We’re Not in Business to Lose Money

In this episode of Repair Shop Reckoning, Kevin sits down with Anthony Rendino from A/R Customs and Collision to talk about the reality of running an independent body shop in today’s insurance-driven world. This conversation goes deep into what most collision shop owners are struggling with right now: Insurance companies cutting rates.

Short pays.
DRP pressure.
Paint material costs exploding.

And shops staying busy while barely making money. Anthony shares how he and his partner built their shop from the ground up after leaving larger operations, why they diversified beyond insurance work, and how learning their numbers completely changed the way they run the business. This episode is about understanding the difference between doing work… and actually making money doing it.

Kevin and Anthony break down:

• Why shops must know their true break-even number
• How to stop losing money on collision jobs
• Why you cannot blindly work off insurance estimates
• How proper documentation and OEM procedures protect your shop
• The real battle around ADAS calibrations, sublets, towing, and paint materials
• And why so many technicians and estimators are leaving money on the table simply because they were never taught how to write properly

They also get into how AI is changing the game for estimating, supplements, and insurance negotiations, and why modern shop owners have to become better operators, not just better technicians.

At the end of the day, this episode comes down to one thing: If you do not know your numbers, your costs, and your value, somebody else will decide them for you. And in this industry, that usually means the insurance company.

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