It’s early in the morning. You’re driving to the worksite. You’re heading south, and the sun is shooting its rays directly on the left side of your face. You pull your visor over, but it’s too short or too narrow to do any good. On your way home, you face the same thing heading north with the sun setting in the west. For years and years you’ve just dealt with it. With advances in technology at such a high rate, you’d think someone would come up with a solution…
Rick Williams traveled a lot. His background is in medical, pharmaceutical, and dental sales. In addition, he spoke professionally for large dental companies at schools and organizations in California and Nevada. Those positions kept him on the road.
HE MADE IT
One morning he was traveling to the location of a lecture. The sun was peeking below his visor and directly onto his face and eyes. He created a solution that stuck between his window and doorframe. “I had next to me an oversized piece of black paper … and I folded it in half, and I just crammed it up there.” Back in his hotel room that night, the idea came to Rick to build a prototype for himself; something that was a little more functional than a folded piece of paper. He bought a black poster board and cut out a shape that would fit the window of his car, “and that was it!” Rick says.
Rick took his car to a full-service carwash. When he got the car back and on the road, he reached for his homemade visor only to find that the carwash workers, mistaking it for garbage, threw it away. “That’s when I knew there was no option—I had to make another one,” Rick says. “That’s when I said ‘Time out. I’m just a regular guy. This is not just my problem.’ And that’s when the lightbulb went off, and that’s when I started my research and my development of the product.”
Rick started selling his invention to rideshare drivers. He walked up to drivers waiting in rideshare lots at airports and asked them to check out the product in their own car. “They sold like crazy, just hand over fist,” Rick says. Pretty soon, Rick’s product, called TuckVisor, took off!
I TRIED IT
Rick sent me a TuckVisor to try, and I must say, I’m pretty impressed. I drive a small car, a coupe to be exact. My door windows stretch much further than my visors, and that poses a problem for me on my way to work and back. I’ve kept my TuckVisor in my car since I’ve gotten it, but I took it out once when my car was in the shop for a day, and I was so upset when I forgot to replace it. Once you have one, you won’t want to be without it.
What makes the TuckVisor so genius is that it seems like such a basic, simple design, but Rick assured me that a lot of planning and development went into its creation to ensure the best shape and materials were used. Adding to that genius aspect is the fact that the TuckVisor fits virtually any vehicle. I’ve tried it in my little VW Beetle, my dad’s Ford F-250, my friend’s Dodge Ram 1500, and my sister’s Jeep Grand Cherokee. The TuckVisor fits them all! It’s an inexpensive solution to a problem we all face.
Let’s talk about safety. The TuckVisor improves a driver’s vision behind the wheel when the sun refuses to tuck itself behind a cloud. Drivers can keep both hands on the wheel instead of using a hand to shield their eyes. The TuckVisor also protects skin from sunrays that cause cancer.
From my perspective, this would make a wonderful, affordable addition to any fleet vehicle. The benefits heavily outweigh the costs, and the TuckVisor is easy to store in a loaded-down work truck. Try it for yourself. Happy tucking!
MODERN WORKTRUCK SOLUTIONS: JUNE 2018 ISSUE
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