*training guides available in a variety of formats
ProColor Collision USA
RECOGNIZING COLLISION REPAIR INDUSTRY ACHIEVERS
OUR FENDERBENDER AWARD has been a highly anticipated yearly feature for over 15 years. Each year, we select an owner, operator, or CEO who puts in the work, dedication, care, and taking care of his or her customers and deserves some recogntion for his or her efforts.
For the 2025 award, we selected Jon Sommers, body shop director of Winner Automotive Group, with shops in Wilmington and Dover, Delaware. He rose from being a mechanical repair techncian at the Winner Premier Collision Center in Wilmington to take over as manager at that shop to turn it around about three and a half years ago. This year, he was tasked with also improving operations at the Dover location and was named director.
Thomas Mihok, executive general manager of Winner Automotive Group, nominated him for the honor.
“It is because he is passionate about the industry that he stays so engaged,” Mihok said. Last year for the first time, we wanted to also recognize those individuals who perform at a higher level in capturing all required repair procedures, including scanning and calibrations, for our Best Repair Planner/Estimator Award from FenderBender and ABRN. As was the case last year, it was difficult for our panel to select finalists from the nominations and the final estimate exercise, designed and judged by Mike Anderson and his staff at Collision Advice.
When the dust settled, one clear winner emerged. Will Barkley, production manager at K&M Collision in Hickory, North Carolina, is charged with repair planning for some of the most complex repairs on some of the most sophisticated vehicles.We will be presenting the awards at the Collision Industry Red Carpet Awards ceremony at the SEMA Show in November.
I want to thank sponsors of both our awards, and especially for our Best Repair Planner/Estimator Award: Ford and PPG, with a special thanks to Mike Anderson and
his staff at Collision Advice, without whom we would not have been able to include the critical estimate exercise component.
For all who took the time to nominate someone for either award, thank you. We don’t take lightly the task of selecting finalists and the winner. If you nominated someone this year, I encourage you to try again next year. We hope to see another flood of entries next spring.
Opinions expressed in FenderBender are not necessarily those of Endeavor Business Media, and Endeavor Business Media does not accept responsibility for advertising content.
REPAIR PLANNER/ESTIMATOR BEST AWARD
TOTAL LOSSES THEME AT CIC
As they have increased across the country, total losses were the focus of the Summer Collision Industry Conference in Philadelphia.
By JAY SICHT
AS THEY INCREASE across the country, total losses were the theme of the day for the Collision Industry Conference (CIC), July 23 in Philadelphia. Most presentations of the day focused on issues related to total losses — which have increased because of increased vehicle complexity and thus severity — plus high salvage values being paid for vehicles by overseas bidders.
JAY SICHT
Serving a Fickle Consumer
Liz Stein, vice president of strategic initiatives at Certified Collision Group and co-chair of CIC’s OEM Industry Relations Committee, pointed out some headwinds to the collision repair industry, with more consumers “upside down” on their car loans than ever.
“And the new drivers that are emerging are not necessarily tied to vehicle ownership, or even leasing a vehicle. They’re open to alternative ways of being able to drive a vehicle.” Short-term car rentals, such as Zipcar, or mass transportation appeal to 44% of 18-34-year-olds, she said. So when a vehicle totals, some owners are ready to do away with car ownership altogether.
“The only way that we’re going to be able to solve this — because it is a complex issue — is to be able to work together,” she said, including working with local suppliers to possibly get parts cost down for an estimate that’s on the cusp of totaling.
Fickle consumers switch vehicle brands more than ever, which concerns OEMs. So,
once a vehicle is totaled, Stein suggested having a system in place to help keep the vehicle owner brand-loyal.
“If you have a close relationship with a dealer as a certified shop for them and you do their work, what about negotiating a special program?” ‘You check in with Chris and you get the friends and family discount, and I’m going to make that call right now and you don’t have to go through any of the hassles.’
Do you think the consumer would appreciate that effort would go through that? I think they would. And also, wouldn’t that deepen your relationship with that particular dealer?”
Can Laws Be Changed to Reduce Totals?
Auto Body Association of Texas Executive Director was moderator of the Governmental Committee’s presentation, which examined how state laws vary on salvage titling and how to determine total losses.
“The total loss threshold is the cost to repair a vehicle greater than a percentage
of the vehicle’s actual cash value, and then the total loss formula is where the insurer would lose more money repairing the vehicle than it would paying the policyholder the ACV of the vehicle and selling the vehicle in a post-collision condition,” Tuggle said.
Panelist David Willett, chief underwriting officer at Spark Underwriters, suggested that current laws, written to address structural totals, are outdated with the addition of technology features such as ADAS and the labor required to restore their functionality. And if those vehicles are repaired, in many cases they suffer from having a “branded” title, such as being designated as “prior salvage.”
“[The OEMs] are coming up with the howto of repairing a car. Shouldn’t they be coming up with how to total-loss a car?”
He acknowledged it’s a bit of shift in thinking. “But it seems to me there ought to be more reliance upon the engineers of the OEs and the OE-certified repairers in making that determination.”
PAINTERS USE PAINT PROS USE XP
Why do so many shops choose Cromax® XP? Maybe it’s because they can achieve a premium finish in as few as two coats. Or that it’s easy to mix, match, and apply. It could also be having access to the most innovative digital color match tools. But we’d like to think it’s all of it.
See what sets Cromax® XP apart from the competition. axalta.us/xp
The Total Loss Process
A later presentation focused on the process for total losses, with panelists from an OEM, an independent repairer, salvage pool, and insurer providing perspectives on their role in the process.
The total loss process is complex and requires coordination with multiple parties, and shop operators should be proactive in helping customers understand their rights and policy details. Kye Yeung, president of European Motor Car Works in Costa Mesa, California, said customers often don’t understand their rights and policy details, something shop operators can assist with. Andrew, Batenhorst, body shop manager of Pacific BMW in Glendale, California, said his staff “have to educate the customer on some of these things, as they’re not getting that information from their adjuster.”
For Batenhorst, that is not just best practice; it’s a legal requirement by the California Bureau of Automotive Repair.
“On July 1st, a new law went into a place where we have to define what area of the car that we’re going to be diagnosing in layman’s terms that a customer can understand. And that translates into the to -
Standardized Training And Credentials
Registered Apprenticeship Program that was officially launched July 24.
tal loss process. Because in the event that goes that route, if an insurer disagrees with the extent of disassembly that we went through, we could end up getting investigated by the BAR later on.”
Future-proof your investment with the confidence that your calibrations are completed to the tightest tolerances and the strictest standards correctly, the first time.
and efficient placement using digital vision positioning which automatically measures vehicle distances and angles to ensure precise calibration.
Modular and future-proof: Designed to work with new targets and the next generation of ADAS technologies.
Integrated storage and maneuverability keep your equipment clean and serviceable and ready to use at a moment’s notice.
calibration of front cameras and
During a special presentation, I-CAR’s Anna Loftus (left), director of government funding, and Dara Goroff, vice president of planning and industry talent programming, talk about I-CAR’s
$
148
MORE Synchrony Car Care cardholders spend on average than non-cardholders.*
SELL REPAIRS TO CLOSE THE DEAL
If you’ve been an order taker, it’s time to sell your services to get cars in the door.
By PETER SPOTTS
COLLISION REPAIR SHOPS can’t wait for business to walk in the door and hand it to them. When a potential customer comes in, the shop needs to close the deal.
Shops are facing a 15-20% drop in repair volume, customers are facing 26% higher deductibles, and 31% more customers are taking insurance money without doing the repairs. Jim Lovejoy, senior services consultant at AkzoNobel, discussed the strategies shops need to use during Momentum, the 2025 Collision Industry Experts Event, in Orange, California, in July. He told shop owners in attendance they need to embrace sales culture.
“When you educate them, and you take steps to figure out what their needs are and sell to their needs, you earn the right to get that business,” Lovejoy said.
Pre-COVID-19, closing ratios for shops were around 75-80%. Now, they’re down to 64%, Lovejoy said. He outlined a five-step strategy shops can use to close the deal and secure the sale.
“The most profitable shops dropped 16 points; that’s a pretty good drop,” he said. “We
became order takers. Now, we have to dust off the sales toolbox and figure out how to sell.”
Make a Positive First Impression
It starts with engaging the customer the moment they walk in the shop. Visual connections, verbal impressions, and rapport are all critical to a good first meeting. Lovejoy’s tips include making eye contact, standing up to greet the customer, using a confident tone, speaking clearly, using the customer’s name, asking thoughtful questions, and showing genuine interest.
“All of these things make an impression on people, especially when you have things that are highly technical,” Lovejoy said. “We’re trying to use language that they would understand; there’s a lot to explain, and we don’t want to bore them to death.”
Identify the Customer’s Needs
Step two is identifying the customer’s needs. Asking open questions, practicing active
listening, identifying the customer’s key motivators, and documenting the details to tailor a personalized solution all contribute to making the sale. It’s crucial to avoid “yes” or “no” questions and find out what’s important to their repair.
“What was their impression of the last repair experience they had? Was it good? Was it bad?” Lovejoy asked. “We can ask a few more questions – ‘Why was it a good experience?’ ‘What did they not do very well?’ So, we can make sure we don’t do those things wrong.”
Explain the Solution
Step three is explaining the solution; sell the customer what the car needs, why it needs it, and, most importantly, why your shop is the best place for the job. Lovejoy pointed out that a key factor in a positive customer experience is dependent on the employees. Better work environments lead to better morale, better service, and better retention.
“The level of the customer experience rarely rises above the level of the employee experience,” he said. “If you want your employees to provide top notch service to customers, the employees should feel they’re top-notch, also. Just something to think about from a retention standpoint.”
Earn the Business
Step four is earning the business. Request a repair authorization clearly and confidently. Lovejoy recommended using assumptive clauses, such as “When would you like to schedule the repair?” or suggestive clauses, such as “Many customers prefer to start repairs right away.” He told the attendees they need to create a sense of urgency by suggesting schedule times and how fast slots are filling up; avoid a passive approach.
“The most common thing I hear is ‘Let us know if we can help you,’” Lovejoy said. “That’s about as passive as you can get, and
that’s about as far away from asking for a sale as you can get. That’s a closing goodbye. You might as well push them out the door.”
Eliminate Objections
The final step is eliminating objections. If there are pricing concerns, focus on the value, not just the cost. Explain the long-term benefits of the proper repairs in your estimate. Demonstrate the quality with examples of past work and provide a lifetime warranty for repairs. Share the credentials and experience of your repair team to build trust that you can handle their vehicle.
“We’ve told them everything we can do that sells to their needs and their pain points. When we try to close, an objection comes out. This is where true selling begins,” Lovejoy said. “If they have any concerns about different parts of the process, we can have them meet technicians. The more people they meet and kind of get to
know a little bit — that little familiarity with who will be working on their vehicle — if they have concerns, that can go a long way.”
Lovejoy emphasized the use of “why” questions to understand objections and plan appropriate responses. If a customer wants to consult with someone they trust before making a decision, schedule a follow-up phone call after that takes place. If they can’t afford the deductible, does your shop offer financing? Understanding customers’ objections and calmly putting their concerns at ease is the final crucial hurdle to closing the deal. It’s difficult, but it’s something the industry needs to get back to doing if they want to get more cars in the door.
“In the last four years, we became order takers,” he said. “We need to go back to what we used to have to do to get the size of the pie that we wanted, which is to have closing skills. It’s work.”
Being par t of CARSTAR has given us access to top-tier training, operational suppor t, and a network of experienced owners who truly want to see each other succeed.
Their resources have helped us grow our own technicians, improve efficiency, and elevate the quality of our repairs.
CARSTAR isn’t just a brand it’s a business par tner that’s been key to our continued success.
Kelly Domer Owner, CARSTAR
Join CARSTAR and drive your business forward! Contact Lori Kroeger at lori.kroeger@drivenbrands.com for more.
LIGHT HITS
REVOLUTIONIZING LUXURY EV COLORS: PPG AND LUCID MOTORS PARTNERSHIP
PPG has collaborated with electric vehicle maker Lucid Motors to develop unique exterior color effects for Lucid Motors’ luxury EV ranges using the PPG Andaro pigment nanodispersion technology. The technology provides dramatically higher chroma, or color intensity, as well as increased transparency and clarity, according to a news release.
The companies used the technology to develop a series of unique colors for the Lucid Air sedan and Lucid Gravity SUV ranges, including Zenith Red, the luxurious and popular garnet hue unique to Lucid Motors. It uses a high concentration of PPG Andaro pigment in the basecoat and tinted clearcoat layer, including black to add depth.
The color offerings for the Lucid Air range also include Stellar White, which surpasses the intensity of other white tri-coats with a clean bright hue and a fine silky mica layer, and Cosmos Silver and Quantum Grey fine metallics, which use thin-milled and fine pearl products to achieve subtle silky effects.
I-CAR LAUNCHES NEW APPRENTICESHIP FOR COLLISION REPAIR WORKFORCE
I-CAR has launched a national Registered Apprenticeship Program for the collision repair industry. The two-year structured training program combines paid, on-the-job learning with related technical instruction, leading to a nationally recognized credential from the U.S. Department of Labor.
The initiative follows I-CAR’s designation last year as a National Apprenticeship Hub and receipt of an Apprenticeship Building America grant from the U.S. Department of Labor, aimed at addressing the critical technician shortage and elevating the collision repair trade among premier skill trades.
The comprehensive apprenticeship program is validated by the Department of Labor and anchored by I-CAR Academy curriculum. As a National Apprenticeship Hub, I-CAR can provide a seamless path for shops to offer RAPs and while supplies
last will equip eligible shops with incentive packages through the DOL grant on a firstcome, first-served basis.
The collision repair industry faces significant challenges due to a shortage of qualified technicians. The increasing complexity of modern vehicles, the retiring workforce, and a declining public interest in trade careers have only worsened the gap. RAP can provide a structured pathway for employers to develop apprentices trained to industry standards and prepared for the highly skilled in-demand jobs offered in collision repair centers.
To qualify for the RAP, a collision repair shop needs to hold an I-CAR Gold Class designation, demonstrating a commitment to high-quality training and industry standards. Once a shop begins participating, they must adhere to Department of Labor requirements. I-CAR will provide one-onone guidance and training on all requirements along with an overview of any available incentives.
For more information, visit www.i-car.com.
FOCUS ADVISORS AND VERITAS ADVISORS MERGE
Focus Advisors and Veritas Advisors are merging two of the most respected M&A firms in the automotive collision repair industry, according to a news release.
Focus CEO David Roberts and Veritas Founder John Walcher, together with their teams, bring more than 70 years of experience founding, growing, funding, and advising automotive aftermarket companies.
“This merger is about multiplying impact,” Walcher said. “Together, we provide unmatched strategic guidance to clients navigating today’s fast-moving M&A environment in all segments of the aftermarket repair industry – from collision to mechanical to heavy-duty vehicles.”
As executive vice president, managing director, and equity holder, Walcher will join Roberts and President Chris Lane on the Focus Advisors senior management team.
Roberts established Focus Advisors in 2003, after serving as co-founder and chairman of Caliber Collision Centers.
Lane has more than 10 years of automotive M&A experience, preceded by a successful career in business management and consulting. Walcher founded Veritas Advisors in 2009, after holding senior M&A positions at Caliber Collision and two Fortune 500 companies. Combined, the team has advised on over 120 automotive services deals including acquisitions, capital raises, joint ventures, and divestitures involving small MSOs to some of the largest operators in the industry.
“We’re not just facilitating transactions—we’re helping clients anticipate and successfully adapt to the future of both the collision repair industry and the entire automotive aftermarket,” Roberts said. “With this merger, we’re expanding our ability to serve more and larger clients with unparalleled insight, reach, and value creation.”
BMW INTRODUCES SECURITY SOLUTION FOR COUNTERFEIT PARTS
Counterfeit spare parts pose a serious challenge to the automotive industry, affecting vehicle performance, increasing maintenance costs and creating potential safety risks. In response, BMW Group and Kurz Scribos developed the first digitally verifiable hologram strip to protect original spare parts.
The new strip integrates advanced Kurz Scribos holographic security that will help safeguard BMW’s global spare parts network, which includes more than 40 million parts in circulation. The high-security feature can only be verified by trained experts using a dedicated authentication app, ensuring an additional layer of protection against counterfeiting. It adds a new layer of protection against counterfeiters, making it impossible for them to replicate or manipulate the verification process.
For more information about Kurz Scribos security solutions, visit scribos.com.
The effectiveness of your repairs depends significantly on the quality of the service and support you receive. AirPro’s vehicle diagnostics tool is fast, reliable, and accurate. When combined with ORION, AirPro’s cloud-based diagnostic management system, it serves as a central hub for delivering all services.
Scanning Diagnostics Programming Calibrations
Let AirPro Diagnostics manage your repair, and our remote Brand Specialists will take care of the heavy lifting.
Inquire about our game-changing mobile FFC calibration system.
WHEN EXAMINING individual performance in the annual FenderBender Industry Survey, there are notable differences between those who track KPIs and those who don’t.
*Approximate mean value found by assigning midpoints for category ranges; R.O.s for $4,000-$4,999 are computed as $4,500; $5,000-up R.O.s are assigned $5,500 value.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY NICK HEMPHILL
HOW THE M c STUD ESTIMATING TOOL SIMPLIFIES REPAIR ESTIMATES
In this Q&A with FenderBender, Anthony McNee explains why he built his own estimating tool and how it improves the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of estimates.
By PETER SPOTTS
ESTIMATES ARE TIME-CONSUMING and take up valuable resources and manpower. Anthony McNee, blueprinter at Ultimate Collision Repair in Edison, New Jersey, and the 2024 FenderBender Best Repair Planner/Estimator, created the McStud Estimating Tool (MET) to enhance his team’s accuracy and efficiency.
McNee has long used CCC for estimating, but he had to dig through lists of operations to find the specific Part Codes he needs while building each blueprint/ repair plan. After identifying if it is a repair or replace part, he’d manually type out the operations, do the calculations per operation, and input the numbers.
MET solves the tedium of doing handwritten estimates by breaking down the operations down into a systematic way in an external spreadsheet, what McNee describes as “essentially Part Codes on steroids,” It lists all of McNee’s operations required for the decision of repair or replace or whichever portion of the estimate one is writing, calculates all the operations, and the output is format-ready to be added to a digital clipboard to be copied over to the estimating system.
For each estimate, McNee just inputs the numbers and vehicle information and waits for the calculations to finish. Once it’s done, he can transfer the information into CCC or another estimating tool. His entire team uses it, and McNee says he can’t go back to handwriting estimates again. It ensures consistency, accuracy, efficiency, reduces fatigue, and makes training easier.
“Everything is organized; everything is formatted. It’s very difficult to miss something, right?” McNee says. “Because all I’m doing is just copying and pasting, and it saves me time. It’s very accurate; it’s very efficient.”
Using Google Sheets as its template, it has separate sections for electrical, scans, miscellaneous, bumper covers, blending or repairing metal parts, and anything else the estimate needs. Users can also add the materials they’ll need to perform specific repairs.
“It’s pretty much going to hit every criterion that you would when you’re working on an estimate,” he says. “This is like your sandbox because you’re the one plugging the information in. It’s not vehicle specific, it’s very generalized.”
Named after his high school nickname, the tool is currently free and McNee has about
20 beta testers using the platform. As he continues to work on its development each day after work, he took some time to answer questions about McStud and its future.
Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Where did you get the idea for this? Were other tools not doing what you wanted them too?
My whole idea behind this was to take estimating from what it currently is and take it to the future. [It’s] giving writers more time back in their day, making training easier, keeping estimates accurate, consistent, and efficient. I believe the days of manually typing every operation out, having to remember what operation goes where and when, [and] having to remember every individual calculation are over.
Are there any other apps or tools that do this sort of thing?
There are similar. There is SCRS BOT [Blueprint Optimization Tool] and EstimateIQ. The way the SCRS BOT works – and I’ve only seen videos, but I’ve never actually used it – is it’s a desktop app and populates all your operations. It can kind of read your estimate and give you feedback: ‘Hey, you should add this here.’ If I wanted to get my Clean for Delivery, for example, I can press a button, I can copy it, and it posts a code and populates it. For that to work, you would have everything in your part codes already and they would link it together. Now I can go to SCRS BOT, get my code, and paste it to CCC. In my opinion, you still fall under the same thing. It’s very extensive to look through…but then you go back to the same system of I’m still using my part codes. It’s not dynamic. It doesn’t change my labor.
I did a demo with [EstimateIQ]. They’ll read our estimate, scan what other estimates were done in the area and what insurance paid for, and then give you feedback…In my opinion, I don’t care what insurance paid for another shop. I care about what the car needs.
As you were working on this, did anyone help you with the development or was it all you?
It was all me, and my wife is also working for the company. She’s working on the website and some of the marketing and business strategies as well. I’m going to
be sharing sheets with people so they can use it. I’m going to have access, so I can go in there to see if there are any issues, errors, and fix any bugs. And I also just found a way that I can push updates to every single person. So, everybody who has a sheet like this, I can give you all more dropdowns. I’ll be able to go in and send an update like that I’m building a support system for it as well. I’m running all the numbers on the back end, just making sure everyone is loading correctly and there are no errors.
How are you able to support it with your full-time job?
I’m monitoring it every single day and I’m using it every single day. Every guy at my shop uses it. I come home from work and work on it as well. If I’m just copying and pasting my stuff over, I can sit here and run numbers, text people back, [and] answer phone calls. I don’t have to sit and take my time and focus typing it out or running operations or calculations.
Do you have any plans to try and monetize it in the future or potentially sell it? Or is this going to stay a free option for people who want to use it?
My goal is to make this into a monthly subscription. I have three tiers in mind that I’m thinking of. One is that you’ll get the standard like this, everything that I have in these sheets now, and I’ll be able to push updates and monitor it. Another idea is to custom-build spreadsheets for people for body shops so it’s instant. You don’t have to wait a minute. You have all your codes and formulas in your own operation list that you guys write for whatever body shop wants to write. Then I think just the other idea would just be if you guys want to make your own, you’ll be able to use my copy-and-paste feature and subscribe for that as well. But I am also working on turning this into an actual desktop app. I’m still trying to figure that out. So, I’m working on building this up and then turning it into a desktop app. The MET website is still a work in progress. Anyone interested in learning more about MET or trying the tool can contact McNee at mcstudestimating@gmail.com.
Acres of Diamonds
With the right mindset and knowledge, we find that the “diamonds” we seek are already inside the walls of our shops.
Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Russell Conwell was a Baptist preacher who went across the country giving the same speech over 6,000 times called the “Acres of Diamonds.” The speech was inspired from the legend of a prosperous Persian farmer who sold his fruitful farm ground to search the world for rich diamond mines. I bet you guessed it just like me: the farmer finally died broke, without discovering much more than dirt, rocks and sand. Ironically, after the Persian farmer’s death, a huge diamond deposit was found in the farm ground he had sold years prior. Conwell’s point is this, “Your diamonds are not found in faraway mountains or distant seas; they are in your own backyard, if you will only look for them.” I encourage you to search Google for Conwell’s speech, as it is filled with life lessons and wisdom.
Some readers right now are saying to themselves, “I have been in my shop for years and have yet to find any diamonds inside my four walls.” As of this writing, claims count is down, and many shops are off 20-30% in revenue. Some shop owners are becoming discouraged and having cash flow issues. Insurers are steering harder than ever to the MSOs and fighting to deny procedures. For the independent shops that are very low on work, some good employees are leaving, while bad ones are staying.
In times like these, don’t become like the Persian farmer and become shortsighted. With the right mindset and knowledge, “diamonds” are inside the walls of our shops. Now understand this, they are not just sitting on the floor of our office or paint booth or even the production floor all shiny and beautiful ready to be sold to the diamond buyer. Diamonds are available for the taking inside our shops but are obscure and can only be discovered by a trained eye (knowledge).
For a little Diamonds 101: when harvested, diamonds really don’t look a lot different from rocks in our driveway. They usually look dull and are sometimes even different colors. Once a diamond is found, it must be analyzed for cutting by very special equipment to maximize its brilliance and size. Then, a highly skilled diamond cutter must start the painstaking process of cutting and polishing every single diamond. This process can take days, weeks, months, or even up to two years to turn that
dull stone into a spectacular jewel. The point being, like most any good thing in life, it takes lots of hard work and patience.
Where should we look for the diamonds in our shop? First off, when we learn how to fix our customers’ problem of a wrecked car faster along with higher quality and less headache than any of our competition, they will reward us with diamonds in the form of checks, cash, EFTs, and gift cards. They will also send their family and friends with their wrecked cars.
Let’s take the Blueprint Department: If we can completely take the car apart, then find every part, inspection and procedure that is needed and answer every question about the repair, diamonds just seem to show up easily at the end. Of course, we must have expert negotiators along the way. How about the Parts Department: are there diamonds there? Oh boy, lots of them. When we mirror-match OEM parts (did you catch that, only OEM) perfectly every time with ALL the parts we need, more diamonds will just show up at the end.
How about the Body Department? When a technician has a fully kitted job with all the glues, fluids, paperwork, parts, vehicle mapping, etc., the car just sails through the Body Department and on to the Prep Deck in a matter of hours, you guessed it, more diamonds. If the Prep Deck has everything they need, with the vehicle being staged in the correct stall from the Body Department, great bodywork, visual parts needing painting, and accurate paperwork, the job moves into the booth in just a few hours. The same goes for the Paint Department, Build Department, QC Department, Final Billing, Delivery, and Final Closeout. Even more diamonds will just show up.
When we truly understand that our shops can produce the value of diamonds rather than just money to survive from one week to the next to just pay bills, then — and only then — will we understand the power of gaining knowledge. Just prior to writing this month’s column, I spent a week visiting shops outside of my home state, run by some extremely smart individuals. We must constantly be learning from others to be able to find these elusive diamonds. They are just scattered throughout our shops and not off in “faraway mountains or distant seas; they are in your own back yard!”
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.
EMAIL: greg@lorensbodyshop.com
ARCHIVE: fenderbender.com/lobsiger
FENDERBENDER 2025
AWARD WINNER JON SOMMERS
Jon Sommers proved to be an exceptional leader as he took a struggling shop and turned around its performance.
By JAY SICHT
| PHOTOGRAPHY BY JARRET HARRIS
For many, the morning shower can provide a quiet place of reflection.
For Jon Sommers, it’s also a time to plan out his day for efficiency. As a flat-rate mechanical technician for 15 years at Winner Premier Collision Center in Wilmington, Delaware, Jon Sommers would run through in his mind the jobs he knew he’d be working on that day. He’d already planned the staging of his work at the end of the previous day.
“After taking the body off, I’m going to roll the frame over here and get the engine and trans out,” he recalls envisioning watching himself as an observer.
He’s now the director of that body shop and the one in Dover as part of the Winner Automotive Group of Audi, Chevrolet, Ford, Hyundai, Subaru, and Volkswagen brands in Wilmington and Dover. But Sommers has carried over that “shower thoughts planning” mindset each morning. That might entail the mundane, such as reminding staff to turn in their hours for payroll or planning for the morning production meeting, or it may be preparing for an audit for one of the shop’s OEM certifications.
As he’s applied that analytical planning mindset to his management role, Sommers is quick to share the praise with the managers he leads, and says he’s humbled in being named the 2025 winner of the FenderBender Award. He was tapped to turn around the shop about three and a half years ago.
Congratulations to Jon Sommers and the entire Winner Premier Collision Center team on their award-winning 2025 achievements.
CONGRATULATIONS
JON SOMMERS
Body Shop Manager at
Delaware
Making the Transition to Management
At that time, after the body shop manager quit, Thomas Mihok was tasked with leading the Winner Premier shop in Wilmington, but he lacked body shop experience. Mihok, who at the time was general manager of Audi Wilmington — one of the dealerships in the Winner Automotive Group of which he is now executive general manager — selected Sommers, who had worked as a mechanical technician in the body shop for 15 years.
Through an interview process of the shop’s estimators and fellow technicians, Sommers says, he “essentially got voted in” as interim manager. “My name came up repeatedly. I didn’t throw my own hat in the ring, so to speak.”
For Mihok, the choice was obvious.
“I immediately realized that Jon had a grasp on the overall challenges that were hurting the business, and he displayed a passion for the business I hadn’t seen in an employee for years,” wrote Mihok in his nomination of Sommers for the Award.
While the search at the time was still on for a new body shop manager, Mihok and Sommers spoke for hours each day about where changes were needed and where the shop was successful.
“Jon took on many leadership responsibilities without anyone asking,” Mihok says. “He truly ‘picked up the ball and ran with it.’ Why? Because he had spent 15 years there and wanted nothing more than to do quality work for people who cared. Jon, the office manager, and I kept every employee, adjusted pay plans, and essentially saved that business from failing after four years of poor leadership post-COVID.”
Scan to learn more about CollisionLink OEC is proud to support award-winning leaders like Jon, who trust CollisionLink® for streamlined collision parts procurement. Thank you to Jon and the entire Winner Premier Collision Center team for choosing CollisionLink!
Sommers recalls the situation as being an emergency. “There was no time to sit and think through the pros and cons or weigh out the decision. At that point I had worked at Premier for 15 years, and I looked at it like this: ‘If your shop is on fire, do you take the time to think about what to do, or do you jump in and try to put it out?’ I jumped in.”
and standard of quality, and a year later accepted his offer to be the body shop manager a year later.
Transitioning from technician to manager took about six months, Sommers says.
“I would change clothes after our morning meeting and jump in on the shop floor to keep everything moving. I still jump in when I can, like this morning I was helping one of the technicians in our Dover location with a difficult alignment. I don’t want to lose touch with the actual product and service we provide. I frequently test drive our jobs as part of the QC process; it helps keep me engaged.”
Mihok says Sommers has worked tirelessly to bring up the shop to his vision
Another promotion followed; as of the beginning of this year, Mihok named Sommers body shop director, adding the Dover collision repair center to his responsibilities and implementing the same operational improvements he did in Wilmington.
Smooth Operators From left, helping Sommers with daily operations at the Dover location are Body Shop Manager Mellissa Cartwright and Office Manager Wendy Isham.
WHEN YOU PUT TOGETHER A PROCESS, YOU HAVE TO SIMPLIFY EVERYTHING SO IT CAN BE REPEATABLE.”
—Jon Sommers, Body Shop Director, Winner Premier Collision
Bitten by the Car Bug at An Early Age
Sommers has always been fascinated with cars.
“As a kid, I saved up money earned from doing small chores for family and neighbors, and I purchased classified publications from the local news stand, specifically to read about the cars for sale. I was a huge fan of Hot Rod magazine, Car Craft, Super Chevy, Minitruckin,’ etc. I would call my level of interest a borderline obsession.”
Even before he had a driver’s license, his summer job was at a local garage learning basic mechanical repairs, followed by driving a tow truck after school and on the weekends, which was his first exposure to the collision repair industry, he says. After high school, he graduated from Nashville Auto Diesel College’s collision repair program in 2001.
“While I was formally trained in all aspects of the process, I always gravitated toward mechanical/electrical repairs and diagnostics,” he says. As mechanical technician at the body shop, he specialized in frame replacements, dash-pulls, electrical wiring,
Congratulations to Jon Sommers of Winner Premier Collision Center, a leader in quality and innovation. Pro-Stat is proud to have Jon as a customer. His team sets the bar high, using the Pro-Stat Gun to eliminate defects, reduce rework, and deliver flawless finishes that earn trust and exceed expectations.
winnerpremiercollisioncenter.com
metal-straightening, and what he would classify as “B-tech work.”
Mihok praises Sommers for the number of processes he’s brought to the two shops on the front end with estimators and the back end with the production team as he performs the dual roles of body shop director and production manager.
“For the last three years, he has worked non-stop, including evenings and weekends, to bring the body shop up to his vision and quality standard,” he says.
Implementing Process Improvements
The first step to improvement is to define what the problem is, notes Sommers.
“It’s the scientific method to problemsolving. Not all shops have the same procedural issues, and I do not believe in a ‘one-size-fits all’ approach,” he says. “It is important to standardize some of the logistical processes between the stores (especially for my own sanity). I tend to perform whatever process I am working on a few times myself to better understand where things need to be tweaked.”
Sommers analyzed where processes needed improvement for each phase, from teardown and blueprinting through quality control and delivery. Then he standardized and wrote the procedure for each phase so that all staff, from technicians to writers
and managers, were on the same page, as many of the staff were using their own processes used over the years from previous employers. After proving them at the Wilmington location, he brought them over to the Dover location.
“When you put together a process, you have to simplify everything enough so that it can be repeatable,” he says. “You don’t want it so complicated that we can’t remember and we’re skipping step 6 and step 8 half the time.”
In doing so, he’s also setting himself up to lighten his workload a bit by having pulled along Mellissa Cartwright, body shop manager at the Dover location, and Wendy Isham, office manager in Dover, and Gina Maxon, office manager in Wilmington, to being able to run daily operations without him.
“I said, ‘Guys, watch me do it for two months, and then I’m going to sort of start to hand the reins over for you guys to do it.’”
Such process improvements mean smoother operations, resulting in less stress, greater production efficiency, an 11.25% increase in sales in the past 3-1/2 years, and limiting waste, such as decreasing paint resprays by 60%.
Quality Control
Sommers has helped decrease comebacks and improved CSI by implementing a standardized and tight quality control process. This
Premier Managers
At the Winner Premier Collision Center in Wilmington are, from left, Sommers, Administrative Assistant Maria Juarez, and Office Manager Gina Maxon.
means numerous checks throughout the process, not just when the vehicle is on the “done row.” A single-page quality control sheet follows the vehicle throughout the process beginning at intake, such as, “Was unrelated prior damage photographed?” The refinish checklist includes details such as ensuring there is a good color match and there are no fisheyes or runs, seeminly simple details but ones that can be overlooked.
It’s probably no surprise that a well-oiled machine also reduces friction in the repair process with customers. Winner also uses the text function available in CCC ONE to keep customers updated, along with phone calls.
Quality Control Sommers has implemented standardized and tight quality control processes, which have decreased comebacks and improved CSI.
Sommers just started his new role as the Subaru Certified Collision program was making in-process QC checks mandatory, he says, and provided the framework for his own QC sheets. They are a big help, but ultimately, he says, the culture of the shop determines the quality of the finished work.
“Hire people with pride in their work. Manage expectations,” he says.
At the same time, the shop has increased net profit by 78%. Contributing to this is getting more than 100 hours out of a gallon of clearcoat (the shop uses PPG), up from 80 hours per gallon, by processes that limit waste and comebacks.
“Our paint shop knows we are watching the pours, and they want to be the best. A lot of this directly correlates to your head painter and their level of pride.”
Each technician is required to use the CCC mobile app, enabling on-the-spot updates and documentation.
“The more photos you have, the better documentation you have, and the more chances you have of getting paid for what you’re doing,” he says.
“Remembering that this is about the people is a huge driver of success in this industry,” Sommers says. “Always try to empathize with the owner of the vehicle and be an advocate for them. We provide a service to a wide range of customers, with very different priorities.”
Sommers has reduced employee turnover, partly by hiring talented team members, he says, but also by listening to their concerns.
“It’s important to be accessible and let people know their concerns are valid and being heard.”
For Sommers, the processes help solidify teamwork at the shops. “There is no such thing as a superstar technician, estimator, writer or director without the team behind them driving collective success,” he says. “Consistency is key. Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.”
Mihok agrees. “I know I can rely on Jon to never let anything fall through the cracks. He has sacrificed a lot of time with his family to embrace his role and build out his team. It is because he is passionate about the industry that he stays so engaged. I’ve never met a manager who reads so much on their personal time about the collision repair business, statistics, and best practices. He truly wants to make it as frictionless as possible for clients and make their vehicle pre-incident quality.”
JON SOMMERS CONGRATULATIONS
JON SOMMERS
BODY SHOP MANAGER OF WINNER PREMIER COLLISION CENTER & WINNER AUTOMOTIVE GROUP WILMINGTON, DELAWARE
FENDERBENDER 2025
THIRD-GENERATION SHOP OWNER TAKES FAMILY BUSINESS TO NEW HEIGHTS
With a hands-on leadership style, Tyler Makeig emphasizes quality, team culture, and continuous improvement, ensuring high standards and customer satisfaction in collision repair.
BY PETER SPOTTS | PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY SHOWTIME COLLISION
Tyler Makeig grew up with collision repair in his blood, but being a third-generation shop owner of Showtime Collision and this year’s FenderBender runner-up wasn’t what he envisioned as his career trajectory early on.
The family shop, Showtime Custom Coach, Inc., opened in October 1986. Originally, it specialized in limousine manufacturing, specialty vehicle construction, automotive furnishings, and vehicle armoring, but transitioned to collision repair. Growing up around the shop, Makeig swept the floor, picked up dust, and hid in the trunk while the technicians welded and popped it open for them.
His passion at the time was sports, especially basketball. When it came time to decide on what career to pursue, he weighed the value of college versus the “gold mine” of industry information his father had from years as a shop owner. With his eyes set on becoming a future business owner, he chose to pursue the latter.
“I decided to get my degree here in a bluecollar environment,” Makeig said. “I really think in hindsight my dad did it the right way. He had me sweeping floors [and] cleaning toilets. I did car washing, painting, and hired and trained my own employees within those roles.”
Tyler and his wife, Lisa, joined the operation in 2010. Tyler made sweeping operational changes while seeking to live up to the high standard of high-quality repairs that his predecessors had built over the years to propel the shop forward.
“I had a chip on my shoulder, being the man taking over the business, that I don’t want it to go backwards,” he said. “I only want it to get better. Every day I focus on improving an aspect of the business.”
The biggest change was moving from a one-tech to team concept. Instead of having one technician start a car and perform all the work on it, Makeig has specialists perform specific duties for each repair, improving the consistency of quality and production numbers.
Tyler Makeig
with a fitment concern on a Subaru
His hands-on leadership style is the foundation of the shop’s culture.
AWARD RUNNER-UP FENDERBENDER 2025
“That was a really big change that the old heads didn’t agree with,” he said. “My old man thought we wouldn’t be able to produce the same quality that we built our reputation on with one tech.”
He also put a personal focus on learning financials. He dove into labor margins, profits, and incentive programs to maximize profit margins and employee performance. His efforts paid dividends as the shops’ annual revenue grew from $2 million to $5 million per year under his stewardship.
Six year ago, he started acquiring OEM certifications. Currently, the shop has 15 to its name, including Ford, Honda, Subaru, and Nissan.
“It just goes well with our business model and reputation. The main thing is continuing to be better every day,” he said. “[We want to] give the customer as much as we possibly can.”
Makeig also took a different approach to building his team. He didn’t look for professionals with established skills because they were hard to find, might have bad habits, or might be unwilling to learn new tricks of the trade. He developed a team of people who didn’t have a background in collision repair but could be taught to disassemble and reassemble the car the way he wanted.
“Everybody who works for me now, over 20 people, had no experience in the industry. There’s only one remaining member from back when my old man ran it,” Makeig said. “Establishing the crew and culture I have is a big accomplishment for me. In my opinion, that comes first, and then the money will flow later. If you have that, you will provide a quality product for your customers.”
Makeig’s culture starts with his belief in hands-on leadership. He leads by example and his crew knows that anything he asks them to do, he is willing to do himself. He takes great pride in the work he’s put into learning all the different parts of a shop over the years and facing everything his technicians face daily.
“A shop operator or owner who doesn’t know how to fix a car just can’t demand the same respect of one who can go out there and show somebody how to do it if they’re having a problem,” he said. “It gives me respect for them and the hard work they’re doing and it gives them respect for me knowing I can do it, if necessary.”
There is a high standard for the quality of the work and accountability. His team doesn’t point fingers, but they learn from their mistakes. If the same mistake becomes a recurring issue, then it becomes a problem.
“I tell everybody that we’re not going to learn, improve, and get better if we don’t recognize what we did wrong and we improve from it,” he said. “I’m there for the guys. I help them get through hard problems; I maintain a good attitude myself; leading by example I think is a big part [of the culture].”
Outside of the shop, Makeig is looking for ways to engage and give back to the community. He had plans for a car show this year that will not yet come to fruition, but he is continuing to work on it and hopes to possibly have it ready for next year.
“One of my big goals is to get involved with an organization like Make-a-Wish and offer experiences for kids who need it that really love cars or are into cars. [I want to] give them a VIP experience; take them on a ride in Lambos or McLarens or whatever they like.”
One of his ideas is a partnership with an insurance company to fix up a car and do a giveaway promotion. When he started his shop’s Subaru certification, one of the requirements was to get involved with a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization. The crew volunteered at local animal shelters. That volunteer work evolved into a new annual tradition where the shop crew cleans up a local sports complex.
The bottom line for Makeig starts and ends with the customers. Not only does he want them to know their car will be fixed to the highest standard possible, but he also wants to make it as painless of an experience as possible. He knows customers after a crash don’t want to deal with the auto shop and the insurance company; his team focuses on delivering a quality product with as little headache as possible.
“I really avoid dragging customers through the mud of this mess of insurance versus this versus that,” Makeig said. “We really try to stand up and fight for our customers on the back end; I believe the customer experience is secondary to the quality of repair. The quality of repair could almost not be 1,000% but if the customer had an absolutely flawless, great, happy experience doing it, they’re likely going to be happy.”
Congratulations JON SOMMERS
PartsTrader is proud and excited to recognize Jon Sommers and his team at Winner Premier Collision Center and Winner Automotive Group for all of their outstanding accomplishments.
Jon is an involved supporter for The Green Beret Project charity, a non-profit empowering today’s youth. Join us in making your donation to Jon’s charity of choice: The Green Beret Project
JON SOMMERS
Body Shop Manager
Wilmington, DE
THE BEST REPAIR PLANNER/ESTIMATOR OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNER
BARKLEY
Recognized as the driving force behind his shop's overall success, he meticulously follows OEM repair procedures and their documentation.
By JAY SICHT
REPAIR PLANNER/ESTIMATOR BEST AWARD
Asproduction manager of K&M Collision in Hickory, North Carolina, Will Barkley wears a few hats, including as repair planner for some of the shop’s most sophisticated vehicles.
“Will is, without question, the driving force behind our shop’s overall success,” says Michael Bradshaw, vice president of K&M Collision in his nomination of Barkley as the 2025 FenderBender/ABRN Best Repair Planner. “As production manager, he not only oversees scheduling and workflow but also acts as the go-to resource for every technician. From troubleshooting complex structural repairs to clarifying parts or procedures, Will ensures his colleagues have the support, information, and confidence they need to excel.”
With Barkley’s focus on luxury vehicles, including Aston Martin, Bentley, Ferrari, and Porsche, he is responsible for $500,000 to $600,000 in monthly sales, Bradshaw says, and is a major contributor to the shop’s monthly total of $1 million in sales.
At 36, Barkley has been working in the automotive business for over 11 years. He started doing many tasks for a used car dealer before coming to work at K&M, which he recalls was a smaller shop at the time. He started at K&M in the front office answering phones and completing paperwork. But as technicians disassembled vehicles, Barkley took notes. Bradshaw then began teaching him how to write estimates. Then for a time, he pulled double duty with parts and estimating before the shop grew and hired a dedicated parts team.
“Just learning the breakdown of all the parts tremendously helped me when it came time to start repair planning,” Barkley says. He’s been doing at least some of the repair planning for nearly eight years and points to ongoing training as helping keep his skills sharp. (Bradshaw notes that Barkley has a parts-ordering accuracy of 98.3%.)
“Between OEM training, some I-CAR training, going to Mike [Anderson]’s classes, and others, just building on the information it takes to be able to put a 100%-accurate blueprint out there takes a lot of time and effort.”
TECHNICIAN REVIEW
Bradshaw says Barkley has a “meticulous approach to planning, grounded in OEM directives and best practices, which serves as a benchmark for the entire shop.”
Because some of the luxury and exotic brands don’t offer standardized estimating databases, Bradshaw notes, that makes his “thorough and detailed repair plans all the more exceptional.”
And beyond his repair planning skills, Barkley leads with active mentoring.
“He takes time to provide personalized coaching to technicians, walking them through advanced repair procedures and OEM-specific requirements,” Bradshaw continues. “By remaining accessible and engaged, Will not only elevates our team’s technical expertise but also fosters a workplace culture defined by mutual respect and continuous improvement. Over time, this emphasis on teamwork and high standards has garnered him multiple peer-nominated awards, underscoring how deeply his peers value his contributions.
“In every facet of his work — be it production oversight, direct repair planning, or team building — Will demonstrates the unwavering commitment, industry expertise, and leadership qualities that make our shop
stand out. He embodies the professionalism and passion that keep our facility operating at peak performance, setting an example that resonates with every member of our team.”
After Barkley’s nomination was selected with those of five other finalists, Barkley returned the most complete and accurate estimate and was named the winner of our second-annual Best Repair Planner/Estimator Award.
The Concept for the Contest
Modern vehicles have never been safer. Multiple advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) features help drivers avoid collisions, and in the event of a collision, the cabin’s integrity and multiple restraint system components better protect occupants. But at the same time, to retain those safety features once a collision-damaged vehicle is returned to the road, the demands on our readers have never been higher. The same features that provide built-in safety also require specific original equipment manufacturer (OEM) repair procedures for repair, replacement, and calibration, to name just a few considerations.
At FenderBender and ABRN, we wanted to recognize the importance of the repair planners and estimators who are models of profes-
Barkley reviews the repair plan with the technician disassembling the vehicle, outlining key steps and each stage of the repair process.
OEM REPAIR PROCEDURES
By identifying labor steps and non-included operations, Barkley minimizes the need for supplements and ensures every operation is billed accurately.
sionalism and excellence in striving to make sure the vehicles repaired in their facilities are restored to as-built crashworthiness. So last year, we introduced the Best Repair Planner/Estimator Award. We were greeted with an enthusiastic response from the industry. As was the case last year, we solicited and received nominations from shop managers, supervisors, and colleagues from throughout the country. Competition was extremely close, which made for demanding judging. Our inhouse panel reviewed each submission for attributes, such as the repair planner’s commitment to continuing education, work ethic, and his or her attitude in the shop to coworkers. For being named Best Repair Planner/ Estimator, Barkley won a trip for two to the 2025 SEMA Show, where we will present his award to him at the Collision Industry Red Carpet Awards ceremony.
Industry Support and the Difficult Process of Selecting a Winner
Thank you to this year’s sponsors, Ford Certified Glass Network and PPG, who allow us to recognize Barkley and help bring attention to the need for quality, safe repairs. We’d also like to give a special thank you to Mike Anderson and his staff at Collision Advice for their expertise and assistance with the estimating portion of the awards selection process.
Once we narrowed our selections to six finalists, Collision Advice provided an estimate exercise with the stated goal to identify
participants’ understanding of OEM repair guidelines and not-included operations. Any estimating system could be used, while participants were encouraged to use additional resources, such as repair information, the owner’s manual, OEM position statements, and more.
A 2025 Honda Civic was located at a salvage pool website, and photos of its VIN label and damage, plus the color code (NH883P) were shared with contestants. The instructions for the contestants were to write a repair plan using the estimating system of their choice to replace the rear bumper, right blind spot monitor, right quarter panel, right rear door, and right rocker molding, and to repair the right front door with a repair time of four hours.
Additionally, contestants were advised to research the SRS replacement needed based on what could be seen from deployment. They were also instructed to write the estimate not according to insurance guidelines. Instead, the goal of the mock estimate was to refer to OEM repair guidelines and not-included repair operations. Standard rates for labor, paint and materials, and sales tax were used, such as $50 for all rate categories (including Body, Paint, Frame, Mechanical, Structural, etc.) and $35 for paint and materials.
We sent the mock estimate to the finalists. Completed estimates ran a low of about $22,000 less tax to almost $39,000 less tax, which was Barkley’s winning entry. Although
the exercises were not judged solely on the number of lines or the highest dollar value, as was the case last year, those with the most lines also captured the most operations related to safety and proper (OEM repair) procedures. In fact, both Barkley and a close runner-up each had about 450 lines for their estimates. In addition, Barkley included other supporting documents from RepairLogic showing the repair plan procedures he’d researched, along with a 1xID Report showing the single-use parts used on the estimate (a total of 44 single-use parts), plus another showing he’s checked for recalls (there were no open recalls for the subject vehicle.)
“For this year’s contest, the quality of estimates submitted was on an entirely new level,” Anderson says. “This year’s winner displayed a complete understanding of utilizing the OEM procedures to determine and identify those required for a safe and proper repair. In addition, the itemization of not-included operations was superb. Will’s thoroughness of detailed estimate accuracy proved without a reasonable doubt his ability to write an accurate damage analysis.”
Tricks of the Trade
As he demonstrated in his completed estimate exercise, Barkley references OEM repair instructions to identify all necessary labor steps and non-included operations, such as trim removal, specialty fastener replacements, or paint-related tasks.
‘BENCHMARK FOR THE SHOP’ K&M Vice President Michael Bradshaw says Will Barkley’s meticulous approach to planning is guided by OEM repair procedures.
Original fit and function
Identical size and thickness
Seamless camera integration
Structural rigidity
Noise deafening
Recalibration ready
Forward thinking. Not reverse engineering.
The use of OEM glass over alternatives is key to providing customer peace of mind. Same as the factory part, Original Ford Glass is designed to integrate with today’s advanced windshield safety systems, maintain structural integrity, and more.
Joining the Ford Certified Glass Network (FCGN) gets you access to not only the right parts but also exclusive Ford procedures, training, and support — helping you properly install and calibrate glass in any Ford vehicle you see.
Learn more about the benefits of joining at ford.com/fcgn-fb.
“By proactively including these items in the initial repair plan, he minimizes the need for supplements and ensures every operation is billed accurately,” Bradshaw says.
Barkley says he stays up to date on technical training through I-CAR (he’s Platinum-recognized,) OEM training programs, and more. His office is on a mobile workstation in the shop with a widescreen monitor. Working with one of the three technicians on his team, Barkley’s team’s process is similar for different makes and models. As the vehicle is disassembled, parts are sorted by category (such as bumper parts, fender parts, etc.) on the floor or on a cart, arranged by how they’re installed on the vehicle. Undamaged parts are wrapped and stored on parts carts using a bin system.
“The idea of that is as I build my estimate, I’m sorting my parts on my cart that are damaged and then if I get to the end and I miss something that’s, you know, it should still be laying on the floor,” Barkley says.
All one-time-use fasteners, adhesives, fluids, and prep supplies are identified at the same time before work begins. “This approach reduces downtime or work stoppages, preventing surprises mid-repair and supporting a more efficient workflow,” Bradshaw says.
Bradshaw says Barkley compiles a dedicated file of repair information for each job, which may include service bulletins, updated OEM repair procedures, and relevant calibration requirements.
“He then reviews this file with the technician, outlining key steps, potential challenges, and the rationale behind each stage of the repair process. This open communication fosters collaboration and accountability.”
Beyond that, Barkley’s meticulous documentation of each OEM-recommended process and its associated cost provides transparency and justification, Bradshaw says. “This thorough documentation simplifies discussions with insurance companies or other bill payers, ensuring correct compensation while maintaining a clear
record of how customer vehicles are restored to pre-loss condition.”
Tips for Repair Planners
Barkley says one of the biggest improvements repair planners can make is to try to identify and order all parts at the time of writing the repair plan and ensuring all needed parts have been ordered and received by the parts department. Doing so alleviates stress for the repair planner, technicians, and parts department. After a car has gone through the paint process and ready for reassembly is not the time to find out one little part installed behind the bumper cover is missing, he points out, and now it is going to take three weeks for it to arrive from Germany.
“Maybe that part was missed, or maybe the tech never pulled it off the car. Maybe they noticed it when they’re putting it back together. So take that extra 10 or 15 minutes, whatever it is, just to kind of recap with your tech. It’s 100% making sure you’ve
got that buttoned up so you can send it on down the process.”
He’ll refer to the scans to try to determine if there are any defective modules, if any wiring has issues, and what calibrations will be needed after the vehicle is repaired. What modules will need to be reprogrammed? Does it need tires or a wheel alignment? What safety inspections are needed?
“You have to just work your way through what does that car need to be able to have a 100% repair plan,” Barkley says. “The bigger portion of that is just understanding you may have a 2020 model vehicle that you’re working on today and tomorrow you’ve got a 2023 vehicle that has substantially different ADAS systems.
“Just because I worked on this Mercedes and it has these systems, this vehicle three years later may have the same functionality but have completely different systems. I don’t know anybody who can memorize all that stuff and keep track of it. So, have the discipline to go into the OEM repair procedures every time to see what you’re working on.”
SOFTENING THE BLOW OF TERMINATION
Honesty and clarity go a long way in delivering bad news.
By TODD KORTEMEIER
NOBODY GOES INTO business excited to fire their employees. How it’s supposed to work is you carefully and methodically hire the right people, mentor them as they develop their skills to better their own careers and the
success of the shop. Maybe some of them occasionally choose to move on to other things, but in general you’ve got the same core of employees keeping things humming along. This is usually the part where you wake up.
No, business isn’t that easy. Whether it is for performance reasons or your business needs have changed, every business owner is going to need to fire someone eventually. Firings are contentious — even when both sides know what is coming, it is hard to separate from the emotional side of it. There isn’t much you can say that’s going to make your employee happy about the situation. But by being clear, sticking to the facts, and supporting them as applicable after the fact, you can do what you can to soften the blow.
“You try to take the emotions out of it,” says Christy Jones, a former shop owner herself and owner of Clarity Business Coach-
ing. “And just say, OK, this is my business, I have to be making business decisions that are best for my business. And these are the steps that I need to take in order to do that.”
The Problem
There is no handbook for how to fire someone; no two situations nor people are identical. But there is a handbook for your shop — or, at least, there should be. Every shop should have a handbook which plainly lays out both the policies that employees are required to follow and also the consequences for not following them and the processes by which they may be terminated. Jones strongly advises every shop to have a strong, enforceable handbook, written with the help of an attorney or HR professional, as this book often forms the basis for termination.
“We’re all human, right? There’s always going to be some different circumstances or situations where something’s going to change, but [a handbook] gives the shop owner the option of saying, well, no, this takes the emotion out of it. If you can have these disciplinary steps written down in a process, that’s really what I think the main thing is.”
But even shop owners who have done everything by the book may still find it hard to go through with a firing. There’s a technician shortage, after all. Once they let that employee go, there’s no timetable for their replacement. And who knows if that replacement will work out? The hesitancy owners feel is in part from trying to avoid the firing process. But a little preparation and care goes a long way.
The Solution
How you handle a firing is situationally dependent, Jones says. If it’s for disciplinary or performance reasons, then the key there is to make sure it isn’t a surprise, i.e., the employee should have been given an opportunity to correct their performance, an official warning through the policies of the
handbook, etc. “And there’s really no softening of that,” she says.
But other times, you may have a need to make a change in structure or a downturn in business that necessitates letting someone go. And here too, there isn’t a lot you can do in the moment to turn a negative into a positive — someone has just lost their job and can’t really see any silver linings. So as the shop owner or operator, it’s your job to provide what you can, and that is clarity in communication.
“There’s really not a whole lot you can do other than just kind of communicate the whys and being respectful of their feelings,” Jones says. “And making clear that you’re not firing them or removing them for disciplinary reasons.”
Jones says that when she has had to do firings, she has done some practice first. You might consider writing down the general reasoning behind the termination, and then practicing how you want to deliver that message. The content of your message should be around context, Jones says. Stick to matters of “facts, not feelings,” and that the conversation should not become a debate. You as the business owner have made this decision, this is why, and here’s what the next steps are.
This conversation should be as brief as necessary to deliver these messages, says Jones, as you don’t want to belabor the point or embarrass the employee. They should be allowed to leave quietly without having to see their former co-workers if they choose not to. This can be tricky with technicians who have tools to pick up, but those arrangements can be made later. If you and the employee are parting on good terms, at least from your perspective, and you would give them a recommendation or a reference, that’s something you can offer to leave a positive impression.
“There are opportunities for you as an employer to help out after; you can be a reference,” Jones says. “You can help them find a job. You can give them a stipend of some sort. There are a lot of different ways
that you can soften the blow when it comes to the different types of firings.”
The Aftermath
The now-ex-employee isn’t the only person you might need to worry about softening the blow for; you also have a team of their former co-workers who now might be a little on edge. They might be wondering if they might be next, or if there is going to be more work on their plates. You don’t need to get into the details or violate the privacy of the departed employee, but you should try to be honest and up front about what’s happened and how it affects the rest of the team. This is also a good time to review the handbook as necessary.
“Let’s ask ourselves, ‘How can we have better performance in our jobs?’” Jones says. “What are some things that we can do to be a better technician, to be a better painter, to be a better detailer? It’s a good learning opportunity.”
It’s also a good time for some introspection from management. If there was anything that came up in the firing that might need addressing, see if there are any policies that need changing, or additional training. “Handbooks can be changed all day, every day,” reminds Jones.
The Takeaway
Firing is one of the greatest responsibilities that business owners have. They must not only do right by the business but also remember people’s humanity and treat everyone responsibly. When receiving difficult news, an employee may not be in a position to accept kindness, but you can do right by them by being direct, clear, and offering to help going forward if you’re able.
And you can do that more easily by being prepared. Ensure your handbook is up to date, do everything by the book and by the law, and you’ll be on your way to delivering bad news in as good a way as such news can be given.
“Just like onboarding, you need to have a plan,” Jones says. “Offboarding has a plan, too.”
FINANCIAL SERIES: MINIMIZING OVERHEAD EXPENSES
With claims counts declining, it may be time to proactively trim overhead expenditures to save cash flow and cut the monthly expense budget.
By STEVE TRAPP
HAVING RUN HUNDREDS of performance groups over the past 40 years, FenderBender challenged me to recap the key learnings on the main topics the groups discuss. This is the fourth part of the series.
Opportunity: Minimizing
Overhead Expenses
This last article in our financial series concerns limiting overhead expenses and optimizing operating profit. Post-COVID, as sales surged due to ADAS revenue and increased repair demand, sales grew to allow overhead expenses to fall to between 25-31%. This resulted in operating profits from 10.1% to over 20% for some. As you can see from the table below, if our sales decline by 10% and we don’t reduce overhead, the overhead expenses will grow as a percentage of total sales and operating profit will decline by that percentage.
This article will examine all the categories of overhead expenses and how to evaluate and manage them:
Overhead Wage Expense
These expenses typically run 9.8% to 12.1%. With declining demand, this will probably grow to nearly 13%. Let’s look at some of the largest investments and considerations:
In general, a well-run office has documented SOPs, routinely trains and reviews them (explaining why the shop does it that way), and agrees upon the role/accountabilities of all office team members. The team frequently reviews the insurance scorecards and adjusts operation codes and shop processes to optimize per the insurance scorecards.
CSR wage: Have the CSR partner with the estimator to take control of assignments, gather images to triage repairs, greet and gather marketing source information, listen to customer needs, and mail out letters for unsold estimates. They also can improve GP
by preclosing and closing files and can reduce AR by not releasing vehicles without a payment or approved final supplement sign-off. Further, you may want to have the CSR enter the paint and material and sublet invoices and overhead expense invoices and verify the accuracy of the daily pre-posting report to Accounts Payable. To keep them on track, pay them to help raise closing ratio (sales), to optimize gross profit, to raise CSI / NPS and help lower receivables.
Estimator/Repair Planner: As a partner with the CSR, their primary role is to schedule the right type of repair volume to keep the inflows of work coming in to optimize the staff time. They need to focus on selling skills, AI and estimating skills, and solid communication skills. They do need to learn to QC the final repair to ensure it meets the standard they sold to the customer to optimize referrals and to drive repeat business. Pay them to optimize delivered sales, improve the per job gross profit, raise CSI/ NPS, and to lower receivables.
Parts Manager: Their focus is to source parts from preferred vendors whenever possible, to use automated tools to send all parts orders, to get parts price increases in the first supplement, to ensure the estimate and parts invoices reflect cost / profit matching when OEMs want to do this, and ensure parts are returned ASAP and the pending credits are treated as AR. Pay them to optimize parts gross profit %, limit pending credits (a form of AR), and to reduce overall repair cycle time.
Production/General Manager: These roles have a broader role in the shop. They have to set sales targets, encourage level scheduling, ensure prompt repair planning, encourage parts organization and kitting prior to body, enable the paint flow line to drive 12 paint labor hours per paint booth cycle, to get reassembly done accurately and promptly, and to ensure we don’t have rework on delivered vehicles. It is important to reinforce each quality at source, so the technicians QC their own work to minimize
administrative time spent on rework. Pay them for gross profit $ and %, repair cycle time, and overall operating profit.
Finally, you need to evaluate your office-to-technician ratio. Some shops with experienced staffs can have 1.5-2.0 technicians to 1 administrative person. Staffs with less experience (lower salary range 1.0-1.5 technicians to 1 administrative person. Further, unproductive family members or people in the wrong seat on the bus (wrong role) can often slow the entire shop. Be sure the administrative team’s limitations aren’t slowing the shop in any way.
In short, evaluate the office staff with an open mind and be mindful that they remove the barriers for the technicians. Finding the right staff to follow the most efficient processes is a key part of the leader’s job!
Overhead Benefit Expense
These expenses typically run 3.5% to 4.7%. Let’s look at some of the largest investments: This category of expenses reflects both the technical and administrative staff benefit expenses. The best way to review these expenses is to consider the sum of all employee benefits divided by the total of all wages paid (Total Body Labor + Total Paint Labor + Total Overhead Labor). When you compare the benefits costs/total wage cost, you see the percentage as a “TRUE COST OF LABOR.” Often, an additional 20-25% expense is incurred when considering the true cost of staffing.
Reducing these expenses can be difficult because many are mandated by law, such as FICA, FUTA, SUTA. The amount invested in other benefits needs to be evaluated for the value placed on them by employees.
Insurance: Shop periodically and join a larger buying group to procure in a larger risk-pool.
Vacation / Sick PTO days: Many repairers choose to pay these expenses as they are
accrued (when they have the cash) to avoid having to pay vacations in months when the staff wants to leave and sales are down. To make up for lost productivity during weeks of vacation, you may want to suggest a Saturday 6-hour day (voluntarily by some or all of staff) to make up for lost production in months with high demand and a number of vacations/sick days.
401(k) Administration and Company Match: Again, shopping the administrative companies and their fees can be helpful along with comparing your company-match to your local competitors. If you pay more, be sure the staff knows the annual cost of this additional contribution.
Bonuses or Profit-Sharing: Be sure the basis of this calculation assumes a bonus on cash flow. Shops need to pay for principal on loans and equipment on top of the net income. Paying bonuses on a rolling quarter prevents the staff sandbagging certain months and getting overpaid in others.
Facilities Expense
These expenses typically run 2.5% to 4.3%. Having an attractive and well-maintained shop is a form of marketing expense, as the facility helps gain customer trust and influence buying motives. This expense may vary based on who owns the property. An industry standard for shop owner-owned locations tend to be as high as 5% of gross sales. That often is a tax avoidance tool and money made by the landholding company isn’t subject to FICA, FUTA or SUTA and has a different tax treatment. Let’s look at some of the thoughts of the more profitable shops:
Facility and Lot Rental: For shop ownerowned property, we recommend a base rent e.g. 3% of total sales) and a total 5% percentage rent during better times when sales exceed a certain number.
$200,000 Total Sales 3% = $6,000
$300,000 Total Sales 5% = $15,000
Property Tax: To limit this expense, attend the meeting or hire a specialist to appeal the property tax if value seems high for the market.
Garagekeepers Insurance: Solicit competitive bids periodically. Evaluate the office or production designation of key employees to avoid overpaying for office staff.
Facility Maintenance: Limit damage to the building during its use and have a CapEx plan to maintain things such as lighting, HVAC, parking lot, signage and other facilities expenses.
Maintenance Expense
As we all know, it is less costly to maintain than it is to repair or replace. Keep the oil changed in compressors and replace booth filters at the prescribed time. These expenses typically run 1.4% to 2.3%, so here are some of the thoughts from the more profitable shops: Equipment Maintenance: Have a maintenance plan posted on the piece of equipment and maintain it on a schedule. Annually agree upon a 5 -10 year CapEx maintenance plan.
Shop Supplies: Be sure to code the right expenses here. Also, walk the shop looking for any waste which may be occurring.
Small Tools: Often this is a way to reward technicians for longevity or as a bonus. Try to wisely invest in tools to optimize labor efficiency.
Vehicles and Vehicle Maintenance: Ask yourself, does your staff with a company car know the equivalent salary value of this expenditure? Would they prefer wages and then buy their own vehicle?
Editor’s note: We broke this extendedlength article into two parts. Next month, we’ll dive into expenses for marketing, professional services, IT, utilities, education, and other expenses.
HUMAN RESOURCES
HOW CAN COLLISION REPAIR ATTRACT TALENTED NEXT-GEN TECHS—AND KEEP THEM?
The answer is multilayered, according to two industry experts.
By CAROL BADARACCO PADGETT
THE COLLISION REPAIR INDUSTRY has an image problem to fix. That’s the opinion of Dan Wittek, director of global application engineering for 3M Automotive Aftermarket Division in Maplewood, Minnesota.
The trouble: as a culture we haven’t historically viewed collision repair as a promising career destination. In fact, quite the opposite, and Wittek knows it firsthand.
“I grew up very artsy-craftsy and I was also good at science and math,” Wittek describes himself as a kid. “But I always enjoyed hands-on [work].”
Enter a 1983 Datsun, his first car.
“It was a complete pile of junk, but I did my best to mold it. I had more interest in that than mechanical engineering,” Wittek shares. So, he told his parents that he wanted to take a different route with his
schooling — one that bypassed the engineering program they planned for him at the University of Minnesota.
“My parents almost died,” Wittek states of his plans to get a crash course working in a body shop instead. At school, he got the same reception. “My high school guidance counselors said, ‘No, you can’t do that. You need to go to college.’”
Wittek believes he’s not alone in his experience — and that to grow top talent for the collision repair pool today, shop owners and schools must work together to erase the stigma.
“Even from movies and the media, the look of repair shops is not good,” he notes. “Collision repair centers are publicly viewed as dirty, the mechanical stepchild of the skilled trades.” And he adds of everyone involved in the industry, “It’s our responsibility to help position our industry in a better, more responsible light.”
Making Collision Repair
Look Like a Rock Star Wittek, of course, didn’t listen to his parents and school counselors in the 1990s, and he did go into collision repair. Then later, as an adult, he added that engineering degree. Together, the two vocations have given him a unique vantage from which to see and gauge what up-and-coming auto body techs need to succeed.
In addition to his work at 3M today, where he spends 80% of his time focused on collision repair, Wittek serves as a SkillsUSA (national workforce development organization for students) committee member, and has since 2007. He also works closely with its auto refinishing technicians contest, as well as with the local SkillsUSA contest in Minnesota. So, he’s doing his part to build up the industry and people’s fresh, new awareness and perception of it.
“This is a fantastic, fun, and creative trade,” Wittek stresses. “Society is changing and adjusting to that.”
As collision repair moves beyond its second-class-trade image, though, kids keep changing, so much so that it’s hard to tell what an actual rock star looks like to them anymore.
Wittek, though, says he knows the students he comes across are looking for these three things to be present in their careers: opportunities for growth, a clear career path, and rewards.
“So, to have somebody new come in [to your shop] in an entry-level position and be seen as the person who just does prep work, cleans floors, and who has no vision of what their future looks like, that’s a big risk in terms of holding onto talent,” he cautions.
The Nuts and Bolts of What Young Techs Need
Essentially, young techs today want to feel like they’re on a career path that can put them in the driver’s seat of their own lives, according to Jason Duffy, managing principal of Collision Action Group in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, a recruiting and consulting firm for the automotive industry. Leading up to this role, Duffy was an aircraft mechanic in the military until he found collision repair, and he never looked back.
“Today’s young techs are looking for identity and respect. It’s the generation we’re going through,” Duffy states. “They’re looking for a culture opportunity and a chance for a [career] that grows into something more than turning a wrench.”
That means today’s techs are looking for a collision repair company that’s growing, where they can be a part of something and feel good about their direction there.
“They must see this pathway and know they’re on it,” Duffy emphasizes.
And according to Wittek, “When shop owners help create a better environment, young techs can see that this is one of the most fantastic and fun trades.”
Collision repair is vibrant and creative in Wittek’s and Duffy’s worlds — and both encourage shop owners, schools, and everyone associated with the trade to make sure that’s what young techs see and experience when they walk through the doors.
What Else Makes a Young Tech Tick?
Today, an insurance card and a 401(k) are not what the new generation of workers are after — and they’re not what can make young techs stay.
“These things are not what’s on young techs’ brains today,” as Duffy puts it. “If you give them responsibility, they like that. They want to be treated like adults. You have to let them fall on their face in a gentle way and don’t micromanage them. There’s a psychology behind it.”
But how can a shop owner provide these things for young technicians and still get the work done right?
“One shop I know is turning its techs into a team,” Duffy says. “He knows that if there’s nothing challenging going on, it’s boring [for young techs]. So, he makes the team like a tryout, and he gives new techs these tasks they’ve got to do, and so many they have to complete within the day, and then when they do, they get to shadow someone on the team.”
This way, the seasoned team of techs can easily identify the young techs who have drive and who will be an asset — and they want them onboard.
“So, the new tech then gets to ‘enter the club’ and they’re part of something,” Duffy notes. “Today, it’s more about calling out the wins and doing it publicly.”
Wittek says when shop owners offer incentives and have active development plans in place that it helps attract young techs today. “If you do this, we’ll reward you with that,” is the idea, he says. “Shops need to present a visible career path where techs can see a future, practice their craft, and see themselves as able to support themselves and a family.”
To find potential new techs who possess this kind of vision, Duffy says it’s wise to look for individuals who are teachable.
“We don’t necessarily go straight to the trade schools, but we go after athletes who are coachable,” he says. “We look for humility, curiosity, and pride. And we go for people who are hungry [for a career]. We’re hiring off a culture and potential.”
When it comes to schools and other training programs, Duffy encourages shop owners and managers to start by developing good relationships with the teachers. “That way, you can let students know what the market actually looks like.”
He also advises owners to keep an eye out for women techs today who are interested in the trade.
“I like seeing females getting into the mix in a good-cultured shop where there’s respect across the board,” he says. “The mix helps bring more energy across the shop and it builds a family [culture].”
Wittek agrees. “If we want to attract and grow the workforce, we need to dig deeper. We need to put the industry in a favorable light and get those interested in science and technology for cars today.”
Self-Reflection Also a Good Idea
As Duffy says, “If you’re a shop owner reading this, stop looking for the perfect tech to come walking through your door. Look in the mirror and ask yourself, ‘Am I somebody who they’d want to work for?’”
At the end of the day, it’s not only the new young techs that are changing and who must continue to adapt within the industry; it’s leadership and management, too.
“We expect our techs to grow and adapt to ever-changing vehicles like EVs,” Duffy closes. “So you should also be growing and becoming better as a leader. There is no room for managers anymore. Only leaders.”
Finding My Place as a Woman in Collision Repair
Women can contribute and thrive in collision repair, from the shop floor to management.
Entering the auto collision industry as an unmarried woman was never something I imagined for myself when I was younger. I grew up surrounded by heavy machinery and tools when I was young but was never hands-on with them.
Being a woman in this industry brings its own set of challenges. But those challenges can become steppingstones, and this industry offers opportunities for women in ways I never expected.
The automotive industry, especially the auto collision side, often carries an outdated image: a bunch of guys under cars, covered in grease, and wielding wrenches. At first, I faced the natural assumption that I didn’t belong here. Women in this field are sometimes expected to be in supporting roles, whether that’s answering phones, doing admin work, or providing customer service. While I initially embraced those roles, I quickly realized I had so much more to offer.
I wasn’t interested in just “filling a spot.” I wanted to prove that a woman could handle the technical aspects of the repairs and business, too. I knew that I could add value in more ways than one. I had to deal with the skepticism of others who doubted my skills, and people, especially customers, still doubt me. I’ve had to prove myself twice as hard to earn the same respect that male counterparts received without question. As I kept pushing forward, it became clear that my work ethic, dedication, and passion were the qualities that really mattered.
Women in the auto collision industry often encounter biases. I wasn’t taken seriously at first, and many people assumed I didn’t have the technical knowledge or the drive to succeed. I quickly learned that no one could define my worth except me.
What helped me most was refusing to let the negativity discourage me. Still to this day, I have customers ask to speak to my husband thinking that I am just the face of my shop. I’ve focused on learning and growing in ways that would give me the tools to prove myself. Whether that meant taking extra courses, shadowing skilled technicians, or simply asking more questions than I had before, I made sure to keep developing my skills. Eventually, it wasn’t my gender people were talking about; it was my ability to get the job done, my determination, and the unique perspective I brought to the table.
One misconception I had before entering the auto collision world was that it was all about turning wrenches and getting my hands dirty. While I
do enjoy the technical side of the industry, there are so many other valuable roles women can play here. Customer service, estimating, shop management, and marketing all require creativity, organization, and communication skills: areas in which I excelled.
The collision industry needs women in leadership roles. Whether it’s influencing company culture, making decisions that impact the bottom line, or offering new ways of thinking about how business is done, women’s contributions are invaluable. I found my place in not only the technical side of things but also in guiding and managing teams, ensuring everything runs smoothly, and making sure customers have a great experience.
One thing I wish I had known early on was how important mentorship would be in my journey. When I first started, I felt isolated, unsure of how to navigate the dynamics of a male-dominated workplace. Finding mentors, people who understood the challenges I faced, helped me grow both professionally and personally. These individuals taught me how to repair cars or manage a team and navigate the sometimes-tricky landscape of being a woman in the auto collision business.
The relationships I’ve built with other women in the industry are invaluable. We lean on each other for advice, support, and encouragement. Equally important are the male allies who champion women in the workplace and advocate for diversity and inclusion. Having a solid network of people to turn to has made all the difference. My success is defined on my own terms. It’s about showing up every day, working hard, and not letting anyone’s perception of what I should or shouldn’t be limit what I can achieve. I’ve learned to take pride in my work, to continue learning and growing, and to be unapologetically myself.
To any young woman considering a career in the auto collision industry: Do it. Don’t let the myths or stereotypes hold you back. It’s not always easy; there will be moments of doubt and frustration, but the personal and professional rewards are worth it. The industry needs more women who are willing to break down barriers and redefine what it means to be successful here. We have the power to shape the future of the auto collision world, and there’s a place for all of us in it if we keep pushing forward and never underestimate what we can achieve.
EMAIL: tiffanykaymenefee@gmail.com
ARCHIVE: fenderbender.com/menefee
September’s Not the End — It’s the Edge
Are you ready to press the reset button and prep for a strong fourth quarter?
Let’s be real; summer didn’t go the way most of us planned.
Maybe you had more turnover than expected. Maybe the wheels came off a few initiatives. Or maybe it just felt like one long fire drill with 105-degree heat indexes and every insurance company ghosting you until the third “just checking in” email.
If you’re in that boat, you’re not alone.
But here’s the thing I remind my team and myself every September: This isn’t the beginning of the end. It’s the edge. It’s the line between coasting and committing. And the way you lead through this month determines whether Q4 becomes a sprint toward growth or a slow crawl toward “good enough.”
The September Shift: From Drift to Drive
Here’s what happens industrywide every year around this time:
Kids go back to school. Summer PTO ends. Fall sports ramp up. The “we’ll revisit that in the fall” list starts to pile up. Suddenly, leadership teams are buried in reactivity again.
But the elite shops? They’re not waiting for January 1 to recalibrate. They use this moment right now to shift gears.
September is our industry’s unofficial reset button. It’s when you take all the pain, lessons, and chaos from Q1 through Q3, and you do something intentional with it.
You don’t need a perfect roadmap. You need clarity. Clarity around your people. Your process gaps. Your blind spots.
Because clarity is what gives culture a backbone and culture is what carries you through the noise.
Three Questions I Ask My Leaders in September
At DB Orlando Collision, we treat September like a pressure test. I ask each department leader to reflect on three things:
1. Where are we bleeding time or morale? What bottlenecks or bad habits have quietly become “just how we do things”?
2. What’s working that we’ve stopped celebrating? Momentum dies in silence. When wins aren’t recognized, they stop multiplying.
3. Who needs a challenge, or a change? Some employees are stuck because we haven’t pulled them forward. Others are stuck because we haven’t been honest with them.
This kind of clarity check isn’t a blame game;
it’s a reset. It’s how you take control back when the year starts slipping.
Fall is Where Leaders Show Up
When things are chaotic, it’s easy to go heads-down and focus only on production. But September isn’t just about workflow, it’s about vision. If you don’t give your team something to aim for between now and December, they’ll default to survival mode.
Start casting the Q4 vision now.
It doesn’t need to be flashy; it needs to be clear. Show your team where you're going. Tell them what matters most. Get specific about what “winning the quarter” looks like. What we need to do to “finish strong.”
When leadership goes quiet, people assume the worst. When leadership gets loud, (in the right way) it creates certainty. And in a business full of uncertainty, certainty is currency.
What You Can Control
If you're feeling like this year hit you harder than expected, you’re not alone. The tort law changes in Florida alone turned our timelines upside down. You can’t control what legislators pass or what insurance companies delay, but you can control your team’s communication rhythm. Your estimating integrity. Your blueprinting accuracy. Your cycle time reporting. Your coaching cadence. Your culture.
Start there. Start small if you have to. But whatever you do, don’t wait until January.
My September Challenge to You
Here’s what I’m asking from my team and what I’m challenging you to do with yours:
• Audit your culture. Does it reflect accountability and ownership, or avoidance and burnout?
• Revisit your SOPs. Are they being followed, or have they quietly slipped into “guidelines”?
• Reignite your leaders. Pull them into the fight with you. Don’t carry it alone.
• Reconnect with your why. The industry needs shops that lead with conviction and care. Don’t let the noise drown that out.
This is your moment to decide: Are you riding out the year, or preparing to define how it ends?
When other shops slow down, we level up! September isn’t our finish line…..it’s our opportunity to correct the course and finish strong.
DREW BRYANT has been the owner of DB Orlando Collision since August 2011. A 20 group leader, in-demand conference speaker, and award-winning shop owner, Bryant takes a nontraditional approach to process implementation, lean process development, and overall operational experience while remaining dedicated to his staff’s personal and professional development.
