I was recently at the Friday Breakfast meeting and Diane graciously asked if I would like to write an article or two for the Newsletter. Well, sure, why not? But what am I going to write about? It needs to be something interesting and it should be something you might not know everything about. Pretty tough with you guys.

In search of a subject, I started thinking about all the interactions I have had with club members when I worked on their cars. Most of these cars had names too, like Bat Rod and Cockroach. (I wonder what you call a 58 Chevy Bel Air that is still not back on the road? That, of course, is another story.)

Anyway, one comment I heard over and over was, 'You actually worked on the car and got it out pretty much on time and it did not take a lifetime'. I was really surprised that was such a big deal. Seriously. I mean why wouldn't a shop try to get the customer's car out in a timely fashion? The matrix is pretty simple really:
1. Take car in
2. Work on car
3. Finish car
4. Make customer happy
5. Get money
6. Go home and have a glass of wine with your wife.

It's not that hard and just why would a shop keep a car for a year or two, or even more?. Well this is a real head scratcher. After much research, I discovered the top five reasons it takes some shops an inordinately long time to complete a job:

Reason #5. The shop does not have enough work so he needs your car in the parking lot so it appears busy.
Reason #4. The shop is in cahoots with your grandchildren so the car will go directly to your great grandchildren who are yet unborn.
Reason #3 Your children don't think you should be driving at your age, particularly a hot rod with a big loud motor.
Reason #2 The shop owner does not like you, your attitude or your car because you keep asking when the car will be done.
Reason #1 The shop is not in the business of completing cars, only taking deposits.

Reason #1 actually is the only one that makes sense to me. The shop owner gets the deposit and goes on vacation to Las Vegas. The deposit is lost at the tables leaving no food for the family. The search begins for another deposit as the cars stack up. The goal is more deposits, not completing cars. This is really nice work if you can get it.

In fact, I know this is true and what follows is true. We recently completed a '70 Firebird that the customer gave the previous shop a big deposit. The shop owner had a real nice Christmas, gave his kids gifts, etc. and lost interest in the car. He went looking for more cars. After a year or so, the customer was all over the shop owner like a bad smell. The shop 'completed it', but not really. We redid a bunch of his work and finished the car. It looked great when it was done but the customer had aged 10 years during the process and spent too much money.

Soooooo, the moral to the story is make progress payments for work done, not advances.

Next month:
Are there any fiberglass cars that are not a pain to work on?

Article by guest columnist, Sam Hedgpeth, owner
North Highlands Maaco • www.SacAutoBodyShop.com
Email: smhedgpeth@sbcglobal.net or phone: (916) 334-5556

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