Move to Florida!

[atouchofglass]

I am moving to FLA. in May and I will be in the area for missionary training for almost a year. I have been honing my "coister method" for almost six months of my 15 month old business and the results are moderately satisfactory. I am able to close 2-4 repairs a day working 4-6 days a week. I am admittedly lazy. I have 4 young children and a stay at home wife that I like to chase around. However, I have found that this amount of effort has paid the bills (we keep a tight reign on finances). I love the freedom of self-employment, but I need to get serious and reach for a larger piece of the pie for future endeavors. My move to West Palm Beach from Charlotte, NC has me trepidacious for the reasons that some in these posts have mentioned. Zero deductible on replacements as well. I currently do 90% of my business through insurance and I am unclear how you aptly convince a customer to repair and not replace. I have conceived of flyers the width of a biz card and the length of an average piece of paper that would explain repair over replace reasons and the bottom of the flyer would be perforated to tear of a card to keep in your wallet then discard the rest when done reading. These would be displayed anywhere that anything automotive would be occuring. I also am not afraid to work in conjuction with carwashes for I have been doing so all along. Full time at the car wash for 10 months exclusively then mobil biz since. I am not a hack I still encourage my customers to afford me the proper amount of time needed to do a quality repair. I will be moving about every six months to locations all over the US for our ministry and I have to get acclimated very quickly to keep income flowing. My questions and ideas are directed at those windshield repair techs doing biz in The Sunshine State and what your thoughts or warnings might be. Please take note also that up until 4+ years ago I was a Fort Lauderdale/WPB native so I am very familiar with the area. Thank you all on this forum for being so great.

[Coitster]

What I would do is add in your sales pitch about the dangers of windshield replacement and why it is so much better to repair then to replace. I sell lots of people who are thinking of replacing the glass and after I have talked to them they don't want to replace the windshield exept as a last resort.
David
Coitster

[Lee]

Would you be so kind as to point out the dangers of replacing a windshield. With millions of w/s's being replaced yearly and the advance of urethanes windshield retention is not a problem it is hack installers that do the damage. Just like hack windshield repair people. It's not the industry that is at fault it the few individuals that just don't give a fudge.

[glassdoctor]

Lee, no offense, but...

I think we have been through this with you before.

The sales pitch is for a customer who has a repairable w/s, not a replacement tech.

You know there are dangers to about everything in life. Take Levitra for example... a four hour erection and a trip to the ER is one of the "dangers". So is cardiac problems, etc...

A poorly installed w/s can leak wind or water, an annoyance. I've heard of a w/s stress-crack (no rock chip) because of a sloppy install. Or it can be hacked so bad it's literally not safe to drive.

There are some problems. That is a FACT.

Problems are not probable, but they are possible.

[mafsu]

Another problem that not even the best replacement tech can solve is that windshields do not break down when they are thrown away, nor are they recyclable.

[atouchofglass]

Does anyone have first-hand windshield repair knowledge for Florida that they can pass on?

[DaveC]

You may want to PM CPR. He's in the Port St. Lucie area and I do believe that he concentrates his efforts on truck stops (for trucks/tourist trade) and RV delaers/parks.

While I have no windshield repair experience in FL. I did grow up in Miami and my folks now reside in Boca Raton. So, as a suggestion, especially for the WPB area, you may want to adjust your rates accordingly and modify your promo media offering Senior Citizens' Discounts! Them old folks love the opportunity to save a few buks. Heck, my folks go out to eat dinner between 3 and 4PM so that they can get the two-for-one specials ops:

[Jeremiahswindshieldrepair]

Ihave written about this a couple of other times on this forum. but Florida is a state that has chosen to mandate to all insurance companies that they REPLACE a windshield with any amount of damage that can be distracting to a driver. The problem is there is no real definition of distracting so basically in Florida all you have to do to get a replacement with NO DEDUCTIBLE is complain that your vision is impaired somehow. The obvious problem with that is that there are very few reasons left to do repairs if you can get a brand spankin' new windshield at NO COST mandated by law. Your success will be with travellers who have out of state insurance and businesses that have no inclination towards using insurance anyhow.