From the Desk of Mike Anderson with Mike Anderson
Mike Anderson is the president and owner of Collision Advice, a consulting company for the auto body/collision repair industry. For nearly 25 years, he was the owner of Wagonwork Collision Center, an OEM-certified, full-service auto body repair facility in Alexandria, VA.
Resources to Combat Collision Parts Supply Chain Challenges I can’t speak with auto body shop owners, managers or estimators for long these days without the subject of parts supply challenges being raised. The fact there’s a lot of parts backorders is just the reality we’re living with, and I can’t offer you any magic wand to change that. What I can do, however, is point you toward some parts-related resources out there I think many people in the industry may not be using. Let me start by saying long before any of our current challenges arose, I firmly believe every shop should be using some type of electronic parts ordering solution. When incorporated into good parts processes within your shop, these systems will improve the speed, accuracy and completeness of your parts ordering. Many will help identify
availability of the parts you need. But I also recognize even with these systems, you may still come up short identifying or locating the parts you need. So here are some
You enter the vehicle information, the part number or numbers, and your ZIP code. Up pops a list of the dealers around the country who have that part in stock, showing you the number they have and when that inventory was last updated. Another great website is www.partseye.net. When you enter that web address, it takes you to SmartCo, whose “smart inventory program” is called PartsEye. Click on the “Parts Locator” tab at the top of the The “free forms, links and tools” section of the Collision page, and you’ll be able to Advice website includes a list of parts-related websites search the country for parts separated by automaker for Kia, Mazda, Subaru and additional resources you may not be several other lines of vehicles. familiar with in regard to locating Want to find more websites parts. like these? Go to my company’s One great website is www. website (www.collisionadvice.com) partsvoice.com. It’s a free resource. and click on the link to “free forms,
links and tools.” Click on the “links” section, and scroll down to “parts.” In the OEM section, for example, you’ll find a long list of parts-related websites separated by automaker. We’ve tried to catalog all the websites we can find that can be used either to search for parts for a specific OEM, or to allow you to view detailed parts diagrams. One of the first ones on the list, for example, is www.partslink24. com. It requires a paid subscription— on a daily, monthly or yearly basis— but enables you to see the exact same part diagrams the dealers have access to for any model of Audi, Porsche or Volkswagen. That can really help you identify needed parts when you’re writing an estimate. As an aside, sites like these are why I’m a big proponent of using dual monitors when writing repair plans. You can have the estimating
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