Insurer-Relations Profile
The relationship between insurance companies and collision repair shops has, historically, been much like the relationship between a dog and a fire hydrant. (If you have to ask which role shops play, the moisture in your brain has short-circuited your thinking ability!)
Operations Profile: Business Savvy
With all the issues facing today’s shop owners — increased insurer involvement, diminished value (DV) and aftermarket (A/M) crash parts to name a few — it’s tough to run a collision repair business. Making it even tougher is that a lot of shop owners used to be technicians. Today, however, they need to be business savvy to operate successful and profitable shops.
Market Profile: A Dramatic Drop in the Frequency of Auto Accidents
Does it seem like people aren’t crashing their cars as much as they used to? Ever find yourself wishing for a hailstorm or an overpopulation of deer to create chaos on the highways and bring in some business?
Complain to the Right People
If a CAPA part doesn’t work for whatever reason, sitting around the shop complaining about it won’t solve the problem. Take the time you’d spend griping and fill out a CAPA Part Complaint Form instead
Are You Qualified To Hire Me?
Today’s employees want employers who motivate, train and reward. And they won’t think twice about job hopping if they’re not satisfied. So what’s the secret to hiring and retaining qualified people? Understanding there’s not necessarily a shortage of qualified help, but a shortage of qualified employers.
Prepare to Paint
Paint preparation is more difficult and complicated than it was a couple decades ago. To keep your shop as productive and profitable as possible, keep yourself up to date on the latest paint products.
Are Salvage Airbags Worth the Risk?, Stephen T. Lemnah
With the entry of low-cost salvage airbags into the collision repair industry, questions regarding their origin and safety — along with the liability and ethics of their use — are being raised by automobile manufacturers, collision repairers and insurers
Purchasing Profile
As a shop owner, you know where you’re spending your money (at least you’d better), but have you ever wondered how other shop owners are spending theirs? Do they spend about the same amount of money on equipment, parts and supplies as you? Are they buying fewer aftermarket (A/M) crash parts since the State Farm
Your Mission: Educate Consumers
"How can we better educate our customers so they can make more informed decisions about choosing a repair facility?" — Timothy Kilkeary, v.p., Kilkeary’s Auto Body, Inc., Eighty Four, Pa. Since I took over my family’s business in 1984, the collision repair industry has been on a roller coaster ride of changes, twists and turns.
Let the Heart Surgeons Operate
Is the perceived shortage the result of too many shops using highly skilled technicians to perform low- skilled work?
DOIs: Help, Hurt or Hinder?
"Why don’t body shops have any rights with their state Department of Insurance?" — Walter Danalevich, owner, Santa Barbara Auto Refinishing, Santa Barbara, Calif. Over the years, collision repairers across America have looked to state insurance departments for help and assistance in dealing with unprofessional and unethical insurance company practices. The results have been disappointing
Getting Your Money’s Worth
"How does a consolidator arrive at the value of a shop?" — Clyde Wilkerson, owner, Wilkerson Body & Frame, Kokomo, Ind. To answer this question, we must first define which type of consolidator you might be dealing with. Collision shop consolidators generally fall into one of two categories. The Predator First, there’s the consolidator whose