07 Feb 12 Auto Body Repair Estimates Demystified – The 5 Most Common Items on a Repair Estimate
So you’ve decided to get an estimate from a local body shop. These days, most body shops will use a computerized estimating software to write your estimate. if the shop you have chosen does not use a computer to write your estimate that should be cause for concern. this is not meant as a jab at those long time owners and technicians and I am not implying they are backward or luddites or ignorant. its more for accountability. Computerized software is now standard in our industry and insures a more uniform, unbiased and accurate appraisal for how long things take to repair. for instance, I was talking to a shop owner just a couple days ago who was remembering with fondness the good old days when he would routinely get 15+ labor hours to repair frames on cars that nowadays he only gets 4-5 hours on. the truth is however that 4-5 is the more accurate and fair rate (depending on the job of course it could be more or less). And since consumers and insurance companies are billed by the hours on an estimate the old days of falsely inflating hours are gone.
When it comes to auto body repair the vast majority of line items on an estimate will be one of 5 things:
1. R & I. this is shorthand for remove and install and means to take something off your car and then to re-install it later. parts that are not damaged may need to be temporarily removed to access another part that was damaged or more often so the panel it is taken off of can painted properly. for instance, say your electric motor for your window stops working. the interior trim panel will need to be temporarily removed for to gain access to the motor to see if it can be repaired (not likely) or replaced. or perhaps a molding needs to be removed from your door before it is painted only to be put back on later when the paint dries. one caution here is that if panels are being painted and you’re not being charged for R & I the shop may be taping them up which can actually cause peeling or flaking months or years later. So don’t be surprised if for instance a headlight needs to be removed to properly paint a fender. you should actually be more concerned if its not. FYI: R & I times are typically set to industry standards by estimating software and are not discretionary.
2. Repair. Repair (aka ‘Rpr’) is the most discretionary item on an estimate and typically the amount of time it takes to repair something will be underlined or asterisk-ed (*) to indicate this. this is where an insurance adjuster might say a dent will take 3 hours to fix and a technician might say it will take 4. There’s no hard and fast rule here and this needs to be negotiated between insurance adjusters, shop estimators and possibly even the technicians doing the job. My dad who has been in the industry almost 40 years taught me a long time ago that a dent which is about the size of a man’s fist should take about 3 hours to repair. From there you can adjust up or done for various things like a body line that runs through the dent (add an hour) or the dent has no creases and is accessible from the inside and therefore can be mostly popped out (subtract time). the reason these times are so important is that insurance companies are paying shops based on the number of hours on the estimate.
3. Replace. Replacing parts, sometimes shorthanded to ‘repl,’ is not a discretionary item on an estimate and is governed by industry standards or what shop folks call book time. if the book/software says it takes 3.5 hours to replace that bumper then that is what the insurance company will pay. no more and no less. it is pretty well standardized with only slight variations depending on which software is used and then it only differs by very little.
4. Sublet. sometimes there are things that an auto body shop will send to someone else (typically a mechanic who takes care of more under the hood items) to perform and this is categorized as sublet. popular things for shops to sublet out are air conditioner recharging and 4 wheel alignments when the suspension is damaged. the reason this is sent out typically is that the equipment and space required for these operations are not cost effective for a body shop. And when it comes to deeper engine repair, oil and paint don’t mix Oil and grease can quickly ruin a paint job. So, shops that say they can do everything typically can’t do everything well.
5. Miscellaneous. under this category will go small charges like hazardous waste removal (about once a month we pay someone to pick up and dispose of our hazardous waste in the safest way possible) and car cover for overspray which pays for paper, tape and plastic to cover the vehicle during the painting process so paint over spray doesn’t go all over the windows or adjacent panels.
01 Feb 12 PETching! Gets Involved With The Las Vegas Pet Community
Way back in August ( OK, 5 months isn’t that long, but in the daily deals world, 5 months is a long time!) Kris Ashton told us about PETching!, the daily deals company that offers deals for your four-legged friends in Las Vegas.
“PETching! loves pets and the people who love them, which is why they know just what their customers want. PETching! provides Las Vegas Pet Daily Deals to the Las Vegas area, and these deals are sure to have even the most persnickety of poodles salivating.”
I’m a huge animal lover and I think a site like this is just great. PETching! is the first of its kind to be both exclusively for pets, and give back to the local community in a major way.
Deals that PETching! has offered include goods and services like: pet sitters and walkers, pet boarding services, veterinary clinics, pet bakeries, and much more. Although based in Las Vegas, PETching! does offer national deals, but still donates a chunk of the profit from such sales to local shelters and other non-profit pet organizations.
PETching! has a real focus on community and the betterment of pets’ lives. The website features a forum where pet owners can share advice, and provides tips on keeping pets healthy and happy. one of the best features of the site (in my opinion) is the interactive Lost & Found section, which utilizes Google Maps to provide assistance to pet owners who’ve been separated from their furry friends.
PETching! is currently building a deal calendar through the end of the year, and businesses interested in specific dates are encouraged to contact PETching! immediately. PETching! is also interested in sponsoring upcoming pet-related events and is seeking charities interested in affiliate opportunities.
“PETching! is proud to be a catalyst in the recovery of the economy by creating discounts for consumers, generating revenue for businesses both local and national, and ultimately aiding in creating more jobs for Americans by focusing on one of the world’s biggest communities: pets.”
31 Jan 12 Guest conductor has royalty on his resume
January 23 Christopher Warren-Green, who conducted the British royal wedding last spring, is visiting Portland.
By Bob Keyes Writer
Even if you have a good relationship with the guy, it’s always a bit alarming when the Prince of Wales rings you up.
Christopher Warren-Green has received a few phone calls from Prince Charles over the years.
"my association with the royal family goes back a long time, but it’s still a surprise when someone gets on the phone and says, ‘The Prince of Wales would like to talk to you, and here he comes.’ You are in the kitchen trying to quiet the children and keep the dog from barking," said Warren-Green.
The British-born classical musician will be in Portland this week to serve as guest conductor of the Portland Symphony Orchestra.
Warren-Green, 56, conducted the wedding of England’s Prince William and Catherine Middleton last April. He also conducted music for the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles, as well as the program for Queen Elizabeth’s private 80th birthday party and the Prince of Wales’ 60th birthday party.
"they are very charismatic," he said of the royal family. "People often get tongue-tied with them, but they’re very easy to talk to."
Warren-Green makes his home in Charlotte, N.C., where he works as music director of the Charlotte Symphony. He also is music director and principal conductor of the London Chamber Orchestra, and spends much of his professional life flying back and forth across the Atlantic.
He will lead the Portland Symphony on Tuesday at Merrill Auditorium at the request of Robert moody, the PSO music director and conductor, who also leads the orchestra in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Moody has other commitments and cannot conduct this week’s two concerts by the Portland Symphony. another guest will lead the orchestra at its Jan. 29 concert.
It is through their association of North Carolina orchestras that moody and Warren-Green have become friends. "Shortly after I was appointed in Charlotte, we got in touch and met. we got on like a house on fire.
"we knew each other’s work, and after we met we got on terribly well. we are like-minded musically, and I am very much hoping that Robert will come to my orchestra soon."
Tuesday’s concert has a European flair. It features music by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius and Czech composer Anton Dvorak. Warren-Green described the program as "rustic and pastoral."
That theme is somewhat similar to what Warren-Green came up with for the April wedding of Prince William and his bride. He met many times with Catherine Middleton to plan the musical program.
"She had certain ideas, and I was putting forward suggestions. She was rejecting some things that I thought would be perfect for a royal wedding, such as Handel’s music. but she did not want anything Baroque. She wanted her wedding with a theme of an English pastoral countryside, and she wanted a simple wedding. can you imagine?"
The program included music by Edward Elgar, Benjamin Britten, Ralph Vaughan Williams and others.
He had nothing but nice things to say about the Duchess of Cambridge. "She was absolutely delightful, incredibly clued-up and highly educated. just bright as a button and a lovely person," he said.
He described conducting her wedding as a personal highlight of his career.
Warren-Green has conducted the London Chamber Orchestra since 1988, and has worked in Charlotte since the beginning of the 2010-11 season. He is a member of the Royal Academy of Music, and conducted orchestras around the world, including the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic.
In the United States, he has conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra and many others.
He senses deep appreciation for classical music on both sides of the Atlantic, and says people in America seem more open-minded about classical music and take more civic pride in their orchestras.
"In America, it seems that people know that without culture in their city, their city will die," he said.
Staff Writer Bob Keyes can be contacted at 791-6457 or at:
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24 Jan 12 Local Versus National Answering Services
For any business shopping around for an answering service, the question arises whether to use a national answering service or one based locally. Although most people initially feel strongly one way or another, there are tradeoffs involved with each one. before even considering these, it is always important that the service be experienced and trustworthy. Professionalism needs to be evident no matter which route you choose because any of the benefits of either local or national answering service will not mean much to your customers unless the service is skilled.
Another aspect that may come into play, depending on your needs, is price. Many useful features are offered by most services, bust some companies both local services and national don’t offer a few of them. when deciding which kind of service to use, consider that many national services have been around for a long time. Interestingly, a large number of these national services once started as exclusively local services and went on to become so successful in what they do, they became large enough to service the entire country.
National services frequently utilize call centers in a variety of areas across the country, which comes in handy when local power outages or phone line problems happen. Competent national services are usually better at managing these unforeseen incidents more quickly than local services that are very much tied to local conditions. For those who provide urgent, 24-hour, or emergency service you should consider the fact that it is precisely during these times when you’ll need a service most. Wouldn’t it be good if the service were located outside your community? even though most call centers have generators and battery backups, it’s better for your peace of mind that they be outside your area.
Another reason it might be good to use a service that is located outside of your community is that, for certain companies, privacy issues arise when using a local service. As an example, let’s say that Suzy has been having some major tax problems so she has taken on the help of a tax attorney. This particular tax attorney has decided to use a local service and Suzy finds herself leaving a message concerning her personal matters in some way with someone who may be friends or family of someone else she knows. Despite the fact that the local answering service would probably keep her matters private, the problem of people close to her knowing about her personal business does arise. If her tax attorney had utilized an answering service located outside the community, say 400 miles away, the chances of someone knowing her coming into contact with her information are virtually zero.
Something to consider however is that for a relative few sort of companies, having a local answering service is important. Maybe the answering service has to give directions and the company using them wants a local outfit staffed with other locals answering their calls for this reason. This is very rare and most people in this situation work out some sort of in-house solution. by and large, when you are choosing an service, you would do well to concentrate on important areas and not worry about how close the call centers are. when possible, try out an service for a week or so before getting an account. Many answering service providers these days, the ones confident about their own work, are more than willing to offer you a free trial.
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