Finding partner

[Gbrad]

Has anyone ever had any success partnering with a glass replacment shop so that you became an sub contractor and was there REPAIR MEDIC kind of person. I have a local glass shop that is medium in size but gets a good amount of WSR referals ( 20 per week). It's not profitable for them to do because they have two guys in a van most of the time so a $50.00 WSR profit is split between two rather then a $300.00 replacment.

My proposal to them is that if they would sub it all to me at a 70% ( me $35.00) - 30% ( them $15.00) split it would work out for both of us. I'll even wear the company shirt in needed but I us my vehicle, my gas, my phone, and my insurance while they keep a experienced WSR tech on with an incentive to do more repairs as they come in. The upside for me is I do volumn insurance WSR and don't have to file the paper work or wait for the money because they would pay me at the end of every week.

What's your thoughts? Is it unrealistic?

[Frank EU]

Well, that volume indeed sounds good, and the weekly money, in addition to your own wsr jobs, looks nice as well. I know a lot of people in our business who would be very pleased with such a deal. Needless to say that your ''what's in it for them'' suggested proposal ($15 per single repair order) would only be normal as a proper bonus for them, after all, situations like this should be win-win. You wearing their company shirt adds also in their favour. So you coverred that all and that is just fine. It all sounds good to me! Here's the ''but''.... The replacement company would certainly be interested in referals from you (your own business) esp. when you are repair only vendor. They would be extremely keen to function as your replacer when your doing fleet work. And that might be a dangerous thing to do Gbrad. We saw that happening many times, both here in Eu and the US, repair only guys referring to replacement companies, and they have lost many accounts over the years.... May I suggest you to try to cover some kind of ''disclaimer'' or ''guarantee'' that they will not go walking with your customers? It is never a 100% guarantee, but it is best to at least drop the subject before you start working.

[GlassStarz]

Im afraid they are gonna see you as taking food away at a time when things are slow already They all have the ability to do repairs but most push replacement because of the profit especialy the shops where the instaler gets a comission
Repalcement shops are taught that repair is the last resort for a sale
You may find a progressive guy who thinks he will get more replacements by having another guy out there but he is a rare duck

[Gbrad]

It was a foregone conclusion that whatever WS I could not fix would be refered to them because I believe with the customers trust already in me to repair their windshields they would take whatever option I would suggest for replacement. I would give the glass company 100% of there replacement cost with no referal fee even though they offered me $25.00 per replacment. So in a nut shell they get advertisement from the shirt, they now have no cost in the repair itself and all they have to do is process some paper work and float a little bit of money.

As far as taking food off their table or them losing money I could not disagree more, infact I can almost prove it to be a money maker. When you subtract the drive time, gas, wear and tear on the vehicle, car insurance and health insurance for both guys. Then the man hour of two guy with one that's not working in the truck because I did say they have two men vans. Then you have the cost of the company phone, WSR tools, training and supplies I would bet they make less then $10.00 a repair. I have had countless replacement companies tell that they would'nt touch WSR if they didn't have. The owner himself even told me he makes very little if anything on WSR and only offers it because insurance companies highly suggest him to.

[SuperGlassDave]

I think it is a great partnership for a couple of reasons. And, there are additional benefits to both parties than the obvious profits.
First of all, the motorists will generally get better repairs from a full time repair expert over a part time replacement/repair tech. The repair tech will generally be more versatile as well meaning more glass will be repaired.
To counter the glass company attitude of needing every claim as a replacement; Most of their business is probably insurance. Showing a higher repair ratio than the other glass replacement shops could get them more referrals from the networks and make them more preferred by insurance companies.
I think you should take the referral fee for the replacement since they will profit from your repair. Also, many of your referrals to them will have come from your own advertising or promotion and the $25 will help offset those costs fairly.
Our company store in Atlanta used 2 glass companies this way, one on the east side and one on the west side. We were their biggest source of referrals and they gave us repairs every day. We actually built a really good relationship and both parties were able to trust each other because we both made life better for each other. Of course, they did really bad repair, they knew it and were willing to admit it. They like the fact that we don't replace so there was no threat from us.
I hope it works out for you. Good for you, them and the motorists.
Dave Casey

[GlassStarz]

You know that as do I but many replacement guys see WR as bad buisness I cant tell you the number of repairs I have done that the replacement guy said couldnt be fixed. If you can find a open minded guy certainly that would be a profitable situation

[Brent Deines]

They are out there, but I agree with GlassStarz, they are few and far between. Most glass shops that truly believe in the value of windshield repair will also see the profit potential and choose to do it themselves.

[the big welshman]

Hi there, I have a free listing on the internt with Googler for windshields Repair?? If I recive a call for a replacement I send it to a Glass Shop In turn if the Glass Shop gets a call for a windshield repair he sends it back over to me?? Here in MA the customer thinks a repair is a replcement because there is no deductable on a Windshield (free-)- like Florida and Ct. Some glass shops will pay you $25.00 finder fee for a replacement

[johnnyone]

Good Luck trying to net work with glass replacement shops
They are very competive and really dont need you, how ever they
may use you for there best interests.

[GlassStarz]

Replacement shops see us as parasites that syphon off some of thier buisness most have little real understanding of anything other than how to replace most of the big companies pay the tech a flat per replacement and there is no benifit to them repairing instead IMHO there are a lot of better places to spend your time drumming up buisness