Not too long ago, my first new body-style Charger rolled into the shop bay. It had frameless windows and a hatchback, and I was excited for what I anticipated would be a straightforward job. Boy, was I wrong. I decided to switch up my typical approach to this job. I usually start with the passenger […]
The days are often redundant in automotive tinting. It’s a constant rotation of cleaning glass and applying tint. It gets old, but it pays well. To be honest, I don’t mind the routine. I’m a creature of habit and don’t take kindly to last-minute changes. I tend to prefer my days and happenings to be […]
Consistency is key in the tint business. You have to consistently perform clean installs using quality film and consistently offer positive customer service. You have to show just as much consistency with no-show customers. After all, no customers in the shop means no revenue. There’s been much debate over whether shops should get deposits from […]
Recently, I tinted a new BMW 7 Series for a good friend of mine. A couple of months passed, and he took his car in for an oil change. After dropping it off, he called and requested that they check a noise coming from the rear door area while they had it in. He didn’t […]
We’ve all had that customer who just wasn’t going to be satisfied, no matter what we did. You can set expectations up front all day long, and in the end, some will act as if the conversation never happened. Years ago, a woman came in wanting her front windows tinted to match the rear of […]
The flight to Reno for the International Window Film Conference and Tint-Off™ was really smooth. We arrived late Sunday night. Monday included check-in and competitor meetings. During the architectural competitor meeting, I heard talks of a new design. Instead of tinting a single rectangular panel, competitors would now have to tint three irregularly shaped panels […]
For many years, I assumed ceramic film was a gimmick. I was a weekend mobile tinter that used the cheapest film I could get my hands on. I put out quality work, but my quality only lasted as long as the film did. Fortunately, most of my clientele didn’t keep the same vehicle long enough […]
It seems that there’s always an ongoing debate about hand cutting versus using a plotter. I used an Olfa blade for many years. I had heard discussions about shops using plotters, but I couldn’t justify paying for software on an ongoing basis without ever actually owning it. Miss a payment, no patterns. That didn’t sit […]
I remember being incredibly happy when I received the keys to my shop from the rental division of Century 21. It was the day before my lease began on July 1. I turned out car after car that summer as I was still in awe that I had a shop and no longer had to […]
In today’s era of social media, we get a plethora of insight into the lives of tint shop owners abroad. We witness the good and the bad. We witness the peaks and valleys. During spring, posts about the increase in sales flood the news feed. The heat of summer boosts the prosperity posts in the […]
