The February issue of Collision Management is now available online. You can flip through it here, but first, a few words from the Editior-in-Chief of Collision Management, Huw Evans.

It’s All in the Prep

The right parts and the right materials are vital when it comes to quality repairs.

When you’re performing body repairs on vehicles, by far the majority of time in doing the work comes down to the preparation of panels for paint. Do it right and you’ll end up with an outstanding result. Do it wrong and every blemish and imperfection will shine through the paintwork— hardly a favourable outcome, especially today when customer and brand expectations are so high.

That’s why, when it comes to materials and parts, ensuring you have the right vendor partners that understand your needs, volume and training requirements is a must. In this issue’s cover story we look at 3M Canada’s solution in helping ensure its collision repair customers get exactly what they need, when they need it.

On the subject of parts, a lot of change has been happening in the industry over the last few years. New technology has enabled OEMs to be more competitive when it comes to parts. With quality emphasis at an all-time high and cycle times critical, it’s important for shops to get good quality parts at the right price at the right time. In fact, surveys have demonstrated that one of the biggest collision customer dissatisfactions comes down to poorly fitting parts or mismatched paint.

As the trend towards OEM certification at shops across the country continues, every industry stakeholder wants to ensure that the customer is satisfied and brand reputation is protected. Yet by the same token, there also needs to be profitability in this business, otherwise it’s simply unsustainable. Our new columnist, J.R. Martino of Budds’ Collision, delves a little into the topic this issue, discussing how OEM programs are changing the face of the business.

It’s a fascinating subject and one that’s likely to make headlines throughout this year and beyond.

In the meantime we hope you enjoy the first issue of Collision Management for 2017. And remember, this is your magazine as much as ours, so if there’s a topic you’d like us to cover, we’d love to hear from you. Happy reading!

Click here to read Collision Management February 2017