FenderBender: May 2023

MAKING ROOM TO WORK

PASSING IT ON

The lessons sons of shop owners learned and how they’re leading the next generation.

When Randy Miller opened his new facility 20 years ago, he made

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EDITORIAL

Matt Hudson Content Director

Todd Kortemeier Editor

Hanna Bubser Associate Editor

Kacey Frederick Associate Editor

Leah Marxhausen Special Projects Editor

Drew Bryant Contributing Writer

Tiffany Menefee Contributing Writer

Greg Lobsiger Contributing Writer

Lindsey Gainer Contributing Writer

Noah Brown Contributing Writer

Kimanzi Constable Contributing Writer

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Jordan Beshears Steve’s Auto Body

Sheryl Driggers Universal Collision

Greg Lobsiger Loren’s Body Shop

John Magowan Ernie’s Auto Body

Stan Medina Certified Collision Works

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BETTER LEARNING THROUGH DEBATE

In which disagreement exposes greater understanding

MY WIFE MANAGED TO SECURE TICKETS

to the musical “Hamilton” last month— not being New Yorkers we had to wait with the rest of flyover country for the show to come around on tour. It’s been before but the luster must’ve finally worn off enough for patrons of our stature to afford seats without having to apply for a second mortgage at the door.

My wife has been dying to see the show and thus I’d already been exposed to the score and seen the film of the production. If you know the show you know one of the standout numbers is, “The Room Where It Happens,” about Aaron Burr’s envious desire that he— and the American public writ large—have more agency in governmental decisions that affect their daily lives. These decisions normally happen behind closed doors.

The song made me think of an experience I had weeks earlier while attending a trade show. I sat in on a panel discussion about strategies for success in a challenging industry. It may not have been the room where the decisions are made, but it was a place of some great discussion.

I of course speak with a lot of shop owners. But I don’t often get to hear them discuss industry issues amongst themselves, and I found it incredibly enlightening. The topic at one point turned to how shops can ease the burden on themselves when dealing with insurance companies. Some panelists suggested that in certain cases, it isn’t the shop’s responsibility to fight with the insurance company refusing to pay, it’s the customer’s. They chose the insurer, after all.

The topic was controversial. One shop owner spoke up, asking how he was supposed to tell his loyal customers that they would have to take it up with the insurance company themselves. And I could see both sides. This was an issue I was familiar with but seeing what shop owners thought really brought it to life.

There is a lot of value in discussing things out in the open. You might even learn more if you disagree. I know I’ll be seeking out more opportunities for discussion and debate.

As far as discussion of the ink-andpaper kind, we’ve got plenty of that for you in this month’s issue. Our feature story (p. 24) is about mentorship, and what it means to two shop owners who grew up in the industry. In our profile (p. 28) you’ll learn about the “Collisionista” Petra Schroeder and how her volunteerism is helping grow the next generation of collision repair professionals. And in our strategy section you’ll learn about optimizing your shop’s workflow (p. 36).

Thank you for your continued support of FenderBender.

KORTEMEIER EDITOR tkortemeier@endeavorb2b.com

TODD

CVTC TO CELEBRATE OPENING OF TRANSPORTATION EDUCATION CENTER THIS MONTH

THE GRAND OPENING of the Chippewa Valley Technical College’s Transportation Education Center takes place in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, on May 15, along with a helicopter golf ball drop fundraiser for the Collision Repair Education Foundation, according to an official event website.

Several industry organizations such as Wisconsin I-CAR Committees, Collision Repair Education Foundation, Global Finishing Solutions, Wisconsin Collision Repair Professionals Inc., and the Wisconsin Automobile and Truck Dealers Association will be presenting the grand opening of the $30 million education building.

The golf ball drop takes place that afternoon, with the grand opening event planned to last until evening time. Funds raised from ball drop will be split amongst six collision school programs in Wisconsin that applied for the Collision Repair Education Foundation’s 2022 Benchmark Grant Application. Donations made through the event’s official website will also go toward this. There is a ribbon-cutting ceremony as well, performed by the recipients of CREF’s 2022 Benchmark Grants. There is an open house event with tours of the new facility and opportunities for networking, with CVTC instructor Jerry Goodson having partner tables at the event.

ANALYSIS

RECESSION-PROOFING YOUR SHOP

Dennis McCarron shares industry insight on how to protect your business

By KACEY FREDERICK

SINCE THE PANDEMIC, Americans have feared another recession on the horizon. Dennis McCarron, a partner at automotive brokerage firm Cardinal Brokers, spoke to FenderBender about what a recession would mean to shops and how shop owners should respond.

It’s assumed that the auto industry in general tends to be resistant to economic downturns, as most consumers will always need transportation.

“When the economy goes down and people pull back on their spending, they still have to go to work, they still have to pick up their kids, they still need a mode of transportation,” McCarron says.

With a lack of adequate public transit and a long-standing “love affair with independent transportation,” as McCarron puts it, most Americans will not, or cannot, choose to give up their vehicle. This also means people hold onto vehicles for longer amounts of time, resulting in more repairs needed and profit for auto shops.

Though the auto industry remains an essential service for most people, shop owners will still see the effects of a recession with more people skipping out on necessary repairs.

How Customers Respond to Recessions

Most people do not budget for automotive repairs and maintenance in the United States, McCarron points out. It’s typically something that comes out of emergency funds or money stowed away for vacations or other nice things.

In the case of a recession, as the cost of everyday essentials increases, people are not as willing to pay for repairs if they feel it isn’t urgent or necessary. Businesses will see their average repair orders decrease as people put off minor repairs due to financial issues, resulting in less profit for shops.

Caring for Financially Concerned Customers

There are things that shops can do to help themselves before a recession hits: they must take care of their customers.

“You have to develop a reputation as an honest, dependable, reliable business [so that] people will feel comfortable coming to you even when money is tight,” McCarron states.

McCarron says that one of the best things someone could say about a business is, “they’re expensive, but…” The worst thing a business could hear from the customers is “every time I come in here, it’s a thousand dollars.”

“To someone not in the industry those two things may sound like they’re the same type of sentence, but they’re not,” McCarron says. “One is representative of ‘that business charges a lot of money, but they always do good work.’ The latter is a representation of very aggressive over-selling: trying to force sales onto a customer.”

And that is the worst thing a shop can do: become pushy with customers. Mc -

Carron says it’s “never a good thing for a shop to do.”

The job of a shop is to inform the customer of the state of their vehicle. They need to decide from that point. Shops must know how to accept “no” as an answer and not let a potential rejection stop them from telling the customer about issues with their vehicle.

“My job is to help keep you informed and then educate you on how to properly maintain this vehicle, but I’ll never

cross that line and tell you things like ‘you have to do this,’ or use safety as a weapon,” he warns.

Shops must make their customers feel they are in control. Interactions cannot simply be transactional. The biggest way to gain attention is through word of mouth, which is why taking care of existing customers is essential.

There are more initiative shops can take on their end to attract new customers, too.

Getting involved with the local community will spread the business’ name and associate it with being a positive influence.

McCarron has plenty of ideas for such involvement, such as “local community projects like Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, [events with] the town, maybe a church or a synagogue—any kind of local grassroots event.

“... I think you need to get involved and just make people aware that you exist,” he adds.

Don’t Lower Your Standard

If shops are confident that they are offering quality service at a fair price, they shouldn’t be concerned with cutting their prices and should especially not consider cutting valuable technicians. Doing so would be “cutting off your nose to spite your face,” McCarron says.

Instead, they should focus on maximizing efficiency and productivity. Systematizing and finding the “rhythm” of the shop, as McCarron describes it, helps move business along faster, such as telling customers specific pick-up times instead of vague phrases like “end of the day.”

When people come in, shops should “interview the customer.” When they bring a vehicle in and they’re asked questions about the problem, if it’s a problem that the shop is not equipped to resolve, they can avoid wasting valuable time looking at a vehicle that they can’t even work on.

Systematizing the process, community involvement, and customer outreach: these factors can help a shop establish a growing customer base, even if times are rough–because people will always need cars fixed. Remind your community you’re there to take care of them and have systems in place to ensure every customer is satisfied.

THIS MONTH’S FEATURE story is about mentorship, specifically the kind that comes from fathers and grandfathers who established their family’s tradition in collision repair. Legacy stories in the industry are nothing new.

However, according to the results of the 2022 FenderBender Industry Survey, they’re the minority.

LIGHT HITS CAR-O-LINER CELEBRATES 50TH ANNIVERSARY

Collison repair equipment provider CarO-Liner has announced it is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, according to a press release.

The company will celebrate with a temporary celebratory logo design, with plans to celebrate in other ways throughout 2023 as well.

Founded in 1973, Car-O-Liner specializes in providing “alignment and straightening systems, joining and heating equipment, measuring systems, workshop solutions and testing and calibration systems” as well as training for those in the collision repair industry.

Tim Garner, Car-O-Liner’s market development manager, is proud of the success the company has seen throughout five decades.

“From alignment and measuring equipment to state-of-the-art ADAS calibration, Car-O-Liner continues to lead the industry as we enter our next 50 years,” Garner stated. “We thank employees past and present and our loyal customers for being part of Car-O-Liner’s successful journey.”

CCC RELEASES 28TH ANNUAL CRASH REPORT

CCC Intelligent Solutions Inc. (CCC) has released its 28th-annual Crash Report detailing “trends impacting the P&C insurance economy,” Business Wire reports.

The report was created based on “more than $100 billion in transactions processed annually through CCC’s solutions by its 30,000 customers,” and “more than 280 million claims-related transactions, 50 billion driving miles of driving data, and millions of bodily injury and personal injury protection (PIP)/medical payments (MedPay) casualty claims.”

The report outlines how the industry is experiencing a lot of technological advancement while also going through economic difficulties related to “inflation, supply chain constraints, and labor shortages.”

With the shortages in labor and supplies, it poses a challenge for the industry as a whole to keep up.

Jason Verlen, CCC’s vice president of product marketing, said that economic issues are “putting pressure on an industry that is simultaneously managing through major advancements in vehicle technology, including the growing popularity of advanced driver safety systems (ADAS) and EVs.”

Verlen cites this as the reason for the report’s subtitle of “The Era of Experience:” to reflect an industry that is faced with a wave of change and doing its best to work through it.

CRASH CHAMPIONS OPENS 25TH OHIO LOCATION

Crash Champions has opened its 25th Ohio location, according to a press release.

The Avon, Ohio, shop at 38401 Chester Road opened its doors to the public on March 20.

The company first entered the area in 2020, according to Crash Champions Founder and CEO Matt Ebert, who said that since then, the company has wanted to make an effort to be involved in communities while providing good service.

“ … Crash Champions has made it our mission to deliver high-quality collision repair service while also engaging with local communities,” Ebert stated. “The opening of our Avon repair center is part of this important effort.”

Crash Champions’ 25 Ohio locations are part of the company’s over 600 locations spanning 36 states and the District of Columbia.

CHARIOT COLLISION CENTER JOINS 1COLLISION

Chariot Collision Center, located in Kokomo, Indiana, has joined the 1Collision network, according to a press release.

The shop is a part of north central Indiana’s Chariot Auto Group. In November 2022, Chariot representatives met 1Collision President and CEO Jim Keller at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas, where they felt that joining the network would be beneficial for their business.

Ric Pugmire, Chariot’s director of collision operation, has stated that the company values “providing world-class customer service and investing in employee education and training.”

“To accomplish our goals, we knew we would need access to the kind of resources and relationships the large MSOs have access to,” Pugmire said.

As a 1Collision partner, Chariot now has connections through 1Collision’s network of industry experts. Pugmire said that it’s beneficial for their business to connect with other shops in the 1Collision network that are experiencing the same obstacles they are, and “to work cooperatively with our peers as a network because we aren’t competing.”

Following the decision to become partners, Chariot plans to meet with the 1Collision field operations team to discuss “collision repair business systems.” Chariot also intends to reach out to others in the 1Collision network about issues such as “certifications, training, front office tasks and staffing.”

FIX AUTO USA OPENS NEW CALIFORNIA LOCATION

Fix Auto USA has announced the opening of a new location in Tujunga, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, according to a press release.

Fix Auto Tujunga, located at 7001 Foothill Boulevard, is owned by Kevin Tarverdyan. The 4,500-square-foot facility will employ four individuals, with more to be hired in the future. It is an I-CAR Goldcertified shop, and will soon be I-CAR Platinum certified as well.

Owner Tarverdyan has nearly 20 years of experience working in the insurance industry and has a passion for automotive work. He became interested in pursuing a career in the automotive field when someone close to him that worked in the auto repair industry recommended that he pursue it.

As a shop owner, Tarverdyan said that he will ensure every vehicle worked on is treated with the utmost care.

“I treat every car that comes through our door like my own car,” he stated. “I take pride in being ‘too picky’ in order to ensure our team is fulfilling requests to the best of our ability.”

PUGET COLLISION ACQUIRES TWO CARSTAR LOCATIONS

Two CARSTAR Collision Clinics located in Edmonds and Bellevue, Washington, have been sold to Puget Collision, according to a press release.

Bruce Lingle was the owner who put the two stores up for sale. He started as a technician before putting 44 years into growing his MSO, beginning with the Edmonds location.

Lingle said there were “multiple bidders” but believes he “received the best value for my business.” Following the transaction, he plans to retire.

“After spending my career in the collision industry, I knew it was time for me to step back and enjoy spending more time with my wife, family, and traveling,” Lingle stated.

Puget Collision’s acquisition of the two shops marks 23 locations owned by the company “throughout Washington and Oregon.”

The principal of the firm representing Lingle, Focus Advisors, said that the sale “is representative of the continuing opportunity for owners” to take advantage of having their businesses acquired “at attractive valuations.”

COLLISION REPAIR SHOP HELPS DRIVER WITH DAMAGED TRUCK

After a truck owner in Hudsonville, Michigan, had his vehicle damaged in a car wash, a local collision shop reached out to help— though the driver ended up receiving more help than he expected, WZZM 13 reports.

Will Tabaczka is the owner of Xtreme Auto Collision Repair, located in Holland, Michigan. When he happened upon a story about a man’s truck getting damaged inside a Tommy’s Express Car Wash, he wanted to reach out and help.

He wrote an e-mail to Bob Shaheen, the owner of the truck: “If Tommy’s is not willing to pay for the repairs, I would like to personally repair the vehicle at my own expense,” it read.

Tabaczka met with reporters at Shaheen’s home in an attempt to surprise him. He hid outside while they did a followup interview with him, but it wasn’t long before Shaheen revealed a representative

with the car wash had already contacted him, apologizing and offering to repair his truck at no cost to him.

Shaheen informed Tabaczka that he already made an appointment as soon as he came inside and said his offer. Though he won’t be involved in the repairs, he is in

contact with Tommy’s to ensure a timely repair for Shaheen.

“I’ve had people step into my life, and it’s changed my life for the better, and I just always try to pay it forward in any way I can,” Tabaczka stated. “I wanted to step in and make it a positive experience.”

COLLISION SPECIALISTS INC.

1. BUILT TO LAST

Starting out in a garage worked out pretty well for Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs. So far, so good, too for Collision Specialists Inc. owner Randy Miller, who started out in 1981 in a two-car garage—basketball hoop included. Forty years later, Miller’s Austin, Minnesota, business is celebrating 20 years in its permanent location. And Miller does mean permanent.

“The building is a pre-stressed concrete, top-of-the line building, a 100-year building,” says Miller. “It’s good for 100 years, you don’t have to worry about anything, you don’t have to paint it, you don’t have to do anything.”

It takes a tough building to survive not only the harsh Minnesota winter but also the other extreme of volatile summer weather. Miller says the building can withstand a direct hit from a tornado, as well as any disaster within the shop walls. A fire may destroy everything inside, but the shop isn’t going anywhere.

“The fire department’s really happy with us,” Miller says.

2. ONE BUILDING, TWO “SHOPS”

Among the processes in place at Collision Specialists is a two-track system for triaging repairs. Jobs can go in either the “speed” lane or the “hard-hit” lane, which Miller likens to having two different shops. That’s all to service the customer better and get them out on a predictable timeline. Miller compares the customer experience to going to the dentist. There are defined appointments for estimates so customers know how long they’ll be in the waiting room. And the estimating process means a better idea of how long customers will be without their cars.

“Our goal is to get cars [done] then it just makes people happier,” says Miller. “Insurance companies, make them happy. We’re not a shop that sits on vehicles here and don’t work on them. We get them in, we get them out, and that makes everybody happy. And it’s profitable for everybody.”

3. A LIVING SHOP

Miller credits the shop’s ability to turn cars quickly to his great staff and also the processes in place. The shop runs on

lean principles, which Miller says it has been doing for approximately 15 years. But within those general principles have come many workflow changes, six or so by Miller’s estimation.

The shop removed cabinets from the walls so that no needed supplies are hidden from view. They recently put stripes on the floor for a visual indicator of workflow. But that’s not to say the way Miller does it is the way every shop should do it.

“I got people coming for tours like, ‘How can I make my shop this nice?’ I said you could probably make it better, just look at your job, it’s different, I don’t know,” says Miller. “You can take ideas from me but I’m not giving any secrets away because their shop is different.”

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The Value of Just One Hour

Examining your shop’s cost per hour and the price of a setback

Most of us have heard for our entire lives that, ‘Time is money.’ The trouble is, very few have any idea how to quantify this saying into facts & figures to help our businesses. One of my great mentors once asked me a question that I had no idea how to answer.

“Greg, do you know your businesses cost per hour?”

Of course, I answered, ‘Nope.’ Then he started asking for some data and we did the following calculations.

Let’s say we have a shop that produces $1,000,000 per year in gross sales. Now let’s take the 52 weeks in every year multiplied by the average 40-hour work week to equal 2,080 working hours. With our example shop that produces $1 million per year in gross sales, let’s divide that figure by our 2,080 working hours to equal 480.77. Rounding up, each hour this example shop is open for business has a dollar value of $481—or, this shop is burning $481 per hour! Let’s say we have a $2.5 million-per-year shop; they are burning $1,202 per hour. A $5 million shop is burning $2,404 per hour. A $10 million shop is burning $4,808 per hour! I bet some of you are saying to yourself right now, ‘This is some crazy stuff, but what does this even mean?’

The most valuable commodity that we have inside of our shops is time! Let’s say we have a car scheduled to leave today and one of our technicians just now discovered a broken tab on a headlamp during reassembly. This car is dead in the water. Now several admin folks must stop what they are doing to fight this fire that was just discovered. A new headlamp needs to be ordered, a customer needs to be called with the surprise of bad news, photos need to be taken, another invoice will need to be scanned and received, another supplement needs to be sent, etc. We have all been there of course, but what’s the cost?

We need to understand that every shop has an imaginary conveyor belt running through each of our departments: Drop-off, pre-wash, check-in, blueprint, parts-waiting, parts mirror-matching, body, prep, paint, build, detail, QC, ADAS calibrations, delivery, cash in the bank. This conveyor belt is carrying cash, that’s right, cash!

Our shops are really money printing machines. What’s the cost per hour? As my mentor

taught me, ‘Cost is even more than numerical.’ When this conveyor belt must stop, the business suffers financial loss and the employees are frustrated with themselves and each other. The worst part is, we have a customer at the end of this machine that must now wait even longer to get their car back. Problems inside our shop are more expensive than most any of us even begin to realize.

So, how do we combat our money conveyor belt from stopping? In lean manufacturing there is a simple tool in the Root Cause Analysis (RCA) toolkit called the ‘5 Whys.’ This tool is used for understanding and solving problems. In the case of the broken headlamp found in the build department, we would start the ‘5 Whys’ process with everyone involved like this: 1. Why did we find a broken headlamp in the build department? Answer: It was overlooked when the car was taken apart in dismantle/blueprint. Question 2: Why did dismantle/blueprint overlook it? Answer: The broken headlamp was found by the technician, but the estimator didn’t know it was broken and put the lamp with the other R&I parts. Question 3: Why did the technician and estimator have a communication breakdown? Answer: The job had to be hurried through dismantle/blueprint after sitting for three days after the scheduled drop off date and the customer was wanting an update. Question 4: Why did the job sit for three days after dropping off? Answer: Too many cars had been scheduled to be dropped in one day and this job was at the end of that line. Question 5: Why were so many cars dropped off that day? Answer: There is no real level scheduling system. The 5 Whys process is not about finding someone to blame, but rather fixing our system. In the coming months, we will discuss level scheduling, blueprinting, etc., and how they need to work together as an ecosystem. Now, please take time to figure the cost per hour for your shop. Once you have this figure, make it big, bold and visible for all to see just how expensive problems are when cars must stop. As soon as we start focusing on really fixing our system, rather than just the daily firefighting, our conveyor belt can run faster with less effort, stress, frustration and at a much higher rate of profitability.

EMAIL: greg@lorensbodyshop.com

ARCHIVE: fenderbender.com/lobsiger

GREG LOBSIGER

Greg Lobsiger has owned Loren’s Body Shop in Bluffton, Indiana, for over 23 years. He has been a member of Mike Anderson’s groups for ten years and had extensive lean manufacturing training.

Mentorship, Family Style

What two shop owners learned growing up in the industry and how they pay it forward

here are some lessons in business you can tell someone, or perhaps demonstrate, but not exactly “teach.” Some things can only be learned through experience, and it may take years for the mentee to understand what the mentor was really talking about.

Vito Depalo Jr. is one of the “sons” in Depalo and Sons Auto Body on Long Island. He says that while growing up in the shop that his grandfather started more than a halfcentury ago, they were always hands-on in learning the business. But the biggest takeaway didn’t come from turning a wrench, it was a lesson about what the No. 1 priority is in any body shop.

“I think the biggest thing my dad taught me was the customer is the main priority of the business,” says Depalo. “Customer needs to be satisfied, satisfaction to a customer goes a long way. And 52 years in this business, I can tell you, I can walk into town right now and say my name in front of 20 people and 15 people are going to say, ‘The best body shop.’”

For owners like Depalo, they’ve been entrusted with not only a business, but a legacy. Anyone in collision repair can likely point to people that have helped them along the way. It could be a particularly dynamic instructor or an employer that first identified their talent. But Depalo and others like

him had their fathers and/or grandfathers as mentors—and being entrusted with a legacy means passing that legacy on.

Changing the Way it’s Been Done

Doug Martin talks glowingly about his father, who started Martin’s Body Shop in Ramsey, Indiana, in 1971. But that was a lifetime ago in collision repair, and what was good for a business then isn’t necessarily enough to sustain it today. Being a mentee means learning the ropes but also turning around and taking the next steps one day.

“That was then, and what we've seen for our growth has been hey, that's not going to work for us, if we're looking at just being the same all the time,” says Martin. “So we realized, I realized, that what we needed to do was change things up.”

Some things simply couldn’t be anticipated when Depalo and Martin’s fathers were running things in the 1970s. There weren’t Google reviews affecting the willingness of the customer to choose their shop, something Depalo takes very seriously now. There weren’t the same paint processes with base coats, clear coats, enamels and lacquers.

Martin was the one tasked with polishing vehicles back in his early days, even though that wasn’t something required if all the shop did was repaint a fender. But Martin’s father felt it was something of value to give

Name(s) on the Building Three Depalo sons remain in charge of Depalo and Sons Auto Body.

By TODD KORTEMEIER MICHELLE MILLER PHOTOGRAPHY

ANDREW THEODORAKIS PHOTOGRAPHY

The Second Martin Doug Martin has expanded the business his father started to two locations.

to the customer. That same principle applies today to Martin’s Body Shop, which opened a second location under Martin’s guidance in 2020.

“It was always instilled in us, not just me, but the rest of the team of go the extra mile, take it to the next level to give that quality job,” says Martin.

Depalo says that change wasn’t one of the strong points of his father, who took over one of two locations after his father passed away and ran that shop himself for three decades. Adapting and staying ahead of trends has been one of his top priorities since taking over the business with his two brothers.

“This is all about changing with the times, my dad wasn't a big person to changing, we were,” says Depalo. “So we went ahead and changed. You know, we want that philosophy of change, and change with the times and learn something every day, you learn something every new every day so you have to change with the times. And people are still stuck in that stone age, they don't want to change.”

Being in Charge

Martin recalls other mentors growing up in addition to his father. Some of them are very easy to remember as they have worked at the shop for his entire life. The shop was already 14 years old when Martin was born and he grew up working summers alongside some of the technicians who would one day be his employees.

“The guys in the body shop, too, were like, I wouldn't say older brothers, quite a bit older, but almost like uncles to me that now are people that I not only look up to, but you get to still work with every day because they still work with us. So that's kind of cool as well,” says Martin.

That also means those same people that helped teach him are now still there to teach other new employees. Martin cited an old saying, “You’ve got to mentor the mentor.” Part of the training process is giving those shop leaders the tools they need to bring technicians along in their careers and help them grow.

“It's, OK, how do we get him from here to here and working collaboratively through the whole company to make that happen,” says Martin. “It's not really just a one size fits all, it's, this technician might be really good at metal repair, but he's not good at something else. … So, we will just work together as a team and help provide them the tools necessary for them to thrive.”

“My dad always said you need to know this because in business you have to learn both sides,” Depalo says. “You can't just stay stagnant one side.”

As shop leaders now themselves, both Depalo and Martin feel strongly about the power of education and training for the next generation. That starts with still being learners themselves. Martin cited being a part of 20 Groups and attending events like the FenderBender Management Conference as places to share ideas and ways of doing things. That’s a continuation of the need to always be changing and innovating.

“It's really just about having that mindset that it's not, oh well, you know, we're going to bring in this next generation and do the same thing we've always done, right,” says Martin. “It's that mindset, it's got to be, hey, we've got to put forth all the efforts necessary to take each individual to the next level.”

One of the realities of being an owner, especially with multiple locations, is that it’s nearly impossible to spend time with each employee every day. So, both owners have processes in action so that their shops serve as a place of mentorship even if they’re not physically there. At Depalo and Sons they give performance standards and have check-ins every three months.

Consistency

as another

“You have to make sure that they understand that family is something too, it's very important that we make sure we emphasize that,” says Depalo. “It's not always about being at work. Sometimes you have to do family things that are going to make your family stronger.”

Leaving Their Own Legacies

The subject of family comes up in a few ways when speaking to Depalo. The shop’s motto is that if a repaired car isn’t safe enough for their family to ride in, then it isn’t safe for the customer. But whether a fourth generation of Depalo takes over the reins one day remains to be seen.

“I hope the shop’s still standing after I retire, and I can hand it off to a family member with the same last name and make it go another generation is what I'm looking maybe to happen,” says Depalo. “Don't think it will, but if I was to go ahead and sell, what would I want? Somebody just to follow the same business tactic that we have, what we do for customers, how we satisfy customers and make that maybe not that name but still have that same business.”

Martin too still has plenty of years left before considering the shop’s future. He’s focused for now on continuing to grow the business and also growing the quality of the business. And that’s something that can be enhanced by continuing a legacy of mentorship.

“This is me stealing a phrase from somebody that I know well, but not just having an open door policy, but an open air policy,” says Martin. “You know, people talk about open door policies all the time. But it's the doors open and come say what you want, but it's not really heard. So, we try to really just listen to our team.

“… Who better to give us feedback on what we need to do better than our technicians? And if we really, really want to mentor and grow people, we have to listen to our technicians, whether it be someone that’s been with us for 38 years or for 38 days.”

—Vito Depalo Jr, Depalo and Sons Auto Body

needs to be satisfied, satisfaction to goes a long way. And 52 years in this tell you, I can walk into town right name in front of 20 people and 15 going to say, ‘The best body shop.’”

The Remarkable Career of the Collisionista

Even in retirement, Petra Schroeder is helping to ensure the future of collision repair

By TODD KORTEMEIER

THE CITY OF WUPPERTAL, Germany, may not sound familiar, but you likely know one of its most famous exports. Aspirin was patented in 1899 by the Bayer company, which began life in 1863 in what is now a part of Wuppertal. One of the city’s lesser-known exports globally is Petra Schroeder, though in the world of collision repair she can properly be considered a star.

Though she likely didn’t know it at the time, Schroeder’s journey to the United States and a half-century association with collision repair began when she took a job with the German chemical company Herberts in 1969. Herberts is nearly as old as the Bayer company, founded in 1866 in the same town. By the time Schroeder began as an apprentice, the company was known for its popular Standox brand of automotive refinishes.

An Influencer Schrader was honored by the Women’s Industry Network in 2018 as one of its Most Influential Women.

Fast forward to 1995 and Schroeder came to the U.S. as the Standox director of technical services. In 1999 came a merger with DuPont, which ultimately resulted in the formation of the Axalta brand known around the industry today. In the midst of all those changes, Schroeder chose to stay in the U.S. permanently, and she also developed a passion for collision repair and its people that has endured long past her retirement from Axalta in 2016.

While Schroeder is no longer actively working in collision repair in a professional sense, everyone knows her title. Schroeder says she isn’t big on titles but had to have one to register for conferences. She came up with “Collisionista,” and that’s what everyone knows her as today. You’ll often find her at industry events

the positive emotion

Soaring with Eagles Schroeder was inducted into the Collision Industry Hall of Eagles in 2021 for her impact on the industry.

“When you hear the joy that, or an organization that cares,’ emotion,

that, ‘Wow there's somebody cares,’ I can’t describe the emotion that I have from that.”

moving all about a room, making connections and advocating for the organizations she volunteers with today such as the Collision Industry Foundation (CIF).

“It’s really the people, I say this from my personal standpoint only, my business has given me the opportunity to make friendships for life that started with the business side,” says Schroeder. “… But it’s also the absolute mesmerizing, magical work that body shops do to repair a car that doesn’t look like a car when it enters the shop, and bring it back to the previous life and sometimes even better than what it was before.”

The Genesis of Giving Back

If tracing the thread of Schroeder’s career seems complicated, it’s really only one job under several different

brands servicing the collision repair industry. The myriad ways Schroeder is involved in the industry today is much more extensive. To specify a few, she’s been a member of the Women’s Industry Network (WIN) since 2006, was chair from 2016 to 2018, and in 2018 was named one of the organization’s Most Influential Women. She’s a past board member of the National Auto Body Council. And while she maintains an affiliation with many organizations a current focus of her efforts is CIF, for which she has been a trustee since 2011 and is currently secretary.

Founded in 2001, CIF describes itself as “the charitable arm of the collision repair industry.” The Foundation is dedicated to helping collision repair professionals in need, whether that’s from a personal loss or the result of

a national disaster. CIF has pitched in to help people affected by everything from Hurricane Katrina to COVID-19— more than $275,000 distributed to nearly 700 applicants in the latter case. One of Schroeder’s duties as secretary is to call applicants who have reached out in search of aid. While her stillpresent German accent occasionally confuses some applicants—even prompting some hang-ups, she says— helping people in their time of need is one of her greatest rewards.

“When you hear the joy that, ‘Wow there’s somebody or an organization that cares,’ I can’t describe the emotion, the positive emotion that I have from that,” Schroeder says.

While CIF lists many donors and has helped many, many people in its two

—Petra Schroeder, Collisionista

decades and counting, Schroeder would like to increase awareness. While of course not wishing for natural disasters to happen to anyone, she knows that when they do happen there are more people in need who could be applying.

The topic of raising awareness comes up a lot when speaking to Schroeder. When not raising awareness—and dollars—for CIF, Schroeder has a passion for raising up the collision repair industry as a whole through awareness.

“My personal goal that I hope the industry would buy into is making more people aware of what the collision industry means today,” says Schroeder. “That it is not a secondary choice, that it has great opportunities for people that enjoy working with their hands or computers or managing. This is a great industry.”

At the January Collision Industry Conference in Palm Springs, California, Schroeder wasn’t originally a scheduled speaker. But with the largest assembled crowd in CIC history in front of her, she took to the podium shortly after the lunch break to make a passionate appeal to raise the profile of the collision repair industry to help solve its biggest challenges. She entreated the professionals in the room to unite under a mission statement to this effect, and advocated for some methods of promotion including getting a celebrity endorser aligned with the automotive industry.

“I would call it a personal plea, that we all need to work together for the benefit of everybody,” says Schroeder. “That’s basically my goal. This is my larger picture that I want to work on.”

“Everybody” is a key word. Schroeder is quick to point out she wants to help anyone wanting to get into collision repair and show them it’s a great trade, regardless of their background. It’d be understandable if Schroeder was singularly focused on fostering opportunities for women in collision repair. After all, in the late 60s, in Germany, Schroeder was nothing short of a trailblazer as a woman in the automotive industry. More than 50 years later, opportunities for women still lag behind. In the 2022 FenderBender Industry Survey of shop leaders, 92% of respondents were male.

Anything But “Retired”

While Schroeder’s current volunteer work is focused around CIF, she pays special attention to doing what she can for women entering the industry or moving up within it. She offers whatever time and resources she has, whether that’s some advice or making a professional connection.

“I stay in touch with the some of the scholarship winners from WIN,” says Schroeder. “In fact, I just talked to somebody who was now leading up the SkillsUSA collision repair session,

and she was a scholarship winner from WIN. So I stay in touch with these young women, or not so young women anymore, and try to be a sounding board, not so much a mentor. Because every time we talk, and they think I’m their mentor, they are a mentor to me, because they change, they share things with me that I collect, or I put into my mental bag.”

While Schroeder is retired and in theory has plenty of time available for volunteer work, this much volunteer work has to make one wonder how she does it all. She likes to unplug with a game of tennis, or spending time with her seven grandchildren.

“My husband would probably say that I work far too much considering that I am retired,” she laughs, “but he’s fully supportive of what I’m doing.”

But Schroeder has no plans to slow down anytime soon. As long as she’s feeling mentally and physically healthy, she’ll keep working on her mission to raise the profile of the collision repair industry. It’s too important a mission to stop now.

“The collision repair industry is a great industry to work in,” Schroeder says. “But it’s not very well known as such, we still have a kind of a blue eye or a black eye being looked at a dirty job. And that’s not the case. Because collision repair is so much advanced.”

In Demand Schroeder has become a welcome guest at industry conferences and events, such as serving as a judge at Autorama.

FINANCE+OPERATIONS

CRAFTING A TRAINING STRATEGY TO FIT YOUR SHOP

By KIMANZI CONSTABLE

AMONG THE MANY GROWTH strategies shop owners deploy, one of the most underappreciated may be a welltrained staff. If your service professionals, managers and technicians aren’t trained regularly and properly,

that lack of training will invariably affect how vehicles are repaired, which affects everything down the line.

It’s easy to understand the need for training, However, it’s also essential to understand what training options are out

there and where those dollars are best spent to offer the most benefit for each individual shop. Understanding the various training options and how to implement them will be a tool you can use to create and build the best team and create lifetime employees.

With so many options it can be difficult to know where to place training dollars

“If you’re not training regularly, you’ll fall off the radar. The shops that will succeed are the ones that offer regular training programs,” says Kurtis M. Barks, CEO of Complete Auto Body & Repair in Missouri. “We run an eight-week on, eight-week off training program in our shop. We use potential future technicians that are in schools learning about the industry. We pair them with one of our senior technicians and show them the ropes. That way, it allows them to see if this is a profession they want to pursue and for us to see who will stick.

“We hope that we’ll be their first choice once they graduate and they’ll have been trained in our system. We work with local schools to ensure they get credit in those schools for the time they train with our shop. It’s a great system that’s worked well for us.”

Here’s where to start thinking about options and how regular employee training can lead to your shop’s growth in every facet.

Different Training Options Bring Different Results

Training is obviously important, but determining the best training strategy for your staff is the key to success. You can only reach your destination if you know where you’re going. For training to be effective and produce results, you need clear goals for the training in each part of your shop and what kind of training helps those parts.

OEM focused—training built around staying up to date on the certifications your shop holds.

Job focused—training designed to advance an employee’s set of skills for his or her specific role.

Management training—training designed for managers or those wanting to move up into management roles.

It’s essential to identify where to get the most “bang for your buck” when investing in training. Training with clear planning and goals will lead to the best results.

“We make sure all of our team is up to date on training and that everyone is kept well-trained in their respective skills,” says Wendy Ott, owner of Auto Body Concepts. “We ensure our team is certified

and uses Sherman Williams’ training. We also ensure our team has all the classes they want to learn from and use in their training. Because the technology of cars is often changing, regular training is needed. Shops need to be up to date and aware of all the safety measures to ensure a vehicle is safe when it leaves our shop.”

When it comes to investing in training, there are many things to consider before committing time and resources. Think through each part of your shop and business where training can help:

• Where could you add training?

• What kind of ongoing training should you set up for each part of your shop?

• What type of training is needed? Is it online, in person or a combination of both?

• What training programs align with your style and goals?

• What metrics and goals are you hoping the training can help you accomplish?

The Right Training Creates a Better Working Environment

Investing in training has many benefits for a shop. Exploring training options gives your team members the training they need to be the best in their positions. Training also creates a better working environment for your team and makes them want to stay.

“Creating the right culture is important in our shop. We’ve been recognized for our culture, and that makes us proud. We use the Culture Index, a quick survey to see what people are naturally good at and then know what training they need. The good techs in our industry are in high demand, so we work hard to create a culture and environment in which they want to work with us,” says Barks.

Employees feel valued when shop owners invest in training. It creates an environment of growth. As you give your employees more skills through training, they become better at what they do and produce better customer and vehicle service.

The Types of Shop Training

Every shop owner is familiar with the major certifications technicians and shops can work on securing: ASE, I-CAR, OEMs, etc., but training in a shop can

include much more than working toward attaining these standard certifications.

Many colleges and trade schools offer training on repair procedures, customer service, leadership development, management training, revenue growth strategies, systems creation, marketing and much more.

“Explore the OE certifications because that training helps you become more of a specialist. The population decline is a real thing; one-third of people don’t want to do the trades anymore. That’s why training and specialization are important. Training helps keep our industry strong,” says Barks.

There are ways to enhance your education even beyond the official training channels. YouTube—such as the regular tips shared on the SCRS channel—podcasts and blogs are just a few of the ways to access training information. Training is also more versatile than ever, with options for in-person study as well as virtually.

There are easy ways to train your employees, and the online training options are trackable—you can know exactly where a team member is in the training process. Finding the right training method for each set of employees can help maximize what they get out of it.

Investing in Training Builds Shops

Training is one investment that touches every part of your shop and the employees managing those parts. Having the most informed employees for their role will help ensure quality in each department. Just like each employee needs the right tools to do their job, it is the shop’s responsibility to provide access to the knowledge they need as well.

While these steps will help determine the best training option for your shop, it must be backed with an investment in time and resources in the programs and professionals that help your employees. Once you’ve determined the best fit for your goals, it may help to share your vision with your leadership team and department heads. Get everyone on the same page with the training you’ll offer, so that everyone is training with intention.

CASE STUDY

WIDENING THE CIRCLE

How to identify the best employees and make sure they’re the right fit for the shop

By LINDSEY GAINER

The Backstory

CJ Paterniti, owner of D&S Automotive in Chardon, Ohio, has experienced his fair share of additions to his employee circle.

When his father first started D&S in 1977, it was a single shop specializing in the conversion of “hippie” vans. Today, they’re in their 45th year of business with over 90 employees between several shops and business units. Paterniti has learned a thing or two about how to bring new employees into the business and make sure they’re a good fit.

His best piece of advice for growing your team?

“Hire based on attitude, interest, and how well the person will mesh with your company culture,” he says. “And trust your gut. Skills can be taught.”

The Problem

The first hurdle—and nowadays the biggest—is finding a qualified employee to onboard in the first place, says Paterniti.

Since the founding of D&S, Paterniti can’t remember another time in the shop’s history when this has been such a challenge.

“The day has finally come that I’m competing against places like Walmart, McDonald’s, and Burger King for employees, because people are trying to get a job for a

certain wage. It’s hindering my ability to compensate the seasoned technicians or the experienced people.”

Adding to the challenge, he says, is finding people with a true desire and passion for the industry…a good “fit,” if you will.

“There’s a shortage across the industry, nationally,” he says. “We’re all running up against the same problem.”

Thankfully for Paterniti, his shop has a long-standing reputation on the east side of Cleveland, and the majority of new, entry-level employees are drawn to that.

“This is our 45th year, so we have a following,” he says. “But it’s never been this hard to find help ever, really. And you’re competing with everybody. That’s ultimately what it comes down to. It’s not just my own industry. I’m competing with other industries, too.”

The Solution

Finding the right person is hard, but certainly not impossible—Paterniti’s thriving businesses are a testament to that. One avenue that’s been particularly successful for him is hiring apprentices from a local tech school.

“I partner with the local tech school to pull from their senior class and offer internships,” he says. “So, they’ll actually do on-the-job work-study here. They go to school for a couple of hours, do their math or government or English, and then instead of going to the tech school, they’ll come here and do an on-the-job apprenticeship program, paid.”

These apprentices often end up working for Paterniti full-time after they graduate.

But regardless of whether you’re pulling from a tech school, a job fair, or an employment listing, Paterniti has the same advice— hire for attitude, not skill level.

“It’s always easier to get that [employee] that’s fully trained or fully experienced,” he says. “But then sometimes you’re teaching an old dog new tricks when it comes to how you want things done … which isn’t always easy. So, if you get somebody with a good attitude and a good perspective on things who is eager to learn, you’re light years ahead.”

It’s also equally important to find new employees who you know from the get-go will mesh with your company culture. For Paterniti, that means finding people who

work hard, have a desire to give back to the community and want to become a member of the D&S family.

“When you’re honest and upfront about your culture and the type of employee you’re looking for, it goes a long way toward ensuring you hire the right person,” he says. “I run my business for the corporate aspect, but we’re still a family. We have potlucks, bowling outings, lots of fun gatherings outside of work. It makes for a stronger team.

“I can’t tell you how many of my employees hang out with each other outside of the shop. They’ve all become friends.”

Paterniti also hosts a Christmas party every year and cookouts during the summer months. And he encourages his employees to volunteer at the annual drive-in fundraiser, where he raises money for the local children’s hospital.

“We take community service very seriously,” he says, “and we want to hire people who feel the same.”

For the right employee, Paterniti is willing to negotiate terms. He keeps an open mind based on what’s most important to a new hire.

“I’ve increased the sign-on bonus. I’ve made concessions on PTO allowances. I’ve gone as far as giving PTO upfront, a change that’s reflected in our handbook for 2023,” he says.

The Aftermath

Once you’ve found and hired the right employee, it’s time to integrate them into the shop and build a long-term relationship. High employee turnover doesn’t benefit anyone, so it’s important to get it right, straight out of the gate.

“We’re constantly improving our processes and efficiency in onboarding and training new employees,” says Paterniti. “I’m about 90% done creating new training manuals for every position in the shop right now, and we’re working with our payroll company to digitize our hiring and benefit documents to minimize the potential for errors.”

New employees hit the ground running from Day 1, when they complete a thorough initiation with the HR manager. The day begins with an overview of the history of the company, policies and expectations. Setting expectations and giving people the informa-

tion they need to do their jobs effectively is paramount to success, says Paterniti. Every new employee then undergoes safety training and reviews training manuals specific to their job before meeting the rest of the team. Senior team members are encouraged to take new hires “under their wing” and train them on the job.

“Everybody understands what my expectation is on what we need to do to be able to have continuity and consistency, because someday when that senior tech does retire, he needs to have a replacement. Somebody helped him when he got in this business, and I ask my older employees to pay it forward in that respect.”

Check-ins are conducted every two to three weeks as the new hire settles into their position, and again at the 80-day mark, when Paterniti and his team determine whether they’ll be made permanent ahead of the 90-day probationary period.

“Today’s generation of employees is extremely different from those of the past,” he adds. “These young people want an employer that not only pays them well, but takes their quality of life into account, too. They care as much about having a generous amount of PTO as they do good pay.”

The importance of showing appreciation can’t be overstated, either, says Paterniti. You have to show your employees that you care about them on both a personal and professional level, and provide them with opportunities for growth and development. Incentivizing for performance goes a long way as well.

“We celebrate milestone anniversaries and gift our employees for their service,” says Paterniti. “For example, at ten years of service you get a $250 gift, and it’s not just one gift, it’s a credit/reward system. They might select a battery drill, watch, new pair of sunglasses … whatever they want! It’s a small token of our appreciation for their dedication and loyalty, but it goes a long way.”

The Takeaway

“My father told me at a very young age, ‘Always trust your gut.’ And there’s been a handful of times when I didn’t, and in the end, I end up regretting it,” Paterniti says. “Trust yourself and trust your judgment. That will lead you to the right employees for your shop.”

ADAPTING TO ADAS

How to prepare your shop and technicians for the new norm in cars

By KACEY FREDERICK

TECHNOLOGY IN THE automotive industry has been advancing rapidly–especially as EVs become more common in the market. A considerable part of that technological advance has been advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).

FenderBender spoke with Kevin FitzPatrick, senior vice president of North America Operations at Opus IVS, to talk about the company’s classes on ADAS, what they can offer to technicians and why shop owners should be paying attention.

Classes Addressing Real Problems

Opus IVS offers several webinars and online resources discussing ADAS, as well as other emerging technologies, led by industry professionals.

Recently, the company has started offering a “master classes” series, a free training program with material released on a monthly basis. FitzPatrick says the company is in a “unique” position with around 100 master technicians answering nearly 800 calls daily from shops asking for advice.

“So we’ll look at the issues that we’re getting through the call center seeing what is affecting our customers,” FitzPatrick explains.

With the help of those technicians, Opus IVS created classes based on issues shops have reported related to vehicle technology to ensure their workers are informed. A recent class offered on the Audi e-tron was borne out of the number of calls Opus received about problems with them.

The company has several different classes online and the list is rapidly expanding. Webinars are announced through social media as they are released, and the company is launching a training page on its website soon to access all its content in one place.

The Need for ADAS Training

FitzPatrick has co-owned a successful repair

shop on Long Island with his brother since 1996. In the past seven years, he has seen a “tremendous amount” of growth in the ADAS field.

He started seeing more vehicles equipped with ADAS come into his shop around 2015, but with things such as backup cameras on nearly every car, “now it’s on everything,” he says.

ADAS is a huge component of EVs, as well; many of the customers at FitzPatrick’s shop have switched to EVs. There are of course other considerations that go into working on EVs, such as their increased weights and environmental demands in terms of handling and storage. EV education is also something technicians have access to as more of these vehicles roll across shop floors.

ADAS has seen many evolutions over the past few years through EVs and has more in store. Throughout the next couple of years,

“the vehicles are going to learn,” FitzPatrick says. New cameras and sensors will be added and vehicles will be able to recognize road markings and signs.

“But of course,” he adds, “those systems being technical, they’ll break plenty.”

When those systems are damaged, technicians need to know what course of action to take. FitzPatrick says one of the biggest hurdles technicians face is how ADAS can vary between vehicles and that Opus’ classes on ADAS help to prepare technicians for that.

“If you look at a late model Chevy product, for instance, you might have three trim levels of the same vehicle, all with different ADAS on them,” he explains.

Shops Preparing Their Technicians

FitzPatrick says a shop expecting technicians to train on their own time is unreasonable. He suggests giving time

off to technicians to attend classes or offering incentives such as a bonus.

Whether businesses want to be involved with ADAS or not, it’s unavoidable at this point and can jeopardize drivers’ safety if improperly managed. When the vehicle is returned to the customer, it is with the expectation that all damage has been restored to as it was before, and that includes technicians knowing how to calibrate systems properly.

“You want to make sure the techs obviously have all the information; No. 1, from a profitability standpoint, but No. 2, to make sure they’re returning them to their customers in an absolutely safe condition,” FitzPatrick says.

ADAS is becoming more prevalent in the automotive industry. As vehicle technology continues to evolve, supporting technicians in their preparation results in quality work and a reliable brand that can keep up with the change.

EDUCATION+TRAINING

KEEP THEM MOVING

Improve your shop’s layout to help keep cars flowing through

By NOAH BROWN

IN THE AUTOMOTIVE REPAIR INDUSTRY more so than most, speed and efficiency are key in running a productive shop.

As shops continue to develop and expand, many managers and owners focus their resources investing in state-of-the-art equipment, hiring and

training technicians and other sources to improve their overall shop efficiency.

However, Ann Salazar from Avant Garde Interiors, a design firm specializing in space utilization planning for collision repair shops, says the physical layout of a shop can also be a hindrance to a shop’s efficiency if it’s not organized correctly.

“If the physical layout is inhibiting production due to lack of careful consideration of some key factors from the beginning, it’s not just production efficiency that suffers,” Salazar says. “Loss in business capacity adds up over time.”

Having the ability to complete repairs safely and with as little downtime as possible and making sure cars are moving through your shop as efficiently as possible can go a long way in boosting the productivity of your shop.

Keep Moving Forward

The overall layout and flow of a shop is critical in making sure that the repair process goes as smoothly as possible.

Johnny Simpson, co-owner of Simpson Collision Repair in Florence, Alabama, and his family have been in the collision repair business for four generations, going from his grandfather to his daughter. Simpson Collision Repair just opened a new location designed by Salazar and Avant Garde, and he says just a simple rearrangement of some of the shop has made a huge difference in overall efficiency.

“If I need to sell a job, I don’t hesitate to walk them out into the workspace. When a customer sees how clean your shop is and how organized your process is, they love it,” Simpson says. “Cars shouldn’t be just parked wherever.”

Simpson also says he understands that not every shop can afford to make massive renovations and might have

to find smaller ways to improve overall workflow. Over everything else, he recommends one thing: Tape.

Having layout lines, direction lines and work areas marked out with layout tape has helped improve the overall workflow of his shop. Every location that a car is going to be is marked off, and if there’s a space that a car is going to drive through, there are no obstructions in the driving path.

“So many shops you see have cars needing to back in and back out,” Simpson says. “You’re always concerned about that car having to go backward. Keeping it moving forward is critical.”

Ripple Effect

Salazar says improving workflow can start with small changes. Oftentimes, she’ll see a shop make a change to address an immediate concern without thinking of the overall shop flow, and that change will cause a ripple effect into nearby workstations.

However, that ripple effect can have a positive impact on your shop if you plan for it correctly. Addressing where vehicles and parts enter the building and how that gels with customer parking can affect where you place vehicles and equipment inside.

Simpson also adds that making sure you have the appropriate equipment can help reduce overcrowded workspaces. Some tools, such as OEM-specific ones required for certification, can’t be negotiated, but Simpson says there are other places where you can downsize.

Everything from switching to a walk-behind floor cleaner instead of a riding model to getting the smallest air compressor that fits your needs can help reduce clutter in your shop.

“You don’t want your shop to be

a big box that you shove everything into,” Simpson says. “Make sure your equipment fits your space.”

Though it may not seem like it at first, small changes can add up to quicker turnarounds on repairs, and that means more cars flowing through your shop. Customers may not notice every single detail and change, but Salazar says they are savvy enough to pick up on the overall feeling of a shop when they walk in. Making sure every part of your shop is as clean, organized and efficient as possible makes for an overall better customer experience.

“Good design invokes the impression of a professional operation. When amenities are provided to increase conveniences, it shows detail matters,” Salazar says. “Screening for unpleasant odors, unsightly storage areas, inadequate space for supplies and coats … the retail industry ran studies how all these factors and more could impact sales.”

Simpson says even if his business hadn’t built a brand-new shop from the ground up, making some efficiency changes would have helped the old building quite a bit.

“It helps us to push so many cars through, and you’re not just pulling cars in and out all the time,” he says. “Keeping that car working through the shop until it leaves.”

And though it may seem like a major undertaking depending on how much you want to change in your shop, Salazar says the overall result is well worth the cost.

“Over the past 20 years, I would say it’s a lot more important than most people realize, or I would be out of work by now,” Salazar says. “The obvious difference is the overall customer experience and shorter turn-around.”

Do Insurance Companies Warranty Repairs by a Non-DRP Shop?

Breaking down how to hold insurers responsible

Insurance company call centers love to deter customers from going with non-DRP shops with a single statement: ‘We cannot guarantee the repairs if you go with a shop that is not on our approved or preferred vendor list.” And just like that, a customer can be lost. Yes, there are laws that say insurance companies cannot lead or dictate where a customer gets their vehicle fixed, but the laws leave a lot of gray areas for interpretation.

If you’re a non-DRP shop, what does the insurance company actually warranty? Let me preface this with this statement: If your shop screws up or does a bad job, then you need to warranty your own repair. Bad body work, missed repairs, inaccurate repairs and a blotchy paint job are all your responsibility.

Generally, the two main things we hold the insurance company accountable for regarding warranties are aftermarket parts failing and aftermarket fitment issues. There are other things that you can hold the insurance company accountable for, but these are the two most common things I see come up. I feel the best way to delve into it is to give you some scenarios.

Issue: The aftermarket part does not fit as well as it should, and the part has already been installed or installed and painted.

Insurance Response: You should have pre-fit the part and made sure it looked correct. We will pay for a replacement OEM part, but we will not pay for labor or paint time because you should have double-checked before you painted it or used the part.

Resolution: On every repair when you submit your first supplement, request R&I time for all aftermarket parts. You don’t have to do it by line item, you can do a single line that says, ‘Pre-fitment of all aftermarket parts to verify accuracy and quality.’ Now, inevitably, the insurance company is going to deny pre-fitment, but what this does for you is set you up to win an argument down the line if you have an issue with any aftermarket parts.

Example: The insurance company authorizes an aftermarket bumper and aftermarket trim pieces. You request R&I time for pre-fitment of all aftermarket parts on your initial supplement and the request is denied. You run a good shop so you still pre-fit your bumper and make sure it is good before you paint it and continue the repair.

During reassembly, you find that the bumper fits well on the vehicle, but the trim pieces are ill-fitting. You take pictures of the ill-fitting parts, return the parts, get OEM trim pieces and submit your supple-

ment request with your documentation for OEM trim pieces. Those OEM trim pieces come in and some of the parts still do not fit well. This tells us the aftermarket bumper, which we already painted, is not up to OEM specs and is misshaped.

Example Resolution: We go back to the aftermarket vendor and request warranty on the misshaped bumper. They warranty and refund you on the part but not the installation or paint time or they deny the warranty all together since the part was installed and painted. We go back to the insurance company with our documentation. We purchased the aftermarket part they requested from the vendor they told us we needed to buy it from. We requested pre-fitment of all parts to ensure no issues arose and they denied the request. We did our due diligence and pre-fit the bumper but it is unreasonable to suggest that a shop re-assemble an entire bumper before painting to verify fitment of aftermarket parts so the insurance company can save a few dollars. We did notify and request from the insurance company time to pre-fit parts to verify the accuracy and quality of parts to avoid this type of issue, but the insurance company knowingly made the decision to deny the request. The insurance company now has to make good on the repair and what they promised the consumer when they sold the insurance policy in that state. The insurance company is going to have to pay for an OEM bumper or an additional bumper if the aftermarket bumper could not be returned, along with additional body and paint times to fix the issue.

Note: For this to work you will need to have bought the parts from the vendor the insurance company requested. Also, if the vendor warranties the part or any labor and paint time you will need to adjust that in your supplement request to the insurance company when resolving this issue.

If we are not going back to the insurance company every time a part is ill-fitting or malfunctions and demanding that they pay the additional time, then they will continue to do this to us. They will push us off on aftermarket companies’ warranties and guarantees to take care of paying us for the time and inconvenience of fixing these issues. That shouldn’t be our burden to bear. Let them go back to the aftermarket vendor and subrogate for these losses. We need to start holding the insurance companies accountable for the choices they make and force on us.

Team Members, Not Employees

When implementing new processes, remember the whole shop is in it together

When implementing or updating processes, it's important to remember that you are working with team members, not mere employees. Each of your team members is an individual, and each has unique qualities that make them invaluable assets to your business. It is essential for you to recognize and appreciate the contributions of all members of your team. Creating effective policies and procedures can be exciting. However, with such a high level of accountability required for SOP development, it's imperative that you foster an environment that encourages collaboration, creativity and passion within your shop. It all starts with viewing team members not just as employees but as people who have a vested stake in the future of your business. When team members are treated right and given autonomy and ownership, it leads to great things!

Accountability: Tie Commitment to Results

Whatever your team comes up with must be communicated to the next responsible team member by referencing the standard operating procedure created. If time is spent on updating or developing new policies/processes and administration allows the continued practice of muscle memory or "how we have always done it" then your journey to foundational standard operating procedures will be short-lived. As you move forward, remember any developed process should be able to be executed by the lowest level team member capable of the position with minimal follow-up or clarification. Don't waste time on the exceptions. They will come, and it will be the administration's job to define if a separate policy should be implemented.

Communication throughout this journey will be absolutely key. If you are the only one within the store truly working on developing or improving internal policy and procedure, it simply won't work. Your team must have buy-in and believe they created the SOP or had taken part in its origin. As attempts to implement or execute fail, conversations can be about "What do you think we missed?" or, "What can we tweak or update to have the outcome we are after every single time?" Making this a company-wide journey can be exhausting. However, suppose you don't set aside time for internal meetings around the plan. In that case, the team will unintentionally spend more time explaining why the policy or procedure you developed doesn't work, how it is costing them more time. Then they will work to convince you that you should let them return to what they have always done. Therefore, the valuable energy required to execute the implementation correctly will be lost.

Building Processes with Invested Team Members

When building successful processes within your shop, the most valuable asset is a team of invested members. Having team members passionate about their work and dedicated to the company's success can make all the difference. The administration needs to prioritize building solid relationships with their team, providing opportunities for growth and development, and creating a positive work environment. What would you rather hear from a team member? "What I do is" or "What we do is"? When employees feel valued and supported, they are more likely to be engaged in the process. By creating an environment where everyone works together towards a common goal, you are fostering a sense of unity and cultivating an atmosphere of collaboration, trust and respect. Referring to your staff as team members might initially sound simple, but I can attest that these details make all the difference.

"Employees” vs. “Team Members”

Referring to team members as just employees can have a negative impact on company culture and morale. When individuals are reduced to merely being a number or a job title, it can lead to a lack of connection and investment in the shop. Employees may feel undervalued and unimportant, leading to a decrease in motivation and productivity. On the other hand, when team members are referred to by their names and recognized for their contributions, it breeds a sense of community and belonging within the workplace. This promotes a positive work environment where individuals feel valued and motivated to contribute their best work. In the long run, acknowledging and respecting team members beyond their job titles can lead to greater company success and overall employee satisfaction.

Creating an Effective Communication System

Communication helps build trust and improved teamwork, resulting in improved productivity within a shop. An effective communication system considers the needs of all parties involved, including team members at all levels, clients and even vendor relationships. It provides a platform for sharing information, exchanging ideas and giving and receiving feedback, resulting in better decision-making and problem-solving. In today's fast-paced environment, having a well-established communication system can make all the difference in achieving your shop's goals. It is crucial to invest time and resources into developing and implementing a communication system that caters to the organization's specific needs to ensure success.

DREW BRYANT has been the owner of DB Orlando Collision since August of 2011. A 20 Group leader, in-demand conference speaker and award-winning shop owner, Bryant takes a non-traditional approach to process implementation, lean process development, & overall operational experience while remaining dedicated to his staff’s personal and professional development.

EMAIL: drew@orlandocollision.com

ARCHIVE: fenderbender.com/bryant