In other words, by reducing your judgment time, in that appraiser's mind, all your judgment times – or at least your judgment times for similar damage – are too high.
At some point in our careers as owners or estimators, I bet each of us have compromised on a time we set for a repair. I know I did a few times. I think this is a disservice to the professionalism of our industry.
So how do you substantiate and hold your own on repair times? How do you "educate to maintain it"?
First, you need to have confidence in your ability to substantiate the repair time. You build your confidence by being prepared; the more you know about the details on how a repair is done, the more confident you will be. When asked to negotiate, have a clear, positive mental vision of the outcome; that's the only scenario that will help you build confidence.
Much if not all of the information needed to substantiate repair times is available within your shop. Talk to your techs about the steps they go through to complete the repair. Observe a similar repair being done, and consider making videos showing the steps of a repair.
Here are some items to consider when determining a repair time:
- What is the damaged component made of?
- What type of damage has been caused to the panel or part: Is it stretched, torn or punctured?
- Will the backside need repair?
- What type of access is there to the damage? Will you need to remove welded or other components?
- Are there body, style or character lines that need to be restored?
- Will it be necessary to test fit attaching components, and if so, how many times will these components need to be test fitted?
- How large is the area to repair?
- To what grit will the work be completed by the body tech?
- Are there old repairs that will need to be re-worked?
- Does the damaged area need to be degreased prior to repair?
The list goes on. You may want to build on these and develop your own.
Mike Anderson of CollisionAdvice.com suggests adopting the advice of Stephen Covey, who in his book, "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" says, "Seek first to understand, then to be understood." If an appraiser wants the repair time to be five hours (when you need it to be eight hours), Mike suggests asking them, "Help me to understand: Why do you think that?"
Really listen to what they say, and if they don't have a full understanding of what is involved, you will need to educate them. You may need to say, for example, "We'll need to weld studs on the panel to pull out the dent, and that will create distortion on both sides of the panel. That requires time to correct, and you didn't mention that."
Communicate to them in a non-threatening, non-accusatory way. You'll be able to do this if you have built your confidence by doing your homework to know the additional things that will need to be done.
Don't belittle them. Wouldn't it be great if every insurer gave every appraiser the training and information they need to really understand what repairs entail? Of course it would. But we also know that's not likely to happen.
Getting some training in negotiating skills is really a must in this industry. For ongoing help, consider a free subscription to the "Everyone Negotiates" newsletter (www.EveryoneNegotiates.com). There's a great article on that site entitled, "101 Ways to Win Every Time in Any Situation." //
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