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When the repair industry (later than most) finally moved into the 21st century and started writing estimates by computer, shops and insurance companies alike likened computerized estimating to the advent of the washing machine. Why a washing machine?

To view a PDF of this article please click HERE.

Some of you might be old enough to remember the days of washing your clothes by hand. Although I never had the pleasure, I recall my parents talking about the painstaking process of washing clothes in a bucket when they were kids. It was an arduous process that consumed a lot of your time if you did it right.

I did write estimates by hand and I can assure you that it too was a long painful process. What made handwritten estimates worse was having to go back and try to translate what you scribbled while clutching a clipboard.

If you are a member of Generation X or Y (or any other letter of the alphabet), you probably can’t relate to these old-man war stories. That said, I will try to offer a correlation you can appreciate. That’s what we’re supposed to do with the younger generation, right? Entertain them and cater to them and give them a ribbon just for participating even if they finished in last place. So for them: Handwritten estimates is like having to get up and change the channel on the TV because you can’t find the remote control.

I recently received an advertising booklet in the mail. Most of the ads in the booklet were for local cleaners and various personal and home services. There was also one ad for a collision repair shop, but the shop was located many miles from my mail service where I received the booklet.

To view a PDF of this article please click HERE.

The shop owner had obviously been pressured into buying an ad that was being delivered far out of his effective neighborhood. And even worse than that, it was buried in a booklet that is mostly read by housewives looking for household deals at local businesses. The shop’s ad didn’t even have a coupon that might have gotten at least a couple of people to notice it. The odds of the shop getting a single job out of this ad were probably as remote as the chance of winning the Publisher’s Sweepstakes.

Unfortunately, even if this ad had appeared in a newspaper or other widely read publication, it was still unlikely to get many people reading it. There were several reasons for this. First of all, most of the print was too tiny for mature readers to read without a magnifying glass. In a space three and a half inches wide by one-inch deep, fifty-two words were crammed closely together. The shop owner had probably provided the advertiser with a list of services he wanted included in the ad. Ad sales people just want to sell the ad. They’re practically never professional ad design people, so they’ll cram anything into the ad the buyer says he wants.

There could have been more space for showing the shop’s many services if half the ad hadn’t consisted of a huge photo of a late model new car.

The debate continues to rage: What is the standard for collision repairs? Who develops the standard? Is it possible to deviate from the standard? If you can deviate, what entity can provide an alternate to the standard?

To view a PDF of this article please click HERE.

As such, people, committees, associations, not-for-profit organizations and corporations are lining up quicker than adults outside of Toys R Us on Black Friday to offer their two cents on the subject. Sadly, most of their opinions aren’t worth a single copper Lincoln penny.

Why not? Because most of those offering an opinion are basing their decision upon something other than being experts on the topic.

I’m not professing to be an expert or proficient enough in repair methodology to offer an opinion worthy of your consideration. While that may be the most humble thing you will ever read in one of my articles, I am going to give you my opinion anyway. The way I see it, if you are reading and listening to alleged industry experts weigh in, why not an insurance executive who has never actually repaired a vehicle? Maybe I’m the best person to offer an opinion because I don’t stand to gain anything.

Although I’ve never repaired a vehicle, don’t discredit the wisdom I’m about to impart upon you. Sometimes the best ideas come from the most unlikely of places. Do you think Moses knew what was going to happen at the top of the mountain? If you happen to be a good church-going boy or girl, you know that is where Moses received the Ten Commandments. Who could have guessed sectioning procedures were even an issue back then?

Back in July I wrote an article about  Yelp—the well-known review website where customers can comment about businesses and rate their performance. My article was about body shops having a love-hate relationship with it. See www.autobodynews.com and search ‘yelp’ if you missed it. Like any business, shops appreciate postive reviews from customers and bristle at negative ones, but the issue we were addressing is what shops can do to mitigate negative reviews. Since then there have been some developments.

To view a PDF of this article please click HERE.

Darnell Holloway is Manager for Local Business Outreach for Yelp, the on-line review site. Holloway recently spoke at a Santa Clara California Autobody Association meeting and Autobody News subsequently interviewed him about what he said in more depth.

ABN: If a shop receives a bad review, what options does it have to respond?

DH: Generally speaking, the business owners who have the most success with reputation management on Yelp are the ones who are dedicated to providing a great customer experience in the offline world. Beyond that, we provide a free suite of tools via www.biz.yelp.com that allows business owners to respond privately as well as publicly to reviews, upload information about themselves and add photos, among other things. Once a business starts receiving reviews, it’s important for business owners to join the conversation. We provide a whole host of information on Yelp for business owners, including how to respond to online critics. We also recently released a video featuring business owners as they share their thoughts on this subject. The most important takeaway for business owners is: 1) Remain calm. 2) Think about the complaint in relation to our existing customer service policy and then respond diplomatically.

I recently noticed a shop that had several excellent repeat business sources lose one of them—a major dealership —to a competitor. When I inquired about how this could happen, I learned that the shop’s owner and manager were busy focusing their full attention on saving one of their insurance DRPs. During this time, they somewhat neglected that major dealership source. This gave the competitor an opening to jump in and grab that business. I’m sure that in retrospect, this shop owner realized he should have assigned someone—or hired someone —to maintain giving that dealership all of the attention they were accustomed to receiving.

To view a PDF of this article please click HERE.

Is it possible to have too many irons in the fire? Is a shop better off just concentrating on a limited number of sources so each can be given abundant attention?

Let me illustrate with a metaphor. One of the exciting technologies of “the space age” is the development of lasers (L-ight A-mplified by S-timulated E-mission of R-adiation). A beam of light is concentrated to such a fine point it can cut through metal. Think about for the intensity of concentrated attention needed to hold onto a major referral source.

On the opposite end of the light concentration spectrum is the flashlight. It casts a broad beam that encompasses a wide area ahead of the light, but the intensity of the light is fairly weak. It’s just strong enough for the human eye to get a general view of the area ahead. Marketing concentration can fall across a similar spectrum: intense concentration vs. a wide, less effective, general approach.

I want to start this month’s column  with a personal reflection on some life changing events that happened to me last year.

To view a PDF of this article please click HERE.

The last Saturday of September I woke up about 1:00 a.m. with a pain in my chest. It felt like a 500 lb gorilla was standing on my chest and the pain was excruciating. Not being the brightest person in the world, I got into my truck and drove myself to the hospital. When I told the nurse in emergency that I was experiencing chest pain, she rushed into a room and hooked up an EKG monitor and blood pressure gauge. My blood pressure was 170 over 90. Not real good (I am on blood pressure medication). The ER doctor came in and told me that I did not have a heart attack or a stroke, but there was something not working right with my heart and set up an appointment with a cardiologist the following week. Five hours later, I came home, hooked up my welding trailer and conducted an I-CAR structural steel test (Again, not the best move, sometimes my brain works in reverse). Monday, I made an appointment with a cardiologist for the following Friday.

On that Wednesday, my daughter gave birth to an 8 lb baby girl named Hayley, and for my wife and me, our first grandchild.

I will tell you that being a grandparent is a tremendous experience. The best experience of all is that I haven’t had diaper duty yet.

On Friday, I had my appointment with the cardiologist. I had another EKG and he determined that I had a mild case of Atrial Fibrillation.

Atrial fibrillation (AF or A-fib) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia (abnormal heart rhythm). It is a common cause of irregular heart beat, identified clinically by taking a pulse. Chaotic electrical activity in the two upper chambers (atria) of the heart result in the muscle fibrillating (i.e., quivering), instead of achieving coordinated contraction.

Years ago my younger brother came to work for me. He didn’t know a thing about cars, but was willing to learn all that he could. Teaching new technicians is an art that most shop owners have to learn to do, but teaching your little brother can be a chore and can test your patience.

To view a PDF of this article please click HERE.

I muddled through it all and taught him what I could. I was sure at some point in time the two of us would butt heads like brothers will do, and he would take his new found skills and move up in the rank and files of the automotive technical world, but in the meantime it was his turn to learn from his older brother.

When he first started I would walk him through each step of how to diagnose a certain system in a car. A lot of times he would have questions, and I’d do my best to answer them.  He learned quickly and was really sharp at picking up some of those little details that are harder to teach, because you tend to forget to mention them while you’re teaching—mainly because you are trying to get to the solution as efficiently as possible, and you neglect to bring it up. Such as: “always test your test light connection before testing what you’re testing, or don’t forget to check for all your tools before you pull the car out of the shop.” Things like that.

One day we had a truck come in with dual fuel tanks on it. The gas gauge wasn’t working and needed some attention. This was a perfect opportunity for Junior to learn a few of my short cuts on these old models. It was an older Ford, in which the tank gauge ran through the tank switchover button. It was rather easy to pull it out of the dash and connect to the gauge from the back of the switch.

So much happens in the collision repair industry that it can be hard to keep up on everything. A few big stories get plenty of attention, but sometimes it’s the lesser-known stories that can have as big an impact on your business.

To view a PDF of this article please click HERE.

As a new year kicks off, here’s a wrap up of some of the news stories from this past year that might have flown under your radar amid the day-to-day challenges of running your shop, but that could prove helpful for you to know about.

► 1 The Federal Trade Commission last year issued a consumer bulletin related to the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. It states that use of non-OEM parts in itself cannot void a vehicle warranty.

“Still, if it turns out that the aftermarket part was itself defective or wasn’t installed correctly, and it causes damage to another part that is covered under the warranty, the manufacturer or dealer has the right to deny coverage for that part and charge you for any repairs,” the bulletin states. For a copy of the bulletin, visit: http://tinyurl.com/3zvas3w

In light of the excellent working relationship between ASRW and Autobody News, we wanted to comment on the ongoing ‘Insurance Insider’ column.  We understand these are op-ed pieces and are written from the author’s point of view. However, the two articles we’ve seen—Can NACE Survive as a ‘Traveling Regional Trade Show? and Industry Undecided Which Organization Will Prevail in NACE vs. SEMA” each contain several inaccuracies.

Our attempts to contact the ‘insider’ regarding these statements received standard automated replies. We wanted to bring the following inaccurate statements to your readers’ attention:
‘Can NACE Survive as a ‘Traveling Regional Trade Show’? October 20, 2011 (online); November 2011 (print)
● Article states: “Aside from the fact there weren’t a lot of people there, which made it easier to navigate the show floor, the smaller event meant my feet were intact after a few days of walking.” – Although the size of NACE has contracted in proportion to the size of the collision industry since the late-1990s, ASRW 2011 had an increase in attendance of 18%.
● Article states: “They assembled a committee of industry experts that were supposed to help guide them to “NACE: The Next Generation.”—Although the ‘NACE: The Next Generation’ committee does not exist, we do solicit feedback from industry experts, attendees, exhibitors and prospective participants when making decisions that affect the future of ASRW.
● The article references a vote at the CIC meeting in early 2010 as the catalyst as to where the fall CIC meeting would take place.—Although votes occurred at this meeting, the relevant vote took place at the CIC Planning Meeting in January of 2011 and the results (holding the meeting in conjunction with NACE or SEMA) were separated by 1 vote.
‘Industry Undecided Which Organization Will Prevail in NACE vs. SEMA’ – November 23, 2011 (online); December 2011 (print)
•    Article states: “[NACE] staked their claim as the undisputed ‘Collision Industry Trade Show Champion’ after 2011.—While we have never made this particular claim, NACE remains the only event dedicated to the professionals within the collision repair industry.
● Article states “SEMA is an upstart show.”—SEMA is not an upstart show. According to www.semashow.com, it is “the premier automotive specialty products trade event in the world,” and has been in existence since 1966.
● Article states: “NACE lost the sale, and Round 1 of the ‘Battle of the Century’ last year went to SEMA.” According to www.semashow.com, SEMA’s audience consists of approximately 60,000 automotive enthusiasts in the automotive, truck and SUV, powersports and RV markets. Unlike SEMA, NACE’s audience has been and remains the professional collision repairer.

We consider Autobody News to be a great partner/supporter, and we appreciate the on-going coverage and support we consistently receive. We welcome the opportunity and are always available to provide the anyone – including the ‘insider’ with factual information regarding ASRW.
Thank you,
ASRW Show Management
Hanley Wood Exhibitions

You can ring the bell as Round 2 of the “Battle of the Century” has ended. Yes, “NACE vs. SEMA, Part 2” was very different from the prior year. The battleground changed from a Las Vegas faceoff to an Orlando vs. Las Vegas showdown.

To view a PDF of this article please click HERE.

This year’s winner is in the eye of the beholder. NACE (the International Autobody Congress and Exposition) and its sponsoring organization, the Automotive Service Association, have staked their claim as the undisputed “Collision Industry Trade Show Champion.”

Meanwhile, the Society of Collision Repair Specialists has teamed up with SEMA and announced their contention to be the new “Heavyweight Champion.”

So who was this year’s winner? I personally think it was a draw—with one exception: There was a clear loser. I’ll give you a hint. It’s an eight letter word that begins with an “I” and ends with a “Y.” The collision industry is divided and stuck supporting two trade shows. The NACE and SEMA divide is all about “I” (rather than “we”) and the industry is holding the bag and left asking “Y?” So how and why is the industry losing in a fight it never asked for?

I was one of a small percentage of people who had the good fortune and fortitude to attend both shows. I experienced both the aging NACE and the upstart SEMA show. I was forced to dedicate two-plus weeks to accomplish what normally would take me one week. I successfully met with all the individuals and companies that requested my presence and knowledge.