What’s keeping body shop owners awake at night? And how many of them could cure their worrisome insomnia with a body shop quality control checklist? Let’s look at the problem and some remedies.
In 2022, FenderBender magazine identified the biggest challenges facing the industry and ranked them in this order:
Overall, most shop owners answered “All of the above!” As body shops rely more on data to track relevant trends and costs, checklists become a powerful tool. After all, they ensure quality control in the midst of all these pressures.
Now, let’s look at some tips for auto body shops to enhance their quality control processes. They can put your mind at ease and add to your profits.
If you don’t have a process that finds mistakes, who discovers them? Clients! Now you’ve just given them the chance to not trust your shop. Instead, gain their confidence by delivering their vehicles in the condition they expect and pay for.
For instance, Golden Rule Auto Care in Texas faced frequent complaints about small oversights like grease smears on interiors. So, its service writer created a list of nine issues to gauge overall quality assurance . Next, his team made checklists to quickly verify each overlooked step. These days, they didn’t miss a single one.
As a result, these good work habits:
For a comprehensive auto body shop quality control checklist, you’ll have to cover six key areas:
This first phase really sets the tone and delves into three areas:
Naturally, you and your customers want to ensure that only high-quality components go into the repair process. Therefore, your inspection process requires two phases:
Verification Protocol – Get the right parts the first time. With a DVI, you cross-reference parts with repair plans and vehicle specifications for time-saving precision. Your digital checklist verifies:
Quality Assessment – Next, set specific criteria for replacement parts’ quality, including material durability and finish. Now, you’ll really wow your customers!
Adhering to quality collision repair procedures means every vehicle meets the same standards for safety and longevity without coming back in for a follow-up. This creates a stronger reputation for your auto repair shop with customers and insurers.
Check off every necessary repair procedure to:
To get that flawless auto paint repair, techs need to deal with dent repairs then prepare the surface with extreme care. For best results, surface preparation follows these steps:
Meticulous cleaning – By tracking each stage in a checklist, you capture every little particle that could cause a bump or paint not adhering correctly.
Paint Mixing Accuracy – Ideally, each job ends with a precise color match. To achieve this:
Application Techniques – Finally, a smooth job right saves you from stripping and starting over. Principally:
A checklist guides techs through each step to avoid costly do-overs. For instance, use the correct spray gun, fluid tip and air cap for your application. Also, sufficient air pressure atomizes paint properly so it flows as intended.
At this point, you want to make sure everything went as planned, so a customer doesn’t return with a complaint.
By now, you have all the information to share with insurance adjusters, who may resist paying for certain repair processes. With all this documentation, you make the case to justify your labor rates and any price increases based on costs of materials. Frankly, if more shops demand better rates, insurers will adjust their payouts for them all.
So, how do you track all this data in the midst of a busy shop? Well, you turn to experts like Autoflow. Its platform keeps your shop efficient while still meeting high quality control standards.
As industry experts, its staff have helped countless other shops capture their processes to reflect their professionalism. Together, you identify how to streamline how your team works without missing a beat.
Autoflow’s DVI software goes beyond this step, automating other processes for your shop. As a result, everyone invests brain power in fixing problems, not writing the same notes over and over again.
With the Autoflow platform, your customers will get their vehicle in pre-accident condition. As the shop owner or manager, you:
In particular, Autoflow offers specific quality control tools that:
And it comes together seamlessly. Want to find out more? Book a demo today to see how we can make all this happen in your shop.
Clearly, various staff members contribute to a car’s journey from check-in to final inspection. Along the way, a body shop quality control checklist holds each person to a high standard, while providing key data.
By setting a high bar, auto repair shops can earn customers’ trust while providing key information to insurers. However, you have to create a culture of continuous improvement and consistent adhere to quality control standards.
Autoflow can help any auto body repair shop streamline its quality control procedures to improve customer satisfaction and your profits. A quick call can show you it all. Book a demo with an Autoflow pro today.
Architect/President at Autoflow
The Desire for Continuous Improvement
As an auto repair shop owner of Golden Rule Auto Care, Chris Cloutier realized the need for a better way to communicate with his customers as he observed how communication gaps created bottleneck situations and wasted valuable rack time.
