Following a pre-NACE hunting trip, Roy Schnepper was busy gearing up for the journey to Las Vegas, where he hopes to bag up-to-date insights while “seeing what’s going on with the equipment and technology being displayed.”
Welding equipment is of particular interest to Schnepper, president of Butler’s Collision in Roseville, Mich. Networking with industry colleagues amid these times of economic turbulence is also on his agenda, along with pursuing a selection of NACE’s extensive instructional lineup. “I expect to get some training through some of the educational sessions being provided,” he notes.
“I’m certainly very interested in the training NACE provides,” concurs Steve Furman at Hayes Brothers Collision Repair in Sacramento, Calif. “I’m trying to get a good mix of everything,” he explains, citing the business and technical issues he intends to examine: “Absolutely! I’m open to all education.”
Having been a satisfied NACE attendee for the past five years or so, Furman is eager to take in the entire scope of what this year’s edition has to offer. “I’m looking to stroll down the aisles of the trade show,” he says. “I’ll be meeting new partners in the industry,” visiting with suppliers and becoming acquainted with fellow body shop operators.
“This is our only really sizeable industry event, and I want to support that,” Furman says.
“I’m expecting to find a one-armed bandit,” quips Gene Glaser, reflecting on the slots and some of the other aspects of the famous Vegas glitz.
In addition to (hopefully) padding his bankroll in the casinos, the NACE activities present a perfect opportunity “to rekindle the flame and get a little enthusiasm going. It’s been a while since we’ve gone,” says Glaser, who with his wife Susan owns three Glaser’s Collision Centers in Kentucky.
“We’re looking for a couple of pieces of equipment and we’ll go to a class or two,” he explains.
While traversing the show floor Gene and Susan will be investigating the possible purchase of a prep station and an induction heating system for loosening fasteners.
First, though, says Susan, their plans involved casting ballots at their local polling place Tuesday morning prior to jetting here later in the day.
Upon arrival, the two anticipate making the most of the experience. “We haven’t been in several years, so we want to make sure we’re not missing anything,” she notes. “We’ll also go to SEMA – we drag race, and they have a huge racing section.”
At NACE, Gene and Susan plan “to see what other shops are doing to increase efficiency and do ‘the lean thing,’” she says, citing the economic challenges facing both the industry and the entire nation.
“It’s going to get tighter,” Susan believes. “We’ve seen it coming, so we’ve been pulling in credit and paying off debt to position ourselves a little bit better.”
As the remnants of Hurricane Ike blew northward through the Bluegrass State, “we’ve seen an influx of wrecks and business is pretty good right now,” Gene reports. Susan, however, expresses concern over the population’s overall financial health and the customers’ ability to pay.
“As a company we’ve seen more bad checks written to us (recently) than we’ve seen in 19 years in business,” she laments.
“It has tightened up our payment polices. We don’t take post-dated checks (anymore). You can make partial payments, but you don’t get your car until you make all your payments – you’d be surprised at how fast people can come up with the money,” Susan observes.
“We try to make it very clear to the insurance company that the check comes to us or we don’t release the car.”
While third-party claimants remain eager to obtain repairs when the at-fault driver’s insurance is footing the bill, Susan is seeing an increasing pattern of policyholders with large deductibles forgoing the fixing-up process. “There are a lot of wrecked vehicles driving around here.”
Those that do come in often press for quicker turnaround times. “People don’t want to pay for their own rental car; there’s more urgency now,” she notes.
Susan says she’ll welcome the views of other shop owners also contending with the impact of the industry’s perilous financial conditions.
Not only is this type of information of interest to the Glasers from down South, there’s also an enthusiastic endorsement originating from Down Under. “NACE consistently amazes me with the variety of vendors and the new technology exhibited, the skills I learn each time I go and the wonderful friends and contacts I make from all over the world,” according to Trevor Parkes, owner of Parkes Body Works in Melbourne, Australia.
He’s been journeying more than 8,000 miles to NACE for nearly 15 years. “It truly is the most valuable trip I take each year,” he says, “and the cost of travel is easily covered by the profit-building techniques I learn.”
