On Nov. 20, 2014 I watched my entire life go up in flames. In less than an hour everything I had built over fifteen years, including my home (my wife and two-year-old daughter lived in an apartment above the office at the shop), was gone after a truck caught fire, burning the entire shop and twelve customer vehicles to the ground. Thankfully, no one was injured, but it was a devastating blow after I had recovered from a broken back and neck the year before.
Catastrophic event handling
A person’s true skillset and character shows when a tragedy occurs. In an instant a business someone spent most of his or her life building can disappear, and there is nothing he or she can do about it. How you respond to a tragedy directly relates to how things progress. It’s a highly emotional time, but you cannot let emotions affect your decisions. Step back, look at the situation as a whole, and then analyze what can be done. Only then do you act.
Preplanning
People do not spend their days planning for catastrophes, and let’s face it—most people think it will never happen. Then again, if we spent our days worrying over what could happen, we would die young of ulcers and stress while getting nowhere.
Have you ever thought about the potentials for fire, explosion or death in an auto repair shop? A quick tally of what was in my shop when it burned yielded over 300 gallons of diesel fuel, 1000 gallons of new motor oil, 1500 gallons used, 125 gallons of gas, and over 300 tires. Do you know how hot those combined combustible materials get? Hot enough to vaporize copper and melt steel beams.
Mechanics and technicians are typically organized and clean, but inevitably, things get spilled, parts get piled up, and workbenches become catchalls. Keeping piles of things from getting too big helps prevent disasters from happening. If nothing else, try to keep potential fire loads from getting too big.
In the months after the fire at the shop, I went to dozens of other shops just to look around during normal operations at the request of the owners. You would be amazed at all the fire hazards shops could potentially face every day. For example, scrap tires might be piled up next to waste oil tanks, cutting and welding might be executed without appropriate precautions, extinguishers might be hidden or not functional, there could be extreme carelessness with spills, etc.
Insurance prep
The very first shop I ever worked for is still going strong today, and I stay in touch with the owner and consider him a friend and mentor. One thing I always heard from him as I was wrenching was how expensive insurance was, and I asked him one day if it was worth it. He told me, "You cannot afford to not be insured," and I still hear that conversation fifteen years later. Just like a good CPA, a good insurance agent is a worthwhile partnership. It stings writing that premium check, but at the end of the day, it’s a cost of doing business that is factored into your overhead.
Policy needs and coverage areas are another article altogether. Just remember that employees’ tools are typically NOT covered by the shop’s contents policy. I’ve seen way too many techs lose their livelihoods after a shop burns and their tools were not covered. Discuss options with your carrier.
And for the love of Burt Reynold’s moustache, document your inventory and assets! There is no reason you cannot have a short video on a smartphone of you walking through your shop. Just pan slow and don’t narrate. Use HD if possible. Save the video and pictures and any other backups, records, and files to a cloud server or rotate thumb drives out offsite. Remember, if you save backups and important files to a computer or drive at the site, it will be useless if something happens to your shop.
Site securing
Even before the smoke clears you need to get the site secured. You do not have to post armed guards and razor wire, but you need to have a way to keep everything secure until adjusters and investigators are there. My fire was right before Thanksgiving on a Thursday. Saturday morning there were footprints in the mud and ashes from people walking around and drag marks from burned wire and scrap that were taken. It’s sad to have to protect a fire loss site, but it has to be done to protect yourself from liabilities, additional losses, and to be able to get compensated for the loss.
Persevere through
There comes a time when you will be hit hard with reality. It is going to be awful, and you can either wallow in self pity or you can dust off your shoulders and move forward. There isn’t much you can do to change what has already happened, but there is a lot you can do about what happens moving forward.
What you decide to do is up to you, and believe me, it is not easy. Take your time and analyze it carefully, but listen to your gut. That’s what got you into the business, isn’t it?
| Joe's Garage update: 1 year later |
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November 20, 2014 was a day I will never forget. It was the day my entire life went up in flames (literally) and changed my world forever. It is now one year later, and things have changed significantly. First and foremost, all customers who had a destroyed vehicle have been taken care of by insurance. Tooling and equipment is in process of replacement, and decisions are being made for any forward progress for reopening of Joe’s Garage Inc. After some major thought, I decided to make a shift in business model to focus more on the fabrication side of the business we were doing, which has kept me busy since the fire doing structural and architectural metal works, truck and trailer equipment and fabrication, and machine repair. My community has been very supportive, and other shops in the area have worked with the customers we had to take care of their needs during the down time. There is still a long way to go, but everyone has worked very well together getting the customers taken care of during this time, which is a testament to being in business for a common goal of customer service. |
Rebuilding and claims
Get ready for extreme frustration, stress, and hassles. Or get ready for smooth sailing. A lot of things are out of your hands at this point, but the key is to remain as calm as possible and document everything. I filled a composition book of notes as I called, emailed, and wrote during the claim. It is a headache but can be managed. One thing to discuss with your insurance agent is if the carrier you have does claims themselves or contracts it. It is definitely more of a hassle if the claim is handled through outside contractors instead of being done in house, especially on a complex claim which usually involve multiple property owners. Most of your larger carriers do their claim processing in house. Discuss this and find the best option for you with your agent.
Differences in coverage
Coverage has changed a lot in the last 15 years and one thing is for sure—policies are very confusing. My suggestion is to avoid the dreaded acronym of ACV (actual cash value) and to try to find coverage that does replacement cost. Again, this is a complex discussion that you need to have with your agent, but the gist is this: you lose tools and you need to replace them. ACV coverage gives you a (often deeply) prorated amount to replace your tools up to the limit. Replacement coverage gets you the coverage to replace with like items—it makes a huge difference.
Prevention
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, eh? This is the same case. Simple things like keeping scrap tires outside and away from the building, keeping flammables away from ignition sources, utilizing safe disposal techniques, and even just keeping the shop clean can make all the difference in the world.
