Will the Backlog Ever Let Up?

This past year-plus has given most body shops quite a workout. Supply chain issues on top of low manpower and insurer delays have led to a backlog of work so severe that shops have had to flex their creative muscles when it comes to scheduling work – in some cases, even turning customers away – all while trying to find a few minutes just to catch their breath.

As the summer got underway, things lightened up enough to allow for the ability to exhale once in awhile for some, but despite sky-high gas prices – which one might think would deter people from taking to the roads as often – and minimal improvement with obtaining parts, most continue to huff and puff their way through week after overloaded week. “The phones are ringing off the hook,” reports Dean Massimini (Autotech Collision Service, Inc.; Sewell) who was already booked up until September as of mid-July. “I’m a small shop. I’ve been in business for 32 years, and before all this, I’ve never been booked up more than two weeks.” The same can be said for Bloomfield Auto Body. Owner Anthony Trama indicates his shop is currently scheduled out about six to eight weeks.

“That comes with a disclaimer,” he explains. “It’s really based on back ordered parts. So, some customers on backordered parts are scheduled out based on when we anticipate those parts may come in. I don’t want them to have to wait two months, so I will book out eight weeks for backordered parts and roughly four to five weeks for cars that I know I can get parts for.”

Jerry McNee (Ultimate Collision; Edison) is currently seeing a backlog of one month to six weeks; however, that is an improvement over his previous jam that left him scheduling out two to three months! Ken Miller at 821 Collision (North Haledon) says prior backlogs of three to four weeks out have subsided. Does this mean things may be getting close to heading back to normal? “It definitely seems like it’s getting better, but I wouldn’t say things are back to normal,” suggests McNee. Delays with parts obviously present an issue, but other factors play a role as well.

McNee believes “it’s a combination of parts issues and insurer delays.” On top of that, he’s even had problems with his vendors. In one circumstance, he discovered one of his vendors never followed through on an order for a part he submitted. Instead of receiving the part and getting the car out the door, he received no apology and a response from the vendor that perhaps the part was sent to another shop. Clearly, McNee was left with more frustrations, no solution and an angry customer. Trama agrees that parts delays have definitely played a role. He believes this all started when the pandemic hit, but it was the supply chain issues that accelerated things and led to the problems that shops have been battling all this time.

“There have been times we just couldn’t get any parts,” he relays. “Some that would come out from California would normally take about five to seven business days wound up taking weeks because we were told they were just sitting on a dock out there with no drivers or trucks to be able to unload and distribute them.” The Bloomfield shop owner does believe things are getting better as parts have begun to come in sooner than expected, but when it comes to normalcy, that’s something “I don’t think we’ll see for a long time.” Massimini has a whole different outlook. He doesn’t think it’s about supply chain issues at all. “I honestly feel that once COVID broke loose and people got back on the roads, they honestly forgot how to drive. There’s more angry people on the road.”

He thought gas prices would change that, but it does not seem to have brought much change to a problem that isn’t just being felt in the Garden State but nationwide.

“Eventually, there will be some normalcy, but no one has a crystal ball. It’s an unusual time. And when we do have supply chain related issues or insurance delays, we just move on to the next job as there is always something to work on here.” Miller acknowledges several factors contributing to the backlog including the industry-wide manpower issues, something he was lucky to not have been affected by as he was able to take on employees as a result of other businesses closing down. Instead he points his finger at insurer steering. As a non-DRP shop, he believes that insurers are slamming their program shops with work, therefore causing the backlog. “They are steering harder toward DRP shops which is why some shops are slammed and others are not,” he believes. McNee agrees that insurance steering is taking place through all this. He’s witnessed it firsthand, watching an insurer lie to a customer as they steered work away. In the end, he was more than willing to let the car go. “I said, ‘Take the car. I have 100 here. I don’t need another.’”

As for where things are headed, “I’d love to say it’s getting better. Our count is lowering. Something that should take a week can take two to three weeks,” McNee says. Although shops may differ in size and makeup, all have had to find new ways to combat the challenges these issues have brought forth. Trama says the backlog has completely changed the dynamic of the office by adding one more layer of administrative work.

“Aside from scheduling cars to come in, we have a pile of paperwork to focus on dealing with backorder parts. If a customer has been waiting for a backordered

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