Sometimes as a vehicle builder, you might run out of ideas for how you can customize vehicles to wow your customers. When it seems like you’ve done every upgrade under the sun, you may think you have nothing new to learn or offer customers who come to your shop with expectations of a grand upgrade to their vehicle. Additionally, you might have a hard time keeping up with current trends if your business has been operating for a long time. That’s where our tips can help!
Artistic Exterior
You don’t need a degree or background in the fine arts to appreciate how an artistic exterior can elevate a vehicle’s aesthetic appeal in the eye of the beholder as a vehicle builder–or, in this case, the eye of the potential buyer. While some car owners appreciate a classic design with few frills or fuss to mention, other car owners would like some pizzazz to make their vehicle stand out from the crowd. Whether you’re using a colorful patterned wrap to improve the exterior of a car or you’re painting it, you should follow the preferences of the person who owns the car. You should also consider what the car owner’s budget might be. If a car owner has a tight budget but still wants an artistic exterior, you should think about how you can cut down on the costs of the car’s exterior improvement by using certain types of materials that are known to be less expensive than other materials.
According to theartworks.com, “Many factors play into the cost of both a custom paint job and a vehicle wrap but wraps are almost always cheaper. The cost in material and specifically labor on a custom paint job can range anywhere from $3,000 to $10,000 and that’s for a basic design.” Since the cost of materials in your area might be higher or lower than this range, you should investigate what supplier options may be available in your region. If you go with a local paint brand, you may end up saving some money on shipping and other aspects of ordering paint from an international or national supplier. Alternatively, it may be cheaper to purchase paint from other places since they might not mark up their paint to appeal to the local crowd and support a small business.
Advertisement for Your Business
As a business owner, you need strong advertising efforts to get the word out about your business. In this day and age, it doesn’t matter how amazing your services are. If your advertising indicates that your services might not be the best, your business will suffer for it. For this reason, we recommend hiring other professionals like advertising and marketing services so that you can focus on what you do best. By hiring a web design service to design your website, you’ll save time and money on having to learn that skill on your own.
If you want to increase your advertising and marketing efforts without hurting your bottom line, social media may be your best bet. With all of the social media platforms at the disposal of a vehicle builder nowadays, you can rest assured that you’ll find a platform that works for the type of content you’d like to create and the sort of audience you want to attract to your business. Social media is more than a place where you can generate traffic for your business. It’s also a hub where like-minded individuals gather and discuss the latest techniques for maintaining or upgrading cars, among other topics.
According to datafeedwatch.com, “Nowadays, Social Media is a platform where car enthusiasts can come together, engage in discussions, and find entertainment. Many potential car buyers use popular social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, which generate valuable leads for businesses. Since people spend a significant amount of time on social media, there is a good chance that you could encounter your next customer through a strong social media presence.”
As the article on datafeedwatch.com continues, “You should set up profiles on every appropriate channel. For instance, Facebook is suitable for automotive companies as it caters to a broad audience, prioritizes local advertising, and lets you share various media types. Instagram may be useful for dealerships to showcase their new inventory through visual content.” Overall, how your social media presence helps or hurts your business cannot be overestimated.
Additional Lights
When you want your vehicle builder’s efforts to shine, you can hook up extra lights to the car through the electric wiring in the vehicle. There are some key benefits to adding more lights to a vehicle. According to popularmechanics.com, “Adding an extra set of more powerful lights to the front of your car—wired to come on when the high-beam switch is activated—provides additional lighting and improves overall vision for night driving. Off-road driving lights are typically activated by a separate switch and not linked to your high beams.”
Of course, this isn’t the only benefit of adding extra lights to your car. On top of these perks, you may like having extra lights because it will make it look cooler. You might also enjoy the extra security that a security light on your car adds when you have your car parked in a dark area at night. What’s more, you may appreciate putting lights in your car that have different colors so you can create a whole mood with nothing but your vehicle being on in an open field or other area.
Although adding extra lights to your car can be nice on an aesthetic level, it can also be dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing. If you want to safely increase the amount of lights on the inside and outside of your car, you should do your research on how many lights your car can handle. You should also leave heavy electrical work to someone who is experienced in working with electrical wires in cars. It’s all too easy to overload your car’s electrical system and cause it to short-circuit or even catch on fire if you don’t know what you’re doing. To be safe, save high-level electrical projects on your car for professionals who have the skills and experience to handle those kinds of jobs safely.
Specialized Pet Seating
As a vehicle builder, you may be able to add some elements to a car that would make it extra enjoyable for someone’s favorite four-footed family member to ride in the car safely. Before you install something wild for a dog like a custom dog house in the car, though, you need to think about animal safety and even the laws. Although it might be fun to think about cute little settings you could create for a dog in a car, it’s not safe to leave dogs in cars alone. Additionally, in some states, it’s illegal to leave a dog in a car by themselves.
If you’re adding something to a car to make it more comfortable for a dog to ride like a built-in dog bed or a water bowl holder, you need to stress to the dog owner that this will not be a substitute for properly caring for the dog while they are in the car. Even if a dog has food, water, and climate control options in a car, the dog still won’t be safe to be there alone for any amount of time. Although you may be able to legally get away with leaving your canine pal in a car for a couple of minutes in certain states based on the law, it’s all too easy for a dog to overheat or get too cold if they are in a car alone for too long. What’s more, if a dog has an emergency in the car while you are away, there will be no way for you to know until it’s too late. Even though that may be hard to hear, it’s a sobering reality that is better to consider before you get into that position.
There are some ways to ensure your dog’s safety while your dog is in a vehicle. According to the AKC, “All dogs are susceptible to heatstroke, and every owner needs to be acutely aware of their dogs’ limits. Some brachycephalic individuals (dogs that have relatively broad, short skulls, such as Pugs and Bulldogs), may be more sensitive to high heat and humidity, so owners should pay close attention to their breathing. Also, even dogs accustomed to exercise may overheat easily when exercising on hot days.
If you know you’ll be on the road with your dog, make plans to travel with another adult who can remain in the vehicle with them while the air conditioner is running. This will keep them safe when it gets hot, and it will also reduce the risk of your dog jumping out of an open window at a rest stop or in a parking lot.” By following these tips, you may have an easier time traveling with your dog and knowing that your dog is safe while you do it.
Flashy Rims
Part of shop management for a vehicle builder is deciding what types of rims you’ll sell. While you could stick to basic rims, you can also level it up by offering rims that are in non-traditional colors like purple or choosing rims with fancy finishes like iridescent rims. For most car owners, rims are the one area of the car where they can express themselves outside of the seat cover choices, steering wheel cover choices, and the paint job or wrap color of the car. As any car owner knows, changing the rims on your vehicle can make or break the appearance of the car. They can transform the whole look of a car with little to no effort installing them.
Heated Seats
For the average vehicle builder, it’s just as important to think about how you can benefit car owners’ aesthetics as it is to consider function when you’re offering services to the car owner. While heating and air conditioning can be built into the car, you may be able to upgrade the car’s heating system by installing mechanisms to create heated seats. In the winter especially, most car owners will appreciate it if they don’t have to wait for the heat to warm up the whole car to start feeling more comfortable. Heated seats provide a level of control for each passenger in the car to choose how warm they would like to be. When someone wants to feel warmer but the rest of the passengers and driver feel comfortable, heated seats can prevent potential fights.
Upgraded Transmission
As a vehicle builder, you can save someone a trip to the transmission shop by offering to upgrade their transmission. This can help their vehicle run more smoothly. It’ll also increase your earning potential by increasing the services you provide.
Tinted Windows
Since many vehicle builder businesses offer custom doors and windows, you should keep up with the trends. By tinting the windows, you’ll have plenty of potential customers. You’ll also provide a useful service to those who need to tint their windows for health or safety reasons.
Powerful Speakers
For car owners, there’s nothing like going to an automotive detailing service and coming out with your speakers blasting your favorite tunes. While it’s fun to have powerful speakers, it’s also practical. If someone is hard of hearing, they may need better speakers than the ones that come with their vehicle.
Custom Horn
Although auto insurance usually won’t cover it, a vehicle builder can add a custom horn for a relatively inexpensive upgrade. You can make the horn more pleasing to the ear. You can also add a silly horn sound for effect or change the car horn’s volume.
It can be stressful to revamp your business to keep up with present trends in the industry. Still, it’s a necessary part of owning a business. When you refuse to change your vehicle building business despite some warning signs that it may be losing customers due to this resistance to change, you could end up losing your business. As a result, you may go bankrupt or experience other financial consequences, so it’s best to upgrade where you can.
