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Operations Profile: Operating Smoothly
Keeping a collision repair shop operating smoothly takes a lot of work. How do all of you cope with such daily issues as labor rates, insurers wanting discounts and poor fitting replacement crash parts? One day at a time.
By Melissa McGee
6/1/2001
According to this year's survey, shops write an average of 21.4 estimates per week. Of those estimates, 64.2 percent are converted to actual jobs, making the average number of jobs performed each week 13.7.
Sound good? It should, considering the industry benchmark for estimate-to-work-order ratio is cited around 70 percent. That means the average shop isn't far from meeting the industry standard.
But writing all those estimates means dealing with more insurers and more customers. It also means daily dealings with such issues as OEM vs. aftermarket parts and posted labor rates (a.k.a. negotiable labor rates).
Here's what our respondents - you, our readers - told us about how you handle these and other operational tasks.
What's your shop's posted labor rate?
Mechanical labor……………………$49.27/hour
Metal/refinish labor………………….$37.88/hour
Frame/structural labor……………...$44.97/hour
These are averages for the entire country.
To determine what your region's labor rates are, go to the map.
What's the average number of stalls per collision shop? What task is each stall devoted to? To find out click here!