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Letter to the Editor

DCR Systems Launches Collision Repair Outsourcing Program for Dealerships

The company has developed a patent-pending production system that streamlines the old-line body shop process aimed at improved repair quality and faster customer delivery. Using this business model DCR Systems founders have developed a 12,000-square-foot dealership add-on facility that has the flexible capacity to facilitate 80 to 200 vehicle repairs per month based on demand response.

DCR Systems president and CEO, Michael Giarrizzo, Jr., said the business model is based on “lean manufacturing” principles which eliminate many of the inefficiencies and redundancies traditionally associated with auto body repair.

“The old way of repairing a car involved one technician working on many vehicles,” Giarrizzo said. “DCR technicians are task-specific experts trained to use the latest repair technology when and where it’s required. The process involves a series of interdependent steps that are tied together by validated, documented quality verification.”

The company is offering its operation to auto dealerships nationwide that don’t presently have an on-site body shop, fleet systems and for specific insurance applications. The dealerships represent a market that has steadily increased as advancing auto technology and stringent environmental regulations have driven up the capital required to maintain collision repair operations. With a shortage of qualified repair technicians and insurance payors putting added pressure on reimbursements, the appeal of operating a dealer-based body shop has greatly diminished, according to DCR Systems. Only 40 percent of domestic auto dealerships maintain such operations.

The DCR Systems program intends to provide a way for dealers to recoup those lost repair dollars through the re-establishment of a body shop operation, overseeing every facet of the process, including construction, staffing and management. Dealers provide the site and promote the service to customers and DCR will handle all remaining responsibilities.

From a business perspective, according to Giarrizzo,the concept of partnering in a DCR-operated collision repair program on the dealership site is an attractive, low-risk decision. Dealers can retain those repair dollars that previously would have gone to off-location third-party body shops. More important, the dealer is able to provide a vital service that complements the core sales, parts and customer service functions. The end result, according to Giarrizzo, is an unbroken bond between dealer and customer through an all-encompassing cadre of services.

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