Stop Accepting Blends at 50 Percent!

By now, we should all know about the blend study conducted by the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) last summer (and if you somehow missed it, be sure to get the scoop as well as thoughts from some local repairers at grecopublishing.com/ near0323coverstory). Basically, the study confirmed what all shop owners and technicians already knew: Blending is more difficult, and it takes more time to blend a panel than to perform a full refinish.

In fact, the paint companies that participated in SCRS’ study demonstrated that blending takes 132 percent more time (on average). So, WHY are some shops still accepting blends at 50 percent?!

That’s what we’ve been charging for years based on the information providers’ outdated formulas, but CCC will be making an update to their system in just a couple months. Specifically, MOTOR will be updating its system to allow for an on-the-spot evaluation, so we can input the time specific to the repair being negotiated. Another option is that shops can set up default values for two-stage and three-stage blends based on how long those processes take that individual painter or shop to perform. (More details are available at grecopublishing.com/new-england-automotive-report-july-2023).

Audatex and Mitchell are still reviewing their internal processes in light of the study results, but it should be noted that Audatex already allows for edits to blend calculations; the shop just needs to manually change it.

What does this tell us? It’s your business! That means you should be evaluating your business costs and the time that these operations take in order to get properly compensated. Charging that additional time and collecting for it is what any retail business must do to be successful.

We’re doing it at our shop, and insurers are paying it. It only makes sense with this validated study that more shops are fighting

Staff

PUBLISHER

Thomas Greco | thomas@grecopublishing.com

VICE PRESIDENT/SALES DIRECTOR

Alicia Figurelli | alicia@grecopublishing.com

EDITORIAL/CREATIVE COORDINATOR

Alana Quartuccio | alana@grecopublishing.com

OFFICE MANAGER

Donna Greco | donna@grecopublishing.com

PRODUCTION COORDINATOR

Joe Greco | joe@grecopublishing.com

MANAGING EDITOR

Chasidy Rae Sisk | chasidy@grecopublishing.com

PUBLISHED BY: Thomas Greco Publishing, Inc. 244 Chestnut Street, Suite 202, Nutley, NJ 07110 Corporate: (973) 667-6922 / FAX: (973) 235-1963 www.grecopublishing.com @grecopublishing for adequate reimbursement. Are you one of those shops? It has been proven and documented that there’s no way that doing a blend for 50 percent of a full refinish is worth your time; it’s way more work. More work means you deserve to get paid more. Why would you ever accept less money for more work?!

I get that carriers have drilled that exact mentality into our heads for years, but they cannot tell us how to run our businesses unless we let them. Thanks to SCRS, insurers cannot keep denying this fair charge, especially when we have the documentation to back it up to prevent them from intentionally under-indemnifying their insured. I’m looking forward to the responses from Audatex and Mitchell, and I’m hopeful that SCRS will continue performing these types of studies that are so beneficial to our industry.

But in the meantime, stop waiting for someone else to tell you what you can do. You have the evidence. Take what we’ve learned, and use that information to start winning NOW. It is your independent business decision whether to continue accepting an inadequate 50 percent of a full refinish formula when you could and should be collecting an average of 132 percent (and higher in many cases) to blend based on the SCRS blend study (download the study in its entirety at scrs.com/blendstudy). Blending requires time, materials and man-power. It is not part of the cost of doing business; consider putting it on your estimate, charging for it and fighting for it. You deserve it.

MASSACHUSETTS

AASP/MA PRESIDENT KEVIN GALLERANI is president of Cape Auto Collision Center in Plymouth, MA. He can be reached at (508) 747-0316 or kevin@capeautobody.com.

Jayce Mitchell

Gregg Tanguay

Scott Varney

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