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When a repair isn't done correctly the first time, customers might be left questioning the integrity of the business they're working with.
With proper training and the right experience, any service facility can take advantage of service writing. By completing a job thoroughly and correctly, customers and insurance writers alike will enjoy maintaining a working relationship with a dealership.
Tony Yerman, owner of TLY Consulting and service consultant for the RVDA, wrote his guide on fixing collision damage and repair price estimation. This guide, which he continues to revise, uses exploded views, illustrations and text to explain how to repair everything from a dent in the side of a coach, to replacing a damaged water heater due to an accident.
"I started working with the insurance companies doing time studies," Yerman says. "I got any information related to installations, replacements and repairs that I possibly could."
The History
Yerman has been writing and revising the RV Damage Repair Estimator since 1983. During the last 23 years, he has developed a 400 page reference guide for technicians. "The manual will give you the guidelines to writing a complete, detailed, accurate estimate, which will reduce and prevent supplemental claims," Yerman says. "A service writer or advisor can take the RV Damage Repair Estimator and walk up to the vehicle, visualize the damage, list it and go into the (manual) to find his labor times and material prices."
The RV Damage Repair Estimator was first developed when insurance adjusters requested a guide for estimating damage on RVs. Yerman worked extensively with Progressive Insurance to begin to develop the reference guide.
"There are certain things (repairs) that you seem to repeat, and seem common to a lot of vehicles," Yerman says about making the initial damage list. "I gave them a page and they loved it."
Lack of Information
"One of the biggest problems we are addressing is the fact that the RV industry has no parts cataloging system, no part numbers, no identification process and no price scheduling," Yerman says.
This lack of information also concerns the insurance companies, not to mention all other involved parties.
"The insurance companies realize that there's little information out there, so their concern is that when an RV dealership writes an estimate for repairs on a vehicle, that they're writing an accurate estimate."
In the past, and even today, some service writers conduct estimates that are overly general. Information such as what parts are necessary to complete the repair, or the time a repair may take are missing, leaving dealerships without the proper information to provide customers and insurance writers.
Lack of education for technicians also causes problems for accurate estimation. Generally, programs such as the online courses offered by the RVIA and the RV Learning Center focus mainly on warranty repair. After years of experience, technicians begin to develop an eye for certain repairs, and eventually learn the "tricks of the trade." Yerman hopes to educate employees from the very start, to provide a more accurate and thorough technique for estimation for those lacking experience.
Parts, Parts — Price?
Once service writers assess the damage, technicians need parts to replace or repair the unit. Here too, it gets tricky. With multiple methods of obtaining parts, dealers have difficulty determining the least expensive and fastest route for getting the proper materials.
To develop the guide, Yerman contacted OEMs, suppliers and distributors to determine the most efficient method of obtaining needed parts, and an average retail price that should be charged.
"I took dealer cost and I created my own retail price by marking it up 50 percent, giving it a 33 percent profit margin," Yerman says.
Determining the source for parts can become cumbersome. However, as with most jobs, experience develops over time.
Yerman says that with dealer expertise, some parts can be less expensive depending on the method of which they are obtained. For instance, an OEM might only provide the full fiberglass cap as a replacement, but the supplier might instead mold a custom piece of that same fiberglass for the repair.
Along with that, some dealers continue to replace full parts instead of repairing the piece.
"A lot of dealers are putting on complete sidewalls because they don't know how to repair the sidewalls," Yerman says. "The difference between repair and replacement can be tens of thousands of dollars."
Utilizing All Resources
Employees can start becoming experienced estimators by completing RV technician training. Yerman worked with the RVIA and RV Learning Center to develop the learning guides electronically on the RVIA Web site.
At the National RV Trade Show last year, RVDA asked Yerman to demonstrate the new program. The site allows employees to learn at their own pace and includes illustrations, text and videos to accommodate all types of learning styles. Yerman says the videos feature representatives from companies such as Atwood and Dometic discussing troubleshooting clinics.
Along with Web training, there are different reference guides that complement each other depending on the type of repair necessary. Diagnostically, if an RV suffers component failure, electric shortages or other internal problems, technicians can reference the RV Service Management Guide.
If visible damage has been done to the outside of the vehicle, the RV Damage Repair Estimator is necessary to determine parts and time needed accurately.
By having a complete and accurate method of damage estimating, dealers can also avoid filing multiple supplemental repair claims.
"A service writer or advisor can take the RV Damage Repair Estimator, which is what the insurance adjustor is doing, and he can walk up to the vehicle, visualize the damage, list it and go into the RV Damage Repair Estimator and find his labor times and material prices," Yerman says.
In the future
Yerman hopes that the information provided in his book will be available online eventually. The software would feature detailed information for different makes, models and serial numbers of RVs and parts, including where those parts are available to pick up or order.
author: BY ERICA SCHULZ