by Cindy Rowe
In 1980 I decided to make a career change, so I left my nursing position
to pioneer windshield repair in Central PA—out of the trunk of my little Vega.
Through the 80’s I expanded from repairing windshields via mobile units to opening
two full-service auto glass locations—and I invited my husband Dave to join me. By
1990, our original strategies of emphasizing windshield repair and high-visibility
advertising, such as targeting the retail customer, were paying off with increased market
share in the insurance and general public market segments.
Then came the startling announcement—Allstate Insurance had switched to a third-party
claims management system that was being operated by our competitor! It became obvious
immediately that if this program were to last more than a few months, fundamental changes
would occur in the glass industry. It was time to re-think and re-strategize our business.
We did not hit the panic button early on, but concluded there would be time and
opportunity to adjust our strategy in the future. We were convinced it would take years
for these programs to become a major gateway to the insurance companies. On the other
hand, we also decided it was time to figure out how we were going to survive if the
worse-case scenario, elimination of all insurance claims, occurred. We considered adding
flat glass, but that required expertise and a physical plant, neither of which we
possessed. We also considered expanding our emphasis on dealer and fleet auto glass, but
knew that if the insurance business dried up, the competition for these types of accounts
would be brutal.
We looked at how we began, dealing with mostly dealers and fleets, and thought, “Why
not offer another service to our existing customers?” If this service were to mimic
our windshield repair service (offering mobile service along with regular shops), it would
not likely become the target of national competitors. It was in this same time frame that
an acquaintance, also in the windshield repair business, called and invited us to explore
a new opportunity that she thought was at the point windshield repair was ten years
earlier. This new opportunity was paintless dent repair (PDR). While it would likely fit
into our dealer/fleet customer base, it was a totally new concept. There was a school
being offered, so we hired a technician and sent him to ten days of instruction. It was
his and our general opinion that, since he had much body-shop experience, PDR would be a
cinch to pick up. Wrong!
Paintless dent repair is a hands-on process that takes much eye-and-hand coordination. A
small dent is manipulated from the inside and the metal is brought flush with the rest of
the body part; the tools are numerous—long, short, fat, skinny, sharp, blunt. There
are two groups of PDR technicians—one group chases the hail damage across the nation,
as it occurs, and the other group targets local dealers, auto auctions, car rental fleets
and some body shops. We positioned our company in the later group.
Just as windshield repair was a winner from the start, PDR had a similar beginning. Within
weeks we added a second technician and our ongoing growth has put seven technicians in
place, with that department having its own manager and own shop. The majority of work
comes from the auto dealers, auto auction and car rental fleets. Retail work has been
increasing over the past several years, being augmented by demonstrations requested by
insurance adjusters and some television and radio marketing.
It costs less than $2,000 to equip a PDR technician. The largest expense is the payroll
cost during the two to three months of training. Training is intense, with no “quick
training” to allow the tech to be proficient and produce quality results in less
time. Our PDR techs are not dual purpose; they perform no other services and work daily to
maintain their proficiency and quality.
Over the years, our PDR division has developed its own customer base; it works separately
from the glass business, yet, we still project the same quality culture that we require
from all our business units.
Although we found strategies in the early 90’s that have worked for our auto glass
business, we have also gained a big plus from our reaction to the auto glass network
issue. Our PDR division is now a profitable addition to the company and continues to
provide balance to our windshield repair and auto glass replacement services.
It pays to look at possible problems as opportunities, to look “outside the box”
for solutions instead of looking only “within” at the problem.
Cindy Rowe is president of Cindy Rowe Auto Glass based in Harrisburg, PA. The company
has eight repair/replacement locations, all of which perform PDR, and one location which
exclusively performs paintless dent repair.
USG
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