Windshield Repair Forum

OK…so you got your windshield repair kit a month, year or years ago. Has the windshield repair business met your expectations of what you or others have told you? Are you finding repair jobs and making the money you expected?

I am retired from electronics and do WSR part time.
I love fixing windshields. It gets me out of the house.
I meet people that I normally would not meet and a lot of them are really interesting. ( flakey people generally do not repair their windshields )
The extra cash is nice too.
If I was raising a family, I would want something that consistently generated more income and health insurance coverage; like working for a large corporation.

I'm not in the WSR business yet so I hope more people respond to this question.

I realize in most business your success is directly linked to your efforts as well as many other variables, but a clear picture of the realistic potential of WSR would be appreciated.

Thanks

I just got out a month ago and have no regrets at this point but it is early in the game.I could write a book on the pros and cons! Money is great in the repair business but stress will come with money.Like any job: the more you make the more stess. I built my repair business around Enterprise rental car and with that came every weekend and a lot of late afternoon calls but they were and still are good to me. If you want me to tell you more of this journey just pm me.

Bill,

I'm not sure how to PM you. I would love to pick your brain on this business.

Thanks


Tim

timclavin wrote:Bill,

I'm not sure how to PM you. I would love to pick your brain on this business.

Thanks


Tim

tim, you need to do 10 posts before you can send PMs to other users.

I have given a lot of thought to this question over the years and the answer is always yes, I do enjoy WSR if not I would not do it. For one thing I have quality customers 3 of them spend upwards of $1200 per month with me and each only takes 10 hours pr month to service. If I was chasing retail or insurance work I would not enjoy it so much, which is the reason I do not bother with one off jobs, which as I have said before are expensive and time consuming to do.

Just realized that post may look like I only have 3 customers, they are just what I call my bankers there are many more that I do work for but not as productive.

I feel WSR is about sales not repairs, keep selling even when you are busy and things will get even busier. Stop selling and your business will stop along with it.

I agree with screenman....mostly. Retail/insurance just isn't worth the trouble for me either. Every successful enterprise has repeat business; retail WSR just isn't going to provide that unless you're located where there are no paved roads and everyone drives older vehicles designed with aesthetics rather than aerodynamics in mind (and are willing to pay cash, as a lot of older vehicles don't carry comprehensive insurance coverage) or unless you have a client list of hundreds if not thousands of both present and potential customers that you market to continuously. Problem is for most techs new to WSR, the highly profitable commercial accounts are generally unavailable unless their WSR vendor leaves the business or is caught in dishonesty.

Cheers;

Puka Pau

I get the idea you guys might not think a stand alone kiosk/retail/insurance WSR business might not be the way to go.

I am thinking of moving to a different city of 100.000 people that does not, or ever has had, a tent WSR operation. The

business would operate from April thru October.

I have available to me a couple of great locations with tremendous traffic counts.

This is a huge decision for me and your opinions are greatly appreciated.

I've been a long time reader of the forum and a DK user but never saw a need to register, this is my first post.

I started fixing windshields 3 years ago, it was a job I found on craigslist. Later I branched out on my own. I've had a booth and two (or three) gas stations in Southern California and it's been a good run but I won't be staying in the business much longer.