Belron Is Coming Part 2

[Repair1]

I thought it be appropriate to put this thread into the repair side of this forum since the original post was telling us repair guys to

[John62]

Hi Repair1,

Thank you for moving this topic to the repair side of this forum.
You're right.
And you're to bl&$%y right that it is INSANE to offer repairs for as low as $9.95.
It decreases the way people will think about the industry. Being a mobile vendor, one cannot complete the service at that rate.
And how about fleet operators, insurerers and all the others who are involved at the buying side? $9.95 is extremely harmfull and dangerous as well for the above and some other reasons. Why have they been paying ''much'' more before for ''the same'' service. (''the same'' as many people just don't know ....)
By decreasing the way our customers think about the industry you shoot yourself in your foot.
But, this is a free world and if they are happy to lure people with $9.95 -or even totally FREE- repairs, its their decision right?
But its far away from reality and reason.
So what could be done?
Again, it is much better to unite as ws repair only's instead staying 'independent'. And you're right to say that they at Belron look after their guys in a nice way. Where we do not agree is the fact that they would 'push' repairs. They only will do that to force their way into the insurance companies etc. As soon as they are established ..... the rates do come down dramaticly. This is done in all markets where they operate and will happen in the US as well -mind my words mate!
We know Belron very well, they may look nice at first, but are a pain in the neck for all parties involved, including the insurance industry.
In fact; many insurance companies in Europe would LOVE TO DROP the Belron companies. Unfortunately; they have helped the Belron companies expanding vast and that made them the dominant player all over the place there.
Now ..... the insurers can't get rid of them easily as most motorists THINK they HAVE TO GO there. But they don't.
It is for all the other vendors a constant battle to overcome the misunderstandings. Belron will also try to ban repairs from the windshieldwiper section; ie; up to 80% of the shield -as soon as they can.
I know; this happened before, but it will pop up again.
Let's stay positive however and keep on communicating, here or elsewhere, about the wonderfull opportunities we still have as it is not to late -yet- to unite.

[repare-brise]

Repairs at $9.95 are $9.95 more than Belron shops(Lebeau, and Vitro-plus) charge in Quebec, Yes free repairs, and without an insurance claim, they also sell a "titanium" windshied that they guarentee repairs on for life. But as stated by John62, there criteria for where a WS can be repaired is slim, in other words a bait and switch. One of my customers described it to me, first not on the drivers side(field of vision), second not if the break is within 4 inches of the edge(the glass is too stressed), not where the wipers pass(the hole they leave by not filling the pit leaves a line when the wipers are in use), not bigger than a dime. Another tactic they use is they press on the inside of the WS at the point of impact too see if the WS is solid, you know like me what happens when you exert pressure from the inside under a star break. They say they are testing if the WS is solid enough to repair, but in reality they are forcefully cracking out the glass to entice the customer into a repalcement. It's not only the Belron shops that do this by the way.

As far as free to the fleets and dealers, for me and my franchisee's it's a reality that we live with every day. They claim free repairs to dealers and fleets,but there criteria being so slim they only repair between 5 and 10% and repalce the rest. I have had dealers fall into there trap, only to come back after a few weeks since we repair over 90%, free repairs are way more costly than $40 repiars(I believe there is an addage that sais nothing is free?). They also provide mobile service, ect but they can't come close to our quality, turn-around time(we purposly leave 2 hours a day unbooked in our agendas to respond to "emergencies", we rarely get have the luxury of having a break, every day we have "emergencies") they simply can't compete.

Merci

[John62]

Hi Yvan,
I really didn't want to bring this forward myself, as it only makes Belron even look like more just a bunch of ....
Anyway, thank you for bringing it forward, I can withness this situation, it happens on a daily bases.
But all replacement companies know this dirty trick how to make a repairable break not worth repairing any longer ..... -I do NOT claim here that they all practice this dirty trick however. Where you use the term 'solid glass' you mean 'stable break', just to clarify it for the other guys here.

[repare-brise]

John

Yes I mean stable break. Of course when you press on the inside of a star with your thumb, not many are too stable

[Repair1]

You think that

[DaveC]

Jeepers, one heck of an acute area!