Panel Bonding One (Uh)Oh One
If the vehicle manufacturer doesn’t endorse a procedure,
who the heck are you to override their decision?
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.
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
Stupid Me, I Thought Parts Should Fit
Maybe A/M parts vendors would focus more on quality if we started passing the associated costs of having to return poor-fitting parts onto them.
Is It Ok to Cost Shift to Help out the Adjuster and Get You Paid?
I find the practice of cost shifting morally repugnant. Why is it morally wrong and illegal (fraud) if I as a repairer charge a customer differently than the actual repair performed, but when an adjustor "bends" his company’s rules (even if it’s for our "benefit") that it’s somehow OK? I don’t understand the double-standard. The
Disposable Cars?
More repair-friendly vehicles don’t appear to be in our future, equating to fewer vehicles being repairable and those that aren’t totaled costing more to repair.
Insurers Don’t Control Pricing
“That’s almost like asking, “How much does a Chevrolet Tahoe cost?”
Should a Shop Charge When It Buys Technical Reference Material?
Bob MacCargar, owner C&G Paint, Body and RV Swansboro, N.C. Opinion: No We’re supposed to be professionals. When you go someplace else and have something repaired, they don’t charge you for an instruction sheet to repair your item. You’re supposed to know how to repair your item and be educated on repairing that item. There
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
No Supplements Allowed
My techs stopped speaking to me for a while, but once they started reaping the benefits ($$$) of our new system for heavy hits, they liked me again. And I liked the fact that my shop was more efficient and profitable.
Creative Estimating: The Controversial Issue of “Cost Shifting.”
The problem was that Nationwide audits all his sheets and when the color white shows a blend, he gets questioned. Simply adding a little time somewhere else in the estimate where the appraiser won’t get questioned is easy enough, and that’s just what we did. An hour moved to clean-up time worked for both of
Want $10 More Per RO?
If you’re not invoicing for paint and materials, you’re giving away
THOUSANDS of dollars each year.