What is 1-800-RADIATOR & A/C?
1-800-RADIATOR & A/C integrates big business technology and buying power with locally owned and operated businesses to provide a better solution for the automotive aftermarket parts industry.
1-800-Radiator & A/C is one of the fastest growing franchises in North America. It's a simple concept: 1-800-Radiator & A/C delivers brand-new radiators, a/c condensers, compressors and other automotive parts within two to three hours to local customers (automotive repair shops, parts stores, etc) and next day to these same types of wholesale customers in rural areas.
The Company is expanding the product offering into other key automotive parts categories as well. Customers love the service our local Franchise Owners provide and in addition to quick delivery, our radiators and air parts line come with a lifetime guarantee and are sold at very competitive prices.
This extremely effective business model has enabled 1-800-Radiator & A/C to become the largest independent direct distributor of heating and cooling parts in North America. The tight economy has created an even greater opportunity for the repair and replacement industry as the cars and trucks on the road today grow older.
1. No Automotive Experience Required
A big part of the 1-800-Radiator & A/C marketing effort is the training and ongoing corporate support. The franchisee will spend up to three weeks learning how the market works and how to foster lasting and profitable relationships with customers.
You will also learn about the 1-800-Radiator & A/C lifetime guaranty. 1-800-Radiator & A/C will provide in-depth training on some of the best computer systems in the industry to maximize your time spent marketing to customers and minimize time spent in the warehouse. Franchisees will be taught how to grow their territories quickly and efficiently.
2. No "Bad" Locations
The only location requirement for a 1-800-Radiator & A/C franchise is that the warehouse be reasonably close to the center of the territory. There is no such thing as a "bad" location as there often is with food franchises, where if you lease the "wrong" location you are out of luck no matter how hard you try.
The 1-800-Radiator & A/C franchisee, not being confined to the "store", has the freedom throughout the day to see customers and develop business opportunities. The more customers the Franchisee sees, the more opportunity there is for success. Our state of the art marketing systems will help you work smarter so you know who to visit and how best to win and sustain repeat business. We will also help you find a cost-effective and logistically sensible location.
3. Fewer Employees Necessary
The 1-800-Radiator & A/C franchisee usually has substantially fewer employees than a food franchise, which often has upwards of 15 employees, often teenagers who require a lot of management and supervision. The 1-800-Radiator & A/C franchise is open just 5 days per week plus five to eight hours on Saturday.
The food franchise is open often 19 hours per day, 7 days per week. A 1-800-Radiator & A/C franchisee works very hard, but time is spent much more in market planning and in contacts with customers, as opposed to constant recruiting, training and disciplining of young workers. Franchises doing between $500k and $2 million in sales could have employee counts between two and eight. Also, about 40% of your employees are relatively inexpensive delivery drivers.
4. No heavy investment in an expensive building or build-out
A 1-800-Radiator & A/C warehouse is a simple, low-cost, 3,000 to 5,000 square foot space, primarily in industrial parks, stocking approximately 3,000 parts to enable delivery within two to three hours. The total cost to set up a warehouse is $20,000, which includes racking, computers and office equipment. The inventory requirement is usually $150,000. Existing territories with historically high sales volumes will typically require a larger investment to cover current income streams.
5. State-of-the-Art Marketing System
You will make the most out of your marketing dollars. Our computer systems have been designed to allow the franchisee-owner maximum time for outside sales and marketing. We use our own proprietary web-based point of sale system to allow you to easily track your customer activity (CRM), accounting, inventory management, customer pricing, purchasing, reporting, and many other tools. You will know which customers to visit, how to price customers and how to measure the effects of each campaign.
6. Existing Customer Base
1-800-Radiator & A/C has been marketing nationwide for over 20 years. In the first weeks of operation, 1-800-Radiator & A/C sends in a marketing team to call on the existing and potential customers in your territory and to introduce the new franchise Owners. In areas where a location already exists, the customers will learn that they now have a location run by a new owner-operator who cares about them and is easily accessible. There are approximately 400,000 automotive shops in the country (our primary customers) and more than 150,000 of these shops have purchased from 1-800-Radiator since 2008, so our name is highly recognized in most territories as the dominant supplier of cooling parts.
The new franchisee will also be pleasantly surprised at the flow of retail business (do-it-yourselfers) which is constantly coming in. Because 1-800-Radiator & A/C is one of the dominant internet marketers of radiators, these orders will also be constantly coming in. The franchisee does not have to worry about generating these sales --- they just happen automatically and provide an immediate and welcome cushion of cash flow. This business is fairly predictable and 1-800-Radiator & A/C will provide the prospective franchisee with its historical records by week, month, and year, showing how much of this business has occurred in the past.
7. 11 Million Replacements per Year
In the United States, there were approximately 11 million replacements of radiators, condensers and compressors last year. 1-800-Radiator & A/C makes it fast and easy to get brand new auto parts to your customers. At an average radiator and condenser price of $126 - $134, 1-800-Radiator & A/C sells its parts to automotive repair shops and do-it-yourselfers. We do not install the parts or perform any repair work. In 2007 we expanded our product line to include air conditioning and fan assemblies and are currently test marketing new product categories to expand our franchise offering.
8. Limited Number of Franchises Available
To insure that each franchise has its own protected territory, 1-800-Radiator & A/C limits the number of franchises available in the United States and Canada. Our growth has allowed us to focus on product line expansion. We have less than 15 locations available at this time.
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