Delivering a repaired vehicle on time and meeting ever-increasing demands for improvements in repair speed, whether it's to meet a cycle time KPI or please your customers, requires many pieces of a puzzle coming together at the right time.
Often overlooked in their role in this is the staff of the OEM dealers' parts departments. They are faced not only with increasing vehicle complexity but also a supply chain that may sometimes be a challenge, creating the need for them to chase down parts to fill an order.

The FenderBender Reader's Choice Program, now in its sixth year, was developed to recognize the best of the best of the wholesale parts dealers serving the collision repair industry. We conduct an annual survey in which we ask qualified repair shops (FenderBender readers) to vote for who they feel are the best parts departments in their market. We then recognize these exceptional dealers as FBRC winners in this issue.
Check out the list and let your favorite supplier know you saw them on it. They'll appreciate it, and so will we.

Enhancing Communication With OEM Parts Wholesalers

Also in this issue, we explore how collision repairers and parts wholesalers can improve communication to better serve the customer and be more profitable. In the article, we sit down with Paul Samuelson, national collision manager at Nissan North America; Amanda Darr, senior analyst of the collision programs at Lexus; Dean Bruce, performance improvement manager at Ford Motor Company; and Mike Anderson, president and owner of Collision Advice.

Just one takeaway from that discussion is that despite electronic ordering, great relationships are key. And although liberal return allowances are what 82% of respondents said they look for in a supplier, it's important to the profitability and long-term health of the supplier to not take advantage of these.

"The OEM may not accept the parts return from the wholesaler if it's not within [a] certain timeframe," Anderson says.