Starting a WSR Business, Help Appreciated

[anythingclose]

I currently work for a WSR company and have been strongly considering striking out on my own. Partly this is due to the fact that I am being paid a fraction of what I could make if I were in business for myself. The other reason is that my boss is not the most ethical person, and 90% of my "training" was how to sell the repair with the repair process itself merely an afterthought.

In the beginning, I didn't really understand what the purpose of the repair was, as that was never explained, but as I learned (mostly self-taught, some internet research) how to do the repair properly, I started realizing that his business practices were not to my liking. His idea is to repair any damage, no matter how slight or small, and thereby do more repairs in a day, and make more money. I believe this is dishonest, if not downright illegal. I find it curious since he told me the standards for windshield repair indicate you can repair anything as small as 3 mm, but then demonstrated 3 mm to be the size of a pencil led... from a 0.7 mm pencil. I mean, it was clearly marked as 0.7 mm so it obviously wasn't 3 mm, or even close.

But I digress. Basically, I want to build a business, doing quality repairs and would appreciate any help you can offer.

With that being said, I am pretty knowledgeable on how to do the repair itself, but have no knowledge of what goes on behind the scenes with regards to insurance billing, what insurance is required (I just discovered, for instance, that a $500,000 liability policy is required for something with regards to safelite or lynx, still unclear on this), or whether I can process the claims myself, or must hire a separate company (the name ACT was thrown around here a bit).

Also, my repair experience is with a triangular bridge, injector at one point, two nylon screws at the other two, but a fixed suction cup, no adjustment. I have so far been unable to find this particular tool online, and would love some recommendations as to which bridge would be best, or most similar to the one I am used to. Also, many sites offer carbide drill bits, or "burrs" but I saw some information saying that diamond tip is better and can't find any of those.

I have a strong opinion that the tools I am currently using are the cheapest, crappiest possible, because everything I've found online is much more involved and made of metal instead of plastic, etc., but I have gotten very good with these tools, and except for the occasional situation where the tools are not in good shape, (because my boss will not replace the parts that wear out often enough) I do good repairs with them. I read somewhere on these forums that once you get comfortable with a set of tools, or particular process you should stick with it, so hopefully I can find something close to what I'm used to. Poly-Lite seems to have the closest in appearance to the tools I use now, but the only bridges I saw seemed to come with extra parts that I am unfamiliar with.

Also, the tool I use currently has a plastic injector, and I very much like both the appearance of and (hopefully) durability of metal. However, the one I currently use tends to get gummed up quite frequently, and has to be rather painstakingly cleaned, which tends to damage the threads. In addition, I cannot adequately clean the interior threads and so eventually always end up replacing it. With a metal injector, I imagine I wouldn't have to worry about the threads being damaged during cleaning as easily, but at $100 each (or close) I would hate to replace this every few months when the interior gets gummed up, so is there a method for dissolving the resin or cleaning it adequately?

Any information, or links or resources would be incredibly helpful. I'm not looking for someone to hold my hand or anything, but the search function came up with quite a bit of unrelated information and after about 3 hours of searching I decided it was time to post. I already imagine I will be spending a lot of time on these forums learning everything I can, but some assistance figuring out the core stuff would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[Kgobin]

Anythingclose, Welcome to the Windshield Repair Forum! In the April Issue of our monthly Wise Crack Newsletter the President of Delta Kits, Brent Deines, gave a Tech Tip on when to drill and what bur to use while drilling. I have included the link to the Tech Tip Drilling and Burs and I encourage you to sign-up for our free monthly newsletter. Also, I invite you to call into Delta Kits at your earliest convenience, and give me the opportunity to thoroughly explain how a Delta Kits windshield repair system works.

[bullseyemaster]

welcome anythingclose

im also a new member but ive found out so much from reading the past posts. i would suggest taking a week to read as many posts as you can. i would recommend delta kits their price mirror the quality that your repair will be worth. but well worth it to make a customer go tell friends about the awesome repair you did. delta is the Cadillac or repair tools im working as a sub contractor and they provide delta kits and im working on going on my own and hopefully ill be taking delta with me as far a cleaning i clean my bridge and injector after ever repair and keep it out of the sun light. also the resin your using could be low quality. delta resin is top shelf you wont be disappointed. as far as the other questions just keep reading someone already answered some ware in past posts. good luck on you journey

[Brent Deines]

If you purchase a Delta Kits bridge, new or used, you can return it within 30 days if you are not 100% satisfied. I think we can set you up with something similar enough to what you are using now that you won't have to learn everything new from scratch, but will still give you all the advantages you seek. Should you decide to keep our bridge you can send in your old bridge for a discount or rebate. That is of course assuming you own your equipment and it does not belong to your current employer.

If you are interested give me a call to discuss what might work best for you. The reason I say this is that some of your comments lead me to believe you may prefer something slightly different than our best selling B300 or B200 bridge.

You really have nothing to lose by trying a Delta Kits system except for a minimal shipping charge which we will disclose prior to you purchasing anything. Give me a call if I can help. My direct extension is 304.

[anythingclose]

Thanks for the prompt tips and advice. With regards to the monthly newsletter, how would I go about signing up for this? I would certainly appreciate as much information as possible, so that sounds like a good resource. I definitely still think I have a lot to learn, as every time I look at a different site, I find different information.

Is this site associated with Delta tools? It seems like they tend to be commonly recommended, and I was curious what makes them the best/better than the competition. I fear that perhaps my knowledge of windshield repair is not broad enough to immediately recognize why they are superior. I have seen some different, metal injectors on other sites which retail for much less, and would like to know how Delta injectors differ. I have noticed that they say something about "spring activated" or some such, and I am not used to anything which has a spring. I think what I'm worried about, is that these tools seem to add a level of complexity which I'm unfamiliar with. If they truly produce a better quality repair, I would love to learn how to use them. However, if they are simply different, then the added complication will just give me another learning curve to climb before I'm confident with the quality of my repairs again.

I am currently working for someone else, all tools provided for me. I will need to purchase everything myself. I know what I will need, and it is very convenient that some sites offer kits, but the kits seem to usually include extras which I am not used to using and don't feel I need, and seem to retail for much more than the cost to put a kit together myself. Not to criticize, but the cordless Dremel drill that sells from Delta for $75 is available, in identical form, from another site for $25. I'm not sure why the markup, but it seems somewhat silly for me to pay such inflated prices for it when I can buy it somewhere else for much cheaper. I am somewhat worried about the cost of the Delta bridge as well. They run consistently above $200, and don't SEEM that much better than the competition. I'm not a cheapskate by any means, and if it is demonstrated why they are superior, I would love to invest in the best tools available, but I guess at this point I just don't see why they are better, or worth the higher price when compared to the competition.

I have, in the past, been accused of spending top dollar for things which are no better than the discount versions, and so I'm trying not to make that mistake this time. While I know that the tools, if you purchase quality, are a one-time investment, I just don't want to needlessly spend extra money when I don't have to. However, I also don't want to invest $500 and down the line wish I had invested $1,000 for quality tools. So please, if you can, enlighten me.

Lastly, does anyone have any help regarding what is required to be able to work with insurance companies instead of simply cash sales? I plan on filing a DBA and setting up a business bank account, but what else will I need? A business email address, physical address, phone and fax I can handle, but what else is required? Liability Insurance? Anything specific for working with each company (ie Safelite, Lynx, Blue Ribbon Glass Claims etc.)? Again, if there is a resource available for this, I would love information as to where to find that so I don't seem needy with all my questions.

[Kgobin]

Anyone can sign up for the Wise Crack Newsletter via Delta Kits homepage and I have signed you up for it. You will get an email verifying that you would like to sign-up for the newsletter. Please click the acceptance link and you will start to receive the Wise Crack Newsletter monthly. Lastly, I encourage you to call into Delta Kits so Brent or I can thoroughly answer all of your questions.

[Brent Deines]

anythingclose,

Yes this board is owned and operated by Delta Kits, which would explain the Delta Kits logo at the top of the page. That is why although the majority of members are not Delta Kits customers, you will not find our competitors advertising their products here, and most respect us enough that even if they choose another system they will not bad mouth our products, just as we do not bad mouth competitor products. You won't get any hard core sales pitch from Delta Kits, but you did ask a question and I answered it to the best of my ability.

If you will re-read my last post to you I think you will find that I offered to discuss your injector options as I agree that you may not want our I-100 spring loaded windshield repair injector. There are less expensive stainless screw type options that, based on what you have told us so far, may be more to your liking. I also offered you a risk free trial offer so you try our products and see for yourself what sets us apart from the competition. I'm not sure how it can get any easier than that.

As for Dremel drills, we certainly cannot compete with some of the big chain stores who sometimes put them on sale for less than we pay for them. We buy by the pallet load, but they buy by the truck load! Still, I don't think you are comparing apples to apples, so I would encourage you to call us before you purchase a drill that you will be using for windshield repair. If we can't match the price you find elsewhere on an identical item we certainly will not be offended if you choose to purchase it elsewhere, but at the very least you will find out the differences and be able to make an educated decision. We get tech support calls from customers who purchase drills that run at too high of a speed, or do not include the proper sized collet with the purchase, and they can't figure out why they are having problems. If you buy from us you know that the drill and collet has been matched to the carbide burs we sell for optimum performance.

I think we can help you understand the insurance billing/network game as well, and again, we won't try to sell you on anything, but it's far easier to discuss these matters over the telephone as we can spend days posting back and forth on the forum to accomplish the same results that we can get in a 10 minute phone call. For instance, if you think our prices are too high, why not call us and ask us why rather than ask the question to others on the windshield repair forum who have no control over our pricing? I'm not sure why you have resisted calling us, but I think I have given you all the information I can on the forum without making this sound like a sales pitch, which is not my intention.

If you are not interested in Delta Kits glass repair products I will let other forum members answer your questions, but if you want to know who Delta Kits is and what we can do for you, call us. You'll know pretty quickly if we can help you or not and you will save yourself and all of the rest of us a lot of time.

[anythingclose]

I will certainly call and hopefully get all my questions answered and then some! I hope I haven't come off as being disparaging, as that was certainly not my intention. I currently work 10-11 hour days and am waiting to call on my next weekday off. I was only hoping to find out what separates the best tools, from the merely ok tools. Since my education has been seriously lacking regarding this business and most of my knowledge is self-taught. I can say I am impressed with the descriptions of your resins drying clear because the one I use currently turns an ugly yellow and eventually brown. Since there seems to be such a huge difference in the quality of your resin compared to the resin I'm using, I was hoping to discover if there was a similar huge jump in the quality of your other tools.

My main goal when I go into business myself is the highest quality repairs possible. It is the main reason I am dissatisfied with my current employer. He seems to consider "making more money" the only worthwhile goal, repair quality not important.

[Brent Deines]

No problem, it's just that I have limited time to spend on the forum and your questions have been asked and answered dozens of times in the past, which is probably why you are not getting a huge response from other members. Many other windshield repair forum members also have limited time and don't like to respond to the same questions over and over again. I do however understand that it is not always easy to find what you want on a board this size, so please forgive me if I sometimes get a bit impatient.

Some glass repair technicians will tell you that the system they use is the only one worth having, and some will tell you that the quality of the repair has more to do with the skill of the technician than it does with the equipment being used. Obviously I am biased when it comes to equipment, as are all of our competitors, which is why we offer the money back guarantee on our windshield repair systems. I do believe there is a significant difference in equipment, but regardless of how well the equipment works, it will not perform as well as it could unless the technician knows how to use it. Although I think that the vast majority of Delta Kits users do great repairs, especially those who attend our training classes, there are unfortunately some who do not.

My recommendations to you will be based on what is important to you, not what we sell the most of or what we make the most $ on. It's far easier to teach a new technician how to properly use a new piece of equipment than it is to teach an experienced technician who has been trained on another style of equipment, so unless you are willing to come to training it doesn't make much sense to take you too far away from what you are used to. Instead I will find out what you like and don't like about your current system and see if we can come up with something that addresses all the negative issues but is still within your comfort zone, and of course your budget. I have studied the hundreds of systems that have been traded in for Delta Kits bridges and injectors, so I believe I can speak intelligently about the differences in equipment. I will not however bash the competition; that's a fools game.

Resins are just as important as the type of injection system used, and we provide free samples of those as well. I respect the fact that you want to be sure you are getting the best, and getting a fair deal on the equipment you purchase. I also encourage you to find out as much as you can about other windshield repair systems. Just be sure you get a written money back guarantee and be sure you read the fine print. Some members of the windshield repair forum have had some pretty bad experiences because they only got a verbal guarantee and when they did not like the equipment were not allowed to return it for a full refund.

Your current employer is not unusual in this or any other industry, but I'm glad to hear that you have a bit more integrity. By the way, thank you for not mentioning your employer's name. We try to stay away from mudslinging as much as possible on the windshield repair forum.

[anythingclose]

I understand how forums work. I feel like sort of a jerk asking for help instead of searching diligently, but I find the search feature sadly lacking in most forums. Not a dig against your forum at all, and you and the others who have responded have been incredibly helpful, and even if I were to decide to purchase tools from a different company, I would recommend anyone getting into the business to this forum. I am relatively certain I will be purchasing tools from you, partly because of your helpfulness and partly because of the apparent quality of the tools (I haven't held them or used them yet, but they certainly look high quality from the pictures, compared to some other systems I looked at).

The main thoughts I have regarding what I would like in my tools are as follows:

Triangular bridge.
I want this for the obvious reason of being able to reach into corners effectively, and also to have 3 screw down adjustments, to more easily adapt to any angle or curve a windshield may throw at me. I would greatly like to have a system in which I can tighten the injector to the glass without spinning it directly, like some I have seen. What I mean, is that I want to be able to tighten the two back screws in order to put the pressure on the glass from the injector directly instead of putting pressure on it while screwing the injector down, like some systems. It feels like I'll get a better seal if I'm not spinning the injector while I tighten it down. The Delta bridges on your site (only three are listed, or viewable by me, you mentioned a different model, are there more which are not listed?) fit this bill exactly, and that is partly why I am interested in them.

Durability
I currently use tools which use nylon/plastic injector and screws (for the back two points on the triangular shaped bridge) and they tend to be relatively cheap-looking, and not terribly durable. Delta tools are made of metal (I've forgotten what type, but any metal is better than cheap plastic) and come with a lifetime guarantee. Again, another positive.

Ease of Use
The system I learned on was a simple plunger type injector. No pumps or anything overly complicated. Delta injectors seem to be relatively simple, and very similar in function. I am certainly not opposed to adding some complexity (spring mechanism comes to mind) if it were to result in a better quality repair, or it gave me some other type of benefit, such as ease of use, less waste, quicker etc. This is one of the questions I plan on asking when I call, actually.

I guess ultimately all I really want is to do the best quality repair, consistently, so that I can feel proud that I am really helping my customers. Anything that improves the quality of my repair is definitely something I want to consider and know about. That's the main reason I mentioned the resins. I have heard some customers tell me that they have had their windshield repaired, or heard of a friend who did and had the repair come out nearly clear. The less viscous resin that we use, the one for injecting into cracks, hardens almost invisible. However, the surface filler we use hardens initially to a dull finish that blends with the windshield for the most part but within a few months is yellowed and within half a year or so has turned an ugly brown color. So to hear that these customers were actually correct, that there is a method for leaving the repair LOOKING good as well as structurally sound, is huge news to me and makes me wonder what else I don't know. Ultimately, I will make my own decisions, but your forum is the only place I have found where I can ask other people's opinions about tools and techniques, so I am sort of drunk on the potential information I might gain here.

As far as teaching a technician new tricks, I find that I learn relatively fast, and have already contacted a few places and intend to get a few pieces of practice glass (old windshields) to use my new tools on before I even attempt a customers windshield. No matter which tools I choose, I know they will not be identical to the ones I use currently, and so plan on practicing enough to get the repair right. Because of that, I am not terribly concerned with using new or different tools or techniques. I know I can adapt, and as the industry changes, and newer technology becomes available, I want to keep myself updated so that I am always able to offer the best repair possible. Now, short of purchasing each system, and trying each resin myself, I will have to at least in part rely on information provided by others. Which of course leads back to me needing to call instead of use the forums. Stupid, long working hours.

Which brings me around to my current employer. You're welcome, I would never want to bad-mouth anyone. Reminds me of when a customer will come to me and tell me a chip has been "repaired" already and I will ask only one question: "Did you have that repaired here?" When they say "No." or "Yes, but someone else did the repair, not you." I tell them that I will correct the repair, free of charge, and when they see the difference, I know I have a customer for life. I never ask where they had it repaired, or tell them that the other shop did a bad job or whatever because I don't want to be negative. I simply do a high quality repair, every time, and judge my success by the reaction I get from my customers.