2004 Editions Archives - Page 2 of 9 - BodyShop Business
The Insurance Industry Loves Your Apathy

If you continue to sit back and let things happen, when you finally do decide the insurance industry has gone too far, it might be too late to do anything about it.

Birds of a Feather

A strange phenomenon occurred in the metal department when we moved to a larger facility: The guys began to “nest” in one corner of the shop – recreating the disorganized, inefficient setup from the old building.

Bull In a Body Shop

When you believe something – fact or fiction – your belief shapes your reality. In this industry, repairers have held certain convictions for so long that they can’t recognize them for what they really are: bull.

10 Reasons To Measure

Whether it’s minor or major structural damage, setting up your measuring system and then measuring properly reduces the overall time spent repairing the vehicle.

OE Direct: Friend or Foe?

OED discounts OE parts, making them more appealing to the insurance industry and benefiting the repairer, who might have otherwise had to use aftermarket. But the forced vendor relationships, erosion of parts profits and possible insurer involvement are raising repairer eyebrows and concerns.

Trick or Treat? Money Talks

You know it. I know it. And The Hartford is counting on it.

A Learning Experience

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether twenty or eighty.” – Henry Ford

Pump Up the Volume

Can you increase volume by 35 percent without compromising quality while still working within insurance companies’ guidelines? This shop manager says, “Yes.”

Pump Up the Volume

Can you increase volume by 35 percent without compromising quality while still working within insurance companies’ guidelines? This shop manager says, “Yes.”

Painting Plastic Bumpers

To successfully paint plastic
parts, it’s no longer necessary to name the plastic first. Whether
thermoplastic or thermoset, today’s parts can be treated uniformly.

Stop Pushing & Pulling

Put an end to pushing and pulling cars through the production process by implementing a consistent workflow through the metal department. The payoff: fast, quality repairs – the first time out.

Escape Hybrid: An SUV For The Reluctant Activist

Score one for the activists. I suppose after infamous misses (such as animal rights, which denies you your right to enjoy a slab of meat like your Cro Magnon forefathers and guilts women into looking like the living dead because it would be “cruel” to test makeup on animals), the odds were in the activists