Truck Parts and Service | Heavy Duty Trucking, Aftermarket, Service Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/328650
22 Service Bay repairing more of them." "I talked to a customer recently who had a truck with more than a million miles get into an accident and he said they were going to get it fi xed," says Doug Edwardsen, national sales manager at Bee-Line. "The cost to repair the truck is less than the price of a new one, so the insurance company wants to get it fi xed." Putney says service providers willing to enter the heavy-duty body shop mar- ket will have an opportunity to grab this increased customer supply. "The market is going to grow," he says. But adding body shop and collision repair to a service facility takes more than dedicating a bay for the work. Putney says the body shop and crash service is substantially different than me- chanical heavy-duty repair, and requires different facilities, equipment, tools and technicians. "Collision repair usually takes a lot longer, and is much more labor inten- sive," he says. Chandler worked with Collision Equipment Experts to prepare for his operation's entrance into the body shop world. He says the two spent months outlining how Chandler Services' existing location would be retrofi tted to create a working body shop. Putney says body shops have differ- ent requirements for bay availability and workfl ow than regular service facilities. Businesses that attempt to build a body shop without accounting for those dif- ferences can meet signifi cant obstacles, he says. "Flow is really key," he says. "You don't want to move anything more than you have to, and it's best if a vehicle never has to be backed up." Chandler says his bays are designed so a vehicle can be repaired, then brought through a paint prep area and eventually a paint booth. And when possible bay space is lim- ited it's a good idea to rely on a supplier's expertise, adds Mike McCoy, Midwest region sales manager at Bee-Line. "Our products are very versatile," he says. "We try to get with a prospective customer and decide how we can best fi t their needs in their new shop." Opening a new body shop also requires a different breed of technician, one that isn't always easy to fi nd. "Staffi ng a body shop is different than typical heavy-duty service," Putney says, noting it can be easier to transition a light-duty collision service expert to heavy-duty work than to move an exist- ing heavy-duty maintenance technician. T R U C K P A R T S & S E R V I C E | J u n e 2 0 1 4 A recent MacKay & Company survey discovered fl eet customers are willing to drive farther (nearly 30 miles) for quality body shop and collision repair work than any other type of service. A heavy-duty body shop requires a lot of space. Collision Equipment Experts recommends building body shops away from mechanical service due to the space, tools and service needed.