Research, research, research

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Jbird
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Research, research, research

Post by Jbird »

Hi, my name is Josh. I have been lurking for quite some time and I am thinking about taking the leap. I was first introduced to the possibility of wsr as a reconditioning manager of a large car dealership several years ago. This business really intrigues me because it is a a business I feel you can grow as large as you set your goals. I live just outside a large city with lots of dealers, car lots, airports, and quite a few gravel roads. I would also like to thank all of you that have submitted so much valuable information to this forum.

So my question as I am in the final stages of my business plan is.

What part of the country do you live?
Due to weather how many days a year do you work?
How many retail repairs per year?
Price per?
How many fleet per year?
Price per?
How many carlot repairs per year?
Price per?

I am trying to get a gauge on prices and volume around the country, so that I can go into my market and be competitive without driving the prices down, but also earning what the repair deserves.

Thank you
Josh
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Brent Deines
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Re: Research, research, research

Post by Brent Deines »

Welcome to the windshield repair forum Josh! My business model is very different than it was when I got started and not typical in the industry so I'm probably not the best one to answer these questions but I'll give it a go anyway.

What part of the country do you live?
Eugene Oregon but I started doing repairs in Billings Montana

Due to weather how many days a year do you work?
We currently do repairs 5 days a week but when I was a one man business I often worked 7 days a week year round in both Oregon and Montana. Then I probably worked around 300 days per year and rarely did the weather shut me down completely.

How many retail repairs per year?
I know this is terrible but until recently I never kept track. Currently we are doing about 2 repairs per day but we don't do mobile work, don't do fleets, and other than through our website we don't actively solicit new business due to the fact that we sell products to many glass shops and windshield repair technicians in the area. When I was a one man show I averaged around 5 repairs per day, but for awhile I was just doing repairs on the side and for awhile I was running other businesses at the same time. Keep in mind there were days I didn't do any repairs but on some days I was doing 10+. For quite some time after I started working for Delta Kits we did not offer a windshield repair service but recently we decided we needed to start doing them again on a limited basis in order to better service our customers by staying up on changing insurance billing and marketing trends. This is why I say we are not currently running your typical windshield repair business.

Price per?
$65 cash or whatever insurance will pay, which probably averages about the same.

How many fleet per year?
None now but about 50% of my repair business used to be fleet work so maybe 600-800 repairs per year?

Price per?
That was years ago and I only got $35/repair for fleet work then.

How many carlot repairs per year?
I had some car lot accounts but not all that many. I included them with my fleet estimate above. I have no car lots now.

Price per?
Again, that was a long time ago and I charged $35/repair for car lots. I charged $45 for cash and insurance work back then.

Some of our customers complete 10+ repairs/day regularly, some have several technicians working for them and all of them are doing that kind of volume, and some only do a few a week. I think in most places the business is there but everyone has a different business model, work ethic, and skill set, so it's impossible to say how many repairs "you" will do. Someone with good sales skills typically does better than someone with good repair skills, and those who have both are the most successful.

I really hope others will chime in, it would be interesting to see if there is any kind of geographical trends amongst repair technicians. The southern states have more sunshine so it's easier to do repairs but the northern states get more snow and rocks on the road so there tends to be more rock chips per capita. We have very successful customers in every state I think.
Brent Deines
Delta Kits, Inc.
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Jbird
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Re: Research, research, research

Post by Jbird »

Thank you for chiming in Brent.

I know the work ethic and sales ability is there it just helps when someone as yourself reconfirms what you are estimating and have researched. As best I can tell there are a few repair companies in the area, but they really don't have a presence of any kind. You have to try really hard as a new customer to find them. Maybe this is the case everywhere I don't know. It seems to me that WSR is more of an impulse type business for customers that you need to be in front of them to get the sale. Or maybe most just rely the fleet side which makes since, because it will be more consistent. Sorry just kind of rambling. Time will tell I guess.

Josh
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Brent Deines
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Re: Research, research, research

Post by Brent Deines »

I personally like fleets but that is only one of many business models so even if you do mainly fleets I would put up a website and a google business page. If it is hard to find someone to do windshield repairs in your area it should be very easy to come up close to the top in a google search with a free google business page and a simple website. Getting a number of positive google reviews will help a lot. We just created a google business page for Eugene Windshield Repair, our windshield repair service company, and it increased the number of our retail service calls considerably. It was hard to find us a year ago but now we come up at or near the top of the page every time.
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screenman
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Re: Research, research, research

Post by screenman »

Fleets and the dealers who respect quality and are not after a low price are my preffered and there are plenty about like that. Number, well not as many as I used to do as I do PDR as well when out on the road, I would say still a minimum of 20 each week, there was a time when it would be 40+ week in and week out.

Pricing is now £50 minimum it was when I started 30 years ago £25 for dealers and slightly more for fleet.

With such a low investment and overheads business I think it is a great place to be, before this I owned a business that took 25 days amonth to earn overheads, this one takes Monday morning then the rest is mine. Well OK the wife's.
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Re: Research, research, research

Post by Semper Fi »

I love your honesty screenman...the wife gets it all!
Semper Fi - USMC
Don’t give up! Don’t ever give up!
Jimmy V.
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