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.
Debunking the Myth of ‘Pre-Accident Condition’
You may have the best collision repair facility this side of the Mississippi, but you still shouldn’t use the term ‘pre-accident condition’ to describe your repairs. It just isn’t accurate.
Play It Safe: “Culture of Safety”
Establish a “culture of safety” in your shop and insist your techs wear
(and properly use) safety equipment. Their families will thank you.
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.
Roll With It Baby: Save Labor Time, Use Less Product and Get Build in Fewer Coats.
Sound good? Even if you use roll-on primer on only one car per day, you’ll still save roughly $3,000 a year.
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
Skinning a Door – Without Using Filler
Remember the physician’s oath: “First, Do No Harm.”
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.
Inside an Old-Timer’s Toolbox
In the early days when a bodyman faced a repair problem, he couldn’t just buy what he needed. He had to conceive a tool that would repair the problem- and then forge it himself.
Mis-Guided: The Estimating Systems Are Guides, Nothing More, Nothing Less
The estimating systems are guides, nothing more, nothing less – even the providers say so. Yet somewhere along the line, repairers started treating these guides as law and handing over control to the insurance industry. “That’s all I can pay – that’s what [insert name of data provider] shows.” Sound familiar? On one of the