PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Whose Car Is It, Anyway?

by JERRY MCNEE

Last month, I talked about the importance of shops investing in training and education to ensure that they’re equipped to properly and safely repair customers’ vehicles, but there’s another vital component to education that our industry often neglects to talk about – we need to be educating our customers! Think about it: Whose car is it? It’s the customer’s car. Yet when there’s a battle with the insurance company over proper procedures, shops have been programmed to take up arms and go to war, but it’s not our battle; that vehicle belongs to the customer and so do any problems that arise with their insurance company. Most customers have no clue about the problems we encounter on a daily basis, and the only way they’ll ever know is if we inform them. We need to start educating the customer about their vehicle and what is required to restore it to its pre-accident condition; however, many shops are reluctant to have that conversation. They either don’t want to confront the customer with negative news, or they’re simply unwilling to invest the time into explaining the multitude of problems we are facing. Now, I’m not telling you to whine and complain about every aspect of your business, but when a customer’s insurance carrier tries to inhibit your ability to correctly do your job, think about who is actually impacted when you give in to the insurer’s demands. If you’re not willing to put the time in to educate your customer, who is going to do it? No one! And if we aren’t doing anything about these issues, if we’re merely accepting the status quo, nothing will ever change.

Shops cannot afford to continue patching cars with a temporary Band-Aid. The old excuse that you’re “not getting paid” isn’t going to hold up in a court of law. Furthermore, it’s your own fault! I get it: Shops perform a valuable service which entitles us to fair and reasonable compensation according to New Jersey regulations. With each manufacturer requiring specific factory tools, one tool does not fit all vehicles. Add in equipment and training, and it seems like nobody is paying attention to our struggles. Because they’re not! And they’re not going to pay attention until we tell them what’s going on.

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