When Worlds Collide: Collision Repairers vs. Insurers
Can collision repairers really fight off the insurer invasion of the industry? Or, rather than waging war, should they learn to live together in peace?
Don’t Forget The Cooling System!
To ensure all damage is diagnosed in a front-end collision, technicians need to conduct a thorough inspection of the cooling system.
The Road of Success
Focus on Dick’s Body Shop……
No Bonding Allowed
It wasn’t long ago that the only choice a repair technician had to replace a quarter panel, roof or door skin was to cut it off and weld it back on.
Fighting Fraud
Bring up the subject of fraud and most people within hearing distance will turn tail and run the other direction.
Breaking the Bottleneck
The collision industry has gone through a gamut of changes in
the last 20 years – most of them due to the constantly changing
automobile industry and the technology required to repair those
vehicles to preaccident condition. Others have been due to EPA
guidelines and the concern for the environment. Along with these
changes, new equipment, materials and procedures have been introduced.
The Impact of Air Bags
With 60 million vehicles already equipped with air bags and more-advanced systems on the way, be prepared for repairs of these life-saving inflatables to affect your shop even more.
The Necessary Equipment
If your shop were simply painting used cars,
you could do an adequate job with a bare minimum of equipment.
A paint gun, a random orbit sander and a masking machine would
get most of the work done. If you intend to do productive collision
repair, however, much more equipment is necessary.
Under Construction: Remodeling for Optimization
Three shop owners remodeled to optimize their operations. Was it worth the cost and aggravation? Absolutely
Rains, Planes and Dames
Name: J&L Auto Body Location: Summerville, S.C. Owners: John and Linda Disher Established: 1981 Square Footage: 10,000 Number of Employees: Nine Repair Volume: 12 cars per week (collision) Average Repair Ticket: $2,000 September 1989: The winds picked up. The heavy rains came. The ocean went crazy. Wreaking havoc on lives and properties, Hurricane Hugo stormed