Would I Lie to You
An uneducated consumer is just as likely to make a bad decision as a drunk guy flirting with a statuesque woman who’s got a deep, sexy voice and calls herself Al. But the key to educating consumers is to do it before something bad happens. Trying to explain your estimate after they’ve already questioned it causes distrust – and will likely cost you the job.
Are Double Standards OK, Depending Who’s Paying the Bill?
A double standard [where you write a different estimate if the repair is paid by an insurance company rather than a customer paying out of pocket] creates an image of what this industry is trying to defeat, which is that we’re crooks. I don’t want to present one image to one customer and another image
Who’s Really to Blame for Our Forgotten Work Ethic?
Who’s Really to Blame for Our Forgotten Work Ethic?
Getting Personal: Sending Hand-written Cards
Turn the tables on a technology-overloaded society. Sending hand-written cards to customers will not only endear you in their hearts but ensure you’re the one to fix their cars’ broken parts Technology is a buzzword to some and a dirty word to others. Yet everyone deals with technology in almost every aspect of their daily
A Failure to Communicate
Shops’ goals and insurance companies’ goals don’t always conflict. But when they do, the difference between getting your point across or making someone cross is how you communicate
Signs of the Times: Mooresville Paint & Amp Bodyshop
Since this father-daughter team began posting attention-grabbing signs in front of their shop, they’ve educated passing drivers and increased business. “Crooked and Corrupt Insurance Adjusters Not Welcome In This Shop.” If you drove past Mooresville Paint & Bodyshop in Mooresville, Ind., last September, that’s the sign you would’ve seen in front of the facility. It
Save a Buck… Pass the Buck?
As the market demands cheaper, faster, better repairs, the concept of “better” can often be forgotten. But who decides what’s acceptable in terms of repair quality? And how close is close enough?
Say You Don’t Want a Revolution
If you label your customers as “nuts” to brush off their repair complaints and tell them to “just bring it back” withoutaddressing the actual problem, your comebacks are costing you cash.
Clean Up your Act
That tiny spec of dirt in your paint job costs you a lot more time and money to remove than it would have to prevent it. In The Big Book of Painting, page 2,344, paragraph 6, the author explains “The Rule of Dirt”: “All dirt comes to you. But from where? you sayeth. I sayeth,
Flat-Out Fair: Break Up Labor and Pay Everyone Fairly
How do you break up labor and pay everyone fairly? While converting his shop from all combination techs to a departmentalized metal shop and paint shop (a process he refers to as “Armageddon”), this shop manager developed a system to pay techs what they deserve while motivating them to work as efficiently as possible. It
Breathe Easy: Painters and Asthma
The same characteristics of polyurethanes that make them such good paints also cause isocyanate asthma in some painters. How can you prevent your painters from becoming ill? By understanding the health risks they take each day and insisting they use the proper breathing equipment.
Shop Profile: Collins Collision Center
Shop Name: Collins Collision Center Location: Atlanta, Ga. Established: August 1998 President: Jeff Collins Shop Size: 17,000 square feet No. of Employees: 10 Average Repair Volume: 175 cars per month Average Repair Cost: $1,950 Cruising Right Along While shop owner Jeff Collins is only 42 years old, he says buying his PT Cruiser a couple