Car Paint

Anyone who owns a collision shop can tell you that the most costly item to the shop is the comeback repair. Re-do’s can be the difference between being successful and losing, and they reflect poorly on the quality standards, not to mention the inconvenience to the customer.

All it takes is one dissatisfied customer and that can translate into bad word of mouth, which means bad reputation. Collision shop managers have to be very alert when it comes to quality assurance so that they have happy customers and as few negative comebacks as possible. Negative comebacks happen when there are such things as…

shoddy repair work,
poor paint finish, (dull topcoat),
grind marks showing,
paint cracks or runs
or paint over spray on any part of the car,
but the worst problem of all is the mismatching of color.

Technicians and management usually share the responsibility, and, in some shops, the liability, so that it’s a combination of the actual repair work and maintaining proper quality assurance levels. When a mistake happens, it is also a proper analysis of what went wrong, rather than who went wrong, and taking the appropriate steps to keep the problem from re-occurring.

The Characteristics of A Painter

Paint technicians can be a tricky type of personality, if they aren’t treated right, the works suffers, and that is why some shops are now making them share the responsibilities for their work.

Technicians, on the other hand, are the wind beneath the wings, so that it’s a partnership between technicians and paint technicians, so that there is no one more important than the other. It is also true that while the painter is worth their weight in gold, they can’t work their magic if there isn’t a good quality of prep work.

Improper paint preparation is a disaster if it isn’t done properly, and if the paint technician isn’t as good as required, they won’t spot the problem until it’s too late. The proper quality standards must be put in place and properly adhered to, or those costly mistakes and comebacks will look like money disappearing out the door.

Anyone who owns a collision shop that has a good reputation knows that while the paint preparation and the topcoat are the end result, it is also the surface preparation that has equal importance. Like when you paint a house, the prep work, sanding, filling, and proper masking all have to be done properly; in fact, many paint companies suggest collision shops must stress proper training with attention to strict guidelines.

The time and attention to quality work that is invested in the beginning will result in less money driving out the door in costly comebacks later. If a shop is to be competitive, it must stress quality. “It is a poor worker who blames his tools”, is the old adage, so if collision shop owners keep hearing those types of excuses, then they should really need to do some proper damage control before it’s too late