We’ve been going over auto estimating in the members area and in the classroom. A question came up that I don’t know the answer to…how do you calculate for 4 stage paint. A few of the newer cars have four different coatings after the sealer is applied. Base coat, mid or pearl coat, tinted clear, and clear coat. However, after searching CCC One’s motor estimating procedure pages, I did not find a formula for this. I always try to find the answers of the questions my students have if I don’t know the answer. So, then I called CCC One and they said they do not have a formula for this. They said there are new car colors with quad coats, but it is not very common. He said that Motor will probably be working on this soon, but there is nothing yet.
So what do you do if you get a car with quad coat?
I asked him this question and he said this will be a manual entry. So this will be a judgment call determined by the repair shop. So I am thinking if clear coat is 40% for first major panel and 20% for additional adjacent panels and tri-coat is 70% for the first major panel and 40% for additional adjacent panels, then that is a 30% increase for the first major panel and 20% for adjacent panels. So if we use those calculations, then a quad coat would be 110% for first major panel and 60% for adjacent panels.
I’m just thinking out loud trying to come up with something, but I guess that is what I would do as a shop until CCC One come up with something. It will be interesting to see how close I am when they do determine a time for quad coats. I’m not a math guy so I could be way off.
So here is what I would charge for a quad coat panel that is 3.0 hours.
3.0 x 110% = 3.3 For a total of 6.3 hours.
For adjacent panels of 3.0 hours minus .4 overlap = 2.6
2.6 x 60% = 1.6 For a total of 4.2
So for now adding for quad coat is your call….I would like to know how shops have been charging for this. Let us know.
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