New to the forum.

[FrontLineWSR]

Just wanted to say hi to all and glad to finally have joined the forum. I'm fairly new to the WSR business but have been in the mobil auto repair industry for about 7 years now. I specialize in paint and interior repair and have had customers aproach me about WSR and it has been a great addition to my company. My wife is actualy the one doing all the WSR and she blows me out of the water on quality of repairs anyways. I have a quick question for yall to. For all of you who have fleet accounts. About how often are you getting work from them. We do only dealership work right now and since they are always getting new inventory we may be there once a week and sometimes 3 or 4 times a week. I guess the size of the fleet has alot to do with it but is it like a once every other week or once a month. We have alot of large truck fleets down here in San Antonio and would realy like to pursue them. Also, does any one do work for any school districts on the school busses?

[ghost rider]

Welcome to the forum. Fleets can vary greatly depending on size like you said and also on usage. Trucks that stay in town on short trips won't get as much damage as vehicles that are on the highway all day. I have some fleets that require weekly stops. There always seems to be vehicles out when I stop, so more visits are necessary to see all of them. When you stop can make a big difference. Some fleets stops are early morning, late night, weekend.

I have four school bus fleets. Two fleets are ownd by the school and two are owned by a company that subcontracts to the school. Both school owned fleets are insured and one sub is insured. Most of these are done in the middle of the day when they are in the shop for service. They all have to be checked before state inspection every year. Some inspectors are pretty fussy, so be sure your repairs will pass.

[FrontLineWSR]

Thanks Gohst Rider.

[Brent Deines]

I had a few school districts. The problem is that they don't typically drive very many miles. Still, they not only have buses but a fleet of other vehicles that are used for different purposes. I didn't make a fortune on them but they were a valuable part of my business. For me fleets were more lucrative than car lots and a little less likely to dump someone who does good work for the lowest bidder. Over the road trucks put on the most miles so I always liked them. Sand and gravel companies were another good fit for my business model as were government fleets such as GSA, Forest Service, etc.

[FrontLineWSR]

Thats good to know. Thanks Brent. On these fleet accounts and Gov vehicles. Are they paying through the actual company or are they filing insurance claims on the repairs. Also, what are some price ranges yall were charging on the fleet accounts. Down here in San Antonio we are saturated with WSR company's and they will do a whole WS all day for $25. The only thing I have going for me right now is I have loyal customers that I've had for going on 7 years now that wont dump me just bc some one comes in with a better price. My concern is picking up new customers. I'm not gonna have my wife doing WSR for $25 unless we find a company thats gonna give us a crazy amount of work.

[Brent Deines]

All the fleets I worked for were self insured. I don't discuss my pricing on the forum but I can tell you that I have not and never will do fleet repairs for $25. Like you I have always been fortunate to have quite a few loyal customers who are willing to pay a little more for quality but I understand how hard it is to find new customers at times when there are so many low ballers around.

I know a lot of people in the glass replacement business, some in your area, and I don't know any doing $25 installations. I can't imagine what kind of work they are doing or where they are finding the glass that cheap.

[FrontLineWSR]

NO, not $25 installation. They wil do a windshield for $25 regaurdless how many chips it has on it. Whether it has one chip or ten chips.

[Brent Deines]

Ok, that makes a bit more sense. We've always had those in our area who will do repair an unlimited number of chips for $25, but they don't get the majority of the business. The glass shops and Novus still do the most in our area. I used to have a pretty good share of the area's business but since I started selling equipment I feel it would be unfair to my local equipment customers to offer mobile service. I also don't actively market the service side of our business and purposely keep my cash prices high for the same reason.