Forget the Decoder Ring: CIECA’s EMS System
Because information providers are no longer considering encryption or licensing agreements to limit access of estimate data as it travels along the Internet from shop to insurer, the goal of CIECA’s EMS standard can finally be achieved: No more re-keying data. No matter what provider you use, the EMS system can format the estimate so when it gets to the insurer, it looks just how they wanted it.
Labor Guides Aren’t Your Boss!
Who performs, oversees and approves the labor time standards? Why are they done on clean, undamaged? Who replaces clean and undamaged? When will labor time standards reflect life and not a sterile lab?” – Tom Ferguson, body shop manager, Thoroughbred Ford, Kansas City, Mo.
Dealer Incentives
“Why don’t the OEMs do a better job of supporting the collision repair industry through their dealer body?”
Writing His Own History: the Pohanka Body Shop
When you’re born into a family with a rich heritage in a particular field – say politics, law or the circus – it’s often expected that you’ll continue the family legacy and run for public office, attend Harvard or learn to ride a unicycle on a tightrope.
Do Your Job and Get Paid for It: Estimating
Too many shops aren’t getting compensated for the repair procedures they perform because they fail to itemize them on their estimates. How can you be sure you get paid for all the work you do? Become familiar with your estimating system P-pages.
Taking the Despair Out of Door Skin Repair
To make this often-dreaded task more appealing to techs – and more profitable to your shop – re-think door skin replacement during the estimating process. Then after writing an estimate that includes all the necessary procedures, enlist a few special techniques and tools to speed up the actual repair.
Point and Click for Parts
Buying crash parts online may save a lot of shops a lot of time. But as the Internet continues to grow and online parts dealers continue to pop up faster than long-lost cousins at a lottery winner’s mobile home, the question of whether or not the industry is ready remains. The technology seems to be there, but does that mean it’s a good idea?
The Shop in the Middle of Nowhere: Tyler, Pa.
Cataldo’s Collision Service
Consent Decree: Enforceable or Forgetable?
In 1963, 265 insurers signed a Consent Decree drafted by the U.S. Justice Department and Attorney General Robert Kennedy. By signing, they agreed to abide by the Decree’s terms: no more demanding discounts, setting hourly rates, boycotting repair shops and using specific appraisers. It’s still a binding agreement today … but will it ever be enforced?
Why Use Used Parts?
"Why isn’t there a higher mark-up or other incentive for shops to use salvage parts?" — P. Michael Riffert, pres., Engle’s Frame & Body Service, Ephrata, Pa. Any of us are in the collision repair industry because we love it. And when you like your occupation, 99 times out of 100 you’ll produce a better