First post here, so my apologies in advance if I am off on any posting etiquette here.
I have researched to death the best tint for a new car (and another upcoming) and think I know fairly well the pros/cons of the films out there, from dyed to the latest ceramic. I also understand that like many things, the quality of the installer is paramount. Typically, I DIY almost everything as my philosophy is that no one can cares for my stuff more than me, so I tend to spend the 3-5X amount of time more than a pro on doing it myself. However, as I get older, I appreciate that I can find someone who will take care of my stuff almost as good as I would and that is okay with me. I've decided window tinting falls into the latter category!
I have narrowed my choices down to what I hope are competent installers and also the film down ceramics, spefically, Llumar IRX, Expel XR or Expel XR Plus (I started on the lower end with brands like Lexen and Solargard, but decided to spend more money for better quality).
I assume that labor and shop materials is the same if you install, say Expel XR vs. XR Plus. So my question is, why are the quotes so wide between the two example films? The price quote difference I am consistently getting is $225 - $300 difference between XR and XR Plus. Given what's publicly available out there, there does not seem to be that wide of a cost differential for one vehicle between the XR vs. XR Plus film. Is there something I am missing?
I do understand that for a premium product, businesses are able to command higher margins, I'm not trying to get any trade secrets, I am just trying to understand it better. From a business perspective, I'm betting that a shop would earn more money pricing the the XR Plus film more competitively (I am assuming that (1) more customers would choose XR Plus over XR if the spread was a little less and (2) the lower XR Plus price would still result in higher gross margins over the sale of XR. You could apply this concept really to any higher end option.
Thanks for any responses, and thanks for all the information I was able to learn from this forum. Btw, I stil have tons of questions to ask, but thought I'd start with the most potentially controversial!