Last day of work tomorrow

[husky srt]

Last day at work tomorrow as the key's to the shop are handed back on Friday. Very sad to see it closed down after 30 years in business and a place of employment for the last 9 years. Like so many other small smash repair shops failing due to the insurance companies harsh policies and tight fisted money grubbing way's, was always going to be on the card's. I'll now have to find a shop that can paint my van and Javelin without charging like a wounded bull and do a good job. None of these smash 'em through large national repair shops have the time to properly block, sand and prep for a good job. Even the smaller shops are getting hard to get into as there isn't that much money to be made on a long term project, and unless you are there all the time things just seem to go missing. On the bright side I did manage to score some new tools for the shed that will make future work on my cars a lot easier.
I think we are going to have a bbq and get on the piss fairly early tomorrow.

[XX7SANDMN]

yep lots of panel shops in WA doing the same thing closing the doors due the same thing mainly the small shops loosing all insurance jobs to the larger boys and still trying to make a dollar with hugh overheads and outgoings i talked to a panel shop owner to day who had a staff of 12 people last year and is down to 3 at present and reconded he will be gone in 3 months after being in the location for 20 years

[matt.p]

Good luck mate. I hope all goes well for you. Nobody wants to be out of a job but it sounds like your old school with the trade which is what most of us want with a resto or repairs. It is a shame our trades are going down the poo shoot because of cheaper prices, insurance companies etc. Our values in the trades are lost and its a shame becaus kids these days can learn quite alot but like always will all come down to the bottom dollar.

[Innuendo]

Basing a business on insurance work is a guarantee to failure. Insurance companies are out to look after their own interests.
Poorly managed panel shops rely on them for turn over and a work flow, all the time lowering standards to meet the pathetic insurance rates.

That writing has been on the wall for over 20 years (probably more).

It is now happening with wrecking/auto dismantlers. Insurance companies are now buying them up and supplying themselves from their own yards.
Overflow goes to what's left of the independents who will also dry up if they don't change tact and stop relying on old outdated business practices.

[Cyclamin]

Go to an Insurance Co that gives you the choice of repairer , they are dearer , but you get to go to your preferred shop , gives some support too the smaller shops.
Go cheap and no choice , you have to use their shops. Who's fault is that??

[SLR_dave]

Try and score enough tools to set up on your own Husky!! ? big call, but well... I bet your boss wont suffer too much.

There seems to be some trade in custom paint for business in the ACT atm, trade style, like business name in flash graphics taking up half the side of a ute, with a deep colour mural underneath, (flames, skulls, celtic lines etc) seems boutique, I wonder if the people doing it make any money?

Anyways, just a thought.

Shame to hear that, business is projected to be tough in the ACT for a while.

[playwme]

Try and score enough tools to set up on your own Husky!! ?

There seems to be some trade in custom paint for business in the ACT atm, trade style, like business name in flash graphics taking up half the side of a ute, with a deep colour mural underneath, (flames, skulls, celtic lines etc) seems boutique,

Most of those are Vinyl wraps. The money is in the design so it can be spread out over multiple vehicles once done and stripped off the vehicle for easy resale later.

I'm guessing Husky is a panel beater rather than a painter. That would be a very hard business to set up in Canberra. Rents are high along with all the other running costs and you need a good amount of startup capital to get going. Most Canberrans have reasonably new cars, and the people with older ones already know tradesmen or do the work themselves. The ones that don't are generally the kind of customers you don't want, difficult and cheap.

[Vombil]

A good mate of mine has a smash shop in WA employing approx 16 blokes and they are flying. The insurance is bread and butter but they do creamy bumper jobs and small volumes of private work. They were 'at risk' too but have already been through the hardest part i think. Now they are the ones that re-do all the rubbish that these cut prices insurance shops like Gemini and Capital smart do. According to my mate its come full circle. The insurers are crawling back as they can't be stuffed taking a chance on the shitty shops and have unhappy customers... too many headaches. They do it right once.

[husky srt]

We were doing a lot of rental cars for a long time which brought in quite a few cars a week, which was a good little bonus for us, but one car rental manager was getting a nice little under the table kick back from another smash shop to send all the work to them ( untill they got found out ). The same was done to us with the taxi's we were doing ( I miss the spare change from under the back seat, used to pay for smoko ) Any way, a lot of the work we were doing was through repeat customers who would come back with everything from major work to minor scrapes to clean ups at the end of their leases and we would look after them. Maybe we cared for our customers too much and like alot of people would say " caring dosn't pay the bills " We used to do quite a few resto's and for the work that goes into them you just don't make the money, custom work was the same, lots of work for very little pay. Paint and panel work is expensive and most people just don't want to pay that much but still want a show winning car, so the quotes for the work had to be low ( that's where the boss did his arse ) plus sometimes he wouldn't get off it to do much work. Here is a few pic's of one of the most award winning cars that we did ( and not just our arses )

downiet.jpg

downie.jpg

downie 2.jpg

The hours of work that went into the tub was ridiculous.
Looked bloody awesome though ( if you are into mini trucks )

[playwme]

We were doing a lot of rental cars for a long time which brought in quite a few cars a week, which was a good little bonus for us, but one car rental manager was getting a nice little under the table kick back from another smash shop to send all the work to them ( untill they got found out ).

That sounds familiar. I used to work in rental cars at the airport and one of our managers was getting kickbacks from F-word brothers in Belco for work sent to them.