"The motivation to join was the ability to network with other shops," Reynolds said.  "I was looking for some help and advice."  The group, which includes 14 Colorado collision repair facilities, meets each month to share best practices.

"I did this for a long time by myself," said Reynolds, who purchased the shop from his employer 12 years ago.  "It's nice to talk to other shop owners and bounce ideas off them."

In the past, he said, it was good enough to know that if the shop was busy, it was making money.  Today, greater attention to detail is what it takes to maintain healthy profit margins.

"In the past, we may have been busy but not making money," Reynolds admitted.  Limiting paint and material waste has, in part, led the shop back down the road to greater profits.

The addition of a solvent recycler saved the shop money, Reynolds said. "We had to pay to haul off solvent waste," and the added expense wasn't factored in as a cost of doing business, he said.

Another area that negatively affected profits was over mixing paint, Reynolds said.  After a job was complete, any unused portion was thrown away, he said.  "We now mix as little as eight ounces, using only what we need."

Special nuts, bolts, clips, and fasteners are needed to put the finishing touches on a repair, but many owners don't bother to invoice them, Reynolds said.  A job can't be completed without them, he said, so that this cost should be factored into the repair order.

Included in that group is glue and double-sided tape, which costs up to $2,000 a month, he said.  "We now have a complete system and bill them right to a repair order." 

 
Galaxie's clip supplier, Crest Net Sales, originally turned Reynolds on to their software program that generates invoices for such items, he said.

As each shop raises its internal bar, fine-tuning each operation, the Colorado Fix Auto network works as a group on collective goals, said Jim McMullen, Fix's Colorado business development director.  "We want to strengthen the group from within."
McMullen said that Colorado shop owners wanted to raise their level of customer service and quality repairs.  At the onset of the year, the stated goals included achieving a 95 percent customer satisfaction index (CSI) score and an average cycle time of 10 days or less on all repairs, he said. 

 
Fix's network uses a Web-based system that nails down CSI scores in real-time data per shop, McMullen said.  If a negative comment arises on a repair order, the shop is immediately e-mailed and given a chance to correct it before it reaches the insurance company, he said.  "Every month we announce the winners through the internal Fix Auto tools.

"Reporting of CSI scores is motivational," McMullen said, adding that for the month of November Galaxie Auto Body earned first place honors with a 97 percent CSI score.  Reynolds' performance contributed to Colorado achieving the first place spot amongst Fix's national network, earning a 95.3 percent CSI score, he said.  The Colorado group also beat its desired cycle time on repairs, with an average of 9.8 days of repair time per vehicle.

Internal operations aside, McMullen and Reynolds said there are external pressures bearing down on the collision repair industry that are out of the repairers' control.

"With more vehicle technology comes more expense; that in turn creates more totals," McMullen said.  A DuPont survey revealed that 4 percent of vehicles involved in a collision were totaled in 1980; in 2007, that figure is 21 percent.

That trend is affecting the volume of work collision repairers see now, McMullen said.  "Higher deductibles equal less volume," he said.  "You're seeing less work coming in.  You have to figure out ways to be on the leading edge."

"It's no longer just about doing quality repairs," Reynolds said.  "You have to have the customer service."

"There are fewer shops out there," McMullen pointed out.  "If their business model is the same as 10 years ago, they're done."
On the vehicles that do make it into the collision repair facility, there may be a gap in the repair information available to the repair shop for critical repair procedures, such as  section repair on a frame, Reynolds said.

"I wish that the manufacturers would make the information more readily available," Reynolds said, illustrating his point by the lack of repair information on a 2003 Nissan Xterra.  "I wasn't sure if I could section a rail on it," he said.  AllData said it didn't have the information, he said.  As a result, the entire frame had to be replaced for fear of compromising the safety of the vehicle.

However, some automakers are good about getting repair information in the hands of independents, Reynolds said, citing Toyota as an example.  When the shop began seeing hybrid vehicles such as the Toyota Prius, he said it was important to obtain that information for the safety of his technicians while disconnecting the batteries.