Lightweight materials, sensitive calibrations, and OEM repair procedures all mean today's vehicles need more care than ever in how they're repaired.
Keeping pace with the technology requirements for tools, equipment, and technician training continues to be a concern for those who responded to our 2024 FenderBender Industry Survey.
“This is a specialized business. We don’t repair vehicles the way we used to. Just because a body shop exists, it doesn’t make them able to repair a vehicle properly,” answered one respondent to the question “What’s the biggest misconception about the collision repair industry?” “Certifications, training, and equipment are necessary to repair a vehicle correctly, and not everyone is willing to invest in their business like others. So, not just every shop is going to give the same quality of repairs.”
Technicians
The technician shortage was cited as the greatest challenge – 36% of survey respondents – facing collision repair shop operators.
“I find that the general public doesn't realize how technical repairs are,” noted one survey respondent, “not to mention the amount of knowledge and tools the techs need to have.”
Stan Medina, owner of Certified Collision Works in Corpus Christi, Texas, and a member of the FenderBender editorial advisor board, focuses on repairs that don’t require major structural repairs. So, he’s been able to grow his staff of six in part through apprenticeships. He also coaches fellow shop owners, specializing in those getting a start in the business.
“Usually what I tell guys, especially those who are just getting started, is if you're going to hire a helper, don't expect to hire someone who knows how to paint already or knows how to do body work,” he says.
He says ads on Indeed.com for apprenticeships work well, and to have the greatest chance of success, he advises hiring younger applicants, say, age 18 to 25, and give them a structured timeline of activities for them to complete as they learn new skills as a helper. Otherwise, they may stand around waiting for instructions.
Tools and Equipment
The majority of survey respondents, 61%, reported they have an annual budget for equipment.
Don Putney, president of Collision Equipment Experts in Elgin, Illinois, advises shop owners and operators to look ahead when planning their equipment needs.
“You need to look at not only what you are fixing now, but what you are fixing in the future.”
Spray booths
Spray booths are just one example. “Last mile delivery” vehicles are becoming more prevalent, and they require taller and longer booths.
“I'm doing more 30 foot and 32-foot-long booths,” he says. “Because if you get a Sprinter van in there, it chews up 28 feet really fast.”
If an owner or operator is looking toward OEM certification, some of those also require taller spray booths, Putney says, and if one is not in the shop, a sublet provider must be specified who has one.
Smart control panels and LED lighting are trends that can pay off with less maintenance, he notes.
“An LED light tube lasts 15 years, but a ballast will last a year or two,” he says, so look for a spray booth with ballast-free LED lighting.
The reporting capabilities of smart control panels do allow for operators to monitor the number of booth cycles they can push through, but for Putney, the big advantage is the ability to monitor their performance and minimize downtime.
“If there's failure code if something happens, you know rather than having to wait for a service tech. It will tell you what the issues are. The fault code 1 or whatever is, would indicate my prefilters might be plugged. Now, you can pull your prefilters out and put new ones in rather than having to call a service technician and wait for him to get there to pull your filters out.
So to me, that’s more important than the number of booth cycles I’m getting through. But different shop operators are going to have different feelings on that.”
When looking at purchasing a new booth, operators need to consider what their needs are so they can select a booth with a spray zone with the airflow optimized to their needs. For downdraft booths from most companies, there are options for the size of the pit: single-row, two-row, and three-row.
“Each of them has a different application, and more and more I'm seeing people paint parts off a car. And if you do that, you want to have your parts in the spray zone, which means where the pit is. So, if you're doing a lot of parts-off painting, you should have a three-row pit, or at a minimum a two-row pit so that you have room to have all those parts on the pit.”
A longer booth also makes sense to provide more room to paint parts off the car, he says.
“So, I tell people 27/28 foot at a minimum.”
The narrower the pit, the higher is the air velocity, which allows for benefits such as quicker through-cure, Putney explains. But outside of the pit area, the airspeed is lower and results in dirtier paint jobs. It follows that a shop painting only vehicles and no parts would best use a single-row pit, and the two-row pit is best for a shop doing a lot of complete vehicles and some loose parts.
“Also talk to the distributor who’s going to install the booth and service the booth. Find a distributor who can help you find the right equipment for you and help you find the right location for installation.”
Aluminum Repair
A slight increase from the 2023 survey, to 83%, of 2024 survey respondents reported having the capability and equipment to repair aluminum components. Putney says pulse MIG/MAG welders set up for aluminum, steel, and silicon bronze welding remain most popular.
“They’re a smart welder; that makes it nice. The biggest thing is I tell people look for something that has dual pulse, because more and more as we weld aluminum, dual pulse works better than single pulse does.”
It’s important to buy from a distributor who can assist with training how to set up and adjust the welder is important, Putney advises.
Smart spot welders, which help set up test welds to ensure proper penetration, are the trend.
“But there are new features now such as when you put the arm in, it automatically senses all the arms. You don’t have to tell it which arm you have on. Some of them will automatically do the water jacket so you’re not having to mess with separate water lines and stuff like that. To be brand-specific for GYS and Chief, the boom is actually adjustable and goes up and down. So if you’re working on a rocker panel, you lower that boom way down. Or if you’re doing a windshield up on a frame rack, you can raise that boom way up high.
So there are some nice features now that some of the other manufacturers are coming out with.”
For dent pulling, drawn arc technology using keys is a popular trend, Putney says.
With earlier technology, screw-on eyelets welded to the panel required a ¾” gap between each stud.
“So, you didn’t pull that dent out 100%. Well, now with drawn arc capabilities and with keys, you can put one right up against another.
and pull that whole dent out a lot better.”
The drawn arc technology uses an argon shielding gas, places the key then slightly retracts it to create an arc to weld the key directly to the panel.
“The nice thing is then when you’re done, you can twist it and pull it off, and then you can reuse that key again.”
The percentage of survey respondents reporting no OEM certification programs rose a couple points this year to 46.52%. One respondent gave his reason for not renewing those programs:
“We did have several of them, but we had zero ROI. Now, there are third-party companies that we source our info from. All of it comes straight from the OEM and it’s a tenth of the cost.”
Others reported they needed to direct their marketing more to leverage the brand recognition and other advantages of an OEM certification program.
For those considering a particular program, Putney advises to carefully examine their equipment requirements.
Some European manufacturers allow only certain welders,” he says. “And sometimes, you have to buy it through their program; you can’t buy it locally.”
For example, Putney sells a welder that is practically identical to the one specified for the Audi-certified program.
“But even though it’s the exact same spot welder, it’s not gray and it doesn’t have a VAS part number on it.
So it’s important to research the vehicles you’re going to fix.”
Glue Pull Repair
With the increase in thinner materials, high strength steels, and aluminum, it’s probably no surprise that Putney reports glue pulling is probably the hottest thing out there,” in part due to the high-strength glues available.
“We had a car on a frame rack on which we were pulling the rocker panel with the frame machine. And we had to anchor it because the car was sliding. If you follow the process, it works well.”
It eliminates the majority of weld-on attachments needed, such as pins, studs, and wiggle wire, Putney says, and results in a higher quality repair.
“And it’s an easier repair for the technicians. It’s easier to see [the progress of removing the dent] because it's easier to see it on paint than bare metals. So I would tell anybody who’s out there looking for their equipment budget to include this.”
ADAS
Respondents to our 2024 survey reported a few percent fewer (28%) doing advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) calibrations in-house. Those who said “no” reported either delivering the vehicle to a sublet provider or using a mobile service.
Putney has decided not to sell ADAS calibration systems. He says he has concerns about liability, partly from his current experience in performing audits and inspections for OEC.
“My opinion on ADAS is that the OEMs are still going to ask for them to be done by a certified Ford, GM, or whomever facility.”
For shops performing calibrations in-house, he’s seen inexperienced staff such as detailers pressed into service to double as calibration technicians, which raises questions for him about their competency and safety. And for mobile providers, he doesn’t see many shop environments that are prepared for ADAS calibrations.
“Most of these shops don't have the right lighting, the right level floor, and all that, and I just see that as an issue until more things done.”
He’s also concerned about talk of some OEMs talking of dynamic or self-calibration in the future.
Investing in the Future
Medina says he doesn’t plan any capital equipment purchases in the coming year. But he, too, coaches shop operators to take a hard look at the return on investment before committing to a purchase of, say, six figures’ worth of structural measuring, holding, and pulling equipment. And before they do, he also advises them to first build a banking relationship and establish a credit history of responsibly paying for purchases of increasing value.
He has added more parts carts and LED lighting to present his best image when he’s posting on social media.
“One thing that we kind of pride ourselves on is really having an organized shop. So we're investing in more of a social media-appearing shop. The shop looks cool. The shop looks trendy.”
The Industry Outlook
“A lot of things I read and talk with other shop owners about is fear that the industry is not progressing and is stagnant," wrote another survey respondent. "But our shop has continued to remain very profitable, growing by 15-20% year over year, even into our 4th generation and over 75 years in business.
“We continue to stay up to date on current tooling, training, and whatever is needed to remain relevant. That is vital in today’s collision repair industry, and shops not willing to do so will fall behind and have to close down, but shops that are willing to stay up to date can thrive.”
