The ABCs of DRPs
Deciding whether or not to join direct-repair programs can be a daunting task. How can you be sure the relationships will benefit your customers and be profitable to your business? By spelling out the pros and cons before you sign on the dotted line.
Hitting Your Mark: Accurate Estimators
Writing an accurate estimate takes precision and skill. Are your estimators up to the challenge? With knowledgeable and personable estimators leading your team, your shop will win customers and score profits.
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 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
A License To Repair
"Why isn’t it mandatory for all collision techs to be licensed?" — Don Marshall, manager, Fresno Chrysler/Plymouth, Fresno, Calif. The collision repair industry is the ultimate example of irony and paradox. In most (if not all) states, the damage appraiser needs a license to prove he’s capable of determining the cost and procedure of repairing
Why Use Used Parts?
"Why isn’t there a higher mark-up or other incentive for shops to use salvage parts?" — P. Michael Riffert, pres., Engle’s Frame & Body Service, Ephrata, Pa. Any of us are in the collision repair industry because we love it. And when you like your occupation, 99 times out of 100 you’ll produce a better
Hey, Big Spender: Insurance Company CEO Salaries
Before you start believing that billion-dollar judgments against State Farm and other insurance companies will bleed them dry (fat chance) and necessitate premium hikes, check out the exorbitant CEO salaries these companies pay. With paychecks and stock options like these, insurers obviously have a money tree planted somewhere.
Made in Taiwan
You know that aftermarket parts come from Taiwan, but do you know what specific companies those parts come from? Probably not. But you will. For the next few months, we’ll take a look at several of the key Taiwanese A/M parts manufacturers.