texassunshade

I squeegee and shave, no waiting generally but it is easier if you have time....but dang man I'm to old to wait
Sometimes I will hang top on one door and then move to the next door and hang top then go back and shave then finish up.

Long story short(er). Used to work for this large dealership... Did their accessories and Tint work on the side. Brought them home literally every single night. Let them order and stock their own film. Cut prices.. went out full time for my self years past everything was peachy.  Recently they send literally all the Tint work to the $99 guy down the road. Call me to fix screw ups. Stopped  calling for spray in liners-also to another cheapo down the road-also call me for screw ups. Other than that in months and months the only calls I get is for the crap no one else knows how to do... in depth audio/video or esp remote starts on new vehicles. As bad as all that is they screwed me out of a grand at the beginning of the year!  As long as I’ve been doing this I thought I’d protected myself from this sorta thing!  Well finally had it and in a bit of a rage got a call from them wanting... you guess remote start. Told em I had no desire to do it nor the desire to conduct ANY business with them in the future. Got calls from management- expressed my many concerns and by the end of the conversation told em to F*** OFF!  Did I screw up guys?  Honestly?  I stay 7-10 booked out through the entire year and further at Christmas and tax season...  has anyone else hit a point where it wasn’t worth it with a dealership?

nothing on windshield is legal.....
 

Technically no. In April 2014 I believe 70% was legal on doors due to the argument drivers getting skin cancer on the left side in the USA. Windshields are not legal anywhere 

Whenever a customer states they remove the film, we remind them that film is only part of the removal and that the glue has to be removed too.  If not, there will be a charge which can be the same amount or even higher than our normal removal charge.  Had a customer last week removing tint from only the rear window because he didn't want to pay the $150 we charge.  So he did it himself, shredded the film everywhere requiring a full scrape.  Explained it to him that he actually made the job much worse and we would now $250 to remove it, but recommended him just to buy a new rear glass since it will come out cleaner.

They leave tint all in the dot matrix and the cracks of the cars takes forever to get out! Back Windows suck to get out old tint had to do it with a olfa knife sideways! And sometimes they don't tell you  it was tinted before on the phone  sneaky suckers!

Every dealer is different in how they run it, and what department sells and manages it. It will take multiple times going back in to find the right person to talk with . Persistence is key. A large percentage of my revenue has come from dealer work over my years. It has provided my family and a I a good living. Notice I said living and not lifestyle. I have worked my guts out and been a slave to the accounts. I am now starting to slowly back out of the dealerships and plan to go as much retail as possible. I would give in way to much for them, and they will keep pushing for more. I am not saying they can't be good. Just stand your ground and don't give an inch or they will try to take you for a 100 miles.Learn to say no when you need to . That is/was my problem. Sorry to rant. Just some advice from some years in the biz.

I'm getting old, like you grampa I've been tinting since 1980 and I tinted in Vegas for 3 plus years, there it is all about speed at most shops except at the best shops in town, for example I can do a complete honda civic, 9 windows including ports in less then an hour hand cutting it but I can't do more then 6 complete cars a day, just to old and wear out quick but to get to the question of how long it should take on every car I tell the customer that it takes 2 hours to do but I like to have the car for 4 to make sure the curing process starts good. never get complaints about that and if you get bombarded with calls or customers it buys you some time or if you overbooked yourself your still good. doing mobile is a little different as you have to leave right away and if you run into problems it can take a little longer plus your environment is a lot harder to control. IMO you can't put a time limit on Quality work.

I guess after tinting vehicles for almost 15 years I can't justify trying to get the job done as quick as I can like I use too. Back in the beginning I wanted them in and out ASAP. Now in days I take my time because I don't want customers coming back because of problems, I want them back because they have another job for me.

always 20 mins walk around in real day light, after install, so if your hustling on time a must to factor in, as always looks good in the bay, real time when its outside for q.c

Wow, lots of post! Thank you all for participating in the DVD raffle  
One lucky post won the complete Learning Library for Auto Window Tinting with the 15th DVD on Shaving the Edge included!
post #1456 from @highplains wins first place!
The next five lucky members win the DVD titled Braking Down the Barriers 
#1752 @Englandh37
#423   @one_slick_tinter
#135   @OverLord
#1747 @DaHatta
#857   @jh812
Numbers from random.org 
 
Winners can pm me your name and address and I will get your DVD's out. Thanks again everyone for the fun. Thank you to @TintDude for making all this possible. To keep the forum great takes lots of work and constant upkeep to make it a place where we can all get to virtually know each other, share stories and information. Great moderators here  thank you for your work!
tintdude.com is my go to place on the Internet to relax and enjoy the company of others interested in what we all do. 
For those who didn't win  but who are interested in upping your auto tinting skills I offer a pretty dang good discount from listed DVD prices on the Learning Library for members here. Just message me and I will be happy to work with you. 
Cheers all, live life like everyday is your last 
Stan 
www.autowindowtinting.com 

Haven't had any issues with the side door latch. As far as the back glass a Titan does a pretty good job if you don't have large hands, I've seen someone take an old bulldozer cut it and lengthen the handle of a new one to get it to reach. If you pull the deck you gain all the access you need but you have to tear out half the interior to do it and you have to be super careful not to knock the defroster tabs off or puncture a speaker...ask me how I know...

This might seem like overkill but what I did is I ordered a new back window from Honda that way I can shrink on the stand and then install.  We've already done about 6 so far this year so its gonna be a popular car.  Im charging every customer an extra 40.00 dollars above the average price to make up for the price of the window.  Im already a third of the way there.  I realize this is isn't the best answer if you are doing low volume but this is definitely a huge time saver.

Really?? You gotta run him down because he doesn't do it your way?? SERIOUSLY??
 
 

 Me included! I've been tinting for over 34 years!

Well Metro Films yes, that's just the way things worked out for me. I was taught to tint long long time ago (over 16+ years ago).  I was never taught to take cars apart like the other stereo and alarm guys I worked with and since leaving my first shop I always worked alone with nobody to show me the way. Taking cars apart to me was a little intimidating because the few times that I tried, I always broke something (clips, etc.) or bent something. And some things never went back quite the same. So I gave up on it for the most part. Now a days we have more stuff on the internet (youtube, tintdude, etc,) to help me out so I have been slowly learning to take off more panels, rear decks, brake lights, etc. without breaking them. So thats kind of a low blow to say I'm not a tinter (I have thousands of cars under my belt). Maybe I'm just a tinter that's not really good at taking panels off haha. And I'm not alone, I hear many other tinters on here say they never pull panels. Unfortunately I do have to turn down 1% of my jobs because my lack of skill in this area, but I have to say that I do run a successful tinting business. Have a great day...

I'm not superstitious either, but I have taught to never, never put the box of film back on the shelf after everything is cut, before everything is fully installed.Seems like every damn time I do that, something screws up.