Now that we have levelled out our incoming work from the previous Profit series parts 7-10, we will focus on BLUEPRINTING. There are many crucial factors to help us achieve a near 20% net profit. One of them is, we must drive our COGS for PPS (paint, parts & sublet) as a % of gross sales down below at least 38%. Ideally below 34%, but that is tough with the higher cost of parts.
One of the best and easiest ways to drive this percentage down, is by raising our gross sales with better estimating. A pre-requisite to better estimating, is not in the form of a garbage parking lot estimate either!! At my shop, we never ever try to negotiate with an insurer on their parking lot estimate prior to our Blueprint. If you or one of your team members ever do this, STOP IT. Remember your shops cost per hour from Profit series part 7? Time is expensive, so don’t waste it!!
Neither the insurer, ourselves, the customer, nor any of our employees have any idea what the car needs prior to a Blueprint. What does a Blueprint mean?? Here is a great quote made by Axalta’s Steve Trapp, that I will never forget, “Blueprinting is the question mark removal department, ALL questions are answered here!” All damaged parts are removed! Which means, if the car will not run after the cooling or suspension are removed, then SO BE IT. All blend panels are DE trimmed, all safety inspections from OE procedures are done here, all mouldings are retaped, all stripes are removed. Any damaged parts MUST be removed!! This includes, suspension components, cooling components, safety restraint components (airbags, seatbelts, sensors, SDM’s, clock springs etc.), glass, hoods, fenders, trunk lids, bumper covers/bumper rebars, air cleaners, batteries, doors, interior trim, seats, headliners, dash and components, engine cradles, exhaust, bed R&I’s and ANY PART related to the loss. We also, locate any antifreeze, transmission fluid, PS fluid, glues, foams, clips/fasteners, sound deadeners, stripe tapes, are all located & ordered, if necessary, right now. All rivets and remnants of hardware are all removed now.
I could go on and on, but it’s all done right here, and all questions are removed!
What about repair vs replace argument, with an insurer on a damaged rocker panel argument? Insurer says, “We think you can fix the rocker after a pull”. Shop says to insurer, “It needs a rocker.” All you have here, is two kids fighting over a toy!!
Maybe as part of the Blueprint process, you could run the car up on the frame rack and make the pull? You’re saying to yourself, ‘Really Greg?’ Yes, really folks. In your gut, you may already know it’s going to need a rocker, or this argument could even be a damaged quarter panel. Make the pull right now and take photos of the process. If you can’t save it, charge the insurer for an attempt to repair and then charge them to replace it. I know this doesn’t happen very often, but most insurers will gladly pay for the attempt and the adjuster/appraiser has just covered their rear-end when they get an audit from their supervisor. See my older photos of a Malibu with a damaged rocker. The insurer paid us four hours to attempt to repair and then paid us to replace the rocker per GM procedures. No more fighting over a toy either.
Blueprinting sets the entire stage of how the repair will go from this point on.
This cannot be rushed, and we must be VERY organized with a set of work standards. Next, will set the stage on how we do this in my shop. This is done with written Work Standards, in the right sequence, and with the right team.