Guest Editorial
Collision Repairers Need To Educate People They Deal With
by Dick Strom A wise man once said that education "makes people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave." Properly used, education becomes a powerful and profitable tool. At my shop, we like to think that we are one of the norm in our industry: a medium-sized, single-location, independent business. We have the respect of our employees, our customers and, I believe, though they may not admit it aloud, the insurance representatives with whom we deal. But it hasn’t come easy. Our success has been in great measure a direct result of consistently and continually educating everyone who in any way touches our business. I break this into three categories:
1) Educate your competitors. How many times have you been told, "Nobody else charges for that"? Maybe it is time to attend a gathering or a seminar on what exactly "procedure pages" do and do not allow (no monetary figures, rates or price fixing involved, of course). Open with an explanation of the antitrust guidelines and then study the procedure pages line by line. Rest assured it will open eyes and be beneficial for everyone who takes part. Encourage insurance company representatives to attend and legally protect yourselves by taping the entire meeting and appointing a secretary to take notes. There is nothing improper about this type of education as long as the focus is kept on what we are and are not legally allowed to charge. As you know, it isn’t the insurers’ responsibility to remind you what they should be paying you for. You are the repair professional who knows far better than they what is involved in restoring a vehicle to pre-accident condition, and you deserve due compensation for achieving it.
2) Educate insurance adjusters. Itemize every operation you perform and if insurers refuse to pay for it now, continue to include it on every future estimate until they concede. We keep a running record of every hourly and monetary agreement we have made with individual insurance company representatives, also recording any concessions. If they neglect to pay for a legitimate operation that our records prove they did pay for previously, we can call them on it. On a disputed item, fax or send the adjuster a copy of the appropriate procedure page with the disputed operation highlighted or underlined.
If it takes pictures to convince them that you really do what you expect payment for, take pictures. Photos are cheap compared to lost labor revenue. We have found this works very well, with most hesitant adjusters usually admitting they agree. If they question the need for blending, send them a picture showing the nearness of the plastic and sanding work in relation to the adjoining panel, and another picture showing the vehicle taped up and being blended. If bagging is an issue, send them a shot of the car taped up with the bag installed. You get the picture.
Invite insurance people to tour your facility. Introduce them to your staff and show them firsthand the reason you use the procedures you use. If the cost of materials is in question, provide them with materials cost invoices. (Your paint supplier will provide you with current material prices and year-by-year materials price percentage increase sheets for the last several years.) Also include a photocopy of this each year when you approach insurance companies for increased hourly and materials rates that reflect your increased costs of doing business. If you paid an average of 8 percent more for paint-related materials this year over last, does your "paint materials" column reflect this increase?
When, after you have written a fair estimate, an adjuster writes one that comes in lower than yours, write out a detailed supplement for everything that you included that the adjuster left off and fax it right back to the adjuster. If you let an adjuster off the hook now on even the smallest item, don’t expect to receive fair compensation in the future.
3) Educate your customers. Invite prospective customers to tour your repair facility, allowing you to point out why you are well-qualified to repair their vehicle. Also, make sure no consumer leaves your shop without a pamphlet explaining motorist repair rights in your state.
Get the potential customer personally involved in the estimate writing process. If possible, drive the damaged auto onto a hoist and have them visually inspect it with you. Cover your office walls with framed certificates of courses you and your employees have completed or certifications attained. Display professional photographs of employees with their families. You can place photo albums filled with thank-you notes from happy customers and before-and-after pictures of repairs in your office area.
These are just a few of the many educational practices that we have found to be effective. If you have others that work, let’s hear about them. If you are going in the hole and aren’t concerned about it, don’t expect the insurers to be concerned either. They know there will always be another LKQ shop to take your place when you go belly-up.
Dick Strom is the owner of Modern Collision Rebuild in Bainbridge Island, Wash. In business for 22 years, Strom is a member of the Automotive Service Association (ASA).
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AutoInc. Magazine ®, Vol. XLIV No. 8, August 1996