Mobile Solutions, which sells car audio fabrication tools, announced it has acquired the rights and ownership to Built In Radar, a startup that supplies mounting bezels and accessories for installing custom radar detectors.
Mobile Solutions owner Bryan Schmitt purchased Built In Radar from a long-time friend that wishes to remain anonymous, he said.
“We see a ton of opportunity with this. We want to own the category of building specialized templates and solutions for custom radar and laser detectors,” said Schmitt.
The builtinradar.com website currently offers mounting plates and products for ESCORT custom radar/laser detectors, but Schmitt plans to work with other vendors including K40, Radenso and ALP.
Built In Radar will offer templates for creating mounting solutions as well as plates and brackets that can be easily adjusted to fit various cars. Car specific solutions will also be offered in the future. And Built In Radar will also offer consumer packaging so the mounting solutions can be sold in the front room of 12 volt specialists. The packaging will state the number of hours of installation time the product eliminates, so the consumer can multiple that by the shop’s labor rate to gauge the full value of the product.
“I want to have our products also turnkey, that go up front on a retail level,” said Schmitt. “We’ll have a recommended install time so an end user can look and see why it costs more…. So, it helps on the front end to sell this product. End users can see it will cut this much time in labor.”
One current Built In Radar package includes all the pieces to flush mount an ESCORT controller including the router bit designed for this task, the template, the tape and a support video.
“I feel custom radar is a huge category and it’s continually growing. You are catering to the upper echelon consumer that has an expensive vehicle. It’s not about price; it’s more that they can’t afford to get a ticket because they are an executive. There are a number of shops around the country where radar can account for up to half their business. So, it’s a big deal and we see a lot of blue sky in this category and it fits in our wheelhouse for fabrication techniques…,” said Schmitt.
A “soft announcement” of the acquisition was made during the recent Mobile Electronics Specialists of America (MESA.) Summit.
Interested dealers should call Mobile Solutions at (480) 968-2074 for a dealer promo code to order off the Built In Radar website. Or visit builtinradar.com
