What’s the deal with the Auto Body Shops? Everyone might be asking themselves that question. It’s just a matter of knowing what things you should know before you get mad or happy with them. Your car is too important for you, and you should know how to save your money on some items before it’s too late.

Your car has sustained $1500.00 in damage; your insurance company pays you less a deductible. You schedule your vehicle to be repaired at your neighborhood auto body shop. Two days before you take in your vehicle, you get a nasty credit card bill.

The customer is always right, I know sometimes this is hard to stomach, but unfortunately one happy customer might tell one our two potential or current customers, and an unhappy customer will tell twenty people. And there’s no worst thing for a business than the bad publicity through word of mouth.

A shop might want to utilize some reasonable concessions. Back to our example, the auto owner’s vehicle is inspected by the insurance company and is paid less the deductible. The auto owner takes vehicle to shop and schedules repairs.

The shop at that time could work out some concessions with the owner, such as usage of alternative parts, does this 2 year old vehicle really need a $400.00 original equipment manufacturer headlamp assembly, or would I be ok, with a $180.00 used (like kind quality) assembly.

There is a significant industry impact due to customers declining repairs. The local auto body shop now looses that work. That repair employs numerous people in the shop, numerous parts and supplies vendors, and keeps the industry on its toes with new technology and innovations.

These are all acceptable practices. You as a shop owner or technician, need to make the auto owner understand how important it is to get there car repaired. There could also be numerous safety concerns. The shop needs to explain to the auto owner about hidden damage, and the decline in value of their vehicle.

In this every changing industry, it seems that there are hurdles that constantly need to be jumped. A vehicle is the average American’s second highest valued asset; it always amazes me that people do not want to keep their vehicle in top condition. I think that a few tweaks with customer service and salesmanship, you should be able to get repairs lined up in this tough time.

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