I just started doing windshield repair about 4 months ago so I'm still relatively new to this. Sometimes I get customers that want me to fix a rock chip/crack that was poorly repaired by another company. I tell them no because I don't want to be liable for making it worse but I also feel that I'm losing a potential customer. In the future what should I tell the customer, yes or no?
1) Is it possible to salvage a bad repair, if yes then how?
2) Does it make a difference if it's a rock chip or a crack?
3) Do you treat it as a normal break?
Redoing a repair
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Re: Redoing a repair
You're better off not doing them. I do a lot of them and most days I wish I had never started. I've had days that half of my jobs or more are fixing other peoples crap work. It takes longer than a fresh break and only about half of them are going to be good enough to charge for. Tell the customer up front if it doesn't work you're probably going to ruin the w/s and never give a guaranty even if it looks good now, you don't know what kind of poor quality resin was used the first time and it might not last. If you're as dumb as me and think you should try it, here's what I do. Drill a big hole (I use a Dremel 9906 bit). Use lots of heat to release the old resin, I use a mini butane torch. Get some kind of big tapping tool to angle in to the drill hole to re-break what didn't release with heat or make new breaks to get to spots that weren't filled before. Sometimes a simple bullseye will reopen with just heat. The more complicated the break the harder it is to re-repair. Good luck, you're gonna need it!
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Re: Redoing a repair
I will do them often, usually it is a leg running off of a repair that was not done properly. No big deal, I repair it if I can, I do not give any guarantee though. I do not worry about the resin that someone else used because again there is no guarantee. I remind the customer that this is not my work that I am just trying to salvage what someone messed up. They are always happy to pay me for saving their windshield.
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Re: Redoing a repair
I like that Ghost Rider starts off by saying you are better off not doing them but then goes on to say he does a lot of them. That sounds exactly like something I would say!
We do a fair amount of re-surfacing for free, well not really for free, the testimonials from those customers are like gold. We also drill into and fill air spaces, fill cracks that were not filled or cured properly the first time, etc. If we can improve the stability and cosmetics significantly we charge, otherwise we just do it because we feel bad that someone else did not do the job right. Sometimes customers will give tips for being honest and kind, sometimes not, but at the end of the day helping someone out always feels right.
We always tell the customer if we believe it has been repaired before and we are always honest about whether anything we do is going to improve the chances of the windshield not cracking out or if it is simply going to make it look a little better. In the shop it is no big deal but when you are driving 15 miles each way for a mobile job it is frustrating when you don't get paid.
We do a fair amount of re-surfacing for free, well not really for free, the testimonials from those customers are like gold. We also drill into and fill air spaces, fill cracks that were not filled or cured properly the first time, etc. If we can improve the stability and cosmetics significantly we charge, otherwise we just do it because we feel bad that someone else did not do the job right. Sometimes customers will give tips for being honest and kind, sometimes not, but at the end of the day helping someone out always feels right.
We always tell the customer if we believe it has been repaired before and we are always honest about whether anything we do is going to improve the chances of the windshield not cracking out or if it is simply going to make it look a little better. In the shop it is no big deal but when you are driving 15 miles each way for a mobile job it is frustrating when you don't get paid.
Brent Deines
Delta Kits, Inc.
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Delta Kits, Inc.
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