How do you know if your auto upholstery shop’s hourly rate is competitive with other shops?
You could go around asking upholsterers in your local market. But for a national outlook, we decided to ask ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot.
We instructed the AI program to comb through all available data on U.S. auto upholstery businesses available on the internet and tell us what is the average hourly rate for shops.
Here’s what it found:
As of 2024, there are approximately 4,518 auto upholstery businesses operating across the United States. These businesses offer services such as seat upholstery repair, restoration and customization for various vehicles. The number of businesses varies significantly by state, with larger states like California, Florida and Texas hosting the highest concentrations of these services.
The average hourly rate for auto upholsterers in the U.S. can vary depending on the region, the type of work (e.g., standard repairs vs. custom jobs), and the upholsterer’s experience. Generally, the average rate charged by auto upholsterers ranges from $50 to $150 per hour.
Basic repairs and standard jobs — such as replacing seat covers, carpets or headliners — typically fall in the lower end of this range, around $50 to $85 per hour. Meanwhile, custom upholstery work, as well as restoration for classic or luxury vehicles, can significantly increase the rate, often reaching $100 to $150 per hour due to the complexity and specialized skills required.
These rates also vary by location, with larger cities or regions with a high demand for custom work often seeing higher prices.
Based on our experience, these numbers check out. Most shops we encounter hover around the median point of $75 per hour, but there are some that charge much higher. As ChatGPT says, it’s dependent on a range of factors and not every shop can do it.
Still, having this information is really helpful to us when deciding on how to set our prices.
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