Filling In the Details: Modern Plastic Fillers
Selecting and using modern plastic body fillers can be confusing – a myriad of products are offered by a myriad of manufacturers, each with its own recommended application procedures.
“X” Marks The Spot
In the old pirate movies, “X” always marked the spot on the map where the buried treasure was located. Often encrypted, the maps were laid out using the only measuring method known at the time – latitude and longitude.
Internet Insight
You’ve no doubt heard about the Internet. Whether it’s those commercials with guys in suits surfing in the streets, Al Gore talking about the Information Superhighway or somebody on the radio telling you about "dot com," it’s all around you. You may even be a “netizen” yourself.
Starting Over
Russ Manley and his father, Ron, have run Manley and Son Auto Body and Paint in Forsyth, Mo., for 34 years. In the early years, custom work was the bread and butter for the shop, but because of poor work conditions, paint jobs that went wrong were as prevalent as the ones that went right.
Paint-Shop Smarts
To increase production in the paint shop, you can do one of two things: Buy more equipment – the object here being to do more work in the same time period by mechanizing
the task. Or, you can produce more by better utilizing your present facility and equipment – the old “work smarter not harder”
school of thought.
Negotiating with an Insurance Adjuster
Regardless of where the majority of your business comes from, one fact of life of owning a collision-repair shop is having to negotiate with an insurance adjuster.
Analyzing Collision Damage: Estimates
Writing estimates can easily make or break a collision-repair shop’s business. The estimate is more than a financial barometer for the customer and insurance company –
it’s the first step in the repair process.
Straightening Modern Metal: Using Heat
Using heat to facilitate the straightening of a modern automobile or light truck is very tempting.
Shop Forum/Addressing Aftermarket Parts
Some collision-repair specialists don’t mind using aftermarket parts, some do. For those who do mind, how do they deal with having to use them when an insurance company says
so?
Shop Management/The Future is Now
Even if you’re 30 years from retirement and 40 years from death (so you think), it’s still in your – and your loved ones – best interests to plan for these events.