Well you never know,maybe after a few beers one night I'll start typing !!! But you do need to be careful as our business name came up a few times regarding the fact we had a lot of breakdown/recovery work from a local accident management company who subsequently got investigated.
Nothing's ever come of it and in all honesty we lost more from the recovery work than we made,you can't frigg it either as we were vat registered and most companies pay via cheque so that keeps Cameron's "morally bankrupt " population at bay!!!
A lots been covered previously but tbh a lot of the shit,I'd say 90% is caused due to the utter despicable shithouse rats that are insurance companies which IMO are the biggest crooks of all.
They drag out paying,then pretend not too have received your invoice so try to start your payment again from scratch,the constant phone calls when you've got one of their clients cars,trying to get the excess twice,phoning at 8pm to ask if they can collect a car you've recovered just to save £20 on storage "the drivers on his way now"....course he is!!!
Naively,I once allowed one of them to take a car even though the cheque was written to the wrong firm as I spoke to someone who said they were writing the new cheque now to catch the last post....cheque arrived 3 months later with the name spelt deliberately wrong again just to avoid paying.
I caught one once trying to recover a car I'd put in the overspill carpark while we were working,he thought he was very clever until I politely pointed out that my breaker bar would connect with his head unless he put it back quickly complete with my cheque,which he didn't have as this was 7.30 am and he was due to collect the next day,clearly chancing his arm.
Came back three days later with a cheque for the original amount,told him to fuck off and come back with my 3 days extra storage,which he did in cash!!!
Tbh mate that's why so many firms quote double or treble for insurance work,think of it as an "inconvenience" payment because I can pretty much guarantee they will fuck the garage over in some way.
Sad fact is in any sort of business involved in the car game,particularly bodywork,is having to adapt,the work coming in off the street has slowed so much that the insurance companies offer so called bread and butter stuff that keeps your head above water,the thought of regular cheques is tempting yet the reality is your dealing with an industry that revels in taking so long to pay there's a good chance they'll never need too as you'll be bankrupt by then,that's from a good assessor I knew who's worked this game for 35 years.
Horrible game to be in,I still wake up sometimes in a cold sweat thinking I've forgotten to do something business related then I realise I never have to get stressed over it again.
Just glad I had something to fall back on as if that was my life for the next 30 years or more I'd be seriously considering doing a "reggie perrin".