Hey GLP I want to start my own business, here is my idea, input appreciated

Keep your job.

In order to make money and have a life, you'd have to be the "boss" with "employees" who do the actual work.

You could franchise it.

After market headlights are cheap. Really no money to be made. Keep looking. Self-employed is the way to go. Good luck.

You'll need a good hammer.

Sams Club now offers this very service for $39.99.

They started at just $24.99 but the demand was higher than they anticipated, so they raised the price.

There is definitely a market for it, but you would be a fool to quit your job just yet. Start out part time doing it on weekends.

Definitely do not expect this to be a good form of income.

A) people can easily do this themselves for cheap
B) not enough people care about it m
C) detail shops already own the market for this type of work

Yes, I actually paid $40 to have this done on my car. Results were terrific, and Sams Club offers lifetime guarantee on the work, so if my headlights ever get gazed over again, they’ll clean them up for free.

Mega-giant corporation Walmart disagrees with you.

Sams Club charged $40 for this service and business is good.

Do paintless dent repair also. The guy here that does that charges $500 for about 2 hours work and has a month long wait list.

How many headlights have you restored already? Do you work at a detail shop?

Not a terrible business idea, but labor intensive. At 35 yrs old, how much do you need to earn monthly to make this a viable business worth quitting a steady paycheck for?

Don't just roll up on people in parking lots and offer to do it then and there - they will think it's a scam like the meth heads who offer to fix dents/scratches. Plus, what are the chances they will be willing to part with $50 on the spot when they are going shopping. Plus - a deadline for you to finish when they come out of the grocery/mall will cause you to do shoddy work.

All you need to do is stick your card in window seal on the cars with jacked up lights when you see one, they will call.
You could schedule to go to homes/offices.

Here are a few things you need to work out.

You need different products for different headlights.
Some are cheap plastics, others higher end.

How do you quote prices? based on level of restoration needed?
How many lights could you actually restore in one day? One week?
Can you guarantee results? What do you offer the customer if their lights aren't restored, or if you make them worse?

Find out the cost of new lights before quoting the job, you need to make it seem like a good deal.

Get good at restoring older Mercedes lights - I see those discolored the most and the owners never seem to replace them, must be an expensive part.

GOOD LUCK

If you are serious about this you need to write a Business Plan, or at least the highlights of it and see if it really makes any sense.
Business plans will make you think out the details.

An example of something close to your concept....
[link to www.bplans.com]

Off the top of my head though, this seems like something that should be part of a larger car/vehicle detailing business and not a stand-alone.

Risky.

Thought About It It's Not An Bad Idea Depends On What It Is You Do

You need to offer more than just restoring headlights, what about offering LED retrofits. Just an idea, you need to have enough "products" in your wagon. Flyers and social media are fine but word of mouth is the gold standard in small business.

Look into SCORE.

SERVICE CORP OF RETIRED EXECUTIVES, I think.

[link to www.score.org (secure)]

All knds of free mentoring and already written business plans.

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We have no Sams club or Wal mart. I live in Auburn, CA. I also understand that truckers need this service alot as well due to the amount of miles they put on them. I have decided to use the SCORE website and seek the advice of a mentor. You guys are awesome. Nothing but honest input except for the 1 star bandit.

If you hit all the car dealers and used car lots, it could be a very good move. It all depends on how hard you want to work. There are certainly plenty of headlights that need restoring.

walk around in nice neighborhoods look for foggy headlamps (was that your biz idea?) and ding-dong 'hey i can fix it right now'