If You Can See Through It,
Tint King® Can Color It Cool
by Suzanne Wintrob
Special to The Star

Tinting car windows can reduce the cost of air conditioning,
says young founder of thriving franchise.

When it’s hot in the street, you’re cool in the seat.

That’s the motto of Allan Starkman, founder and owner of Tint King® of California Inc., which he describes as Canada’s oldest car window tinting company.

The Thornhill resident started the company seven years ago from his home; today his small North York shop’s customers include Olympic runner Ben Johnson and North York Mayor Mel Lastman. And Starkman has expanded the operation by selling franchises.

"I never realized that the business would develop like it has," says Starkman, 32.

"People come from all over to have us tint their car windows. They have come from Saskatchewan, Montreal, Sudbury and even Niagara Falls, NY"

Back in 1979, when he was 24, Starkman decided that his new car would look great with tinted windows, but he couldn’t find anyone in Toronto who would take on the job.

Waving frantically "I was selling carpets at the time," he recalls, "when I met a man whose son did commercial tinting. He supplied me with the material and I tinted my own windows."

A little while later, I was driving on (Highway) 401 when a guy pulled up alongside my car and started waving frantically.

I thought my car was on fire, so I pulled over to the side. So did the other car—he wanted me to tint his windows, too."

And in an expansion move that lives up to the company’s name, the first American branch is now in the planning stages in—where else?--California, Los Angeles, to be precise.

"I want to be the McDonald’s of tint," he smiles. "I have a dream."

Tint King® of California, which has nothing to do with the sunny state, offers customers a wide range of colors. The most common shades are brown, blue, gray and black, with various densities available of each.

Recently Starkman introduced Fashion tint to his color line—jade green, violet, sky blue, passion pink and sunny yellow—but he admits they aren't his best sellers. The price tag on a tinting job begins at $99 and comes with a five-year guarantee against film failure.

Last year, the company had chain-wide sales of more than $2 million, Starkman says.

Not only is his business in car windows but he also sells mobile franchises specializing in home and office solar control window tinting which can be operated on a part time or full time basis, as well as a mobile car tinting specialist franchisee. Both make a great home based business or addon to any existing business.

He says tinting your home and office windows reduces heat penetration from outside by 85 per cent, keeps 35 per cent more heat inside during the winter and save owners about 25 per cent on their heating bills. About 10 per cent of his business is in tinting windows of buildings.

The tint, which is triple-laminated mylar film, saves about 50 cents of gas each day in an air-conditioned car, Starkman says, and many insurance companies recommend it to hide car stereo speakers.

"I even had one woman with terrible allergies come to me with a prescription from her doctor for tinted windows," he says, "because they cut out 97 per cent of the ultraviolet rays."

Starkman stresses that no car he tints will ever be virtually blacked out. That’s because the law states that police officers must be able to see a figure at night through the side windows. The front windows cannot be touched except for a sun strip across the top, although back windows can be tinted as dark as the customer wishes.

The cars Tint King® has worked on have included everything from an Austin Mini that was towed into the shop’s garage—("It was a piece of junk," Starkman laughs)—to Ferraris, Rolls-Royces and hearses. The company has tinted 12 CBC cars, some police buses, the Q107 Rock ‘n’ Roll Machine, government trucks and even some boats and campers.

Starkman recently sponsored a visit by what was dubbed as the world’s largest limousine, at Speedorama ’87 at Exhibition Place. The 60-foot car, which features two turbo 500-cubic-inch Cadillac engines, a pool and diving board, a helicopter pad and a crystal chandelier had all its windows tinted by Tint King®.

Starkman is especially proud of the work he did for Expo ’86. The designers of the Ontario Pavilion at the BC fair insisted that all the display vehicles have darkened windows, says Starkman, and Tint King® got the job.

Although window tinting is its main line of work, the company also carries a line of car accessories, including shadow louvres, alarm systems and sunroofs. "

I have many exciting and unique things in mind," he says. "And they are all of high quality because the garbage comes back to you... We’re the Nike of cars, the Gucci of tint...We’re a shade above the rest."