Windshield Repair Forum

wqdh403,

Please understand that all of us who are offering advice have likely been in your shoes at one time or another. It's easy to get discouraged and even easier to forget what it was like in those lean times. Some windshield repair and headlight restoration technicians hit the ground running and never look back. They make good money from day one and have trouble understanding where you are coming from. For the rest of us however, starting a new business is a slow process and we struggle for months or even years until we establish a regular customer base, so I think many of us do understand how you feel.

My dad got me into this business but I lived in a different state at the time so I had no idea how hard he worked to get his glass repair business off the ground, or how long it took him to make a decent income. I will never forget the day he told me it could take 3-5 years to really make it in "any" business. I had been working very hard for several months and was expressing my disappointment at the lack of success I was having. I actually thought about giving up at that point as I am not a patient person by nature. In fact, had it not been for the fact that I knew my dad had made it over the hump I may have thrown in the towel. I did not give up however, and although it did take me longer than some to get my business off the ground, I certainly don't regret the sacrifices I made in the early days. My dad is also the one who convinced me not to drop my prices to get more business. His theory was that it was better to do 1 repair at day at $45 (this was 22 years ago), than 5 repairs a day at $10 because if I only did 1 repair a day I had a lot of extra time to prospect for new business, but if I did 5 repairs a day I would have little time to find more and better paying jobs.

You are fortunate enough to have maxryde, time2shine, FrankEU, Nomad, Roo, bullseyeben, and so many others to encourage and advise you. They often do not agree on things, but when it comes to survival they all have the attitude and perseverance that it takes to become successful in the glass repair business, or any business for that matter. There are plenty of people who will offer you negative advice as well so it's up to you to decide who you want to listen to, but you will do well to listen to those have have been stuck in your shoes and have figured out a way to move forward. Good players don't always make the best coaches, but at the very least they understand the game.

All of us who have offered advice do so because we are passionate about our work and we want to see you find the same passion and success. If you are truly doing everything you can do build your business I believe you sill be successful, but it may not happen overnight. Starting and running a business requires a lot of hard work, but it can also be very rewarding.

Today I'll be closing off this US trip, we had great fun and did a lot of sales and many repairs, and I feel bad to be going home tomorrow.
During a sales meeting earlier today I noticed a very nice and appropriate message;

''The road to success is always under construction''.

I believe this covers pretty much any business.

Hello to everyone,

I know that this thread is almost 3 yrs old but after a conversation I had last night with a friend I came across this and felt it should be revived. My wife, family, my friend and his family went out to dinner last night. We got to talking about WSR a little and he wondered how much I got for repairs. I told him and he reacted like I was a highway robber! I'm new at this business and most of my repairs have been insurance. My cash prices are in the ballpark of typical insurance prices. I told him that what I was getting was an industry standard. I also told him that you have to charge to pay off the loan for the business, liability insurance, and travel. We have to eat and pay bills to you know (suprise). I'm mobile and live in a rural area. I happen to be the only WSR guy in about 25 mi that I know of so you have to travel or you won't make it. When I was trying to decide what to name my business this same friend wondered why I even needed a name for it. This guy understands sales very well as he is head of sales of a large dealership selling namebrand agriculture equipment. He has been very sucessful in what he's done. Selling a premium product at a premium price is what he does for a living but yet he doesn't seem to understand that it also applies to WSR. He also proceeded to tell me that another WSR guy drives out from a larger city 25 mi away and does all their fleet vechicles and employee vehicles for half of what I charge. I read "fleet pricing" in his statement. What he doesn't understand here is there is a difference between fleet/quantity pricing and individual/insurance job pricing. I'll have to explain the difference.

I agree this business is like any other. One that you have to work at. Most things of value in life come with hard work and patience unless you happen to have a bunch handed to you. (I know people like that and I'm sure you do too). I really believe that this thread was a good one to encourage those of us that are new which was one reason I revived it. Also you will always face people who think you are robbing them. A lot of people today do not realize value they only look at price. Some want the Mercedes premium for the price of a Ford Pinto.

Disclaimer: I did not bring up pricing to offend anyone out there who is working for less than premium and doing great repairs. Everyone's situation is different and some parts of the country it can be much harder to get premium pricing. You are running your business on a model that works for you. At the end of the day you have to pay bills and do what's best in your situation.

Time for a new accountant this ones a tard

If your friend can get the job done for half, then let him!!
Everybody has opinions. You don't need his business
There will always be people like your friend who want you to work for next to nothing, or who will tell you that they could buy the car you drive for half of what you paid for it.
Ignore him. He sounds obnoxious.

This goes to pricing in a round about way.
I'm normally at least a pleasant guy, easy going , laid back, just talk too much and make a fool of myself but trying to break the habit.
It so happened yesterday morning highly frustrated with an electrical problem on my old (like me) '94 motor home.
Had a call. answered with normal cheerful "Good morning, Chips Away Windshield Repair".
A man with heavy accent obviously from Pakistan or where ever... "How much you charge for a little rock chip on my Mercedes?"
"$65.00 to come to your home or business at your convenience and do a complete professional job."
"But it is just a little chip and you charge $65.00? but I can get a new windshield for $99.00! you charge too much"
Not in a good mood anyway and not my normal roll with the punches attitude..."Fine, if you are that stupid good luck" and hung up"
My last repair for 4:30, a star that thru me for a loop, six legs totally clear 3/8 inch out from center then the black and silver 1/4" tips. Kinda like good repair but resin cured too soon, but just looked like clear glass and no real sign of previous partial. Tried and tried to work from center out with no luck, tips too far out just to drill and tap .
So back to the subject of pricing, it ended up I had to drill and tap each end to work back to center and only charged the lady $100.00. She was happy with the results.
The point I wanted to make.. ...............She will send the receipt into her insurance company and get reimbursed.
If I had called in for an authorization number I would have had to settle for $60.00.
On the highway going to her home there is a sign "Windshield repair $20.00"
Well, looks like I did it again,,,,yak yak yak.

That damage sounds like the sort we see everyday, poorly repaired by unskilled untrained guys. Do you already know some of the ways to check to see if a damage has been attempted before, I will not post them up if you do.

So many are so obvious you can see the end results from the street, most I can tell simply looking, then tap taping in super glue or some stuff that leaves a soft thud sound versus the solid sound on glass that said, also I learned something last week about what looked like pearl bubbles in a previously attempted partially repaired crack wondering how that might have happened, evidently very hot glass.
Now Mr. Screenman I shall anxiously await any and all information you might send forth.
Hope your favorites did well at The Olympics.
My wife and I discussed the problem as many customers will tell you a chip from yesterday (last month) has not been touched when most of the time they fib just a bit.
Like you get a call for a 4" crack where the tape measure says otherwise. Right? Right!

Might as well sell lemonade on the corner. Whatever you lower your price to is what you will be stuck with from now on. I find that people always want something for nothing, but I stick to my price, I might miss some, but I am in this to make a living, no business I know of lowers their price to what I want to pay, I pay what they request in most cases. So I stick to my price and just work harder to get my name and reputation out there. Just my 2 cents.

His theory was that it was better to do 1 repair at day at $45 (this was 22 years ago), than 5 repairs a day at $10 because if I only did 1 repair a day I had a lot of extra time to prospect for new business, but if I did 5 repairs a day I would have little time to find more and better paying jobs.

Wise words Brent

I'm a firm believer in selling on SERVICE, not PRICE.

Quite contrary to that - I'm in an opposite situation.

O'Briens (Belron) here charge $147 per chip. Yes, per chip. I charge $55.00.

Nobody here bothers to get them fixed at O'Briens price, people just don't have the money. So the chips/cracks stay.

Enter me!...At $55.00 - I can do 10 a day ($550 per day/$2750 per 5 day week) which I am very happy doing, especially with HLR's thrown in there too at $85.00 a set.

Even just 5 a day is great money, 5 sets of HLR per week, and I'm up around the $2000 per week mark.

Yes, I appreciate that I could get a better price, but the customer flow would drop (I speak to my customers and know the market) and I'd be waiting at home for the few who will pay $75 - $100 - Just like O'Briens.

So, I guess I'd rather be out doing 10 repairs a day, rather than sitting at home waiting for the Golden Call to pay $100 per chip

Every situation is different hey?

Have a great day all!

Cheers,

Pommy