Show Me the Savings!
Insurers are writing for partial paint times on repaired panels, claiming it doesn’t take as long to apply color to part of a panel as it does to the whole panel. We all know this is bogus.
Waste Not, Want Not: Eliminate “Waste” in the Business
The overall objective of a process-centered enterprise is to eliminate “waste” in the business. In doing so, you can more effectively deliver what customers want — and reduce your costs.
Matching Tricoat Pearls: Think Groundcoat
Making a let-down panel doesn’t solve the problem of matching tricoat pearl color. There’s got to be a better way – and there is: an invisible foundation-coat repair. If an automotive painter were asked what he did for a living, it would be fair for him to say that he’s a master illusionist. Citizen Jane
A ‘How-To’ Guide for Increasing Labor Rates, BodyShop Business, February 2006
Rather than belabor the exhaustive list of reasons labor rates need to rise, let’s focus on what type of market conditions act to create higher – or more frequently increasing – prevailing rates in individual markets. By Tigger (from his view in the Thousland Acre Wood) No one in the collision repair industry would argue
Quality Is Not Subjective
So what if the guy down the road will do the repair the wrong
way for less money? Don’t fall into the “locally acceptable quality” trap.
Better, Cheaper, Faster …
Vehicle owners and insurers want all three. You can fight these shifts in the market, attempt litigation, kick, scream and even call your congressman. But at the end of the day, you either give customers what they want — or someone else will.
Soaring Energy Costs Fuel a Quiet Crisis
If our rates and charges are too low to sustain our businesses, then we must pass our costs on to the market and raise our prices — immediately
What’s Good for the Goose: A List of Preferred Insurance Companies
Take a gander at this idea: I have a list of preferred insurance companies that I steer my customers to. Not only have we been the reason many customers changed insurance companies, but we deal more now with the insurers we like — and less with the ones we don’t
Strategies to Stretch Profit Margins
Your options for increasing profit margins are limited when a vendor supplies you with the part, material or service. Instead, focus on improving the one profit margin you do have direct control over: labor.
Prime, Featheredge, Fill…The Lost Steps
It takes 12 steps to prepare a repaired panel for paint prep. If you’re not vigilant, you won’t get paid for seven of them – costing you hundreds of dollars per repair.
