auto body technician

porter

customer service representative

estimator

parts manager

Joe-Hudson's-Collision-Center

My experience at Gerber is with mixed emotions. I joined this company as an Estimator due to having many years experience in collision repair. Less than two months in I was appointed as the new manager after the prior manager left . I wasant given any real training on how to perform as a Gerber manager other than the market manager spending a few days with me.  A year into managing I had hired a completely new staff replacing everyone but the parts coordinator. Then upper management decided to do away with the repair planner position and cut one of the estimator positions. On several occasions I had to operate with no estimator at all. I was expected to turn more profit and money with less people!!!! It was insanity.  I had my techs in one building and my CSR in another building and had to constantly walk back and forth between both buildings. Even with all the obstacles I loved the job.  Then on the first day of the month after I worked all day on Saturday to close out the prior month and not having an estimator for a whole month  the market manager walked in and stated they were letting me go!!!  A shock to say the least. I was given a few short reasons for my dismissal but nothing that should have been a firable offense.  If you want your heart broken then work for this company!  The upper management knew I was short staffed and left me do my best with basically nothing to work with.  I had high hopes for this job but never got the support I needed when I needed it. During this time I was working from 630 am to almost 930pm every night and then most Saturdays without even getting a thank you for all the time I had to put in just to stay afloat. If upper managment values there managers they certainly don't show it and will simply fire you if the center is not getting the revenue they set without taking into account the quality and quantity of the workforce you have. This company will allow customers to threaten you with harm and will roll out the red carpet for anyone that complains no matter how obvious the complaint looks to be a set up . The upper management micro manages the centers and then gets mad and blames you when things go haywire.  I was put out with no warning and was crushed as I really did enjoy working there.  If you want to be promised the world just to be used until they find your replacement, if you want to make a decent salary to all of a sudden be faced with the probability of loosing your house because you can't pay the house payment any longer ,  if you want to work with great group of managers in your market just to watch them either get fired or move on before they get fired, or if you just enjoy giving everything you have to the company  just to be used and abused then this is the company for you.  If you want to see extremely unnecessary turn over or if you lime working with technitions that basically run the show because management bends over backwards to keep even the worst techs then this is your company. If you don't want to deal with any of these issues then you will stay away!  This could be a great place to have a carreer if upper management would simply realize they don't give there managers enough support and training in doing things how they want it done.  They simply continue to give unrealistic goals and budgets without taking into account what you are working with. Like I said, I felt crushed, betrayed, abused and used.  Think long and hard before you take a management job with gerber because they go thru way too many managers and its evident something is wrong in upper management.  Even when you discuss poor performers with area mangers you are told to deal with it for a little longer because they have no replacements but when things go bad you are blamed for others poor performance and not offered any solutions for tbe issue.

I was employed as an estimator with this company until recently for over a year. My first year I was at a awesome location with a great manager, then out of nowhere we were told I had to transfer that I didn't have an option either I went or I was fired. I transferred to this location and things went downhill very fast within a month of me being there I was written up twice within a week for things other employees were allowed and accommodated to do, was told I wasn't doing my job but my numbers with State Farm were the highest in the state, the manager said I wouldn't respond to him emails or text but I have every single one printed out, if he was mad at me he would go 3 or more days without talking to me, wouldn't close my tickets so I could get paid on the jobs that were completed so when I got my check I was in complete shock to know that the CSR's up front made more than I did. When I tried to address my issues with the manager he would look at me while I was talking and tuned around and walk away or walk out of his office. I decided to go above his head and talk to his boss about the issue's I emailed him asking if he could please meet me one day to discuss this matter, his response was we have some "issues" with you and your attendance that we need to discuss to see if you and the company are a good fit with your continued employment. I'm very confused at this point because I was only out 2 days since I've been there so I know my attendance wasn't an issue. So I again asked the manager if there was a problem and I didn't understand what I was doing wrong. And how could I be employed with this company for a year at a different location with no complaints, write up's or anything then I'm forced to come here and all of a sudden I'm this huge problem and horrible employee. He said well things are different here and walked away. Last week I was at work every day except for Friday with the flu the manager knew I was very sick, Monday morning I walk in to be told he was pulling the state farm account from me because he found out there was a lot of things I was not doing, I asked for him to please show me he says I dont know off the top of my head, I said okay can you pull them up the computer is in front of you he said no, so I walked out and went to my off to print everything out he jumps up and rushed into my office and tells me I wasn't done with you and what are you doing I said since you dont was to show me the proof I'll print it out for us and we can go over it, he said no really I'm not done talking to you I said well I'm done talking to you. He then said this isn't working out I agreed and then once I started to print everything out is when he fired me, took all of my claims out of my name and into another estimators name and did payroll before I could make it out the door so I didn't get paid on any claims I work and rightfully deserve to be paid on. So at this point I'm contacting my attorney.

As a porter I mainly wash cars and sweep the floors. However I’ve had three managers and all of them expect me to pick up different tasks that are well outside of my job description depending on what they specifically want. Including applying PPF, decals, badges, pin stripes, ordering supplies for technicians, pre/post-scanning vehicles, parts management, cleaning up after techs, invoicing and fixing issues with paint after the cars come out of the booth.

Don’t get me wrong though, none of the said tasks above are in anyway hard. In reality I think this is one of the easiest jobs I’ve ever had. I’m just a firm believer in not doing things your not paid to do in the workplace.

The most frustrating thing is that most of those tasks I listed are things other people in this shop are directly getting paid for.

Porters are hourly employees while the techs are flat rate, Estimator is commission based and the manager is salary. So every single one of them pawns off as much work as possible resulting in them being over paid and porters being vastly under paid.

Not only will my estimator make over double what I make while I deal with all his parts, invoices, vehicle check ins and scans; but my original goal was to become a painter or paint prepper at some point and constantly get pulled away from doing paint related work to do something unrelated to my job. So don’t expect to get anywhere quick.

I decided to look into becoming a parts coordinator since they were having me do that work on a daily basis but instead of giving me a promotion they ended up just making me do both roles with no additional compensation.

Overall it’s not a terrible place to work though. Just depends on who’s running your shop. Bad management will make this role unbearable and there’s absolutely no room for career growth if you’re estimator sucks (if the estimator is bad your shop doesn’t make money and you can’t advance at all). More of a luck of the draw kinda place.

The hardest part of this job is stagnation. If you’re looking for somewhere to grow and advance I’d look into another company. Gerber is so greedy that even hitting monthly sales goals results in hours being cut and hourly employees being threatened to be sent home early.

Most enjoyable part of the job is how laid back it can be (again depending on your manager). If you have a manager that understands you’re the lowest paid employee in the shop side you generally have some some down time and it’s not very stressful. However if you get a lazy manager that doesn’t want to do anything or hold their estimator accountable be prepared to constantly be doing work you’re not getting paid for.

A CSR is responsible for a lot of work and lots of re-work (because of corporate using micro-management tactics), while the compensation is by no means a livable income.  Insurance is available and very costly. There isn't a Human Resource Manager or a HR person on-site of the location. So, if you are in need of an advocate or confidentiality of internal problems within the location, it's unavailable.  Training is available upon hire, but every location has their own processes within company policies. The General Manager sets the process, but if you need help in regards to the location processes, the help is most times unavailable. The GM will take over your duties without your knowledge then chastise you later for doing your assigned duties. When you have to "wing it" to the best of your knowledge to get a duty completed, because the GM is unavailable for help, you will get chastised for that too. It is a no win situation thus causing poor communication, time management problems and unnecessary stress.  There is poor communication within the location. The right hand has no idea what the left hand is doing, even though notes are entered into the system by the CSR from phone calls of vendors/customers and in-house customer relations. Causing time management problems and unnecessary stress in the office.  
Corporate basically micro-manages the locations, is slow to complete duties in conjunction with expected daily location processes and in turn puts you in the hot seat for duties not being completed. It's very stressful for the CSR and the GM.  Corporate allows too many insurance companies and corporate employees to have access to location schedules and they will double or triple book estimators on a daily basis. So, not only do you set appointments, you also have to re-work what the insurance companies and corporate employees do to the schedule thus, losing potential customers. Time management is expected and needed daily, but nearly impossible.  There is absolutely nothing enjoyable about this job, as a CSR. 

I started working here with no prior knowledge of the industry and was told that because of not having any, it would be easier for me to adapt in training. The goal was to be a parts manager, which no one had adequately trained me to be such, more so was put into a store and position with a learning as I go type of training. I was told that parts managers normally make between $10 - $13 per hour, which I was compensated between those amounts; yet i came to find out that is as much as their detailers make, as well as that other new hires for the same position with same experience as I, made over that pay range.  I asked how often their employees get raises by a few different co-workers & managers and their statement was “very, very seldom if any”. The manager went on to say that there are employees who have been there 7 years + and have never seen a pay raise. The so called “area manager” expects you to be able and willing to relocate to different stores in the market, without being paid milage or drive time being that it is in “the area market” (I.e if you live in Prattville and they need you in Auburn, you won’t be compensated or vise versa). Overall, working with the people in the shops is great. If you need help, for the most part they are willing to do so, if they have the availability. As well, this is a “family” ran business, so it isn’t a “what you know” place to work in, but more so of a “who you know”. With that being said, anyone in the shop can basically say and talk to you however they please with no consequences. Also, you are expected to work sometimes at 7 AM or 7 PM, and possibly 4 hours on Saturday ( 8 - 12 ) yet you are to not go over your 45 hour threshold. The theory behind that is if you stay late or come in early then you leave early or come in later. (I. E you are to work until 7 pm on Monday, then Monday you arrive to work at 10 Am - 7 PM), but the reality is much different once you are in a shop. 

Being a parts manager is one of the most stressful jobs for the company; being that literally everyone is constantly on you for something needed. Whether if by the shop manager asking you to order parts, a technician needing parts from a supplement the manager never created which you didn’t have parts arriving for, vehicles being totaled after you had ordered parts per the manager or estimator, vendors contacting you about returned parts, AP department looking for invoices, all while you need to be able to perform your daily tasks and keep a GP goal for parts as well.

40 hour work week, never was forced into overtime. I generally felt like helping until all duties and concerns were addressed at the end of the day because they treated me well in return.

Benefits were the highlight of the entry level position I was in. I took advantage of the insurance immediately. Additionally when my car exploded, parts were ordered and a tow truck service was discounted for me by the kindness of the employees. You get things like that taken care of in a collision shop.

Wasnt sure where I wanted to advance in the company as I just loved detailing. I was comfortable staying with the pay and position for much longer if it werent for the Covid furlough. Parts employee was fired and I was asked to help sort incoming shipments. Wasnt promoted to the position but the employees treated me as though it was my responsibility. I shouldve spoken up to back out of helping then, because they took advantage of my kindness.

I expressed interest in learning paint prep and paint correction but was never offered.

Boss man had great humor and handled employees with a very good temper. Though unless you knew him well, you wouldnt know he was more upset than he sounded. Couldnt judge his importance on matters. He was never overbearing and gave you the opportunity to handle tasks on your own.

Unfortunately, I was given notice to report back to him when I was ready to come to work after the furlough. I contacted him twice in 2 weeks. Only found out I lost my job after my unemployment stopped. Not mature on their part. You'd expect more from management.

Morning meetings kept you in the loop. And I found them necessary. We were grading high on production and value and was praised every day for it. The repair techs occasionally found issues with standards and guidelines on how to make certain repairs. I sense there is a disconnect between the higher ups (outside the shop) and the techs on what works and what is efficient. Wasnt a burden in my job though.

Most certainly not a professional detail position. Its more akin to dealership wash n go quality. Clean up the mess the techs made, wash, vac and get it done shortly. My only downfall was I am too small for the heavier lifting down to clean up scrap parts in the shop.

Overall, great company. Id work for them again and wish them the best.

This is the WORST company that I have ever worked for! I don't have enough room here to explain everything that you should know before working for Gerber but here is a start. Was hired as a CSR and was given NO training and was expected to know what I was doing. They claim to place a very high standard on customer service and they bombard the customer with surveys and pressure the customer to rate a high score all the while ignoring the fact that putting someone in that job with no experience will make poor scores and makes the whole shop look stupid! I for one would not want someone who didn't know what they were talking about repairing my car! Management lies!!! I was promised things I never got. Moving me from location to location (I quickly found out this is "Gerber Standard" as I was told by other workers). The store that they moved me to was in dire straights from poor management, and lack of care. Upper management oblivious to the issues until they have to answer to their boss about them. They close files before car is gone to make the numbers reflect what they want them to so that they get their bonuses (yet when customer service scores suffer so do employee bonuses). The problem with this is the pilot program they have in place that texts the customer each time the repair plan has been modified is automated to send out inaccurate texts to the customer telling them that their car is complete when it is not. Management MAKES you use this system even though it is confusing to the customer and makes the customer very angry and thus customer service scores suffer and you get to be the one that answers angry phone calls from customers about it. Furthermore, when there is a bad review from customers it is the store level employees that are blamed. Management sends out derogatory emails to everyone pointing the finger for causing the bad scores and threatening you with termination in a very unsuccessful, old school management technique if you don't "get it handled" (this is shared with your peers) Working for this set of managers was like working for the gestapo! I would love to send this information to the executives at cooperate but fear that it would be a waste of breath. In the off chance that a any of them see this you may want to look into these accusations as I have nothing to loose now that I don't work for the company but the word on the street is Gerber sucks and that they would never work for them again!

As a parts manager, you have many people relying on you on a daily basis.  You have to make sure the correct parts get to the correct techs on time in a manner to reduce overall cycle time as much as possible.  Turn and burn is the name of the game.  Numbers are king. 

Now where it gets tricky, is that you have to learn at least 3-4 separate computer programs in order to successfully complete all the duties of your job.  Most of the parts SOP’s in place by upper management are extremely time consuming, and I was provided extremely minimal training on several of those procedures.  We are told by upper management to only order parts from “preferred vendors”, most of which are out of town, therefore increasing cycle time if any additional parts are needed.  Since these Vendors are out of town, close to if not over half of the parts show up damaged due to careless and negligent delivery drivers.  The other half that don’t show up damaged show up late.  All of these damaged parts, in addition to incorrectly ordered or Incorrectly sent parts, create a MASSIVE amount of returns, which are expected by upper management to be constantly handled as if they are priority number one.  Getting the delivery drivers to actually pick up the returns is like trying to pass an act of Congress.  Incessant micro management, mainly in email form from corporate all throughout every day.  I have made my area manager aware of all of the issues I deal with as far as these out of town vendors go, and they tend to fall on deaf ears and nothing changes.  No matter any underlying circumstances, I am still expected to perform miracles.  I was scolded for asking for help because I was overwhelmed with the amount of returns, and my production manager was told not to help me anymore with anything.  Meanwhile, literally any and every other position in the shop is provided with help if necessary.  There is always an atmosphere of general chaos and disarray and it is extremely stressful.  I had faith in this company when I first started but have quickly lost all of it.  I feel like certain people are literally working against me.

Review relates to Estimator Position. 
The stress lever is over the top.  The work load expectation is impossible to meet without mental and physical exhaustion.  You will be required to juggle multiple insurance DRP's and be expected to pick up the slack where your co-workers are not able to.  Favoritism exists were one Estimator may only carry one or two DRP's and have an minimal amount of cars (customers) to handle. You my be expected to carry upward of  25-30 and upward on your own.  This is an impossible task without mistakes, overtime, and melting down.  This company will be in your files to make sure you are squeezing every penny you can to get a high Gross Profit. Your  pay will be based on you performance and you will  have to work like a dog to meet their demands to make a check.
The management will make repair and parts decisions for you and leave it up to you to reconcile the file for the insurance company to get paid. The only way you are going to do this is by deception.  
You will have no control over you schedule. You will have insurance companies scheduling drops and estimates, the front desk will be scheduling for you, outside companies will be in the schedule and squeeze any open slot. 
You will have no time to do your job. Between your twice a week customer updates and tow non-drives,  and scheduled estimates, and walk-ins, and scheduled drops, and scheduled estimate appointments you will want to walk out.
The cars you are handling will at times just sit without being worked on. Gerber will pack the shop over capacity. The body techs will not be able to handle the amount of  vehicles they have been handed. There will be times a vehicle will not be touched for weeks. You will be expected to update the customers and not be able to tell them your car is just sitting here gathering dust.  You will also be expected to update the insurance company on why the repair is late without having a real answer.
I can go on and on but you should get the point. I am not just another disgruntled ex-employee. I was they guy the took on as much as I could and it still was not enough. Once it dawned on me that it never was going to be enough, that I was just another replaceable body I walked out.

Normally I don't write reviews but this job was something else, once I was hired (I had no previous experience and was hired through a hookup in the company basically) I had ABSOLUTLEY NO TRAINING. Things were being thrown on me and expected to know the answer when the answer was never given to me in the first place. The office employees are extremely backstabbing as is all of corporate, you will be told to your face that you are doing a good job and then get an email later to change it or to face termination. Not to mention the email that they send for you to fix the mistake is sent to everyone in the office as well, as if to humiliate you more for making the mistake. The customers are almost always frustrated because of the way things are run, it is more quantity over quality. I cannot tell you how many times we have pointed out things before delivering the cars to the customers, and they just brush over it to make it look good enough to get it out the door. Customers would obviously spot these imperfections before and after taking their vehicles home and call upset that the repair wasn't done correctly. They have good body men and painters in the shop but the work would be given to the weaker links while the other body men were starving for work. It was constant drama and worry on whether or not I would have a job tomorrow even after my 90 days, of course I made mistakes as any new person on the job would but the way it was handled was not all the way it should have been. Even the office employees would tell you that you were doing a good job and then as soon as you left they would talk to the manager about how you needed to be fired, making up stories that weren't true. There was quite a few times that I had been called rude names (starts with a B or C) by office employees but nothing was ever done about it. Everything was always chalked up to 'Welcome to Gerber.' No one there was happy at any point making it a really hostile work environment. Just save yourself the headaches and constant worry about your job security and go work at another place.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
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