PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

The Cost of Doing Proper Repairs

by JERRY MCNEE

Insurance companies like to tell shops what’s included and not-included, and entirely too often, they want to argue about charges for important operations, such as scans and procedures, because they claim, “That’s the cost of doing business.” Well, with technology in today’s vehicles surpassing us at rates we’ve never seen before, most shops in this country are not properly repairing vehicles! Let me explain: Writing a proper repair, even on the smallest job, is extremely time-consuming, and the ability to perform that repair - by buying the tools, systems and subscriptions needed - costs a lot of money, as you know. A 2020 vehicle at my shop needs a bumper cover and taillight replacement, as well as a small repair on the quarter panel. The insurer’s estimate was better than I expected at $4,300, but I always write my own estimate. That includes pulling repair procedures, and insurers object that subscriptions to those programs are “the cost of doing business,” yet I wouldn’t have those associated costs without that vehicle being in my shop, so how can it possibly be a cost of doing business?! Now, a lot of shops would simply take this small repair into the shop and begin working on it - because who hasn’t repaired thousands of bumpers, right? - but this job actually requires three ADAS calibrations, one safety calibration and one operational calibration. That’s 40 pages of documentation, just for those procedures; that doesn’t take into account all the other repair procedures for the rest of the repairs! After I pull, print, PDF and understand that information, I have to transfer it to the estimate. Then, it has to be reviewed by the blueprinter who will follow along during disassembly to pick up anything I couldn’t physically see during my initial inspection. The production manager, along with the technicians from each department that touches this car, will review everything. As the car is reassembled, my shop manager is going to examine that documentation again to make sure everything is calibrated correctly. Lastly, our QC manager test drives and

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