It’s a Dirty Job
Dirt happens in the paint process. But there are some things you can do to keep it to a minimum and deliver the highest quality paint job to your customer.
Auditing Insurer Estimates
Analyzing insurer-produced estimates versus my own has led me to a better understanding of what body shops should and shouldn’t do during the estimating process.
Make Way for Waterborne
The use of waterborne paint by body shops will soon be mandated in California’s South Coast Air Quality Management District. The technology is likely to reach everyone some day, so here’s what you need to know.
Your Lungs, Your Skin, Your Life
Many collision repairers still aren’t properly protecting themselves from isocyanates. It’s time that changed.
Perplexed by Paint
Turns out this topic is much like the famous Bill Clinton quote: “It depends on what the meaning of is, is.” Paint brand popularity and exact market share are touchy subjects among the refinish paint companies. No one wants to be quoted in print as having less market share than the next guy, and there’s
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
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.
Spotting Trouble: Arbitrary Changing of Paint Times
Been asked by an adjuster to change the paint time on a panel? If insurers would pay for the prep and want a spot paint – and as long as the hours equal the full time – shops might embrace the procedure. Since that’s not happening, shops need to learn how to justify their estimates.
Itemizing Estimates: Where Do We STOP?
If you’ve been involved in this industry as long as (or longer than) I have, you may still remember the days when handwritten estimates were a way of life and computers and computerized estimating systems were still just Buck Rogers science fiction. Since estimates were handwritten back then, they were often as few lines as
UV Coatings: Curing at Light-Speed
Increase productivity and boost your bottom line. UV curable coatings reach full cure in two to three minutes – and that’s with no mixing, virtually no VOCs and no heat.