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I seem to regularly meet collision repairmen who have a preference for one type of shop or another. Some techs spend a large portion of their careers in dealership body shops, while some tend to favor independently owned facilities.

Still other techs like myself will go where the best total compensation package is offered and stay there as long as they make a reasonable living and feel reasonably respected and reasonably appreciated.

If you're a shop manager looking for qualified techs, you may be missing out on a few potential applicants simply because you run one type of shop or the other. So what is it that draws a tech to the dealership more than the independent or vice versa? I talked to several techs in my area as well as nationwide through Internet discussion boards to find out.

Facilities & Equipment

Obviously, the multi-millionaire who owns a dealership (or maybe several dealerships) can afford to build a larger facility than the average independent businessman. And he also can fill the shop with more top-of-the-line equipment than the independent can afford.

A large, well-equipped, modern facility will certainly attract a number of potential employees. Some dealership owners are investing tens of millions of dollars in state-of-the-art collision repair facilities these days.

On the other hand, a small shop with good equipment can very well attract the same techs. Most techs like to look around a shop before accepting a job offer because they like to see the equipment they'll have to work with. If a potential hire looks around your shop and sees a repair facility that would enable him to proficiently complete repairs, you stand a better chance of luring him away from an offer from the dealership shop down the street.

Whether you run a dealership or independent shop, your equipment should be well-maintained, well-organized and easily accessible. The best techs won't work in a shop where they spend too much time searching for or waiting for shop equipment.

Benefits & Compensation

Dealerships generally offer larger benefits packages than independents, but this doesn't mean independents can't offer better benefits.

While dealerships usually offer better health care packages at lower rates along with paid holidays and vacations, the independent shop owner often has fewer employees and is better able to tailor benefits packages to the needs of the individual employee. The small businessman can compete with the dealership benefits package by creating a separate benefits package to meet the interests of each employee.

Some people like baseball. Others like football. Others like movies. And tickets are often discounted when you buy them in quantities. Maybe you live near an amusement park, museum or zoo. Surprise employees from time to time with tickets for their family to visit one of these venues. Restaurant gift certificates also make nice surprises. You also may be able to shop around for group discounts on cell phone packages, computers, health club memberships, etc.

Anything you can get a deal on that people use can make a nice benefit. Years ago, I worked in a rather large dealership shop where the owner bought a truckload of Adidas shoes three times a year.

Every four months, I'd get to work and find a shoe box on my work bench containing shoes my size (which they obtained when I was hired). At first, I thought this was kind of strange, but looking back, I think that was one of the more appreciative employers I've seen. They knew where they could get things cheap in large quantities so they passed the savings onto us.

Some things (like the shoes) were given to us while other things (from cotton towels to toothpaste by the case) were offered to us at the same prices department stores were paying. There were no paid holidays or paid vacations, but the company saved me at least of couple of thousand dollars a year on quality products.

Car Lines: Less Is More

Another big advantage dealerships tend to have over independent shops is a steady stream of work on vehicles made by just one or two manufacturers. A lot of customers still go to the dealership where they purchased the vehicle when they need collision repairs.

Whether the dealer has its own shop or it refers collision repair customers to another shop, a loyal customer will often trust the dealer's word over an insurer's referral. This keeps some dealers consistently busy with little or no reliance on insurer referral programs.

In addition to the steady flow of work, dealership techs tend to focus their attention more closely on the few brands of vehicles the dealer sells. The tech who works in a Honda dealership can expect to repair more Hondas than other lines and can therefore expect familiarity to increase productivity.

On the other hand, some dealership owners own several dealerships - carrying several different makes - but only one or two of them will have body shops. In this case, the techs - like their counterparts at independent shops - must learn to build any and every vehicle that rolls in the door.

The independent shop owner looking for ways to increase production should consider making a list of which types of vehicles and repairs each tech prefers. By assigning each tech as much of his preferred make (Ford, GM, etc.) and as many of his preferred types of repairs (front/rear, side hit, etc.) as possibleâ you can simplify his job a bit and keep him more interested in doing the work.

A friend of mine likes to work on European cars, but I don't care for them. And he doesn't like the Japanese cars that I don't mind repairing. You can't always schedule you tech's favorite repairs to come to your shop when they're ready, but you'll get the best repairs and the most production out of my friend and I if he's getting most of the European cars and I'm getting most of the Japanese cars.

Parts Policies

One big disadvantage I've seen and heard about in some dealerships is the dealership's parts handling policies. I've worked in and heard about dealerships nationwide where parts were harder to come by than they were at independent shops. In my experience with some dealership shops, parts profits tend to take priority over body shop profits. If an item is out of stock, some parts departments are under strict orders to place a stock order for parts needed by the in-house body shop.

I once waited 10 business days for a 1-year-old Ford F-150 fender because the dealer I worked for wouldn't buy one of the four in stock from his nearest competitor. When a simple parts policy such as this interferes with the repair process, everybody suffers.

The customer waits for his vehicle and is less satisfied with the service, and the shop and dealer both make less money. There's no way to calculate the number of potential customers who may have been steered away from that dealer shop by the dealer's own policy.

While everybody has something to lose in this situation, it's the flat-rate tech who feels it first and feels it most. What good are the dealership compensation packages if the body shop techs can still take home more money from an independent shop simply because they don't have to wait for parts to come in on the slow boat from Osaka?

Most independent shop owners will get on the phone and locate a part to get it shipped to the shop in a reasonable time. They do it to keep the techs working, to get the job done, to make money and to satisfy the customer. That's my kind of parts policy.

Support Staff & Management

Dealerships tend to keep a larger body shop office staff on the payroll than I've seen in most independents. I think dealerships probably require management to keep more records of things that many independent business owners don't find necessary. Some dealerships also handle a substantial volume of warranty claims, requiring additional administrative duties.

While a larger office staff is justified in a dealership, I've seen instances where a dealership shop manager hired a large enough support staff to enable himself to do nothing. For the money they paid a manager to spend 40 hours a week in his office, they could have paid the assistant manager more to keep running the place and could have given everyone else a raise.

This is not to imply that dealer shops are all top-heavy. Some of the most efficiently run dealer shops I've seen had half the office staff of other dealer shops of similar size or even larger.

An efficient office staff with a good work ethic will communicate well with others in the office and with insurers - but most importantly, with customers and techs. When your shop's support staff is too small, communication lines can break down. On the other hand, an overstaffed office can suffer as many or more gaps as the short-handed team.

In my opinion, this may be the biggest advantage some independent shops have over dealerships. Because the independent shop owner isn't distracted by new car sales, used car sales, parts sales, service, rentals, etc., he can focus on the shop.

Says one repairer: "An independent shop, run like the whole business it is, generates a much better working environment. The owner of the business pays much closer attention to the needs of new equipment and training.

"An independent shop owner can think outside of the box and make things happen. Management ideas can be implemented in a relatively short period of time. Working with or for a winner is much more rewarding than working like a plow horse for some dealer with outside interests."

In addition to a better awareness of what goes on in the shop, most independent shop owners have a better awareness of the issues we face as an industry. Most dealership owners have very little interest in the collision industry other than the amount of money their own shop makes. And the only time they deal with insurers is when they file a claim.

Many independent shop owners also get to know their techs better on a personal level, while a lot of dealership owners can't name half of their employees.

I remember stopping at a dealership body shop to apply for a job a few years ago, and while I was still walking across the parking lot toward the office, I heard a page on the intercom. The voice said, "Tech number 479 come to the body shop office."

I didn't apply for that job. I turned around and left because I didn't want my first name to be "Tech number."

What's the Bottom Line?

I think the bottom line for most techs is, "Will I make a living here without living here?" I think when it comes down to it, every collision repair tech will consider any job for the right money.

With two ads in the local paper, one for $14 per hour and the other for $16, techs will apply to the higher-paying job first so it's obviously the money that gets them in the door. But it's the level of respect and appreciation they're shown, the little things you do for them and the camaraderie among the crew that keeps them there.

Writer Paul Bailey has been a collision repairman for more than 19 years and is an avid photographer and writer who maintains a consumer-awareness Web page in his spare time. He resides in Florida with his wife, Cathy. Bailey can be reached by e-mail at paul@paulbailey.net.