Pricing

Success of any business stems from the right balance in pricing. It has to be sufficient based on workload to get well beyond the break-even point. Depending on the situation, pricing varies immensely. The pricing discrepancy arises due to the lack of industry regulation in PDR. The insurance companies are trying to apply some control now but given the variability and the lack of PDR technicians, it would seem it is difficult to control overall. The use of the national repairer schemes is an attempt to get some form of consistency in pricing. Of course quality and time taken is a factor given if the dents can be done more professionally, and quickly, you could charge slightly higher pricing.

Recall the pricing matrix which proposed costs of dents per panel depending on the panel. There was some variation but it does give an indication of the PDR pricing in the Australian industry. In fact it seems this is consistent with pricing in the United States.

Of course you do get PDR technicians that do not move around and repair dent in the region and are happy to simply have a job. These charge much and sometimes get pressured in charging on a per car basis sometimes as little as $250 to $500 per car! The industry average quotation seems to be about $1500 to $2000 per vehicle. This of course depends on what overall type of damage there was, the type of vehicle (remember the luxury vehicle and extra costs for Wagons and Vans).

On second hand vehicles at auctions and servicing car yards, the cost usually is reduced being the off season – take what you can get. This includes servicing car yards out of a hailstorm. Servicing tends to attract a $250 to $500 per car price range. On a per dent basis such as fixing one or two car park dents is in the $55 to $80 price range per dent. Obviously the more simple and less time consuming the dent, the lower it becomes price wise.

Quality assurance

Due to the general nature and relatively recent history of the PDR process, the expectations of the clients are for a high standard of work to be completed. Due to the lack of knowledge of the process, clients are always nervous as to a “new approach” being used on their vehicle. Therefore, the quality assurance process should be set at a high priority and to a high standard. As already noted, this can also lead to referrals and repeat business.

Up to 3 steps (preferably at least 2) should be included in the quality assurance checklist from the technician to management and of course the customer and insurance assessors wherever applicable once the vehicle repair is completed. The quality assurance system should include:

• checking for surface (no dents)
• ensuring all panels have been ‘touched’ (checked)
• checking paints
• checking for damaged parts
• checking that all parts have been re-assembled
• testing lights work (in case of wires disconnected)
• the quality check checkbox on the paper work is ticked
• (optional) customer acknowledges with signature they have gone through with the final check