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
Show Me the Savings!
Insurers are writing for partial paint times on repaired panels, claiming it doesn’t take as long to apply color to part of a panel as it does to the whole panel. We all know this is bogus.
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
Thoughts from the NACE Show Floor
Business has been bad lately. Real bad. So I went to NACE
looking for some inspiration and insight — and I got it.
Life in The Fast Lane: Shop Manager Devised Method to Take Back What Was Rightfully His
Fed up with losing work to faster competitors, this shop manager devised a new method to take back what was rightfully his.
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.
Strategies for Preparing – and Presenting – Your Estimate
The insurance industry’s reluctance to pay what I consider to be fair and proper damage appraisals concerns me greatly. It also concerns me greatly that many shops aren’t doing anything about it.
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.”
Pearl Tricoat: Refinishing Made Easy
The problem: You don’t know how many coats of pearl the OEM applied at the factory. The solution: Make a letdown panel.
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.
