Ditch Your One-Dimensional Ways
Only selling collision repair service these days? Diversification is the answer
to getting your profits back and making your business worth owning.
Should You Repair Air Bags?
With the right training and tools, air-bag replacement can be done at your shop — bringing you more profits and more control over uncontrollable circumstances.
Market Profile: Is the Industry that Bad?
It’s not uncommon to hear shop owners complaining about how awful the collision repair industry is. In fact, when a group of such shop owners get together, it’s worse than a group of old ladies sitting around discussing all their health problems. I know because I speak with a lot of collision repairers and I’m related to a lot of old Italian women (my mother, for one). And, although I have no desire to hear my family discussing bladder control, a group of collision repairers complaining is still worse — especially since most of their problems are fixable.
Operations Profile
For years, shop owners have clashed with insurers regarding such things as forced usage of aftermarket crash parts and insurers’ unethical — sometimes illegal — persuasion methods of steering insureds to "recommended" shops. While some progress has been made in these areas, shop owners, for the most part, have been arguing in vain. They’ve been battling insurers to protect the rights of consumers (and their own livelihood), while consumers have remained oblivious to it all. In essence, shop owners have been fighting for people who aren’t even aware there’s a battle going on.
Insurer Relations Profile: Freedom to do What You Want?
Many collision repair shop owners started their businesses for the freedom owning a business offers — freedom to be your own boss, freedom to do what you want, how you want, when you want.
Are You Guilty Of Fraud?
Before shop owners condemn the practices of insurers, they need to take a long, hard look at themselves. Committing fraud is dishonest, immoral and illegal – yet many continue to do it.
Diagnosing Power-Train Damage
Ever suffer from “post traumatic tail light syndrome” — as the customer drives off in his newly repaired vehicle, you wonder if you found all the damage? To help, techs offer insight on finding elusive mechanical problems.
Measuring For Dollars: Tips & Procedures
By following a few simple measuring tips and procedures, you can reduce re-dos, improve productivity and increase your bottom line.
Getting Into Customers’ Heads: Increasing the Chances of Selling Every Job
Hopefully, we can all agree that collision repair falls into two distinct operations: sales and production. Your shop may have the very latest heated downdraft booth and the snazziest computer-driven structural-repair bench, but unless you can get the customer to let your shop perform the repair, all the equipment in the world won’t help.
When OSHA Comes A Knockin’
An OSHA inspection is something nightmares are made of. And for one New Jersey shop owner, the nightmare was reoccurring because OSHA kept coming back, and back, and back …