Laura Bertolli

So I have to commute every day from Novato to San Rafael. This 20 mile drive takes between 30 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on traffic. Usually it takes about 50 minutes. Today I saw a woman on the phone with one hand and eating a burrito with the other!!! She was weaving in and out of traffic. This, just minutes after coming to a quick stop with the car behind me quickly stopping only inches from my rear bumper. I looked in my rear view mirror, and about four cars back, a car hit the car in front of it setting off a chain reaction, ending with the car directly behind me. I was happy to not be in that and happy that maybe one of the four cars would end up at my business!! Harsh, but true. Thankfully many drivers are distracted thereby ensuring my business success. Please drive safely!!!!

This story will be aired tonight at 11 pm on Bay Area channel 7. Check out the pic when he was in the shop interviewing me for the story. Pretty cool, huh?

Today at 6 pm on ABC channel 7 in the Bay Area, I will be on Michael Finney's Seven on your Side segment. He did a story on aftermarket parts and the autobody industry. New legislation introduced in the California State Senate would penalize insurers that require repair shops to install aftermarket parts on a vehicle that is still under factory warranty. The bill (S.B. 1059) was introduced in January by Senator Carole Migden (D-San Francisco) and sponsored by the Collision Repair Association of California (CRA). The bill is designed to prevent repairers and customers from inadvertently voiding the factory warranty on a vehicle in case of a failure caused by an aftermarket part. A few weeks ago, Michael, Sen. Migden, my customer, Tommy Kesecker and i were filmed for the piece at Bertolli's Auto Body. I support the bill. I'd love to hear from you if you see it.

to past and future customers of Bertolli's Auto Body. In this day and age of corporate greed, the insurance companies are making it harder for consumers to exercise their legal right to use the auto body repairer of their choice. There is an anti-steering law, but it is never enforced, so the insurance companies break the law all day long. Most people just don't want to fight for their rights and simply go where ever the insurance company tells them to go. This restraints fair trade and affects the quality of auto repairs. The shops on 'the list' are really extensions of the insurance company and the first thing on their mind is to save the insurance company money or risk losing the 'list' status. At Bertolli's , we're not on any list because we want to fix cars the way WE (the repair professionals) would want our car fixed, and at a fair price. Our customers have to be strong willed and courageous to stand up to the insurance company and say, ...

You may have seen the recent 'advertorial' in the Marin IJ. It was in a special section entitled, "Women in Business". Here's the pic. I also attended the annual 'Women in Business' conference sponsored by the Marin chambers of commerce. The keynote speaker was Jill Eikenberry, actress, producer and activist. She was very inspiring. I listened to talks about the female brain and then one on sales. All in all, a very productive day networking. This conference always builds my confidence since the presentations are usually about things I'm already doing in my business. GO SISTERS!

With Premium Gasoline up to $3.99, I thought you might like these practical tips that will help you get the most gasoline for your money. They are from a person who works at a petroleum company in San Jose: 1. Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening....your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role. A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps. 2. When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look you will see that the...

I see that the last time I updated this blog was over two months ago! My nephew's death took a toll on the entire family and I didn't start to come out of the funk it caused until recently. Now I want to get back to talking about auto body and insurance issues. The local paper, The Marin Independent Journal, had an article this weekend about the medical field (which, because of its strong ties to insurance, is similar to the autobody industry). Patients are getting billed the difference between what their medical provider pays for services and the actual costs from the doctors who provide those services. Doctors are finally doing what dentists have been doing forever. So sorry, your insurance didn't pay the full amount, you need to pay the difference! (http://www.marinij.com//ci_7494816) Gone are the days where you got three estimates for autobody repair and the insurance paid one of them (usually the lowest). Gone are the days where the adjuster worked wit...

The newest member of the Bertolli family, Anthony, born April 9, 2007, died today of SIDS. The family was going out of town for the weekend and went in to get him up from his nap and he had stopped breathing. What was supposed to be a fun getaway weekend has turned into the worst day of our lives. My sister and husband are hysterical and the rest of us are pretty wrecked. Here I am, crying, unable to sleep and typing furiously just to keep myself busy. This is a reminder that we must treat those we love with gratitude and affection because they could be gone from our lives in an instant. I only wish I could wake up from this and find out it was just a bad dream - the worst nightmare I could have. But I WILL have to wake up and life WILL go on. I know this in my head, but my heart is screaming to stop the pain.

Hi everyone! Just got back from LA and the biggest HIN show! In the pic is Mike Garcia, the Custom Shop Manager for B. Customs. We took the 95 Toy Supra and the car was a big crowd favorite. Unfortunately, we didn't win any awards, but we're gonna do a little work on the car and the display and maybe in Alameda on Sept. 29th, we'll get something! I enjoyed the show and saw many interesting modifications. One thing I heard is that carbon fiber parts are the new chrome. These carbon fiber parts were everywhere - the hoods, spoilers, bumpers, interior door trim panels, dashboards, and even headliners! Most of the cars had doors that were modified lambo, suicide, vertical, door handles shaved, even MagicTouch where you touch the door somewhere and it pops open. Paint jobs aren't as important at this show as much as performance, suspension, wheels, roll cages, carbon fiber, audio/video and such. I saw a rear bumper with two TV screens in the corners - wild! I have more pix ...

They call it Hot August Nights San Anselmo. This car show benefits the town's holiday lights fund. In January 2005, San Anselmo was under 4 feet of water and the flood devastated both merchants and residents alike. Why, city hall just opened this week after 20 months of rebuilding. Funding was lost for the holiday lights, so Helen and her daughter, Lauren Gregory of Bloomworks put together this fundraiser, among others so the town could celebrate the holidays in style and welcome visitors back to their newly remodeled shopping district. The car show was a success. Seventy seven cars were rejected and the money refunded because of lack of space. The cars that did make it were amazing. The best of show went to a '56 Kaiser Darrin - cream color exterior and red interior. Flawless beauty and the cool thing is that the doors open into the fenders - a pocket door on a car!!! I also saw a '61 Pontiac Catalina, the first car I drove and very seldom seen at car shows. I was driving ...

Hello all, Check out bertollis.com where you will enter a portal to choose either Bertolli's Auto Body or B. Customs, the new custom shop. We have been busy working on the '95 Toy Supra that will be entered in Hot Import Nites next weekend in LA. The office remodel is about 90% complete and we hope to have a ribbon cutting party sometime in October. Other than that, summer is almost over, with the kids returning to school. That means that life will be more routine and we can gear up for a busy fall and winter at the shops. I'll be at the San Anselmo car show this Sunday, 8/19/07 and at the Fairfax car show on 9/9/07. Come out, check out the cars and say hello. Yours truly, Laura

What can I say? I have waited way too long to post to my blog. The newest development in my world is the creation of a new division at work - B. Customs. Since I love cars and hate dealing with insurance companies, I'm hoping that doing custom work will give me a creative outlet and hopefully help my company make some money. We have a new logo, are in the middle of an office/shop renovation and have completed out first custom job and are working on our second. The first is a 2007 GMC Yukon that we installed vertical door hinges, also called lambo doors; complete custom paint job; new grilles and wheels, and custom sound system. We put logo decals on the truck and drove it in the Novato Fourth of July parade. The kids and I had a lot of fun and got some great feedback. The next project, a 1996 Toyota Supra will be done by mid August, just in time for Hot Import Nights ( HIN ) in LA. But before that, I'll be in Reno for Hot August Nights - see ya!

I have been blessed with so many wonderful people in my life. Thank you. Peace and a warm hug to you all. Laura

Recently the Associated Press ran an article entitled, "Need a job? Try selling a car". According to the article, auto dealers have 100,000 job openings at 20,000 dealerships across the nation. The various positions include: Sales: 42,198 Service: 37,329 Administrative: 7,120 Management: 6,903 Other: 11,253 Some positions, such as in accounting or marketing, may require a college degree, but most, including sales and management, don't. A high school diploma, some technical training and a desire to work from the bottom up are all that are required. Sales jobs can bring in six figures and technicians can earn between $70,000 and $100,000 a year. Office jobs average around $50,000 a year. The auto industry pays well and offers good job security. Parents, why not encourage your kids to consider a career in automotive?

Hi, This last weekend, the Marin County fair took place. Every year my Rotary club sponsors an ice cream booth to raise funds for our Interact club. Interact is the high school equivalent of Rotary. Marin Catholic High School Interact has about 20 members and they do community service and take an annual trip to Mexico to run dental/eye clinics or sometimes help build homes. Rotarians, their families and Interact club members staff the booth for the four days of the fair. We have a lot of fun and raise some needed money.

Summer has arrived and so have the car shows. Been to three so far, the biggest and most well known being the Good Guys at Pleasanton. This show was dominated by GM. I'm not sure why, but every other car was a Camaro. If you want to restore the classic car you drove when you were a kid, plan on spending $30k in addition to the cost of the car. There's a good chance you won't recoup your investment, but car shows are fun and you will meet lots of cool people who also love cars like you and me. See you in August in Reno!

We hear a lot of talk about hybrid vehicles, but the question most of us want to know: How do hybrid vehicles really work? These cars have two motors, one electric and one gas powered, and they work together to save gas and reduce emissions. Since there are two engines, the gas powered one can be smaller, thereby saving fuel costs. The common hybrids today use a generator as the main power plant. The gasoline engine turns the generator, which in turn, can either charge the batteries or power the electric motor that drives the transmission. During acceleration, the electric motor aids the gas engine. During deceleration and when the vehicle is stopped, the engine shuts off. This can be disconcerting the first few times you drive a hybrid. The vehicle is so quiet, it is as though the motor stalled. Employees of Bertolli's have received proper training in safely repairing hybrid vehicles. As when the air bags first came out, there will be a learning curve until the next inn...

Bumpers on most cars are made of a plastic composite material. When these get damaged, the usual repair is to remove the bumper from the vehicle, send it to a remanufacturer who will strip the old paint, repair the bumper and prime it. The body shop gets it back, paints it to match the car and then installs it on the vehicle again. Most bumper jobs are in the $800 to $1200 range, believe it or not! In some rare cases, the plastic bumper is caved in at the corner only. Try using a hair dryer and work the 'bump' out. This works especially well on Toyota Camry and Honda Accord bumpers, but try it on others. You never know, and you could save yourself hundreds of dollars in repair cost.

I've been reflecting on running my business for almost 20 years. I realized that the best way to operate a successful business is to focus on why I am in business. I know I am in business to make money. Over the years, I told myself that as a business owner, I contribute to the local economy through employment, sales, community service, etc. But really, I just want to make money. Running a business is hard work and there is no one to blame for failures or mistakes. The buck stops with me and if I play my cards right, stays with me!

Hello, This past week has been hectic. We had the commercial shoot on Saturday. I think it will turn out great. My dad, Frank, was a trooper. He is featured along with all the grandkids (11)! For a 30 second commercial, we spent more than 8 hours on the shoot. Since then they have been editing it. I'm always surprised at how much time is spent on production. Usually the result is worth the wait. I'm confident that the company that produced the commerical, IMA Interactive, will do a great job. If you like the commercial or the video on the website, I can get you more info, just call or write. Last night was the San Rafael Chamber of Commerce's annual Installation of Officers and Awards ceremony. This is my last one as a Board member. I will have served for six years, the maximum allowed. I've enjoyed all the professionals I have met and worked with and love being 'in the know' on city happenings. The dinner had a somber tone due to the fact that Ro...