Choosing Sides
t’s official. The industry is equally divided: 50 percent of shops are on direct-repair programs and 50 percent aren’t.
Are You Willing
Have you ever had work steered from your shop to a direct-repair shop?
Have you ever tried to get on a DRP and were told the insurer “isn’t looking to add any shops right now”?If you’ve been in business for more than three minutes, you likely answered “Yes” at least once – if not twice.
You Asked for It: Our 4th-Annual Readers Choice Issue
If an industry expert offered to answer one question for you, what would your question be? (The question must be collision-repair related.) “Are there any topless female techs out there?”asked one shop owner. I’ll be the first to admit, putting together our annual April Readers Choice issue can be challenging. But it’s also a lot
PCers Run Amuck
Re-repairs vs. ongoing repairs.
Bribe(s) Gone Bad
Struggling to quit steering customers to another shop.
How Does Your State Rate?
Ever wondered if the drivers in your state wreck more often than drivers in other states? Curious how many repair dollars are spent each year in your state or what your shop’s annual gross profit potential is? Look no furtherTurns out Arizona isn’t just the place to be if you’re an allergy sufferer or a
A Geek’s Paradise
Gathering reliable research on the collision repair industry is about as easy as keeping a New Year’s resolution. I think the last New Year’s resolution I actually stuck to was when I decided to stop eating condiments. Since I’d never eaten condiments to begin with (bad kindergarten experience), giving them up wasn’t tough at all.
Use Your Head: A/M and OEM Parts
Pappy O’Brien needs a brain transplant. The good news: His insurance company is willing to pay for a new brain. “Yippee!” Pappy hoots. “That’s the luck o’ the Irish!” The bad news: His replacement brain is coming from Taiwan, not Ireland. “Well that’s a bunch of Blarney!” exclaims Pappy. “Nobody in the O’Brien clan has
Bugged: The Alliance of American Insurers.
Big bugs live in Maui. Here in Ohio, winter takes care of most of our bugs. They don’t have long to live so they don’t have enough time to grow into monsters. Bugs in Maui, however, never know winter, so they just keep growing … and growing … and growing. I know this because I
Hello, Pot? It’s the Kettle
Somewhere in this country, a dad is sitting on a couch, smoking a cigarette, watching a football game and resting a bowl of potato chips on his beer belly (which doubles as a TV tray). During a commercial break, this same dad lectures his son on smoking. "It’s a terrible habit," he says, blowing smoke
And the Survey Says
Consumers’ attitudes toward a vehicle that’s been wrecked and repaired.
Cut It Out: Car Inspections Showed that He Billed for Parts He Didn’t Replace
All my Barbies were bald. I was seven, armed with scissors and not afraid to use them. What little I knew about cutting hair, I’d learned from my mother – who also completely lacked any sort of God-given haircutting skills and who’d been torturing me for years with “Mom” haircuts. (I still have a hard