Just did a strip and tint on a car with

January 4, 2006

Still don't like the insinuation that we "suck our customers dry." :passout Not the case at all. If your material costs more, and Huper does, then you will have to charge more. I have said in other posts that in some cases material costs can be 5x of what the norm is. That is just material. Labor is another factor, it takes longer to install a huper job. Try heat shrinking C-30, obviously you saw some work from a guy who is still in the learning curve. Now these are just product and labor expenses, I have yet to mention the cost of doing business, carrying inventory, I think I don't even need to tread there because you obviously are a shop owner (soon to be muti-shop owner, congrats :hmmm ).

As for the material, there are a lot of films on the market that look similar but we know better than to fall for the "if it looks like a duck..." in the window film business. Some films have better adheasive, some put the UV layer in the adheasive, some do not, some use polyester with less fillers, some do not, some films are spectrally select, some are not, some are inherently color stable, others just say they are color stable and give you a piece of paper that says "Limited Lifetime warranty", some films reject more far infared radiation, others do not, AND ALL OF THIS WHILE LOOKING JUST LIKE THE OTHER BRAND OF FILM.

I am being a bit vague here because I do not want to start a film war. You have two camps when it comes to Huper films. Those that sell it, and those that don't. If you are interested in exactly what the film can and cannot do, then I would suggest you go to Huper Optik's Website, contact a sales rep and have him come out and show you. Perhaps you may want to sell it, and perhaps you may not after speaking with a company representative, you will not figure that out here.

In the meantime, I for one would appreciate not being accused of sucking my customers dry because I don't believe that I do. :dunno I have my own list of customers that appreciate my work and the fair price that was charged for it.

The ///Man · January 4, 2006

I will admit, I don't necessarily make money on every job I do, once you factor in the labor, materials, etc. But do you nkow how many accounts I've picked up just by being honest and helping people out?

Helping people out? That's fine if you're a charity. If you're making money however you do it, that's great. But to give away jobs just to get them in the door seems insane to me. And what's so noble about degrading a markets price? What are you going to do when the next guy thinks it's OK to LOSE money, by "helping people out" just to pull market share from you? I just see it as a bad downward spiral that keeps getting worse.

[*]357396

So tell me, if the materials get paid for, the labor gets paid for, and we have some left over to put in the bank, are we charging too little? Any profit is a profit. How much profit you try and take is what what the game is about. I would rather take a bit less profit when in the long run I know I will have more work and more profit. Now tell me, who is looking in the long run? I am building a customer base that will keep our company around for a very long time.

tintinater · January 4, 2006

It's called COMPETITION!! And I love the "over priced little guy doing a tint day" remark, ha, haw! Bingo, you hit the nail on the head, over priced guys convinced of their greatness.

January 4, 2006

It's called COMPETITION!! And I love the "over priced little guy doing a tint day" remark, ha, haw! Bingo, you hit the nail on the head, over priced guys convinced of their greatness.

[*]357402

Not everyone around here is doing a car a day.

The ///Man · January 4, 2006

Still don't like the insinuation that we "suck our customers dry." Not the case at all. If your material costs more, and Huper does, then you will have to charge more. I have said in other posts that in some cases material costs can be 5x of what the norm is. That is just material. Labor is another factor, it takes longer to install a huper job. Try heat shrinking C-30, obviously you saw some work from a guy who is still in the learning curve. Now these are just product and labor expenses, I have yet to mention the cost of doing business, carrying inventory, I think I don't even need to tread there because you obviously are a shop owner (soon to be muti-shop owner, congrats ).
As for the material, there are a lot of films on the market that look similar but we know better than to fall for the "if it looks like a duck..." in the window film business. Some films have better adheasive, some put the UV layer in the adheasive, some do not, some use polyester with less fillers, some do not, some films are spectrally select, some are not, some are inherently color stable, others just say they are color stable and give you a piece of paper that says "Limited Lifetime warranty", some films reject more far infared radiation, others do not, AND ALL OF THIS WHILE LOOKING JUST LIKE THE OTHER BRAND OF FILM.

I am being a bit vague here because I do not want to start a film war. You have two camps when it comes to Huper films. Those that sell it, and those that don't. If you are interested in exactly what the film can and cannot do, then I would suggest you go to Huper Optik's Website, contact a sales rep and have him come out and show you. Perhaps you may want to sell it, and perhaps you may not after speaking with a company representative, you will not figure that out here.

In the meantime, I for one would appreciate not being accused of sucking my customers dry because I don't believe that I do. I have my own list of customers that appreciate my work and the fair price that was charged for it.

[*]357398

Yay, a real response, that is what I'm looking for, not this bashing BS. On the subject of talking to a sales rep. I have left 2 emails over the last 2 weeks and called 2 times and have yet to talk to or get a response from anyone. I am very interested in becoming a dealer, but other than some vagueness on their website, I have yet to see why this film costs more and why I should pass it off as a better product compared to what I sell. It was just a coincedence that this car came in yesterday with a Huper Optik sticker and most likely film on it, and from what I saw, I wasn't overly impressed, I suppose I expected more. I was looking on here to see a real world answer as to why this film costs significantly more to purchase other than the the "it just does" sort of answer.

January 4, 2006

Is there a Huper dealer in your area?

The ///Man · January 4, 2006

Is there a Huper dealer in your area?

[*]357427

Not that I'm aware of, which is another reason I was interested. Not to mention all the high-end cars in town are getting some purple 3m stuff slapped on them, and I would like to push more toward high end automobiles.

January 4, 2006

PM me your name and # and I'll see if I can help you out.

tigerstripe · January 4, 2006

Not that I'm aware of, which is another reason I was interested. Not to mention all the high-end cars in town are getting some purple 3m stuff slapped on them, and I would like to push more toward high end automobiles.

[*]357433

some people like purple?

havent had any problems with the CS from MMM just panther? what series are they using by you?

The ///Man · January 4, 2006

Not that I'm aware of, which is another reason I was interested.? Not to mention all the high-end cars in town are getting some purple 3m stuff slapped on them, and I would like to push more toward high end automobiles.

[*]357433

some people like purple?

havent had any problems with the CS from MMM just panther? what series are they using by you?

[*]357439

Really not sure, since they handle 4 or 5 dealers, probably the cheapest stuff possible. I just stripped and tinted my buddy's 2001 E430 that they had done through the dealer for a good deal of money and 3-3.5 years later it was visibly purple.