insurance too much of a hassle?? dont use it!

[SandWGlassRepair]

I've been around 21 years as of May 2010, I have seen guys come and go. Glass repair is an art, easy to learn but hard to master. The car wash concept is a good one for sure but fleet accounts are where the money is for me. I have an 800 truck fleet account and they get the cheapest price possible $25 per truck, I take the good with the bad. This past weekend I worked 8 hours Saturday and 3 hours Sunday. A total of 31 trucks and $775 doing glass repair. The other great thing about fleet companies is they only care about saving the windshield, asthetics are a bonus but not your main concern. When I took over this account in 2005 the had spent $60,000 the previous year in replacements. I got them to buy in to my plan. I go to there two lots every other week and have carte blanch in fixing every single truck. The result, this account spends a lot of money per year, it's guaranteed money and they only really care about saving the windshield.

[Brent Deines]

This is one subject (repairing windshields at car washes) that I just don't understand! Why would anyone want to set up a location for repairs where the breaks are intentionally run through a car wash just prior to being repaired? It's like waiting for a rain storm to blow through so you can do the repair immediately after. Water is one of our worst enemies. Shouldn't we try to avoid it at all costs? That being said........if you are making money and doing QUALITY repairs, God bless you!

In a car wash operation it's best to check the cars and cover any damage prior to it going through the wash. A lot of the time it works best to have two people work a car wash. One to identify breaks and process payments and the other to do the repairs.

[candyman]

This is for Sandwglass: I have an interview monday for a distribution center that has about
50 vehicles. They called me because of a free repair that I performed for the owners secreatary. Her husband had been out of work for six months and just completed combat training, He will deploy to afganistan as a civilian plumber for our miltary next month. Money was tight for her family. I made the WSR and gave her my card and asked her to send me some referrals. My question to you is this. Do most fleet account pay about the same? I've had a few car dealers call me and state they only pay $15 top for a repair. I declined! Your fee of $25 for a large fleet doesn't sound bad to me, because they are all at the same location. I 've driven at least 20 miles twice this week only to discover the phone information was wrong and the WS needed replacement. I have another distribution center that I gave a price of $30 and todate I've only had 2 calls during the past 5 months. I don't know if they just don't get that many breaks or my price is too high. They seemed to be ok with the price when I talked with them. Any advice would be appreciated. I have radio spots for my area starting next week. The sound engineer will make three message that I will annouce describing my WSR & HLR and Why they should repair before they replace. These spots will rotate daily 15x Mon- Fri for 3 months. I will also do a 15 - 30 minute on air interview for the stations local daily talk show discussing my business, and the benefits of HLR & WSR. The fee was only $100 per month, plus $20 for each message. I like the forum because I pick up ideas all the time. Some work and others don't. I've always heard " location, Location, Location" is the key. Most of the time I can see my repair, yet the glass is smooth & sealed, while other times I can't even hardly find it. That I believe is when the art of glass repair is at its best. 1 year next month and still a newby. Have a great day! Candyman

[GLASSTIME]

I offer Auto Detailing. Our process is simple. We evaluate the vehicle before we conduct our services. One this gives us an advantage being we can Identify possible repairable damage. After completeting our time with the customer and writing our work order we will immediatley cover the Void with a chip saver. Finish our Washing and then begin the repair.

Now there is those cases where we are there for a WSR only and it may turn into a "Detail" in these cases it's not such a concern as the break is Filled and cured!


What Brent said seems more logic. You may currently have a process that works for you and that is all swell! However I don't think we are harping on ya we just want to make sure you understand the risks taken when dealing with moisture and attempting to complete a repair with such variables. Definatley anaylize your services there at the carwash at see if you could place another individual at the Tunnel Entrance.

I think with this structure in place your repairs could move even more smoothly meaning your repairs could increase!

[SandWGlassRepair]

To Candyman, I have 3 fleet prices. Standard fleet rates for small companies is $40 per vehicle and $10 for each additional but I cap it out at $60 no matter what. The second fleet rate which I have a few companies paying is $30 plus $10 and again cap it out at $60. The third fleet rate is of course what my number one customer pays, $25. I have met guys in the business and seen them come and go. Your ability to fix a repair and make it look good is key for sure when working on automobiles but trucks are a horse of another color, again asthetics are a bonus, save them the windshield and your a hero. Free demonstrations are a key to my sales pitch and always have been. I've been reading this forum for 5 years I'm guessing and have read some good ideas. I have a degree in business management and have learned throughout the years it's best to have an open mind, when your mind is closed or you think you can't learn anymore then you've already lost. I'll post one of my fleet sales letters below, feel free to use any portion of it or all of it, I also welcome any input or changes anyone might have to make it a better letter. This letter is for Pepsi and I'm trying to get this account. I had the ability to look at their vehicles but still haven't gotten them to bite, again I welcome any suggestions.

Dear Mr. Servan and Mr. Stone:
After examining you fleet of vehicles I have determined that 31 vehicles need to be repaired. Eventually if these repairs aren't done then you would be looking at an approximate replacement cost of $5425 based on an average cost per windshield of $175.00, not only is this a more expensive process it is also not good for the environment. You may not be aware that windshield glass is not recycled and all those windshields will be adding to our local landfill when repairs can save the glass at a much reduced cost. There is one truck however that will have to have the windshield replaced and that is truck # 9.That break is too big to repair safely and would be better if replaced. Out of the 31 vehicles you have 7 that need two repairs and one vehicle has need for three repairs. My charges for your fleet are $30 for the first repair on the windshield and $10 for each additional repair on the same windshield .This makes my charges for repairs to your 31 vehicles $1010, which is only about 20% of the estimated replacement costs. My terms for payment would include a discount of 5% if the bill is paid within 5 days. My goal is to reduce the amount of unnecessary replacement of windshields and save you money. All my work is guaranteed. If I can't fix it or it doesn't meet the new ANSI standards then there is no charge to you.
I look forward to working with your company to save money and be more environmentally conscious.

[SeeClearly]

I guess for everyone that is out just trying to make a buck, that is what one needs to do. I feel bad that individuals find the need to cut the going rate of repairs down so low which has the potential to ruin the pricing for all. I do many many fleet accounts, and I will say that all of my customers love the customer service and clarity of the repairs that we do. We compete against companies that do not strive to make the repair "invisible" and so far, we have not lost out to them. Whether or not asthetics is important for the customer, it should be important to you as a repair technician. It all revolves around safety and the DOT standards. I am not saying that you do not care, but you seem to be quite proud of the fact that you can do less than best repairs since the customer is happy with simply saving the windshields. Too many of the technicians and bigger companies out there SEEM to not care about how the end results come out. It gives all repair companies a bad name and makes the service much more difficult to attain since they have all "had a service before" that did not work out for some reason or other. (Usually, the company doing the repairs is either doing poor repairs, or simply cheating the customer). Anyhow, it may save the windshield in the short run, but that windshield full of "not asthetically pleasing" repairs will eventually end up looking like a battle field and will eventually end up being replaced. In that case, you are only preventing the inevitable. Just my two cents...

[screenman]

Candyman, am I right in presuming you do not call on your fleet customers on a weekly basis and just hope they will give you a call. You should be aware of exactly how many vehicles are damaged, how many are not repairable and how often damage occurs. Fleet customers need constant care and attention to maximize the potential, not just a single card drop.

[Starbrite]

I personally have no problem with somebody conducting a WSR business at a car wash. However...I do have a problem when it's not provided in a quality, legal or professional manner.

In my area of Michigan I know of a company that is contracted with all of the big name car washes (over 20 in total and is expanding) and many of his hired techs commit fraud daily. (i.e. charging insurance companies for damages that don't exist or are nothing more than a pin size nick, not calling in claims with customer present but will copy insurance info and have office personal call end of day posing as the customer, providing repairs using no equipment....just some pit fill and Mylar tab, not even a UV lamp, never drying out damage, I could go on and on about this practice..but you get the picture!) These type of operations give all of us a bad name and should be stopped!

Some may ask have I complained? Yes I have, to TPA's, insurance companies,insurance agents, the state insurance commission and local cities involved. Nothing has ever been resolved...but I'll be damned, soon after expressing my concerns, I started getting audited on invoices for being the whistle blower and referrals suddenly stopped. I guess being the good and moral business guy means little these days. Oh and just to say, none of my audited invoices have been found of any wrong doing.

I'm happy to hear J.W. is doing well but I only hope he is serving this industry right! Do it right J.W. and order a drystar for car wash moisture removal (bic lighter just won't cut it)

[Starbrite]

Candyman,

Screenman is right on about fleet accounts, you have to service these guys or they will forget about you in a weeks time. They won't call you...you have to call on them and prove to them how much you want their business. You need for them to become comfortable as your friend. Once that's established your good to go! (as long as you continue to provide good repairs)

[jw repair]

thanks starbrite and i totally agree with you, i have seen it myself that is a lot of the reason i have started my own gig, i am totally open to all suggestions and love the imput,

thanks,

jw repair