From improving processes resulting in proper welding to protecting employees from fentanyl exposure, the recent Society of Collision Repair Specialists’ (SCRS) open board meeting held in Richmond, VA, offered actionable ideas for collision repairers.
Board member Andrew Batenhorst, manager of Pacific BMW in Glendale, CA, for example shared some of the steps his shop has taken to ensure proper welding is being done consistently.
“You have multiple technicians who may have their own individual opinions on what they think quality is,” Batenhorst said. “In my operation, I have found that having a standardized way that welds are being performed greatly reduces the risk of having variable quality being produced by the shop. And there needs to be a way for the person who is next in line, which in this case would be the paint department, to be able to assess what’s being done, even if they themselves are not welders.
“So every car, before it passes onto the next repair process, someone from the receiving department needs to be able to assess what was done, and compare it back to the instructions that the technician followed to ensure that the work was done the way it needs to be done,” Batenhorst said. “And if it doesn’t pass, it shouldn’t continue on through the shop. It needs to be corrected to ensure that it’s not done improperly.”
He shared a document his technicians made with photos that show “an example of what a passing weld looks like, or what a failing weld looks like, what a proper flange should look like when you’re preparing for welding,” he said. “So again, if someone isn’t aware of what something should look like visibly, they have a reference to see.”
Batenhorst also found a way to ensure technicians can quickly access welder information.
“I created a QR code to, in this case, Miller’s YouTube page, as well as to the owner’s manual for the particular welder,” he said. “I’ve found that if I leave the owner’s manual inside the welder tray, it’s going to get shredded or stained with coffee or food, or it just goes away. So having [the QR code] there on the welder itself, with packing tape over it so it doesn’t peel off, is just a cheap and easy way to make sure there’s access to information.”
He also emphasized the need to check automaker welding specifications regularly.
“I had an instance once where a technician misread a diagram, and it just so happened to be the day that we were getting audited by Honda, and the auditor noticed the welds were in the wrong place,” Batenhorst said. “I actually had to buy another quarter panel for that car and do the job all over again. It was embarrassing, and even though it was 10 years ago, I’m embarrassed talking about it now, but we needed to do what’s right. The technician had gone off of memory. So it just highlighted that these [OEM] instructions get updated very often without us knowing, and you can’t rely on your memory alone.”
Vehicle Had Drug Residue
At her final SCRS meeting as chairman of the board, Amber Alley shared an issue that arose in the shop she manages, Barsotti’s Body & Fender in San Rafael, CA. Alley said a customer recently had their recovered stolen vehicle towed from a police impound lot to her shop after it had been outside of the customer’s possession for 45 days.
“The customer had brought up concerns that someone had been possibly living in the car, and was really concerned about it, and given how dangerous fentanyl could be, wanted to have the car tested,” Alley said. “We have a protocol to discuss this option and recommend that testing is done.”
Requests for such testing made to the customer’s insurer by both the shop and the customer were denied, however.
“The insurer basically said, ‘If the customer wants to pay for it, depending on what’s found, then we’ll determine whether we’re going to reimburse for it,’” Alley said. “So at that point we stored the car in our parking lot, basically taped it up and roped it off so nobody went close to the car. And this went back and forth for over a month.”
The vehicle owner eventually decided to pay for the testing, which is not inexpensive, Alley said.
“Within a few days, we got the results back that it was positive for fentanyl,” she said. “And what was so scary was that in the notes it said there was a substance on the driver’s side seat. I think about the tow truck driver who got in the car, and the police, and [anyone who] didn’t think ahead to protect themselves.”
The vehicle ended up as a total loss because of the cost of abatement, Alley said. But she shared the story to remind the industry that with everyone often moving so quickly to bring a car in and get repairs started, they may overlook risks involved.
“Safety protocols should be thought through to protect yourself,” Alley said. “During COVID, we would clean the cars, sanitize the cars. This vehicle happened to be a stolen recovery, which raised alarm, but in today’s society, it could have just been the customer’s car. As an industry, we should be aware we’re sharing that space, a very personal space. People may have a cold, the flu, COVID, drug use. We’re putting our people, and sometimes ourselves, in that situation. So I thought it was important to share that experience and bring it to everyone’s attention.”
Improving the Estimating Databases
Also at the SCRS meeting, Danny Gredinberg, administrator of the Database Enhancement Gateway (DEG), reported about 2 in 5 of the nearly 700 inquiries submitted to DEG the in the first quarter of this year resulted in a change to one of the estimating system databases by Audatex, CCC Intelligent Solutions or Mitchell.
Although the estimating system providers have long provided a way for anyone in the industry to submit such inquiries directly to them, the DEG was created in 2007 by a number of shop trade associations as a centralized and easier way to submit and monitor what happens to such inquiries.
Gredinberg said the bulk of the first quarter inquiries — 552 — were related to the CCC system, and about 45% of those resulted in a change. The combined changes to all three systems, he said, which were based on inquiries related to omissions or inaccurate information in the systems, added about 267 body labor hours, 70 refinish labor hours, and more than $15,000 in parts pricing to the systems.
He also highlighted some of the recent inquiries. An inquiry (#37943) related to the Audatex system, for example, questioned the labor time for replacement of the roof panel on a 2019 Volkswagen Jetta, saying the time allotted in the system was not adequate for the laser welded part.
“They documented the process, took photos along the way, and were able to submit this inquiry,” Gredinberg said. “And after review, we saw a change from the original time of 13 hours to 23.4 hours. So you can see the impact, and they got a resolution in three or four days.”
