Windshield Repair Forum

I'm 16 years old...for alot of people, that might be a mental barrier that they themselves can't break, so I'll have to break it down with my skill and ability to sell myself.

But first, I need to get good at it.

I was thinking of going to a dealer, maybe walking the lot and taking notes of rock chips on windshields, then charging the dealer oh...$10 per chip?

Maybe less, I wouldn't be doing this for money, but just for training. I want to get "in the field" experience.

The nice thing about the dealer is your only making it better, even if it's a low quality repair.

Just wanted some peoples opinions and thoughts on it, since I don't know any other 16 year old WSR techs in my city.

Thanks!

Is there a full moon tonight?

groofop wrote:I'm 16 years old...for alot of people, that might be a mental barrier that they themselves can't break, so I'll have to break it down with my skill and ability to sell myself.

But first, I need to get good at it.

I was thinking of going to a dealer, maybe walking the lot and taking notes of rock chips on windshields, then charging the dealer oh...$10 per chip?

Maybe less, I wouldn't be doing this for money, but just for training. I want to get "in the field" experience.

The nice thing about the dealer is your only making it better, even if it's a low quality repair.

Just wanted some peoples opinions and thoughts on it, since I don't know any other 16 year old WSR techs in my city.

Thanks!

I'll try to be gentle offering my opinion.

Why would a dealer want a low price, low quality repair only to loose a few hundred dollars trying to sell a vehicle? I understand your only 16 but think about that!

My best advice is to find a salvage yard in your area and practice on windshields that they intend to scrap anyway or save up and get some professional training. If you get professional training...who knows by age 18, you might be making double the money that your friends are. Good luck to you!

DryStar wrote:
I'll try to be gentle offering my opinion.

Why would a dealer want a low price, low quality repair only to loose a few hundred dollars trying to sell a vehicle? I understand your only 16 but think about that!

My best advice is to find a salvage yard in your area and practice on windshields that they intend to scrap anyway or save up and get some professional training. If you get professional training...who knows by age 18, you might be making double the money that your friends are. Good luck to you!

The thing is it would be a HQ repair. I just went to DeltaKits training course and got certified and bought a nifty kit, I'm already able to do quality repairs.

I'd just like some real windshields to work on.

I was thinking of looking at a junkyard too.

What makes you think a dealership is in any way interested in a "low quality repair" as you stated in your first post?

groofop wrote:

DryStar wrote:
I'll try to be gentle offering my opinion.

Why would a dealer want a low price, low quality repair only to loose a few hundred dollars trying to sell a vehicle? I understand your only 16 but think about that!

My best advice is to find a salvage yard in your area and practice on windshields that they intend to scrap anyway or save up and get some professional training. If you get professional training...who knows by age 18, you might be making double the money that your friends are. Good luck to you!

The thing is it would be a HQ repair. I just went to DeltaKits training course and got certified and bought a nifty kit, I'm already able to do quality repairs.

I'd just like some real windshields to work on.

I was thinking of looking at a junkyard too.

OK, So you already trained with Delta and want to do some real repairs in the field. Instead of offering $10 repairs starting out, try offering some free demos...which will help with your sales technique and repair confidence. In the meantime keep practicing repairs on a practice shield. Unfortunately in this field once you start selling low price it will be hard to ask for more in the future. Wish you luck!

First thing Id like to say is that I have a lot of respect for you at 16 getting into this or any business. I am sure that youre going to be successful if you decide to stick to it. I wouldnt mind hearing your story about how you were introduced to this if you have time.

I was 20 years old when I began real estate. I thought to myself, Im half the age of all the other agents so I need to do something to convince people to work with me. I decided to just charge less because people want to save money and since Im charging so much less Ill get every listing I interview for! First thing that happened was that I worked my tail off for less money when I was working harder than most other agents. Second, I didnt get hired by a lot of customers I interviewed with and I realized from their feedback that it was because I was charging too little! They thought that if I wasnt charging enough I wouldnt do enough for them! So you know what I did? I charge more than everyone. Can you guess what happened? I got almost every client to sign with me and I was compensated so much better for the amount of work I did.

However, if you want to charge $10 thats your decision. People on the forum will be against it for numerous reasons; many of them fearing people like you in their area taking business away from them. The real story here is that if you do so the dealers will think youre some kid thats going to screw up their cars. You will be saying my work is only worth 1/3 of what most people charge dealers because my quality is only 1/3 of what you need. Or atleast that is what theyll be hearing.

This isnt retail; you cant make up everything in volume because you are limited by the hours you can work. Walmart can make 5 cents off every apple they sell because they can just sell 20 million apples. However it would be tough to do 20 million windshield repairs even if you could somehow line up that many customers.

t4k wrote:What makes you think a dealership is in any way interested in a "low quality repair" as you stated in your first post?

I never said I do "low quality repairs", I said that even in a low quality repair, your (typically) only going to make it better. Perhaps I shouldn't have even said that though. My bad.

ShawnWSR wrote:First thing Id like to say is that I have a lot of respect for you at 16 getting into this or any business. I am sure that youre going to be successful if you decide to stick to it. I wouldnt mind hearing your story about how you were introduced to this if you have time.

I was 20 years old when I began real estate. I thought to myself, Im half the age of all the other agents so I need to do something to convince people to work with me. I decided to just charge less because people want to save money and since Im charging so much less Ill get every listing I interview for! First thing that happened was that I worked my tail off for less money when I was working harder than most other agents. Second, I didnt get hired by a lot of customers I interviewed with and I realized from their feedback that it was because I was charging too little! They thought that if I wasnt charging enough I wouldnt do enough for them! So you know what I did? I charge more than everyone. Can you guess what happened? I got almost every client to sign with me and I was compensated so much better for the amount of work I did.

However, if you want to charge $10 thats your decision. People on the forum will be against it for numerous reasons; many of them fearing people like you in their area taking business away from them. The real story here is that if you do so the dealers will think youre some kid thats going to screw up their cars. You will be saying my work is only worth 1/3 of what most people charge dealers because my quality is only 1/3 of what you need. Or atleast that is what theyll be hearing.

This isnt retail; you cant make up everything in volume because you are limited by the hours you can work. Walmart can make 5 cents off every apple they sell because they can just sell 20 million apples. However it would be tough to do 20 million windshield repairs even if you could somehow line up that many customers.

Thank you! Well the reason I got into it is because I have an extremely unique Dad who genuinely cares about my financial and spiritual success. He learned the hard way and wants to help me avoid his pitfall; he made me choose something to pursue, I chose WSR. Now, I have to get $20 per day, M-F...if not, then I can't eat, sleep or shower at my house for the next day. He's giving me motivation to get up and work. I can't say I'm really liking my situation, but I know it'll payoff in the end.

So, your saying I should charge more per windshield? Because I figured charging a low price would make them want to hire me, but your saying they'll think I just do low qual work and that's why I charge low. I'm not a pro yet at all, I'm still a beginner or "newbie" to the buisness, I don't want to charge too high (cause they'll expect alot more perfection) and don't want to charge too low (cause they'll expect low quality repairs)...maybe $20 a windshield?

Id be curious to see where this fella is today.

Hopefully still at school.