Chris Collins and a panel explain why service advisors and collision estimators do different work. Service advisors sell directly to customers and handle high volume; collision estimators work with insurers, follow strict procedures, and deal with claims and parts replacement decisions that service advisors never face.
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Welcome to your drive by. This is where we answer your questions. We have an expert panel here. Hoagie and Chris, Joan. And numbers 8333 ask STR. That's 8333, ask STR. Almost forgot what the number was. Let's go to this week's question.
Hey Chris, this is Jack. I got a question for you. So I'm wondering why there is such a huge disparity between an automotive service advisor versus a certified collision estimator. The reason is because, for example, collision advisor would follow OEM procedure versus a certified.
Automotive service advisor that takes almost the same classes as the collision advisor, yet they don't still have the knowledge or will not provide the same information. For example, when it's being asked by insurance companies when I guess advising would be needed. For example, wheels, why is the dealership allowing brand new wheels or brand new factory wheels to be repaired versus collision estimator would replace them? Because that's what procedures are saying to do. So if you can elaborate on that, I would really appreciate. Thanks so much.
Anyone want to guess what he is?
Oh, what is he?
I'm pretty sure he is a cliche estimator the way that he.
Oh yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
Okay, so let's go through the differences here. The first difference is.
A service advisor is in a sense B2C where they're a business selling to a consumer. Now customers do come in for warranty.
But they're administering that in a sense. But their customer is still the customer. There's a CSI aspect. They're still being graded on that. Who's paying for it. Doesn't really change the way that it works. Right.
Now a body shop is B2B in the sense that the insurance companies are the customer. Nobody ever pays for that out of their own pocket. So it's a B2B. In the B2B they're going to require, just like you know, in the shop, the manufacturer requires the technician to be certified on certain things. That kind of in the body shop world carries over to the, to the. Their version of advisors or the collision estimator. Estimator. It's a, it's more of a B2B type thing.
And even, it's even more now because the insurance companies control every aspect. They, you know, insurance companies, when you get in a record, call us, we'll make the appointment for. They're controlling where the customers go. The customers aren't really making those decisions on their own that much. Rarely.
Yeah.
So it is a B2B type thing. So it's treated more like a technician is in the sense of a warranty thing. Now he's bringing up how they, they're. Yeah, they replace a wheel instead of repairing a scratch. There's probably a couple answers to that. One is that might be something that is just a little bit of a waste in the system where they're overpaying there. But the other thing is, is most of the time the cars have been in a collision and sometimes replacing a wheel is more just because of the structural impact it's had versus scraping a curb.
Yeah, I was going to say integrity has a lot to do with that.
It's easier just to replace it and not have it come back. Because the, you know, the one thing that we're trying to avoid in the body shop world is supplemental.
Customer visits or, you know, any of it.
Right, yeah, yeah. I think that's a great point on who the customer is also because if the customer is the consumer, you know, I've had some customers come in with like half a wheel and they're like, hey, can you, can you. Seven series, you, you know, you repaired that wheel, can't you repair that one? I'm like, no, like, this one's broken too. You can't? No, we're not gonna repair.
There's a difference. Give me a coat hanger and bubble gum.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, you know, and they'll be like, well, I know there's no warranty on it, but can you try it? I'm like, no, not, not, you know, not. So, yeah, I mean you're, you're in two different worlds there a little bit, I think. And so the demand of that kind of dictates some of that. But.
Yeah, and advisors, in a sense, they're creating work. In a, in a body shop, you're not creating that much work. You're facilitating work. Yeah, like you're, you're not, you know, checking history and advising or recommending things.
Right.
That sort of thing.
Yeah. It's a rare body shop that'll have a car come in and it's got a left side hit and they're looking at the right side to see if they can pick up anything up on the side. It's very rare when that stuff happens. I, I do think that collision estimators, what they are really, really good at is following the plan that they're told to follow.
Where.
But it is more of a clerical job.
Yeah. I think that there's probably a little bit more of an understanding of how to work with those insurance companies within the guidelines. So that might be a little bit of an advantage over a service advisor where they might have to. I mean, he was talking about certification classes and stuff like that. And it's like outside of like, for manufacturer, like those silly little, you know, BMW classes that you take, there's not a lot of certification that exists in the service advisor world. So I'm almost wondering if he might have his facts a little bit sideways.
Thing too is the amount of customers you write a day.
Yeah. You write three or four estimates. You're, you're humming in a body shop.
Where you could write 20.
Yeah.
If you know, if you're an advisor.
Yeah. So they're, they're a little more different, I think, than people think those positions.
Was Jack, was that his name?
I think so.
Thanks for the question, Jack. Hope that helps. If you're jumping to the other side and you want to be an advisor, we get it.
You can create more.
More revenue. Probably. We'll see you next time on Service Drive Revolution.
Thanks for watching this week's Drive By. I hope we gave you something to think about over the weekend. We're uploading new stuff every day, so make sure you subscribe and click the bell icon so you don't miss out. If you have a question you'd like us to answer on the show, call 8333-ASK SDR and we'll answer your question on the show. That's 8333 Ask SDR. For special deals on our books and training, head over to offers.chriscollinsinc.com now that's offers.chriscollinsInc.com I'm Chris Collins and I'll see you in the next video.
