Dakota Shine is a biodegradable product that restores color and luster to many surface finishes including paint, decals and plastics. It only costs approximately 20 percent of what a new paint job costs so it is very economical. And when applied properly — starting with a high-pressure power washing and followed by applying Dakota Prep (a concentrated cleaner) and then the final step of applying Dakota Shine — the machine’s luster will last as long as the original paint, according to the manufacturer.
One also can use OEM touch-up paint to cover up bare metal or trouble spots just prior to applying Dakota Shine.
Through a recently introduced partnership between Dakota Ag Innovations and JLG Industries, Dakota Shine products can now be purchased through the worldwide JLG dealer network and at JLG ServicePlus locations in Houston and Atlanta. JLG ServicePlus can apply Dakota Shine to customer machines at their facilities. Dakota Shine also can be ordered by JLG customers through JLG’s Online Express, an Internet product and parts information system for JLG customers that provides instant access to parts availability information and convenient automated ordering.
Jim Goodall, a 37-year veteran of the construction business, sells used construction machinery on the Internet and averages approximately 20 sales per month. A machine in his inventory, an older Gradall telehandler that lacked its original shine, just wouldn’t sell no matter what he tried. He was at a loss of how to sell this machine.
When Goodall learned of the Dakota Shine product from a JLG salesperson and that ServicePlus could apply the product to his machine, he figured he didn’t have anything to lose, so he sent the machine to the ServicePlus facility in Houston. When he saw the telehandler after the Dakota Shine application, he said he was in disbelief.
He posted a photo of the newlooking telehandler on the Internet and three hours later the telehandler was sold.
“When selling machinery on the Internet, appearance is everything,” Goodall said. “And JLG ServicePlus made this machine look new again.”
Max Hoskins, a JLG dealer and used equipment seller in Orange, Calif., for more than 20 years, echoed what Goodall said about the product. About a year ago, Hoskins was reading a magazine and ran across an ad for Dakota Shine. The ad piqued his curiosity and he ordered a starter kit. He said the results were so startling that he hired a full time person devoted solely to applying Dakota Shine to the used equipment he was selling, which ranges from 30 to 40 pieces a month. Sometimes he even has to have other employees help out to keep up with the demand.
“If the machine is in top mechanical condition and has a low number of hours on it but isn’t shiny, it won’t sell as fast as a machine that sparkles,” Hoskins said.
He orders Dakota Shine directly through JLG to receive the volume discount he gets when he combines his Dakota Shine orders with his normal parts orders.
Another businessman using Dakota Shine is Justin Cyrnek, owner and president of Chicago Industrial Equipment in Rockdale, Ill.
“Dakota Shine is so easy to apply that a 10 year old could do it,” Cyrnek said.
Although he sells about 200 machines a month, approximately 90 percent are wholesaled. Of the 20 or so machines that he sells retail, every machine — except forklifts because they are usually scratched and need to be repainted — gets the Dakota Shine treatment before it is displayed.
“If it shines, it sells,” he said.
And since Cyrnek started using Dakota Shine several years ago, he has noticed that he gets approximately 15 percent more money for a machine treated with Dakota Shine than before he used it.
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