CaliTINT

On ‎6‎/‎2‎/‎2016 at 6:03 PM, bman848 said:

Ive done a few of them for a car dealership. Not the funnest thing to tint but they get easier with practice.

Hey guys! Wondering how the rest of this vehicle is? Never done one but have a customer inquiring about it. Wondering if its a pain and I should price it accordingly lol

I'm interested in hearing feedback as well as I have been having a hard time finding good vinyl and sources except for the ones already mentioned. We recently ordered Oracal from Fellers. 

Yes I use some SolarFx film also. Pretty good film, great price and easy to get. 

In my opinion, using extremely cheap film like Walmart type isn't a good film to practice with. It's just too flimsy and hard to work with. It might be good with practicing some cutting (top of roll-ups especially) but for installing and shrinking I would use a "better"cheap film lol. 

There are some websites and manufacturers out there that will sell film to anybody. But once you are ready to start in the business and want some good film you will typically need to have a business license (at the very least). Some will ask for photos of your shop or mobile unit. The higher end manufacturers may have even more stringent requirements (like minimum annual purchases, etc.)

What I would do is buy some better film than Walmart film and get lots more practice. I'm talking months and months and watch tons of videos. If you can afford training, do it. Then once you feel comfortable ask for samples from some good film manufacturers. You will see the difference in quality and feel. and use that to do your own vehicle or someone close to you. 

Nice! I tint behind the brake light as much as I can. 

Idk what it is, but sometimes I have issues with defrosters on some Dodges and sometimes I don't. 

Unfortunately I'd agree and say take the blame and pay full price. Hopefully it just dries out though. Happened to me while detailing a car before. Got a new steamer and I got too much moisture near the stereo. Luckily it started working again after 2 days. 

I haven't started offering it as a service yet myself. I just ordered a "training" roll which isn't a production roll (not been quality-assured) and has defects in it. I installed it on my car so I will let you know how it holds up.

I been searching for a good windshield protection product. I know many of them just don't have the longevity and I didn't think it was worth it for the customer to install something like this for that price but doesn't last long.

I had an ExoShield rep stop by my shop maybe 5 months back. I think (I have to double check) he said the product will last 2 years. I ended up signing up and purchasing a "training/practice" roll. I can't compare to other products because I never tried anything else. I installed it on my vehicle and so far so good. No peeling back, windshield wiper marks (yet), etc. I guess we'll have to find out how it lasts long term.

Also this stuff is super thick and couldn't shrink it when we were practicing.  I'd also like to hear if anyone else has tried it.

As far as increasing followers we recently did an ad campaign through a 3rd party company. They work a budget for you. While it did increase likes it didn't increase business directly that I could see. But hopefully the likes turn into paying customers at some point in time. Did it for a few months and decided to pull the plug.

Personally I think print advertising is overpriced and gets little return on investment. But depending on the medium it may or may not work for you. I prefer to stick to free social media advertising.

I'd say continue with social media and try out some print ads here and there as your budget allows.

I used to tint part time and had various other jobs. It worked out great for me. I think you can make good money tinting part time

Shop around and check the local market for price as it varies. You don't want to under charge because you will work too hard (get burnt out) and not be able to cover overhead. You also don't want to overcharge because you might price yourself out versus the competition.

You need to decide what your worth is and what your skill level is. If you are still learning and putting out mediocre work I don't think you can charge too much. But if you are putting out some good work, charge accordingly.

Definitely charge more for removals (imo)

Definitely get different types of films and be open about switching or at least trying other films.

I think he will eventually weed himself out and bad reviews on his business will catch up to him.

I think the only thing you can really do is fight fire with fire (not literally)  but keep it professional. Really amp up your website with detailed information to educate your customers on the film differences and quality. When you do any type of marketing do the same. You can talk trash about other shops installing cheap films in your social media etc. but just not anything direct.

Respond to all negative reviews professionally and positively.

I just received my installer set I ordered. Can't wait to try it

I bought several pieces of glass from a local glass shop for a few hundred bucks. One for my wall and 2 for my glass cart to wheel around the shop

Never done one of these older (2004) ones before. Any thing I need to know about this one?

On ‎12‎/‎9‎/‎2017 at 8:43 PM, jh812 said:

I'm pretty sure if you've tried hanita (which sucks) you've tried Avery. 

 gotcha! lol scratch that

I was wondering the same about Xpel FIlms.

Off topic, anyone try Avery Dennisons new films? I know they make good wrap vinyl, wondering about their films though.

For lights I use the claw http://www.detailking.com/video/the-claw-led-light-bar-for-car-interior-detailing/

I also use thin white card board where I can't get light to shine (except on 5-10% VLT).

Sometimes I throw a towel over myself to block the outer shop lights and help illuminate the interior light.

4 hours ago, TINT said:

I swear i have so many reviews (bad and good) that i dont recall dealing with those customers. 

We should just all join in and post good reviews to each other to help each out  

Even if a review is bad and they have no way of knowing if its good or bad they leave it on there. and most of our good reviews

they "filter" . Soooo, when do we start 

Yes I think yelp can help and also hurt some business. I think in our case we have been very fortunate (so far). They say that they have some sort of software that can weed out reviews that are not recommended (ones they believe are fake or what not). I think they got sued a few years back.

I have a "Battery Tender" car battery charger. But honestly we hardly use it. We should. I normally just make sure I use a tinting process that keeps me from having the car power on too long. But we still have our hiccups and kills a few batteries here and there.

Yelp has done wonders for our business. I truly believe we wouldn't have been as successful as we have been without the site. I believe it brings us about 40-50% of our new business. We avoided the yelp sales people for the last few years and haven't paid for yelp ads or any advertising for that matter.But They kept bugging and bugging and because I wanted to find a way to increase business even more I took the plunge and decided to do the yelp ads because I know the site drives us a lot of traffic already. 

The sales people definitely try and pressure you into the most expensive package and long term agreement. But to get them off my back and try it our I opted for the

cheapest package and a 6 month period. I would have to say it has increased business and the inquiries I get for price quotes/information have increased 4 or 5 times. I'm having to stay an hour or so later almost everyday just to respond to all the traffic it drives to my yelp and email inbox.

Just my experience.