If you found this blog post and did not read part 1, you can continue here and circle back on part 1 later. Or, if you’re like us and want to do things in proper order, you can find part 1 here.
After having about 100 combined years of experience at Painter’s, we’ve found that transparency is a key element of our communication protocols. Meaning, we don’t find any value or happiness in using language others are unfamiliar with. At one point or another, we’ve all been customers of a product or service where we found ourselves in unfamiliar territory and hearing language you don’t understand doesn’t really help much. At least, that’s our stance.
So, as part 2 in this series, here are another 12 terms or phrases you’ll hear us use during the repair process. But, we’ll be sure to explain what they mean, why they’re important, and how it affects your vehicle’s repairs.
- Blend: Chances are the damaged area of your vehicle will either cover two panels or meet an undamaged panel. And, the paint on the undamaged vehicle will be as old as your vehicle and the paint on the newly repaired part of your vehicle will be new as of the day it’s painted in our shop. So, to help facilitate a smooth transition between what was repaired and what was undamaged, our expert painters use a technique called “blending.” The easiest way to describe this is rather than show “old” and “new” color side-by-side, we’ll blend the new color so that it doesn’t even look like your vehicle was in an accident.
- CSI: This stands for Customer Satisfaction Index. Every body shop in the country uses one tool or another to measure how well we performed for you from a few different viewpoints: timeliness of repairs, communication, repair quality, customer services, etc. These surveys are used to help us, internally, improve our systems, platforms, and processes and also help us market our shop to the broader industry. Our surveys are simple yes/no or 1-10 scale questions and are completed online. We’ll talk about this, briefly, when you pick up your vehicle.
- Date In: We measure a variety of metrics and numbers at Painter’s, and one of those is cycle time (how long it takes us to repair your vehicle). “Date In” starts the clock as the date we took receipt of your vehicle.
- Date Out: Like Date In, Date Out is the date the vehicle left our shop. This date stops the clock and cycle time is calculated and measured in days and rounded to the tenth of each day (3.2 days vs. 3 or 4, as an example).
- Disassembly: When a vehicle is involved in an accident, energy travels from the point of impact throughout the vehicle. And, the only way to really document what needs to be repaired is by taking parts off the vehicle and placing it on one of our lifts. Many times, damage is hidden, therefore the need for disassembly.
- Paint match: Much like blending, when we paint new parts as part of your vehicle’s repairs, our paint department will match the color of the new part to the existing car taking into consideration normal wear and tear on the vehicle. For example, a brand new “red” is now the same as “red that’s been driving around for 8 years because it fades, chips, etc.” So, matching paint and blending paint is as much an art as it is a science.
- Pre-Wash: Most of the time, cars involved in accidents are dirty. So, for us to properly evaluate damage and document repairs, we’ll wash the car before we begin our repair process. A lot of times a pre-wash step helps us clearly see any scrapes, scratches, chips, dents, etc. that we may not have seen previously.
- NPS: Similar to CSI, NPS is another tool to measure customer satisfaction. NPS stands for Net Promoter Score. Unlike CSI, NPS categorizes responses into three buckets: promoters, passives, and detractors. NPS is more of a customer experience score than a satisfaction score because in its calculation, NPS omits data from passives where CSI takes into consideration all data points. In either scenario, the entire team at Painter’s aims for a score of 9 or 10.
- Refinish: This is another term for “paint.” The entire painting, or refinishing, process has evolved over the years, names and terminology had evolved with it. So, if you hear us use “paint” or “refinish” we’re talking about the same thing–the color we apply to your vehicle.
- Valet: For one reason or another, sometimes it’s hard to get to and from a body shop. Because life throws all sorts of curveballs our way, if you need a ride to the shop, to work, or home just let us know and we’ll be happy to arrange a valet service for you.
- Virtual Estimate: Because COVID introduced several new variables to all of us, for those customers who prefer to send us photos of their damaged vehicle to jump start the repair process, we’re happy to help facilitate that via email. Give our office a call and we’ll walk you through what we’ll need to draft an estimate. Once the vehicle is in the shop, the estimate may change as pictures will give us a good sense of what’s needed, but nothing is better than us getting eyes on what needs to be repaired.
- Warranty: Every vehicle we repair comes with a limited-lifetime warranty. So, as long as you own your vehicle, we’ll warranty repairs. Give us a call and we’ll be happy to look at your vehicle post-repairs.