Although the result and length of time the headlights will remain looking great is much different than the do it yourself kits, I find people trying to compare our service to their price. Also there are fly by night people on craigslist doing HLR for $25 or $30 (probably using the same cheap kits). I'm finding it difficult to charge what our service is worth. Everytime someone asks me how much I charge, I preface my cost by explaining the process and explain how my service is different. They generally understand the price at that point, but some people are cheap and would rather buy the cheap kits and do it themselves or not at all.
Is this similar to what others are experiencing? I have had my kit 6 months and only used it a couple times to supplement WSR. I refuse to drop my prices because I don't feel it's high to begin with ($60/car).
I'm currious what others charge and how they overcome th typical price objections.
I would rather do two @ $75 than four @ $37.50. Stick to your pricing and work for those who appreciate quality work. This is the reason I mostly work for the high end car dealerships...pricing!!
There are many variable that come into play here. And this could be a long answer but Ill try and keep it short. I will tell you in advance that its not your price. This isn't about price at all.
You didnt mention what part of the country you are in which could dictate the need. I'm here in the midwest and 98% of my business is dealer work. We dont have state requirements like many other sates that inspect cars and force a customer to have the HL's refinished if they turn. The retail work is work in its self to get in these parts. The biggest success I had was at two hometown festivals where I was able to set up a booth and actually sell our service. In four days I took in $1800 in sales charging $69 per car which was a show special. Im mobile so I went to the customers homes and got two referrals out of them.
You really need to talk to the right people. Most who came to our booth knew that they had an issue and some had already been down the do it yourself route ans saw the unsuccessful results there. The rest already know about the store bought products but this is where you have to sell yourself and a reason as to why they should use you vs buying a kit and hoping for the best. I may get some flack for this but I offer a one year warranty on all my retail jobs. After the initial year, if anything starts to go wrong than Ill come back out and refinish them again with a $30.00 service charge. This is a bit extreme, but it works because it give you credibility, give them a reason to hire someone to do the work and confidence in knowing that if the issue presents itself again, its cheap to correct. MOst of my retail HLR's are $89 as advertised on my site. HLR is all we do here. I figure if I charged $89, I certifiably can afford based on the profit margin of this business to go back and refinish them if need be. The $30 pays my tech, my supplies and my gas and its always a way to get another referral.
Id suggest you start doing some selling and cold calling. I know a guy doing HLR's in another state who has great success building relationships with Jiffy Lube's. They get asked all the time "Can you fix these HL's?" since the answer is no, the store recommendeds they call my friend and he gives the manager a kickback for every one that comes his way. He gives them a very nice tri fold brochure to give each customer and give the managers a flat laminated card to keep at the counter so he can talk it up with intelligence. Customers constantly ask about it when they see it.
You really need to think about how you want to proceed as there are tons and tons of ways to drum up HLR business. Many WSR guys think of HLR as a side job but its just as much work to get that businesses going as it is WSR. I started this quest in April, incorporated on May 28th and if I do 120 cars in a month at this point, Ill consider that to be a decent month. I now have a tech and myself working on HL's and that number since hes new should break the 175 barrier this month. I will tell you that I work my tail off to get each and every car to work on though and squeeze each dealer for every car.
Long winded answer to your question, and I didn't even begin to explain other areas of possible business opportunities.
We use different coatings and techniques depending on the type of restoration, so the total time of restoration varies and we charge accordingly, trying to maintain a labor rate of at least $80/hr.,adding $4/headlight for materials, so if a job looks like it would take 30 min., we charge 40 for labor and 8 for materials. For high end restos taking an hour, we might charge $88 or more.
Some wholesale jobs are less than 15 min. but multiple jobs at one sight so we might use a lower labor rat ($60/hr) and $3/headlight for materials.
It is difficult to compete with the junk DIY kits, but many of these people will come to you after they see the results of their efforts fail in a few months, especially if you offer a written warranty.
ray6
I think alot has to do with the geographic location. Im sure in Florida and California you could get alot more. I live in New England, and people do not care as much about the look of their car.
