Marty Denson's guest appearances

Marty Denson

Miracle CDJR Podcast

Miracle Ford Podcast

Robert Fleites

Kim Baker

Mike Woodruff

Joe Smith

Jim Morgan

Ben Harvey

Wayne Hill

Amy Bryant

Victor Williams

Ryan Baker

Tim Galvin

Kathleen Barrett

Marcy Miller

Mike Olari

Kenneth Thomson

OwlTail

Welcome to the 4th episode of our weekly podcast here at Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram! In this episode, we talk with the Body Shop manager, Marty Denson. Both Miracle CDJR and Miracle Ford share the same body shop, located behind the Miracle Ford Dealership. This is another great episode, so enjoy! Topics Discussed: The types of vehicles that the body shop works onDealing with insurance, estimates, and Tennessee’s right to chooseThe Technology used in the body shopHow to preserve your vehicle’s paint jobWhat does Marty enjoy doing outside of work? Transcript Opening John Haggard:       00:03          Welcome to the Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram podcast, where each week you’ll also be able to learn best ways to purchase or lease, maintain and accessorize, and how to sell your vehicle for the highest resale value possible, when you’re ready to do that. I’m your host John Haggard, and throughout each month, right here, different team members will join us from Miracle and they will bring you tips that you can use. And by the way, we do post a transcript of every podcast so you’ll easily be able to refer to it for information on anything that you might’ve heard. And you said, gosh, I didn’t quite get that. What was it that he said or she said? Well, you’ll have it right there. Word for word On this podcast today we’re talking about body shop repair when there’s been an accident or other damage to a vehicle and what some of the misunderstandings are out there, what your rights are and what separates Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram from other body shops. So today on the podcast we have Marty Denson and he’s the Body Shop Manager, actually located at Miracle Ford. Marty, welcome to the podcast. Marty Denson:      01:00          Thank you John. Appreciate it. Nice talking with you. What Types of Vehicles Do You Work On? John Haggard:       01:03          Well glad you’re here. Folks want to find out some information here. Now you’re over at the Ford store. So, you only work on Ford vehicles, or how does that work? Because there is a Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram as well. Marty Denson:      01:16          Right, we work on everything. Of course we are located behind the Ford store, because that was the newest store that was built. But we do all the work for Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep as well. Actually we even do the work for the Toyota store here in town, but we’ll work on any make and model of any vehicle. John Haggard:       01:35          Right. And the Ram too as well, right? Marty Denson:      01:37          Oh yeah. Oh yeah, you do lots of Rams. Dealing With Warranties John Haggard:       01:39          Absolutely. You know, a lot of people today want to know about warranty. Is it factory authorized, or am I sure I’m going to get my warranty, or how does that work today? The warranty business, like let’s say if you work on a Toyota or Chevrolet or something like that. Marty Denson:      01:55          Right. Actually everything that we do, we give a limited lifetime warranty on our work. We try to keep everything, to use parts and everything that’s not going to affect your normal factory warranty, with whatever vehicle you have. So, as long as you take care of your car, even if you don’t take care of your paint or your vehicle. You know, we can’t cover regular wear and tear, but if it’s anything to do with anything we did, we definitely stand behind it. What Technology Do You Have in the Body Shop? John Haggard:       02:28          Gotcha, Gotcha. And another thing that people ask about today, especially with new vehicles is, “well, what kind of technology do you have in there, in that vehicle”, or if you think about a body shop, a lot of people think, “well there can’t be really anything too high tech in there”. But how is the body shop business, from a technology standpoint, or the equipment that you have in there, how’s that different from a few years ago? Marty Denson:      02:54          It’s quite a bit different. We try to stay up to date with all of our equipment and we have two brand new state of the art downdraft paint booths. We keep all the new modern welding equipment. We have a modern rise frame rack, if we do need any kind of frame repair and we keep all the modern scanners to help. All these new cars have a lot of sensors and codes and stuff on them. So we keep all the modern scanners so that we can keep everything programmed the way it needs to be. Body Shop Experience John Haggard:       03:24          Gotcha. Gotcha. And if you look at all the people who are there at the body shop, I guess the combined number of years of folks who have been in the business, what would that number be about? Marty Denson:      03:34          Yeah, we’ve got, with all the people that we have in the shop, we have over 200 years of experience with my staff. And then in the office we have 45 years of experience in the office. John Haggard:       03:47          Y’all are a bunch of old people. Ha! Marty Denson:      03:49          Yeah, I’ll tell ya, ha! Dealing With Insurance, Estimates, and Tennessee’s Right to Choose John Haggard:       03:49          You’ve been around for awhile. You know, depending upon where somebody may have lived, perhaps another state or maybe here in Tennessee and they just don’t know. Can you take your vehicle to any body shop or repair shop that you want to? Because I’ve heard in some cases, the insurance company will say, “well, if you don’t take that vehicle to one of our vendor approved body shops, then we’re not going to stand behind the warranty. We’re not going to help you if you have any problems”. How does that work here? Marty Denson:      04:22          Yeah. Unfortunately, that’s the kind of scare tactic that the insurance companies use to try to get people to take it to a certain shop that’s giving them discounts and different things like that. But in the state of Tennessee, it’s a right to choose state, so you can choose to take your car to any shop you want to and there’s nothing the insurance company can do about it. And actually, we give the same warranty that a shop that they’re trying to push them off to is giving. So you’re not missing out on any kind of warranty issues there. But you do have the right to choose, you can take your vehicle to any shop you want to. John Haggard:       04:54          All right. And what about the estimates? You know, because at one time, they always told you, “hey, go get three estimates, be sure you’re getting a deal”,and all this and that. How does that work now? Do you need to do that or can you just go to the body shop in back of Miracle Ford and just get one estimate or how does that work? Marty Denson:      05:13          Right. Before, usually when you got in a wreck you always went and got three estimates. You had to run all over town. It took you all day. But nowadays, insurance companies really don’t require that either. They’re going to send somebody out to look at your car and they’re going to do an estimate, or they’ll just have you come by and just maybe get one estimate to give to them. So they sort of know what they’re looking at. That keeps you from having to waste all day and run around different places trying to get estimates. A lot of that has changed. Tips to Preserve Your Vehicle’s Paint Job? John Haggard:       05:40          Gotcha. Gotcha. Now if you were just going to give two or three tips to people on how to preserve the paint job or things to look out for, or how or where you parked so you don’t get dented, or how to avoid potential body damage. Just overall preservation with the idea in mind that I want to have the highest resale value I can when I sell my vehicle. What would you tell them? Marty Denson:      06:04          I’d say, some of the most important things, especially with the paint is keep a good wax job on your car. If you keep it waxed, it keeps the paint in good shape and it won’t fade. Endeavor to keep the inside of your car clean. We see a lot of cars that come through here that it’s unbelievable how dirty they are on the inside. And try to park away from, or not to get underneath of trees where sap or different things can get on your paint. If you just keep it wiped and keep the inside clean, you’ll definitely get a whole lot more for your trade in when you do go to trade. What do You Do Outside Of Work? John Haggard:       06:39          All right, well when you’re not working eight days a week, what do you do for fun Marty? Marty Denson:      06:44          Well, I love to be outside, mainly playing golf. I love to play golf on weekends. Actually. That’s my big stress reliever. John Haggard:       06:50          So you chase that white ball on that green. Marty Denson:      06:52          Oh yeah. John Haggard:        06:53          Are you a champion golfer or what kind of score do you do? Marty Denson:      07:00          I usually stay in the low to mid eighties. But a lot of times I get just as aggravated on the course as I do everywhere else. Ha. John Haggard:       07:08          I understand there’s always, when you’re playing golf, that one out of 10 shot. If you’re a guy like me, “like, man, that felt so good”, and you think… I can do this. And then the next nine are like “I need to get off the green”, right? Marty Denson:         07:20          Oh yeah, exactly. Closing John Haggard:        07:22          All right, well that’s Marty Denson, everybody, the body shop manager for Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram located at the Miracle Ford store in the back. So join us again right here for other topics on the podcast throughout each month because our goal is to show you the best ways to purchase, maintain and accessorize your new or preowned vehicle and how to sell it vehicle for the highest resale value possible, when you’re ready to do that. And don’t forget, we will post and have posted a transcript of every podcast right here on the website. The reason we do that is if you heard something, you say, “well, I’m going to go back and catch what that was exactly, or really understand that”. The typewritten text is right there for you, so you’ll have that information instantly. I’m your host John Haggard, and we’ll see you next time.

Welcome to the 4th episode of our weekly podcast here at Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram! In this episode, we talk with the Body Shop manager, Marty Denson. Both Miracle CDJR and Miracle Ford share the same body shop, located behind the Miracle Ford Dealership. This is another great episode, so enjoy! Topics Discussed: <ul><li>The types of vehicles that the body shop works on</li><li>Dealing with insurance, estimates, and Tennessee’s right to choose</li><li>The Technology used in the body shop</li><li>How to preserve your vehicle’s paint job</li><li>What does Marty enjoy doing outside of work?</li></ul> <h2>Transcript</h2> <h3>Opening</h3> John Haggard: 00:03 Welcome to the Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram podcast, where each week you’ll also be able to learn best ways to purchase or lease, maintain and accessorize, and how to sell your vehicle for the highest resale value possible, when you’re ready to do that. I’m your host John Haggard, and throughout each month, right here, different team members will join us from Miracle and they will bring you tips that you can use. And by the way, we do post a transcript of every podcast so you’ll easily be able to refer to it for information on anything that you might’ve heard. And you said, gosh, I didn’t quite get that. What was it that he said or she said? Well, you’ll have it right there. Word for word On this podcast today we’re talking about body shop repair when there’s been an accident or other damage to a vehicle and what some of the misunderstandings are out there, what your rights are and what separates Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram from other body shops. So today on the podcast we have Marty Denson and he’s the Body Shop Manager, actually located at Miracle Ford. Marty, welcome to the podcast. Marty Denson: 01:00 Thank you John. Appreciate it. Nice talking with you. <h3>What Types of Vehicles Do You Work On?</h3> John Haggard: 01:03 Well glad you’re here. Folks want to find out some information here. Now you’re over at the Ford store. So, you only work on Ford vehicles, or how does that work? Because there is a Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram as well. Marty Denson: 01:16 Right, we work on everything. Of course we are located behind the Ford store, because that was the newest store that was built. But we do all the work for Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep as well. Actually we even do the work for the Toyota store here in town, but we’ll work on any make and model of any vehicle. John Haggard: 01:35 Right. And the Ram too as well, right? Marty Denson: 01:37 Oh yeah. Oh yeah, you do lots of Rams. <h3>Dealing With Warranties</h3> John Haggard: 01:39 Absolutely. You know, a lot of people today want to know about warranty. Is it factory authorized, or am I sure I’m going to get my warranty, or how does that work today? The warranty business, like let’s say if you work on a Toyota or Chevrolet or something like that. Marty Denson: 01:55 Right. Actually everything that we do, we give a limited lifetime warranty on our work. We try to keep everything, to use parts and everything that’s not going to affect your normal factory warranty, with whatever vehicle you have. So, as long as you take care of your car, even if you don’t take care of your paint or your vehicle. You know, we can’t cover regular wear and tear, but if it’s anything to do with anything we did, we definitely stand behind it. <h3>What Technology Do You Have in the Body Shop?</h3> John Haggard: 02:28 Gotcha, Gotcha. And another thing that people ask about today, especially with new vehicles is, “well, what kind of technology do you have in there, in that vehicle”, or if you think about a body shop, a lot of people think, “well there can’t be really anything too high tech in there”. But how is the body shop business, from a technology standpoint, or the equipment that you have in there, how’s that different from a few years ago? Marty Denson: 02:54 It’s quite a bit different. We try to stay up to date with all of our equipment and we have two brand new state of the art downdraft paint booths. We keep all the new modern welding equipment. We have a modern rise frame rack, if we do need any kind of frame repair and we keep all the modern scanners to help. All these new cars have a lot of sensors and codes and stuff on them. So we keep all the modern scanners so that we can keep everything programmed the way it needs to be. <h3>Body Shop Experience</h3> John Haggard: 03:24 Gotcha. Gotcha. And if you look at all the people who are there at the body shop, I guess the combined number of years of folks who have been in the business, what would that number be about? Marty Denson: 03:34 Yeah, we’ve got, with all the people that we have in the shop, we have over 200 years of experience with my staff. And then in the office we have 45 years of experience in the office. John Haggard: 03:47 Y’all are a bunch of old people. Ha! Marty Denson: 03:49 Yeah, I’ll tell ya, ha! <h3>Dealing With Insurance, Estimates, and Tennessee’s Right to Choose</h3> John Haggard: 03:49 You’ve been around for awhile. You know, depending upon where somebody may have lived, perhaps another state or maybe here in Tennessee and they just don’t know. Can you take your vehicle to any body shop or repair shop that you want to? Because I’ve heard in some cases, the insurance company will say, “well, if you don’t take that vehicle to one of our vendor approved body shops, then we’re not going to stand behind the warranty. We’re not going to help you if you have any problems”. How does that work here? Marty Denson: 04:22 Yeah. Unfortunately, that’s the kind of scare tactic that the insurance companies use to try to get people to take it to a certain shop that’s giving them discounts and different things like that. But in the state of Tennessee, it’s a right to choose state, so you can choose to take your car to any shop you want to and there’s nothing the insurance company can do about it. And actually, we give the same warranty that a shop that they’re trying to push them off to is giving. So you’re not missing out on any kind of warranty issues there. But you do have the right to choose, you can take your vehicle to any shop you want to. John Haggard: 04:54 All right. And what about the estimates? You know, because at one time, they always told you, “hey, go get three estimates, be sure you’re getting a deal”,and all this and that. How does that work now? Do you need to do that or can you just go to the body shop in back of Miracle Ford and just get one estimate or how does that work? Marty Denson: 05:13 Right. Before, usually when you got in a wreck you always went and got three estimates. You had to run all over town. It took you all day. But nowadays, insurance companies really don’t require that either. They’re going to send somebody out to look at your car and they’re going to do an estimate, or they’ll just have you come by and just maybe get one estimate to give to them. So they sort of know what they’re looking at. That keeps you from having to waste all day and run around different places trying to get estimates. A lot of that has changed. <h3>Tips to Preserve Your Vehicle’s Paint Job?</h3> John Haggard: 05:40 Gotcha. Gotcha. Now if you were just going to give two or three tips to people on how to preserve the paint job or things to look out for, or how or where you parked so you don’t get dented, or how to avoid potential body damage. Just overall preservation with the idea in mind that I want to have the highest resale value I can when I sell my vehicle. What would you tell them? Marty Denson: 06:04 I’d say, some of the most important things, especially with the paint is keep a good wax job on your car. If you keep it waxed, it keeps the paint in good shape and it won’t fade. Endeavor to keep the inside of your car clean. We see a lot of cars that come through here that it’s unbelievable how dirty they are on the inside. And try to park away from, or not to get underneath of trees where sap or different things can get on your paint. If you just keep it wiped and keep the inside clean, you’ll definitely get a whole lot more for your trade in when you do go to trade. <h3>What do You Do Outside Of Work?</h3> John Haggard: 06:39 All right, well when you’re not working eight days a week, what do you do for fun Marty? Marty Denson: 06:44 Well, I love to be outside, mainly playing golf. I love to play golf on weekends. Actually. That’s my big stress reliever. John Haggard: 06:50 So you chase that white ball on that green. Marty Denson: 06:52 Oh yeah. John Haggard: 06:53 Are you a champion golfer or what kind of score do you do? Marty Denson: 07:00 I usually stay in the low to mid eighties. But a lot of times I get just as aggravated on the course as I do everywhere else. Ha. John Haggard: 07:08 I understand there’s always, when you’re playing golf, that one out of 10 shot. If you’re a guy like me, “like, man, that felt so good”, and you think… I can do this. And then the next nine are like “I need to get off the green”, right? Marty Denson: 07:20 Oh yeah, exactly. <h3>Closing</h3> John Haggard: 07:22 All right, well that’s Marty Denson, everybody, the body shop manager for Miracle Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram located at the Miracle Ford store in the back. So join us again right here for other topics on the podcast throughout each month because our goal is to show you the best ways to purchase, maintain and accessorize your new or preowned vehicle and how to sell it vehicle for the highest resale value possible, when you’re ready to do that. And don’t forget, we will post and have posted a transcript of every podcast right here on the website. The reason we do that is if you heard something, you say, “well, I’m going to go back and catch what that was exactly, or really understand that”. The typewritten text is right there for you, so you’ll have that information instantly. I’m your host John Haggard, and we’ll see you next time.

Episode #4 – Marty Denson – Body Shop Manager

Welcome to Episode #4 of our weekly podcast here at Miracle Ford! In this episode, we talk with Marty Denson, the Body Shop Manager at Miracle Ford. Topics Discussed: How Marty got into the Body Shop businessThe types of vehicles the Body Shop ServicesDealing with warrantiesDealing with insurance, and Tennessee’s “Right to Choose”Technology in the body shopHow to care for your vehicle’s paint jobMarty’s passions outside of work Transcript Opening John Haggard:       00:03          Welcome to the Miracle Ford podcast where each week you’ll be able to learn the best ways to purchase or lease, maintain, accessorize and how to sell your vehicle for the highest resale value possible, when you’re ready. I’m your host John Haggard and throughout each month right here, different team members join us from Miracle to bring you tips you can use. And by the way, we will also post a transcript of each podcast so you can easily refer to it. There may be some information you heard and you said you want to go back and review that and we’ll have it right here at your fingertips. On the podcast today we’re talking about body shop repair and when there’s been an accident or other damage to a vehicle and what some of the misunderstandings are out there, what your rights are and really what separates Miracle Ford from other body shops. Today on the podcast we have Marty Denson, the body shop manager for Miracle Ford. Hey Marty, welcome to the podcast. How Did You Get Into the Body Shop Business? Marty Denson:       00:51          Well thank you John. I appreciate it. Good to be here. John Haggard:       00:53          Well, glad to have you. You know, people always say, “well how did you get in the body shop business”? There are a whole lot of careers you could have gotten involved in. How did you get started? Marty Denson:       01:03          Well, actually I used to work in the car rental business and I just got to know a lot of people that were in the body shop side of it, cause that was a lot of the people that we rented cars to. So, got to make friends with a lot of other managers and next thing you know, one of them offered me a job and I got over on this side and have enjoyed it ever since. John Haggard:       01:23          So how many years ago was that? Marty Denson:       01:25          That was about 25 years ago. John Haggard:       01:28          25 years ago. So you do have some gray hair, don’t you? Marty Denson:       01:31          Oh Yeah, ha. Quite a bit. What Types of Vehicles Do you Service, and What Dealerships Do You Work With? John Haggard:       01:34          Ha. We know the body shop is actually located at Miracle Ford, so people would think, well, they work on Fords. Nothing else. Is that the case or do you work on other models? Marty Denson:       01:44          No, actually we work on a little bit of every saying, we also own a Chrysler, Dodge Jeep store. We work on a lot of those and we do all the work for the Toyota store here in town. And we work on GM’s, even the foreign cars. So yeah, we work on just about everything. John Haggard:       02:02          Right. And the Ram too as well, right? Marty Denson:       02:04          Oh yeah. Oh yeah, we do lots of Rams. The Body Shop’s Limited Lifetime Warranty John Haggard:       02:06          All right. And then how about, people always say, “well, if you work on all those many different models, how does the warranty work these days”? Marty Denson:       02:13          We give a limited lifetime warranty on everything that we do. We always feel like that’s the best way to make sure your customers feel good about letting you do the repair. So, we do offer a lifetime limited warranty. John Haggard:       02:26          All right. And so like when you say limited warranty, so they’ve got to at least maintain the vehicle or would there be some things that you wouldn’t cover after you’ve done the work? Marty Denson:       02:34          Right. My thing is that you’ve gotta be able to keep your car up, keep it maintained with regular service, and as far as the paint work, keep your car waxed and keep it in good shape so that the sun can’t really beat down on the paint and fade it. So, you know, it’d be hard to cover fade after so many years. And then of course you’ve got your regular parts warranty on parts the manufacturer gives on parts. We honor that same warranty. Technology in Vehicles and in the Body Shop John Haggard:       03:00          Gotcha. All right. And then, a lot of people, especially with vehicles today, one of the big things they want to know about is technology. Cause they’ve got it at home, they’ve got it on their smart phone. Everywhere you go, there’s this high technology stuff going on. Has anything in the body shop business from a technology standpoint changed or is it the same as it’s always been? Marty Denson:       03:22          No, it’s actually changed for us, especially with the equipment. You’ve got to keep modernized equipment to work on these newer vehicles. So we have two state of the art downdraft paint booths, which really produce a very, very nice paint job and we keep the top of the line welders to do the work, and all the tools that’s required. We stay up with what’s required. Even our frame rack, we keep it updated that way. We are able to work on all the new vehicles and still work on the older vehicles. So that keeps us up to date so that it doesn’t affect anybody’s warranty on a new vehicle. John Haggard:       03:58          Gotcha. Now you said that word downdraft paint booth. Is that something relatively new in the business? Marty Denson:       04:05          It’s been around for quite a while. It’s just a lot of shops, in the early days the cheaper paint booths are the ones that the exhaust came out to the sides and you still could get a lot of over-spray on the vehicle. On a down draft, you have a concrete pit in the bottom of the booth and it sucks out the all the excess fumes and paint that way, and it produces a lot better paint job. So they’re a little bit more costly, but you do produce a whole lot cleaner and nicer paint job on the vehicle. Experience in the Body Shop John Haggard:       04:33          All right. And if you look at, of all the personnel that you have working there, I guess if you were going to add up the number of years combined years of experience there are at your body shop there, how many years would we be talking about? Marty Denson:       04:47          Yeah, with my staff that I have out in the shop between body men and painters, we have over 200 years of experience with my staff in the shop. And then in the office we have around about 45 years experience working in the office. John Haggard:       05:01          Wow. I mean people have been around for a long time. You should know something by now. Right? Marty Denson:       05:05          Exactly. That helps a lot. Insurance and Tennessee’s Right to Choose John Haggard:       05:08          You know, one of the things that people are confused about, you read about on the Internet, and this is this sort of right to choose any body shop that you want. “If you don’t go to one of our approved body shops, we’re not going to warranty or stand behind the work or if you have a claim”, or what is it. What’s the real story about this right to choose situation. Marty Denson:       05:29          Yeah. In the state of Tennessee, you have the right to choose whatever shop you want to fix your car. And the insurance company can’t tell you where you have to take it to be fixed or things like that. So you do have the right to choose anywhere you want to go. And the insurance companies are very bad about misleading people into thinking they’ve got to go to a certain shop and they’ve worked out deals with that certain shop to give them discounts, so they’re going to push all they can there. So, it’s kind of bad that they don’t really tell the customer the truth when they’re talking with them up front. Because, like we talked about, we give a lifetime warranty also. So we know we’re giving the same warranty as the shop they’re trying to push it off to. How To Care For Your Vehicle’s Paint Job? John Haggard:       06:08          Oh I gotcha. I gotcha. If you were just going to talk about tips on preserving your paint job on your car, one of the things that we’d like to do on the podcast is to say, “hey, you know, as your car ages, here are some resale tips”. How to get the maximum value for your vehicle when you’re ready to trade, or you wanted to sell it to somebody or sell it to the dealership. So if you were just going to say, “look, if you really want to preserve your body and the paint job here are two or three things you ought to do”. Marty Denson:       06:37          A couple of the other really important things are to try to keep a good wax job on your paint. At least every one to two months, give your car a good wax job, and that really protects the paint and keeps the luster to where it doesn’t look faded. And it’s always important to keep the inside of your car clean. We have so many cars that come through that aren’t even six months old and you would think they were 10 years old on the inside. I mean, if you could keep the inside of your car really clean and keep the outside waxed. You’re going to get a whole lot more for your trade when you do go to trade it in because people look at and say, “wow, I can’t believe this car is this many years old”. What Do You Do Outside Of Work? John Haggard:       07:11          Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Well, when you’re not working seven and a half days a week there, Marty, what do you do for fun? Marty Denson:       07:17          I like to be outdoors. I really enjoy playing golf. That’s kind of my stress reliever. I like to get out on the golf course, although that makes me just as mad. But it’s fun to get out there and play a little golf. John Haggard:       07:26          What do you shoot? Marty Denson:       07:28          Not real good. I can usually stay in the low to mid eighties, so I’m pretty happy with it. John Haggard:       07:34          That’s not bad. There’s some people like me that shoot over a hundred. So you’re doing pretty good. You’re doing a pretty good. Estimates John Haggard:       07:40          Well listen, let me ask you this one final question. Is there any other question that people ask a lot that comes to the body shop? Something I didn’t ask you that you would say, “here’s a big question we get all the time and here’s the answer”. Marty Denson:       07:54          A lot of people feel like, since in the old days since you had to rush out and go get three estimates from three different shops, that you have to now. And it’s really not that way anymore. Most of the insurance companies, they like to look at the vehicle theirselves and do their own estimate. Or they might have you come out and get one estimate, but you don’t really have to get out and run all over town wasting a lot of your own time trying to track down three estimates when the insurance companies are really not even going to look at them. John Haggard:       08:21          Oh, okay. So basically the insurance company’s going to come, look, and then you can choose where you want to go. But here is what the insurance company says they are going to pay. So you don’t have to run around. Like you said, that’s the idea. Marty Denson:       08:33          Right. And even if the insurance company writes an estimate and they may have missed some damage, and it’s not a complete estimate, just bring us the estimate. We’ll go over anything they missed, we call the insurance company back and do a supplement and make sure everything’s back to where it should be. Closing John Haggard:       08:49          Gotcha. All right, well folks, that’s Marty Denson, the body shop manager for Miracle Ford in Gallatin. Join us again right here for other topics on the podcast throughout each month, because our goal is to show you the best ways to purchase, maintain and accessorize your new or preowned vehicle, and how to sell your vehicle for the highest resale value possible, when you’re ready to do it. And don’t forget, we’ve also posted a transcript of each podcast right here on the website so you can easily refer to it, get more information, go back and say, now, what did Marty say again? What was that exactly? And you’ll have it right there word for word at your fingertips. I’m your host, John Haggard, and we’ll see you next time.

Welcome to Episode #4 of our weekly podcast here at Miracle Ford! In this episode, we talk with Marty Denson, the Body Shop Manager at Miracle Ford. Topics Discussed: <ul><li>How Marty got into the Body Shop business</li><li>The types of vehicles the Body Shop Services</li><li>Dealing with warranties</li><li>Dealing with insurance, and Tennessee’s “Right to Choose”</li><li>Technology in the body shop</li><li>How to care for your vehicle’s paint job</li><li>Marty’s passions outside of work</li></ul> <h2>Transcript</h2> <h3>Opening</h3> John Haggard: 00:03 Welcome to the Miracle Ford podcast where each week you’ll be able to learn the best ways to purchase or lease, maintain, accessorize and how to sell your vehicle for the highest resale value possible, when you’re ready. I’m your host John Haggard and throughout each month right here, different team members join us from Miracle to bring you tips you can use. And by the way, we will also post a transcript of each podcast so you can easily refer to it. There may be some information you heard and you said you want to go back and review that and we’ll have it right here at your fingertips. On the podcast today we’re talking about body shop repair and when there’s been an accident or other damage to a vehicle and what some of the misunderstandings are out there, what your rights are and really what separates Miracle Ford from other body shops. Today on the podcast we have Marty Denson, the body shop manager for Miracle Ford. Hey Marty, welcome to the podcast. <h3>How Did You Get Into the Body Shop Business?</h3> Marty Denson: 00:51 Well thank you John. I appreciate it. Good to be here. John Haggard: 00:53 Well, glad to have you. You know, people always say, “well how did you get in the body shop business”? There are a whole lot of careers you could have gotten involved in. How did you get started? Marty Denson: 01:03 Well, actually I used to work in the car rental business and I just got to know a lot of people that were in the body shop side of it, cause that was a lot of the people that we rented cars to. So, got to make friends with a lot of other managers and next thing you know, one of them offered me a job and I got over on this side and have enjoyed it ever since. John Haggard: 01:23 So how many years ago was that? Marty Denson: 01:25 That was about 25 years ago. John Haggard: 01:28 25 years ago. So you do have some gray hair, don’t you? Marty Denson: 01:31 Oh Yeah, ha. Quite a bit. <h3>What Types of Vehicles Do you Service, and What Dealerships Do You Work With?</h3> John Haggard: 01:34 Ha. We know the body shop is actually located at Miracle Ford, so people would think, well, they work on Fords. Nothing else. Is that the case or do you work on other models? Marty Denson: 01:44 No, actually we work on a little bit of every saying, we also own a Chrysler, Dodge Jeep store. We work on a lot of those and we do all the work for the Toyota store here in town. And we work on GM’s, even the foreign cars. So yeah, we work on just about everything. John Haggard: 02:02 Right. And the Ram too as well, right? Marty Denson: 02:04 Oh yeah. Oh yeah, we do lots of Rams. <h3>The Body Shop’s Limited Lifetime Warranty</h3> John Haggard: 02:06 All right. And then how about, people always say, “well, if you work on all those many different models, how does the warranty work these days”? Marty Denson: 02:13 We give a limited lifetime warranty on everything that we do. We always feel like that’s the best way to make sure your customers feel good about letting you do the repair. So, we do offer a lifetime limited warranty. John Haggard: 02:26 All right. And so like when you say limited warranty, so they’ve got to at least maintain the vehicle or would there be some things that you wouldn’t cover after you’ve done the work? Marty Denson: 02:34 Right. My thing is that you’ve gotta be able to keep your car up, keep it maintained with regular service, and as far as the paint work, keep your car waxed and keep it in good shape so that the sun can’t really beat down on the paint and fade it. So, you know, it’d be hard to cover fade after so many years. And then of course you’ve got your regular parts warranty on parts the manufacturer gives on parts. We honor that same warranty. <h3>Technology in Vehicles and in the Body Shop</h3> John Haggard: 03:00 Gotcha. All right. And then, a lot of people, especially with vehicles today, one of the big things they want to know about is technology. Cause they’ve got it at home, they’ve got it on their smart phone. Everywhere you go, there’s this high technology stuff going on. Has anything in the body shop business from a technology standpoint changed or is it the same as it’s always been? Marty Denson: 03:22 No, it’s actually changed for us, especially with the equipment. You’ve got to keep modernized equipment to work on these newer vehicles. So we have two state of the art downdraft paint booths, which really produce a very, very nice paint job and we keep the top of the line welders to do the work, and all the tools that’s required. We stay up with what’s required. Even our frame rack, we keep it updated that way. We are able to work on all the new vehicles and still work on the older vehicles. So that keeps us up to date so that it doesn’t affect anybody’s warranty on a new vehicle. John Haggard: 03:58 Gotcha. Now you said that word downdraft paint booth. Is that something relatively new in the business? Marty Denson: 04:05 It’s been around for quite a while. It’s just a lot of shops, in the early days the cheaper paint booths are the ones that the exhaust came out to the sides and you still could get a lot of over-spray on the vehicle. On a down draft, you have a concrete pit in the bottom of the booth and it sucks out the all the excess fumes and paint that way, and it produces a lot better paint job. So they’re a little bit more costly, but you do produce a whole lot cleaner and nicer paint job on the vehicle. <h3>Experience in the Body Shop</h3> John Haggard: 04:33 All right. And if you look at, of all the personnel that you have working there, I guess if you were going to add up the number of years combined years of experience there are at your body shop there, how many years would we be talking about? Marty Denson: 04:47 Yeah, with my staff that I have out in the shop between body men and painters, we have over 200 years of experience with my staff in the shop. And then in the office we have around about 45 years experience working in the office. John Haggard: 05:01 Wow. I mean people have been around for a long time. You should know something by now. Right? Marty Denson: 05:05 Exactly. That helps a lot. <h3>Insurance and Tennessee’s Right to Choose</h3> John Haggard: 05:08 You know, one of the things that people are confused about, you read about on the Internet, and this is this sort of right to choose any body shop that you want. “If you don’t go to one of our approved body shops, we’re not going to warranty or stand behind the work or if you have a claim”, or what is it. What’s the real story about this right to choose situation. Marty Denson: 05:29 Yeah. In the state of Tennessee, you have the right to choose whatever shop you want to fix your car. And the insurance company can’t tell you where you have to take it to be fixed or things like that. So you do have the right to choose anywhere you want to go. And the insurance companies are very bad about misleading people into thinking they’ve got to go to a certain shop and they’ve worked out deals with that certain shop to give them discounts, so they’re going to push all they can there. So, it’s kind of bad that they don’t really tell the customer the truth when they’re talking with them up front. Because, like we talked about, we give a lifetime warranty also. So we know we’re giving the same warranty as the shop they’re trying to push it off to. <h3>How To Care For Your Vehicle’s Paint Job?</h3> John Haggard: 06:08 Oh I gotcha. I gotcha. If you were just going to talk about tips on preserving your paint job on your car, one of the things that we’d like to do on the podcast is to say, “hey, you know, as your car ages, here are some resale tips”. How to get the maximum value for your vehicle when you’re ready to trade, or you wanted to sell it to somebody or sell it to the dealership. So if you were just going to say, “look, if you really want to preserve your body and the paint job here are two or three things you ought to do”. Marty Denson: 06:37 A couple of the other really important things are to try to keep a good wax job on your paint. At least every one to two months, give your car a good wax job, and that really protects the paint and keeps the luster to where it doesn’t look faded. And it’s always important to keep the inside of your car clean. We have so many cars that come through that aren’t even six months old and you would think they were 10 years old on the inside. I mean, if you could keep the inside of your car really clean and keep the outside waxed. You’re going to get a whole lot more for your trade when you do go to trade it in because people look at and say, “wow, I can’t believe this car is this many years old”. <h3>What Do You Do Outside Of Work?</h3> John Haggard: 07:11 Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Well, when you’re not working seven and a half days a week there, Marty, what do you do for fun? Marty Denson: 07:17 I like to be outdoors. I really enjoy playing golf. That’s kind of my stress reliever. I like to get out on the golf course, although that makes me just as mad. But it’s fun to get out there and play a little golf. John Haggard: 07:26 What do you shoot? Marty Denson: 07:28 Not real good. I can usually stay in the low to mid eighties, so I’m pretty happy with it. John Haggard: 07:34 That’s not bad. There’s some people like me that shoot over a hundred. So you’re doing pretty good. You’re doing a pretty good. <h3>Estimates</h3> John Haggard: 07:40 Well listen, let me ask you this one final question. Is there any other question that people ask a lot that comes to the body shop? Something I didn’t ask you that you would say, “here’s a big question we get all the time and here’s the answer”. Marty Denson: 07:54 A lot of people feel like, since in the old days since you had to rush out and go get three estimates from three different shops, that you have to now. And it’s really not that way anymore. Most of the insurance companies, they like to look at the vehicle theirselves and do their own estimate. Or they might have you come out and get one estimate, but you don’t really have to get out and run all over town wasting a lot of your own time trying to track down three estimates when the insurance companies are really not even going to look at them. John Haggard: 08:21 Oh, okay. So basically the insurance company’s going to come, look, and then you can choose where you want to go. But here is what the insurance company says they are going to pay. So you don’t have to run around. Like you said, that’s the idea. Marty Denson: 08:33 Right. And even if the insurance company writes an estimate and they may have missed some damage, and it’s not a complete estimate, just bring us the estimate. We’ll go over anything they missed, we call the insurance company back and do a supplement and make sure everything’s back to where it should be. <h3>Closing</h3> John Haggard: 08:49 Gotcha. All right, well folks, that’s Marty Denson, the body shop manager for Miracle Ford in Gallatin. Join us again right here for other topics on the podcast throughout each month, because our goal is to show you the best ways to purchase, maintain and accessorize your new or preowned vehicle, and how to sell your vehicle for the highest resale value possible, when you’re ready to do it. And don’t forget, we’ve also posted a transcript of each podcast right here on the website so you can easily refer to it, get more information, go back and say, now, what did Marty say again? What was that exactly? And you’ll have it right there word for word at your fingertips. I’m your host, John Haggard, and we’ll see you next time.

Episode #4 – Marty Denson – Body Shop