tips on getting dealerships

[Shadebyblade]

Is there any tricks you tinters use to getting dealerships?

[Mpameno81]

The managers are the guys you need to know. Find out there names before you introduce yourself. Be more professional than other companies (sometimes tinters have bad reps). Sometimes you have to give a little to get a little to get a little, I usually give them something free to start off, something small like a pinstripe, to show the quality of your work (walk them around it when your done, talk to them about it), there not going to pay/recommend you even once if they don't know you. Aaaannd be flexible, car dealers are often needy, & want payment terms ha.

[addicted to tint]

I used to be a guy who never cared if an auto dealer sent their business to us or not.  They were notorious at beating you up on price, wanting things done whenever they showed up, and sometimes taking far too long in getting around to pay.  We did plenty of dealer work, it just was never our focus and they received no special attention.

 

2013 is the first year we have actually collaborated with a new car dealership doing a decent amount of monthly work based on a contract.  This dealership is owner based from another area that does a lot of pre loading and are very familiar with tint as a profitable ad on.  They were in fact considering going in house, as challenging as it would be, but they have no clue here.  What they required from us was pricing based on a breakdown of volume - the more cars tinted the less per vehicle charged.  In other words, if they send us "x" amount of cars in a month the charge per vehicle is "x".   We now tint on average over 30 cars a month for this dealership, and we average 125 -150 cars at retail monthly.

 

Getting in with these dealerships is not hard - if you are willing to charge very reasonably, show up and pick up the cars as needed, deliver by the time required, and most importantly do an outstanding job every time.  The upside is the entire dealership becomes used to seeing you daily, and the owner, managers, salesmen and detailers continually refer business.  It's really true, the more you are seen, the more work comes either directly or indirectly from this dealership.  One perk of having a dealership account that is pushing film for you is there is far less down time off season in the shop.  Another upside is the bottom line monthly increase that comes from this one account. 

 

The downside is you need a staff that can accommodate extra vehicles when necessary. 

 

My advice would be to put together a proposal based on what you could live with (minimally charge) and meet with the GM and educate him with how profitable tint can be.  Show him what you'll charge and let him know many auto dealerships charge $350 -$400 per car worked into the financing.  If you can do this professionally and perform the work required professionally it should be fairly simple to land a dealership.

 

The large and medium auto dealerships generally know about the film manufacturers training programs that set up in house tinting.  While the successful examples of such dealerships are the exception and not the norm, there is enough chatter by those that are successful that they are all familiar with general cost per vehicle (low) and profit potential (high).  Most auto dealerships want to get in on this.  All the film manufacturers want a piece of this.  We as independent tint shop owners either need to embrace the auto dealers and provide the service they need or sit back and watch more dealerships go in house.  

[Tintguy1980]

 Could not be said any better.

[Devil with bad attitude]

Is there any tricks you tinters use to getting dealerships?

Yes....never let them you know you exist.

Devil

[TintOhio]

Interesting, I have tried the whole dealerahip angle with no luck, but window film is not a major necessity here in ohio... More of a luxury, I think the general public see it as just that

[TomTint]

Interesting, I have tried the whole dealerahip angle with no luck, but window film is not a major necessity here in ohio... More of a luxury, I think the general public see it as just that

Mass is also a market where film is a luxury. The southern states are different to a certain extent. Some years ago we did cars for a few local dealers and I would never do it again. They consume to much of your time and energy, don't want to pay you for months, and think they own you. While some need to put up with this in order to pay the bills...it's a horrible way to make a living.

[TintOhio]

I concur, that would be!

Ppf at a dealer may be another option, ever try that tom??

[TomTint]

I concur, that would be!

Ppf at a dealer may be another option, ever try that tom??

Ummm no

[TintOhio]

That seems like it should be an implied no??