Autobody News April 2011 Southeast Edition

REGIONAL STORIES in this issue...Ray Gunder Takes on State Farm Labor Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 4Ex-GA Insurance Chief Issued Himself Licenses . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 10Florida’s Lemon Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 13Wade Ford Atlanta Chooses Alternative Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . .p .16MS Senate Passes Auto Insurance Certification Bill . . . . . . . . . .p. 18Certificate of Insurance Bill Makes Headway in Georgia . . . . . . .p. 7

COLUMNS in this issue...Yoswick—Paint Complaint Does Not Have to Lose Customer . .p. 24Danalevich—Shop Strategies for Savings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 25Amaradio—Underqualified Repairers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 27Rich Evans—Remaking a 41 Chevy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 29Gonzo’s Toolbox—Quick Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 17Insurance Insider—DRPs and Fear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 28Hey Toby—Steer Clear of OSHA Violations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 18Global PDR Solutions and Park Place Bodywerks . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 15Switching to Waterborne for the Green Reasons . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 9

NATIONAL ARTICLES in this issue...AASP/NJ’s Northeast™ 2011 Trade Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 1Groupon Helps Body Shops Drum Up Local Customers . . . . . . .p. 13PreFab Ads Has New TV Spots for Body Shops . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 19Progressive's EDR Now in 32 States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 5

Rich Evans Fronts Speed’s TV Hit Car Warriors

Autobody News’ Custom Columnist Rich Evans (kneeling) and the red-shirted All Stars try toschool a new blue-shirted Challenger team every week in Speed’s new TV hit Car Warriors. Hardknocks and hissy fits abound, and not just from the guys

Rich Evans’ Car Warriors Interview by Ed Attanasio isonline at www.autobodynews.com, search ‘Car Warriors’Japan’s Quake, Tsunami Roils US Auto Industry

If there was ever any doubt that theauto industry is now a completelyglobal enterprise, Japan’s devastatingquake, wave, and nuclear disaster isproving that no automaker can go italone. One week after the devastatingtsunami the situation is still criticaland most of Japan’s huge auto indus-

try is teetering, costing the global in-dustry hundreds of millions of dollars.● On Thursday, March 17, AmericanHonda Motor Co. Executive VicePresident John Mendel sent a memoto U.S. Honda and Acura dealers say-ing the disaster in Japan will disruptdealer orders into May.● General Motors’ Shreveport, La,factory, which builds the ChevroletColorado and GMC Canyon pickups,closed because it ran out of a Japan-ese part that it did not identify. GMsaid March 19 it is cutting unneces-sary spending companywide as it as-sesses the impact of production

as Yen surges, Auto parts’ prices likely to climb

See Auto Tsunami, Page 22

AASP/NJ’s NORTHEAST™ 2011 Show Fillsthe Aisles at the MeadowlandsFriday through Sunday, March 18–19,body shop owners and operators andtheir mechanical counterparts met at the34th annual Northeast™ 2011 show at

the Meadowlands. Northeast™ is theregion’s largest automotive repair showwith over 200 exhibitors and about 350booths on exhibit.

Organized by AASP/NJ, ThomasGreco Publishing and supported by

See Northeast 2011, Page 21

Jeff McDowell, AASP/NJ President (l) andCharles Bryant, AASP/Executive Director atNortheast™ 2011

SoutheastEdition

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REGIONAL

AL Senate Approves Auto Insurance

Verification Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Alabama Texting Ban Passes House

Committee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Auto Angels Revs-up for 2011 Car Give-Away

Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

AutoBody America Opens 14th Location in

Arkansas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Certificate of Insurance Bill Makes Headway

in Georgia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Dallas Repairer Donates to Local

High Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Ex-GA Insurance Chief Issued Himself

Licenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Florida Insurers, Businesses Take Aim at

PIP Fraud. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Florida Officials Question Cost of Red Light

Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Florida’s Lemon Law - The Florida

Lemon Vehicle Buybacks and Seller

Disclosures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Fondren to Challenge Chaney in Mississippi

Insurance Race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Georgia House Backs Proposed ‘Oxendine

Bill’ to Ban Self-Licensing by Officials . 10

Help ASA-GA and GCIA Defeat Georgia

House Bill 385 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Louisiana Collision Repair Association Talks

I-CAR, EDRs, and OSHA . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

MS Senate Passes Auto Insurance

Verification Bill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Property Taxes on Some Alabama Vehicles

Rise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Ray Gunder Takes on State Farm Labor

Rates Surveys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Wade Ford Atlanta Chooses an Alternative

Diagnostic Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Will Gas Prices Stall Alabama SUV

Manufacturing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

COLUMNISTS

Amaradio - Underqualified Repairers Hurt

the Whole Industry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Attanasio, BASF - Switching to BASF

Waterborne for the Green Reasons. . . . . 9

Attanasio, Global PDR - Global PDR

Solutions & Park Place Bodywerks

Hail the Hail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Chess - Make Sure Your Shop is Clear of

these Glaring OSHA Violations . . . . . . . 18

Danalevich - Business Liability Insurance:

Remember to Review Your Policy! . . . . 25

Evans - Remaking a 1941 Chevy Deluxe

Back-End with an English Wheel . . . . . 29

Insurance Insider - DRPs and Fear—Hope for

a Reduction in the Number of Shops . . 28

Rich Evans Fronts Speed’s TV Hit

Car Warriors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Sisk - AASP/NJ’s Northeast™ 2011

Trade Show—A Wealth of Information

for Shops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Weaver - A Quick Diagnostic Can Seem

too Good to be True . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Yoswick - Paint Complaint Does Not Have

to Mean Unhappy Customer. . . . . . . . . 24

NATIONAL

ABRA Auto Body & Glass Announces New

VP of Auto Glass Division . . . . . . . . . . 16

CARSTAR Pres,. Dan Bailey, to Return to

Own Franchise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Groupon Succeeds in Helping Body Shops

Reach Out to New Local Customers . . . 12

Japan’s Quake, Tsunami Roils US Auto

Industry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

New Version of ALLDATA Manage 4.9

Enhances Electronic Parts Ordering

With Additional Selection of Parts

Suppliers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

PreFab Ads Introduces Three New TV

Spots for Body Shops . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Progressive’s Snapshot EDR Now Available

in 32 States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Contents

Southeast

Publisher & Editor: Jeremy HayhurstGeneral Manager: Barbara DaviesAssistant Editor: Erica SchroederContributing Writers: Tom Franklin, Stefan Gesterkamp, John Yoswick, Lee Amaradio,Toby Chess, Mike Causey, Dan Espersen, Tom McGee, Jeff Webster, Rich Evans,Ed Attanasio, Chasidy SiskAdvertising Sales: Joe Momber, Sean Hartman (800) 699-8251Sales Assistant: Kristy MangumArt Director: Rodolfo Garcia

Serving Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and adjacent metro areas, Autobody Newsis a monthly publication for the auto body industry. Permission to reproduce in any form thematerial published in Autobody News must be obtained in writing from the publisher.©2011 Adamantine Media LLC.

Autobody NewsBox 1516, Carlsbad, CA 92018; (800) 699-8251 (760) 721-0253 Faxwww.autobodynews.com Email: [email protected]

Arrigo Dodge-Jeep-Chrysler . . 10Autoland Scientech. . . . . . . . . 17BASF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Bill Penney Toyota. . . . . . . . . . 25BMWWholesale Parts Dealers. 28Chief Automotive. . . . . . . . . . . . 7Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Delray Honda . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Don Reid Ford . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Equalizer Industries. . . . . . . . . 21Ford Wholesale Parts DealersFL, GA, AL, MS . . . . . . . . . . 32

Galloway Mazda . . . . . . . . . . . 10Garmat USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Global PDR Solutions . . . . . . . 14Gus Machado Ford . . . . . . . . . 22Honda Wholesale Parts Dealers 31HyundaiWholesale Parts Dealers23Kia Motors Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Mattei. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Mazda Wholesale Parts. . . . . . 27Mercedes-Benz Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

MOPAR Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Nalley BMW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Nissan Wholesale Parts Dealers 28Palmers Toyota . . . . . . . . . . . . 18PorscheWholesale Parts Dealers26PreFab Ads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Quality Stainless Products . . . . 4SATA Spray Equipment . . . . . 11Savannah Hyundai . . . . . . . . . 10Scorpion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Sherwin-Williams . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Tameron Hyundai . . . . . . . . . . 26Toyota Wholesale Parts Dealers 30VIM Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Volkswagen Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Inde

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Ray Gunder is clearly not a fan ofState Farm Insurance.

The owner of Gunder’s AutoCenter in Lakeland, Fla., is in themidst of a long-standing legal battlewith the insurer over what he says isthe insurer’s slanderous commentsabout his company to consumers, andtortious interference with his business.

But were he to address the indus-try, Gunder said he’d discuss some-thing that extends beyond just StateFarm: labor rate surveys.

“The so-called ‘market survey’ isdesigned and implemented under thesimple insurer pretext that if you don’tparticipate, you won’t be allowed toparticipate,” Gunder said. “What thissimply means is if you don’t get inline with everyone else, we will steerevery repair away from you withevery resource we have at our dis-posal. You either fall-in, or get left-out.”

By participating in insurer laborrate surveys, Gunder said, quality re-pairers reduce themselves to earningthe same rates and allowances that allothers are “allowed.”

“Consider for a moment the re-pairer who has made substantial in-vestments in training and certifications,facilities, and state-of-the-art equip-ment,” Gunder said. “They, along withother quality repairers, will be rele-gated to charge the same as the low-cost, high-volume providers. Simplystated, you become one with all thosewho do participate regardless of thequality of the workmanship and levelof services you or they provide.”

State Farm, Gunder said, becauseof its size relative to other insurers,often leads the way, and other smallerinsurers follow.

“I’m sure many like myself haveoften heard a claims person say:‘When XYZ starts paying more is theday we will begin to pay more,’” Gun-der said. “This creates a further prob-lem of validating the so-called‘prevailing competitive price.’ Thefact is, a repairer could offer a lowerprice to a larger, higher volume in-surer who sends them work on a reg-ular basis while the repairer couldassess a higher charge (or no discount)to a carrier they only serve occasion-

ally and who steers away from theirshop on a regular basis.”

By merely participating in thesurvey, Gunder said, a shop is lendingvalidity and credibility to it.

“If so few shops participated,“the lumping of all repairers into onesingle group would cease. Repairerswould compete on their reputationsfor quality, length of service in thecommunity, savvy marketing andsalesmanship at the point of sale - justas insurers do.”

Many in the industry believethere is “overcapacity,” too manyshops chasing too little work, Gundersaid, and that thousands of shopscould close in the coming decade.

“Because the insurers’ concertedefforts to capture the collision industryhave been thus far successful, if some-thing isn’t done to preserve the inde-pendent repairers and their ability todetermine their own pricing, it will be-come, ‘You either get in the pro-gram...or get out of the industry,’”Gunder said. “As I see it, the individ-ual shop owner has a choice to eitherremain a ‘independent repairer’ or

allow themselves to become merelysubservient to the insurance industry.”

Gunder said as the industry meetsin Las Vegas that he hopes others willfollow his lead when he says, “I’vemade my choice.”

Ray Gunder Takes on State Farm Labor Rates Surveys

www.qsponline.com

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Incumbent Mississippi Insurance Com-missioner Mike Chaney, a Republican,

will face opposi-tion in his bid forre-election, accord-ing to reports madeby Insurance Jour-nal.

Louis Fon-dren, a Democrat,who ran for gover-nor in 2007, is

running against Chaney.Fondren, an attorney and real es-

tate broker, is a former mayor, districtjudge and state representative and for-mer insurance adjuster.

He said he would make loweringinsurance premiums his priority ifelected.

This year’s party primaries areAug.2, and the general election is Nov. 8.

Fondren to Challenge Chaneyin Mississippi Insurance Race

Louis Fondren

High gas prices tend to stall sales ofSUVs and other light trucks, and thattrend could mean trouble for Al-abama’s auto manufacturing industry,according to the Birmingham News.

The state sector is heavily de-pendent on sales of such vehicles,which have only recently started torebound after a global industry down-turn.

Now, continued turmoil in theMiddle East is making pump pricesskyrocket, threatening that recov-ery.

Rising gas prices have yet tomake a dent in SUV sales, whichacross the industry show significantgrowth over a year ago. But there aresigns that consumers are starting tolook elsewhere, said Karl Brauer,senior industry analyst for Ed-munds.com.

The auto website tracks vehiclesthat are drawing interest from visi-tors, and consumer considerationnumbers for some SUVs have fallenoff slightly from last fall. Compactcars, meanwhile, are getting morelooks.

“You’re just seeing the start ofthe curve,” he said. “How long thecurve will go and how drastic it willbe, we don’t know.”

Gas price spikes resulting fromthe Middle East protests have been

seen only in recent weeks, he added,so the issue hasn’t had time to make abig impact on sales.

“But it’s pretty turbulent, andI’m thinking it could get quite pre-carious if Saudi Arabia (the world’sbiggest oil exporter) starts to have is-sues,” he said.

On March 14, Birmingham areagas prices averaged $3.44 a gallon forregular, up from $3 last month and$2.69 a year ago, according to a sur-vey by the AAA motoring club.

Alabama’s auto industry last feltthe pain of rising gas prices in thesummer of 2008, a period which pre-ceded a global auto industry salesslump spurred on by the worldwidefinancial crisis.

In 2008, the state’s auto factoriesbegan slashing production and em-ployee work time to match sluggishdemand, and those measures contin-ued throughout 2009.

Last year, however, the industrymade a comeback, with productionthat grew about 50 percent.

Much of that was due to re-bounding demand for SUVs andother light trucks.

So far this year, U.S. light trucksales total nearly 935,000, a 30 per-cent rise over the first two months of2010, according to Autodata Corp. In

Will Gas Prices Stall Alabama SUV Manufacturing?

See AL SUVs, Page 13


The Northwest Louisiana CollisionRepair Association held their monthlymeeting on March 1, 2011 at theCountry Tavern Restaurant in Shreve-port. NWLCRA President, ChrisFielder, and Secretary-Treasurer, BillBurnside, hosted the meeting. Firstthe I-CAR class schedule (on theNWLCRA website Calendar page) forShreveport was discussed.

I-CAR courses will no longer beunder the “points” system; once astudent completes a course subjectsuccessfully, they will be creditedwith hours instead of points.

Burnside discussed the upcomingLouisiana Legislature that will con-vene in March and invited discussion

on how the Collision Industry can be-come more involved in the LouisianaLegislature. He suggested anyonewith ideas to promote involvementshould come to the next meeting.Some discussions have mentioned apossible Auto Collision ad hoc com-mittee.

The new Snapshot Discount de-vice, which is an Event Data Recorder(EDR) aka “Black Box,” that Progres-sive insurance has introduced was dis-cussed (see sidebar).

The EDR is placed in an in-sured’s vehicle and information isrecorded. Data regarding speed, brak-ing, sudden stops, etc. are then sent tothe insurance company. The insured is

given a reduction in insurance pre-mium and a reduction in their de-ductible for their participation in thisprogram.

This technology has the ability toaffect a claim. For example, EDR in-formation was used to reconstruct anaccident in which a driver claimed tohave hit a deer.

The change in velocity recordedby the EDR clearly showed a collisionwith a fixed object, not a deer. It waslater determined the driver hit a con-crete barrier.

Bill also discussed the changes tothe “Personal Protective Equipment”directive from OSHA. He said the di-rective has about 50 pages, and if any-

one is interested, they should contactBill for the website.

NWLCRA member Jerry Hartof Tri-State Coatings announced anupcoming class they are sponsoringcovering air bag light and sensors,anti-lock brake lights and tire pressuremonitor malfunctioning. This classwill be taught by Don Hawkins ofOTC Diagnostics. It is RSVP andseating is limited. Contact Tri-StateCoatings at (318) 219-8667 or 888-325-3705 Toll Free. It will be held onMarch 30, 2011 at the Sam’s TownHotel and Casino. For more informa-tion, see the NWLCRA Calendar.

Please visit www.nwlcra.org formore information.

Louisiana Collision Repair Association Talks I-CAR, EDRs, and OSHA

Progressive’s Snapshot EDRNow Available in 32 StatesProgressive Insurance company an-nouced details about their new pro-gram called the Snapshot Discount.The Snapshot Discount is a form ofPay-As-You-Drive insurance whichgives the clients an opportunity todiscount the rates of their car insur-ance assuming they display gooddriving habits. Progressive is the firstauto-insurance company to introducethis concept to the market.

The Snapshot Discount device isplaced in the On Board Diagnostic portusually found on the steering wheel. Itworks by tracking and analyzing theclient’s driving routines for a period ofsix months.

Then it calculates the total dis-count earned by the client. The EDRdevice does not record the where-abouts of the car, or, reportedly howfast the client drives. The device is notequipped with GPS system.

After a month with the SnapshotDiscount device, the client may seehow much they have earned by log-ging in to their policy. This is veryhelpful for it allows the client to mod-ify their driving routines to be able toearn more discounts. Given the effi-cient use of the Snapshot Discountdevice, the company proclaims that aclient can secure a maximum of 30 %of their policy.

“We believe Snapshot is a gamechanger-representing the future ofauto insurance as our mobile and in-terconnected world gives us the op-portunity to offer immediate andsubstantial savings to our customers,”the President and CEO of ProgressiveGlenn Renwick said. The SnapshotDiscount device is as of now onlyavailable in 32 states, but Progressivetells that more states would bereached within the year.


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The Alabama Senate has voted to setup a computer database that wouldallow county tag officials and law en-forcement to instantly check whether avehicle has liability insurance, accord-ing to reports by Insurance Journal.

The Senate voted 35-0 Wednes-day for a bill by Republican Sen.Arthur Orr of Decatur. It would re-quire insurance companies to provideelectronic data to the state RevenueDepartment about which vehicles haveliability insurance, which is mandatoryin Alabama. The information would becompiled in a database, and county tagofficials would verify that a vehicleowner had insurance before renewinga license plate. Police could also checkfor insurance after stopping a vehicle.

For Orr’s bill to take effect, itstill must be approved by the Houseand by the governor. Orr says his billis needed because national studies es-timate that one-fourth of Alabama’smotorists don’t carry insurance. .

Currently, motorists are sup-posed to be able to show proof of in-surance, and the Revenue Departmentrandomly selects motorists for peri-odic checks.

Orr said some people buy insur-ance long enough to get the proof ofinsurance they need to renew their tagand then cancel the policy.

AL Senate Approves AutoInsurance Verification Database

The first meeting for the 2011 AutoAngels was held February 22nd, inLakeland, Fl where local collisionindustry professionals came togetherto discuss plans for a repeat of lastyear’s highly publicized and suc-cessful benevolent car giveaway pro-gram.

Last year Auto Angels presentedfive nicely reconditioned automobilesto five very grateful recipients. “Theexperience was incredible for all in-volved and this year the goal is a loftyone whereas the intent is to bestow fif-teen reconditioned vehicles to localcommunity members. So far we havetwo vehicles and several more havebeen promised, but we need more.”states David Stewart; this year’sAuto Angels project Chairperson.

This year’s program will be heldunder the Polk County Chapter of theFlorida Autobody Collision Alliance(FACA) which is a not for profit or-ganization.

Barrett Smith of Auto DamageExperts, Auto Angel’s interimspokesperson states; “This may pro-vide the donors the opportunity to usetheir generosity as tax deductible con-tributions as well as to shield partici-pants from potential liabilities. This

will also enable the community, otherlocal repairers, sponsors and support-ers to become more familiar withFACA and help in promoting the as-sociation, the Auto Angels programand the participant’s businessesthrough their involvement.”

In attendance were:-Cherri Surrency of Regal Automo-tive Collision Center-Doc Jenkins of Jenkins LincolnMercury Collision Center-David Stewart of Stewart’s Auto-Sean Douglas of Douglas Collision-Ray Gunder of Gunder’s Auto Cen-ter-Michael Meisner of Meisner Paint& Body-Wayne Schumacher of Haines CityPaint & Body-Barrett Smith, Auto Damage Ex-perts, Inc.

Auto Angels is currently seekingparticipants, sponsors and donors tomake this year’s car give-away as suc-cessful as last year’s.

For more information on howyou may contribute your time, expe-rience and resources to the Auto An-gels Program please contact: DavidStewart @ 863-965-2030 or e-mail [email protected]

Auto Angels Revs-up for 2011 Car Give-Away Program

An Alabama House committee hasapproved a bill that would prohibitsending text messages on a cell phonewhile driving a motor vehicle, ac-cording to reports made by ClaimsJournal.

The House Public Safety andHomeland Security Committee ap-proved the bill by Republican Rep.Jim McClendon of Springville onMarch 11.

It would make it a traffic viola-tion to drive on a public highway orstreet while text messaging.

A driver would be fined $25 for afirst violation, $50 for a second viola-tion and $75 the third time a driver isstopped for texting while driving.

McClendon said texting is one ofthe most dangerous things someonecan do while driving.

The bill passed the committee ona voice vote. It now goes to the Housefor debate.

Alabama Texting Ban PassesHouse Committee

AutoBody America, based inNashville, Tenn., recently openedtheir 14th facility in Bryant, Ark, ac-cording to reports made by Collision-Hub.

The 17,000-square-foot shop isthe company’s second center in theLittle Rock, Ark., area and its 14thtotal. The new shop will provide col-lision repair services to Bryant, Ben-ton, Bauxite, Alexander and othernearby cities in the Little Rock area.

“Bryant was a natural fit as it isthe fastest growing city in Arkansas,”said Pat James, CEO of AutoBodyAmerica. “This should allow us toexpand more quickly into other un-derserved areas of Arkansas and en-able AutoBody America to be theprovider of choice throughout themid-south.”

AutoBody America is still look-ing for shops to acquire in Tennessee,Mississippi and Arkansas. AutoBodyAmerica is scheduled to open two ad-ditional stores in the first quarter of2011.

Interested owners can contact Jamesat [email protected]. Formore information on the company, go toautobodyamerica.com.

AutoBody America Opens 14thLocation in Arkansas

Some South Florida officials say it’sbecoming too costly to use automaticcameras to ticket drivers who run redlights, according to reports made byInsurance Journal.

They had hoped their cities wouldcollect millions of dollars in fines,thanks to the images captured by a net-work of cameras installed from Pem-broke Pines to Fort Lauderdale.

But an increasing number ofdrivers are fighting their tickets andwinning court rulings that limit lawenforcement.

Fort Lauderdale Police ChiefFrank Adderley said that means hisdepartment spends more time thanplanned reviewing tapes and prepar-ing evidence files for court.

Hallandale Beach Mayor JoyCooper said the legal issues will besorted out and the cameras will helpimprove safety.

But some communities such asBoca Raton and Delray Beach noware delaying installing the cameras.

Florida Officials Question Costof Red Light Cameras

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Agents in Georgia are urging theirrepresentatives to support a bill thatwould clarify the use of certificates ofinsurance issued to policyholders, ac-cording to reports made by InsuranceJournal.

Among other things, the billwould require certificate forms to befiled and approved by the insurancecommissioner.

The bill (House Bill 66) haspassed the Georgia House of Rep-resentatives with a vote of 157 to 1.HB 66, which has its origins in adirective from the state insurancedepartment who last January issueda directive on the use of certifi-cates.

The directive restated that cer-tificates are for information purposesonly and confer no rights on the cer-tificate holders outside the terms oftheir policies.

The directive also remindedagents and policyholders that the in-tentional misuse of certificates isagainst the law.

Under the insurance code, agentsand certificate holders could be ar-rested for fraud and faced penalties upto $10,000 and between two to tenyears in jail.

Agent groups have had long-standing problems with certificatesthat are often used to falsely showproof of coverage or amend the cov-erage to include provisions outside thecertificate holders’ policy.

HB 66 makes two substantivechanges to the law. First, it would re-quire certificate forms to be filed andapproved by the insurance commis-sioner.

The bill would give the commis-sioner the right to disapprove a form ifhe finds the form unjust or mislead-ing.

Second, it would require the cer-tificates to include a statement saying,“This certificate of insurance is issuedas a matter of information only andconfers no rights upon the certificateholder. The certificated does notamend, extend, or alter the coverage,terms, exclusions and conditions af-forded by the policies referencedherein.”

The bill also states that forms is-sued by the Association of Coopera-tive Operations Research or theInsurance Service Office are deemedto be approved by the commissioneras long as they comply with the otherchanges in the bill.

Certificate of Insurance Bill Makes Headway in GeorgiaBy GCIA/ASA

Legislation has been proposed in theGeorgia House of Representatives thatwould create a sales tax on many serv-ices of small businesses.

The bill, House Bill 385, ifpassed, would create a new sales taxon the labor costs on services per-formed by automotive repair facili-ties.

ASA opposes the proposed auto-motive repair tax, and calls on the as-sociation’s Georgia members tocontact their respective representa-tives in opposition to the legislation.

Sending a letter to your state leg-islators is easy; visit www.asashop.orgfor more information.

A summary of the bill can beseen below: (full text can be seen atwww.autobodynews.com)

“A Comprehensive Revision of Rev-enue Structure and Taxation

Bill #: HB385Year: 2011

Bill Summary: A bill to be entitled anAct to amend Titles 48, 2, 28, 33, 36,46, and 50 of the O.C.G.A., relating

respectively, to revenue and taxation,agriculture, the General Assembly, in-surance, local government, public util-ities, and state government, so as toprovide for comprehensive revision ofthe revenue structure of the State ofGeorgia; to implement the recom-mendations of the 2010 Special Coun-cil on Tax Reform and Fairness forGeorgians as provided for and re-quired by Chapter 12 of the Title 28 ofthe Official Code of Georgia Anno-tated; to provide for comprehensiverevision of personal income taxes; toredefine taxable net income; to pro-vide for a flat rate tax structure; toeliminate adjustments to income ex-cept for personal exemptions and stan-dard deductions and retirementincome exclusions; to repeal certainincome tax credits; to provide for pro-cedures, conditions, and limitations;to provide for comprehensive revisionof corporate income taxes; to reducethe rate of such income tax; to providefor procedures, conditions, and limi-tations; to revise and change certainadjustments to income; to repeal cer-tain income tax credits ...”

For more information please visitgacollisionindustry.wordpress.com orwww.asagashop.org.

Help ASA-GA and GCIA Defeat Georgia House Bill 385


SHOP & PRODUCTSHOP & PRODUCT SHOWCASE SHOWCASE

As almost every body shop managerin this country knows, waterbornepaint is a proven commodity in thecollision repair industry and shopsoutside of California are gradually butdecidedly heading in that direction. Asfederal regulations and air qualitymanagement agencies apply pres-sure designed to nudge more statestowards lower VOCs, some bodyshops in parts of the country will un-doubtedly resist change, while otherswill embrace it for its wide range ofbenefits.

Some multiple shop operatorsdoing business in California havebeen able to leverage their experi-ence in California to adopt water-borne elsewhere across the country.For example, Sterling Autobody Cen-ters announced last year that theyhave implemented waterborne net-work-wide, but that is not yet thenorm. So it’s interesting that a largeNew Jersey collision facility went towaterborne recently not because thelaws mandated the conversion, butbecause they wanted to take the highroad in being green and helping boththeir employees and the environment.

They’re hoping that it will lead tomore business, additional DRPs andan enhanced overall reputationthroughout their communityKeith Hol-loway is the body shop manager atDCH Brunswick Toyota Collision Cen-ter in Brunswick, New Jersey, wherehe oversees the operation of a 43,000square foot collision center and su-pervises 35 employees as they fix230-250 vehicles per month, he said.

After DCH Brunswick Toyota Col-lision Center’s contract with anotherpaint company’s solvent product lastyear, BASF’s eco-friendly Onyx HDwaterborne basecoat system won outover several competing paint lines.

“We did some extensive researchand BASF’s Onyx HD waterbornebasecoat had the best performanceand overall value for us. We tookpaint proposals from five differentvendors, but BASF stood out be-cause in the end they offered the bestproduct and service package. Wewent with BASF because we thoughtthey would help us grow, and we alsolearned that the Onyx HD waterbornebasecoat system is compliant with theEPA regulations and the laws that arecoming out in 2011 and 2012. Thatwas definitely something we wantedto work toward, so that’s why wesigned with the company.”

Holloway values BASF’s supportand education. “We’ve been very im-pressed by their service and follow-

through. We’re still testing our water-borne and tweaking the way we’reusing it, and BASF has been by ourside every step of the way. The paintis good, there’s no doubt. But what’sreally pleased us the most is the sup-port they’ve provided, especially fromour BASF Business DevelopmentManager Kent Leonard and TomSmetanka, our jobber with CentralPaint in Trenton, New Jersey.”

It wasn’t an easy conversionfrom solvent to waterborne, Hollowayadmitted, but in the end it’s payingoff. “We’re still in the process to de-termine how compatible our produc-tion process is with the BASFwaterborne product, and so far it’sdoing a very good job for us. It didtake us 6-8 weeks to get our staff upto speed with this product, and ourpainters did have to go to BASF’straining center in Maryland so theycould get acclimated to the productand learn all of the do’s and don’t’sof working with it.”

Learning BASF’s waterborne sys-tem wasn’t a no-brainer, Hollowaysaid. “It’s quite a bit different and thepainters have to slow down to taketheir time with this waterborne. Thepaint is not as fast-acting as solvent,and I’m not going to tell you that it waseasy. BASF has a great product andthe process of applying it took us awhile to get up to speed, but we’renow running very efficiently with thewaterborne product.”

The federal requirements aregoing to get tougher in March, be-cause certain high VOC products willbe banned from use in body shopsnationwide, Holloway explained. Painttechnicians are going to have to get

more certifications for completing theproper courses to satisfy the federalmandates.

“Body shops nationwide will haveto go through EPA inspections toshow that what we’re sending out intothe air is not going to hurt the envi-ronment,” Holloway said. “Theprocess started one-and-a-half yearsago when the EPA started sendingout notices and informing shops thatthat things were going to start chang-ing this March, little by little.”The statelaws in New Jersey aren’t mandatingthe use of waterborne paint (yet), butHolloway is already reading the writ-ing, or painting in this case, on thewall.

“They’re not forcing shops to do ityet, but we want to be ahead of thegame when it goes into effect in 2012.We want to be an innovator in this in-dustry and be able to offer the publicand the insurance companies some-thing many shops can’t offer themright now, which is the benefits of wa-terborne paint. Going green and giv-ing something back to help the planet;those are things we want to be in-volved in.”

Has Holloway seen evidence thatconverting to BASF waterborne willeventually help the bottom line atDCH Brunswick, Toyota? “The wordis definitely out that we’re now offeringsomething different, which positionsus in a better light with consumers.We feature it in our advertising, butpeople in this area don’t really under-stand it completely yet. It’s about ed-ucating everyone about this product.Once they know the all the benefits ofwaterborne, it will gain momentumhere, I believe.”

The DCH Collision Center has reportedtop-notch color matching since they adoptedBASF’s ecofriendly Onyx HD waterbornebasecoat system

DCH Toyota BrunswickCollision CenterLocation: North Brunswick, NJ

Telephone: 888-512-7805www.dchbrunswicktoyota.com

Company At A Glance...

Type: Collision Repair

Facility Employees: 35

In Business Since: 2000

DRP Programs: Two

Number of Locations: One

Combined Production Space:43,000 square feet

BASFCompany Contact: David BrezStrategic Initiatives ManagerPhone: 951-315-1395 (Mobile)email: [email protected]: www.basfrefinish.com

Keith Holloway, the new body shop manager at DCH Collision Center in Brunswick, NJ, was onthe team that converted his shop to BASF’s eco-friendly Onyx HD waterborne basecoat system

Switching to BASF Waterborne for the GreenReasons

The DCH Collision Center paints 230-250vehicles during an average month

by Ed Attanasio

Georgia Insurance CommissionerJohn Oxendine issued himself sev-eral licenses to sell insurance and ad-just claims in his last full day inoffice, according to Insurance Jour-nal.

Oxendine used his authority asthe state’s top insurance regulator towaive requirements to take mandatoryclasses or licensing tests that apply toother Georgians seeking to sell insur-ance.

Oxendine, a Re-publican who leftoffice in Januaryafter 16 years, saidhe decided againstthe tests becausehe didn’t want tobe a distraction toother applicants.

He also said he had enough experi-ence regulating the industry and help-ing to write insurance law to qualifyfor the licenses.

“If 16 years doesn’t give you a lit-tle bit of insurance experience, I don’tknow what does,” Oxendine said. “Ithink that’s (worth) a little bit more

than taking a test and taking a class.”But state lawmakers said the for-

mer commissioner abused his power.And his successor, Republican RalphHudgens, said Oxendine appeared tohave ignored the advice of the office’sstaff when he issued himself the li-censes.

“We can’t write regulations thatprohibit bad judgment,” he said. “Ithink this was very, very bad judg-ment.”

A local newspaper reported thelicenses were issued Sunday, Jan. 9 —the day before Hudgens took office.

Oxendine said he doesn’t plan tosell insurance, although he registereda company called Oxendine InsuranceServices with the state days after hegave himself the licenses.

He said he wanted them “out ofan abundance of caution” because hislaw practice sometimes involves in-surance law.

Hudgens’ office said an applicantwould have been required to complete80 hours of classes and pass severaltests to get the licenses Oxendine re-ceived.

Oxendine was elected in 1994and easily won re-election three timesbefore deciding in 2009 to seek theGOP nomination for governor.

He finished a surprising fourth inthe Republican primary after initiallyleading in the polls.

Key state lawmakers said theywere disappointed by the news. StateSen. George Hooks, a Democrat whoowns an insurance agency in Ameri-cus, said Oxendine should have gonethrough the same testing everyoneelse did.

“I think it smacks of favoritism,”he said. “And if I were the current in-surance commissioner, I would lookat it very carefully.”

State Rep. Bill Hembree, aDouglas County Republican whohas worked in insurance for 15years, said lawmakers should con-sider legislation that bars the com-missioner from waiving educationand testing requirements for appli-cants.

Hembree called it “an abuse ofpower that obviously shouldn’t havehappened.”


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The Georgia House has unani-mously approved legislation to pro-hibit state insurance commissionersfrom granting themselves insurancelicenses without passing mandatorytests, according to reports made byInsurance Journal.

The measure came after The At-lanta Journal-Constitution reportedthat outgoing Insurance Commis-sioner John Oxendine awardedhimself several licenses the day be-fore he left office in January.

The Republican used an insur-ance agency rule to exempt himselffrom mandatory education and test-ing requirements.

The bill’s sponsor, state Rep.Bill Hembree said that underminespublic trust in elected officials.

Oxendine’s successor, RalphHudgens, says he doesn’t have thepower to revoke the licenses.

Oxendine unsuccessfully soughtthe GOP nomination for governorlast year.

Georgia House BacksProposed ‘Oxendine Bill’to Ban Self-Licensing byOfficials

John Oxendine


Insurance companies are taking to theInternet to combat auto insurancefraud in Florida, according to Insur-ance Journal.

The Property Casualty InsurersAssociation of American has launchedwww.InsuranceFraudUncovered.com,a Web site designed to highlightFlorida’s problems with auto personalinjury protection — or PIP– fraud anddraw attention the legislative move-ment to address the issue.

Flanked by representatives of theAssociated Industries of Florida andthe Florida Chamber of Commerce,William Stander, PCI assistant vicepresident and regional manager forFlorida, said it is time the public be-came aware of the cost of PIP fraud.

“Floridians need to know that ourstate, unfortunately, continues to havethe highest number of questionable, or‘staged’ accidents of any other state inthe country,” Stander said, citing sta-tistics that show four of the 10 U.S.cities with the highest rates of ques-tionable claims are Miami, Tampa,Orlando and Hialeah.

He said that Florida motorists

pay the second highest auto liabilityinsurance premiums in the nation. The2008 average annual liability pre-mium is $736, which is 56 percenthigher than the national mean of $471.

Stander laid out six possible re-forms for consideration in the state’slegislative session, which convenesMarch 8. Both the Senate Bankingand Insurance Committee and theHouse Subcommittee on Insuranceand Banking have bills waiting to beheard in their docket.

The reforms include the follow-ing:

* Examinations Under Oath: Allowauthorities to investigate claims usinga procedure called Examination UnderOath whereby penalties could belevied against a claimant found tohave lied under oath.

* Independent Medical Examina-tions: Under current law, an insurercan conduct an independent medicalexam to determine the extent of theclaimant’s injuries. If an insured isparticipating in a staged accident or isfollowing directions from a dishonestlawyer or clinic the insured often

misses these appointment. A court de-cision ruled that an insured and theirlawyer can keep making excuses formissing the appointments. PCI is pro-posing that a refusal to submit to anexam is a rebuttable presumption thatthe failure was unreasonable.

* Arbitration: PCI is advocating thatPIP claims can undergo arbitrationwhile preserving both parties’ abilityto go to court.

* PIP Lawyer Fees: Florida law re-quires an insurer to pay its own andthe insured’s lawyers’ fees if the in-surer loses in court. As a result, insur-ers often settle even suspicious claimsrather than drive up costs. PCI wantsto cap lawyers fees in PIP cases to apercentage of benefits similar to a feeschedule introduced into the workers’comp system in 2003.

* PIP Lawyer Fee Multiplier: Undercurrent law, PIP attorneys can earnhourly fees and a “contingency riskmultiplier.” It can multiply up to two-and-a-half times the amount a PIPlawyer can earn. PCI says it encour-ages litigation and should be removedfrom the law.

* Supporting and Expanding Inves-tigating and Prosecution of Fraud: Theproposal calls for more resources to bedevoted to investigating claims andthat the state require that more infor-mation be gathered about individualsinvolved in an accident.

PCI is composed of 1,000 com-panies that write $174 billion in pre-miums. Member companies represent43.1 percent of the U.S. auto market.

Florida CFO Jeff Atwater, whooversees the Department of FinancialServices and the department’s Divi-sion of Insurance Fraud , has created aPIP fraud squads in Tampa to combatthe growing number of staged acci-dents and fraudulent auto insuranceclaims. In 2009, Tampa experienced a290-percent increase in questionableclaims related to staged accidents.

CFO Atwater is also recommend-ing legislation involving strengthen-ing billing practices so onlyappropriate services rendered are cov-ered, creating civil penalties so pro-ceeds can be used to fund additionalanti-fraud efforts and tightening re-quirements for clinic ownership.

Florida Insurers, Businesses Take Aim at PIP Fraud

Groupon, the ‘group coupon’ sitewhere businesses submit daily dealsfor Groupon to market to their largesubscriber base, has had lots of recentsuccess with body shop deals.

Groupon allows businesses tosubmit a coupon deal to their websitethen, if approved, the coupon goes upon the local branch of Groupon’s web-site. If the deal is bought by enoughpeople on that day, then the deal be-comes available to all; if not, no onegets the deal that day.

The body shop does not pay anyupfront costs to have a Groupon,rather the company takes a percentageof each coupon the body shop sells ontheir website.

“Our services have really expandedbecause of our popularity and attrac-tiveness,” Chad Nason, Groupon’sSpokesperson told Autobody News.

Body shops have found it prof-itable to use Groupon to market gen-eral maintenance type services tocustomers. This way they get new cus-tomers in the door, show them thevalue of their services and hopefullycreate some repeat customers, saidNason.

Some of these body shops areseeing the oil and filter changecoupons as a step in the door for newcustomers and hopefully, their even-tual collision business. Getting cus-tomers in for general maintenance willhelp them to remember your namewhen they do need collision workdone, said Nason.

“You’re looking at something (acollision) that people aren’t planningon, so it’s a little tougher [to market],”said Nason, but he maintains thatshops have found that using Grouponto advertise general maintenance canleave a lasting impression for future,unplanned work ahead.Nason also said that Groupon is be-coming a popular marketing tool be-cause local businesses can tap intoGroupon’s large subscriber base,

which is broken down into region-spe-cific websites each with their owndeals.

Great Bear Auto Repair andAuto Body Shop in Flushing Queens,New York, ran a deal with Groupon inDecember of 2010. Owner AudraFordin was admittedly skepticalabout running the deal; she wanted torun a deal that wouldn’t overwhelmher business and had a higher pricepoint.

“It was awesome. They wereawesome; they walked me throughit step by step and helped me createa custom deal that would attractcustomers and be realistic for mybusiness,” Fordin told AutobodyNews.

The deal was for an oil change,tire rotation and charging systemsanalysis. Audra said she was ex-tremely happy with the results and iseager to run another deal withGroupon, probably this spring. Shesaid that the customers who have re-deemed were all first time customersand she already has their repeat busi-ness.

“I will do it again without adoubt, it brought in new customersand they weren’t your typicalcoupon-cutters just trying to get adeal, they were people truly inter-ested in taking care of their cars,”said Fordin.

Glenville Terrace Auto Body inAllston, Massachussetts, ran a dealwith Groupon in June of 2010. OwnerBarry Hynes was also extremelypleased with the results of hisGroupon deal.

“It went really well, we were told


Groupon Succeeds in Helping Body Shops Reach Out to New Local Customers

See Groupon Helps, Page 14

Great Bear Auto Repair in Queens saw a lot ofnew customers after their Groupon ran


The Florida lemon law requires themanufacturer to repurchase or re-place the Florida lemon vehicle if themanufacturer or its authorized serv-ice agent has failed to conform themotor vehicle to its warranty by re-pairing or correcting any nonconfor-mity after a reasonable number ofattempts. Under the Florida’s lemonlaw, dealers are not liable for the re-purchase of the Florida lemon vehi-cles.

The Attorney General of the Stateof Florida requires the manufacturerto disclose the status of the floridalemon law buy back if he sells it to anew purchaser.

A nonconformity is defined as adefect or condition that substantiallyimpairs the use, value or safety of amotor vehicle and it does not includea defect or condition that results froman accident, abuse, neglect, modifica-tion, or alteration by persons otherthan the manufacturer or its author-ized service agent.

The manufacturer who acceptsthe return of a motor vehicle by rea-son of a settlement, determination or

decision pursuant to the Florida lemonlaw claim:* Shall notify the Department ofLegal Affairs and report the vehicleidentification number (VIN) of theFlorida lemon law buy back within 10days after such acceptance* Shall not knowingly lease, sell atwholesale or retail, or transfer a titleto the Florida lemon law buy backwithin the state or outside it, unlessthe nature of the nonconformity isclearly and conspicuously disclosed tothe prospective transferee, lessee, orbuyer of the Florida lemon law buyback. If the manufacturer sells theFlorida lemon law buy back at whole-sale or retail, or transfers a title to abuyer:* He should warrant to correct thenonconformity of the said Floridalemon law buy back for a term of oneyear or 12,000 miles, whichever oc-curs first* The Department of Legal Affairsshall prescribe by rule the form, con-tent and procedure pertaining to sucha disclosure statement on the Floridalemon law buy back

* Florida Administrative Code Rule 2-33 adopts the disclosure form to beused by manufacturers to notify theDepartment of Legal Affairs of the ac-quisition and transfer of the Floridalemon law buy backs* The form must remain with theFlorida lemon law buy back until it issold or leased to a consumer* The buyer of the Florida lemon lawbuy back must sign the form and theseller must give a copy to the buyerand send a copy to the Department ofLegal AffairsTitle branding of theFlorida lemon law buy back: Noncon-forming vehicles that were repur-chased by a manufacturer pursuant toa settlement, determination, or deci-sion under the Florida lemon law:* May not be knowingly offered forsale until the vehicle’s certificate oftitle, or its duplicate is conspicuouslystamped with the words “Manufac-turer’s Buy Back” to reflect that thevehicle is a nonconforming vehicle* Should be followed by seller disclo-sures in writing to the purchaser, cus-tomer, or transferee, prior to sale, thefact that the vehicle is a nonconform-ing vehicle

Any person offering for sale orexchange a Florida lemon law buy

back and knowingly or intentionallyadvertises, publishes, or disseminates,circulates, or places before the publicin any communication’s medium,whether directly or indirectly shallclearly and precisely state in eachoffer that the vehicle is a noncon-forming vehicle.* In Florida, manufacturers are re-quired to give consumers of theFlorida lemon law buy backs a 12month/12,000 mile warranty coveringthe same nonconformity that is reac-quired under the Florida lemon law* If the consumers of these Floridalemon law buy backs are not gettingthe required disclosure it is apparentthat that they also are not receiving therequired warranty coverage for theseFlorida lemon law buy backs

The Florida lemon law is not theonly remedy for your Florida lemonlaw buy back. While the Florida lemonlaw is available for protection withyour buy back you also have otherremedies. One of them is the federallaw, the most notable Magnuson-MossWarranty Act. You may have been avictim of unfair or deceptive tradepractices. You may be entitled to dam-ages separate and apart from those de-fined in the Florida lemon law.

Florida’s Lemon Law—The Florida Lemon Vehicle Buybacks and Seller Disclosures

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February alone, sales rose 32 percentover the year-ago period.

As for Alabama-built vehicles,Honda’s Pilot SUV, for example, reg-istered February sales of 8,224, a 23percent improvement over the previ-ous year.

Also last month, Mercedes-Benzsold 1,924 M-Class SUVs, a 16 per-cent rise over February 2010.

Among Alabama’s automakers,Mercedes-Benz and Honda, alongwith their suppliers, have the most tolose in a prolonged period of soaringgas prices.

Along with the M-Class, Mer-cedes’ Vance plant builds the GL-Class full-sized SUV and the R-Classcrossover, while Honda’s Lincolnfactory assembles the Odyssey mini-van and Ridgeline pickup next to thePilot.

Meanwhile, Hyundai’s Mont-gomery operations shouldn’t be af-fected and could benefit from acontinued surge in gas prices. Thefactory now produces only cars—theSonata sedan and the Elantra compactsedan—after moving production of

the Santa Fe SUV to Georgia lastyear.

For the luxury models built byMercedes-Benz, gas prices aren’t asmuch of a factor in buying deci-sions as they are with more eco-nomical models. But they still playa role.

The M-Class has a city/highwayfuel economy rating of 16/20 milesper gallon, while a hybrid version ofthe SUV achieves 20/24 miles pergallon.

Honda says Pilot sales have re-mained steady and should continue todo so, even with an uptick in gasprices.

Vehicles like it provide spaceand utility that some drivers can’t dowithout, said company spokesmanChris Martin.

“They have to live their lives,they have to carry cargo and theyhave to carry their family,” he said.

At the same time, the Pilot is amore fuel efficient alternative thansome larger SUVs, Martin said.The Pilot’s city/highway fuel econ-omy rating is 17/23 miles per gal-lon.

“I think most consumers in theU.S. do associate the Honda brandwith fuel economy,” he said.

Continued from Page 4

AL SUVs

it was going to be busy and we didn’treally take it that seriously and boywere we sorry,” said Hynes, “We def-initely should have prepared for therush more.”

Hynes said that not only did itbring in new customers, but they be-came repeat customers and were ex-actly the clientele Hynes was lookingfor.

“The idea was to get new cus-tomers in, and it did just that. Thesewere the kind of customers we werelooking for ... ones that really takecare of their vehicles.”

Hynes said he would do anotherGroupon again in the future if he wasnot so busy already. He did have oneword of caution for shops considering

using Groupon inthe future.

“I would adviseany shop that’sgoing to do it to re-ally prepare for it.On the day the ac-tual Groupon goeslive online havepeople ready to an-swer calls becausepeople call in to askquestions about thedeal. Also be pre-pared for the rushthe next day whenpeople come in to

use the coupon—definitely scheduleappointments if you can.”

To learn more about running aGroupon for your business visit:www.GrouponWorks.com

Great Bear Auto Repair andAuto Body Shop164-16 Sanford AvenueFlushing, NY 11358718-762-6212

Glenville Terrace Auto Body10 Glenville TerraceAllston, MA 02134617-783-1515


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Groupon Helps

Employees at Glenville Terrace Auto Body in MA were surprised athow much interest their Groupon generated

Dallas Repairer Donatesto Local High SchoolsHerb’s Paint and Body, whichruns seven shops in the Dallasarea, recently donated three $250checks to local high school pro-grams.

Herb’s opened a new location inAllen, TX, in February of this yearand according to Body Shop Man-ager Alan Walne.

“We wanted to participated insomething that gives back to the localcommunity in kicking off our new lo-cation,” said Walne.

The checks went to Allen HighSchool’s After Prom Program, theLovejoy High School After Prom pro-gram and McKinney High School’sProject Graduation.

The shop also committed to do-nating 5 percent ($100 maximum) ofa customer’s repair cost to any of theprograms through June 1.

Customers have to present doc-umentation from the schools to re-deem the donation.

Herb’s Paint and Body is afamily owned company founded in1956.

For more information on the busi-ness, go to herbspaintandbody.com.

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SHOP & PRODUCTSHOP & PRODUCT SHOWCASE SHOWCASE

When most of us think about hail, wethink of stormy weather. But in partsof the country, hail means big moneyfor body shops. When hail-proneplaces like Northern Texas, Okla-homa, Nebraska, Kansas, Arkansasand Alabama, get grapefruit-sized orpebble-sized hailstones it can quicklychange peoples’ lives. And it hap-pens every year during hail season,which normally starts in March andcan run all the way through October.

Park Place Bodywerks in Dallas,Texas and a growing enterprisecalled Global Paintless Dent Repair(PDR) Solutions (GPS) have a“stormy relationship” that is bothprofitable and beneficial for both par-ties.

According to Eric McKenzie, 36,the body shop director at Park PlaceBodywerks, his shop did $1.8 millionmonthly in revenues without the as-sistance of any DRP’s. About 98% ofthe 500 cars that Park Place Bodyw-erks repairs every month are high-end luxury brands that the companysells through its 12 dealerships lo-cated in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metro-plex, McKenzie said.

The handful of nameplates soldand serviced by Park Place Motorsreads like the best-of-the-best, in-cluding Mercedes-Benz, Lexus,Porsche, Volvo, Jaguar, Bentley,Maserati, Rolls Royce, McLaren(when it hits the U.S. in June of thisyear), Smart Cars and an occasionalMaybach.

GPS was founded eight yearsago, when three different PDR com-panies with more than 45 years in-dustry experience joined forces.After seeing drastic changes withinthe world of PDR and realizing thatthe specialty was experiencing adrop in quality and customer service,these visionaries decided to takePDR to the next level. The movepaid off because, in just a short time,GPS had seen an astronomicalspike in market share and growth,according to company representa-tives.

McKenzie initially found outabout GPS by working with one ofits eventual owners, Scott Dietz,more than nine years ago, he ex-plained. “We had a major hailstorm in 2003 where approximately100,000 cars were reportedly dam-aged in this area. I was an assis-tant manager at another luxurybrand dealership at that time andsome of that company’s largerDRPs wanted us to try some oftheir approved vendors for PDR,

because this particular hail stormwas so big. So we brought in a fewcompanies and gave them a shot,but they basically didn’t do a verygood job. There were some issueswith quality, timeliness and thetechs weren’t available to us all thetime. They would show up on Mon-day, and then leave Thursday af-ternoon, and then we wouldn’t seethem again until Tuesday morning,with cars stacked up out thedoors.”

With these high-end luxury cars,customer service needs to be notjust satisfactory but exemplary dayafter day, McKenzie stressed. “If ourvendor isn’t providing top service,then we logically can’t pass it on toour customers, so it was a struggleto us. With some shops, maybethat’s okay, but with us, it has to beperfect. We gave three or four ofthese companies a shot, all referredby our DRPs, and we couldn’t rely onany of them.”

That’s when McKenzie first metScott Dietz. “Scott became our go-toguy in ’03, because he was so reli-able; his work was quick, accurateand phenomenal,” McKenzie said.“He was with us through October thatyear and we were obviously very im-pressed. He even came back whenstragglers came through, right upuntil the end of the year. After thatstorm, Scott and his partners startedGPS and when I came to Park Place,one of the first things I did was hirethem.

“These techs who really knowhow to do PDR at a high level aretruly craftsmen. When it’s not done

properly, the telltale sign is that youcan still see the dent. The marksfrom pushing on the dent are appar-ent when it’s not done correctly. Youcan either see traces of the dent orin massaging the area they push toohard and can actually push it past thedent and make tool marks. Or theyget into the headliner and damage itor mess up the electrical. We wereexperiencing a litany of these prob-lems until we contracted with GPS.Getting half of the dents out of a ve-hicle just doesn’t make it, especiallywhen you’re working on a RollsRoyce, for example.

Turning the vehicles in and outquickly is a major factor when PDRis performed, especially when thestorms are more serious, McKenziesaid. “With our previous PDR ven-dors, it would typically take 2-4 daysor longer to get the job done. But,with GPS it’s always two days max,with more accuracy and a better joboverall.”

During the larger storms, PDRmeans decent revenue for ParkPlace, McKenzie said. “GPS givesus a healthy percentage of each job,so yes—it definitely makes financialsense for us to work with them. Pro-viding top quality is our first priority,but to make some money along theway is a major bonus.”

McKenzie is not afraid to tellother body shop owners about GPS,he said. “Their quality is excellentand we’ve recommended GPS toseveral shops. I’m in a 20 Group andI’ve recommended them across thecountry and they’re pleased withthem as well.”

Park Place Bodywerks did $1.8 million permonth last year in revenues fixing an averageof 500 cars per month at $3,800

Park Place BodywerksLocation: Dallas, TX

Telephone: 214-443-8250www.parkplace.com

Company At A Glance...

Type: Collision Repair

Facility Employees: 70

In Business Since: 1987

DRP Programs: Zero

Number of Locations: One

Combined Production Space:

87,000 square feet

Global PDRCompany Contact: Bob LombardAddress: 5505 West KelloggWichita, KS 67209Phone: (877) GLBL-PDRemail: [email protected]: www.globalpdr.com

Park Place Bodywerks works on most of the top brands, including Rolls Royce. The quality of theirPDR must be exemplary each and every time

Global PDR Solutions & Park Place BodywerksHail the Hail

Park Place’s Body Shop Director Eric McKenziehas an ongoing relationship with Global PDRSolutions to provide his customers with high-end paintless dent repairs and book revenuewhen the hail storms hit

by Ed Attanasio


www.autobodynews.comwww.autobodynews.com

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Autobody News April 2011

Automobiles today are sophisticatedand are controlled by a series of in-ternal computer systems, whichmeans the diagnostics require specificsoftware and hardware.

On top of that the basic serviceenvironments have not changed. Theyare still fraught with grime and po-tential hazards that could damage thediagnostic equipment. We now needdigital diagnostics equipment thatwill withstand these normal dailyservice bay environmental issues andtoday ruggedized notebook comput-ers fill that bill very well.

That is one of the reasons WadeFord of Atlanta, Georgia decided toswitch from PDAs to ruggedized lap-tops for diagnostic and reprogram-ming purposes.

Ford no longer supported thePDA application, so Wade needednew durable notebooks to connect to

the cars. “The reason we needed a rugged

notebook was because of the environ-ment they are used in—where thetechnicians are using them is an openenvironment. They really just need tobe able to be bumped around and notgo down,” said Dave Tackett, Con-troller of Wade Ford.

Initially, the only solution Fordprovided was Panasonic Toughbooks.Despite Toughbook’s excellent repu-tation, Wade Ford felt that the prod-uct was too pricey for them.

So Tackett researched alterna-tives online and talked to others in thefield before finding the Eagle ruggedseries from a 10-year old establishedprovider of rugged portable devicescalled Rugged Notebooks.com.

“I knew there had to be otherrugged notebooks out there besidesthe Toughbook. I had heard of Dell

having one, but again it was too ex-pensive. Rugged Notebooks’ Eaglepretty much fit the bill for what Ineeded. For the price of one Tough-book, I could get two Eagles!”

Of course ruggedness and pricewere important factors in WadeFord’s decision to choose an alterna-tive solution, but the ability to runFord’s proprietary software programwas also a primary concern.

With Rugged Notebooks Eagle,the technicians were able to easily in-stall the software, and Tackett simplymade sure it was connected to theirin-house system.

“We have to connect two vehi-cles through a Ford proprietary linkand all the diagnostics, all the repro-gramming, goes through that connec-tivity. So we had to have a laptop tomake the connection, but a regularlaptop wasn’t going to work because

the technician transfers data around.” Tackett said there are 4000 Ford

dealers in the U.S. and all using thesame application. He recommendsthat all of them consider switching tothe Eagle as a lower cost rugged so-lution.

“The price-point was the biggestdeal, and the fact that it was rugged.The only extra thing I purchased wasthe touch screens, which the techni-cians really seemed to like,” ex-plained Tackett. “They like thembecause the screens are quite a bit big-ger than they were on the Toughbooksthat Ford was suggesting.”

But here is the real bottom line.When asked how the Rugged Note-book Eagle laptops have improved hisefficiency, Tackett had this to say, “Ifwe don’t have them, we can’t dowork. That’s just about as simple as itgets.”

Wade Ford Atlanta Chooses an Alternative Diagnostic Solution

New Version of ALLDATA Manage 4.9 Enhances Electronic Parts OrderingWith Additional Selection of Parts SuppliersALLDATA LLC, the leading providerof vehicle manufacturers’ service andrepair information for professional re-pair shops, now integrates with Autoito make its online parts catalog avail-able to subscribers of ALLDATAManage 4.9, shop management soft-ware designed for owners and man-agers of independent repair shops.

The integration of Autoi andALLDATA Manage provides repairshops with online access to electronicparts ordering catalogs through

Autoi’s parts suppliers.Autoi offers ALLDATA Manage

subscribers additional options to effi-

ciently manage their businesses andsubmit parts orders online directlythrough its shop management software.

“Autoi’s electronic parts orderinginterface in ALLDATA Manage offerscustomers additional options when or-

dering parts online.The Autoi suppliernetwork enablessubscribers to effi-ciently manage day-to-day parts orderingthrough ALLDATA

Manage,” says Senior Product Mar-keting Manager, Diane Horne.

“ALLDATA is committed to pro-

viding shop management software tomeet the needs of its customers byproviding a selection of electronicparts catalogs. ALLDATA Manage 4.9and Autoi’s parts ordering interfaceimproves business efficiencies and or-dering accuracy, resulting in ALL-DATA’s customers’ ability to betterrun their business,” says Diane Horne.

For more information on ALL-DATA and ALLDATA Manage 4.9,visit www.alldata.com/manage or call800-697-2533.

ABRA Auto Body & Glass, basedin Minneapolis, announced thatJim Richardson has been namedVice President of ABRA Glass.Richardson will play an instrumen-tal role in meeting growth objec-

tives in the auto glass division.Richardson was most recently

employed with PPG Industries. Dur-ing his tenure with PPG he served asDirector of Sales, Director of AlliancePrograms and Business Development

and most recently, Segment Managerin their Architectural Coatings Divi-sion where he was responsible forstrategic planning, revenue contribu-tion and resource utilization manage-ment.

“Jim will fill a key strategic po-sition for ABRA. His depth of knowl-edge... and experience as a Six SigmaBlack Belt will be a positive contribu-tion,” said Scott Krohn, ABRA’s Ex-ecutive Vice President of Operations.

ABRA Auto Body & Glass Announces New VP of Auto Glass Division


Before my father passed away wespent several years under the hood ofcars working together at my shop. Hewas an old school repair guy. Alwayslooking out for the customer, andwanting to do that little bit extra forthem. You know, adjust that crookedlicense plate, grease the door hingesbefore they pulled away from theshop, that kind of thing.

I usually did the diagnostic work,and he would stick with the mechan-ical repairs. But most of the time hisfavorite thing to do was to entertainthe customer while I figured out theproblem.

The one thing that would givehim fits was the way a customerwould react after I diagnosed theproblem, especially if I diagnosed itquickly.

A quick diagnostic might be finefor some people, but others it wasmore of a matter of pride that their

“regular” mechanic hadn’t found it soquickly, or that the customer them-selves didn’t find it so easily. It did-n’t set well with them.

I got the impression that a quickdiagnosis led to some sort of mistrustwith my abilities, or that I didn’t thor-oughly examine the problem to theirsatisfaction. A lot of times it had moreto do with the previous techniciantaking so much time and not comingup with an answer, so they think itcan’t be that simple.

Dad had his own answer for it.He was going to get one of those alu-minum foil fire suits, a couple of tallcurtains on moveable stands, a discoball, and some strobe lights. His ideawas to pull the car into this “special”diagnostic area turn on the strobelights and hang the disco ball over thecar. Stick the suit on and make somecomment like, “I’m going in…” andthen let the light show begin. After a

few minutes, come out from behindthe curtain wall, whip off the alu-minum fire suit hood and say some-thing like, “Whoo that was a toughone.” Maybe then, these types of peo-ple would be more likely to believethe results of a quick diagnosis.

We never tried it, but I thinkabout doing it from time to time.With the advent of the scanners toread and show detailed parameters di-agnosing has taken on a whole newapproach.

A lot of problems are a matter offollowing the diagnostic tree correctlyto get to the source of the problem.(Codes don’t fix cars… codes are thestarting point) Sometimes it’s a quicktrip on the diagnostic ladder, andother times it’s quite lengthy. It reallydepends on the problem, of course.

Trying to be quick and on theright track with every diagnosis iswhat makes the money in the shop.

Stalling the results just for the sake ofmaking it look like it was an exten-sive search to find the problem does-n’t make a lot of sense to me.

Then on the other hand, I some-times believe this is one of the manyreasons why a doctor has you wait solong for his 10 minutes of time. Eventhough he may have walked into theexam room, looked at the chart, tooksome quick looks at you, and back outof the exam room in less than 10 min-utes, I’ll guarantee his bill isn’t goingto show a 10 minute charge on it.But, in my business, time is money…and most customers are watching theclock.

Back in the days when my fatherand I worked together, he came acrossan old Bosch injector tester for theearly K and L injection systems. Theold tester was done for. Not only wasit dated, it had several missing con-

A Quick Diagnostic Can Seem too Good to be True

See Quick Diagnostic, Page 21

with Rick WhiteShop Management

with Stefan GesterkampPaint Management

with Gonzo WeaverGonzo’s Toolbox

with Richard ArnoldJobber Journal

with Dale DelmegeAsk Dale

Mainstream Media

Automakers’ Actions and Analysisby Autobody News Staff

Shop Showcaseby Autobody News Staff

with Ed AttanasioShop and Product Showcase

with Ed AttanasioConsumer Callout

with Walter DanalevichShop Strategies for Savings

with The Insurance InsiderInside Insurance

with Ed AttanasioCustom Corner

with Chasidy Rae SiskCompany Connections

with Chasidy Rae SiskNortheast News

with Chasidy Rae SiskShop Showcase

with Erica SchroederShop Showcase

with Erica SchroederShop Snapshot

This is a new story by Scott “Gonzo” Weaver as posted on his website,www.gonzostoolbox.com. See his book “Hey Look! I Found The LooseNut”, which provides a Good Laugh for Mechanics of Any Age. The bookis available at amazon.com. Contact Gonzo at [email protected]

Hey Toby—Is it true that the fine forusing an illegal air blower is $5000 inCalifornia?

—Jeff from San Francisco

Hey Jeff—I checked with CALOSHA and they confirmed that finecould be up $7000 for using an ille-gal air blower. With the poor eco-nomic conditions that exist today instate finances, more and more regula-tory agencies are now becoming rev-enue generators. Here in California,Governor Brown has stated that therewill be no new taxes (unless approvedby the electorate and that has about asmuch chance of happening as a snowball fight in Hell.)

On January 6th of this year, traf-fic fines went way up. For example,using a hand-held cell phone whiledriving, first offense: $148. Parkingin a handicap zone: $976 for first of-fense and $1876 for a second offense,

and $436 for failing to stop at a stopsign—the list goes on.

I have been taking a 40-hour online OSHA course and I have beenchecking for OSHA violations in bodyshops as I conduct I-CAR training onsite. What I have seen is unbelievable.


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A bill designed to force compliancewith Mississippi mandatory insurancelaws passed this month in the Senate,and was among several proposals fac-ing a legislative deadline, accordingto reports made by Insurance Jour-nal.

The bill would allow the stateDepartment of Public Safety, the De-partment of Revenue and the Insur-ance Department to work on a newprogram that would use computertechnology to verify liability insur-ance coverage.

Under the bill, uninsured driverscould face various penalties, includ-ing a suspended driver’s license anda fine of up to $500. The bill alsogives tax assessors and tax collectorsthe authority to deny vehicle licenseplates tags to motorists who aren’t in-sured.

“There’s now the technologythat allows instant verification whenwe can interface with insurance com-panies,” said Senate Insurance Com-mittee Chairman Eugene “Buck”Clarke, R-Hollandale.

The measure, which moves backto the House for more work, survivedMarch’s legislative deadline for flooraction on general bills and constitu-tional amendments that alreadypassed the opposite chamber.

Clarke said there’s a testing pe-

riod in the bill that begins July 1,2012.

“That would enable the 2012Legislature to review what’s beenpassed and see how far we’ve gottenon this,” Clarke said during debate.“The whole system could not beginworking until July 1, 2013, if every-thing goes right.”

A few changes were made to thebill in the Senate, including the re-moval of a provision for periodic,random checks to determine if mo-torists are insured. The Senate alsotweaked language for an appealprocess for alleged offenders.

Rep. Hank Zuber, a Republicanfrom Ocean Springs who handled thebill in the House, said he didn’t see anyproblems with the Senate changes.

“I think the House can live withthose,” Zuber said.

The bill gives the Department ofPublic Safety commissioner authorityto set the fine, which could rangefrom $50 to $500. The fees would beused to pay costs associated with theelectronic database, which would bemaintained by private contractors.

Legislators said any money leftover after costs would go into a statefund to help reduce the cost of licenseplate tags.

The bills are House Bill 620 andSenate Bill 2793.

MS Senate Passes Auto Insurance Verification Bill

Make Sure Your Shop is Clear of these Glaring OSHA Violations

Tech Notes

National News in BriefWEB WINDOW: - www.autobodynews.com

Regional News in BriefWEB WINDOW: - www.autobodynews.com

with Jeremy HayhurstPublisher’s Page

with Karyn HendricksShop Showcase

with David M. BrownShop Showcase

Shop Showcasewith Jeremy Hayhurst

Hey Toby!with Toby Chess

California Autobody Associationwith David McClune

Collision Repair Association of CA.with Richard Steffen

Insurers Excel at Steeringwith Richard Steffen

Year in Quoteswith John Yoswick

Transition Planningwith John Yoswick

Mainstream Media

My Turnwith Joe Momber

Toby Chess is an I-CAR program instructor, Welding specialist, and former salvage yardoperator. Toby is universally known in the collision industry for his charitable works,worthy causes, and magic tricks. He can be reached at [email protected]

The typical blower in the body shop is a femaleand male air tool fitting

Respirators not in a secured bag when not inuse Open solvent container for cleaning a spray gun

Ungrounded and damaged electrical cords

Grinders without a shield

See Hey Toby!, Page 20


PreFab Ads Introduces Three New TV Spots for Body ShopsPreFab Ads recently completed three more humorous auto bodyTV commercials, bringing the total spots they now have availablefor licensing by independent shops to 15.

In “Short Cut,” a young couple arguesover the accuracy of their GPS mo-ments before it directs them and theirSUV over a cliff. From the dash of thesmashed car, the GPS informs the un-

hurt but stunned couple that they have reached their destination.In “Young Picasso” a four-year old boypicks up a piece of metal in the drive-way and etches his master artwork intothe side of the family van with the fam-ily dog looking on. The boy then

proudly shows off his artwork to his stunned mother as she exitsthe house.

In “Modern Repair”—a fifteen secondspot—whimsical, vintage-crash footageof Model Ts is contrasted with thequality repair of modern body shop. All spots ask, “Need a body shop?” fol-

lowed with the logo of the sponsoring body shop.These new commercials have already made their debut in over

12 markets across the US, with more scheduled to start soon.

Writer/director Chuck Jessen, of Jessen Productions/San Francisco, cre-ated the PreFab Ads concept for body shops in the late 90s after making“Sledgehammer.” The spot shows a betrayed woman pounding a red Mustangconvertible with a sledgehammer only to realize, when her husband drives upin an identical Mustang, that she is trashing the wrong car. “Sledgehammer”won several advertising awards and was featured on the “World’s Funniest”TV commercials program (see photo below). Jessen licensed “Sledgeham-mer” to hundreds of collision repair shops nationwide, giving birth to the Pre-Fab Ads concept.

According to Jessen, PreFab Ads allows local body shops to run a profes-sional commercial, on an exclusive-by-territory basis, for a fee that is about1/35th of the actual production cost. Jessen feels the combination of high produc-tion values and good American-style humor helps break through the media clutterand build interest and awareness for local body shops in a category people mightotherwise be indifferent toward—at least, until they actually need collision repair.

According to Ann Davis from J&J Auto Body in Pocatello, ID, they havejust started running them but are already getting good response to both com-mercials. “The women especially love ‘Young Picasso.’ They think it’s cool.”

Andy Peters at Peters Body Shop in Fort Wayne, IN, has been runningPreFab Ads commercials for years and his community has developed an an-ticipation for the new ones, according to Peters. “We’re having a great re-sponse to the new commercials. People think they’re hilarious,” Peter’s said.

Mark Lamendsdorf from Star Body Works in Medford, OR, echoed thatfeeling saying that they’ve had great response from both commercials.

To view the 15 commercials offered by PreFab Ads, andget more information, log on to www.prefabads.com

850 Battery Street • San Francisco, CA 94111Ph: 415-391-5030

Let’s take a look at some of the more


Exit door blocked and locked during businesshours

Fire extinguisher access blocked by an object

No signage for fire extinguisher

Ungrounded flammable storage containers andnot spill containment equipment

Ungrounded flammable waste container and anopen lid. Also there is not signage on the wall

Unlabeled bottles

This picture needs not description

No signage, missing electrical outlet cover andextension cord missing its ground


Hey Toby!

See Hey Toby!, Page 23

official show sponsor BASF, the theshow appeared well-attended and pro-vided an active exhibitor hall alongwith some very informative presenta-tions.

Jeff McDowell, AASP/NJ Presi-dent, said prior to the show “Despitethe economy, our attendance has beenon the rise over the last two years,”adding, “We are confident that trendwill continue.”

BASF’s sponsorship and the co-location of meetings of CIC, SCRS,

NABC, and coop Assured Perform-ance Network, reflects the heightenedsignificance of the show to repairersin the region as well as the national or-ganizations who chose to hold theirmeetings immediately prior or con-currently with the show.

Along with the latest in equip-ment and technology, Northeast™

2011 offered a fullslate of educationaland training semi-nars on topics in-cluding waterbornepaint application anddrying, estimating,steering, risk man-agement for colli-sion & mechanicalshops and technicalcertification coursesfrom I-CAR in bothSpanish and English.

One of the most obvious en-hancements this year was a well-coor-dinated social marketing campaignwhich was the second year in whichAASP/NJ used social media to helppromote the show. “Last year, we gota ton of positive feedback from ex-hibitors and attendees who had heard

about the show either through Twitter,LinkedIn or our Facebook ‘Fan’page,” said McDowell. “These socialmedia tools definitely helped generateinterest in the show last year, and Iforesee the response to be even greaterthis year as we up our efforts.”AASP/NJ has also created a YouTubepage (www.youtube.com/AASPN-JNORTHEAST), where promotionalvideos before and after the show areposted.

The weeklong schedule of na-tional automotive repair industry meet-ings,held for the first time during theshow kicked off on Wednesday, March16 with the Society of Collision RepairSpecialists (SCRS)’s Board Meetingand Awards Luncheon, held at the

Crowne Plaza Meadowlands. Thurs-day, March 17, brought the CollisionIndustry Conference (CIC)’s quarterlymeeting and reception to the CrownePlaza leading up to the SCRS AnnualMeeting and Board Elections on Fri-day morning. The East Coast Resolu-tion Forum & Leadership Conferencewas held off later that day at Meadow-lands and the Assured PerformanceNetwork hosted a member shop meet-ing later in the afternoon.

“We are very excitedand thrilled that indus-try leaders from aroundthe country are comingto our NORTHEAST™show and holding theirmeetings,” said Mc-Dowell. “Having theshow at the Meadow-lands has increased ourexposure and influencelocally and nationally

and I think this is a reflection of that.” For much more on Northeast

2011 log on to autobodynews.com andsearch ‘Northeast’.

For more on this month’s CICmeeting see autobodynews.com >columnists > Yoswick.


nectors and the information bookletdidn’t come with it.

I took it apart and rewired it as alarge volt meter, with a lighted buzzerattached to a separate set of wires. Wethen rigged up a swinging arm mountedto the wall out of PVC pipe. The pipecontained the wires to the tester that wemounted on the wall. It was more fordecoration than usable, but it was kindacool in its own funky way.

Anytime we got one of those“lookylews” (one of my dad’s favoritewords), you know the type, the kindthat has to hover over the hood whileyou’re working on it. Dad would mo-tion to me to wire up the buzzer to thebattery, and use it as a way to find thedraw or short in the car.

His job was to entertain, while Ilooked for the problem. Most of thetime, I’d study the wiring diagrams,determine the most likely spot for theproblem, and find the solution. As Iwould get close to the problem Iwould intentionally ground out thebuzzer on the wall, and it would makea horrible noise.

Dad would make a comment tothe customer as to what was going on.His old school charm was what madethe difference. At times this wholething would get quite humorous. I’dbe lying under the dash zapping thebuzzer and good old dad would beworking his magic with his broadsmile, and his quirky sense of humor.

These days the electronic scan-ners have somewhat evened the play-ing field. To some degree the abilitiesof a good tech are now wrapped up ina good quality diagnostic machine.But it still takes a good tech to under-stand it, and evaluate the informationhe/she sees on the screen.

I still try to diagnose things as fastand accurately as I can. I don’t havethe old buzzer, or my dad’s inventiveconversations with the customers tohelp me with the diagnostics. It’s amemory I’ll never forget. But, I’ll al-ways keep in mind some of those les-sons from my father… “Take yourtime son, you’re good… but they (thecustomer) don’t know how good youare… so you’ll have to prove it to themeach and every time.”

Old school wisdom is still im-portant, and fatherly advice is some ofthe best.


Quick Diagnostic

Continued from Front Page

Northeast 2011

BASF was the official sponsor of Northeast 2011 (l to r) AutobodyNews’ writer Chasidy Sisk (see her coverage of the event atautobodynews.com), James Beck from BASF, and Autobody NewsCo-owner Barbara Davies The Metropolitan Car-O-Liner/Pro-Spot booth was always busy.

(l to r): Mike Demarest, Dave Demarest., Dave Demarest, Jr.

disruptions from the earthquake andtsunami in Japan.● Toyota Motor Corp. and Subaru ofIndiana Automotive Inc. slowedNorth American production to rationtheir parts. Toyota’s initial freeze inproduction has been extended untilMarch 22. In an attempt to limit the fi-nancial losses that will come as a re-sult of the production freeze, Toyotaalso announced its decision to resumethe production of spare parts for vehi-cles already on the market beginningThursday, March 17.● Last week U.S. Customs directed allport operations to begin screening ar-riving Japanese sea and air cargo, in-cluding vehicles and auto parts, forradiation contamination.● At Sonic Automotive Inc., the na-tion’s third-largest dealership group,Jeff Dyke, executive vice president ofretail operations, said Sonic “is pre-pared to supplement our new-vehicleinventory with quality nearly newused vehicles should the manufactur-ing disruptions interrupt new vehicleinventory supplies longer than cur-rently anticipated.”

Automotive News Writer LindsayChappell reports that as Japan’s esca-lating disaster comes ashore in NorthAmerica, automakers, suppliers anddealers are preparing for what couldbe unprecedented shortages of partsand vehicles. ● While Honda was the hardest hit ofOEMs in Japan, more than 80% ofHonda and Acura products sold in theU.S. are produced in North America,and the vast majority of automotiveparts for Honda automobiles manu-

factured in North America are sourcedin the region.● Nissan Americas manufacturing op-erations plan to follow a normal pro-duction schedule for at least untilFriday, March 25. The supply chain isbeing continuously assessed. Nissansaid all North American manufactur-ing plants will continue to operate onschedule. It does not expect any short-term impact on sales or availability ofcars and trucks. In addition, the com-pany has a 50 days’ supply of vehiclestock in North America or already intransit from Japanese ports.● Autoliv Inc., the world’s biggestproducer of car safety products likeseatbelts and airbags, said productionhad been halted at one of its threeJapanese plants, although all theplants were undamaged. Autoliv sup-plies Nissan, Toyota, Mitsubishi,Honda, and Mazda.● Mazda Motor Corporation previ-ously announced the suspension ofproduction at its Hiroshima and Hofuplants from the night shift on March14, until March 21.● Mark Fields of Ford said the com-pany was assessing production on aday-to-day basis.

That it was GM—rather than oneof the Japanese automakers, which de-pend on many parts from their homecountry—that succumbed first to theshortage shows how much the indus-try depends on far-flung suppliers. ButToyota and Honda have shut theirplants in Japan until next week as theytry to repair damaged facilities, assessthe state of their suppliers and deter-mine how to restart production safely.

“The modern auto industry hasnever faced a natural or humancalamity on the scale of today’s crisisin Japan,” Michael Robinet, the di-

rector of global production forecastsfor the research firm IHS Automotive,wrote in a report.

G.M. said its assembly plant inShreveport, La., which makes a pairof compact pickup truck models,would be closed for at least a week,starting March 21.

The company said it would re-sume operations there as soon as pos-sible, but gave no estimated date fordoing so.

“Like all global automakers, wewill continue to follow the events inJapan closely to determine the busi-ness impact, working across the or-ganization to maximize flexibility,supply the most critical operations andeffectively manage cost,” G.M. said ina statement.

Production at Ford Motor has notbeen affected, but officials are still as-sessing the situation, Mark Fields, thepresident of Ford’s Americas division,said. “It’s literally an hour-by-hour,day-by-day type of thing that’s goingto unfold,” he told reporters at an eventto commemorate the start of produc-tion of the new Ford Focus compactcar near Detroit. “We have to first un-derstand what is the situation there,

and then we’ll determine the appropri-ate actions that we need to take.”

So far, all auto plants in NorthAmerica have stayed open despite thetroubles in Japan, although Toyota andSubaru have canceled overtime shiftsto slow production and avoid deplet-ing part inventories.

In Japan, most plants remainclosed. Mitsubishi began bringingplants back up March 16, and twoNissan plants in Kyushu restarted op-erations on March 17, but Nissan wasuncertain whether it could keep themrunning for more than a few days.

Toyota has said its Japaneseplants would remain closed through atleast March 22.

Each lost workday for the car-makers in Japan costs them a total ofabout 37,000 vehicles, Mr. Robinetsaid. He estimated a total loss of morethan 285,000 vehicles, assuming mostplants can be restarted within a week.

Every automaker faces slightlydifferent circumstances. At Volvo, forexample, about 10 percent of the partscome from 33 Japanese suppliers,seven of which were in the catastro-phe area, including one on the edge ofthe nuclear security zone.


Continued from Front Page

Auto Tsunami

CARSTAR Pres., Dan Bailey, to Return to Own FranchiseDan Bailey has chosen to step downfrom his role as president ofCARSTAR Auto Body Repair Ex-perts, the company recently an-nounced.

After more than a decade with thecompany and an additional 23 yearsspent operating a family-owned chainof collision centers, Bailey plans totake a break before returning to run hisown CARSTAR franchise.

He will continue to serve on theMitchell Advisory Board, the CCCAdvisory Board, as a national judgefor Skills USA-VICA, and as a CICparticipant.

No replacement is planned forBailey’s position, which he will leave

in the coming months. Stacy Bartnikwill assume full responsibility of fran-chise services.

CARSTAR new hires will allowCEO Dick Cross to handle Bailey’sother duties.

Those hires are Cecil Johnson,who will serve as franchise develop-ment executive, and Brad Rein, thenew chief information officer.

They will help guide a number ofcorporate improvements being made atCARSTAR, the company said.

It has revamped its BusinessGroup Program, restructured its fran-chise development process and plansto launch a new proprietary manage-ment system in its stores later this year.

common violations in the body shop.The next series of pictures were

taken at my friends shop about 2 yearsago. He embarked on the lean processtrail and the first thing that we did, wasclean up the shop and make it OSHAcompliant. It took about 2 weeks andthe results of cleaning up in the shophas resulted in 20 percent decrease incycle time in the first six months ofimplementing the lean process.

I have many more examples, butI think that you get the picture. Thenext issue of Autobody News will havea shop check list that will allow you togo through your shop and identifymajor potential OSHA problems.


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There were parts stored in the 3 foot barrierthat is needed around all electrical panels.Also the signage was missing


Hey Toby!

Today

Refrigerator in paint department, ungroundedflammable storage drum, battery charger, newflammable products, no signage and unlabeledpaint containers

Today

Unchained welding tank and no signage

Today

Strategies for preventing customer dis-satisfaction—and dealing with it when ithappens

“The paint on the repaired panelsdoes not match the rest of the car. Theshop says it cannot be made to match.I find this impossible to believe.”

These words, an actual commentwritten by a customer of a U.S. shop, arenot exactly what you’d like to see on thecomment cards or customer satisfactionindexing (CSI) reports you receive.That’s why it seemed surprising that theshop owner said he was actually pleasedwhen his CSI provider faxed him a copyof the customer’s gripe.

“Yeah, of course, I always dreadfinding out that we blew it with a cus-tomer,” the shop owner, who askedthat his name not be used, admits.“But on the other hand, I’m not therein the shop all day, every day, any-

more. I might not have known that thiswoman left so unhappy with us. Be-cause (our CSI provider) lets us knowright away about negative comments,I was able to call this lady and let herknow that I would be getting thistaken care of for her.”It wasn’t an easy or inexpensive fix. Theshop owner said he personally picked upthe woman’s car and brought it to theshop to be resprayed. “On paper, that jobwas a money-loser, no doubt about it,”he says. “But that woman has actuallyreferred at least two more jobs to us inthe couple of months since then. This issomeone who left here unhappy, readyto show anyone who’d listen what alousy job—at least in her mind—we haddone, but now she’s telling people howgreat we are.”

This shop owner’s experiencepoints out that addressing an unhappycustomer’s concerns effectively can beevery bit as valuable as working to

avoid having unhappy customers in thefirst place. Studies show that if you ad-dress a customer’s concern quickly, thatcustomer can become one of your mostloyal—even more loyal than someonewho left satisfied in the first place.

Here are some general guidelinesand tips for customer complaint reso-lution based on interviews with shopowners.

Skip the excuses. It’s easy to fallinto a pattern of trying to explain awayproblems (“The parts weren’t avail-able,” “We didn’t know about that,”“Our technician missed that.”)

An explanation later is fine, but itshouldn’t be the starting point. Andthe explanation should never sounddefensive.

“One of my estimators agreed torefund $100 to a customer, but he didit with such a lousy attitude the cus-tomer still left unhappy,” one shopowner said. “If you do something for

a customer, do it willingly even if youdon’t think it’s owed. Don’t do it be-grudgingly. Do it with a smile on yourface and allow them to feel that you’redoing it because it’s the right thingyou do. Either way, you’re out the$100 today, but if you do it right,you’ll keep their business long-term.”Start with empathy. While an apologyis important, it’s critical that the cus-tomer also feels that you understandthe position they are in.

“I have my staff say somethinglike, ‘Oh, thank you for letting usknow about this,’” one shop ownersaid. “‘I’m sorry for the inconven-ience this is causing, but let’s see howwe can make this better for you.’”

Decide on a solution. Make asuggestion for a solution and ask, “Fairenough?” Or ask the customer what hefeels is fair. In any case, make sure em-ployees have the power to make a de-


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Paint Complaint Does Not Have to Mean Unhappy Customer

with Ed Attanasio

Shop and Product Showcase

with Ed Attanasio

Shop Showcase


The Right Causewith Mike Causey

Industry Insightwith John Yoswick

John Yoswick is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon, who has a body shop in thefamily and has been writing about the automotive industry since 1988. He is the editor of theweekly CRASH Network (for a free 4-week trial subscription, visit www.CrashNetwork.com).Contact him by email at [email protected].

See Paint Complaint, Page 26

This month, let’s take a look at Busi-ness Liability Insurance needs for op-erating a professional body shop withthe goal of adding profit to your bot-tom line.

Our auto body shop in Santa Bar-bara, California, after several years ofpatronage to a well-known insurancecompany, recently changed our busi-ness liability insurance provider to an-other major player.

The results were a saving ofabout 33% from the previous yearwith similar coverage. Like most ofus, I am guilty of getting too busy dur-ing the day-to-day operation of ourbusiness to review our insurance poli-cies and their costs.

What motivated me to review mypolicy and getting new insurancequotes was an act of “overeagerness”from my insurance company to renewmy policy.

A few weeks before our policy

expiration date, a large brown enve-lope arrived via special delivery atour office. On opening the envelopeI discovered a binder containing ourbusiness insurance policy docu-ments pertaining to the next policyterm.

My first thoughts after openingthe envelope were skeptical. In yearspast we never received a renewal pol-icy before discussing our renewal in-tentions with the assigned insuranceagent.

I came to the conclusion thatsomeone from our insurance companyappears to have placed us on an “Au-tomatic Renewal Mode.”

A few days later I initiated shop-ping for other insurance quotes. Mypreference was to speak to an autobody shop liability specialist insteadof shopping for quotes online, with-out really understanding what is cov-ered.

Soon afterwards, I scheduled anappointment at our shop with a busi-ness insurance liability specialist.Within 24 hours I was presented an in-surance quote which was approxi-mately 33% less than my long timeinsurance Company.

I made note of the annual savingsand felt some bitterness as a result ofaccepting the long-time insurer for somany years.

Based on my business insuranceshopping experience I highly recom-mend reviewing your insurance policyat least 60 days before the renewaldate. With some preplanning and re-search you should have sufficient timeto choose the best value for your spe-cific insurance coverage needs. All ittakes is allowing some time to acquirecomparative insurance quotes insteadof proceeding with the habitual “auto-matic renewal”.

The following policy options canbe used as a preliminary aide to helpyou understand your business liabilityinsurance. At a minimum, your busi-ness should have the following pro-tection;

* Business property insurance: Pro-tects your business by funding repairor replacement of damaged physicalassets.

* Building coverage: Protects yourbusiness against financial losses re-sulting from claims of injury or prop-erty damage caused by you or youremployees from your products andservices.

* Workers Comp Insurance: Pro-tects you and your employees to sat-isfy medical needs in the event of anaccident or injury.

* Business Auto Liability Insurance:Protects you from liability created as aresult of damaged incurred to anotherparty’s vehicle and bodily injury.

* Business Crime Insurance: Pro-tects your business from fraud, theft,forgery or robbery.

Optional Insurance

* Business interruption coverage:Allows you to continue to receive in-come while your Auto Body shop con-tents are being repaired or replaced.

* Employment Practices Liability:Protects you from employment relatedoffenses against you.

* Umbrella liability: Adds additionalcoverage over and above your primarypolicy.

* Machinery and equipment break-down: Covers loss of Business in-come resulting from equipmentdamage.

Remember, there is no such thingas a one-size fits all business insur-ance coverage.

I highly recommend you steeraway from the “automatic renewal”mode and discuss your shop’s in-surance repair needs with an expe-rienced insurance specialist who isknowledgeable in understandingand explaining the variety of avail-able auto body shop insurance cov-erages.

Remember, your business hasspecific needs which may change overtime. As a result of reviewing yourpolicy with an auto body shop insur-ance liability specialist annually, itwill provide you peace of mind aboutyour insurance coverage and will con-tinue to fully protect your and yourfamily’s assets.

The choice is yours, either pre-plan your shopping several weeks inadvance of your renewal date or gowith the status quo and see where yourbusiness liability insurance journeytakes you!


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Walter Danalevich, AAM, has been the owner of Santa BarbaraAuto Refinishing since 1979. Contact him at:[email protected].

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cision quickly. One study found that95 percent of complaining customerswill return if their complaint is re-solved on the spot, but this percentageplummets if the customer has to waitor jump through any hoops.

Assure them you’re changing.Let them know that not only will theirproblem be fixed, but that you are tak-ing action to see that similar situationsdon’t occur in the future.

“Customers like thinking they’vehelped you and future customers,” oneshop manager said.

Go beyond resolution. Create a“story” for the customer to tell by fix-ing the problem in a memorable way.Make another concession they werenot expecting. Give or do somethingextra. The cost of giving somethingaway is usually much less than thecost of losing a customer’s futurebusiness and the business of all thosehe tells his story to.

One shop with three locations inIllinois actually has a budget line in itsannual expenses fund that office staff

can use “to soothe things over withcustomers.” A customer who brings acar back because of a problem may re-ceive a couple of movie passes or acoffee shop gift certificate they canuse at the near-by mall if the shop willneed the car for an hour or more.

“If we’ve really blown it, we’llsend them a restaurant gift certificate,particularly if it’s a repeat customer orone referred to us,” the shop owner said.

It’s important, too, to look fortrends in the complaints your shop re-ceives in order to make longer-termadjustments and corrections. Gettingto the root cause of problems isn’t al-ways easy. One technique that canhelp you get to the root of a problem isthe “five why’s;” you often have toask “why” at least five times to get tothe root of a failure.

Here’s an example:Why was Mrs. Jones not satisfied withour service?Because her car wasn’t ready until aday later than we promised.Why was her car delivered a day late?Because we were waiting for a part.Why wasn’t the part here?It didn’t get ordered until the car wasready to go.

Why didn’t it get ordered sooner?Because we didn’t know until thenthat we actually had the wrong part.Why didn’t we know we had the wrong one?Because the technician didn’t check itwhen it arrived.

After five whys, you usually beginto see what needs to be fixed. This canbe time-consuming, but CSI can helpyou spot trends, allowing you to focusyour attention on the areas that seem toaccount for the most complaints.


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12 principles for solving customer complaints1. Apologize. Let them know that you’re sorry they’re unhappy.2. Remain positive. Don’t argue with them or sound defensive.3. Empathize with them. Let them know you understand how they feel.4. Listen. Don’t interrupt. Give them a chance to tell you everything.5. Ask questions. Confirm that you have a full understanding of theirneeds.6. Be an ambassador for your company. Let them know that you willpersonally handle this situation.7. Don’t blame others or pass the buck. Admit that you (or the company)was wrong. Don’t dwell on causes or excuses.8. Respond immediately. Do whatever you can do to get the problemfixed as quickly as possible. Delays work against you.9. Try to establish or maintain some rapport with the customer.10. Use humor when possible. Making people laugh puts them at ease.11. Agree on a solution. Make sure it is acceptable to them.12. Follow through. Make sure things get done how and when you saidthey would.


Paint Complaint

As the financial pressure mounts with theU.S. recession going on three years now,the collision industry is rapidly falling be-hind the technology curve. Many shopsare unable to afford the training and newequipment required to repair today’s mod-ern vehicles.

Insurers are accutely aware of the factthat there are fewer and fewer shopsable and ready to repair many oftoday’s high tech vehicles. The oldmethods of repair will no longer workbut the responsibility to educate theinsurers lies with the collision repair-ers themselves. But how can a shopthat is well-educated and well-trainedcompete in a marketplace where thestatus quo is so far behind the times?We’re implicitly teaching insurers thatit’s still OK to ‘repair’ vehicles theway we always have because to do socosts less.

When we are forced to prove thispoint over and over, it makes the shop

that is doing a proper repair look likea bunch of pompous overchargingprima donnas. The fact is that it costsmore to repair a collision properlythan to do a proforma job and intoday’s marketplace it is also lessprofitable to do it right. Although theoverall ticket average may be higherthe bottom line profit remains lower.

The entire collision industry isstruggling because we have allowedourselves to become “yes men” andthroughout this recession things haveonly gotten worse. How can anyoneagree to repair a vehicle the new tech-nical details of which they know littleor nothing about? Yet many shops aredoing this every day.

The inexperienced adjuster saysyou do it this way and shops say ‘yes,’some to eliminate any repercussionsand others because they think it’s OK.It is never OK to put a used weldedframe rail on vehicle but I am forced

to argue this point weekly. Becausethe wrecking yard has clips availabledoes not mean we should be usingthem. So why do we find it necessaryto have the same argument over andover almost weekly?

The reason is because of under-trained, underequipped body shops.Adjusters are not our problem; insur-ance companies are not the prob-lem—underqualified shops are theproblem.

Eliminate the underqualified, un-dertrained shops and you will elimi-nate the problem. Why? Becausetraining raises the standards bar foreveryone. When the inexperienced ad-juster comes in to a well-trained shopand then goes on to the next one, he orshe is hearing the same thing every-where (s)he goes and he or she beginsto learn something, the supervisorsbegin to learn something, and the ar-gument of repairing the vehicle cor-rectly goes away.

I believe there are many roadsthat lead to the same destination butwith collision repair we first need todefine our destination before we beginour journey. If our destination is tocontrol costs (at all cost) we arrivesomeplace different than where a safestructural repair should lead. If ourdestination is a safe repair that restoresthe integrity of the vehicle’s standardsthen cost alone cannot be the guidancesystem to get us there.

I believe that the only consistentcredible way to restore the vehicle’ssafety after a collision is to rely onwhat the OEM’s have tested andproven to be deemed reliable meth-

ods. Anything differing from therestoration of the vehicle’s structuralintegrity is the wrong road to follow.Everybody needs to use the same mapto arrive at the correct destination witha collision repair.

So where does this leave theshops that may be willing to do the re-pair correctly but lack the knowledgeor equipment to do so? It leaves youon the sidelines of the collision indus-try until you gain the credentials re-quired to repair today’s modernvehicles. Would you head out on across-country trip without knowingwhere you were going or with outknowing your destination? CertainlyNot.

So it’s time to step up and checkyour destination or you will find your-selves lost in the wilderness without amap or compass with no way of evergetting back. This may sound harshbut 50% of the shops will not makethe cut.

Insurers are becoming more andmore conscious of the liability in-volved if the vehicle is not repairedproperly and they are naturally gravi-tating to the shops that are trained andequipped properly.

There are plenty of resourcesavailable for shops interested in mak-ing the cut. VeriFacts, I-CAR, ASE,OEM programs, and ALLDATA forOEM specs come to mind. Join thesegroups in raising the bar, and pass theeducation you get from them along toyour customers, insurance adjusters,and your fellow shop owners.

Support the industry, protect yourcustomers, and don’t get left behind.


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Custom Cornerwith Rich Evans


Opinions Countwith Dick Strom

On Creative Marketingwith Thomas Franklin


Action Countswith Lee Amaradio Jr.


with Sheila LoftusYour Turn



Shop Showcasewith Janet Chaney


Industry Overviewwith Janet Chaney


Industry Interviewwith Janet Chaney




Lee Amaradio, Jr. is the president and owner of “Faith” Quality Auto Body Inc. in Murrieta,California. Lee is president of the CRA as well as an advocate for many other industrygroups. He can be contacted at [email protected]

Underqualified Repairers Hurt the Whole Industry

Some Alabama motorists renewingtheir license plates are finding theyare paying more property tax than ayear ago because some models areappreciating in value rather than de-preciating, according to reports madeby the Associated Press.

The director of the state Rev-enue Department's Property Tax Di-vision, Bill Bass, says historically carvaluations have declined each year,but the demand for some types ofused vehicles has caused their pricesto increase.

He said it's mostly bigger vehi-cles, including pickups and SUVs.

The valuation of vehicles fortaxes is determined by Penton Pub-lishing, which produces the Automo-bile Red Book.

Bass says the Revenue Depart-ment has been using the company'svehicle values for more than adecade.

Property Taxes on Some Alabama Vehicles Rise


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Let’s start with a simple question:What does “DRP” really stand for?

Conventional wisdom says that“direct repair program” is the correctanswer. While that is the literal mean-ing of the acronym, the non-officialtranslation could easily be, “Don’t re-move, please.” I can assure you frommany years of experience in the insur-ance industry that this is more truethan most people care to acknowledge.

Many body shops have lost con-trol of their business. As a result,many of those shops spend a lot oftime hoping, begging and pleadingthat they aren’t removed from theirDRP lifelines.

When the insurance companysays, “Jump,” the shop shouts, “Howhigh, how many times and should Igive you a discount for allowing meto jump?”

This isn’t conducive to a market-place that allows all the stakeholders-

-repairer, insurer and vehicle owner--to benefit.

Before anyone shouts “Amen,”there are different ways of losing con-trol. Yes, it is true that the insurance in-

dustry has assumed some control over aportion of the body shop industry. The

control was attainedbecause shops al-lowing it to happen,and because of theever-evolving mar-ketplace. That mar-ketplace has seen adrop in claims, dou-ble-digit total losspercentages, cus-tomers cashing out,$1,000 deductibleson the rise, anddamaged vehiclesbeing shipped over-seas faster than theycan be rolled off anassembly line in aDetroit manufactur-

ing plant.The end result is a drop in the

number of repairable vehicles, leaving

many of the 35,000+ repairers in theUnited States in search of work. Inother words, low demand and high sup-ply equals shops desperate for business.

Even though I am referring hereto the U.S., international shops haveexperienced very similar problems.Australia and the United Kingdomcome to mind. In fact, in the U.K., thelow supply caused a large percentageof shops to go out of business.

Although neither industry wouldopenly admit it, many insurers and re-pairers have been anxiously awaitinga mass reduction in the number ofshops for varied reasons. High-qual-ity, ethical body shops want the bot-tom-feeders to go out of business. Thebottom-feeders invest very little intheir businesses – yet they are (un-fairly) treated the same as the Tier 1shop. In most cases, the Tier 1 shopand bottom-feeder have the exact


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DRPs and Fear—Hope for a Reduction in the Number of Shops






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The Insider is a corporate-level executive with a Top 10 auto insurerin the U.S.. Got a comment or question you’d like to see him addressin a future column? Email him at [email protected]

See DRPs and Fear, Page 31

This month is a current project I’mworking on which is a 1941 ChevroletDeluxe STD two-door sedan. This isfor some of you fabricators out thereand other body men who know thatsometimes you can’t just replace partsor parts aren’t available. This 1941Chevy was rear-ended and the impact

damaged the deck lid, the left quarterpanel, the bumper filler and the floor.So I’m having to repair this deck lidbecause there aren’t any deck lidsavailable, or at least any metal decklids. Chevys of the ‘40s offer a fiber

glass one but this customer wantsmetal. You know some customers aredifferent, some will play off the fiberglass. Sometimes you can look forused deck lids and I put my feelers outthere and I could not find any useddeck lids for this ‘41 Chevy. The prob-lem is the ‘41 Chevy is the only year

that those deck lids would fit, espe-cially for the sedans. From ‘42 to ‘48they’re all interchangeable. So thatnarrows the options a lot .We’ve got avehicle that doesn’t offer this deck lidas a match for any other year.

The best way to start this process isto take the deck lid off and strip it all theway down to metal, so there’s maybe65–70 years worth of body work,bondo, paint, etc. I strip all the metal offinside and outside. From that pointwe’re going to depick the skin from theframe and there’s special tools out there

for that. You can find them throughEastwood and different speciality com-panies like VIMTools. These guys carryspecialty equipment where you can goback and pull things apart without dam-aging them too badly. Next I drilled thespot welds out then depicked it with adepick tool to roll that edge back out. Itake my time on this. I don’t try to getinto it too hard because these panels are70 years old and they’re going to bebrittle and have rust in them. If you’retoo rough you’re going to have to goback and repair them.

The process I used takes a littlebit of time so you’ve got to be patientwith it. After removing the skin fromthe frame, I hammer it out roughlywith a hammer and dolly. Use a sandbag if you need to. Try not to stretchthe metal too much. Just try to roughit into its shape because metal doeshave memory. I used a selection ofMartin Hammer tools and dollys. Ifyou guys aren’t familiar with MartinHammers go to their site at www.mar-tinsprocket.com. They’ve been aroundfor years and even have books that tellyou how to hammer and dolly andshow you different techniques. Theyhave a variety of hammers, a variety ofdollys, spoons, you name it—theyhave it. Their tools will help you to getthrough a process like this.

I’m going to start with the frame,and hammer it out to get it as close asI can. Then I’m going to take it backto the vehicle, bolt it on, and makesure I’ve got that frame fit as best as itcan. I’ll make my adjustments as

needed. Then get the latch on it nowto make sure it latches, because then Ican see everything without having toskin everything. I spend a little bit oftime reinforcing, welding, and repair-ing which will pay off in the end.

After that’s completed I drill two1/8th-inch holes in the left and righthinge so I know that this structure willgo back exactly where it needs to go. Idon’t want to spend a half-hour tomaybe 2 hours trying to adjust it and getit back where it was. Now to reinstall itI insert two 1/8th inch dowel pins inthere, put your 3 bolts on each side,tighten them, and you’re right backwhere you were. I call it a mock up.

I’m back on to the skin now. I’llhammer and dolly it, slapstick it a lit-tle bit, get it as close as I can. I’mgoing to go use the English Wheel totry to even out the metal. You want todo this as a slow process because youdon’t want to stretch the metal, youjust want to get it back to where itwas. You want to make sure all yourhigh and low damage spots are mostlygone. Start working from one end tothe other with the English Wheel, rollit, tighten it a little bit, go backthrough the same process again, roll itsome more, make sure you’re not put-ting too much pressure on. All youwant to do is just even it out, and thepanel should take its shape back. Youwant to use the flat side of the EnglishWheel, the flattest wheel you can get,the ones without any radiuses onthem. A slight radius basically. So it’sa back and forth motion, the more youuse the English Wheel the more you’llget comfortable with it. Just anothertool. Woodward is a sponsor of mine,so check out www.woodwardfab.com.They have affordable tools from ham-mers to English Wheels to shears. Alltheir stuff is affordable. They have 36-inch throats or 24-inch throats on theEnglish Wheel. You can make thatwork until you start stepping it up anddoing bigger panels like roofs and big-ger fenders on bigger cars. You canthen upgrade to something else.

After I’ve spent about an hourand a half using the English Wheel,I’ll pull the skin out, lay it on thestructure that’s bolted to the car. Thisway it’s easier for me to see how it’s











Rich Evans is the owner of Huntington Beach Bodyworks and an award winning painter andfabricator. He offers workshops in repair and customization at his facility to share his uniquetalents. For contacts and design samples visit www.huntingtonbeachbodyworks.com

Remaking a 1941 Chevy Deluxe Back-End with an English Wheel

going to fit. Then I clamp it up, but nottoo much pressure with the clamp be-cause too much pressure will bow thestructure and it could twist on you.When it’s sitting right without toomuch pressure on the clamps you canremove it from the car and set it up.The next step is like putting on a reg-ular door skin. We’re going to roll itback. Some pieces break off on theedges just because it’s been brittle so

save those smaller pieces. I foundsome cracks where I need to roll it. Ido the next step with a TIG welder.Some people use a torch. I don’t havea flame, but I TIG those areas where itallows me to roll that edge over to theframe. Then I can take the pieces thatbroke off, clamp them there and TIGthem back on. Then hammer and dollythe welds flat. With a TIG welder you

don’t have a lot of build up as long asyou get your settings right.

I don’t weld it in place because Imight have to shift the skin around alittle bit. I reattach the deck lid to thehinges, set it down, check the gaps toget them right, and do whatever align-ments I have to do to massage the skinconnected to the frame. Then I put thelatch in to make sure the handle fits.The handle has an alignment part

where it has to go through a hole, so Imake sure that’s centered and shut.Then I can massage it a little morewith the hammer to get it closer to fit-ting perfect.

Now I go outside of the deck lidand find the low and high spots, markthem out and work from there. I canpull some of the low spots out, evenout your high spots and then you can

start filing at that point. I’m thinkingnow how far I want to take it and re-member, we all need to make sure weget paid for our time.

I’ll put a skim coat of Bondo™on it, shape it, and try to keep thatBondo™ under an 1/8th inch. Goingfor 1/16th inch would be better, 1/8thinch at the max. Spend a little moretime, use a uni-spotter, nail gun, pullout those lows, if you have to heat a

little bit, then heat it and shrink it,keep that metal tight.

I may have to split some panels ifsome work has been done before onthe back. Not a surprise. This car’sbeen around for awhile. I can split thepanels, get the gap a little better. Mockup is key, before you even start shap-ing. Once I have the gaps I’m prettymuch home home free.

Then it’s left to primer block,mask and blast, you’re ready to go. Sothose are a few little tips for theprocess I use. Metal finishing versustaking the easy route and just puttinga fiberglass deck lid on. Take sometime. Learn and work the metal. It’s allabout seat time, that’s how you’re justgoing to better yourself. My dailyfocus is to get up every morning andlearn something new and try to bettermyself, it’s all I can do.

That’s basically how I run my dayin a nutshell. You have to love whatyou do, and I love what I do. Anyoneelse working on these ‘40s might wantto look up a company called Chevs ofthe 40s. They’ve got at least an inchthick catalog. Visit them at www.chev-softhe40s.com. They’ll give you a freecatalog. They’ve got parts that Iwouldn’t have even known they had.

Often I’ll come across a projectwhere I have to reach out and spend alittle time on the computer. Check withfriends and find out where they’re get-ting parts or if they’ve worked on thesetypes of cars. I even went to GeneWinfield to see if he had any contactson digging up a deck lid and all theway back to South Dakota to where


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my brother lives to see if he knewabout any deck lids. I must have spentabout two days searching for a deck lidand with those two days I have prettymuch knocked out this deck lid. I’vegot about 19 hours into the wholeprocess and, again, I want everyone tomake sure they get paid for that. If it’san insurance job, make sure you getpaid for metal time, for fabricationtime, all of the above because it is a

learned skill and it does take time aswell as taking us away from otherprojects. Cross your T’s dot your i’s,be smart about it, have fun with it. Atthe end of this build, we’re going toadd a little two-tone, put the color backon it while it has its down time.

The owner wanted to do a few al-terations and that’s what make it fun.With this project I also found a lot of

problems, the striker used housescrews to hold it on, the lower bumperfiller had about 50 self-tappingscrews. I welded all the holes and putnut inserts on and marked them outevenly. It just makes for a cleaner job.You’re not getting paid for this, butyou’re practicing to get better, andthat’s what we should all do everyday. When I see something wrong, Ijust take the time and fix it. Do whatit takes to make the job better thanwhen it came in and fix other people’sproblems that they overlooked. Thatmakes you a better tech and keep ongoing guys. Better yourselves.

Check out my new show CarWarriors on SPEED, 6pm PST and9pm PST every Wednesday night. It’sthe hottest car build competition showthat’s ever hit the airwaves. If you’venever thought about what you can doin 72 hours, this show will show youwhat can be done in 72 hours. Trustme, what can be done will blow yourmind. Got to my fanpage on Facebook,Rich Evans Designs, become a fan andyou’ll be able to stay up to date witheverything I’m doing and the projectsI’m working on day in and day out.

Talk to you guys next month.

same labor rate in a given direct repairprogram. How is that fair or good forbusiness?

Insurers need to find a way to dif-ferentiate the high quality shop fromthe bad. That is one reason why insur-ers like the idea of a shrinking num-ber of body shops. There are so manyshops that they have a hard time iden-tifying the high quality shops. In ad-dition, a reduced number of shopswould better assist them in controllingthe customer’s experience and repair.

There are many shops around thecountry that have resisted the DRP se-curity blanket and have remained au-tonomous. This doesn’t make theautonomous shop any better or worsethan the DRP shop. It’s simply a dif-ferent way of doing business. It’s okayto be different. In fact, in this worldwe celebrate and promote diversity.And, at least in the United States, ifyou don’t promote and encourage di-versity, you can quickly find yourselfon the receiving end of a lawsuit forbeing discriminatory.

DRPs play a vital role in the in-dustry whether you care to believe it ornot. They promote competition, can re-duce cost (which ultimately benefitsthe consumer) and can positively im-pact the customer’s experience. Don’tbe hypocritical by questioning myopinion if you are one of the many en-rolled in a DRP-type health care pro-gram. If you are currently enrolled inan HMO or PPO program, please don’tsend me any hate email on how stupidI am. In the immortal words of ForestGump, “Stupid is as stupid does.”

While I was joking about “Don’tremove, please,” the fact is manyshops do operate in total fear. Fearthat at any given moment they couldlose a significant amount of their busi-ness and revenue. While this may notbe fair, shops that heavily rely uponDRPs benefit the most from these re-lationships. In the end, it is a decisionmade on an individual level as to whatis best for that business. Just be care-ful that the oxygen that the direct re-pair program is providing your shopisn’t your only source of air.

Otherwise, you risk having theplug pulled when you expect it theleast.


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DRPs and Fear

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Autobody News April 2011 Southeast Edition

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