But why has it become the most crucial time during repair activities?

The innovative solutions that Lechler has offered car repairers in the last 4-5 years, together with our already wide products range, today allow you to choose between many painting processes with them you can obtain different quality, performance and EFFICIENCY levels, depending on different repair cases.

It’s for this reason that the car repairer should ask himself some important questions to make an aware selection of painting processes, both from a technical and an economic point of view: 

1. Who is the car’s owner and what service level does he expect?
2. What is the damage extent and size?
3. What is the colour and/or the effect of the car?

Each of these questions will generate an answer that can direct towards a process rather than another.

Let’s give some examples: the customer of the car to be repaired belongs to a fleet that includes a replacement car and its relative costs. It’s clear that in such a situation a rapid repair process will be more appropriate than ever, even if perhaps more expensive, since costs for a replacement car definitely exceed extra costs determined by choosing a more rapid process. Therefore, it will be better to repair a car in the shortest time possible, thus generating the shortest car downtime, because in the case of a FLEET customer this is the most important service level expected.

And what if the customer is a “trader” instead? In this case we will have to do with a company car, with high probability even dated, and if, in addition to that, the damage isn’t covered by an insurance policy, it’s clear that the expected service level will be almost certainly a repair as cheap as possible. So, it’s evident that in this situation we will focus on a cheap repair process, even if almost surely this choice involves much longer processing times.

Finally, let’s suppose the case of a fidelized customer and of a new high range car, where the damage is covered by insurance policy. It’s clear that in such a situation the expected service level will be focused above all on the repair quality, less on the speed and even much less on low costs, because he won’t pay them directly. In this case, it will be more important to direct our choice towards a safe repair process in terms of final quality and durability of painting cycle.

Then, at the stage of “cost estimation” and of selection of the repair system, we will take into consideration also another important element that can dictate different choices: the car colour. Depending on whether it is solid, two- or three-coat, but also on used effect, for example gloss or matt, you can choose between different solutions proposed by Lechler (HYDROFAN, MACROFAN UHS TOP COAT, MACROFAN COLOR PRIMER&FILLER), obviously should all of them be available in your body shop and not conditioned by other parameters already selected.

Eventually, from an in-depth analysis of the damage type, for example if a part replacement or a significant putty application are needed, as well as of the size of the area involved, a mudflap with a fade-out of a door or a whole side, other more technical choices will be determined that will act as filters on painting systems already selected. In this way, we will opt for a single painting process that will best meet all parameters identified during the selection process.

In other words, if it’s the first case of the Fleet car, between the cheapest processes we will choose the most appropriate, for example, for a damage repair of a metallic gloss colour and that requires a mudflap replacement and a fade-out of a door.

All clear? Maybe it’s more difficult read than done in your everyday work!                        However, always remember that Lechler with its experts and courses held by the Centre for Excellence is at your disposal to teach and support you in this new selection way of the most efficient painting system.

Still not enough? There are only a few months left to wait and a new tool will help and guide you easily in the selection of the most efficient process …