Wedding Car

[coupe060]

Just looking for a bit of advice.I have had a couple of enquiries about using my car for a couple of weddings and i'm not sure what I should charge for doing it.Pat

[FTE72]

I usually just ask for a bit of petrol money and a beer at the reception.
Unless you are thinking of making this a full time gig?

[GEE-347]

im in the process of looking for some wedding cars myself...not sure if i want a crew of T'z or some older falcons i think it all comes down to our budget...
i have made some inquires already and some people are charging round $200-300 per hour which kinda shocked me but then again some people are happy with a full tank of fuel or a couple of hundred bucks for the day???

[ZA-289]

I am looking for wedding cars in SA at the moment. I am happy to pay for a tank of petrol and/or a nice bottle of wine/spirits, if you want anymore than that then I dont think you should be doing it.

[Pearly]

I normally charge around $250-$500 for about 4 hours, depending on how far I have to travel. I'm not a business so I don't see a point in charging a stupid amount ($200-$300ph). People tend to be happier with a set price anyway, instead of an hourly rate.

[coupe060]

I'm not thinking of doing it for a living,I am just willing to do it a couple of times.I was thinking of a couple hundred as it's a bit time consuming to keep the vehicle clean,cost of fuel etc.

[GTPete]

$300 - $450 is the going rate. Be carefull the moment you accept cash or funds for doing this you are in breach of licencing laws. This protects the hire car industry from rogue operators. If there is a car accident and its proven you accepted or were working under payment conditions then your insurance is void etc. There are other implications as well.

Personally Ive never worried about it as its not every weekend that you do a wedding. Even at $450 when you add up the time it takes to prep the car, complete the wedding and photo shoots etc the cash doesnt really cover the work and time involved.

The other thing to consider is if its raining, hailing or a heatwave you are committed to the day, not so good if your fussy about when you take your car out.

[jlef5]

I've been asked to do three formals and a wedding in my car as I live 10 hours from them, all family member requests it will be pay for fuel and I'm just happy I get 20 hours of cruising in my car paid for.

[Neeek]

I'm doing a wedding in a couple of weeks. In terms of dollars, Pearly's about on the money I rekcon; although I didn't set a price, I just said "pick a figure you're comfortable with and I'm sure that'll be fine". He picked a figure, I was happy with it, job done.

Loads cheaper than my wedding car, which was $800 for half a day! Although it was a 1950s Mercedes 300 limo, so not the cheapest end of the market.

Spot on about the licencing laws, though...!

[blakeyBF]

I have been asked by a friend if she can use my car (base model BF, nuttin' flash) and she'd get it detailed, ready for the big day.
That's payment enough for me!

[coupe060]

Thanks for all the advice, I think I will have a chat with them and see if hey are comfortable with a couple hundred.

[sanchoXB]

I have done a few weddings and it is a real pain in the ****. I charge $150 to get the car out of the shed and another $50 per hour. I only do it as a last resort if they cant get any other cars to do it.

I find it best to charge an hourly rate rather than fixed price as it always takes longer than expected, the last one I did was due to finish at 5pm but photos kept going until 7pm.

As GTPete said, you need to take weather & insurance issues into account, also there is usually a fair bit of driving involved- to the wedding, different photo locations and to the reception. As well as all that the people arent always respectful of your car, thay always want to lean on the car, sit on it, eat in it ect. I once had a photographer rest a backpack full of cameras on the bonnet and bump the door with a camera lens.

Like I said, its a nuisance so you need to make it worth your while. Im starting to think Im too cheap now :-)

[Neeek]

Sounds like you shouldn't be doing it at all!

I do it because it's good fun and I'll get some good shots of the car for myself. If I'm not doing anything else, why not? Anyway, the fact that they asked me to do it clearly means they want my car in their wedding album forever, and it's good to help people out.

Being a daily driver as my car is, I'm not bothered about people leaning on it or eating in it, provided they ask first, of course. As long as they don't do any damage, it's all good.

[sanchoXB]

Originally Posted by Neeek

Sounds like you shouldn't be doing it at all!

Exactly, I tell them to look around and if they cant get anyone else then I'll do it. I'll do it for free for friends & family, but for someone I dont know I want it to be worth my while.

[KYSBF]

All it cost the cook and I was a bottle of grog and some nice framed photos of the cars for the owners, tried to give them cash but they refused. They were pumped to have the cars included and shown off.

Like your attitude Neek.

[The Yeti]

A couple of things to consider and I'm not poo pooing the idea but

insurance, its one thing to do a favor for a mate and use your car, its great and has been going on since Henry lent a Model T to his neuighbor for a wedding, but if your doing it for reward and theres an incedent Insurance could be an issue

the other and this is where I had issues when using my ZC, some wedding parties are great, their car people and treat your car with respect BUT more often than not whilst the groom and bride might respect your car the bridal party may see it as just an old car and climb all over the thing and generaly not show it due respect, this tends to result in small but annoying things being damaged

the bigest problem I had was a rather nervous Brides made who haddent eatern all day having 1 too many breizers during the photos and finding out that even though its a Fairlane it doesnt have electric windows and they take longer to wind down and well you get the picture she was rather appologetic and the bridal party offered to pay for the car to be detaild (I declined)

I prefered doing formals, the people that ask you generaly are car people (other wise they tend to get stretch any things) so they are enthusiastic about your car and as a result respect it and dont abbuse it. I've done plenty of forums for nothing but some photos and perhaps a few scratchies, its normaly 18year old kids that have worked all year to afford to go to the formal so if I know them and their good people why not do them a solid, + I'm nearly 40 its the only time I have a pretty 18year old girl in the back seat now

[coupe060]

I agree with you neek.I could go to work and earn much more than doing this but it will give me a rest from work and it's a great reason to get the car out.My car isn't a daily driver but gets driven quite a bit with quite a few stone chips on it now.