Sedan vs Crossover pricing

CaliTINT · December 9, 2018

Agreed. I price crossovers the same as sedans. I think most of the time many crossovers are way easier and use a bit less material (back window) than a sedan.

On another note, for most coupes and sedans I also price those the same. I feel like on average, most of the back windows on coupes are a bit bigger and more difficult to shrink. Also, the front side window door windows are a bit longer and on some cars frameless. So for simplicity I charge them the same. I don't count windows that much more on cars anymore unless maybe bump the price up a bit for a car than has 9 windows versus 5-7. And I hardly play the how many windows game with customers because many time they act like we shouldn't be charging extra for the small windows even though we all know some of them are PITA!

CaliTINT · December 9, 2018

8 hours ago, pbalentine said:

Getting more money I why I was pricing higher. Its just that there are many more small crossovers today. Pricing the same i think i get more of them.

I try to charge the same for each vehicle, but will charge more for if the vehicle is much more difficlult. A good example would be VW Jettas and Passats, which take me much longer than your average sedan. Last Jetta i did, i said i was going to stop tinting them!

I hate them Jettas too! Yeah lots of times I usually add that extra charge for certain vehicles like the Jetta or any that I know will be PITA or extra work.

Tint Slayer · December 9, 2018

If none of the Crossover customers are complaining then your just shooting yourself in the foot, if they complain then offer the complainers your sedan price. Unless it's going to bring a ton of Crossover in and you need to be competitive.

pbalentine · December 9, 2018

42 minutes ago, Tint Slayer said:

If none of the Crossover customers are complaining then your just shooting yourself in the foot, if they complain then offer the complainers your sedan price. Unless it's going to bring a ton of Crossover in and you need to be competitive.

Thats the reason i kept charging more. Also, if all your competetors charge extra and you dont its lost profit. I guess we have to consider our competetors pricing to some extent. In reality the sedan should be more, but fact is nobody charges that way. In years to come im sure it’ll change. I may consider charging slighly more for a 7 window crossover. Id take a 7 window Ford Escape over a 7 window Ford Focus any day.

jh812 · December 9, 2018

1 hour ago, pbalentine said:

Id take a 7 window Ford Escape over a 7 window Ford Focus any day.

Or a 9 window fusion.

DynamicATL · December 9, 2018

It is all about the customers' perception. If you have someone come in with a sedan and a small SUV, they are going to assume the SUV is going to be more simply because it is a larger vehicle. So when you tell them you're charging the same or more for the sedan, it will confuse them. So take the worst sedan you may get on a regular basis (focus or fusion mentioned above) and price that where you are happy. Then just charge all sedans that price...you should be even happier with tinting a smaller sedan but getting paid the bigger price. Then price the SUVs higher than the sedans no matter if they are less work or not. Once again, the customer will be willing to pay more because of the larger vehicle perception. My goal was always to get the sedan pricing right first since that is the most you do, then work the others around that. I have always been a believer in simple pricing to be easier on our memories along with making it understandable for the customer. IMO pricing SUVs different based on size can go south depending on the opinion of the customer. You are saying it is a larger SUV, so charging more when they are saying it is a smaller SUV. Maybe their family/friend came in with a similar sized SUV that you deemed easier due to the windows when they look at the size being the same. It is much easier just to say, this is our SUV price period.

pbalentine · December 10, 2018

Its hard to keep up with all the SUVs, whether they are 7 or 9 window. I used to charge one rate for the Crossovers and another for large SUVs. Doing this has cause me to charge the crossover rate many times for somethin like a 9 window Lexus SUV. I thinks this is why many charge just the same for all SUVs. Im definitely gonna charge more for the crossover.

Tint Slayer · December 10, 2018

Anybody ever use a per window price system on autos? Like a price for every piece of glass relating to it's size/location/difficulty. I also work in Steel construction, when i price out whole buildings and bridges i have to estimate every piece of steel and every cut, hole, weld and coating thickness for every piece, then estimate time for all phases of the job and how to erect it. The whole tint pricing system has always seemed very very generalized to me. But i also get that it's simple for the public, still seems like not enough pricing detail. Like how come we all don't say front side is $XX per, back glass is $XX per and quarter glass is $XX per etc etc then add it up for a price.

pbalentine · December 10, 2018

17 minutes ago, Tint Slayer said:

Anybody ever use a per window price system on autos? Like a price for every piece of glass relating to it's size/location/difficulty. I also work in Steel construction, when i price out whole buildings and bridges i have to estimate every piece of steel and every cut, hole, weld and coating thickness for every piece, then estimate time for all phases of the job and how to erect it. The whole tint pricing system has always seemed very very generalized to me. But i also get that it's simple for the public, still seems like not enough pricing detail. Like how come we all don't say front side is $XX per, back glass is $XX per and quarter glass is $XX per etc etc then add it up for a price.

Im considering pricing per window. Someone on here last year posted a really nice price list that was per window. Tried finding it but couldnt.

Tint Slayer · December 10, 2018

45 minutes ago, pbalentine said:

Im considering pricing per window. Someone on here last year posted a really nice price list that was per window. Tried finding it but couldnt.

I just searched looking for it after you said that but couldn't find it. I was thinking of side windows as one price per, then back glass is that side glass price times 2 because it's double the size, but quarter glass is tricky to price it's half the size but can be twice the PIA of the sides. The quarters are tricky to price too, i'm thinking of a higher price for difficult small triangular or odd shaped quarters and another price for easier large fairly square quarters, they're 2 different animals that get priced the same. I don't know how to make it work because the price of just 2 or 4 sides with a rear glass using the system i just mentioned is about the price of the whole car and it feels like the quarter glass is free doing it like that. I overthink the crap out of this stuff sometimes lol

Edited December 10, 2018 by Tint Slayer