Batteries, OEM research, accounting: 5 strategies for body shops from SCRS series featuring Anderson, DEG

The Society of Collision Repair Specialists this season launched a new weekly video series featuring quick-hit tips for body shops.

Repairers can sign up for the SCRSCollision YouTube webpage to see the free industry video series, that has been featuring Collision Advice CEO Mike Anderson and Database Enhancement Gateway Administrator Danny Gredinberg. They complement the weekly estimating tips the DEG has issued and SCRS has disseminated for years.

They’re also extremely easy to sneak up during your workday. To date, no videos has reached 5 minutes in length.

Here’s a roundup of a few of the tips posted earlier this year. They might, as Anderson place it, “improve your business.”

Erase customer data from totals

Repairers might incur a variety of labor and use a number of charges to some total loss, for example storage, disassembly, teardown or administrative fees, Anderson said in a Jan. 14 video.

“One more thing I think shops aren't considering is erasing the customer’s private data from their vehicle before it’s released as a total loss,” Anderson said.

With Bluetooth, USB ports, and features like Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, it’s become feasible for a vehicle to capture and operate in addition to vehicle data.

“Most people today use their vehicle as a smartphone on wheels,” Anderson said. Your customer might have left their address within the vehicle GPS or navigation system — as well as the ability to open their home’s garage door, he said.

Anderson encouraged shops to achieve to the customer and ask, “‘Would you like us to erase your personal data?'”

The Ftc in 2021 also advised people to dump data before selling a car. In 2021, LKQ infotainment remanufacturer Premiere Services told us it constantly had to scrub such data. “We find evidence of PII around the most of systems we generate and remanufacture,” the company said then.

The video didn’t specify how a body shop would start purging this data, but instructions might be obtainable in the OEM repair procedures or perhaps the owner’s manual. Repairers could also file an “Ask I-CAR” inquiry and have the educational organization talk to the automaker for you. Premiere in 2021 mentioned that some apps might teach how you can erase data in the display but neglect to clear hard disk data, so repairers will wish to make sure they’re using the right instructions.

Gredinberg said clearing data or “performing a total loss procedure” wasn’t contained in any of the three estimating systems’ labor times.

Negotiations

Anderson in a Jan. 28 video shared four considerations that could strengthen a repairer’s hand negotiating with an insurer.

Anderson used the illustration of prepping Toyota and Lexus raw bumpers. It’s a required operation, along with a repairer could use a CRIB bulletin from the OEM to prove the job is required, he said.

Was it included? “Of course we all know that it’s not,” he said, but noted that repairers who weren’t sure could always submit a free inquiry to the DEG.

All three of the estimating systems offered predetermined times when ever such manual entries were added, according to Anderson.

• Audatex calculates this as 20 % from the base refinish time, having a minimum of 0.Three hours. Its definition includes five specific steps. Other medication is not included.
• CCC uses A quarter of the base time, maxing out at 1 hour. This involves three operations, but does not include a minimum of two others.
• Mitchell’s definition is 20 % each hour and includes five specific steps.

If no predetermined time like this existed, then your repairer would consider what it really was worth, based on Anderson.

Accounting

The notion of determining how much something was worth arose indirectly inside a Feb. 18 tip regarding accounting practices.

Anderson observed that while accounting was less “exciting” than estimating tips, “there is a place in our business.”

Anderson said every item sold needed an eye on the price of the great “being an expense side to opposite that.”

For example, the cost of body labor stacked up against the account of billed body labor, or even the price of an OEM part compared to the sale price, according to Anderson.

This needed to be properly mapped to a management system, according to Anderson. He said the point of a profit and loss examination was to see where a repairer was losing money or failing to maximize profit.

Anderson also advised shops that accounting should write down operate in progress for an accurate picture of shop finances.

This involved any costs already incurred with an open job, such as money paid to technicians or towing or parts, he said. If this appears like an ordinary expense, the repairer might fear they’re losing money, and “that’s not really accurate,” based on Anderson.

Conversely, money already received for income not yet completed could provide a “false sense of security,” Anderson said. Most or all accounting systems will provide what is “also known as a pre-payment report” to acknowledge such income.

He said the Automotive Management Institute, most or all paint companies, and the company Collision Advice all offered education on accounting.

“I know accounting might not be exciting, but … at the end of your day, it’s how we pay our bills,” he said.

OEM procedure research

One potential expense and charge might involve the labor or cost for researching OEM repair procedures.

Anderson inside a Feb. 4 tip said that “according to Google,” it takes two minutes to read a webpage of a technical document. Executive Read estimated it may be even longer: 2 minutes for that person with average skills to read a nontechnical page and 5-6 minutes per technical page.

Anderson also offered a way to examine to buy a OEM repair procedure subscription, which can be purchased for various durations with respect to the OEM. Anderson suggested a repairer could divide the subscription price by the number of that brand’s models fixed each year if the subscription were annual. “If not, I love the truth that we can actually bill for just a day or two.”

Gredinberg asserted all three estimating services call labor and also the subscription fees not-included operations.

“All three estimating services have language regarding that,” he explained.

The tip highlighted DEG inquiries 17350 through 17352.

The DEG’s answer to No. 17350 reports how CCC considers “Use of repair information/subscription cost” and “Repair information retrieval/lookup” not-included procedures.

On No. 17351, the DEG repeated Audatex’s response to prior inquiries: “We have reviewed your concern and Audatex Labor Procedures. Any labor related to research and/or investigation of OEM EPC and/or Service Information is not included in Audatex provided labor values. Additionally, any relative OEM information subscription costs are not included in parts nor labor values provided.”

The DEG also quoted a previous Mitchell response in answering No. 173512: “Labor related to purchasing an OEM subscription is not considered to the published labor allowances.”

Batteries

OEM procedure research was important when the time comes for any shop to disconnect or reconnect battery power, according to a Feb. 25 tip.

“Before you decide to ever disconnect a battery, go into the OEM repair procedures and discover if there is battery power wait time,” Anderson said. Some OEMs require body shops to wait a certain period of time following a vehicle has been turn off before the repairer can disconnect battery, he said.

“Make sure you’re waiting,” Anderson said. “‘Cause should you don’t, its gonna throw a lot of DTCs.”

Anderson said many automakers’ repair procedures also contain a section on situations in which a battery continues to be disconnected and reconnected.

Anderson said he'd encountered a Toyota where six different procedures were necessary following a battery disconnect-reconnect. Most of these were called “initializations,” he said. Two operations called for an evaluation drive.

He said he had also dealt with a Nissan which needed 11 procedures carrying out a disconnect-reconnect. Three of these operations required a scan tool.

Asked if such labor was included in repair times, Gredinberg said, “The operation is not included.”

Gredinberg encouraged shops to think about how many times this operation might need to occur, giving the illustration of battery power disconnected for reassembly but reconnected to move the vehicle. Another disconnection and reconnection may be necessary during the repair, he explained. Consider how frequently this might happen, followed by initializations or scan tool resets, Gredinberg said.

“It’s a non-included operation,” he explained.

Gredinberg also told shops to follow along with the OEM procedures around the order they should disconnect cables “to avoid any more damage.”

“Remember, it’s not only about disconnecting the battery,” Anderson wrapped up the recording.