Start-Up Clears Up Auto Lights

Chattanooga Times Free Press:

Unlike many entrepreneurs, Chris Watts’ biggest challenge is not financial.

As he launches a business restoring car headlights, the biggest hurdle Watts faces is informing consumers about the service he offers.

Headlight Renew Doctor promises to take cloudy, yellowed car headlights and, using a technique he developed, “renew” them for a fraction of the cost it would take to replace them.

Watts launched the company two months ago and is trying to overcome the challenges by taking his business to people who would benefit most from it, like used car dealers. He has been working with places such as Easy Auto Credit in East Ridge, restoring the headlights on vehicles for sale.

The headlight renewal technique Watts developed involves sanding the plastic that encases a headlight, removing the cloudy layer. Watts, who has worked in the auto painting and body work business for 20 years, said he has found a type of urethane spray that works especially well to coat the sanded light cover.

The charge to have Headlight Renew Doctor’s mobile service ranges from $59.99 to $99.99 depending on the car. He said his technique can save people from having to replace a headlight, which can cost from around $100 to more than $500 for some older cars.

Watts now is working on packaging a kit for his own product, complete with spray and sandpaper, and has pitched it to the merchandising department at O’Reilly’s. He predicts he would price his Headlight Renew Doctor kits at $24.95 if O’Reilly decides to carry it.

That process of taking on a supplier could take some time, but there has been significant demand for headlight renewal products, said Jill Jones, who works with the merchandising department for O’Reilly’s at the company’s corporate offices in Springfield, Mo.

Photo by Headlight Renew Doctor.

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