The Three Workflow Bottlenecks Killing Your Shop's Profitability

It may be cliche, but time is money. Thus, wasting time is just money down the drain. 

Margins in the auto collision industry are already razor thin, so it is of the utmost importance that you identify and fix any inefficiencies in your shop’s workflow.

Whether you are looking to increase volume, open another location, or simply grow your revenue, this article will show you how you can identify and eliminate these inefficiencies that dampen your profitability.

Identifying where your shop can improve time efficiency is essential

You wouldn’t want to throw away even pennies, so why would you be complacent with unnecessary time-consuming or time-draining tasks? Let’s dive in and take a holistic view at your shop’s workflow and understand where bottlenecks are thinning your wallet.

What you must be able to identify when it comes to your shop’s workflows

Like any issue in business, knowing is half the battle, so you must ask yourself: how well do you know your own shop’s workflow?

From the moment a car pulls into the bay until the keys are returned to the customer, there are hundreds of details that you must be privy to. Only once you understand exactly how your shop and your technicians function can you then have the knowledge to definitely identify bottlenecks to be eliminated.

Some tasks may seem time-consuming and unnecessary, while others are non-detrimental to your workflow, but it’s important to know which tasks are indeed necessary, and also what is and what is not within your control.

For example, some documentation and research may seem like a time sink, but these are of the utmost importance to the success of your operation, while there may be methods to reduce their time cost, these are not steps you can eliminate.

On the other hand, there may be tasks that your technicians have performed for decades, such as manual diagnostic practices, but today are redundant or outdated. Despite their perceived importance, your shop could benefit from their elimination altogether.

These are just a couple of examples to highlight just how important correctly identifying and understanding points within your workflow are. You cannot simply address an issue by generally demanding to “eliminate time waste”; truly tackling bottleneck issues requires understanding what is within your control, what is necessary versus superfluous, and taking measured and calculated responses.

The hidden costs of inefficiency

While it is self-explanatory that wasting time is subsequently wasting money, how does time inefficiency actually contribute to reduced profit?

While this seems like a simple task, it is worth noting the domino effect that time efficiency can have on your collision shop. Some tasks can be repetitive, tedious, uncompensated, or even unnecessary. 

For example, if your shop doesn’t bill for diagnostic time, you are missing out on potential revenue. Diagnosing is time-consuming but necessary. Uncompensated work is a drain to your bottom line.

Another time inefficiency can stem from spending too much time on one vehicle either due to outdated tools or a lack of experience from your technicians. The more time you spend on one vehicle, prevents you from servicing others. Turnover is essential to maintain good margins.

The three bottlenecks that hurt profitability

Now that you have taken the time to reflect on your shop’s workflow from top to bottom, let’s take a look at the three bottlenecks that all shops must face that hurt profitability. If you are able to adequately address these, then you will be a step ahead of the competition.

These bottlenecks are not tasks that you can simply get rid of, as they are vital and necessary steps in your workflow, but there are ways to manage their time consumption. Addressing research time waste, the documentation burden, and insurance claim processing delays can relieve your razor thin margins.

1. Research Time Waste

One of the most time-consuming tasks in the auto repair industry today is research and diagnostic time. With the proliferation of ADAS systems, long gone are the days of simple mechanical fixes. These days, cars are sophisticated computers with wheels. This means that you must know what each vehicle is equipped with and how to properly service it.

Hours sifting through manufacturer documentation or VIN databases can leave a vehicle idle in your bay for hours and even days. This is valuable time that could be used actually servicing the vehicle, and if you don’t charge for diagnostic time, then you truly are bleeding money.

This is a necessary evil, obviously.  You must do your due diligence to understand what you are dealing with, or you run the risk of being held liable in the case of an accident where an ADAS feature fails. 

Luckily, there are tools available that drastically reduce research time and automates the process. Revv is designed to do the heavy lifting for you, you simply input a vehicle’s VIN number, and Revv instantly identifies the ADAS systems that are equipped, along with detailed OEM specifications on how to service and calibrate them.

While a time-exhaustive step such as research heavily dampens your profit, Revv is there to streamline this part of the process and allow your techs to focus on what they do best: the actual vehicle service.

2. Documentation Burden

Another necessary evil in the world of ADAS and vehicle service is properly documenting the entire process. Documentation is vital to build a legal defense for your shop against liability concerns, and also necessary for insurance payouts.

Documenting the calibration or service process can add extra minutes at each step, eventually piling up to an additional 20-30 minutes of work per calibration. Extrapolated over a day or a week, this is a huge amount of time that is uncompensated.

This step, while necessary for reimbursement and legal defense, takes time and prevents you from servicing more customers. It is also a very complex process and OEM specifications and regulations change weekly. 

To be successful, your shop must incorporate and document:

• Pre-repair scans
• Calibration procedure
• Post-repair validation results
• Environment condition verification
• Customer acknowledgement forms

Following these guidelines is necessary but time-consuming. Fortunately, Revv has the ability to instantly generate OEM complaint documentation forms that eliminate your guesswork and drastically reduce preparation times for your technician.

3. Insurance Claim Processing Delays

The last major bottleneck that is hurting your profitability is the delay in insurance claim processing. While there is no secret that dealing with insurance companies is a headache, this is your source of reimbursement; therefore, it is necessary to understand this process.

To get reimbursed for your work, you must present to insurance companies that the service you performed was both necessary and performed correctly. This requires your documentation to be airtight.

While the timeline on reimbursement varies for many reasons, reimbursement typically takes 2-4 weeks for minor accidents, 6-8 weeks for bigger ones. 

This means that even with correct procedure, your cash flow can be halted for a while, and considerably longer if your documentation is incomplete or incorrect.

It is worth noting that administrative holdups can compound, so the more back and forth with the insurance agency, the worse off you will be.

To avoid this, create a documentation checklist, build a good relationship with insurance agencies based on mutual trust and reliability, and rely on tools such as Revv to ensure you have proper documentation at each step.

Alternative workflow detractors to keep in mind

While these three major workflow bottlenecks are significant detractors, they may not be the only ones to consider. There are a few additional minor tips to ensure your shop runs with the highest efficiency.

Apart from maintaining strong protocols for research, documentation, and dealing with insurance agencies, you should also ensure that:

• Your techs are ASE certified - well-trained employees give you peace of mind that operations are run correctly and efficiently 
• You pay attention to your shop's environment - ADAS calibration relies heavily on the correct environmental settings
• You make sure your tools and strategies are up to date - OEM specifications change very frequently — even weekly — and failing to stay informed can be disastrous for your workflow

There are hundreds of ways to save time, and therefore money, but keeping these other detractors in mind is a great start. Starting a job over is like servicing two vehicles for the price of one, but this is an offer that benefits no one.

Strategies and tools that can help improve time efficiency

There are certain strategies and tools that can help to solve your shop’s time inefficiency when it comes to research, documentation, and delays with insurance claim processing. Let’s look at what you specifically can do to improve in these areas.

VIN decoders

VIN lookup and VIN decoding are great strategies to reduce diagnostic time. A vehicle’s VIN number holds information such as which ADAS features are equipped on any given vehicle. This is great information; however, there are some drawbacks if you are not well-versed in database retrieval.

VIN lookup and VIN decoding, while useful, present some other challenges. The returned data is often vague and highly technical, requiring extensive research to find what you’re looking for. Revv uses AI to do the research for you, instantly pulling up the info you’re looking for.

One more thing to note is that VIN numbers can only tell you what was installed at the time the vehicle was manufactured. Any additional aftermarket work would not be included in a VIN report.

Auto Estimating Software and Workflow Tools

Auto estimating software, such as Mitchell or CCC, can help to reduce research times and provide better estimates for your customers. This can help to alleviate some of the research and documentation bottlenecks in your workflow.

When choosing the correct auto estimating software, you want to ensure that the platforms enhance your workflow without adding additional steps.

Perhaps the best tool for reducing the negative impacts of the big three bottlenecks is Revv. Revv uses AI to drastically reduce research, documentation, and insurance delays.

How Revv can improve your time use efficiency and increase your profit

Are you finding that your documentation process is holding you back, or its tedious nature allows for occasional mistakes? Revv was built to tackle these challenges with instant and OEM-compliant generation of documentation forms. All you essentially need to do is cross t’s and dot i’s, and you can be sure you’re turning out safe cars. 

With Revv’s foolproof documentation process, you will see insurance claim wait times drop and denials start to dwindle. You will also build great rapport with insurance agencies for your accurate and precise organization.

Need to become more efficient and waste less time in your shop? Looking to increase revenue and decrease headaches? Then what more are you waiting for? Revv is here to address these workflow bottlenecks directly. 

Book a demo with us today to learn how to stay ahead of the ADAS curve and bring your shop to the next level.