Paint Predictions & Amp; Educated Guesses
Which way is the wind blowing auto paint these days? I recently asked the major paint manufacturers what trends they saw on our near and far horizons. And because refinish paint technology tends to follow original equipment technology by several years and at a lower level of sophistication, they were able to make some pretty
Repairs that Pay
Most collision repair professionals – the frame guy and the painter all the way through to the manager and the owner – take pride in repairing automobiles correctly for their customers. Not many people in any business are so cold and callused that they can sell a product or service they believe is
My Girlfriend’s Gonna Kill Me: “I’m Ben Affleck”
It was a cold, wintry day in December 1997 – that awful week between Christmas and New Years. (You know how it is. Tons of work to get through the shop in a short week.) It was about 4:30 on a Friday afternoon, and we were having one heck of a snowstorm. In fact, this
Hot Driver = Unsatisfied Customer
Today’s A/C-dependent consumers need their air conditioning.
Have You Hugged Your Air Compressor Today
The heart of any body shop is the compressed air system. Often mistreated and misunderstood, the air compressor is usually taken for granted – until it ceases to function. The cost of metal men not being able to sand and painters not being able to spray paint mounts really quickly when no one has any
Training Techs – A Guide for the Do-It-Yourselfer
Our workforce is incredibly knowledgeable, skilled and talented. But this didn’t just happen. Someone had to train them; someone had to be their instructor or mentor. The ways people learned the craft are probably as varied as the number of techs out there. Schools trained many, but probably not as many as you might think
Thanks for the Lessons: Learning to Drive
My daughter is learning to drive. I now know the true meaning of fear. Don’t get me wrong, she’s not a terrible driver. She’s just 16 and easily distracted. Something piques her interest (an extra cool car, someone she thinks she knows or a fire truck pulling up to her favorite movie theater), and our
No Problem: This is How We Deal with Tough Adjusters in My Shop
By David M. Rowe I recently had a customer, who also happens to be a part-time employee in our service department, who was in need of a quarter window for her Ford Focus. This customer is insured with the "Good Hands People" at Allstate Insurance Company. My shop is also an Allstate PRO DRP. You’d
Car Struck: Jay Leno Talks
y, and I soon felt like I was shootin’ the breeze with just another motorhead. But I didn’t go in unprepared. Prior to talking with Leno, I did some checking and learned that he was born in New Rochelle, N.Y., in 1950 and spent his youth in Andover, Mass. He’s one of the hardest-working people