Certification

[S&W Glass Repair]

Coming from a back round as an auto mechanic certifications are interesting to me. You have to have knowledge to pass the tests but many mechanics will tell you that book knowledge is a whole lot different then actually repairing cars. In the automotive industry ASE (Automotive Service Excellence) is the big boy on the block and many dealers base their pay on how many certs you have. I had a bunch that have since expired but never held much stock in them. Do you think I should become windshield repair certified. I'm sure I can learn something I don't know but you must remember I have been around for 18 1/2 years, way before certification. I'm interested in the good, the bad and the ugly about this before I make my decision, please give me your thoughts.
Cheers,
Scott

[splitpit]

Anyone can get a piece of paper with your name on it. It's the quality of your work that matters.

[GlassStarz]

You could train a chimp to do the actual repairs it the sales and buisness portion that most people fail at as far as certified techs sure in some fields its important but for WR I dont see a benefit

[SGT]

Have to agree here. Doing repairs is the easy part of the business and all the repair certs in the world wont help you sell. That being said and coming from and industry(aviation) loaded with required certs I do feel they have a place. I myself do not yet have any windshield repair certs but will at some point get this done. Should they(who ever that may be in the future) ever require it I will be covered and I do think it provides a potential customer with a sense of your legitimacy and comfort as compared to the fly by night guy.

I know there are alot that will disagree with this, but I would like to see the glass replace/repair industry be regulated and certs be mandatory.

What are your thoughts?

[SGT]

See new thread to respond to question in my previous post.

[MARS]

I would encourage certification which would require formal training followed by a written and practical exam.
A lot of people out there are averse to this as I believe it would show up there weaknesses and lack of training. Since moving to Texas I have come across two guys doing work for dealerships and their work was atrocious. The first one was injecting, or at very best trying to inject resin into a break with a syringe. Not curing nor applying pit fill and he thought he was best in the industry.
The second kept his home designed "state of the art apparently" equipment in a filthy dirty ice cream container along with his home made organic resin. What a load of b******t He didn't have a clue yet customers were perceiving these two as experts and their results as what windshield repair was capable of. No doubt the insurance companies were paying top rate to them too.
This is what we have to protect against and prevent in order to safeguard this terrific industry. mandatory training with practical and written examination would mean that these guys would at least have some idea of how windshield repair really works.
I'm not saying windshield repair is difficult but the variables involved here are massive and a bit of guidance at the beginning should go a long way towards ensuring the raising of standards and the continuing confidence of the insurance companies who pay a large percentage of our invoices.

[S&W Glass Repair]

Interesting response, I agree with many things you said except "insurance companies who pay a large percentage of our invoices."
I have a very large business and do zero, yes zero insurance work. I literally just signed up this week, my paperwork was incorrect with A.C.T., this work to me is a bonus but based on some of the responses I could pick up an extra $5,000 to $10,000 per year by doing insurance work, maybe more. I handle large fleets and car dealers which are new to me since June 2007, I hadn't done any car dealers for 12 years. I have been in business for 18 1/2 years and believe that fleets are still the way to go but that's what's worked for me.
Cheers,
Scott

[Mr Bill]

It doesn't hurt to take the training. Maybe you will unlearn some bad repair habits.
Delta kits training teaches you good repair habits so you can do it right the first time using their equipment.
Its only one day out of your lifetime.

[Hack Job Bob]

New to WR, but I can't see how certs could hurt. It may be a pain in the a@# to get them, but it shows dedication and a certain knowledge of core principles.

I have a bunch of ASE certifications from the automotive repair industry. I've certs from a couple other industries I've been in too; I don't regret taking the time to get any of them.

If nothing else certs help customers make comfortable decisions, which helps our sales, which puts money in our pockets, yada yada yada. Certifications also help weed out a few dough-heads that shouldn't be out there conducting business, and that is priceless.

Mark

[Hack Job Bob]

Oh yeah, almost forgot. There were always those guys in the repair field that would say something like "I've been doing it this way for 20 years, who are you to tell me I'm wrong"? This is minus numerous f-bombs of course. The correct response is as follows: "Just because you've been doing this wrong for 20 years, doesn't make it any more right today". add f-bombs as neccessary to achieve desired effect.

the point here is if people understand basic principles before they get into doing things "their way" it helps everyone including the guy doing the work (makes him more efficient), the shop he works for (less complaints), and of course the customer he is serving.

Mark