Automotive Excellence SUMMER 2025_01_09-22-2025_DIGITAL - Flipbook - Page 22
BRACE FOR
IMPACT:
COLLISION
CENTER
SURVIVING THE BROKE
COLLISION ECOSYSTEM
U
nfortunately, the ecosystem of collision repair
continues to be one with predators and prey,
rather than one moving to a more symbiotic relationship. Most customers present a vehicle that
must be returned to its pre-accident functionality, performance, and safety. However, the expert
in the repair business faces the challenge of diagnosing and planning this process before they
can make it happen. The cost associated with this
process is growing exponentially each year.
Overcoming this challenge must be a grassroots
effort, with repairers standing together to identify OEM procedures and the peripheral steps
necessary for a proper repair. The challenge
arises from third-party payers neglecting to review repair steps and ensure proper completion,
thereby distancing themselves from liability and
reducing repair costs.
When the repair steps are identified, the repairer has the responsibility to identify ALL steps required. Because some agreements may provide
these steps for “free,” the payer assumes that ALL
repairers should provide the same “discount.”
BY KEITH MANICH
Independent collision shops face
growing pressure from third-party
payers and corporate cost-cutting
demands. But who really sets the
rules? In this hard-hitting per-
This process leads to the question of why? Why
should an independent repairer with no third-party relationship with the payer be “required” to
provide a discount?
As an independent business owner, the repairer
must be able to develop a pricing model that provides the best advantage for their business. This
advantage can only be achieved if all aspects of
the repair process steps are considered and if all
job costing and pricing specifics are identified
and used in their pricing formula.
spective, industry veteran Keith
Manich outlines why independent
repairers must unite, leverage
association power, and push back
against unfair pricing pressures
that threaten both shop sustainability and consumer safety.
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When the third party intervenes in this process,
friction mounts, resulting in resentment toward
the payer. Why? Because cost-cutting measures
that are the focus of the payer “require” the
independent business owner to “agree” with
the payer’s demands. These demands or discounts are unwarranted and frankly unnecessary. There is also the fact that there is no real
