Car Toppers revisited

Pizza Shop Talk The Think Tank
1

It looks like we’re going the topper route.

I’ve read some old posts, but are there any new places that are doing a good job on
lighted toppers that don’t scratch?

How about the purely magnetic mounts? Seems like they could have problems staying attached at highway speeds, which we do a lot.

Magnetic signs are only adequate. Has anyone switched from flags to full toppers, or vice versa? What were comparative responses from customers?
thanks!

2

Lighted car toppers are actually part of a huge credibility shift we had in our 1st year. When we rolled out the signs that matched with our overall visual materials design, we got heads turning all over. We started getting neighbor orders when the topper showed up. Make sure it is well designed and has high impact/high visibility that isn’t cluttered or hard to read. Visibility, readability and recognizable branding make a huge difference.

we used http://www.autosox.com/cabbiexl.htm and designed our own graphics. The magnets are powerful. I can say I have driven with the topper placed and at 75 mph for over 50 miles with zero slippage. It has the staying power. The rubber covers on the magnets to over improved protections, and they will hold through a kitchen/bar towel or the like.

3

Thanks, Nick. I’m especially glad to hear about the holding power of the magnets.

steve

4

anybody have any experience with the Cabbie Tilt lighting? Says that they are brighter, cordless & rechargeable & stays lit up to 12hrs…sounds too goog to be true?

5

So I’m in the market as well, curious to the Cabbie Tilt Lighting. Worth the $? Anyone know?

6

Well worth the money

7

We switched to the tilt system a year ago. I ordered about 30 signs and it was huge money. About 7K. Here are the pros and cons.

Pros:

  • Easy. Just plug in and they recharge overnight
  • No hassle of getting drivers to plug in signs. Some guys don’t have a working cig lighter and then they have to connect to the battery. Total hassle.
  • No cords running from roof to inside car.
  • No lost or broken cords ( kinda ) They just get lost and broken inside the store.
  • Tons of lit pizza signs driving around town.

Cons:

  • Expensive. Add another $100 to each sign
  • Not as bright as we would like. A little dim. I would suggest making the artwork with a white background and colored lettering. Instead of out logo style. The LED has a hard time shining thru.
  • The haven’t quite perfected the technology. I got a couple of bad signs in the bunch. I had a couple that didn’t work and a few that stay lit no matter what.
  • The charging cords are bit short for my taste. There is not a lot of wiggle room for setting up the charging stations.
  • The charging packs are a little on the cheap side. If they fall on the floor they break. The electrical prongs are also unbendable, which makes it impossible to tweak them and get a solid plug in in the outlet.

So here’s my overall take is… If you are a “not in the store all day” owner they are great. You don’t have to worry about the signs not being plugged in. If you are there day and night just go with the cig lighter ones and keep a close eye on the drivers.

David

8

tried it but ended up retro-fitting them back to regular toppers…would not do again unless the technology was better

problems with lites working as advertised (not as bright as regular, would not hold charge for even a short shift let alone an entire day even after a full night of charging)

9

Thanks guys. That’s a little disappointing to read about the brightness. I like the cordless route because I’m am working on getting dash cams for the cars and would like the outlet for that. I know I could bypass the cig lighter but that’s a hassle I didn’t really want to deal with. I’ll have to think on this for a bit.

10

Wait, do I read that correctly? The Cabbie led systems turn on based on tilt? So any time it is on the car, it is on? That sounds like a huge problem and waste - 8 or 9 hours of the day it would be on for no reason at all - and then it would be dead when it got dark. That makes no sense.

We use the HTH led systems - 8 super bright LED’s and they last more than 10 hours. The are much brighter and “whiter” than the regular bulbs. The use a light sensor and automatically turn on when it starts getting dark - and off when light or charging.

11

You are correct. They did the light sensor originally but it was a failure. Last year they switched to the tilt. They stay lit for a good 15 hours or more. The light sensors all stopped working after a couple of months.
The reason I switched to the Cabbie signs is because they flat out stay on the car. I used the HTH from 1992 to 2003 and had to buy about 10 new ones every year because they blew off the cars and got destroyed. A couple of times they destroyed other cars. From 2003 to 2014 with the Cabbie signs I replaced no car signs what so ever. Those signs know how to hold on to a car.

12

Odd. Just seems like being on all the time would put unnecessary wear on the battery. I’d think a simple switch would be better, maybe even better than the light sensor. But then you remove part of the idiotproofness.

How many signs do you have in use? 10 new ones every year from blowing off cars is something I’ve never heard of. We have about 80 signs in use and in 11 years I can’t think of a single time that one has blown off a car.

13

10 blowing off cars every year was a bit of an exaggeration. But it sure did feel like it. I’m many were lost or stolen and it was reported to me that they were blown off. I probably replaced a good 50 to 60 of those hth signs over the years. We currently have about 30 in operation. I’ve had as many as 50 of the HTH signs back in the 90’s. What pizza shop are you? We would all love to learn from a guy with 80 drivers on the road.

14

Not all in one store, 80 across 7 stores.

We’ve certainly lost a few due to real theft and what drivers said were theft. Frustrating. And for whatever reason no one has a clue where that topper went… Argh.

15

We use the HTH signs as well, never had one blow off. Have had problems where they would stop working (the LED) - frustrating! Come to find out when I took it apart that it just needed soldered back together in a few spots to fix the problem. Their customer service has been great, when I have had problems they have thrown in extra batteries or cords, even swapped out a defective unit or two. Now that the technology is getting more advanced I have had less problems with them. Only been using them for a few years but have not had a sensor go bad yet.

16

I had a POS company tell me today that they are able to GPS locate your drivers. I would be a great way to keep tabs on your car toppers if they put the trackers in the sign.