Car Rental Chicago IL

Renting your own vehicles may be the answer to shoring up your bottom line. At the very least, it allows you to take more control of your customer's experience.

By Andy Batchelor
10/30/2008 3:49:42 PM

Collision repair is a lot different today than it used to be. Insurance companies are putting an increasing amount of pressure on shops to do it faster, cheaper and better. Those that can’t or won’t are being cut out of the loop and steered against.

Consumers’ demands have changed, too. Their pace of life has reached light speed and they want things done faster as well, especially the repair of their cars, which are essential to making their lives go. They also want to deal with environmentally friendly shops that are clean and neat with nice, hospitable people inside.

With rampant steering, fewer collisions and skyrocketing fuel costs, many body shops are straining to find ways to replace lost profit margins. There are few places left – at least that I can see – where any more profit can be found. We’ve all tried new things to earn a higher profit. Now, all that business diversification equipment sits in the corner collecting dust, and we can’t sell it because everybody else has the same stuff in the corner, too.

I suggest taking a good look at the rental car industry, especially the local and insurance replacement segment of it. Since the terrorist attacks in 2001, the travel market has only seen slow growth, but th...