Body Hardware Cost Recovery for Collision Shops

Body Hardware 101: Stop Leaving Money on the Table in Collision Repair

Body hardware is everywhere on a vehicle—behind bumper covers, under door panels, inside fenders. Clips, retainers, rivets, weld nuts, speed nuts, screws, bolts. These small parts are at the heart of every repair. They’re also the items most likely missed on estimates. That’s how hardware becomes an expense, which is exactly why now is the time to turn it into a consistent cost-recovery and profit center.

If you lead a collision center, you’re managing rising repair costs and increasing cycle times. The fastest path to improving margins without cutting corners is straight forward: capture every hardware and non-included items during the blueprint stage of the repair process, document it correctly in your estimating system, and keep it in stock to maintain your efficiency. What follows shows how to do that and where Kent Automotive’s PROS Profit Enhancement and Inventory Manager Tool helps to maintain this process.

Where Margin Leaks Happen in Auto Repairs

Blueprinting is the moment of truth. During the initial teardown process and damage analysis, blueprinters and technicians identify everything needed to complete a safe, OEM-compliant repair. Estimating platforms often don’t include many hardware operations or one-time-use fasteners. If you don’t include them in the original blueprint on the estimate, you’ll add additional supplements, which generally result in higher costs.

What typically leaks value—and the fix:

●     Not-included operations: Many clips, push pins, rivets, weld nuts, and corrosion protection materials aren’t always included. Add them as **database entry line items so they’re visible, justified, and billable and have documentation to support.

●     One-time-use fasteners: OEM procedures often require replacement of retainers, or rivets after removal. When a procedure calls for replacement, document the correct part and quantity on the estimate.

●     Hardware by location: Doors, bumpers, fenders, liftgates, lamps, and under-car shields carry unique hardware. Without a parts guide by vehicle section, it’s easy to overlook a handful of items on every repair order. Shops using PROS PartsConnect can choose a vehicle section and identify all fasteners and consumables before they finalize the estimate, this will ensure all items are accounted for and documented.

●     Supplements and delays: Missed hardware often leads to delays in reassembling, extra approvals, and additional rental car days. That increases cycle time, affects CSI, and profitability.

What PROS PartsConnect does for cost recovery

PROS Profit Enhancement and Inventory Manager Tool is a cloud-based cost-recovery and inventory tool that supports accurate, repeatable hardware capture during blueprinting and interphases cleanly with most leading estimating and management systems:

●     By-location parts guide with diagrams to identify clips, retainers, rivets, weld nuts, and consumables for that section

●     Assortments for common non-included operations to enhance blueprinting

●     Partial-quantity billing for materials that aren’t always completely used

●     Barcode scanning to track parts and supplies quickly and accurately

●     Customizable invoices that link to repair orders for accurate billing

●     Accelerated claims processing via database integration to validate approved aftermarket parts faster

●     Availability: The base PROS platform is free for active Kent customers; optional enhancements like CCC estimating integration and PROS PartsConnect are available.

Prefer mobile? The PROS app lets you create, update, submit, or delete invoices on the go—complete with barcode scanning and real-time submissions on any mobile device.

Stock Smart: Never Delay a Job for Missing Clips

Even the perfect estimate won’t help if you’re out of hardware. Fasteners are classic “nuisance items” for collision shops—tiny, numerous, and easy to misplace. An organized, right-sized inventory prevents avoidable delays and unplanned phone calls and additional parts deliveries.

Practical steps for inventory management in collision shops:

●     Standardize bins and labels for clips, rivets, bolts, speed nuts, and panel fasteners by make/model families

●     Set min/max levels based on past usage, with faster turns for the most common body hardware

●     Audit weekly for high-velocity items tied to common accidents (front-end impacts, side hits, lamp assemblies)

●     Pre-pull by RO once the estimate is approved in disassembly, so the technician has everything ready at the time for reassembly.

Your Kent representative can also customize min/max levels and drawer layouts with our Managed Inventory Services so the hardware you document is the hardware you actually have on hand.

Real-World Impact

Shops tell us body hardware is the most common category of overlooked items on estimates. Fixing that single habit—capturing all hardware during blueprinting and reflecting it on the estimate—can lift overall profitability. Many shops set a simple benchmark: recover about 1% of gross sales from accurate, documented consumables and body hardware, then build from there as the process matures.

PROS helps make this your daily process:

●     Accuracy: A by-location parts guide reduces guesswork and missed line items

●     Speed: Assortments and quick line adds shorten blueprinting time

●     Credibility: Partial-quantity billing and clear notes give adjusters what they need to approve minimizing change requests

●     Consistency: The workflow is repeatable across estimators and blueprinters, so results don’t depend on one estimator’s or technicians’ memory

Add a disciplined stocking routine for fewer interruptions in the reassembly stage of the repair process.

Talk to a PROS Specialist

Want to see how much hardware you’re failing to recover today? Contact us for a walkthrough with a PROS specialist. Prefer mobile? Download the PROS app and start managing invoices from your mobile device with barcode scanning and real-time submissions.

FAQ

What are the most effective strategies for reducing hardware costs without cutting quality?
Capture all not-included operations during blueprinting, follow OEM procedures for one-time-use fasteners, and use partial-quantity billing for materials. Then keep organized bins so the parts you estimated are on hand.

How do I avoid supplements tied to hardware?
Start with a thorough blueprint, use a by-location parts guide, and attach brief notes or images for unusual fasteners. When the estimate tells a clear story, approvals move faster.

What’s the best way to keep fasteners in stock?
Set min/max levels by usage, standardize labels across drawers, and pre-pull hardware by RO once estimates are approved. Review usage monthly and update assortments for the vehicle mix you see most.