' SHOP TALK
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• Workshop staff too often dismiss vehicle painting as a job for someone else. Fleet managers send their vehicles away for liverying and pay the sizeable bills when they arrive. But is this a satisfactory state of affairs?
Often the finished paintwork is not exactly what was wanted and each vehicle in the fleet looks different. Regular repaints mean large chunks of the maintenance budget goes to other firms, and downtime is always longer than expected. So why not do the job in-house and offer it as a service to others?
Does the cost or the prospect of new legislation hold you back? Regulations will affect whoever does the painting and the customer will end up paying. Booths are expensive, but so are vehicle lifts, rolling-road brake testers, hydraulic presses and all the other equipment you need in workshops.
The economies of two-pack paints is being appreciated by an increasing number of operators and vehicle manufacturers. With the demise of synthetic paint, the market for professional paintshops able to handle two-pack will grow. There are few new business opportunities in the commercial vehicle aftermarket so any that do present themselves should be investigated thoroughly.