Associations: Time to Join or a Waste of Time?
Opinions vary regarding the repair industry’s national associations, but one thing is certain: The industry has a wide range of national associations, each with differing beliefs, views and goals. Our examination of the industry’s national groups may help you decide if one coincides with your own convictions
Trained to Win
Training can teach your staff to be more productive, more loyal and more responsive to customers – making your shop more profitable and your job much easier. Why, then, do collision repair shop owners – and other American business owners – commit such little money to such a big issue?
Let Them Eat Cake: Good Rules to Keep Happy Employees
Keeping your employees happy is key to retaining them and satisfying customers. How do you tailor a rewards program to fit your employees needs? It’s not as complicated or as costly as you may think. With a little ingenuity – such as celebrating birthdays – you can have your cake and eat it too.
Consent Decree: Enforceable or Forgetable?
In 1963, 265 insurers signed a Consent Decree drafted by the U.S. Justice Department and Attorney General Robert Kennedy. By signing, they agreed to abide by the Decree’s terms: no more demanding discounts, setting hourly rates, boycotting repair shops and using specific appraisers. It’s still a binding agreement today … but will it ever be enforced?
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
DOIs: Help, Hurt or Hinder?
"Why don’t body shops have any rights with their state Department of Insurance?" — Walter Danalevich, owner, Santa Barbara Auto Refinishing, Santa Barbara, Calif. Over the years, collision repairers across America have looked to state insurance departments for help and assistance in dealing with unprofessional and unethical insurance company practices. The results have been disappointing
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
Class Action Re-Action: Snider vs. State Farm Verdict
The Snider vs. State Farm verdict got the attention of repairers, insurers, consumers … and many, many lawyers — who didn’t waste any time filing copycat lawsuits. But with the spotlight now on insurance companies, should shops also be concerned?
Behind the Paint: History!
Mistakes, World War II, foreign invasion and guinea pigs all played a part in the history of automotive paint. Who said history had to be boring?
In SOPs We Trust
Standard operating procedures could offer a body shop owner more freedom and the ability to attract new insurance business by creating ‘verifiable’ trust.