FenderBender - August 2022

FENDERBENDER.COM / AUGUST 2022

Strategies & Inspiration for Collision Repair Success

PLANNING FOR NEW TECH

PAG E 34

TAKING OEMs TO HEART

PAG E 6 8

ONE FOR ALL

EMPLOYEES ALL HAVE A STAKE IN SUCCESS AT MOODY’S PAG E 28

DELIVERING FOR CUSTOMERS

PAG E 36

Sharing Ownership Maine operator Shawn Moody saw a unique way to give his employees a retirement plan and plan for the future—by giving them shares in the business.

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AVERTISSEMENT

POUR ÉVITER DES BLESSURES GRAVES OU MORTELLES:

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Paint Code Labels

TIRE AND LOADING INFORMATION

SEATING CAPACITY

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TIRE SIZE FRONT P265/70R17 REAR P265/70R17 SPARE P265/70R17

COLD TIRE PRESSURE SEE OWNERS 303kpa 44psi MANUAL FOR 303kpa 44psi ADDITIONAL 303kpa 44psi INFORMATION

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT AUTO DATA LABELS: Visit Our Website At www.AutoDataLabels.com Email Us At labels@AutoDataLabels.com Or Call Us At (631) 667-2382 ©2022 Auto Data Labels an LKQ Company. Visit us at Shop.LKQcorp.com and LKQcorp.com

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Caution Labels

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CONTENTS

AUGUST

0 8 . 2 2

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V O L U M E

2 4

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N U M B E R

0 8

Owning Success The co-workers at Moody’s Collision Centers aren’t just employees, they’re owners.

FEATURE

22 GROW THROUGH CHALLENGES

How shop owners can keep aiming high even through tough times.

BY PAUL HODOWANIC

PROFILE

28 ALL HANDS IN

All employees have a share in the success of Shawn Moody’s shops.

BY ZANE DOUGLAS

Printed in the U.S.A. COPYRIGHT ©2022 BY 10 Missions Media LLC. All rights reserved. FenderBender (ISSN 1937-7150) is published monthly by 10 Missions Media, LLC, 571 Snelling Avenue North, St. Paul, MN 55104. FenderBender content may not be photocopied, reproduced or redistributed without the consent of the publisher. Periodicals postage paid at St. Paul, MN, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTERS Send address changes to: FenderBender, 571 Snelling Avenue North, St. Paul, MN 55104.

CONTENTS

AUGUST

QUICK FIX

13

10

PAST THE PAGE

NABC helps first responders

11

DRIVERS SEAT Growing and developing

13

BREAKDOWN

From outsider to insider

17

NUMBERS

Top Shop KPIs

19

LIGHT HITS

GFS partners in education

We are masters of our craft.

OEM Wheel Solutions

› CCC True Parts

› Mitchel

› OPSTrax

› APU Solutions

› Parts Traders

› Audate

Experience our Craft 800-981-8321 or BlackburnsWheelFinder.com

August 2022

8

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STRATEGY

COLUMNS

38

34

CASE STUDY

THE SOP

Talking P&Ls

New technology, new processes

63

36

ADAPT

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Wowing with a delivery

Looking into the future

68

EDUCATION+TRAINING Following OEM procedures

21

THE BIG IDEA

Consider your brand’s identity

BY K E VIN R AIN S

61

COLLISION COURSE

Simplifying social media

BY TIFFANY ME NE FFE E

70

OUTSIDE THE LINES

What are you afraid of?

BY JASON BOGG S

36

STOP THROWING TEXTURED PLASTICS AWAY Throwing away bumpers with scrapes in the textured areas? Turn the job faster with Polyvance’s 3804 Flextex VT. Vary the texture from fi fin ne to coarse with one product.

August 2022

polyvance.com 800.633.3047

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CONTENTS

ONLINE EXTRAS

CL ICK ON THE L OGO BEL OW F OR PRODUC T INF ORMATION Accudraft

FinishMaster

PPG

asTech

Industrial Finishes

ProColor Collision

AUTEL

LKQ Corporation

ShootSuit

Auto Data Labels

G 56 Mitsubishi HEX: #2B388F

R

43

B

143

HEX: #184493

R

24

G

68

B

153

Spanesi Americas

Axalta Coating Systems

O’Reilly

Sunbit

Blackburn OEM Wheel Solutions

Polyvance

TechForce Foundation

CCC Intelligent Solutions

Porsche

EDITORIAL

Matt Hudson Content Director Noah Brown Senior Digital Editor Hanna Bubser Digital Reporter Leah Marxhausen Special Projects Editor Jason Boggs Contributing Writer Caleb Brooks Contributing Writer Zane Douglas Contributing Writer Paul Hodowanic Contributing Writer Tiffany Menefee Contributing Writer Mike Munzenrider Contributing Writer Kevin Rains Contributing Writer

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Jordan Beshears Steve’s Auto Body Sheryl Driggers Universal Collision Greg Lobsiger Loren’s Body Shop John Magowan Ernie’s Auto Body Stan Medina Certified Collision Works

READ WHAT THE PROS READ

ART AND PRODUCTION

Zach Pate Creative Services Director Jonathan Ricketts Art Director Olivia Curti Graphic Designer Morgan Glisczinski Graphic Designer Emme Osmonson Graphic Designer

SALES

Chris Messer Vice President and Publisher 651.846.9462 / cmesser@10missions.com Andrew Johnson Associate Publisher 651.846.9459 / ajohnson@10missions.com Marianne Dyal Marketing Strategist (National Accounts) 706.344.1388 / mdyal@10missions.com Chad Hjellming Marketing Strategist (National Accounts) 651.846.9463 / chjellming@10missions.com Bob Marinez Marketing Strategist (National Accounts) 216.533.8747 / bmarinez@10missions.com Martha Severson Marketing Strategist (National Accounts) 651.846.9452 / mseverson@10missions.com Kyle Shaw Marketing Strategist (National Accounts) 651.846.8480 / kshaw@10missions.com Dan Thornton Marketing Strategist (National Accounts) 734.676.9135 / dthornton@10missions.com Sean Thornton Marketing Strategist (National Accounts) 269.449.0257 / sthornton@10missions.com Kenzie Verschoor Associate Marketing Strategist (National Accounts) 651.846.9472 / kverschoor@10missions.com Matt Harper Regional Sales Manager 651.846.9551 / mharper@10missions.com Melody Todd Senior Marketing Strategist (Regional Accounts) 651.846.9468 / mtodd@10missions.com Autumn Morey Customer Success Representative 651.846.9460 / amorey@10missions.com Jen George Client Service Specialist 651.846.9465 / jgeorge@10missions.com

FENDERBENDER

Mariah Straub General Manager and Production Manager Meghann Moore Bookkeeper and Client Service Specialist Kate Fahlen Event Producer Meghan Horan Community Development Associate Tiffany Fowler Senior Digital Media Strategist Karley Betzler Administrative Assistant

HOW TO RE ACH US

571 Snelling Avenue North, St. Paul, MN 55104 tel 651.224.6207 fax 651.224.6212 web 10missions.com The annual subscription rate is $72 (U.S.A. only) for companies not qualified to receive complimentary copies of FenderBender.

BACK IS SUE S

“The opportunity to read about ways to improve your business from credible owners and manufacturers is priceless.”

Past issue single copies are $8.

Go to fenderbender.com/backissues

LET TE RS TO THE E DITOR

—Stan Medina, Owner, Certified Collision Works, Corpus Christi, Texas

editor@fenderbender.com

ARTICLE RE PRINTS

For high-quality reprints or e-prints of articles in this issue call 651.846.9488 or email reprints@fenderbender.com.

Opinions expressed in FenderBender are not necessarily those of Endeavor Business Media, and Endeavor Business Media does not accept responsibility for advertising content.

August 2022

T O S U B S C R I B E O R R E N E W AT FENDERBENDER.COM/SUBSCRIBE 11

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PA ST T H E PAGE

VIDEOS

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PODCASTS

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WEBINARS

|

NEWS

NABC HOSTS FIRST RESPONDER EMERGENCY EXTRICATION DEMONSTRATION EA R LIER THIS Y EA R the National Auto Body Council hosted a First Responder Emergency Extrication Program in the St. Louis area.

According to a press release, over 30 first responders attended the program in May. The program included a hands-on learning experience that demonstrated emergency extrication techniques, keeping in mind the potential challenges and new processes impacting procedure through vehicle technology, EVs and hybrid components.

The NABC F.R.E.E. program aims to help first responders stay on top of new vehicle changes in order for them to effectively navigate emergency situations. Such components can include high-strength steel, onboard technology, advanced restraint

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systems and the alternative fuel systems of both hybrid vehicles and EVs. For the demonstration, Farmers Insurance provided the vehicles. SENTINEL Emergency Solutions / HURST Jaws of Life supplied the program with the extrication demonstration and classroom education component.

In addition, Mike McConnell from Tesla gave information pertinent to Tesla vehicles to the first responders via a remote broadcast to the classroom segment of the NABC F.R.E.E. program.

To stay on top of other industry developments and news happening on a daily basis, keep an eye on fenderbender.com/news.

August 2022

12

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DRIVER’S SEAT

GROWING STRONGER EVERY DAY

In this month’s issue, we explore how to keep growing even in difficult times MY DAUGHTER TURNS 2-AND-A-HALF this month. Seemingly each day, she dazzles my wife and me with a new word or a new ability as she grows up impossibly fast.

The amazing thing about child development is that she does not yet know what she can and cannot do until she tries, and perhaps fails, and tries again, until she succeeds.

Growth in childhood is inevitable, unlike in business where it is striven for yet not always achieved. In both cases though it is the trying that is the only way to interrogate what is possible. Shop owners face a myriad of challenges in 2022, but that does not mean you stop trying to grow your business. You might be surprised at what you’re able to do.

This month’s feature is all about growth, and not only surviving but thriving in even the difficult economic times shops face today. The independent shop owners we spoke to have gone through the same challenges as everyone else yet found ways to keep growing without taking undue risks. Hopefully through their examples and strategy you’ll find some methods for doing the same.

Growth and success aren’t only in the hands of the owner, of course. Nothing exemplifies that more than this month’s profile on Shawn Moody (Shared Success, p. 48). The ownership structure at Moody’s Coworker Owned Incorporated—as the name implies—is shared among all employees such that everyone has a stake in the success of all 14 locations across Maine.

August 2022

One of our goals here at FenderBender is to bring you not only stories of success but stories of success found in different ways and from different perspectives. I think in this month’s pages you’ll find that, along with some news, tips, and everything else you’ve come to expect from us. Here’s to another month of rising to meet challenges.

TODD KORTEMEIER

EDITOR

tkortemeier@endeavorb2b.com

13

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Save Time and Effort with CCC® Diagnostics

Automatically receive reports in CCC ONE®

Auto-Import Reports Scan results are automatically attached to the workfile

Choice of Providers Integrations with multiple diagnostic providers* for OEM or aftermarket scans

Electronic Invoices Eliminate re-keying of invoices to consistently track costs**

“

Scanning and calibrations have never been more important in our industry. We are proud to work with CCC to find ways to make this information more accessible for shops.

Visit cccis.com/diagnostics for more information.

*Visit cccis.com/diagnostics to see choice of integrations **Requires CCC Repair Workflow CCC ONE is a registered trademark, and CCC and the CCC logo are registered service marks of CCC Intelligent Solutions Inc. © 2022 CCC Intelligent Solutions Inc. All rights reserved.

“

Darrell Amberson President of Operations LaMettry’s Collision Minneapolis / St. Paul, MN

NEWS

Q U I C K

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IDEAS

|

PEOPLE

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TRENDS

F I X

A NA LYSIS

FROM THE OUTSIDE IN

NO MATTER HOW LONG someone has been in the collision repair industry, everyone has to start somewhere. From the seasoned professional to the new recruit, carving a career path in this industry takes perseverance, dedication, motivation and passion.

A former CREF scholarship recipient exemplifies the talent that can be found by bringing those outside of the industry into it GETTY

By HANNA BUBSER

August 2022

15

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QUICK FIX

Currently, the automotive aftermarket is faced with a labor shortage. According to the 2022 FenderBender Industry Survey, 22 percent of respondents think that low labor rates are the biggest challenge facing shop operators today. 34 percent of respondents cite a shortage of qualified technicians as the most challenging aspect.

Both responses prove that the industry needs to focus on new ways of recruitment in order to fill the need. One way of doing this is by looking outside of the industry for qualified individuals whose work skills can translate into collision repair. This is how some lasting careers can be developed.

Susan Bock, senior associate, industry technical relations at I-CAR, is a perfect example of this. After a career outside of the collision repair industry, she took a chance. She discovered some wonderful opportunities, and is now even able to give back to the industry she has come to love.

of the 2009 AkzoNobel Most Influential Women of the Year in Collision Repair Industry Scholarship opportunity through the Collision Repair Education Foundation.

She credits Joe Kircher and Jerry Goodson, two of her instructors at the time, with encouraging her to sit down, write the essay for the application, and just see what could happen.

“I remember where I was when Joe came up to me in class on a Friday morning,” Bock says. “We were getting ready to cut sheet metal and he goes, ‘Jerry just let me know you won a $5,000 scholarship.’ I was kind of shell shocked and he says, ‘I’ve lost you for the morning, haven’t I?’ and I said, ‘Kinda!’”

Bock was able to put the money she received from winning the scholarship towards reimbursement for repair tools.

Bock says that because of this, she was able to have confidence regarding proper preparedness for her career.

automatic check withdrawal for donation each pay period, I said sign me up. I wanted to be able to keep paying it forward,” Bock says. “For the first time in my life I had gotten a college education that moved me forward confidence-wise and it put me on a new career path. I just want to make sure there are still funds going to CREF to help other students that want to go into collision repair, but they’re lacking the funds or they need the help.”

Paying it forward is something that Bock is proud to do, especially considering the current labor climate. She wants others to feel inspired to pursue collision repair, even as changes in vehicle technology and repair procedures pose new challenges and new ways of thinking.

“It’s going to be challenging. But, it’s going to be a really worthwhile profession to get into,” Bock says. “It’s never the same, which is fantastic, as you will never end up bored.”

Find A Starting Place

Discover Opportunity

Pave the Path Ahead

It all started with insurance. Bock spent almost 16 and a half years as a licensed property and casualty insurance agent.

She was laid off in 2009 when the market crashed, but because her employer had laid off 50 percent of the workforce she was able to go to workforce development and get benefits towards education.

This is what led her to the course catalog of Fox Valley Technical College of Appleton, Wisconsin. At the very back, she found the Vehicle Refinishing and Repair Technology associate degree program.

“I started thinking, if I didn’t have to do insurance, here’s my opportunity to get a degree and to do something different,” Bock says.

At 39 years old with no prior industry experience, Bock jumped headfirst into the program. She describes the experience as eye-opening.

“I had a complete misconception of how much knowledge you need to have to actually know how to do the repairs; to understand what you’re repairing, and how to repair it,” Bock says.

Although it wasn’t an easy transition, Bock looks back on the experience fondly, growing pains and all. By applying herself to the work, doors eventually opened to apply herself even further.

Soon enough, she was made aware

August 2022

Being awarded the scholarship helped set Bock up for long term success, especially as someone who was new to the industry. “[The scholarship] not only made me aware of CREF, but it also made me aware of I-CAR.” Bock says. “I didn’t realize there were all these other aspects to collision repair other than writing estimates, doing damage appraising, or working on the vehicle. I had no concept that there was this whole other avenue of employment opportunity.”

It’s this kind of thinking that helped get Bock from starting at I-CAR as an instructional designer to where she is today as an senior associate, industry technical relations.

“I realized I could use my education to learn about writing curriculum and helping out the industry from a whole other angle,” Bock says.

In her current role, she fields incoming phone calls and emails for “Ask ICAR” from technicians and insurance professionals inquiring about what can and can’t be done in regards to effective collision repair.

When Bock initially started with I-CAR, she was immediately intent on giving back to CREF, the program that had helped her so much.

“As soon as I found out you could do an

17

Given the right amount of support, enthusiasm and encouragement, Bock believes in a bright future for recruiting collision repair professionals.

Her perspective has allowed her to see all of the strengths that an individual can bring into the field, even if they don’t have any prior experience. Through her education, her scholarship opportunity and most importantly her determination, she has established a successful career.

Bock is a shining example of the talent to be found outside of the industry bubble, and as we face a future that is more technology-oriented, looking from the outside in may be the best route.

“It sounds so cliche but just because that’s how it’s always been done, that doesn’t mean that’s how you [have to] do it now,” Bock says.

Bock knows a thing or two about breaking with tradition as well. She is a woman in a mostly male dominated field making a mark that lasts while inspiring and impacting those who will come after her.

“No matter what you’re doing in life, you’ve got to prove that you know what you’re doing,” Bock says. “One of my favorite phone calls I got was from a gentleman who said, ‘They let ladies do this?’ and I laughed and said, ‘Yes, yes they do.’”

fenderbender.com

QUICK FIX

Percent of Overall Survey Respondents

Independent, single-location repair business

A shop size of 5,000 to 9,999 square feet

NUMBERS

MICHAEL LIPMAN

THE AVERAGE SHOP IN 2022 W H AT DO M O D E R N C O L L I S I O N R E PA I R S H O P S look like in 2022? The FenderBender Industry Survey has answers compiled from shop owners across the country.

Staff size of 11 or more

Average repair order of between $3,000 and $3,999

74% 30% 38% 40%

WHY PRO COLLISION MADE THE SWITCH

BUSINESS PROFILE

PRO COLLISION OF WEST MICHIGAN Grand Rapids, Michigan Nicole & Jeff Smith ~ Owners

1 8 2 2 2 2O

LOCATION EMPLOYEES PAINTERS PAINT BOOTHS PREP DECKS VEHICLES PER WEEK

Nicole & Jeff Smith

“One major advantage of the Envirobase system is the color match.”

“The blend process is simple and so much easier.”

“Given the support and training we receive, the switch to PPG was one of the best decisions we’ve made.”

PERFORMANCE YOU CAN COUNT ON The PPG Logo, Envirobase and the Multiple Cubes Geometric Design are registered trademarks of PPG Industries Ohio, Inc. ©2022 PPG Industries, Inc. All rights reserved. www.envirobase.com

G N I T R O P SUP

L A C O L THE

A proven business model for 20 years, ProColor Collision is growing!

Independent body shop owners driving their business forward are choosing ProColor.

Standardized operations, management tools and consolidated technology solutions improve performance. The ProColor team of industry professionals are dedicated to performance excellence offering the sales, operational and marketing support needed to take business to the next level.

ProColor Collision is committed to helping shop owners grow their business locally while leveraging established relationships with global insurers, suppliers, and fleet companies.

The ProColor PROcess is a winning formula.

Find out more at procolor.com

ProColor Collision franchises are not currently being offered for locations in Hawaii, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington or Wisconsin, or to residents of these states.

QUICK FIX

LIGHT HITS

SERVICE KING OPENS LEED-CERTIFIED FACILITY

Service King has announced its first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified facility, located in San Antonio, Texas.

According to a press release from June, the 13,600-square-foot body repair shop earned its LEED certification through its recognized achievements in the following: • Sustainable site development • Area planning • Water savings • Energy efficiency • Material selection • Indoor environmental quality • Water savings • Other innovative strategies “Our team is incredibly proud to debut our first LEED-certified facility and introduce an energy-efficient approach to the collision repair industry,” said Service King President Jeff McFadden in the press release.

“Service King is committed to providing a best-in-class experience for our customers while abiding by leading sustainability practices, and our new San Antonio location reflects exactly that.”

GFS ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH LINCOLN TECH

Global Finishing Solutions announced a partnership with Lincoln Tech in June.

According to a press release, Lincoln Tech operates 22 campuses in 14 states under multiple brands. Through this new partnership, GFS and Lincoln Tech will support the next generation of collision repair technicians.

GFS paint booths are implemented across the country for Lincoln Tech students to utilize for hands-on auto body learning opportunities.

Recently, two downdraft paint rooms as well as a paint mix room from GFS were installed at Lincoln Tech’s location in Denver. The next campus to receive this installation is Lincoln Tech’s NADC campus in Nashville, Tennessee.

Other campuses that offer Lincoln

August 2022

Tech’s collision repair and refinishing program include: East Windsor, Connecticut; Grand Prairie, Texas; Indianapolis; and Melrose Park, Illinois.

“Working with industry-standard equipment and materials is a key component of hands-on career training,” said Scott Shaw, Lincoln Tech’s president and CEO, in the press release. “For Global Finishing Solutions — one of the most respected names in the automotive refinishing field — to provide booths and materials to support our campuses adds tremendous value to our Collision Repair and Refinishing programs. We’re very grateful for their commitment and dedication to helping build a new generation of industry professionals.”

GFS plans to train instructors at Lincoln Tech on GFS short wave electric infrared technology and REVO Accelerated Curing Systems, as well as provide campuses with relevant parts and filters.

10-YEAR-OLD BOY CREATES CAR CARE VIDEOS

A 10-year-old boy in Pennsylvania is teaching the internet about collision repair and car care.

According to 69 News WFMZ, Giuseppe Iatarola films his YouTube series “Giuseppe’s Garage” from his parent’s collision repair shop called Lucky’s Auto Body in Hellertown, Pennsylvania.

“I like to post gassers. People go crazy for ‘50s cars, cutting sheet metal, fabricating, people go crazy for that kind of stuff. Welding...welding with the torch,” Giuseppe said to WFMZ. Giuseppe got inspired to make his YouTube videos when he tried searching for car videos for kids online and couldn’t find any. He stars in the videos, his dad films, and his mom edits them.

The 10-year-old is passionate about fixing cars and passing along vehicle knowledge. He hopes to inspire the next generation of automotive enthusiasts through his videos.

ATLANTA I-CAR SUPPORTS HIGH SCHOOL COLLISION REPAIR THROUGH CREF

The Atlanta I-CAR Committee is helping support collision repair programs at

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high schools in Georgia through the Collision Repair Education Foundation.

According to a press release, the Paulding County High School of Dallas, Georgia, auto body program held its second annual Small Car Race this summer. This involves students making their own six-inch-long cars using recycled parts and racing them against one another.

Around 100 people attended the race. The program is still relatively new for the school, but the support they have received so far has helped it to become a great outlet for students.

“Without the support we’ve received from our advisory board, the Atlanta I-CAR Committee and the Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF), there’s no way this program would be anywhere near where it’s at,” said program instructor Leroy Goodwin in the press release. “Our advisory board members are committed to our program and constantly make sure we have everything we need. The Atlanta I-CAR Committee has funded grants and donated tools, equipment and computers, while CREF has also given us tools, estimating software, paint and many materials. These groups are our backbone, and we wouldn’t have this program if it wasn’t for their aid.”

Paulding County High School received a $10,000 CREF Benchmark Grant in 2021, which is funded by the Atlanta I-CAR Committee’s Annual Golf Tournament. At their most recent tournament, the committee raised over $100,000 to support collision repair education programs through CREF. “These guys really care about the industry, and they work tirelessly to get things done,” said Sam Melaragno, an instructor at Maxwell High School who was in attendance at the tournament.

“Our advisory board is also great. They’re involved and eager to support our program, and they provide input on our curriculum to help us understand how we can get our students ready for them to hire. Their input is as valuable as the support they give us financially.”

The Atlanta I-CAR Committee also recently awarded two $3,000 scholarships to Marinelly Santiago and Abale Haylay, both students at Maxwell High School.

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COLUMNS

THE BIG IDEA

Your Brand Identity Communicating who you are is the foundation of your shop’s success One of the things I’ve been revisiting in my

coaching business is the concept of brand identity. After creating a brand identity for 12 years from scratch I decided to join a franchise, CARSTAR. While there were many gains in joining a national network, the hardest thing for me by far was giving up the brand identity that I had cultivated for so long. In part, this is because our brand is a direct reflection of a founder’s identity—their vision, their values, their culture. In a way, giving up that brand identity felt like giving up a little piece of myself since brands and founders are so closely related.

What goes into a brand identity? Tim Urmston, founder of SEEK Company, has been a great teacher for me on branding. He says there are four main elements that we want to pay attention to as we build out our brand: 1. Brand promise 2. Points of differentiation 3. Our value proposition 4. Archetypes Let’s start with the brand promise. The brand promise is essentially what you are prepared to guarantee. A lifetime guarantee on our workmanship used to be a differentiator. That is no longer true. Thankfully for the consumer that is expected as a starting point. What unique guarantee are you ready to stand behind? Maybe it’s a promise that you will always work in the vehicle owner’s best interest even when the insurance company might ask you to cut corners. Maybe it’s the promise that we only use OE parts. Maybe it’s a promise of speed.

For a while, we experimented with a guarantee on self-pays that if we didn’t get the vehicle done in a specified time period we paid for the rental. That’s much harder nowadays with all the supply issues.

But what promise are you willing to make and keep for your customers? What price are you willing to pay if that promise is not kept? Promises made and kept are powerful things.

Next are points of differentiation. A lot of shops are in a race to the bottom because they no longer can conceive of what makes them special or unique. They are just trying to keep up with their competitors. Looking back I now realize that I was constantly comparing myself to my bigger competitors and trying to imitate them or keep up with them. Now I see that being small, local and family-

August 2022

owned was a real point of differentiation. Once I realized this I started playing up our uniqueness.

Our tagline for a while was, “We’re big enough to compete but small enough to care.” In effect, we were saying, “We’re big enough to compete with our big box competitors yet small enough to care for our customers like family and as members of the community.”

That brings us to our value proposition: “We’re going to ____.” This sounds very much like the brand promise and should certainly tie to it. However, this is more focused on what value the customer will get by working with you vs. one of your competitors. “We’re going to only use OE parts so that you can rest assured your car was returned to its original integrity.” “We’re going to call you twice a week with updates so that you’re not left wondering if we’re making progress on your vehicle.” It’s the “so that’’ portion that is the value add for the customer. It’s being specific about how they, the customer, will benefit.

Lastly, we need to touch briefly on archetypes.

If you want to dig deeper here you can look up the Pierson Model. Essentially, all brands have an archetype whether they know it or not. Budweiser’s archetype is “royalty.” They are the “King of Beers” and even their funny commercials will often have a royal theme with a king, queen and a castle at the forefront. Even their use of Clydesdales reinforces this as Clydesdales are the largest and most regal of horses. Another example, Jeep. Jeep’s archetype is “the explorer.” Before we joined CARSTAR our archetype was “the caregiver.” Our logo was a large wing as if to say we’re covering you with care. This fit us well at the time since I had a background in ministry and pastoral care and my sister left a career in nursing to join the family business. I encourage you to think through which archetype fits you—there are many—and then to be overt in using that archetype in all your branding and marketing efforts.

By thinking through each of these four areas of your brand identity you will start to grasp who you are as an organization. Once you understand your identity that determines how you position yourself in this very competitive market. Ultimately your brand touches on your vision, values, marketing and even culture. It’s a very foundational piece that done right will inform a lot of decisions later.

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KEVIN RAINS

After 18 years in the industry, Kevin Rains sold his network of shops. He now coaches body shop owners and leaders and is the author of the upcoming book Launch to Legacy: The Small Business Roadmap to Success and Significance.

You can reach Kevin at kevinrains@gmail.com

EMAIL:

kevinrains@gmail.com

ARCHIVE:

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TOPICAL

GROWTH in all FORMS Finding different approaches to sustain for the long-term

By PAUL HODOWANIC

August 2022

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“When you stop growing, you start dying.”

T H AT O F T-C I T E D Q U O T E from American writer William S. Burroughs is emblematic of the collision repair industry. As another wave of consolidation sweeps through the country, independent shop owners are continually being required to grow. To keep up with DRP programs. To keep up with retaining talent.

To keep up their customer base. Growth is required to maintain all of those key aspects of business.

And growth can be defined in many different ways, from adding employees to opening new stores to simply increasing revenue.

In this month’s feature, three successful shop owners share their unique stories of growth and give advice on what other shop owners need to do to continue to thrive. But as you’re reading, remember each shop’s goals are different. But there are several core tenets that can help guide any type of growth in this time of rapid consolidation.

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TOPICAL

Responsible doesn’t have to mean slow.

Every business wants to grow in a sustainable, responsible way. But too often, shop owners root that desire in the need to be cautious or deliberate, says Joseph Bassett, who sold his 11-store MSO to Crash Champions and is now the VP of operations at Crash.

Bassett grew his business from one location in 2018 to 11 locations by 2021. It was a combination of taking “comfortable risks,” which he recommends for all shops regardless of how aggressive-natured they are, and a realization that growing slower was actually going to be more detrimental for him than growing rapidly.

“I discovered quickly if you weren’t a MSO, people weren’t putting you on the insurance programs,” says Bassett, whose stores were located in Florida and were quickly losing insurance business to the incoming MSOs in Classic Collision and Crash.

Bassett was able to capitalize during COVID, when he says most of the industry—both MSOs and independents—were “asleep at the wheel.” Bassett did not lay off any employees and instead went into growth mode, franchising several locations through CARSTAR and then plucking several more stores per year until he eventually sold the business.

Quick Tip #1 DON’T HIRE JUST TO HIRE

“Having the wrong technician is worse than having no technician,” says Dan Morrow, owner of Morrow Collision Center.

When growing, it can become easy to be less stringent in your hiring standards because you just need bodies in the shop. But even for as fast as Morrow grew, he knew hiring a bad technician would lead to a further delay in production than hiring nobody.

It ended goals he had of becoming a large regional operator of 40 to 50 stores.

But ultimately receiving an opportunity to sell to Crash was “too good to pass up.”

His key to growing quickly? “Execution.”

“It takes a unique breed. But I’ll say, the good operators that are all over everything all the time, they’re the ones that don’t fail.

The ones that grow responsibly know how to execute.”

Crucially, they know how to create a growth plan and execute on it. That’s the

“The ones that grow responsibly know how to execute.”

—Dan Morrow, Owner, Morrow Collision Center

August 2022

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case for Dan Morrow, owner of Morrow Collision Center, a three-store operation in Nebraska.

Morrow’s growth timeline was much slower from his genesis of owning a shop, but once he began growing, it happened rapidly.

From 2002 to 2019, there wasn’t much growth happening for the business. Morrow operated a single location for the entire time. But in his mind, he had lots of ideas.

How he could add on to his current space.

What would adding another location mean for his workers? He had grown the business to eight employees and had pretty much maxed out the space. And critically, how could he secure funding?

“Somewhere down the line I decided I wanted to skip the middle stage of growth,” Morrow says. “Some start where they can, work for five or 10 years and then jump to a bigger shop in an industrial neighborhood.

Then they get that going, by the time they’re in the place to build their dream shop they are going to retire,” Morrow says.

And what enabled Morrow to take that jump was a bank willing to loan him the money necessary to make the jump. He struggled for several years to find one that would give him the green light.

But while that can be looked at as risky, Morrow had years of planning and thinking built up when the opportunity finally arose.

So when he secured the funding, the floodgates for growth opened. Soon he added a 26,000-square-foot facility with the “ideal location, ideal space, ideal everything.” Then in 2021 he bought a third shop. He went from $1 million in revenue with the one shop to over $5 million with the three.

“Over those years we collected ideas,” Morrow says. “We would think about certain processes. Some processes that I thought were good ideas and a year later I came up with a better way. It was constant updating.”

From how to hire new employees, to understanding what type of facility Morrow wanted to add next, those years of waiting to pounce on an opportunity ensured that when it was time to go into growth mode, he knew how to do it responsibly and not recklessly.

Looking back, Morrow still characterizes his moves as risky, but the rapid growth came together smoothly because of planning that was put in place.

Understanding your background is imperative.

Bassett was comfortable growing from a single location to 11 locations within three years because of his extensive background in the industry. Prior to running his own operation, he worked on the executive teams of Caliber, Classic and AutoNation. Through those experiences,

Comfortable Risks Joseph Bassett, former owner of 11-store MSO and now the VP of operations at Crash Champions, advises all shop owners to take “comfortable risks.”

“Don’t get over your skis. If it doesn’t feel good, don’t do it. Everybody is nervous about doing deals, extending themselves or taking a risk. Take comfortable risks. That was always my thing, if it didn’t feel good, I didn’t do it.”

Bassett says that emcompasses everything. The timing of adding locations. The financial situation it would put you in. Adding employees. Trust your gut and intuition, Bassett says, it got you this far.

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Quick Tip #2 PRIORITIZE RELATIONSHIPS

The third shop that Morrow bought was one he had his eyes on for a while. Four years prior to buying it, he had talked to the owner and said if he ever wanted to sell it, to call him. Sure enough, the owner was ready to retire a few years later and gave Morrow a call.

Now, Morrow doesn’t recommend going to every shop and saying you’re interested, He had a previous relationship with the owner and was able to parlay that into a later sale.

Morrow recommends just having relationships with the shops all around you. Be friendly and make a good impression. Don’t act like a consolidator, Morrow says.

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TOPICAL

Quick Tip #3 BUILD A NETWORK OF “FANS”

Bassett’s biggest tip for attracting talent during growth is to “build a network of fans who enjoy working for you.” This industry talks, Bassett says, and if employees like where they work, they will tell others.

“Take care of the people you currently have. Pay them well and they will tell others,” Bassett says, adding he didn’t have trouble hiring or scaling during COVID because of this mindset.

He was also 100 percent transparent with his workers about his growth plan. That allowed his employees to help recruit others because they knew the organization was growing and that their own positions wouldn’t be threatened.

In the same way, for businesses that fail, Bassett says it is frequently related to the lack of follow through.

They don’t keep promises to employees, vendors or lenders.

“When you say you’re going to do something, do it,” Bassett says. “Operate with integrity and good things will come.”

August 2022

he had the institutional knowledge of how to grow and was able to scale quickly after opening his first location.

But that’s not the norm for most shop owners, who often either begin as a technician and graduate into shop ownership or have it passed down through the family.

Jay Flores is a second-generation owner of Tony's Body Shop of Oxnard, California.

Flores’s parents opened the shop in 1965 and it was passed down to Flores in the 1990s. In that time, Flores has transitioned it from an open-air, three-walled shop that the family was renting from a gas station to a 31,000-square-foot facility. But it took time, and plenty of learning to get there, Flores says.

When he took over the business, his only experience came through watching his parents struggle with the business. He says they were part of the large contingent of small businesses that were open but weren’t making any money. They didn’t know the intricacies of how to run a business. So Flores knew if he was going to grow, he needed to be educated.

“I grew business through education and leaving my cubby,” says Flores.

He began to take classes through 3M. Then joined AkzoNobel’s 20 group. There he learned the basics of profit and loss, crafting a business plan and how to set up marketing (more on that later). He got out of

Oxnard and had meetings with shop owners around the US, touring them and learning about their businesses. He wasn’t afraid to ask what he didn’t know and to take ideas from other businesses. He joined Mike Anderson’s Spartan 300 Group and got involved in the California AutoBody Association and has had meetings with the state’s department of insurance. All with the goal of learning and growing.

“You have shops around me that aren’t willing to leave their cubby and be exposed to the world. To see a shop that is nice. To see a shop that is well-run. Why reinvent the wheel? Talk to each other,” Flores says.

That mindset allowed him to grow from having just a handful of employees to now 31. In 2005, he moved out from his older facility to a 25,000-square-foot facility that he has since expanded to 31,000-square-feet and pushed his revenue to about $500,000 per month.

He understood he didn’t know enough to be successful. He watched his parents struggle and it is the “fire that drives” him to continue learning and growing. But to do it, it took some self-realization that he didn’t have all the answers. He was around the business his whole life, but he knew he needed to experience other shops’ workflows and processes. And he’s seen many shop owners try to grow without having the requisite knowledge to do so.

One Shop, Big Scope While Basset and Morrow’s growth has come by adding more locations, Flores has prioritized growth within his one location. He considered adding more shops and has been presented with the opportunity multiple times but has turned it down.

“I’ve had the opportunity to open multiple stores and it’s just not me. Why open a store when you’re already two-and-a-half times the size of a normal shop?” Flores says.

Flores has enjoyed owning a single-location and is an example that growth doesn’t always need to include adding more locations.

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“To become a good shop owner, you need to be educated and expose yourself to other good operations.”

—Jay Flores, Owner, Tony’s Body Shop

Quick Tip #4 STAY ON THE FOREFRONT OF TECH Flores has inherently kept his shop growing because he’s been willing to jump in on new technology. His shop is Teslacertified and his shop can calibrate vehicles and do ADAS work. Because he was willing to invest in new technology, that has opened up new profit opportunities that have continued to grow the business.

“In my eyes, the collision industry has changed and I have changed my business model to make it not only survive, but to thrive with these changes,” Flores says.

“Some of my friends say, ‘We want to be like your shop, Jay.’ Well I look at it like this, if you want to become a doctor, you need to go to school and spend years learning. To become a good shop owner, you need to be educated and expose yourself to other good operations,” Flores says.

Flores recommends joining different in-

August 2022

dustry groups and conducting outreach to other shops. If you don’t want to go visit a competitor, go outside your market to find a shop that’s willing to have you. Flores says there are plenty more shops that will open their doors than will keep you out.

Marketing enables all types of growth.

The biggest piece of advice Flores picked up through his many years of education was the importance of marketing. That’s the introduction of ads through TV, radio and Facebook. But it is also as simple as the shop giving each customer some toffee nuts as they leave. Or sending customers thank you letters. Or clearly explaining the customer’s warranty options so you make sure they come back next time.

“It doesn’t need to be exhaustive, what’s important is you give it some thought.

But if you don’t, you have a business that you’re waiting for things to fall out of the sky and they will not,” Flores says. “Most shops have no marketing plan. Their marketing plan is to get on DRP programs and get work that way.”

As a shop that gets very little work from DRP programs, and sees those programs as a negative for most shops, Flores has had to prioritize a very active marketing plan in order to bring in business.

He also sees a marketing strategy as a fallback option for shops that do have DRPs. For a while, Flores did have several DRPs, but slowly those carriers began to prioritize

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other shops in their program and pushed Flores to make cheaper and cheaper repairs.

To Flores, in order to have sustained growth, shops shouldn’t rely on DRPs to funnel them business. They need to have an organic way of getting customers through the door.

“You control your workflow. You control your following of customers. The carriers, they’re good today and bad tomorrow,” he says. “Look at it this way, if you don’t have a marketing plan, you have nothing more than someone saying ‘I’m going to feed you Tuna for lunch and if you don’t like tuna then too bad.”

Flores sees the marketing plan as a vital aspect to maintaining sustainable growth.

And for shops that have DRPs, they should have a backup plan so they don’t have an outside force influencing your growth.

After removing DRPs, Flores says he went from having 10 cars moving in and out each day to about five. However, they haven’t had any drop off in sales.

And while many view marketing as just an external strategy used to bring in new customers, Flores sees marketing as a vital part of any type of growth. He says his marketing efforts have helped attract new employees, who see that the shop has plenty of work and that it is a well-run organization.

To Flores, the amount of work has always been a deciding factor for potential employees. They want to know that they’ll have work to do when they get to the shop, and the money Flores has spent on marketing assures that.

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August 2022

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PROFILE

SHARED SUCCESS

Operating a successful business in Maine, Shawn Moody lets coworkers own shares of his company to share in the profit they’ve helped him build

By ZANE DOUGL AS, Photos by MEREDITH BROCKINGTON

R E T I R E M E N T P L A N S C A N sometimes be tricky for workers at a successful collision repair shop. If the operation is successful enough, it could be a ticket to comfort for the owner, but what about the rank-and-file workers? If the coworkers had shares in the company, the situation looks different.

That’s the case for Shawn Moody and the Maine repair shops he owns—or in his case, owns 46 percent.

August 2022

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PROFILE

What’s in a Name Moody’s unique ownership structure is reflected in the business’ official name: Moody’s Coworker Owned Incorporated.

Where It Started

Moody’s Body Shop, the business’ original name, was started by Moody going into his senior year of high school. The company was different from the one today, and Moody’s journey changed how things ran for him in the future.

Moody started the shop in 1977, and after 10 years of running Moody’s Body Shop, the lot of land next to them opened up. It was a junkyard of about 35 acres. Originally

August 2022

stemming as an investment, Moody bought that land and fell in love with the auto recycling business. He went on to turn that junkyard into one of the leading recyclers in the whole country.

Moody says that in 1995, his company received the Automotive Recycler’s Association Gold Seal Award for environmental and operational excellence.

That success, sparked by embracing new technology and operating efficiently, was the catalyst for a successful sale of the auto recycling business. That sale would spark his idea for a coworker-owned business.

“In 1998, we had LKQ Corporation and Ford Motor Company kind of vying to buy our auto recycling business out here in Gore, Maine,” Moody says. “Ultimately, we sold out to LKQ corporation and the result of that fail, obviously it was a financial win for myself, my family, but what I recognized after the sale was that the people who

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helped build that company to what it was, did a good job with LKQ, but they didn’t really get the financial benefits of the equity that we had built up over that 10-year run.”

A Fresh Idea

In 2001, Moody’s expanded to two locations, and Moody had in his mind that he wanted to reward his coworkers who were helping to build the shop.

This is where it started as the repair shop, which is now called Moody’s Coworker Owned Incorporated, went forward with its mission to reward its workers for their work and the success they helped cultivate.

The Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) started in 2003 for the company, and the company has grown an average of 18.4 percent per year, according to the Moody’s Collision Centers website.

Moody sees the plan as a win for employees and owners alike. He says it’s what coworkers in his company deserve and re-

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Group Effort Shawn Moody adopted a group ownership model for his collision repair shop, giving employees more ownership over the future of the company.

August 2022

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PROFILE

wanted to share that success with the other people who deserved it as well.

“I think selling your company to the people that helped build it is not only a viable succession plan, but it’s also the right thing to do,” Moody says. “These are the folks that worked the long hours, that sacrificed so that we could all grow and benefit, and what better way to reward them than to give them equity in your organization.”

Divide and Conquer While Shawn Moody retains 46 percent of the business, the rest is held by his workforce of 250 employees across 14 locations in the state of Maine.

Moody’s Today

wards their hard work with a solid plan for the future.

“There’s not that many companies anymore that offer any type of pension plan,” Moody says. “They’ll match a 401(k), but this is really almost like a pension plan where you’ve got coworkers now retiring in their early 60s with three or $400,000 tucked away in addition to the social security and the 401(k).”

How it works is that every coworker who works at Moody’s Coworker Owned Incorporated gets stock in a trust through the company, and at whatever point they decide to leave the company, Moody’s is obligated to buy that stock back. There are no out-ofpocket expenses for coworkers, and it’s all just a bonus for being dedicated workers.

There are some challenges with this system. Moody says that the system is very regulated, but it was a complex and expensive road to get to that point. Led by administrative challenges, Moody and his team

August 2022

worked hard to make the company a better place for its workers.

“You have to have a lot of administrative horsepower to manage the ESOP correctly,” Moody says.

With the company's success, the value of that stock goes up over the years, giving people who have worked there a good bonus when they want to retire. Moody says he thinks they’re the only coworker-owned company in the collision repair industry.

“If you invested $10,000 in the stock market back in 2003, you’d have about $40,000 in it right now,” Moody says. ”If you invested $10,000 in Moody’s stock in 2003, you’d have $140,000 right now. That’s just putting in a static $10,000 and letting it grow.”

The process is not something Moody had to do, especially with his success in his auto recycling business. That success could have given him all he and his family needed to continue being successful, but Moody

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About 19 years after the ESOP first was implemented, Moody’s has grown across the state of Maine. Moody now has 14 locations and 250 coworkers/owners.

Moody attributes the company's success to the coworker ownership philosophy.

Moody says the questions of how you’re supposed to run a business, treat your customers, pay attention to quality control, recruit people, and retain people are all problems that have been helped by transparency and coworker ownership.

Moody says the lack of incentives for more experienced technicians to help teach inexperienced technicians the job can be a problem in the auto repair industry. He combats that at Moody’s today with profit sharing. Motivating and retaining coworkers helps not only the company owners but also the coworkers.

“We give them 10 percent of our after-tax profit back in the form of profitsharing,” Moody says. “So that’s a cash incentive to operate well and also to help coach and teach the next generation of men and women that are the backbone of our company.”

Moody’s decision to operate this way was aided by a deal he made over 20 years ago. A deal that helped send him and his family down this path to becoming an organization that gives back to its workers for their hard work and dedication.

Going forward, aided by the coworkers that helped get him to this point, Moody will keep giving back to his coworkers as they own 54 percent of the company to his 46 percent. The groundwork laid 19 years ago has positively impacted longtime coworkers in his company.

“It’s really put in place so people can have a really good quality of life,” Moody says. “They worked hard their whole career and maintained that good quality of life.”

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S T R A T E G Y

THE SOP

ADVANCED APPROACHES

New vehicle technologies mean extra steps and consideratons in the repair process

GETTY

By FENDERBENDER STAFF REPORTERS

IN MANY WAYS, working to repair an electric vehicle or a vehicle equipped with ADAS (or both) is business as usual for collision repairers. The same traditional rules apply as far as following OEM procedures and steps, taking safe approaches, and running through a final checklist before returning the vehicle to the customer.

August 2022

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But these new technologies also present new challenges, especially in the repair process. After all, how many older vehicles are at risk of catching fire just by sitting there, engine off?

Jason Zeise, mechanical operations manager at Minnesota MSO LaMettry’s, is a leading expert in these processes.

The company has outfitted an ADAS calibration center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and follows strict guidelines in the repair of electric and ADASequipped vehicles.

What follows isn’t a complete list of procedures. Rather, Zeise provides insights on what makes these repairs different from previous generations.

1: EVs can have unseen dangers.

All repairers know how important it is to thoroughly assess the damage when a vehicle comes in. But electric vehicles can hide certain damages inside a battery pack after a collision. A crash can cause shorts in the battery or other problems, leading to a fire.

Zeise says that precautions should be made until a shop is completely sure of the extent of damage.

“If the vehicle’s been in a collision, and it doesn’t necessarily need to be significant damage that you would view from the outside of the car, but how are we going to ensure battery integrity?” he says. “And if we can’t do that, we’re going to need to make sure that when the vehicle gets towed in, that it’s towed into a safe spot.”

That safe spot is away from structures, people, and other cars, and it’s there until the battery pack integrity is ensured.

2: Follow disable procedures in EVs.

3: Diagnostic scans are just the beginning.

An initial diagnostic scan is important, of course, but that may not tell the whole story.

“We have seen that numerous times.

But it’s not necessarily going to trigger a fault code,” Zeise says. “We still want to run that diagnostic scan, and that’s our first step. The second step would be to follow procedures and verify the integrity of all those components.”

A rear-end collision might snap a retaining bracket on a sensor in the front of the vehicle, Zeise says. The sensor is still operational and sending signals, but it might be askew. This needs to be checked even though it isn’t the site of direct damage.

4: Bring in technical experts.

Zeise says that LaMettry’s has specialized technicians who review repair plans with knowledge of how ADAS components might be interconnected. This goes for even the most basic jobs, like removing a bumper fascia, he says.

“We have these electronic mechanical technicians who are going to look at the

repair plan that we’ve written,” Zeise says.

“And we’re going to go through and look at every single one of those procedures and look up the actual repair information.”

That’s because looking up procedures might not be as straightforward as it seems.

Specific information about a sensor embedded in a part might be found in a different procedure. A specialist will know how and where to look.

5: Perform a tech-forward test drive.

Once all systems are calibrated toward the end of the repair, Zeise says the LaMettry’s team has taken the traditional test drive a bit further. It’s called the DSV, or dynamic system verification.

“The DSV incorporates that basic test drive, but now you’re going to have a skilled person,” he says. “Someone who understands the vehicle, understands how these systems should behave, how they operate.”

That test drive includes the engagement of all ADAS systems, whether they’re related to the collision repair or not. This ensures the overall safety and working order of the vehicle to factory specifications.

At the end of the process, they let the customer know what took place.

“We’re going to inform the customer that we have repaired them, we’ve verified they’re working and have engaged all the systems,” he says.

If the customer prefers to have a certain ADAS feature disengaged, they will need to do that themselves after it’s back in their possession.

GETTY

While beginning work on an electric vehicle, make sure that there is no chance of electrical current.

“Follow your procedures and use your scan tool to check for any faults. And before you work on that vehicle, you want to make sure you follow the disable procedures,” he says.

Disable procedures in an EV ensure that the vehicle is completely off and not generating any electrical current that could harm a technician. Even turning the wheels with the vehicle “off” can potentially generate a current. Zeise says

that a proper disable procedure means putting the vehicle on four-wheel dollies to move it.

Always be checking high-voltage components as well, because crashes can affect components in unpredictable ways.

“High voltage components that should have de-energized, but because of whatever the scenario might be, they did not deenergize the way they should have with the vehicle shutdown,” he says.

August 2022

37

fenderbender.com

STRATEGY

MAKE DELIVERY AN UNFORGETTABLE EVENT

That final interaction should show off the hard work your team put into repairs

By Z A N E D O U G L A S

August 2022

38

K E E P I N G C U S T O M E R S coming back can be tough in the auto repair industry. A customer’s first impression begins once they drive into your facility. Things like whether the front drive is clean and organized, whether the building is clean and presentable or whether parking is accessible start the experience for the customer before they walk into the facility.

Getting It Right

Starting a customer’s visit with a professional greeting and eye contact is impor-

fenderbender.com

GETTY

CUSTOMER SERVICE

tant. Maintaining a professional dress code and giving the customer a friendly and professional environment is a good idea.

The process starts before technicians even start looking at a vehicle as well.

Everything throughout the experience is important, starting at the very beginning with a clean office and an organized front desk. Keeping things organized will make it easier to help customers immediately, especially if they have a reservation.

Customer service starts at the beginning. It’s important to communicate with the customer by using terminology they understand. Like any service industry, customers won’t always be experts at vehicle repair.

Someone who knows well about the process is freelance consultant Chris Maimone. He is hired to help repair shops with various process-oriented things.

“I would go into an auto collision center, and I would look at their process and give recommendations accordingly,” Maimone says. “Mainly, a lot of things through the method of repair, seeing if there’s different areas that can be enhanced… finding holes that I can possibly fill that can enhance the organization.”

While the car is on the floor, Maimone stresses that having a quality-oriented culture is important. It starts from the top and will feed through the organization. Everyone will believe in one common goal. Maimone says the benefits of this mindset will help your organization in many ways. Your KPI scores will increase, your referral work will increase, you will have fewer delays while vehicles are in process and your customer retention will increase.

Maimone has worked and been in several shops with an in-process quality assurance form that follows each vehicle through the repair method. Maimone says having this form in place helps confirm that each department inspects its repairs and that those repairs are completed per the estimate. More saves will be made, which will help as the car reaches the final inspection department.

Final inspection

Maimone says the final inspection department is the most important department in many ways. This department assures that repairs were completed and that the vehicle is thoroughly inspected before the vehicle is set up for delivery. Maimone says during

August 2022

the final inspection process, it’s important to have a set checklist that must be used on each vehicle, no matter the size of the repair.

Final delivery

As a consultant, Maimone runs into problems caused by a lack of proper communication with the customer and organization.

A big issue he has run into is how some collision centers hand the keys back to the customer. While listing what you’ve done is a good first step, you must show customers everything to build trust.

“Where I came from at Marcos’s Collision Center, we did a delivery process where we would run through the car with the customer, run through the lights, run through every single area of the vehicle,” Maimone says. “The reason why you do that is you’re creating customer comfort, you’re creating trust, and you’re also making saves because customers are going to identify things, and you can take care of it.”

With delivery processes, you’re selling the CSI. So show customers the inside of their cars are clean, everything is still there and everything that has been fixed.

This ties into an important practice that Maimone stresses.

Maimone also thinks that an error of some shops is not doing test drives. Making sure things run smoothly in the car can also be confirmed with test drives. This process is important because if the customer finds issues and the issues are addressed, there’s a good chance customers will still give a good CSI because they won’t have to return.

39

“I encourage shops to do test drives with the customer, especially on bigger repairs,” Maimone says. “When they drove the car to the body shop, they might have heard the fender liner making all that clicking noise, and now they’re more aware of their surroundings. A lot of times, if you don’t do the test drive before the final inspection, you’re gonna hear the clicking noise.”

This is an example Maimone likes to give as something that could be noticed and fixed with a test drive. Issues like these can be avoided, and Maimone says he understands that sometimes shops don’t have the personnel to deliver on test drives all the time, but he is adamant that they’re an important step. If something like a clicking noise is still a problem after final inspection, customers can see that and complain about it.

And to finish everything off, make sure the customer is happy by giving them a follow-up call in the next couple of days.

Making sure everything is going well with the repaired vehicle and ensuring that the customer feels secure is vital.

In an ongoing podcast series, Chris Maimone goes into details about

inspection checklists, final check-

lists, and so much more in the repair process. Head to fenderbender. com/podcasts to listen.

fenderbender.com

CASE STUDY

THE IMPORTANCE OF PROFIT AND LOSS RECORDS

Misunderstanding these documents can mean some money gets left on the table

By ZANE DOUGLAS

August 2022

40

P R O F I T A N D L O S S R E P O R T S are a common thing to not understand for new business owners. Getting those right and keeping learning the ins and outs of money can help struggling small business owners start to flourish.

A common problem among owners of auto repair shops— especially owners who don’t have a business background—is that some of the expenses and profits are not understood fully or organized correctly.

Hiring someone to go through that can leave money on the table, as the taxes will be dealt with correctly, but much more is going into it.

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STRATEGY

“THE MORE THAT THE SHOP OWNERS STAY IN THE DARK AND DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW TO BE BUSINESSMEN, THE MORE THAT THE INSURANCE COMPANIES CAN STILL BE IN CONTROL BECAUSE THEY ARE BUSINESSMEN.” —Greg Lobsinger, Owner, Loren’s Body Shop

The Backstory

Greg Lobsiger, owner of Loren’s Body Shop in Bluffton, Indiana, knows a thing or two about this from experience. Lobsiger was a struggling repair shop owner until he took a closer look at his finances. He realized he was losing money by not paying close enough attention to his finances.

“Single shop owners or guys that own up to four or five shops, I would say that over 50 percent of those guys have no idea how to read their profit/loss statement,” Lobsiger says.

The Problem

The problem comes in a few forms, starting with a lack of a business background. Often, repair shop owners will start as technicians who want to move up and control their own shop. For Lobsiger, this was the case.

“The problem with the independent guys is they’re similar to my situation where I started out as a technician,” Lobsiger says. “A lot of these independent owners who are former technicians who maybe had an entrepreneurial spirit end up opening their own shop, but no one ever taught them about the business side.”

Not understanding the numbers in reports leads owners to ask their certified public accountants (CPA) to review and close their books each month. Lobsiger sees a problem because it isn’t the CPA’s job to make money for the company but to keep it from getting into any tax trouble.

At the end of it all, this ends up costing owners when instead they could be taking that time to educate themselves. Handing everything off to a CPA can be a big mistake and can cause unnecessary financial stress to struggling businesses.

The Solution

The Takeaway

There isn’t a specific key to becoming a more efficiently run and smarter business, but

there are some red flags that can jump out within profit and loss reports. One big problem is how a repair shop tallies its expenses and revenue.

Lobsiger’s experience helping repair shops has shown him some bad habits when setting up a profit and loss report. Sometimes, shops will add up all their expenses and revenue and put it all into one line of total profit.

The organization gets lost here. Lobsiger says you need to separate costs and revenue and categorize them. Remembering how much money each specific thing costs you should be a priority.

For example, you need to have different things listed as a percentage of sales. Parts, labor, paint material, and more must be broken down by themselves. This will make it easier to read and make adjustments to your business. Some of these categories should be broken down even further, like labor.

Is it body labor, frame labor, mechanical labor, refinish labor, or detailed labor? Being able to pinpoint where each sale and cost goes is key to being able to read profit and loss reports without getting confused. Lobsiger says it should not be complicated if you set it up correctly.

“By having a [profit and loss report] set up correctly, it’ll actually almost talk to you,” Lobsiger says. “It will tell you, ‘Hey, this area’s a problem.’”

This is not just sales but also costs of the same areas. In another spot on the report, the cost corresponding with each sale should be listed to see the gross profit in that area. This will help shop owners make adjustments and see exactly where their money comes from.

Understanding profit and loss reports should be important for any business, with no difference in the auto repair industry.

Struggling businesses who don’t understand exactly how these work or the best way to read these reports can fall behind and continue to struggle.

GETTY

Lobsiger says he doesn’t want to diminish the value and importance of CPAs but that they’re being used for extra reasons.

“Their job is to keep us legal,” Lobsiger says. “They’re not our [Chief Financial Officer]. There’s a lot of shop owners that don’t

know what to do, so they just let their CPAs handle it.”

Taking measures to understand what is going on with your business and money is a big step to bringing in the most possible revenue and getting things organized perfectly.

It is a very important problem that Lobsiger has run into often. He has looked over profit and loss reports of auto repair shops and had trouble comprehending them because of how unorganized they were. He says it’s all about staying in control of your finances.

“The more that the shop owners stay in the dark and don’t understand how to be businessmen, the more that the insurance companies can still be in control because they are businessmen,” Lobsiger says.

The words from Lobsiger don’t come from a place of malice. His understanding of these issues comes from a ton of time and energy spent on the topic. It’s not easy, and it’s not cheap to invest in educating yourself and organizing your books.

Starting in 2008, thanks in part to a call from a consulting company out of California, Lobsiger started educating himself and working toward understanding profit and loss reports and setting them up in a way where he wouldn’t lose out on money. Along with other changes throughout his business. Lobsiger is adamant that the investment paid off.

“I know what it is to not make money in our industry,” Lobsiger says. “With becoming educated—and it doesn’t happen overnight—for me, I probably spent $200,000 at least in coaching. More than just understanding my [profit and loss report] but how to become more efficient, eliminate waste, and continue improving at all those other things inside my shop.

“But it was worth every penny.”

August 2022

41

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2022 READER'S CHOICE OEM PARTS DEALERS

2022 READER'S CHOICE OEM PARTS DEALERS

Between microchip shortages and unbelievable used car prices, many people are choosing to keep and maintain their cars rather than buying new. With an increase in demand for vehicle maintenance services, knowing a reliable dealer to buy your parts from is increasingly important.

FenderBender Reader's Choice: OEM Parts Dealers is here to help you find reputable dealers to source the right parts at the right price.

Based on input from over 230 survey participants sampled from the qualified circulation of FenderBender earlier this year, we compared statistics against those from 2021. The findings showcase the role of OEM parts buying in the collision repair shop, identify top OEM dealers and indicate the reasons shops choose the dealers from whom they buy.

A LOOK INTO THIS YEAR’S RESULTS Key takeaways from the 2022 Reader's Choice Survey

74%

OF PARTS ORDERED

BY SHOPS ARE OEM According to this year's survey results, the majority of shops order OEM parts - while aftermarket, salvaged/recycled, and remanufactured parts make up only 26% of all orders. It doesn’t seem like this will be changing anytime soon as results remain the same from our 2021 survey (74%).

August 2022

44

fenderbender.com

WHO HANDLES PART ORDERING Participants were asked who is in charge of ordering parts. Although Parts and Production Managers are still responsible for the majority of parts ordering, the 2022 survey shows shop owners still play an active role.

PARTS OR PRODUCTION MANAGER

SERVICE WRITER, ADVISOR, ESTIMATOR

OTHER MANAGER

2022

TECHNICIAN

40%

0%

OWNER

34%

19%

OTHER

4%

3%

FACTORS I NFLUENCI NG WHO REPAIRERS CHOOSE TO B UY FROM Survey participants were asked to rate on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest) how much each factor influenced where they ordered their parts. Below is the average rating for each factor.

DELIVERY

EXPERIENCE OR KNOWLEDGE

INVENTORY

PRICE OR DISCOUNTS

PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS

ABILITY TO ORDER ONLINE

9.3

9.1

9.2

8.5

7.7

7.2

WHERE DO SHOPS SOURCE OEM PARTS? Readers were asked where they get their OEM parts. As the world becomes increasingly more internet dependent, it is no surprise that online ordering is becoming the primary source for ordering OEM parts. Although, results show a 3% decrease in online parts ordering, and email ordering has seen a 3% increase over the last year.

2021 ONLINE

2022

OTHER

54% 57%

4% 4%

PHONE

FAX

31% 28%

1% 4%

EMAIL

10% 7%

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45

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OEM PA RTS D EA LERS REC OG NI ZED BY FENDERBENDER READERS

ILLINOIS , INDIANA , IOWA , KANSAS , KENTUCKY, MICHIGAN , MINNESOTA , MISSOURI , NEBRASKA , NORTH DAKOTA , OHIO , SOUTH DAKOTA , WISCONSIN 5 Corners Dodge Acura Columbus Acura of Boardman Acura of Omaha Acura of Troy Alan Browne Chevrolet Alpena Buick GMC Anderson Automotive Andrew Chevrolet Andy Mohr Automotive Ann Arbor Automotive Apostolakis Honda Apple Autos Aristocrat Motors Art Moehn Chevrolet Buick Asher Motor Audi Exchange Audi Kirkwood Audi of Rochester Hills Auffenberg St Clair Auto Mall Autohaus AutoNation Babb Ford Babcock Motors Bachman Auto Group Baldwin Automotive Group Ballas Buick GMC Basney Imports Baumann Auto Group Baxter Auto Group Beechmont Ford Ben Davis Ford Benna Ford Superior Bergstrom Automotive Betten Baker Auto Group Biggers Mitsubishi Bill Estes Automotive Bill Walsh Ford Lincoln Kia Bill Yoder Fuller Ford Billion Automotive Birchwood Chevrolet Buick Blossom Chevrolet Blue Grass Motorsport Blue Springs Ford BMW of Cincinnati North BMW of Des Moines BMW of Louisville BMW of Milwaukee North BMW of Rochester Hills Boardman Nissan Bob Allen Motor Mall Bob Lindsay Auto Group Bob Luegers Motors Bob McCosh Motors Bob Rohrman Auto Group Bob Sight Independence Kia Bob-Boyd Auto Family

August 2022

Boland Chevrolet Bommarito Auto Group Borton Volvo Cars Bosak Auto Group Boucher Auto Group Brad Manning Ford Braham Motor Service Bredemann Lexus in Glenview Briggs Auto Broadway Automotive Brodhead Chevrolet Buick Brown Honda Browning Chevrolet GMC Brunswick Auto Mart Bryant Motors Bryden Ford Buckeye Cars Bud Weiser Motors Buerkle Automotive Group Bull Valley Ford Burnsville Toyota Scion Buss Chevrolet Byerly Auto Group Byers Auto Group C & S Car Co. C.R. Motor Sales, Inc. Cable Dahmer Auto Group Cadillac of Dublin Cain Motors Cal Hans Ford Carousel Motor Group Carousel Motors Carson Motors Celebration Kia of Dublin Chadron Motor Company Charles Gabus Ford Charlevoix Chevrolet Charlie's Dodge Chrysler Jeep Chevrolet of Homewood Chevrolet of Troy Chicagoland Automotive Group Chuck Renze Ford City Auto Mall Classic Auto Group College Chevrolet Buick Columbia Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Columbia Hyundai Acura Columbus Mitsubishi Nissan North Commonwealth Dodge Community Auto Group Corwin Auto Group Coughlin Automotive Countryside Motors Court Street Ford Courtesy Auto and Truck Center, Inc. Courtesy Ford Courtesy Kia Moline

Courtesy Subaru Crown Automotive Currie Motors Ford Dan Cummins Chevrolet Buick Dan Deery Motor Company Dave Mungenast Auto Group Dave Wright Auto Davis Automotive Group Davis-Moore Mazda Dean Team Automotive DeBoer Motors Decorah Auto Center Ford Lincoln Dixon Ford Lincoln Volkswagen Don Franklin Auto Group Don Jacobs Auto Group Don Rypma Chevrolet Don Wood Hyundai Donovan Auto & Truck Center Dorsch Ford Lincoln Kia Dorsett Automotive Dreyer & Reinbold Dubuque BMW Ed Koehn Ford Ed Martin Auto Group Ed Morse Automotive Ed Rinke Chevrolet Ed Tomko Chrysler-Jeep Eden Prairie Nissan Elevated Nissan/Infiniti of Kansas City Eric Von Schledorn Ford Erwin Chrysler Dodge Jeep Evans Toyota Evansville Hyundai Expressway Automotive Family Mitsubishi Feeny Chrysler Dodge Feldman Auto Group Feldmann Imports Mercedes-Benz Field Ford Fillback Ford Firelands Chevrolet Buick Fox Motors Fox Valley Auto Group Frank Fletcher Auto Group Frank Leta Auto Group Fred Grande Ford Fred Lavery Company Fred Martin Automotive Fred Mueller Auto Group Freedom Chevrolet Fremont Motors of Scottsbluff Friendly Chevrolet Friesen Ford Fuller Ford Fury Motors Gandrud Automotive Garber Auto Group

46

Gates Toyota Scion Gateway Motors Genthe Honda Germain Automotive Gillespie Ford Gillie Hyde Ford Lincoln Chrysler Glenn Buege Chevrolet Glockner Auto Group Gorges Volvo Graff Motor Sales Graue Chevrolet Buick Cadillac Great Lakes Toyota Subaru Green Family Stores Gregg Young Chevrolet of Plattsmouth Gregory Mitsubishi Griffin Automotive Grote Mitsubishi Groton Ford Group 1 Auomotive Gurley Leep Motors Gustman Motor Company H & H Kia GMC Hallada Auto Group Halleen Kia of Sandusky Hansons Chevrolet Buick GMC Harold Zeigler Auto Group Hastings Automotive Ford Lincoln Hastings Chrysler Center Hatchett Automotive Group Hawk Auto Group Hawkinson Automotive Haydocy Automotive Hecht Chevrolet Heidebreicht Inc Heintz Toyota Scion Hendrick Automotive Heritage Cadillac, Inc. Heritage Chevrolet Hesser Toyota Scion Holiday Automotive Honda of Downtown Chicago Honda of Frontenac Honda of Olathe Honda Store House Chevrolet Buick Cadillac Huber Chevrolet Cadillac Hulett Chevrolet Buick GMC, Inc Infiniti of Columbus International Autos Group Inver Grove Auto Mall Iverson Chrysler Center J & R Chevrolet of Oakley Jack Phelan Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Jack Schmitt Chevrolet Jacksonville Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Jake Sweeney Automotive James Motors Jay Wolfe Acura Jeff Wyler Automotive Family Jerry Ray Davis Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Jerry Roling Motors, Inc. Jim Falk Motors Jim Olson Ford Lincoln Jim Shorkey Auto Group Jim Trenary Automotive Jimmy Michel Motors John Deery Motors

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John Jones Chevrolet John Markel Auto Group John Paul's Buick GMC Greenfield Johnson Motors Joseph Airport Hyundai Joseph Cadillac Subaru Joseph Toyota of Cincinnati Karl Knauz Autopark Kayser Automotive Kelley Automotive Group Kelly BMW Kelly's Chrysler Center Kempthorn Motors Ken Ganley Auto Group Kenny Kent Auto Group Kerns Ford Lincoln Kia of Bedford Kia of Lansing Kia Store Clarksville Kings Honda Klaben Auto Stores Kline Auto World Kocourek Honda of Rhinelander Koenecke Ford Kolosso Automotive Krajnik Chevrolet Krenzen Honda Nissan Krieger Ford Kunes Auto Group Labadie Automotive LaFontaine Auto Group Lakeside Chevrolet of Huntington Lamb Motor Land Rover Northfield Landmark Mitsubishi Lariche Chevrolet Cadillac Lawrence Mitsubishi Leader Auto Group Lebanon Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Lee's Summit Chrysler Jeep Dodge LeMieux & Son Toyota Scion Les Stanford Chevrolet Lewis Toyota of Topeka Lexus of Louisville Lexus of Mishawaka Lexus of Wayzata Liberty Automotive Lima Auto Mall Lithia Motors Lochmandy Automotive Lou Fusz Automotive Network Louisville Infiniti Lupient Automotive Group Luther Auto Luxury Auto Mall of Sioux Falls Lynch Truck Center Mackinac Ford Sales Maple Hill Auto Center Maples Ford Maplewood Toyota Maritime Ford Lincoln Mark Toyota Scion of Plover Marquardt of Barrington Marshall Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Marthaler Chevrolet Buick of Redwood Falls Martin Management Group Martindale Chevrolet Max Madsen Aurora Mitsubishi Max Platt Ford Lincoln Mayse Automotive Group Mazda Direct McCarthy Auto Group

August 2022

McCormick Motors, Inc. McDonald Ford McGrath Automotive McMullen Ford Meade Lexus of Lakeside Mel Ervin Ford Mel Hambelton Ford Mercedes-Benz of Fort Wayne Mercedes-Benz of Louisville Mercedes-Benz of North Olmsted Mercedes-Benz of Rochester Mercedes-Benz of St. Louis Merit Chevrolet Midwest Kia Midwestern Auto Group MIG Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram Mike Anderson Autmotive Mike Burkart Ford Mike Molstead Motors Milbank Ford Mills Parts Center Milosch's Palace Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Minnesota Motor Company Molle Automotive Molle Cars Monken Automotive Montrose Kia Moran Chevrolet Morlan-Shell Ford Morrie's Auto Group Motor Inn Motorcars Auto Group Motorwerks BMW MINI Muscatell Subaru My Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Myers Autoworld, Inc. Napleton Automotive Neil Huffman Automotive Nels Gunderson Chevrolet Nelson Automotive Group New Century Automotive Newbold BMW Toyota Nick Mayer Lincoln-Mercury Inc Nissan of Omaha North Olmsted Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram Northtown Automotive Oakes Mitsubishi O'Brien Automotive O'Daniel Honda Olathe Toyota Scion Oliver Ford Lincoln Oxmoor Automotive Pallotta Ford Park Chrysler Jeep Parks Motors Patrick Motors Paul Cole Motors Paul Heuring Ford Paul Miller Automotive Pearl Chrysler Jeep Dodge Pennington Ford Perrysburg Auto Mall Peru Ford Lincoln Petersen Chrysler Dodge Jeep Pfeiffer Ford Lincoln Piehl Motors Piemonte's Dundee Chevrolet Pierson Ford Lincoln Pinckney Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Pischke Motors Plaza Motors Poage Auto Center

Pony Express Ford Porcaro Mitsubishi Porsche Exchange Porsche of Beachwood Progressive Chevrolet Prostrollo Auto Plaza Puklich Chevrolet Buick GMC Quinlan's Equipment, Inc. R E Barber Ford Raber Ford Randy Wise Automotive Team Ray Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM Ray Skillman Auto Group Raymond Chevrolet Kia Reineke Honda Reiselman Nissan Resnick Auto Group Rhinelander Toyota Ricart Automotive Rick Ball Auto Group River Front Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Riverside Chevrolet Buick Cadillac Inc. Riverview Chevrolet Buick Rochester Motor Cars Roper Automotive Roseville Midway Ford Roush Ford Roy O'Brien, Inc Royal Mazda Volvo Royal Oak Ford Russ Braunecker Auto Group Russ Darrow Automotive Rusty Eck Ford Rydell Auto Group Sakelaris Ford Sam Leman Automotive Sauers Buick GMC Schaffer-Danhoff Motor Sales Schicker Automotive Schimmer Chevrolet Buick, Inc. Schmelz Countryside Automotive Schukei Chevrolet Volkswagen Schworer Volkswagen Sears Imported Autos Seelye Ford Kia of Kalamazoo Serra Auto Group Shaheen Chevrolet Sharpnack Ford Shawnee Mission Ford Sheboygan Chrysler Center Shottenkirk Automotive Showcase Mitsubishi Siemans Chrysler Products Skyway Buick GMC Snethkamp Chrysler Jeep Snyder Automotive Soerens Ford South County Dodge Chrysler Jeep South Suburban Mitsubishi Spartan Toyota Spitzer Auto Group St. Marys Chrysler Dodge Jeep Stalker Chevrolet State Line Nissan Stephen Motors Steve Schmitt Motors Stew Hansen Dodge City Hyundai Stoudt Ross Ford Streich Motors, Inc. Subaru of Champaign County Subaru of Kings Auto Mall Sunset Ford Sunset Hills Subaru

47

Sunset Volkswagen Jeep Sunshine Toyota Suntrup Automotive Superior Honda of Omaha SVG Chrysler Dodge Ram Swope Mitsubishi Symdon Motors Taylor Automotive Team Ford Lincoln Chrysler Tehrani Motor The Kia Store The Sharpe Collection The Suburban Collection Thelen Automotive Thief River Ford Thomas Motors Thompson Chevrolet Three Oaks Ford Thys Automotive Family Tom Pappas Toyota Tom Peck Ford Tom Tepe Auto Center Tom Wood Auto Group Tony Betten Ford Toyota of Grand Rapids Toyota of La Crosse Toyota of Muncie Toyota of Terre Haute Toyota Scion on Western Tumminia Mazda Twin Rivers Chrysler Jeep Twins Buick GMC Tyler Automotive Uebelhor & Sons Chevrolet Cadillac Uftring Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Union Auto Vallery Ford Valley Imports Valor Automotive Valu Ford Chrysler Van Horn Chevrolet Varsity Ford Vern Eide Automotive Victory Honda Victory Lane Ford Village Motors Vin Devers Volkswagen of Clarksville Volkswagen of Streetsboro Volvo Cars of Louisville Volvo of Overland Park Voss Automotive Vyletel Buick Volkswagen Wagler Motor Walser Automotive Group Warner Buick Nissan Inc Warren Toyota Volvo Jaguar Watertown Ford Chrysler Webb Chevrolet Weber Auto Group Weir Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram White Bear Mitsubishi White Family Dealerships Wilde Auto Group Willis Auto Campus Willowbrook Ford Kia Wilmington Auto Center Witham Auto Centers Witt Ford Woodhouse Auto Group Yark Automotive Group Yarmon Ford Zimbrick Automotive

fenderbender.com

THE M I D W ES TERN D EA LER PERS PECTIV E

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN THE INDUSTRY, AND WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHANGE DURING THAT TIME? KIM STONE - Parts Director

Maple Hill Auto Center, Kalamazoo, MI

I've been in the dealership for 38 years.

The biggest change I've seen over the years is how many women are in the industry now. Here at Maple Hill Auto Center, we have women in every level of management and in every department.

When I first started I would go to meetings and I was the only woman in the room. Also, the way that we look up parts, receipts, and bill them. Technology has streamlined the process but also comes with its own challenges.

DMITRIUS CATALANO - Parts Manager Sharpe Cars, Grand Rapids, MI

I have been in the automotive parts industry for 10 years now. I got my start in a big box store and moved into the dealership world in 2016.

The biggest change I have seen in the past 10 years is the technology that is going into new cars. The amount of computers, sensors, screens and creature comforts that we all know and love now, were only for the luxury market in the past. The automotive industry is proving to be fully invested in keeping up with the ever-accelerating technological advancements that we see every day.

JAMES KLEIN - Parts Manager Ganley Ford, Norton, OH

I have been in the industry for 37 years.

The biggest change for me was definitely the internet and online parts ordering.

August 2022

48

fenderbender.com

WHY DO YOU BELIEVE

WHAT CHANGES HAVE

WHAT CHANGES DO

TOMERS CONSIDER YOU A

BUSINESS STRATEGY

FIVE YEARS FOR THE

COLLISION REPAIR CUS-

LEADING PARTS DEALER?

I think the way we treat our customers is the key to our success.

We understand that their customers are also our customers. The shops have deadlines to meet and we try to help in any way we can. The supply chain issues that we are all experiencing are unprecedented and communicating with our customers is more important than ever. I think they appreciate our honesty which is the foundation of our dealership.

KIM:

Our customer-first approach to our wholesale business helps us stand out from the competition. We are truly a family owned business and we take pride in making every one of our customers feel they are part of our family as well.

We have a vast delivery area, short lead times, great customer service and even better customer issue resolution if any problems arise.

DMITRIUS:

YOU MADE TO YOUR

OVER THE PAST YEAR? We are staffing for success and know that our business has increased year over year. We are prepared and looking forward to expanding our business.

KIM:

In an effort to expand and adapt with the ever-evolving automotive industry, we have started to move our parts business into the online world. We would like our customers to be able to get ahold of us by any and all means necessary. Giving our customers the ability to access us from any device or even order parts through an online platform is something we have prioritized.

DMITRIUS:

There are a lot of businesses cutting corners because of the adverse market conditions. We believe in selling our way out of a hard spot and not cutting corners like some of the other guys.

JAMES:

My team believes in taking care of the customer and doing whatever it takes to get the vehicle in their shop back on the road. We hot shot everything we can. No delivery is too small for us. We also have a very experienced and dedicated team.

JAMES:

August 2022

49

YOU SEE IN THE NEXT INDUSTRY?

I think the next few years are going to be a huge learning curve for everyone with hybrid and electric vehicles. We are specifying parts that we've basically never heard of before.

Vehicles are so much more advanced than they used to be. Getting our customers the right part the first time will take communication and training.

KIM:

All manufacturers seem to be fully invested in producing electric vehicles at this point. Whether or not this is a short sprint that burns out and falls flat or a long marathon that rewards those who trained and had the most will to make it to the end, I think over the next five years the automotive industry will be changed forever by this electrification movement.

DMITRIUS:

I see online ordering becoming the normal for most businesses. Everyone is looking to save a dollar here or there on an order. I hope to try to find ways to keep the verbal communication lines opened. That is what makes you successful. Personal relationships are very important in this business.

Those looking for pricing only may soon run out of vendors willing to deal with their ordering practices.

JAMES:

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OEM PA RTS D EA LERS REC OG NI ZED BY FENDERBENDER READERS

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August 2022

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THE NORT HE A STERN D EA LER PERS PECTIV E

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN THE INDUSTRY, AND WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHANGE DURING THAT TIME? KEITH DIPERI - Parts Department Manager Malouf Chevrolet Cadillac, North Brunswick, NJ I started in 1997 within the automotive parts industry originally as a parts driver in the aftermarket sector. Over the last 3 years the industry as a whole with GM has had some of its most turbulent times with strikes, facility closures, COVID, big push to EV and now manufacturing & logistics shortages. These big changes are affecting everyone everywhere with every single day being a struggle to keep all of our customers happy and getting their vehicles repaired. We have been forced to overhaul our entire way of working the parts business and we were forced to adjust what our expectations are of OEM parts logistics.

WILLIAM BROWN - Service and Parts Director Courtesy Mitsubishi, Attleboro, MA

I have been in the industry for 30+ years.

The biggest changes have to be technology and the ease of online ordering.

ANTHONY CHRISTIANO - Service and Parts Director Mercedes-Benz of Goldens Bridge, Goldens Bridge, NY I’ve been in the industry for 25 years. I held various roles within Fixed Operations. I started out as a technician straight out of technical school and worked my way up the ladder as a Foreman, Shop Manager, Service Manager, Service & Parts Manager and finally Fixed Operations Director. I’ve seen many changes to our industry over the years and the big one from a Parts perspective was going from paper catalogs to electronic ones, another big change is how we service our customers, independent shops need parts quickly to get the vehicle off the lift and back in the hands of their customers, we adapted and instead of daily delivery we now deliver 3 times a day.

August 2022

52

fenderbender.com

WHY DO YOU BELIEVE

WHAT CHANGES HAVE

WHAT CHANGES DO

TOMERS CONSIDER YOU A

BUSINESS STRATEGY

FIVE YEARS FOR THE

COLLISION REPAIR CUS-

LEADING PARTS DEALER? KEITH: Part of our ongoing philosophy is

always customer first and do the right thing.

As our customers do understand the issue affecting the entire industry they are under pressure from their customers and insurance companies to get the vehicles fixed fast.

They know that we work diligently every day to get their parts as fast as possible for them. Our reputation has always been based on open communication, honesty and our integrity. The main reason our customers keep returning is my strong parts team of professionals. The secret to every great business, no matter what the industry, is your team of trained professionals at work every day. We all have a shared common goal, I encourage my team to be fully Mark of Excellence certified and make their own decisions for what's needed to help the customer any which way possible.

Enthusiastic, satisfied and happy employees can and will be seen by the customer. It makes a strong statement to the customer and makes them more confident to want to come back when they feel appreciated.

WILLIAM: First is how you and your

team services your wholesale and all your customers. Second is the way you and your team speak to and treat their customers. Keep in mind that anyone can sell parts, but your customers want to be treated (and) spoken to properly. If you have a bad attitude with them, you have lost them. This is crucial to your parts department’s success.

ANTHONY: I would say without hesitation

our people. They truly go the extra mile to ensure we make it easy for our customers to do business with us. Whether it’s an online parts catalog that they can specify their parts and send them directly to us so that we can fulfill their order, to providing technical assistance to them via our workshop or electronic repair instructions. We also train our parts team to ask the right questions, for example instead of telling them when we can get them the needed part, we ask them when they need it, this enables us to act quickly and search other channels to get an out-of-stock part sooner. Lastly, is showing our clients that we appreciate their business by visiting them and providing them with gift bags and refreshments for their staff. Making these visits is paramount in keeping our relationships strong, while continually learning about each of our shop's needs and expectations.

August 2022

YOU MADE TO YOUR

OVER THE PAST YEAR? KEITH: Over the last few years as the

industry has been turned on its head we have had to adapt with both internal policies, returns, inhouse changes and customer communications. We have had to make significant changes to solidify our core return process to ensure credits are given back to the customers in a timely fashion and we get our credits back from the manufacturer.

Manufacturers have gotten more strict with the core return process, more parts than ever with GM now have core charges, as they try to get the remanufactured components back in the retail space. We have had to update our credit card policies, inhouse charge agreements and finally eCommerce return policies to protect both the consumers and ourselves. With the industry changes and the expectations of our customers we have added more dealership personnel, updated training and proper job assignments to team individuals to ensure that our customers are at the center of everything we do.

WILLIAM: Use all the tools given by

your dealership to have a successful parts operation. Use FenderBender, CollisionLink, RepairLink, and also have an online parts catalog on your dealership's website.

ANTHONY: We have engaged into the

e-Commerce arena and widened our client reach, and have seen a lot of growth and success via this growing and in demand sales channel. We also have implemented technology that makes doing business with us easier, these tools are on-line parts catalogs, on-line bill pay, and real time parts delivery tracking.

53

YOU SEE IN THE NEXT INDUSTRY?

KEITH: As the industry continues to move

forward with the giant push for EV, I believe the parts industry will slowly evolve into an exchange component based system. When a drive motor, battery or module component goes bad it's all going to be on an exchange basis with the vendor/manufacturer. At some point there will be an additive manufacturing component (3D Printing) technology introduced into parts departments from both FDM and Resin based systems. For example if you need a part, you would look it up in the catalog and send the job to the printer. A few hours later you will have your part ready for installation in the vehicle. The entire automotive industry is in a huge influx of rapid new technologies being introduced with vehicles going more electronic based.

WILLIAM: In the next few years (things will

get harder), but the way you and your parts staff change with the procedures and adjust will be crucial to your parts departments and dealerships performance. I feel that if you treat your customers the way you treat and speak to your mother and father, you will be surprised at how far that goes in business.

ANTHONY: I think electric cars are going

to cause some disruption to our current model of how we do business. There are few serviceable parts in EV vehicles so there will be less parts and labor hours to sell. The business is in for a big shift. ICE engines will still be around, so we need to retain our current shops and service clients as there will be more competition to retain these clients.

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OEM PA RTS D EA LERS REC OG NI ZED BY FENDERBENDER READERS

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August 2022

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August 2022

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THE S OU THERN D EA LER PERSPECTIV E

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN THE INDUSTRY, AND WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHANGE DURING THAT TIME? BETO PENA - Service and Parts Director Toyota of Laredo, Laredo, TX

"In my 35 years with Toyota, the biggest change I have seen in this industry is the technology that these vehicles now have.

Vehicles are so smart and constantly adjusting and practically driving themselves. It has been amazing and I have been very fortunate to have seen all the changes in the car business over the years firsthand."

AJ FALKENHAYN - Parts Manager Audi Gwinnett, Duluth, GA

"I have been with Audi for 22 years.

The biggest change I've seen would be shifting to an online source. People like to have a different way to order. Online definitely helps out. You don't have to wait on the phone or talk to somebody.

Brands like CCC (and) CollisionLink can help the customers streamline their ordering process, so especially in a body shop, running a million miles an hour, it's definitely helped out a lot. "

RIK SADLER - Parts and Service Director Onion Creek Volkswagen, Austin, TX

"I'm in my 40th year in the parts business. (During my career) technology has changed so incredibly it's unreal."

August 2022

56

fenderbender.com

WHY DO YOU BELIEVE

WHAT CHANGES HAVE

WHAT CHANGES DO

TOMERS CONSIDER YOU A

BUSINESS STRATEGY

FIVE YEARS FOR THE

COLLISION REPAIR CUS-

LEADING PARTS DEALER?

I personally have been working hard for change since arriving in Laredo back in 2008. One of the biggest body shops in town less than 4 blocks from our dealership was buying from out of town because of the lack of service from Toyota or Laredo. Upon my arrival in Laredo the goal has always been ‘own your backyard first by giving customers the best service possible and then we can grow from there.’

BETO:

We've always believed in treating your customers like they're your friends.

Having friendly, prompt service (and) just being available. I think in general, we don't have the biggest inventory in the area, but we can make up for it in service. We certainly don't give the biggest discount either. So we have the knowledge and expertise to get the right part, which I think is more important than saving a couple bucks. We have a lot of expertise here. Between all of the people that work in our parts department a lot of years of experience.

AJ:

I have a passion for the brand, and I have a passion for doing what I do. I share that with my people. I try to be a leader with them. Instead of just managing I try to set the vision and get them to see the vision. Volkswagen is a little different because people are passionate about Volkswagen. It’s a different world. It's a different culture.

I have some great employees that just love doing what they do, and (it’s) not just a job for them.

RIK:

August 2022

YOU MADE TO YOUR

OVER THE PAST YEAR? I have learned over the years in the Toyota parts business you can not do business like a cookie-cutter. Every customer is different and deserves to be catered to in whatever fashion helps to make them more successful.

BETO:

AJ:

We focused on the service part of

it. Our pricing, you know, when other people were having the lowest prices, we'd see customers come back because they weren't getting that service. So, you know, we realized that it's better to have a handful of really good customers, then try to just be the biggest volume store you can be because then you can't really help your customers the way they need to be helped. So, it's kind of good, we try to keep a good balance there so we can be able to get them what they need on time.

We've had to adapt to newer technology, of course. The guidelines by the manufacturers change, often, and (are) pretty strict on their guidelines.

We try to adhere to them as much as possible, and share that knowledge with the customers. So, Volkswagen won't take parts back after a certain amount of time or damage claims. We just have to adapt to it so we both prosper, the body shops and us.

RIK:

57

YOU SEE IN THE NEXT INDUSTRY?

Vehicles (are) getting smarter and smarter which means those of us in this industry are going to have to do the same or get left behind the technology curve.

BETO:

Well, obviously with cars starting to go electric is going to be the biggest challenge. It really changes the way that the collision industry is going to repair the vehicle. (With) more safety features the cars have to be repaired correctly for these features to work correctly. (We) always try to instill that in our customers, make sure you go to a certified Audi repair shop, again if you have a Mercedes, same thing with the Lexus, BMW, all those cars are built in a certain way they have to be put together correctly. We see a lot of (cars) come back from shops that were put together and it makes it a nightmare for us and for the shop to try and get that car fixed correctly for the customer and for it to be safe. That's probably the biggest thing is more safety features, more repair expertise needs to be done and probably less collisions because the car is helping you out as you're driving. Hopefully, it'll cut down on some of the collisions.

AJ:

If I look back at the past five years, the changes are incredible. (In) the next five years, it's hard to fathom the increase of electric vehicles, the technology for working on them, and getting parts for them. Training is going to be the key to everything. Mom and pops itty bitty shops aren't going to be able to work on these cars. So the next driver is people that will succeed, need to step up and do the training because these cars are getting crazy. The technicians need to be trained.

RIK:

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OEM PA RTS D EA LERS REC OG NI ZED BY FENDERBENDER READERS

ALASKA, ARIZONA, CALIFORNIA, COLORADO, HAWAII, IDAHO, MONTANA, NEVADA, NEW MEXICO, OREGON, UTAH, WASHINGTON, WYOMING Acura of Bellevue

Capitol Auto Group

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Alan Webb Mitsubishi Nissan

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Bill Luke Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram Bill Pierre Ford Seattle

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August 2022

Fahrney Auto Group Fairview Ford

Felix Chevrolet Cadillac FH Dailey Chevrolet Fiesta Mitsubishi

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Jerry Seiner Buick GMC

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August 2022

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THE W ES TERN D EA LER P ERSPECTIV E

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN THE INDUSTRY, AND WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHANGE DURING THAT TIME? SUSAN MCDANIEL - Parts Director

Bill Luke Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, Phoenix, AZ

I've been in the industry for 39 years, 34 at Bill Luke and 5 in retail automotive prior to that. (The biggest change is) definitely technology. When I first started, we used books and microfilm, and we didn't even have fax machines, just a push button telephone and a book. We just had to rely on our descriptions. Worst case scenario, we'd have to drive out to the shop and take a look at the customers to make sure that we were on the same page. We didn't know any better. So that's just what we did.

KEN KLIMA - Parts Manager

Future Nissan of Roseville, Roseville, CA

I’ve been in the industry for 40+ years. I started at a Datsun dealership in Placerville, CA. The biggest change I’ve seen since then is how we look up parts and track inventory. I remember a five foot long rack of parts catalogs on the counter.

Then we progressed to Microfiche before the computer became the go-to for everything.

JEFF GARCIA - Parts and Service Manager Roger Kehdi Mitsubishi, Tigard, OR

I have been in the industry for about 20 years now. The biggest change over the course of that time has been technology.

August 2022

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WHY DO YOU BELIEVE

WHAT CHANGES HAVE

WHAT CHANGES DO

TOMERS CONSIDER YOU A

BUSINESS STRATEGY

FIVE YEARS FOR THE

COLLISION REPAIR CUS-

LEADING PARTS DEALER?

(Because of) our customer service. We're very proud of our reputation and provide the best customer service over our competitors.

YOU MADE TO YOUR

OVER THE PAST YEAR? We are constantly making sure that we have all the right people in the right places. We have recently added a few people and rearranged our parts

YOU SEE IN THE NEXT INDUSTRY?

e-Commerce, I believe, would be the biggest one that is really growing, our customers are more interested in shopping online now more than ever.

SUSAN:

SUSAN:

SUSAN:

We use our own employees as delivery drivers, and we consider them our outside sales representatives as well.

We have four scheduled deliveries per day. We keep our friendly drivers on designated routes so that our customers are seeing the same people every day, (and) building those relationships. We have one of the largest parts inventories in Arizona and are constantly checking to make sure that we have all the fastest moving parts readily available.

department to better accommodate incoming calls and online orders. With the current backorder situation, we spent a lot of extra time trying to make sure that we have all the fastest moving parts in stock and also a few extra. So I would just say, you know, constantly moving people around so that we have the right people on the phones and enough people on the phones and enough people on our front counter for face-to-face customers.

We're always striving to make this experience as easy as possible.

We take pride in our success as a leading dealer in the automotive collision and mechanical repair industry. I believe this is due to our dedication to help our customers to the full extent. Understanding cycle times, correct parts, related parts and fulfilling promises made. Using all the latest tools available to succeed as a leader.

KEN:

We do our best to get them the parts they need at a fair price.

JEFF:

August 2022

Over the last few years we have had to change with the continual fluid technology that has faced our industry.

Always training to stay up with the price matching internet based applications, new model technology and insurance company demands.

KEN:

Over the next few years I don’t see any of this slowing down, only getting more evolved causing us to continue to train to keep on the cutting edge of our industry and keep our customers educated and happy.

KEN:

(I expect to see) an exponential growth in electric vehicles.

JEFF:

(I) treat every customer as top priority, coupled with honesty and integrity, and always stay on the cutting edge of technology to assure I’m giving customers the best possible options when it comes to their vehicles.

JEFF:

61

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COLUMNS

COLLISION COURSE

Reusable Content in Social Media Marketing

A little work up front and a little automation in process will take your social media to no-brainer levels

JOE GRETO

I’m a small shop. I don’t have a huge market-

ing budget where I can pay someone to handle the creation of content and posting on all of our social media platforms. And even if I did have extra time to deal with the shop’s social media, it is not something I relish doing. I know social media is a necessary evil for all businesses, but most of us I believe would rather be focusing on running our shops.

For my own sanity and pocket book, I had to find what would work best for my shop with minimal investment and time. Ultimately what I landed on was reusable content with an intuitive social media scheduler. To break it up into usable information this month, I am just going to address the idea and the how of reusable content.

Reusable content is a very basic idea. Create content that applies to your business and can be used on any given day or time for the foreseeable future. A lot of businesses pay for a marketing company to create and post to their social media platforms, which can be costly, but the moment they stop paying for it they are back to square one.

They either start creating the content themselves, start paying someone to create it again and post it or have no social media presence. I can tell you having no social media presence for your business should not be an option. For my shop the solution was to start creating a database of reusable content that we could pull from quickly and easily.

Personally what we have done is create folders that contain posts of similar content and save the wording for those posts for easy access. Some of these folders are “Before and After Pictures,” “Tips and Advice,” “Provided Services,” “Funny Content,” etc. This way if we want to post a beforeand-after picture every Monday we don’t have to go and design a post. We can just log in to the

August 2022

social media platform and upload one of our presaved before-and-after picture posts and copy and paste the wording. It’s quick and simple. If we had to design and create a post every time we wanted to post something on our social media platform, it would take me or a team member a minimum of 30 minutes, and that’s if we know what we are doing. If we are using our reusable content, that 30 minutes gets cut down to less than five.

Here’s a tip: If the idea of creating a social media database of reusable content is overwhelming, just start with making one reusable post a week or create four reusable posts a month. This way, after 12 months you will have between 48 and 52 reusable posts you can use at any time for any of your social media platforms.

Another tip: After you create a social media post, have it converted into a story format also.

That way, you can use the post for your social media feed and the story version for your social media stories. Posts and stories reach different audiences.

We have been doing this for a few years now and it has saved us a ton of time and effort when dealing with our social media platforms. We have a large database of reusable posts to the point that we now only create a few new ones every quarter. This way, we can revamp or cycle out some older posts.

It isn’t the perfect or even necessarily the best solution, but for my shop and my budget and time restraints it has been a game changer.

If you pair this concept with an intuitive social media scheduler, you will be able to put your social media on the back burner and know that it will still be taken care of. In the next few months I plan on discussing how we create our content and also going over what we are using for our intuitive social media scheduler.

63

TIFFANY MENEFEE

has more than 20 years experience in the insurance business and now runs a collision repair shop in El Paso, Texas.

EMAIL:

tiffanykaymenefee@gmail.com

ARCHIVE:

fenderbender.com/menefee

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STRATEGY

ADAPT

A S T H E S AY I N G GO E S, perspective is everything. This relates well to the automotive industry, seeing as it is no stranger to changes, and no stranger to challenges either.

The scope can feel abstract. There are many moving parts, and it can be easy to lose track of how each new advancement is impacting the greater industry at large.

Sometimes all you need is some insight to understand what really matters and what the biggest takeaways are.

Donny Seyfer is an Executive Officer with the National Automotive Service Task Force,

UNSPLASH

LOOKING FORWARD, REACTING NOW NASTF’s Donny Seyfer on the current state of EVs, ADAS and their most pertinent takeaways

By H A N N A B U B S E R

August 2022

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STRATEGY

UNSPLASH

and he understands that there are a lot of things happening at once, especially as it pertains to technological advancements.

“Technicians have not changed their point of view in 40 years. They’re still expecting to repair a car based on the fact that they’ve got a Y chromosome in those cases and they should just know how it works,” Seyfer says.

“And it doesn’t work that way anymore.”

But the notion of a mindset change doesn’t need to be an overwhelming thought, even though some of the larger shifts within the industry have already begun. One example of this is the ICE to EV transition.

“I don’t think that a transition (will happen) in most of our lifetimes. I think there’ll be a lot of [EVs] coming, and I think there’ll be a significant part of the market share unlike where they are now,” Seyfer says, “but there just are markets where they’re not ready to cover them yet for quite some time. However, with that said, opportunities are abound right now for folks who want to get in early.”

Seyfer notes that there are EV manufacturers who want to use independent repair

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STRATEGY

shops as their service points, which gives an incentive to invest in EV technologies and training. But that isn’t a feasible solution for every shop, and Seyfer understands that as much as he recognizes the importance of EVs overall.

“I don’t think that anybody needs to completely freak out,” Seyfer says. “But if you’re not aware of them, that means you’re

probably not aware of hybrids either, and they’re gaining market share very rapidly.”

Acting on ADAS

Keeping that in mind, another important area of advancement for consideration are advanced driver assistance systems. Along with all of the conversation surrounding EVs, ADAS is also undoubtedly a hot topic now.

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Some shops are leaning into it, and some are leaning away. But what aspects should shops really be focusing on? Seyfer says it depends on your shop’s discipline.

“If you’re in the collision industry, you need to be aware. You need to be capable of providing service for those by whatever means you do it,” Seyfer says. “But for general repair shops…Those vehicles can’t be aligned without some kind of calibration, and that will change as more and more dynamic cars come online. But you still have to calibrate them.”

Understanding ADAS calibration and repairs procedures is crucial if you don’t want to be turning away repairs. In order to avoid miscommunication with a customer, Seyfer says it’s important to be well-versed on the processes and procedures ahead of time. Put in the work to understand ADAS, and it will pay off.

“If you’re still thinking that this is a trend that is not going to go on or these cars will be completely self calibrating, that’s not actually going to be the case,” Seyfer says.

Seyfer goes on to say that another step worth taking involves customer education.

Currently, ADAS has the potential to interfere with how a driver performs on the road. That is to say that these systems are not perfect, even if they are well intended.

Seyfer is hopeful that in the future ADAS will only help and not cause distractions for drivers.

“They know it’s there, but I don’t think they have any idea in most cases what’s involved in making those systems work properly after what they would consider a simple operation like an alignment,” Seyfer says of general customer knowledge on ADAS. “As a repair shop, you have to be aware of this.”

This also ties into who you are hiring as technicians. Who are the people in your shop educating the customers and doing these complex repairs?

The labor shortage throughout the industry right now certainly does not make this question any easier to consider, but Seyfer has an idea of the right approach, which unsurprisingly has to do with shedding perspective on the situation.

“Where I would be focusing is that technician/IT mindset,” Seyfer says. “Because everything on the cars anymore is on the network in some way, shape or form. So, someone’s got to be able to service the network.”

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STRATEGY

Industry Standard Shop owners like Marc LaFerriere of Dents Unlimited are setting the standard to reinforce OEM procedures for most repairs to ensure safe standards are met.

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OEM repair procedures!”

FenderBender magazine frequently tells its readers.

Maybe—like so many things in both life and collision repair—that’s easier said than done. So how about an article devoted to a rundown of how one shop owner researches, follows, and documents the OEM repair procedures used at his shop?

Enter Marc LaFerriere, the owner of Dents Unlimited in Columbia, Missouri, a shop with 11 OEM certifications and annual collision-specific revenue of $1.8 million (Dents Unlimited also does PDR and mechanical repairs).

LaFerriere says he recently took on the role of production manager in his shop, while also acting as one of two estimators alongside three techs and a painter–he’s actively researching OEM repair procedures in his shop.

Like the vast majority of respondents to the 2022 FenderBender Industry Survey, LaFerriere says he references OEM repair procedures for most jobs, relying on shop knowledge for routine repairs on lower“FOLLOW

EDUCATION+TR AINING

JASON WINKELER

THE NO-EXCUSE GUIDE TO FOLLOWING OEM PROCEDURES

How to adapt to one of the most important recent changes in collision repair

By MIKE MUNZENRIDER

August 2022

70

fenderbender.com

tech, older vehicles.

The survey asked, “Does your shop pull and follow OEM repair procedures for most repairs?” and 82 percent of respondents said “Yes.” Another 16 percent responded “Sometimes,” while 2 percent responded “No.” Here’s more on how LaFerriere follows OEM repair procedures at Dents Unlimited.

Get Ahead

To keep repairs on track, LaFerriere says he tries to get ahead of any procedures that may need to be pulled.

“A lot of that gets done when we estimate the vehicle up front, especially if we know it’s a bigger hit or more structural stuff,” he says.

Dents Unlimited has access to the procedures of all the OEMs by which it is certified. LaFerriere says he prefers to use each individual OE’s website for searching information because they are the most up to date on various repairs.

He notes that automakers can alter procedures repeatedly for the same model year

in a short amount of time. He also notes that terminology for various parts can differ between OEs. Other options for pulling repair procedures include third-party platforms like ALLDATA; LaFerriere says he’ll purchase short term subscriptions to OEM repair procedures for brands by which the shop is not certified.

He estimates that 90 percent of jobs require some form of procedure research.

“They’re all getting pretty complex,” he says, noting however that he’s cautious about putting time into research prior to capturing a given job.

Body techs will occasionally look up procedures during the repair itself, though Laferriere says he prefers to do the research upfront by himself, or his estimator will do it.

“I’ve just found [the technicians are] better served working on cars and not finding procedures on OEM websites they’re not familiar with,” he says.

Know Specifics

ance and shop sides, said “premier”

If all goes according to plan, LaFerriere says any needed procedures will be found, printed, and included in the job packet that’s given to the technician prior to the repair.

He stresses that it can be a time-consuming process.

“If I’m replacing a rear bumper in a 2010 Camry LE, with no reverse sensors, I’m not going to pull that procedure,” LaFerriere says. “The late-model stuff gets more attention because of the new technologies.”

Any structural repairs will trigger research, he says, noting that research can also be vital when it comes to smaller details such as one-time-use parts.

An example he cites are Nissan interior trim clips that need to be replaced following the deployment of roof airbags. He says that information about one-time-use parts will sometimes come up in CCC, but sometimes it’s only found on the OEM’s site.

Knowing about one-time-use parts up front can reduce parts breakage, LaFerriere says, and help avoid back-ordered parts that slow repairs, while the parts profit can help cover time used for research.

cific resources toward researching

The Bottom Line

Help Wanted: OEM Procedure Researcher Marc LaFerriere, owner of Dents

Unlimited, estimates that some 90

percent of all jobs that come through

his Columbus, Mo., body shop require some sort of research on OEM repair

procedures. For now, he and his estimator do that research.

While he says he can’t quite af-

ford it yet, Laferriere says he could soon see himself hiring a full-time employee to research OEM repair procedures, envisioning it as a $50,000-per-year job.

Speaking to FenderBender for a

July 2022 story, Pete Tagliapietra, managing director of Datatouch, LLC, and a longtime industry vet

with experience both on the insur-

shops are beginning to devote speOEM repair procedures.

August 2022

Pulling procedures and then documenting the work with photos is vital when it comes

71

The Need for Stronger Language Documenting OEM repair proce-

dures can take the negotiation out

of the repair process with insurers,

says Marc LaFerriere, owner of Dents Unlimited in Columbus, Mo.

But what about procedures stated

in OEM position statements?

LaFerriere says position

statements are a gray area, operations recommended by OEMs but not required.

“Some insurance companies say

position statements are something

they don’t have to pay off, some do,

there are inconsistencies,” he says.

The lack of strong language in

position statements gives insurers

a way out of paying for procedures, he says, leading to shops skipping

operations that they should carry out for every given repair.

OEM1Stop.com is a useful tool for

keeping up with position statements, LaFerriere says, as are individual OEM websites.

to working with insurance companies, LaFerriere says. Printed procedures and photos are shared with insurers.

“It takes the negotiation out of the process with insurance partners who don’t see the process done at other shops,” he says.

There’s value in using OEM websites for finding procedures, LaFerriere says, because in his experience some insurers say they won’t pay for procedures found on third-party platforms. OEM position statements can also be a sticking point, he adds (see box).

He says he still faces resistance to certain procedures from some insurance companies, noting that there is a difficulty with trust in the relationship between insurers and shops. He underscores the fact that the liability for a bad repair falls on the shop.

“The bottom line,” LaFerriere says, “is it’s got to be fixed properly whether insurance pays for it or not.”

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COLUMNS

OUTSIDE THE LINES

What Fear Is Holding You Back?

Fear could be keeping your business from reaching its full potential

day in Hershey, Pennsylvania, when I was 12 years old. My dad wanted to go on the roller coaster named The Super Duper Looper. My sister and I weren’t going anywhere near it. My dad finally grabbed my sister by the hand and said, “Let’s go, we’re going on.” He then looked at me and his eyes said it all: if she’s going, you’re going. Of course, you know how this story ends. As soon as we got off the ride, my sister and I ran to get back in line so we could go on it again.

From that day forward I’ve been an adrenaline junkie. I’m terrified of heights, yet when I found myself in Vegas I rode Big Shot on top of the Stratosphere tower. I thoroughly enjoyed that ride, yet it might have never happened if it wasn’t for the Super Duper Looper.

The reason I share my childhood experience with you is that fear can be crippling and keep us from so many good things. I almost didn’t meet my wife due to the fact that we met at a funeral and I was afraid of “picking someone up” at a funeral.

There was once an employee who I knew needed to be terminated, but I was afraid of the consequences. I feared that he might retaliate or generally make things messy. I also feared we’d miss his production, as he was a solid technician. But once I finally made the decision to part ways with him, due to his attitude, our shop benefited greatly.

So what are you afraid of? Are you afraid that you won’t be able to hire enough people? It’s an understandable fear, but if it becomes crippling to the point that you aren’t even trying, then you are missing out on great things. One of the things I love about our industry is it reeks of ingenuity. I could write a book about the ways people in our industry found new ways to solve problems. Don’t let the fear of the difficulty of hiring keep you from being the one in your area who is the new HR genius and hires more techs than everyone else.

And if you strike out figuring out how to reinvent the hiring process, are you going to let that fear control you? If you do, you will likely miss out on solutions that are in house. In the mid-2000s our shop was not performing the way I wanted.

We had plenty of work, and a solid team of techni-

August 2022

cians, albeit an aging team. I knew processes were going to be the key to moving forward. We started down the difficult journey of becoming a process centered environment. It took me a while to get buy-in from the team. I almost let the fear of them leaving vs sticking with me through the changes keep me from forging ahead with the changes.

Three years later we hit a record sales figure, with less people than we started the journey with. The processes allowed us to get more cars fixed, with less people, and be far more profitable while at the same time paying our technicians more, which certainly helps with retention.

Over the past year I had a fear of rejection, not wanting to ask insurers for a labor rate increase because I didn’t want to battle and constantly lose. I have no idea where that fear came from.

Our shop has been a pioneer in our region for finding new line items to charge for. We asked until we got the answer we were looking for. We professionally pushed the limit. But for some reason I let that fear in and it kept our shop from getting an increase in rates for far too long. This time around, when we finally started asking for an increase, I was shocked at how quickly we saw results. Silly fear, keeping everyone on our team from something good.

So what are you afraid of? Maybe it’s so ingrained in you that you don’t even realize what it is. Ask some of your team members what they think. And listen to them when they respond, don’t get bent out of shape when they give you feedback. Once you realize what you are fearing, it’s time to get to work. Attack your fear head on and you’ll likely find your fear has no teeth. Unless you have the fear of falling or loud sounds, it’s not a natural fear. Something in your past experiences helped you develop this unhealthy fear.

Do you know the Bible speaks of not being afraid 365 times? It’s as if the author knew we would need the reminder every single day. I’ve let fear keep me from some good things in life, from the Super Duper Looper to some very profitable times for our company. Take a minute to do an honest evaluation of your life and see what you might be missing out on due to a silly fear.

72

J A S O N B O G G S is the

owner of Boggs Auto Collision Rebuilders in Woodbury, N.J. He has attended the Disney Institute and Discover Leadership, and has studied lean manufacturing processes.

EMAIL:

jason@boggsauto.com

ARCHIVE:

fenderbender.com/boggs

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My family went to an amusement park for the

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