A few tips

[paintlessplus]

Just a few quick tips to share that I've picked up by learning the hard way.

Always have a spare bottle of resin in case you drop or spill one.

Get the Vin number on your invoice first, then the customer signature.

Never hesitate when quoting a cash price to a customer.
Keep your cash pricing consistant. Keep it near the insurance price.

Tell the customer the repair may take up to 30 minutes, to allow for possible complications. Don't let the customer rush you.

Always have access to the inside, never do a locked vehicle.
Move the vehicle if it will aid you in the repair.

Use razor blades on a single use only, when done put them in a small plastic jar with a secure lid, don't just throw them in your tool box, I'm using an old tylenol bottle...works great.

Each one of my above tips have a correlating horror story to go with them, but I won't expound on them tonight, as I have a sore thumb.....D'oh
Bob

[repare-brise]

Bob

Don't be a tease, we all like a "how I learned from my mistakes story" , the tips are great, but knowing why is even better.

I have one to add, always have enough invoices with you, You should carry a minimum of at least 20, some dealers require a seperate invoice for every car. I ran out of invoices once, I felt terrible saying to the customer" I will have to come back later to give you the invoice"

Merci

[paintlessplus]

O.K. Probably my best horror story is related to getting the Vin number. I did a repair for a lady who flagged me down at a mall parking lot. It was an insurance job and she saw the signage on my truck. She was in a hurry to get inside to meet a friend at the food court for lunch. I made a quick call to the ins. co. and asked her to fill in the blanks on my invoice while I started the repair. It was an easy bullseye, filled fast looked great, Easy money right ? Well, I handed her the receipt and she put it on her dash and locked the vehicle and went inside to meet her friend. As I was leaving I realized that I didn't get the Vin. When I went back, I found my receipt had covered the Vin plate. I ended up waiting an hour and a half for her to return......Bob

[mafsu]

I went to do an insurance job a couple months ago. Noone home(I had agreed to do it without anyone being there). I set up my bridge on the repair and got my invoice book to start writing the invoice. Windshield had been replaced and the little window you can see the VIN plate through was misaligned. Half a dozen phone calls and one slightly overbearing letter later I finally got the VIN # for the vehicle.

[paintlessplus]

Wow - you just reminded me of another one mafsu......I got a call to fix a white Explorer at a large office complex parking lot. The lady that owned the vehicle worked on the switchboard answering phones and asked if I could fix it and then come inside for her signature as she couldn't leave her post. When I went inside to get her to sign, AFTER completing the repair..... she asked if I had any trouble finding her Explorer.... "It's the one right out by the front, right???? " No, she said, it's around on the side of the building......

[mafsu]

I once left my tools on a car at a delaership in Charlottesville(90 miles due west of Richmond). When did I realize it. The next morning when I got to Alexandria(100 miles due north of Richmond) and went to get my tools out of the trunk. Went in to get a check from the dealer without putting my tools in the car first. Long day, tired and still an hour and a half to get home. I got the check, jumped in the car and booked. Dealer had my toolbox sitting on his desk when I got there. I kicked myself in the pants for a week over that one.

[nixquax]

How Would We Go About Starting A "live" Chat In The Forum? Anyone!

[mafsu]

Pretty sure they don't have a chat feature right now. Check the forum feedback, there a thread there. If enough people leave Jeff a message he'll probably get it up and running.

[a1repair]

Wow Mafsu, 90 miles, 100 miles? You make the rounds like we do. I was thinking we were the only crazies/smarties to travel those distances.

Not sure if there's any guards against this, but I always try to quailify over the phone if the windshield is repairable. One time I drove about 75 miles to do a "retail" windshield repair @ an older couples home. When I got there they greeted me in the driveway.(getting their w/shield repaired was an exciting time for them) Sowe walked up to the windshield for them to show me the damage, and there lay the "stone-chip". It was several drops of pine pitch, about the size of a dime that had dripped onto the glass. Needless to say it was an easy & fragrant repair!
The moral of the story and my tip to this thread. "Don't forget your razor blades, and don't park your car under a pine tree".

[repare-brise]

One of my employee"s went to a dealer once to fix a crack, When washing the windshield the "crack" disapeared. All it was was a grease pencil line that didn't come of with the pressure washing of the car. The dealer was so embarrased to have made him come in on a Saturday(was a rush job, the car was being delivered first thing monday morning) that he insisted that he be billed, when my employee said it wasn't neccesary, the guy said let me pay you lunch and gave him a fifty on the pretext that he had no change, and didn,t want any in return, being polite and knowing that the customer is alway correct, he accepted the lunch money in order no to offend the customer.

Enjoy