Dollars per windshield repair?

[puka pau]

A few questions, some rhetorical, some not so:

We can agree that there is an industry standard protocol for star break repair; all legs filled, all tips filled, no silver or black showing from any perspective, no flowering, pit filled and polished. Let's assume that you and I each repair a star break to that specification. You charge the customer $50. You save the customer money. I charge the customer $25. I save the customer money. All other things being equal (like service and range of products) which price represents the best value to the customer?

How would you define "cheap" as opposed to "inexpensive" or "cost effective" from the customers standpoint?

Have you ever shopped for a price (for, say a car, TV, camera, computer, etc) or do you normally pay full retail sticker?
Do you wait for a sale? Use coupons? Buy stuff at big box stores rather than neighborhood independents? Shop online?

We're not selling fine art here. You're not Picasso. I'm not Beethoven. WSR, as much as you may want to deny it is, with the possible exception of long crack repair and more complex damage repair, a commoditized product and as such, most customers familiar with WSR expect their WSR vendors to perform to a standard - or else. Consequently, if you and your competition both repair the garden-variety breaks to specification, the other ways for you to differentiate from the competition is to offer more products (like repairing more complex damage) that others don't offer, provide better service and/or adjust your price. Personally, I do all three: Better price, better service, better range of product and better guarantee. Consequently I can go into a warehouse or business/industrial complex and sell virtually all the fleets that live there rather than just one or two because of the trio of price, service and product - some customers put more emphasis on price, some on product and some on service. As a result I get about eight out of every ten fleets I address. Which makes me more efficient, which means I can charge less and still make a reasonable profit.

Cheers;

Puka Pau

[screenman]

So are you really saying that if somebody offered you $10 per job more you would say no thanks? How often do you put a price increase in?

I negotiate hard when I buy and hard when I sell, just my way I guess.

[bill lambeth]

I have not read all of this but in my opinion i think some of this is getting a little personal when it comes to telling everyone what you make.Just saying!

[DryStar]

puka pau is just fine, not that I agree with his pricing but who knows...maybe that's is all his area of service offers him. Mine is much higher but state to state it differs.

[clearquest]

I firmly believe that one needs to grow their "dollars per sale" numbers whenever possible. The cost of living doesn't stand still nor does the cost of doing business. People understand that because they live it day in and day out in everything they do. Would I do $25 repairs on windshields with multiple damages? Hell no. I won't even do them on windshields with single chips. Why not? Because I set a higher standard for my work and don't need to under price it. And do people complain about my price or complain that it's too high? Nope. This BS of doing cheap work for dealers and fleets makes no sense to me. Maybe it would if I was desperate, but I'm not. I don't have time for them and in most cases they want something for nothing......and I don't work for nothing, I give my customers quality repairs, exceptional service and a full money back guarantee. That's what they want and they gladly pay me what it's worth, again and again and again!

[screenman]

I certainly agree with growing the price, when I started you guy's over there were charging $45 per repair, that was 23 years ago. Question, who was the first to start underselling our trade?

[candyman]

Puka Pua ! There is meit in your above statement. I do charge more than $25 but Iam not making $50 per repair either unless its for an insurance company. I still make a profit and I do the best I can regardless of the break. It may take me several repairs to earn the big bucks some of you charge. I look at my customers and most can barely pay for gas, let alone a high fee for WSR. I just had my Volvo repaired by a mechanic that has 26 years experience working on foreign vehicles. I paid the man $85 for a job the dealer quoted me $326 to do. He was satisfided and I was also with his work and his price. I get that same satisfied feeling from my customers . Iam trying to make a living and not a killing . They send me referals that are also in need of my service. Instead of driving with the damage they can afford to have the damage repaired or HLR by me. I get very few insurance jobs in my area, but I have local agents calling me now when they have clients that are not covered or have met their quota of damage prior to a premium increase. I pay the same price for my supplies that most of you do. I dont cut corners and I take my time. When a person cant afford my service I sometimes do it for free. I feel something more vaulable than money in some cases. It doesnt pay my bills but I have a notion one day that deed will come back to me. Have a good day guys.

[clearquest]

The underselling got worse as the industry go saturated with numerous companies selling their various repair kits and the high number of hacks who don't have adequate training that think that by being the low price leader they will get all the work and steal away their higher priced competition's business. It's a narrow mindset and those low ball hacks come and go like a fart in the wind. The result has brought down the consumers image of this industry, as well as the price.

[clearquest]

A few years back there was a guy in my area who was running an ad in a local small town newspaper offering $20 repairs. An associate of mine checked into it to see what this guy's operation was all about. Turns out he was doing his jobs with over the counter $10 repair kits. If crap like that doesn't bring down the image and standards of our industry nothing will! His attempt as a WSR guy only lasted a few weeks.

[puka pau]

The MORE you charge a customer the LESS that customer saves on replacement costs. The LESS you charge a customer the MORE the customer saves on replacement costs. If anyone disagrees with the math, please respond.

If anyone would offer me $10 more for a repair than what I'm charging, of course I'd accept it. However, on my planet, that's not the way things work. I as anyone else have to price my work according to market conditions in my area - and by that I mean what the competition is charging for similar service and what the cost of replacement glass is. There may be some on this board that have fleet accounts that all use $500 or $600 glass. Most of my fleet accounts pay an average of $150 - $200 for glass and all of my bus accounts are large enough that they buy their glass by the crate and install it themselves. So as an example, one side for an MCI or a VanHool costs them about $65-$80 plus 1/2 hour labor for two guys to R/R; labor works out to about $45-$50 which means that replacement is worth a maximum of $130. And this labor/materials price carries over to other truck fleets as well. I charge more than $25 but less than fifty for fleet work plus extra for any additional damage. The biggest problem I have with raising prices is the price of replacement glass - which has remained fairly stable for at least 15 years. I have no sales manager service manager or purchasing manager that would willing pay $50 per repair on glass that costs them $100 - and I can easily agree. Neither would I. Would you pay $50 to repair anything that you've owned and used and that exhibits wear and tear (and that would likely require another $50 repair within a few months) when you could exchange it for a brand new copy for $100? Wouldn't make sense to me.

The "$20 repair" syndrome kind of reminds me of a guy that ran a board like this about ten years ago. His bugaboo was "ten minute repairs" - in other words, a badly done repair was only the result of rushing the job. So let's carry this to absurd extremes: On the one hand, if in fact there is a "race to the bottom" the absurd conclusion would be that ultimately
you would be paying the customer for the honor of repairing his glass - not hardly likely. On the other hand, the absurd conclusion would be that prices rise to the point where you could charge $75000 for a repair and consequently would only have to do one repair a year to make a reasonable income - again, not hardly likely. Point being that ultimately, prices settle out to where they need to be. That just happens to be how the free market works. What you get to charge to stay competitive (and remain in business) in your particular market is not necessarily indicative of either your service or product - rather it more reflects what the market will bear - unless, of course you mainly work for insurance companies in which case you are paid an arbitrary rate that is artificial, in that it does not reflect market conditions.

As I said earlier, we aren't selling fine art. In this business you get to employ technique but not "style". Both Picasso and Rembrandt had excellent brush technique but their styles were immediately recognizable. You repair a bullseye to ultimate specification. I repair a bullseye to ultimate specification. It's impossible to tell the difference.

For me to make money in a tough market I've found it essential to hone my business model for maximum efficiency because the majority of my accounts are heavily price-sensitive. So I strive to keep my expenses down and keep down time not spent repairing to a minimum. Essentially, this is a piecework profession. You only get paid when you're repairing. You don't get paid for driving, setting appointments, doing bookwork, etc. While you could call me a low-cost provider, I'm not the lowest cost provider in my area and I don't feel at all threatened by anyone who charges less than I do. But frankly, I'd rather do a repair for $20 or even $10 (if the situation allows it - and I do a significant number of these) rather than turn money away for the sake of massaging any sense of inflated self-worth. Eventually you come to realize that in the end it's either more about you or more about the customer and my perspective is that the customer comes first and what I ultimately put into my pocket at the end of the day reflects that. There are many guys out there that are as good as I am and charge more. I don't care. I do what I do, they do what they do. I'm comfortable in my own skin.

Cheers;

Puka Pau