Automotive Detailer Hourly Pay, Skills & Requirements (2026)
Advertised pay, starting pay, skills and experience from 5,577 US job postings by 1,463 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for automotive detailers: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 5,577 open job postings (October 2026).
- The median advertised pay for automotive detailers in US job postings is $17.50 an hour (1,504 postings from 372 employers, October 2026).
- The middle half of those postings offer $15.70 to $20.00 an hour.
- The skills that most set automotive detailer postings apart are positive attitude, can-do mentality, customer service.
- Postings that state a minimum ask for a median of 1 year of experience.
Automotive Detailer job postings in the US, October 2026
- $17.50/hr
- Median advertised pay (1,504 postings)
- $15.70–$20.00
- Middle 50% of postings
- 5,577
- US job postings from 1,463 employers
- 1 year
- Median experience asked
How much does an automotive detailer make an hour?
The median advertised pay is $17.50 an hour, from 1,504 US job postings by 372 employers that state pay. That is about $36,000 a year at 2,080 hours.
Advertised pay in 1,504 US automotive detailer job postings: median $36,000 a year ($17.50 an hour), middle half $33,000 to $42,000.
- Median: $36,000 ($17.50/hr)
- 25th percentile: $33,000
- 75th percentile: $42,000
The figures as a table
| Annual pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| $10K–$20K | 0.7% |
| $20K–$30K | 10.2% |
| $30K–$40K | 59.6% |
| $40K–$50K | 24.4% |
| $50K–$60K | 4.2% |
Midpoint of each posting's pay range, hourly pay × 2,080 hours; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
| Median | Middle 50% | Postings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postings that state an hourly rate | $17.50 | $15.70–$20.00 | 1,030 |
| All pay postings, annualised | $36,000 | $33K–$42K | 1,504 |
What is the starting salary for an automotive detailer?
Figure withheld: fewer than 250 US postings list pay. How we decide.
Highest-paying automotive detailer jobs
Specializations with at least 250 postings that state pay.
| Specialization | Median pay | Postings with pay | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automotive Detailer (general) | $18.00/hr | 427 | 143 |
| Service Porter | $17.50/hr | 367 | 176 |
| Car Wash Attendant | $17.00/hr | 625 | 69 |
Automotive detailer pay by state
Single-location US postings; states with at least 100 postings that state pay. States with pay-transparency laws (such as California, Colorado, New York and Washington) are over-represented among postings that state pay.
| State | Median pay | Middle 50% | Postings with pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | $14.00/hr | $13.00–$16.00 | 107 | 8.8% |
Skills employers ask for in automotive detailer job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Attention to detail | 30% |
| Customer service | 29% |
| Positive attitude | 25% |
| Communication | 24% |
| Work independently | 12% |
| Dependable | 11% |
| Strong work ethic | 9% |
| Reliable | 9% |
| Team player | 7% |
| Punctual | 7% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set automotive detailers apart
- Positive attitude7.1× as often as in all postings · 25%
- Can-do mentality328.8× as often as in all postings · 7%
- Professional attitude17.2× as often as in all postings · 6%
- Follow instructions13.5× as often as in all postings · 6%
- Strong work ethic5.9× as often as in all postings · 9%
- Reliable5.4× as often as in all postings · 9%
- Punctual8.3× as often as in all postings · 7%
- Dependable3.9× as often as in all postings · 11%
- Motivated3.6× as often as in all postings · 5%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a automotive detailer job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does an automotive detailer do?
Employers post these jobs as Lot Attendant, Service Porter, Detailer, Car Wash Attendant, Lot Porter and other titles. The largest specializations are Service Porter (28%), Car Wash Attendant (29%), Valet Attendant (3%), Parking Attendant (under 1%).
The closest official occupation is Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment (53-7061.00). Its most important tasks:
- Rinse objects and place them on drying racks or use cloth, squeegees, or air compressors to dry surfaces.
- Apply paints, dyes, polishes, reconditioners, waxes, or masking materials to vehicles to preserve, protect, or restore color or condition.
- Clean and polish vehicle windows.
- Drive vehicles to or from workshops or customers' workplaces or homes.
- Scrub, scrape, or spray machine parts, equipment, or vehicles, using scrapers, brushes, clothes, cleaners, disinfectants, insecticides, acid, abrasives, vacuums, or hoses.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (CC BY 4.0).
How much experience do you need to be an automotive detailer?
Among 240 postings that state a minimum, the median is 1 year. Under 1% say 0 years and 51% ask for 1 year or less.
Minimum experience asked in 240 US automotive detailer job postings: median 1 year, and 51% ask for 1 year or less.
The figures as a table
| Minimum experience asked | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| 0 yr | under 1% |
| 1 yr | 50% |
| 2 yrs | 24% |
| 3-4 yrs | 21% |
| 5-7 yrs | 3% |
| 8-9 yrs | 0% |
| 10+ yrs | under 1% |
Postings that state a minimum (required or preferred); at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
We do not show a degree figure: in our checks, degree requirements in posting text were found too rarely to publish one. Why.
Full-time 72%, Part-time 28% of the 643 postings that state working hours.
Other names for an automotive detailer: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| Lot Attendant | 208 (14.2%) |
| Automotive Detailer | 182 (12.4%) |
| Service Porter | 179 (12.2%) |
| Detailer | 135 (9.2%) |
| Car Wash Attendant | 112 (7.7%) |
| Lot Porter | 84 (5.7%) |
| Lot Attendant/Porter | 81 (5.5%) |
| Car Detailer | 52 (3.5%) |
| Porter | 50 (3.4%) |
| Sales Porter | 46 (3.1%) |
| Detail Technician | 42 (2.9%) |
| Automotive Service Porter | 40 (2.7%) |
| Auto Detailer | 36 (2.5%) |
| Automotive Porter | 35 (2.4%) |
| Car Washer | 35 (2.4%) |
| Vehicle Detailer | 33 (2.3%) |
| Detailer/Car Washer | 33 (2.3%) |
| Service Valet | 28 (1.9%) |
| Lot Technician | 22 (1.5%) |
| Car Wash Manager | 21 (1.4%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
Automotive detailer job titles compared
The titles people search for most, from the US job postings that use each exact title (October 2026).
| Job title | Open postings | Employers | Median pay | Median experience | Skills named most |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detailer | 255 | 135 | – | – | attention to detail, positive attitude, communication |
| Service Porter | 302 | 179 | – | – | customer service, positive attitude, communication |
| Lot Attendant | 430 | 208 | – | – | attention to detail, positive attitude, customer service |
| Car Wash Attendant | 988 | 112 | $15.70/hr | – | customer service, attention to detail, communication |
Automotive Detailer compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Automotive Detailer | $17.50/hr | 1 year | 5,577 | – |
| Housekeeper | $17.75/hr | 1 year | 20,700 | 17 |
| Dishwasher | $17.00/hr | 1 year | 14,337 | 17 |
| Custodian | $17.85/hr | 1 year | 27,601 | 19 |
| Groundskeeper | $19.73/hr | 2 years | 5,631 | 18 |
Similar careers
| Career | Shares N of the top 25 skills | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Housekeeper | 17 | $17.75/hr |
| Dishwasher | 17 | $17.00/hr |
| Custodian | 19 | $17.85/hr |
| Groundskeeper | 18 | $19.73/hr |
| General Laborer | 17 | $20.00/hr |
| Delivery Driver | 16 | $21.00/hr |
Applying for automotive detailer jobs?
- Automotive detailer resume examples: one-page examples for these roles
- Match your resume to a job: paste a posting and see the skills your resume is missing
- Check your resume: see how an applicant tracking system reads it
- Find automotive detailer jobs: search open postings
Frequently asked questions
How much does a Car Wash Attendant make?
Source and method
Open US job postings collected from employers' applicant tracking systems, de-duplicated, counted only when their job title was read in our audit. Shares count at most 20 postings per employer, and franchise locations of one brand count as one employer. Pay uses hourly and annual figures only; a figure is shown when leaving out the largest employer moves it by 10% or less. Every figure states its number of postings. Methodology and measured accuracy.
Accuracy check: we read 20 randomly chosen postings counted on this page in full; 19 of them were this career or a closely related one (October 2026).
Download the figures on this page (CSV): every number above with its count of postings. Aggregate figures are licensed CC BY 4.0; cite the page when you reuse them.