.” Tell him results matter, do as good a job as you can, and do not tell him up front what you are going to pay. You may get surprised with an excellent car cleaning. Or you pay him low bid and explain why, and how he can improve the next time. Love, a Dad. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-i-pay-my-kid-to-clean-my-car/671987/26 "2013-10-23T19:42:31Z")
I take my car to one of those drive-thru washing establishments: they provide the hoses, brushes and detergent, and you do the hard grunt. Most of the time I can get out paying around $8 AUD, then over to the super-sucker vacuum unit that will remove every last speck of anything off the floor and upholstery…that’s another $2 or so. Seeing he isn’t driving the car to a car-wash, I’d pay him the cost of what it would cost ME to do it ($10), PLUS another $10 (with a bonus of an extra couple of dollars if he does a brilliant job). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-i-pay-my-kid-to-clean-my-car/671987/27 "2013-10-23T19:44:22Z")
Free room and board should be enough. But used as a learning experience you could let him know how a professional job would turn out, and pay him based on his ability to achieve that. ---
**Author:** ![scootergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@scootergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scootergirl)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-i-pay-my-kid-to-clean-my-car/671987/28 "2013-10-23T19:46:05Z")
If he has never done it before, I’d go over what you expect first. Letting him know areas that you want him to concentrate on so when it’s all said and done you don’t find many (if any) missed parts. My son is 17 - if he cleaned my car and I expected him to **detail it (not just wash the outside) I would offer him between 20-25 and a homemade dinner of his choice**. The kid loves my cooking. He works for food! ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-i-pay-my-kid-to-clean-my-car/671987/29 "2013-10-23T20:12:18Z")
What the heck is kitchen laundry? ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-i-pay-my-kid-to-clean-my-car/671987/30 "2013-10-23T20:19:16Z")
I guess kitchen laundry is tea towels and such. In my household, we have household laundry, which consists of bedding, bath linens, and occasionally throw rugs and and curtains. ---
**Author:** ![James\_Toothpaste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e56c9b/32.png) [@James\_Toothpaste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Toothpaste)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-i-pay-my-kid-to-clean-my-car/671987/31 "2013-10-23T20:59:01Z")
I’d give $25. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-i-pay-my-kid-to-clean-my-car/671987/32 "2013-10-23T22:15:12Z")
I don’t think that giving him a lot of money would spoil him. Just think: If you give him $30 bucks, mol, to clean and detail your car, and it’s a good job, he may catch on that undercutting the competition and delivering a quality service/product is something that is rewarded. That is, if it really is a quality job. I’d pop for half of a professional fee. So: Give him a base price, and tell him his fee can go up for quality work. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-i-pay-my-kid-to-clean-my-car/671987/33 "2013-10-23T22:41:23Z")
> [@congodwarf](#): > > What the heck is kitchen laundry? > [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I guess kitchen laundry is tea towels and such. In my household, we have household laundry, which consists of bedding, bath linens, and occasionally throw rugs and and curtains. Yep, kitchen laundry is all the dish cloths, kitchen towels, tea towels, cloth napkins, etc. It’s his job to clean the kitchen each night after dinner. I never told him it was his job to do the kitchen laundry, but he’s taken to doing it on his own anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-i-pay-my-kid-to-clean-my-car/671987/34 "2013-10-23T22:49:21Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Free room and board should be enough. Do you really think this? I mean, he didn’t ask me for money for nothing. He didn’t ask me for money for regular household chores. He asked me for an earning opportunity. I’m suppose to tell him his bed and dinner are enough? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-i-pay-my-kid-to-clean-my-car/671987/35 "2013-10-23T23:21:34Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > Do you really think this? > > I mean, he didn’t ask me for money for nothing. He didn’t ask me for money for regular household chores. He asked me for an earning opportunity. I’m suppose to tell him his bed and dinner are enough? No, but it would be fun to tell him that initially. Read the rest of my post, I think you should pay him what you’d pay a professional for the equivalent job, not just some portion of it. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-i-pay-my-kid-to-clean-my-car/671987/36 "2013-10-24T00:16:07Z")
> [@AnaMen](#): > > There is nothing wrong with paying your kid a bit generously, since they can use the money to buy things you’d otherwise have to pay for. > Although I never paid my kid to do any household chores, many people do without creating the problem you speak of. Why prep your kid to be satisfied with minimum wage anyway? Your friend can stop paying her kid any time she wants, but $10 is cheap for a babysitter where I live, so this arrangement probably works for her. I would still disagree. For one, I’m with some of the other posters that household chores are part of being in a family. Kids shouldn’t expect payment for their work, unless they also expect to chip in towards towards the mortgage and the utilities. Paying kids to do work around the house should be focused on instilling a work ethic and helping them get used to navigating money, with the ultimate goal of making them productive members of society outside the household. If the easy money is to sit around the house and let you parents pay you… I can’t think of a worse lesson to teach your children. I’d rather encourage them to join gangs and do drugs. Generosity is for Christmas. The rest of the year is about learning that the world demands you to work your butt off and that it pays you just enough to keep you working your butt off. OK, that’s a little cynical and over-stated, but I’m amazed at kids who get their first job at 25 and don’t understand why they’re not a VP making 100k on the first day. I had to fire an intern once who was too busy day-dreaming about how he’d charge $400/hr when he was a CPA to do the work he’d actually been assigned to do. He’s an extreme example, but not really atypical. ---
**Author:** ![OleOneEye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f14d63/32.png) [@OleOneEye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OleOneEye)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-i-pay-my-kid-to-clean-my-car/671987/37 "2013-10-24T00:16:46Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > No, but it would be **fun** to tell him that initially. It’s fun to tell people their wants are unreasonable? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-i-pay-my-kid-to-clean-my-car/671987/38 "2013-10-24T00:47:26Z")
> [@OleOneEye](#): > > It’s fun to tell people their wants are unreasonable? Yes. Fun people know when something’s a joke. ---
**Author:** ![OleOneEye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f14d63/32.png) [@OleOneEye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OleOneEye)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-i-pay-my-kid-to-clean-my-car/671987/39 "2013-10-24T01:25:07Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Yes. Fun people know when something’s a joke. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-i-pay-my-kid-to-clean-my-car/671987/40 "2013-10-24T02:14:15Z")
It would be useful for him to calculate what he thinks the job is worth. Otherwise, I’d pay him about $20 to clean both inside and out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-i-pay-my-kid-to-clean-my-car/671987.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-i-pay-my-kid-to-clean-my-car/671987.md?page=3)