The question really depends if you are in the wholesale market or the retail market. Or even both? Both can be profitable markets but in our opinion the retail side seems to be the better future of the two.
Wholesale Automotive Reconditioning
Lets talk about the whole sale first. No matter what service you provide such as; paintless dent removal, bumper n scratch repair, touch up, wheel repair and so forth, it’s a hassle to service the dealer accounts. Why? Well for one reason, you have to deal with all the competition. Whether your competition is good or not, that’s a different story. The real problem is the low balling. Unfortunately, the wholesale market is flooded with all kinds of companies like that. The only people who are benefiting from the price wars are the UCM’s (Used Car Managers) and dealership owners.
Wholesale can be though very profitable. Though this really depends on the UCM’s business manor. How loyal he/she is, respects good work and retains the best vender he/she can get. But for the most part things change quite often in the wholesale market. Be prepared because the delaerships and wholesalers are always thinking of ways to save money.
A Personality
Mainly it’s your personality that keeps you in the door. I know plenty of companies who really aren’t that great at what they do but they have a nice personality. I believe there are some main reasons why a UCM will keep you and here are some; #1 A good personality, experience, dependability, quality and unfortunately the most important, is price.
Price plays the most important factor with the wholesale market. UCM’s don’t have much concern for perfection, “just make it look better so we can sell it”, attitude. What they don’t see right away with this attitude is that it invites lazyness from his or hers venders. Which then costs them money in the long run because soemthing that would have normally been done by a vender is now passing up. Which in turn ends up in the body shop or some other costly option. You heard the term “buy cheap, buy twice?”
Either way, you won’t win the price war. You’ll win a few battles but it’s never ending because it’s been in existent since mobile auto reconditioning came about. I have been personally serving dealerships for over 17 years. Just like anything else that you are good at, it’s an art.
The Retail Market
This is probably the most rewarding of the two markets. It’s not all fun n games though. It takes a lot of work and creativity besides physical work. A smart business plan with organization and a good marketing strategy will eliminate a lot of mistakes. Just like anything else, you have to work at it. There can still be competitors who low ball but there are a lot of customers out there who care more about quality rather than price.
Your future is bright if you believe your experience and quality has value. The moment you play the price war, you should think about getting into a different career. There are two levels of service; The high end market and the low end market. Which one are you? Once you believe your service has value, your customers will too.
