Paint Chip Repair

June 20, 2004

:thumb

I'm looking into adding paint chip repair to my services but not sure which angle I should take. I picked Ding King because they are located here in Orlando and that means no airline ticket and hotel needed. My research with Ding King was for a 1 day 8 hour class for the Chip King Mixing System at $3995. :thumb

The other option they offer is the Pre-Mixed System for $695 and 1 day 8 hour class.

Or should I start from the ground up with a couple of books(HP Books Automotive Paint Handbook on the way)and air brush set-up(Paasche Airbrush Set) with some factory touch-up paint for my personal car and do some testing on my own chips. My personal opinion on the first option of 4 grand is just a little expensive for only 1 day of training and equipment. The second option of $700 bucks seems more reasonable.

Anybody out there with some 411?

June 20, 2004

wow! been there done that!

I got 5 days in florida, trained with a great guy who also did pdr and trained pdr guys and made the tools.

remember that paint touch up is just that a touch up it's not going to hide the chip but fill it in with some color, sometimes not all the time you'll get them where they look great!

paint repair is just that a repaired chip or scratch and there are up to 6 different shades for some colors so you have to have an eye for it or you'll mess the paint up.

if your not doing dealer work then your wasting your money contract with someone who does it and trade work on a referal basis.

does your market bear this kind of work how many people in the yellow pages are there and how many retires are wanting this work done!

if you tint just tint one more car a week most of the time your paints will be sitting there doing nothing for you also how much do you think you can charge for this chip touch up, remember when your done and the customer says well I can still see the chip!!

check out paint bull systems, apperance-plus.com

September 20, 2004

Sprinter is right. I was doing touch-up for 8 years before tinting, (still am) and unless you can get solid dealer accounts, it's not worth it. And if you do get those accounts, the competition is brutal in many places. Touch-up outfits are overabundant in many places and unless you are exceptionally good and the dealership really likes you, they will boot you for another outfit without even blinking an eye. Plus Sprinter is right when he speaks of the actual touch-up process. Touch-up is highly overrated, I think. It just hides the chips, that's all, and not really good a lot of the time. The chips don't go away. It's just a short-term fix, not a permanent one, which is why the dealers do it. Stays good just long enough to sell the car.

I would learn PPF or painting bumpers if it were my choice, but that's just me.

September 22, 2004

I am new to all this and want to get into the business. I am negotiating w/paint bull and want some neutral opinions of them before I toss them 20k bones. Is their training and tooling systems worth the money and will I be eating hot dogs n crackers because I've spent all my money and no one will give me a shot.

September 23, 2004

20k's a lot of money. You have to check out the market for your area. If it's anything like where I live, it won't be easy for you to get dealer accounts. In my area there's no shortage of touch-up paint repair outfits and the competition is fierce. If you want an account, you have to be better than the incumbent touch-up paint repair service and you have to practice consistent quality control, because if you get the account, and after a while the dealership managers don't like your work because of poor quality, they can get another company to replace you in a New York minute. It's not easy to deliver consistent quality in paint chip repair, and few can do it. :rollin I suspect you probably can find a cheaper way to learn paint repair-touch up, but whatever you spend to learn, you're on your own when it's over. But if you're really good at it, you can make a decent living. The ones that deliver consistent top quality are the ones that will succeed in this line of work. Good luck

December 31, 2005

I've been detailing cars for several years and we recently added paint chip repair to the mix. I talked to a few people who used PaintBull for touchup and they were not impressed. It is good if you want to do spray work on bumpers, but forget about stone chips. We finally bought the Dr ColorChip system after looking at two others. That seemed the best. It definitely makes touchup a breeze. You can't do chips that are big like a quarter and expect a spray quality finish, but for quick and easy paint chip repairs that look really amazing, you can't beat it. We do some cars that have literally thousands of chips all over the hood and most of them completely disappear. We paid $5K and it was worth every penny for sure. We also service a few BMW accounts doing just paint chip repair. I think we could get a lot more accounts doing this if we had the time. Have seen a LOT of really poor touchup jobs at dealerships!

tigerstripe · December 31, 2005

I am new to all this and want to get into the business. I am negotiating w/paint bull and want some neutral opinions of them before I toss them 20k bones. Is their training and tooling systems worth the money and will I be eating hot dogs n crackers because I've spent all my money and no one will give me a shot.

[*]201849

I went to paint bull and thought the system was great.

but its a dealership job, retail customers will be too picky for what you can do. deealers just want it covered up.

the $$$ is good but opening new accounts is not as easy as the brochures make out.

It would be a good idea to shop your dealers first and see if they have someone doing it now, if they have a need for it, and what they are paying for it.

because there is a lot of $$ in it some people will hizzo it out to keep the dealers they work.

dont get caught up in everyone saying 1 man+1 van=$100,000

its slower starting then that, :krazy what system are you looking at?

TINTDESIGNZ · November 27, 2007

Sprinter is right. I was doing touch-up for 8 years before tinting, (still am) and unless you can get solid dealer accounts, it's not worth it. And if you do get those accounts, the competition is brutal in many places. Touch-up outfits are overabundant in many places and unless you are exceptionally good and the dealership really likes you, they will boot you for another outfit without even blinking an eye. Plus Sprinter is right when he speaks of the actual touch-up process. Touch-up is highly overrated, I think. It just hides the chips, that's all, and not really good a lot of the time. The chips don't go away. It's just a short-term fix, not a permanent one, which is why the dealers do it. Stays good just long enough to sell the car.
I would learn PPF or painting bumpers if it were my choice, but that's just me.

I bought a custom auto touchup system way back in 1990-they were outta Sarasota Florida,loaded it in a van, put a guy to work for 6 months then sold it for a NICE profit! There more than one way to skin a cat! :gasp

November 28, 2007

I bought a custom auto touchup system way back in 1990-they were outta Sarasota Florida,loaded it in a van, put a guy to work for 6 months then sold it for a NICE profit! There more than one way to skin a cat!

:gasp My brother-n-law wishes he could do that with his van

All I can say about the subject is from watching his business . Be carefull who you get in bed with as far as products and franchise fees. He does more bumper repair and paint than just chip repair. Dealers are extreamly flakey unless your Willie in podunk :gasp

November 28, 2007

My brother-n-law wishes he could do that with his van
All I can say about the subject is from watching his business . Be carefull who you get in bed with as far as products and franchise fees. He does more bumper repair and paint than just chip repair. Dealers are extreamly flakey unless your Willie in podunk