Dan Hamm, owner of H & H Body Shop in Gray, Ga., is the quintessential pragmatist, particularly when it comes to insurance company direct repair programs. Whether the collision repair industry likes them or not, DRP programs are a reality of today's collision repair business, Hamm believes — and his shop has thrived by putting procedures in place to help ensure that it can work well with insurance companies.
A key challenge, Hamm says, is that "each insurance company thinks it has found the best way to do a repair — none of them want you to do the same thing."
H & H is on five DRPs, which generate about 75 percent of its business. The company's estimating software plays a key role in ensuring that the requirements of each program are met and that estimators quote each job the way the customer's insurance company specifies. The software vendor sets up the software so that the requirements of each DRP are clearly spelled out. If a new estimator or office worker is hired, it's easy for that person to get up to speed on each DRP program's requirements because those requirements are clearly indicated. There was an extra charge from the vendor for this level of customization, but Hamm says, "It was worth it."Hamm began his automotive repair career on the mechanical side but got involved in collision repair while working at a dealer in the Macon, Ga., area in the 1990s. "I started fooling around with it at home and on weekends and did it as a hobby," recalls Hamm.
In the mid-1990s, Hamm opened his first shop, with a partner who is now deceased, in the Macon area. A few years later, Hamm saw an opportunity to tap into a growing market by opening the first body shop in Gray, a rural area about 10 miles outside of Macon that is fast becoming a bedroom community to Macon.
Hamm built the shop from the ground up in its current location along a main road, opening in 1998. The business quickly grew. "The area had a five-year spurt where they were building 150-plus houses a year," Gray notes.
In its first year, the shop earned revenues of $250,000. Today that number has quadrupled. But in recent years, business has been tougher as the housing boom ended and insurance companies began totaling out more vehicles. In addition, several other shops have opened in town — although H & H has maintained a loyal following. The 25 percent of work that doesn't come from DRPs comes primarily from repeat customers, Hamm says.
"We always try to make the customer right," says Hamm, "I go out of my way to do things for people that even my personnel sometimes think is crazy." For example, Hamm says he has replaced taillights for customers even when he knew that the damage did not occur while the car was in the shop.One of Hamm's biggest challenges is keeping both customers and insurance companies happy, he says. But he seems to have found the right balance. Every customer receives a thank-you note in the mail with an invitation to call him if the customer ever has any problems. Hamm says he gets very few calls.
When Hamm made the move to Gray, all three employees that he had at the time continued with him. Today he has 16 employees and is fortunate to have some very good ones. "This industry is hurting really bad for new people," Hamm says.H & H keeps good employees by offering good benefits, including health insurance and paid vacation and holidays. Technicians are paid per hour billed, which encourages them to work efficiently. But to ensure they do not compromise quality by rushing through jobs, one of the estimators inspects every repaired vehicle. In addition, Hamm personally keeps an eye on things. "I try to stay in the shop for at least five hours a day," he says.
Office workers at H & H get the perk of a paid lunch every day. "It keeps them in-house," Hamm notes. "I don't require it, but it does help with the workflow."
Recently Hamm got back into the mechanical repair game when he opened an additional building on his site for that purpose. "It works hand in hand with the body shop," Hamm explains. "We get better turnaround and it makes everything easier. We can do bumper-to-bumper repairs and control quality better."
The mechanical repair business also brought H & H a regular fleet customer. The shop does all mechanical ambulance repairs for a local medical center.
Because H & H gets so much of its business from DRP programs and repeat customers, it doesn't need to do a lot of advertising. But Hamm does advertise regularly in a local newspaper, primarily to highlight the mechanical repair shop, which also takes in work unrelated to body repair. One version of the ad features one of Hamm's four grandchildren recommending the shop.
Hamm isn't looking to expand. He hopes to retire in 10 years. Until then, his focus will be on keeping up with all the changes in what he calls the "fast-changing, fast-paced" collision repair business.
