how do you handle telephone quotes, there are so many different discounts from so many insurers.

some of these people have insurance i don't have a discount for, so you can't really be exact on the phone.

problem is when i give a price i am trying to give the right price. i don't know what other people are quoting but i keep getting told i'm high.

If they're referrals from our high-end car dealers, i.e., Lexus', Audi's, Beamers, etc., I mark up a lot higher than referrals from Chevy and Ford dealers to begin with. The others calling out of the book we try to mark up by the amount we need to make a decent profit on, otherwise let someone else lose money. You need to maybe call around posing as a shopper and see what others in your area are quoting. Also if it is real slow we'll quote a little lower if they bring their car to our shop and try to start the day out with a few hundred bucks before we turn an ignition key.

Most of our competitors are famous for phone quotes without mouldings or labor even included. So we always explain that we are probably higher and it does include everything, no surprises (other than rust treatments of course).

But glassgod is right, you have to do "price shopping" to see where your competitors are. It makes good business sense to do this anyway. It can let you know where you are in the market, and help determine where you may or may not need to go to remain competitive, and I do not mean just PRICING, but also CSR quality, SCHEDULING (a lot of shops can't do work for days you will find out), etc.

Since the dawn of the fabulous "rebalance" I quote everyone at the same rate. (This policy also gives me solid ground to fight on if I need to pursue legal remedies...) I don't care what the company is; I established what I feel is fair for my company and stick to it.

When someone tries to gripe about my quote being higher, I give them a polite rendition of the facts behind "getting what you pay for."

The exception to my quoting proceedure is when I know the party on the other end of the line is an insurer or tpa looking to cut down another shop's price (these calls usually come from out of state, usually ask for a "competitive" or "fair" bid, usually has that call-center-sound in the background). Generally, by the time I'm getting this call, the job is done and they have an invoice in hand; I have no chance of getting the job. In these cases, I bid it through-the-roof. I DON'T want them to be able to lower the price paid to my competition, because it in turn, makes it easier for them to lower the price on me.