Another newbie, about 1 month from opening

[autoglasswizard]

Hello all, first off I think this board is great! It has answered so many questions and everyone seems great so thank you. Now for my very basic questions, I have been doing windshield repair for a friend or friend of a friend we shall say for about 8 months, we are setup at a nice carwash and all is well, I know how to do the chip repairs and different types of cracks and know an installer incase someone needs a new windshield. Now, the owner is re-locating for a while and I have been thinking about going into business myself since I not only am alone at the carwash a lot and do well but also do invoicing and marketing etc with him at the office. So I want to start slow but the overhead seems so low I am ready to do it, just want to make sure I have all my stuff in order.
I do have a carwash that is someone I know and will let me setup there for $500.00 per month and he is very kool. Now if my plan is off please let me know and forgive me but I figure I need to 1st setup a LLC., get at least 500,000 liability insurance, get 1 delta kit (the $1065.00) one to start and some extras like rags, glass polish etc. and register with the insurance services like Lynx and SGC. Am I missing anything?? I read yesterday somewhere that for all the insurance billing there was a site like eglassdirect where you pay 5 bucks or so per claim and they handle most of it and is good for people like me starting, also an option to pay the 15-17 bucks per claim for them to do it all. I submit invoices on SGC and LYNX here and there and figured I would go with the 5 dollar one per claim option at first to make sure I am doing everything right and then see how it goes.
Now, is that it really?? Basic operation, chip repair at a carwash, the one I have been doing for the last 8 months gets at least 35 per week for me alone and I am thinking starting small to slowly break in being my own business so if I can get 10 per week minumum I would be good.
The hardest part seems to be getting registered with lynx, sgc and whoever. Is it easy to register once you are a LLC company and have insurance? If so I am ready to rock.
I am sure this question has been posted before so sorry but I went over it a few times and for my small start goal, it seams like I know what I need.
Will seting up with the insurance networks be hard? My friend pays $250.00 per month for one of them, GTS I think?? Is that right or if I join that eglassdirect site do they take care of all of it for me and I just have to submit??
Thanks all! I plan to read up and down this board, hope someone can break my novell post down and give me an easy answer!!!
Thanks again!

[Brent Deines]

We can help you get signed up with the networks and there is no charge for Delta Kits customers. Give us a call and we'll walk you through the process.

If you want someone to do all of your insurance billing and payment collecting for you, ACT will do it for $12.95 per claim. There is certainly no need to pay more than that. Most of our customers now bill Safelite and Harmon direct by logging onto their website. It's fast and easy so it seems most technicians would prefer not to pay for something they can do on their own. You can fax invoices to Lynx but the least expensive way is to use an EDI service. E-direct is one of many, so I suggest you do your homework before deciding on who to use if you go this route. Most new technicians generally prefer a per claim fee rather than a monthly or annual fee as it only costs $2-$3 through several services and you can do it with no long term commitments. If you call Delta Kits we will be happy to provide a list of EDI providers. We are not tied to any of them so we have no motivation to steer you one way or another. We'll just help you get the information you need to make an educated decision as to what will work best for your business model.

It sounds to me like you don't fully understand the difference between a network (third party administrator or TPA) who process claims for the insurance companies, and an EDI provider who submits your invoices to the networks for you electronically. Delta Kits can help you understand the relationship between you, the TPA, the EDI provider, and the insurance companies. It's important to understand how the process works.

[autoglasswizard]

thank you so much for the information. You are right I am not totally clear on those things (and some others) but am eager to learn and feal its almost the final piece to getting me started. I really like delta kits as we use them and this site is great. I will be sure to call for more info during the week! Thanks again!

[wingrider]

Hello everyone, another new member here, seriously thinking about getting into the Windshield Repair business and possibly Headlight Repair also. I have just started reading some of the posts, very informative. I think my biggest concern is marketing, from the few posts I've read it seems like there are people advertising aggressively ( website, google, insurance companies, craigslist, etc.) and still having a difficult time getting new business. I will continue to read the posts for additional marketing ideas, it's really the only thing holding me back from making the final decision and make my initial equipment purchase and start the business development procedure. Any input would be greatly appreciated, this formum will help bigtime, I've been on the phone with Bruce and he has been great with some initial questions I've had about Deltas equipment. Looking forward to getting to learning this trade, thanks in advance for your help and input. Anybody out there live in the Dallas/ Ft.Worth area?

[wingrider]

Hey Robert,
Got your PM but I'm unable to respond or send private messages until I have a minumum of 10 posts. To answer your question, yes. I'm not sure what I can get away with, I'm the type that would give you my personal email and phone number right here and now but I've heard moderators frown on that, at least on Craigs List. I'm new to posting on forums so I'm still "feeling my way around". If any of you respond and don't get a "thank you" or any type of responce I may be having difficulty.