Looking to startup Jan 1, have some questions

This forum is dedicated to sales, marketing, insurance, and other business development issues. Since this is a Windshield Repair sub forum, please continue to use the other forums on this board to discuss non-windshield repair related issues of any nature.
Post Reply
davhin
Junior Member
Posts: 3
Joined: November 6th, 2017, 10:00 am
Enter the middle number please (3): 3
Contact:

Looking to startup Jan 1, have some questions

Post by davhin »

Ok so I am going to be starting up Jan 1 on a part time basis. I have been in the car business for 23 years and sales management/business management for the last 20. Every dealership I have worked at(current dealer 8 1/2 years, prior dealer 9 years) and everyone I know of have multiple vendors for "recon" items. We have a PDR vendor, touch up vendor, interior vendor, windshield vendor and even an outside detailer for overflow. Our cleanup guys buff headlights. My goal is to offer all of these services at some point to dealers, to be able to come in and do all of these at one time, if necessary. The first things I will be starting with are windshield repair and interiors. I am considering Delta kits and a couple of others. I have a couple of questions about things like what type and how much insurance coverage people carry and companies. What types of low temps can windshields be repaired in? Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
User avatar
Brent Deines
Moderator
Posts: 2449
Joined: September 24th, 2003, 7:54 am
Enter the middle number please (3): 5
Location: Eugene, OR
Contact:

Re: Looking to startup Jan 1, have some questions

Post by Brent Deines »

Welcome davhin! If you haven't already done so, please review some of the other recent topics as there is some useful info on insurance for sure and likely weather conditions as well. If you don't find what you are looking for try starting a topic with a title that is specific to your question. The more specific your questions and relevant your titles the more likely you will be to get a useful response.
Brent Deines
Delta Kits, Inc.
Image
screenman
Senior Member
Posts: 3192
Joined: February 25th, 2004, 1:44 pm
Enter the middle number please (3): 5
Location: uk Lincolnshire
Contact:

Re: Looking to startup Jan 1, have some questions

Post by screenman »

In terms of bucks per hour WSR is the best with PDR coming in second, I speak from years of doing all the others and dropping them. Downside to PDR is the years of practise required to become expert at the trade, where as WSR is a days training followed by a week or so on a practise glass at home and you should be good to go.

I like doing dealer work as like you that was my background, however the real good money can be found in fleets of buses and trucks.

No need to look further than Delta I have tried most of the rest and found them inferior or way more expensive, I should add after nearly 30 years of being in this trade and I still enjoy the flexibility and quality of income it gives me.
davhin
Junior Member
Posts: 3
Joined: November 6th, 2017, 10:00 am
Enter the middle number please (3): 3
Contact:

Re: Looking to startup Jan 1, have some questions

Post by davhin »

Thanks for the reply screenman and Brent. To your point screenman, PDR is the last thing I would look to get into and may not at all. As you said it is time consuming to learn and may not be worth it in the end.
User avatar
Brent Deines
Moderator
Posts: 2449
Joined: September 24th, 2003, 7:54 am
Enter the middle number please (3): 5
Location: Eugene, OR
Contact:

Re: Looking to startup Jan 1, have some questions

Post by Brent Deines »

I used to offer window tinting, pinstriping and vinyl repair. I know people that are successful at all of these things and make it look easy but the learning curve is steep for these as well, at least it was for me, and the pinstriping and vinyl repair was almost always a low cost service offered primarily to dealerships. The bad part about tinting is that you really need a physical location. Vehicle wrapping was one of the most popular add-on services being demonstrated at the SEMA show this year. I haven't tried that yet but I suspect the guys doing the demos make it look easier than it really is. I have to admit the $$ per hour you can earn doing headlight restoration is not as good as what you can make repairing windshields but there is nothing easier to learn, it is very complimentary to windshield repair, and I have yet to have an unhappy customer.

Here is my short answer to your temperature question:
https://www.deltakits.com/training/expe ... bond-resin

And my answer to your question about how much liability insurance you should have is, at least $500,000, possibly more depending on your business model.

Sorry I didn't answer your questions sooner, I usually try to allow others to respond on the forum as you can always call your Delta Kits rep and ask all the questions you want so I tend to assume you are looking for diversified opinions. You may already know this but in addition to the forum we have a lot of frequently asked questions, videos, templates, forms, tutorials, and business startup information on deltakits.com, and we have an Ask and Expert page where you can ask questions you can't find anywhere else if you prefer not to call. Unfortunately we have so much info on our website that some of it is hard to find. Here are links to one of our best kept secrets...free information:

https://www.deltakits.com/training/expert-q-a/all
https://www.deltakits.com/ask-an-expert
https://www.deltakits.com/training/worksheets/all
https://www.deltakits.com/training/video-tutorials/all
Brent Deines
Delta Kits, Inc.
Image
davhin
Junior Member
Posts: 3
Joined: November 6th, 2017, 10:00 am
Enter the middle number please (3): 3
Contact:

Re: Looking to startup Jan 1, have some questions

Post by davhin »

Thanks for the info and links Brent they have been very helpful. You are right about headlight restoration in both ways. Less$ per hour but a good and low cost add on for windshield. Odd to hear you say that interior work is low $. In my world on the dealer side, windshield repair and headlight repair are actually the lowest paid per repair. Interior repairs average about 50% more per repair. I do headlights, spray vinyl and install dash covers during my normal day as needed. I actually like the interior work. No way I would do tinting, tried that a couple of times and it drove me nuts. Stripping is pretty much dead where I am. Wrapping? The dollar per hour is probably fantastic, but it would seem to me to be such a small market and high overhead that I don't think I would mess with it. Also, wrapped cars come on the lot and we immediately kill the value. It will cost us a ton to turn it back into a sellable car. Again
User avatar
Brent Deines
Moderator
Posts: 2449
Joined: September 24th, 2003, 7:54 am
Enter the middle number please (3): 5
Location: Eugene, OR
Contact:

Re: Looking to startup Jan 1, have some questions

Post by Brent Deines »

I didn't mean to imply that interior work was low $. Like I said, I know people who are very good at it and make a good living at it but the "vinyl repair" for me was not a good fit because I was slow and frankly not all that good at it. I agree there is good money in just spraying vinyl and I never tried installing dash covers but it makes sense that could be a money maker as well. I also agree pinstriping is pretty much a thing of the past.

Thanks for the feedback on the wrapping, I really don't know anything about it but I suspect you are right in it detracting from the value of a car when it comes time to sell it. I probably saw a dozen companies or so wrapping cars at SEMA and I probably only saw half the booths at the show so I'm sure there were more. They were doing high end cars ($100K plus) in most cases, which is also what we often see around here. We don't have many cars like that in our little community but those we do have typically belong to U of O students with wealthy families. There must be a bigger market for that type of thing in larger, more affluent cities. I think if I were to wrap vehicles here I would target businesses who want to project their company image on their vehicle. I see more and more commercially wrapped vehicles and I think I could sell it as a reasonably inexpensive way to advertise your business. However, although I'm always looking at new ways to make money I have found that for me I am better to focus on what I do best. I once dabbled in many different things but found once I dialed in on the ones that were the most profitable and the easiest to market my business grew a lot faster. That might be just me though.

I think at least to some degree the money will be in what you are good at. I feel I'm pretty good at repairing windshields so to me that was always the most profitable service I offered. I think I'm pretty good at headlight restoration as well but do to the fact I can only repair one vehicle at a time and the material cost is about 7 times that of windshield repair I'm limited to about $100/hr profit. Not terrible, but not quite there with windshield repair where the cost per repair is next to nothing and several repairs can easily be performed at the same time. While a windshield repair might take me up to 30 minutes to complete, I rarely every spend more than 10 minutes actually working on the repair so if I can get enough of them lined up at the same time I can pump out as many as 6/hr without help from anyone else. Getting that many lined up in one spot at the same time is not always easy to do but with fleets it's not impossible.
Brent Deines
Delta Kits, Inc.
Image
screenman
Senior Member
Posts: 3192
Joined: February 25th, 2004, 1:44 pm
Enter the middle number please (3): 5
Location: uk Lincolnshire
Contact:

Re: Looking to startup Jan 1, have some questions

Post by screenman »

I did interiors for about 10 years until the market for it went very slow, I was finding that I was only getting one job per visit to some interior repair customers, this is not a business model that I like, 4 or 5 jobs between getting back in the car/van suits me best.
User avatar
benswindshieldrepair
Member
Posts: 178
Joined: March 19th, 2011, 8:01 pm
Enter the middle number please (3): 3
Location: Flathead Lake, Montana
Contact:

Re: Looking to startup Jan 1, have some questions

Post by benswindshieldrepair »

To chime in on low temps:

Working in Western Montana, low temps are an issue for WSR. Some of the things I do is keep my supplies inside (as opposed to in the truck). If in the elements I will run the customers car with the defrost on a medium temperature to warm the glass a bit, and if there is precipitation, I use a covering such as the bubble that DK sells. The biggest thing with low temperatures is the amount of time it takes. It takes a bit longer for the resin to flow and you need to make sure your cure time is appropriate, which might mean more than the 5 minutes recommended as a general standard. You gotta be more patient and more resourceful regarding a heat source, because no matter what you do, the resin has to flow and it doesn't like cold. As for the rest of it, I applaud your jack of all trades approach. I think that this is a great start of a successful business model, with the understanding that you will have to be good at a lot of things.
screenman
Senior Member
Posts: 3192
Joined: February 25th, 2004, 1:44 pm
Enter the middle number please (3): 5
Location: uk Lincolnshire
Contact:

Re: Looking to startup Jan 1, have some questions

Post by screenman »

As somebody who is a jack of all trades, WSR, PDR interior and paint I would add make sure you do that which earns the biggest buck per hour, I can do 4 windshields and hour or 4 dents per hours each at say $60 each, interiors I can do one per hour at say £100.
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 16 guests