Esprit Windscreen Repair Equipment Managing Director, Victoria Evans, takes an in-depth look into the practice and explains how both you and workshops can reap the rewards.
We’re always looking for ways to differentiate our business from the rest and searching for new products to recommend to our workshops, to help them provide the best all-round service to their customers.
Similarly, your workshop customers are looking for ways to both improve the service that they give to their customers and increase their profit margin. Adding Esprit Windscreen Repair is a simple way to do just that. If you haven’t investigated windscreen repair before, you might be thinking: “I don’t know how it works, it’s too expensive, will it give a good result? Ultimately, what’s in it for my customers and how can they sell it on?”
Let’s have a look at how windscreen repair works, then we’ll consider which of the Esprit systems is right for different workshop types.
How does it work?
Simply, windscreen repair works by removing air and debris from the break, filling it with resin, and curing it with an LED lamp:
- Examine the break then drill out the crater
- Place the bridge over the break, then the injector into that bridge
- Inject the resin, and the plunger pushes it through the tiny cracks all around the break
- The ‘pressure on, pressure off’ cycle ensures that air is removed from the break and resin fills the damage
- Once that is complete, remove the bridge, add a little pit fill resin to the screen and the damage is cured in 75 seconds with the LED lamp
- Remove excess resin from the screen, give it a little polish and the customer is left with a screen that is independently performance tested to be as strong and clear as a new screen
Customer confidence
Throughout our 40-year history, Esprit has strongly believed in the power of independent performance testing. Esprit passed the British Standard Institute test BS AU 251, which was aligned with the ECE R43 test for a new windscreen.
Following the removal of the performance test in the British Standard, TÜV and Esprit have worked together to create a rigorous new performance testing regime, aligned with ECE R43, that both meets and exceeds the standards set down by BS AU 251, Rolags, AFNOR and AS/NZ 2366.2.
Same quality but different customer requirements
Esprit Windscreen Repair Equipment sells four kits; of course, they all do the same excellent job, but there are some differences in price, based on the volume of repairs likely to be carried out.
If you’re not sure which of our kits are most appropriate, give us a ring! We’re always keen to talk to people about their needs.
The Elite, now accredited for Quality and Approved Performance by the TÜV Rheinland testing house, is perfect for the regular repairer. It comes with the LED lamp, plus enough resin to carry out 40 repairs. Your customers can set their price point at the appropriate level for their own customers, but we recommend between £25 and £35.
If they charge that amount, they will recoup the cost of the kit by the time they finish the resin provided, and after that, they just have to replace resin and other consumables. This means each repair going forward is likely to cost around £1.50 – offering workshops a significant profit margin.
We also sell the Compact, which also contains the LED lamp, but has enough resin for 20 repairs. This kit is ideal for the occasional repairer, but still contains all the same Esprit products as the Elite Kit.
Finally, we have the Classic and the Compact Classic, both of which come with the Esprit Classic Bridge and our cost-effective UV lamp. This is our low-cost option, but the kit still comes with all Esprit products and resin, and it can be upgraded so users can use the LED lamp.
