Billing in Dollar$ Makes More Cents
No longer will you have to use (and justify) the labor hour “two-fer” ratio. Labor hours become irrelevant – and so does the insurance industry’s so-called “prevailing competitive price.”
Build a Better Mousetrap, and the World Will Beat a Path to Your Door
7 strategies for quality-driven shops to maintain profitability in a marketplace fixated on “fast” and “cheap.”
Shrewd Player, Poor Payer: Progressive’s “Concierge” Program
Despite Progressive’s hardball reputation, it’s had no trouble recruiting shops for its “concierge” program – which eliminates all shop/customer contact and makes Progressive liable for repairs.
Jagging Rights: Jaguar’s Exclusive Aluminum-Repair Network of Authorized Shops
This shop spent $100K to gain entry to Jaguar’s exclusive aluminum-repair network of authorized shops. While developing technologies from the world’s automakers have left most shops out in the cold, they also present risk-takers with some real opportunities. Fairless Hills, Pa. – Hunt Auto Body is at first glance, a typical independent body shop, tucked
Can This Salvage Law Be Salvaged?
Before rubber-stamping Missouri’s much-touted salvage law as model legislation, we need to examine how it’s established a benchmark for insurers that didn’t exist before — and costing shops business.
Assembly-Line Processing:Coming Soon to a Shop Near You
As repair dollars shrink and competition grows, we need to change the way we process vehicles to stay competitive and profitable.
Better Safe than Sorry: Safety Practices
After drinking Drano, electrocuting myself and setting the garage on fire, I was lucky I lived long enough to learn that safety practices are important.
Birds of a Feather
A strange phenomenon occurred in the metal department when we moved to a larger facility: The guys began to “nest” in one corner of the shop – recreating the disorganized, inefficient setup from the old building.
Stop Pushing & Pulling
Put an end to pushing and pulling cars through the production process by implementing a consistent workflow through the metal department. The payoff: fast, quality repairs – the first time out.
Do you Know Watt?
I’ve seen a lot of weird electrical “incidents” during my career. (One buddy became a conductor due to his fascination with aluminum foil.) Although we don’t need to be electrical geniuses, we do need to know how to
troubleshoot and repair wiring problems.
