It’s not a surprise that the words “OEM Procedures” cause a collision center manager to perk up these days. It’s been over a year since the epic Seebachan HONDA Fit lawsuit verdict and OEM Procedures are still at the tip of everyone’s tongue.

As an owner, fixed ops director, or department manager what are you doing to make sure your quality assurance process addresses OEM Procedures? Are you accessing the procedures through the OEM’s actual live Body Repair Manual site or are you relying on a third party provider for the information? Are you looking up the procedures and printing them and storing them along with your file in permanent file storage to prove what you did to fix the car?

Dealership Body shops are still in a pivotal position in the industry where they are quickly approaching a fork in the road. There are massive costs to do business that are going to need to be considered over the next few business cycles if a dealer captive shop is going to address the ever-growing demand to follow the procedures. If the shop is going to be properly supported in order to make correct repair plan decisions on repair or replace of the ever-growing list of safety and weight-related substrates an outside source of influence is going to be needed. Specialized welding, brazing, bonding, and riveting equipment is already the norm on almost every single repair. The need for these items is addressed in the repair procedures.

This is not to mention the fact that SRS and ADAS systems are not being properly disabled and reset or recalibrated on an extremely high percentage of repairs simply due to a lack of understanding of the need.

Fixed Performance Body Shop Specialist Aaron Sworden is an expert on assessment, guidance, and training when it comes OEM Procedures.

Schedule a full one day assessment of your facility, followed up with a second 1/2 day with an OEM Repair Planning Boot Camp 4 hours in length for your management, estimator, and technician staff, This one single session will provide your facility with a baseline foundation to be able to take steps forward towards a solid ROI on your continued education needs and other capital investments.

Our Body Shop Specialist Aaron Sworden can be reached at ASworden@FixedPerformance.com or by calling (724) 448- 9550.

Rob Gehring, President
Fixed Performance Inc.
1-888-205-8718
rgehring@fixedperformance.com