Windshield Repair Forum

I just signed an exclusive 3 month contract with a new indoor flea market this afternoon. It will be in an abandoned (former) wal-mart building. The owner is shooting for 370 indoor vendors with a possible 20,000 customers per- weekend day. The market will have resturants, grocery store, auto repair facility, and other unique services. I will have a booth right outside the entrance. The market will be open Thru-Sunday. It won't be open until Sept 2, but the general manager said I could set up shop (EZ-UP tent) now for no charge until they open. The rent was dirt cheap, two insurance jobs will pay for the whole month 8)

If there is any other flea market guys out there, let me know how business is. Any tips for working one. Wish me luck.

Sounds exciting- you might want to work the walking around crowd with brochures or maybe a live demonstration on a practice windshield between working on customer cars. If you don't get them that day you'll probably get em later Hope it works for you-Great idea ! 8) Bob

Talbert,
I must confess.I stole one of your customers today. I got a call from a guy who was in Memphis.His wife was traveling in Mobile, here where I'm at. She got a rock chip, called him. He found me on the internet from where he was in memphis and gave her directions to my place and my phone number.Come to find out they actually live in San Antonio and she was about to head back there but wanted to get it taken care of. I think this is the first job I can attribute directly to the internet in quite a while.

The flea mkt. deal you got sounds good.From my experience, the only input I can give is to be consistent with your schedule there. Good Luck!

No problem stealing my customer I'm sure you did a great job on there car, and they will be confident about having the next chip fixed back here at home.
I plan on spending Thur-Sunday at the flea mart, and do some coitster method on the other days.

Talbert, This sounds like a great opportunity. I have a friend that does the same thing with paintless dent repair. He sets up every weekend at one of the larger Flea markets in the county and has done rather well. The only thing that you should check on is does your county or state require a special license? When my friend first started doing his business at the Flea market, he failed to get a local county permit and got a citation from a county sheriff department deputy for not having the required permit. Some areas require this while others may not. Even if they do, the permit or the citation is not as much as you would make on two WSR jobs. Go for it and keep us posted on your success.

I like the practice windshield idea, people at a large market need to be entertained, there is alot going on there.

Talbert,

While I have not yet attempted wsr at a flea market location, I have a bit of experience at "flea marketing." The most unusual/insane product was assisting my neigbor/friend, a breeder of exotic parrots, in selling her baby birds at the market.

Folks thought that I was crazy, in that these birds sold for anywhere from $600.00 to $10,000.00.!!!

As previously mentioned, being consistent with your hours is an imperative!

A few suggestions ....

1. Befriend the other vendors. They all have vehicles and friends and would greatly appreciate any discounts/trades you can offer.

2. While you may initially be using an easy-up type of tent, if things go well, you may want to look at a semi-permanent aluminum carport. These can be had for anywhere from about $500 bucks to a few grand, depending upon size and features. Not having to setup a portable tent and not having to worry about strong winds can certainly save you time and effort.

3. Since this location may actually work out to be your "primary" retail location, don't be affraid to set appointments for folks to meet you there as opposed to driving all over town. As well, if weather is bad and you can't repair on a given weekend/day, setup mobile appointments for your "off" days!!!!

4. Cash is King at flea markets! While many wsr folks really hit the "free" repair issue hard, I, personally, try and turn every repair job inmto a cash job. I advise the insured customer that I normally bill their insurance company 60/15/15 and that, under normal circumstances, it would not increase their rates. However, if they are williong to pay for the repair themselves, I would discount to 45/10/10, provide a lifetime guarantee, and that they can submit the invoice to their insco for re-imbursement on their own (or not) as they desire!

Give "em heck!!! AND, if you run into my ex-wife (she lives in your area), charge her double!!!! Would be nice to know that some of the money I paid to her would help somobody else out;)