May 2013 Southeast Edition

by John Yoswick

Insurer-mandated parts procurementsystems, and I-CAR’s decision not tofollow through with its plans to workwith automakers to identify and closethe gaps in existing collision repairprocedures, dominated discussion at arepairer-only meeting held in Phoenixin April.

Aaron Schulenburg, executivedirector of the Society of CollisionRepair Specialists, led the “RepairerRoundtable” meeting, but said it wasless tied to any one organization thanto an over-arching goal of providing

repairers a place to discuss and estab-lish objectives without the influenceof other industry segments.

“I think our industry has becomewell-informed,”Schulenburg said.“There is a greatnetwork of infor-mation going inand out of the as-sociations, andfrom the tradepress. But justbeing informedisn’t enough. We

State Farm Insurance, the nation’slargest private automotive insurer, re-cently elected to settle a lawsuit withRay Gunder, who had sued the com-pany on behalf of his customer, forunderpayments of labor rates andpaint and materials.

Attorney Brent Geohagan, legalcounsel for Ray Gunder and Gunder’sAuto Center, recently received a letterfrom State Farm’s legal counsel stat-ing that while they were not admitting

to any wrongdoing or liability, theyelected to provide full payment for thedisputed amount of $553.77 to settlea lawsuit that Gunder had filed on be-half of his customer. State Farmagreed to pay the disputed amount andGunder’s legal fees.

An elated Ray Gunder said, “Thisis huge! This is the first of what we an-ticipate will be many such decisionsfrom State Farm in the numerous other

Ray Gunder Wins Another Battle on Labor Rates

See Gunder Wins Battle, Page 4

Repairer-Only Meeting Focuses on Shops’ Responseto Key Industry Issues at April CIC Phoenix Meeting

PAINT AND REFINISH TECHNOLOGIESPAINT AND REFINISH TECHNOLOGIESSecond of 2 IssuesSecond of 2 IssuesSecond of 2 Issues

• Custom Painter Stories, p. 26, 30, 32, 34• Training and News, p. 4, 10, 28, 36

A Houston, Texas-based personal in-jury attorney has filed suit againstSafelite and Toyota on behalf a Mon-tana woman who he says lost both herhusband and young daughter in arollover crash, in which the windshieldallegedly separated from the vehicle.

The attorney, Rob Ammons,contends Safelite had replaced thewindshield on the vehicle involved,while Safelite argues its claims divi-sion processed the claim on behalf ofanother glass shop.

“While traveling on a NorthDakota highway one December after-noon, the family’s 2005 Toyota Tundracontacted an icy patch and went out ofcontrol. The pickup crossed the high-way’s median and rolled over,” RobAmmons said in a news release.

“Safelite, who had installed awindshield on the Tundra, was alsonamed as a defendant,” the documentcontinues. “According to the lawsuit,the windshield separated from the

pickup in this crash and exacerbatedthe movement of the roof’s pillars. Asa result, the driver and rear seat pas-senger were partially ejected from thepickup, despite the fact that they werewearing their seatbelts.”

Ammons listed Safelite as a de-fendant because he contends the com-pany installed the windshield on thepickup, according to the release.

Safelite’s senior corporate coun-sel has another take: “Safelite typicallydoes not comment on pending litiga-tion. However, in this tragic case, aftera preliminary investigation we deter-mined that Safelite AutoGlass did notperform the windshield replacement,”says Brian DiMasi, Safelite’s seniorcorporate counsel.

“Rather, Safelite Solutions, theclaims management business, processedthe plaintiff’s vehicle glass claim on be-half of another glass shop who per-formed the replacement,” he adds. “We

Suit Filed Against Safelite and Toyota After Double-Fatality Rollover, Safelite Says Not Repairer of Record

I-CAR Board memberDusty Wombledid not supportboard decision

See Safelite and Toyota Suit, Page 4

General Motors is revamping its serv-ice parts program and giving incentivesto dealerships to increase their inven-tory for more same-day repairs and tobuy more of those parts directly fromthe factory, Automotive News recentlyreported.

However dealers and their partsmanagers have expressed serious con-cerns about the inventory cost and im-pact of the Service Lane Partsprogram. GM estimates that the major-ity of dealerships will spend $6,000 to$10,000 to buy the additional inven-tory, but worried dealers also believe itmay result in buying parts that won’t

move as quickly as GM believes, wast-ing valuable shelf space as well asmoney.

GM rolled out the program April1 as an incentive designed to improveservice times and make customershappy. The program is voluntary, butdealers risk losing the discounts theyget from wholesale distributors, whocould curtail or eliminate their dis-counts because so much of their busi-ness is being shifted to GM.

The automaker’s 4,400 dealer-ships can earn bonus money if theystock the parts GM recommends and if

GM Wants Dealers to Stock More Service Parts, PartsManagers and Dealers Debate Costs and Discounts

See GM Dealers’ Parts, Page 25 See Repairer Roundtable, 4

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Contents

Southeast

Publisher & Editor: Jeremy HayhurstGeneral Manager: Barbara DaviesAssistant Editor: Melanie AndersonContributing Writers: Tom Franklin, Stefan Gesterkamp, John Yoswick, Janet Chaney,Toby Chess, Rich Evans, Ed Attanasio, Chasidy SiskAdvertising Sales: Joe Momber, Sean Hartman, Jay Lukes (800) 699-8251Sales Assistant: Louise TedescoArt 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 formthe material published in Autobody News must be obtained in writing from the publisher.©2013 Adamantine Media LLC.

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

AutoNation Chevrolet Coral Gables . 48

BMW Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 39

Car-Part Pro. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Chief Automotive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

CSS USA, Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Don Reid Ford. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Equalizer Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Ford Wholesale Parts Dealers

FL, GA, AL, MS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Garmat USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

GM Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . 34

Gray-Daniels Auto Family . . . . . . . . . 5

Gus Machado Ford. . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Honda-Acura Wholesale Parts

Dealers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20-21

Hyundai Wholesale Parts Dealers . 37

Innovative Tools & Technologies, Inc . 25

Jim Ellis Hyundai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

KBS Coatings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Kia Motors Wholesale Parts Dealers. . 7

Landers Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge . . . . . 4

Malco. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Mercedes-Benz Wholesale Parts

Dealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

MOPAR Wholesale Parts Dealers . . 16

Nalley BMW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Nissan Wholesale Parts Dealers. . . 45

Porsche Wholesale Parts Dealers . 43

PPG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

PreFab Ads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Pro-Spray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Rare Parts, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Safety Regulation Strategies . . . . . 26

SATA Spray Equipment . . . . . . . . . 15

Southtowne Hyundai . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Subaru of Gwinnett . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Subaru Wholesale Parts Dealers . . 41

Tameron Hyundai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Urethane Supply Company . . . . . . . 9

VIM Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Walcom USA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Inde

xofAdvertisers

REGIONALBoyd Group Acquires Four RepairCenters in NC and FL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

CARSTAR Adds Second Shop inDalton, Georgia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Florida Bookkeeper Guilty of Body ShopEmbezzlement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Florida Governor, Insurers Fight to SavePIP Law After Injunction. . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Florida Lawmakers May Repeal PIP Laws . . 3Gefran Names Mick White inSoutheast Regional Sales. . . . . . . . . . . . 9

I-CAR Hosts Regional Conference in FL . . 14Mississippi Gov. to Sign Stricter DUI Bill . . 12Mississippi Hail Damage at $25 Millionin Early April and Expected to RiseDramatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Mississippi Hail Storm Results in40,000 Claims. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Mississippi Hail Storms Damages Hundredsof Vehicles in Jackson Dealership Lot. . . 8

MS Insurance Commissioner’s Hail Guide . 9Ray Gunder Wins Another Battle onLabor Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Record Setting Hail Hits Parts of MS . . . . . 8Sanding Gang Assaults Car WhileClaiming to do Repair. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Steve McQueen’s 1951 ConvertibleSells for $88,000. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Toyota of Orlando Wins Collision Centerof the Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

COLUMNISTSAttanasio: Is ‘Reactionary’ MarketingToo Little, Too Late? Maybe Not. . . . . . 24

Franklin: Using Signage to be Uniquein the Digital Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Hey Toby! Glass and Windshield InstallsMust Be Handled by the Book . . . . . . . 42

Insider: Shops Should Be Able to OfferWhatever Discounts They Want . . . . . . 38

NATIONAL$250,000 Donated TowardsOperation Comfort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

1940 Ford Coupe Wins Ridler Awardin Detroit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Aaron Clark Named VP at AssuredPerformance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

ABRA Auto Body & Glass Expands in Utah. 44Automaker, OEM and Recall News . . . . . . 22Automotive Body Parts AssociationHires Edward Salamy as NewExecutive Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Axalta Coating Systems Holds FleetCouncil Meeting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Axalta Offers Courses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Big Changes Coming for ASRW, Shorter Schedule, Possible Partnership . . . . . . 47

Car Theft Drops by 88% in MS. . . . . . . . . 39CCC Donates $25,000 to EducationFoundation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Chicago Pneumatic Gives $10,000in Tool Grants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Collision Education Makeover SchoolGrant Applications Due by May 31 . . . . 47

David Brunori Promoted to DivisionPresident at Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Education Foundation to Offer Free1-Year I-CAR Curriculum Grantsto 100 Post-Secondary Schools. . . . . . 40

Foundation Says 91 Cents of EveryBuck Went to Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

GM Wants Dealers to Stock More Service Parts, Parts Managers and DealersDebate Costs and Discounts . . . . . . . . . 1

Hoffman Auto Body Fined $54K forOSHA Violations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

I-CAR Declines Facilitation ofOEM Repair Standards. . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

I-CAR Makes Mileston $200,000 Donationto Collision Repair Education Foundation . 45

I-CAR Responds to Associations’ Questions on Repair Standards, Clarifies Stanceon OEM Procedures Gaps . . . . . . . . . . 31

Industry Veteran Michael QuinnJoins uParts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Insurers Rated for Best and WorstCustomer Experiences; USAARanked “Good” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Kadel’s Wins Regional Award. . . . . . . . . . 29Kentucky Approves eProof . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Malco’s TurboShears Quickly Becoming Tech’s Go-To Cutter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Martin Senour Color Manual FeaturesActual Paint Chips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Mitchell Releases New RepairCenterConnect, Which Allows Insurers toSend Assignments to Any Shop . . . . . . 40

Most & Least Expensive States forCar Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

NABC’s Operation Comfort FundraisingKit Available. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

NADA Says Rising New-Vehicle SalesLifted Dealer Profits for a RecordYear in 2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

New TV Pilot, “Auto Body Avengers”Coming to Spike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Nissan Names O’Hara Director. . . . . . . . . 29Northern California Man Pleads No Contestto Selling Counterfeit ALLDATA Products . 15

PPG Appoints Frank Sklarsky asVP of Finance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Pro-Spray Launches YouTube Channel . . . 18Refinish Distributors Alliance AddsNew Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Repairer-Only Meeting Focuses on Shops’Response to Key Industry Issues atApril CIC Phoenix Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Safest Cars are Civics, Lincolns, Mazdas, Volvos; Toyota Camry, Prius V GetFront-End Downgrade . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

SEMA Board Candidates . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Service King’s Bonner to Speak atPBES Conference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Sherwin-Williams Sets Q2 Training Schedule . 4Suit Filed Against Safelite and ToyotaAfter Double- Fatality Rollover, SafeliteSays Not Repairer of Record . . . . . . . . . 1

VT Couple Charged With Arson . . . . . . . . 29WIN Announces Scholarship Winnersfor Conference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

PAINT SPECIALCrazy Painter Mitch Kelly, Father & SonKeep on Truckin’ in SoCal . . . . . . . . . . 32

Custom Shop Masters Pro-Spray toMake an Artistic Statement . . . . . . . . . 26

Glasurit Introduces Comprehensive,2-Clears Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

KBS Coatings Adds ‘Safety Blue’ Colorto Line-Up of Non-Porous Colorsfor Rust Prevention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

RDA’s First Collision Solutions TrainingSeminar Gets Excellent Reviews. . . . . . 10

Renowned Painter Mickey HarrisCo-Designed the SATAgraph 4 . . . . . . . 30

Six Tips to Finding Success inProcess Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Third Generation Custom Painter WasBorn Into the Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

www.autobodynews.com | MAY 2013 AUTOBODY NEWS 3

Florida Lawmakers May Repeal PIP LawsLawmakers in Florida on April 2 tookthe first steps to do away with thestate’s no-fault auto insurance systemand replace it with a coverage thatwould let accident victims sue an at-fault driver to cover medical bills andproperty damage, the Orlando Sen-tinel reported.

At the April 2 Senate hearing,lawmakers took testimony from theOffice of Insurance Regulation, in-dustry lobbyists and lawyers about theimpact of scrapping the 41-year-oldpersonal injury protection system,which pays for the first $10,000 ofmedical bills and lost wages regard-less of who is at fault in an accident.

“We are warming up to this idea,”said Michael Carlson, executive di-rector for the Personal Injury Federa-tion of Florida, which represents StateFarm, Allstate and Progressive.

Florida lawmakers last year spentmonths working on a revamp to thePIP law, which insurers say is oftenfraudulently abused. But with a recentcourt ruling calling into question theconstitutionality of those changes,lawmakers are debating whether toscrap the whole system and allow vic-tims to sue at-fault drivers.

State Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, said that the Leg-

islature has “dealt with” PIP changesevery four to five years in hopes thatcosts would decrease for drivers. Butthat’s never happened, he said.

Simmons’ proposal would scrapPIP for bodily-injury coverage, requir-ing a policy with limits of $25,000 fora single person and $50,000 per acci-dent medical care and damages. Itwould also have a $10,000 limit forproperty damage.

Sandra Starnes, director ofProperty & Casualty Product Reviewfor the Office of Insurance Regula-tion, told lawmakers that 90% of mo-torists already buy bodily-injurycoverage.

Simmons is hoping that the BIsystem would root out the fraud thathas plagued PIP by making people gothrough the court system—thoughrampant fraud is what prompted theswitch to no-fault in 1972.

But it’s unclear whether law-makers will approve the change by theend of the legislative session.

Currently, accident victims mustsee a doctor within 14 days and onlyemergency medical treatment war-rants a full $10,000 payout. All othertreatment would be capped at $2,500,and PIP would not pay for acupunc-ture or massage therapy.


CARSTAR Auto Body Repair Expertsrecently expanded in Dalton, GA,with owner Ken White opening asecond location on the south side ofthe city.

Ken’s CARSTAR South openedin February. White renovated thebuilding extensively before openingthe modern facility. White has beenin the collision repair industry for 20years, and has owned his own busi-ness for 15 years.

As a member of the CARSTARnetwork, Ken White’s CARSTARSouth will offer the latest in repairtechnology, national warranties onrepairs and turnkey service for cus-tomers.

“We are excited to see KenWhite grow his operations as part ofthe CARSTAR network,” said DavidByers, CEO of CARSTAR AutoBody Repair Experts. “We are thrilledto expand our presence in Dalton, GA,and welcome Ken’s CARSTAR Southas our newest top-notch collision re-pair center.”

The new CARSTAR store willbenefit from the CARSTAR Man-agement System, which provides re-sources to improve key businessmetrics such as cycle time.

CARSTAR Adds SecondShop in Dalton, Georgia

Toyota of Orlando was recentlynamed recipient of the 2012 ToyotaCertified Collision Center TripleCrown award.

Out of 190 Toyota CertifiedCollision Center (TCCC) facilitiesnationwide, Toyota of Orlando wasthe top-performing shop in its salesgroup. The award was presented tothe shop during a special recogni-tion dinner March 19 in Orlando,FL.

The award is presented to threeToyota dealer collision centers thatbest exemplify the spirit of the Toy-ota certification, based on customersatisfaction; manager, estimator andtechnician certification; facility andequipment requirements; and otherachievements.

“I attribute our success in theTCCC program to the hard work andfocus of our 42 center employees,”said Scott O’Connor, collision cen-ter manager of Toyota of Orlando.

“In addition, Toyota MotorSales’ factory training and the ongo-ing support we receive from our dis-tributor, Southeast Toyota, are worldclass. We also depend on our busi-ness partnerships to help us achieveour goals,” he said.

Toyota of Orlando WinsCollision Center of Year

A woman in a shopping center park-ing lot in Alpharetta, GA, told policeshe was approached by a man solic-iting auto body work who enlistedchildren to sand-damage her vehicle.

According to the police report,the woman attempted to back her ve-hicle from its parking space when adark green Honda Pilot blocked herway. A Hispanic man in his early 30sgot out of the Pilot and approachedher claiming to work for “AlpharettaToyota.” He offered her a quote tofix some minor, pre-existing damageto the front of her vehicle.

The woman told the man shewould be interested in a quote. Ac-cording to the report, the man, alongwith a second Hispanic man and sev-eral children, immediately approachedher car with spray bottles and sandpaper. The woman told police she ob-jected, but the men began to spraychemicals on the car and one of themen began using sandpaper. The menstopped after a disagreement, backedaway from the woman’s vehicle andallowed her to leave. Police inspectedthe vehicle and noted a large portionof the front right fender and bumperhad the top layer of paint removed anda significant amount of sanding marks.

Sanding Gang Assaults CarWhile Claiming to do Repair

Sherwin-Williams Automotive Fin-ishes 2013 second quarter trainingsessions provides collision repair in-dustry professionals advancedknowledge in their field. Courseswill be available through June 25,2013.

Participants will learn through acombination of classroom, web andhands-on settings at various metro-politan Sherwin-Williams Automo-tive Finishes training centers. Shopowners, managers, painters and tech-nicians can choose to advance theirbusiness-building, production-excel-lence and paint application tech-niques.

The following courses will beoffered during the second quarter:• Estimating solutions for profit• Color adjustment and blending• Fleet refinishing• AWX Performance Plus™ Water-borne Systems• ATX™ Refinish Systems

For more information about Sher-win-Williams Automotive Finishestraining visit its training section atwww.sherwin-automotive.com/Train-ing/TrainingCourseSchedule.aspx orcall 1-800-SWULTRA (1-800-798-5872).

Sherwin-Williams Sets Q2Training Schedule

lawsuits we have filed against them fortheir repeated underpayments of ourincreased labor rates and PMC Logicpaint and material invoices. Thischeck, while made out to Gunder’sand Brent Geohagan, has the name ofevery quality repairer in the countryand should send a strong, loud andvery clear message, that when pushcomes to shove, that the little guy cantake on the bullies and win! Like us,every shop can make a difference!”

A year ago, Gunder’s raised itsbody labor rate from $42 to $48 perhour and began demanding full pay-ment of PMC Logic’s paint and mate-rial invoices. Since then, 37 insurershave provided the full labor and mate-rials without much opposition. Those

who have been resistant include StateFarm, Allstate, USAA, Travelers andGEICO; all of which are defendants inapproximately more than 40 currentlawsuits levied by Ray Gunder on be-half of Gunder’s Auto Center’s cus-tomers, with about half against StateFarm alone on similar issues.

“Today’s announcement maybring other insurers to reconsider theirpositions,” Gunder said. “Generallyspeaking, other insurers often followState Farm’s lead on such issues. Itwill be interesting to see what happensin the weeks and months ahead. Iwould like nothing more than to havepositive and respectful working rela-tionships with State Farm and everyother insurer we deal with on behalf ofour customers. This would be benefi-cial to our respective companies andallow us to do what we’re here todo—properly serve the consumer.”

Continued from Cover

Gunder Wins Battle

are hopeful that we will be voluntarilydismissed from the case.”

When asked about how “TheSafelite Advantage” warranty comesinto play, Melina Metzger, the com-

pany’s public relations manager says,“Safelite’s warranty is for Safelite Au-toGlass. Safelite Solutions doesn’twarranty other shops’ work.”

Ammons and his law firm havesuccessfully sued Ford, GM, Conti-nental Tire and Cooper Tire in rollovercases in the past year.


Safelite and Toyota Suit


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Parts Manager: Steve Calhoun800-530-7955601-948-0576601-965-8458 [email protected] Gray-Daniels Blvd.,Brandon, MS 39042

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A Florida circuit court judge has is-sued a temporary injunction againstcertain provisions of the state’s no-fault personal injury protection (PIP)law, ruling that it is no longer a “rea-sonable alternative” to a tort systembecause of recent changes to it. Theinjunction temporarily blocks furtherimplementation of several limits onbenefits and the exclusion of somemedical professionals from the list ofapproved healthcare providers, theInsurance Journal recently reported.

Second Judicial Circuit CourtJudge Terry Lewis in the case [Myersv. McCarty Case No. 2013 CA 73] is-sued the temporary injunction, target-ing a number of changes enacted in2012.

In a statement after the ruling,Gov. Rick Scott vowed to “continueto fight” to keep the changes that hesaid have saved motorists money. Hesaid the changes to PIP have resultedin more than 70% of insurance ratesapproved by the state insurance com-missioner either decreasing or holdingsteady.

The insurance industry also criti-cized the ruling.

A group of acupuncturists, mas-sage therapists and chiropractors suedthe state because the law changes pro-hibit them from being able to receivePIP payments.

The law states that unless an in-dividual injured in an accident seeksmedical attention within 14 days theyare no longer eligible for medicalbenefits. Further, the law for the firsttime differentiates between “emer-gency” injuries where the accidentvictim receives the full $10,000 inPIP benefits and “non-emergency”injuries where PIP benefits are re-stricted to $2,500.

Another law change excludedmassage therapists and acupuncturistsfrom the list of approved PIP medicalproviders.

Lewis based his ruling on ananalysis of the state’s no-fault law dat-ing back to 1974, when the FloridaSupreme Court in a landmark case up-held the state’s no-fault auto law as a“reasonable alternative” to a purelytort system on the basis that it bene-fited consumers.

“Proponents argued that the trade-off was a ‘good deal’ because it would

provide speedy payment of medicalcosts, lost wages, of any accident vic-tim regardless of fault and wouldavoid the alleged uncertainties and in-equalities of the tort system,” wroteLewis.

However, Lewis said, the recentchanges in the law had essentiallyended the court’s line of reasoning inLasky and the restrictions on medicalbenefits and medical providers madethe state’s no-fault law an inadequatealternative to a tort system.

“Is the no-fault law still a gooddeal?” opined Lewis. “The answer tothose questions is probably like beauty,in the eye of the beholder, and reason-able people may disagree. From myperspective, however, the revisions tothe law make it no longer the ‘reason-able alternative’ that the SupremeCourt found in Lasky.”

Based on that line of reasoning,Lewis granted the temporary injunc-tion, saying that the law as currentlywritten unfairly prevented the medicalproviders from accessing the courtsand having their grievances heard.

The Office of Insurance Regula-tion (OIR) it plans to appeal the ruling

as early as this week.“The OIR has notified Florida

auto insurers about it and does intendto file an appeal,” said OIR spokesper-son Amy Bogner. She said the appealwould stay the order but only until theFirst District Court of Appeals ruleson this issue.

Insurance representatives vowedto take any necessary action to over-turn the ruling.

Donovan Brown, Florida coun-sel for state relations for Property Ca-sualty Insurers Association, said theassociation is currently assessing thelegal, regulatory and possible leg-islative steps to combat Lewis’ rul-ing.

“We are highly disappointed withthis injunction, which temporarily in-validates the crux of the reform andthereby reopens the door to the fraudand abuse that the law was designedto counteract,” said Brown.

The Coalition of Insurance Fraudlikewise expressed disappointmentover the ruling, which it said ignoresthe harm done by fraudulent medicalproviders that led to the law changesto begin with.

Florida Governor, Insurers Fight to Save PIP Law After Injunction


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Record Setting Hail Hits Parts of MississippiThe hail that hit parts of Mississippiin mid March damaged hundreds ofvehicles, homes and buildings andwas some of the largest hail stones onrecord.

The NationalWeather Serviceconfirmed March20 that a large hailstone measured at4.25 inches in di-ameter in the west-ern Jackson metroarea city of Clin-ton, was the thirdlargest to fall in the

state in March on record and or since1950.

It was also the third largest hailstone to fall in any month on record inthe state.

Hail of 4.25 inches in diameterequates to the size of softballs. Soft-ball-size hail has only occurred oneother time back in April of 2005 in thePreston area of Kemper County.

Slightly larger hail stones of 4.5inches in diameter and or grapefruit-size hail have occurred four times be-tween 1993 and 1998. Grapefruit-sizehail is the second largest to hit thestate.

The largest, which only occurredonce on record, was hail of five inches in

diameter and or the size of a CD/DVDdisk. This occurred in Lafayette Countyback on April 10, 1962.

Large hail-producing storms aremost often seen across the Plainsstates including Colorado, Wyoming,Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma andSouth Dakota, where drier air aids inlowering the freezing level within asevere thunderstorm through evapora-tional cooling, giving hail a larger vol-ume to grow.

Accordingly, hail is less commonin the Southeast despite a much higherfrequency of thunderstorms becauseof the tropical airmass that commonlyinfiltrates the region off the Gulf ofMexico.

The largest and heaviest hailstone on record in the United Statesfell in Vivian, SD, on July 23, 2010.It measured eight inches in diameterand weighed 1.93 pounds.

Hails storms moved across Missis-sippi in mid March causing numerousreports of hail damage and leaving atleast three people injured and manyvehicles damaged.

The National Weather Service re-ported large hail up to softball-size hitparts of the Jackson metro area andother parts of the state mid Marchwith widespread damage to vehicles,homes and buildings.

General Sales Manager DavidRinehart of Paul Moak Honda in Jack-son said 250 vehicles were damaged atthe dealership. Many of the vehiclessustained broken windows and wind-shields. David Hall, General SalesManager of nearby Herrin-Gear dealer-ship, said every car on their 20 acres oflots are damaged, WLBT-TV reported.

Emergency manager officials es-timated that hundreds of vehicleswere damaged across parts of Warren,Hinds, Rankin and Scott counties.

Large hail up to at least half-dol-lar-size has been reported across morethan two dozen other counties includ-ing Claiborne, Adams, Amite, Pike,Walthall, Smith, Jasper, Covington,

Lawrence, Franklin, Kemper, Lincoln,Marion, Monroe, Chickasaw, Jones,Newton, Simpson, Leake, Lowndesand Washington.

The National Weather Service con-firmed hail reached softball-size in Clin-ton with a measurement of 4.25 inches indiameter. Two people were injured aslarge hail shattered the windows of theirvehicle, according to emergency officials.

Mississippi Hail Storms Damages Hundreds ofVehicles in Jackson Dealership Lot

Hundreds of vehicles were severely dam-aged by large hail at the Paul Moak Hondadealership in Jackson, MS

Tennis ball-size hail falls across parts ofClinton, MS. Photo credit: Will Hammons

Hailstone inRedwood, MS

Mississippi Highway Patrol Vehicle severelydamaged in Jackson


The 1951 Chevrolet Styleline DeLuxeConvertible, once owned by Holly-wood star Steve McQueen and fea-tured in the 1980 movie The Hunter,sold for $88,000 at a Fort Lauderdale,FL, auction.

The Fort Lauderdale CollectorCar Auction hosted by AuctionsAmerica banked $17.5 million intotal sales, the Indiana-based auctioncompany said.

The top five selling vehicleswere: a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL“Gullwing” at $880,000; a 1963Shelby Cobra at $533,500; a 2012Lexus LFA at $319,000; 1932 Lin-coln KB Dual Cowl Sport Phaeton at$275,000; 1931 Cadillac V-12 DualCowl Sport Phaeton at $203,500.

About 550 vehicles were show-cased at the auction.

Steve McQueen’s 1951 Convertible Sells for $88,000

Gefran Inc. recently announcedthat Mick White has been namedthe Southeast Regional Sales Man-ager Industrial Sensor and Automa-tion Products for North America.White will be responsible for allcustomer relationships, OEM anddistributor sales for Gefran’s In-dustrial Sensors and Automationproducts in the Southeast region.His territory includes Florida,Georgia, South Carolina, EasternTennessee, North and South Car-olina, and Virginia.

Prior to joining Gefran, Whiteworked for the following companies:Advanced Controls Solutions, SimcoTechnologies, CID, and Finder Re-lays. He has over 10 years of experi-ence in OEM, Channel Sales, andDirect Sales.

Eric Kirleis, Gefran’s Manag-ing Director, said, “We are excited tohave Mick White on our NorthAmerican team. Mick’s extensive ex-perience in Industrial Sensors andAutomation Products for plastics,fluid power, metal processing, powercontrol and packaging with a focuson Automation Product Solutionswill increase both the visibility andsales for Gefran, Inc.

Gefran Names Mick White inSoutheast Regional Sales

MS Insurance Commissioner’s Hail GuideAccording to Mississippi InsuranceCommissioner Mike Chaney, the re-cent hail storms that hit the state couldresult in 35,000–50,000 insuranceclaims.

Chaney’s office released a guidefor individuals filing claims forhome/vehicle claims.

While waiting for your inspec-tion you should take the followingsteps to protect your property fromfurther damage:• Cover any broken windows andholes in your roof so that no water canenter and damage your home’s inte-rior.• Cover any broken windows in yourcar to prevent damage to the interiorfrom rain and remove glass from thecar’s interior to prevent cuts and dam-age to upholstery and carpeting.• Save receipts for what you spendand submit them to your insurancecompany for reimbursement.

• After an insurance adjuster has sur-veyed the hail damage to your prop-erty, select a reputable roofingcompany or auto body shop to makerepairs.• Allow only the insurance adjusterand roofer you have selected to get upon your roof. Each time someonewalks on it, more damage can occur.• Hire licensed and reputable contrac-tors for repair work.• Be wary of out-of-town rooferswho move into an area and set upshop immediately following a storm.While most of these firms are rep-utable, some collect money fromhomeowners and move on to thenext storm site leaving work unfin-ished or without paying suppliers.This can leave homeowners holdingthe bag for those additional costs. Itis a good idea to select a companywith established credibility and localreferences. Word of mouth is stillyour best guide.• Be sure roofers have workers com-pensation and liability insurance. Ifthey do not, you may be held liable ifone of the workers is injured on yourproperty or if they damage a neigh-bor’s property.• Do not make final payment to theroofing company until your roof hasbeen inspected and you are satisfied.

Back window damage in Richland, MS

Steve McQueen’s 1951 convertible


A hailstorm that hit Jackson, MS, andsurrounding suburbs on March 18 hasproduced 40,000 homeowners and au-tomobile claims, says the MississippiInsurance Department.

The MID says carriers report theyhave paid out more than $25 million indamages on nearly 10,000 homeownersclaims and more than 31,000 auto claimsfrom the storm, which dumped hail largerthan a baseball on 18 counties. Reportssay private and state-owned properties,hospitals and school were damaged.

The total claims count is expectedto exceed6 0 , 0 0 0when in-surancecompa-nies up-date theirfigures.

“The department is very pleasedwith the way the companies are respond-ing to consumers and processing claims,”said Mike Chaney, state insurance com-missioner. “We have had very few com-plaints about the claims process.”

State Farm spokesman RoszellGadson says the leading insurer in Mis-sissippi has received more than 46,000claims in Mississippi, Georgia and Ala-bama from this weather activity.

Mississippi Hail Storm Results in 40,000 Claims Property damage from the March 18

hailstorm that pelted central Missis-sippi topped $25 million in early Apriland was expected to rise drastically asmore residents filed insurance claims,the Clarion Ledger reported.

The Mississippi Department ofInsurance on April 2 reported claimsfiled by nearly 10,000 homeownersand more than 31,000 auto owners inthe wake of the massive storm. To-gether, they total more than $25 mil-lion, an amount that’s already beenpaid by the state’s major insurancecarriers.

It was estimated that the figurewould jump by 50% when insurancecompanies submitted mandatory up-dates, said Commissioner MikeChaney. It’s set to go even higherover the coming months as the finaltallies trickle in.

“I’m surprised it’s not alreadyhigher,” said Andy Case, MississippiInsurance Commission consumerservices director. “That number isprobably nowhere near where it willbe.”

Case attributed the costly dam-ages to the storm’s large hail size com-bined with its path through a heavilypopulated area during a work day.

Among those who already fileda claim is 29-year-old Brandon resi-

dent Thomas Adams. He was work-ing in downtown Jackson when thesky unleashed golf-ball-sized hail onhis 2012 Toyota Camry parked out-side.

“I had just made my third pay-ment on it,” Adams said. “All I coulddo was sit up here and put my head inmy hands.”

Adams took his car to the Missis-sippi Farm Bureau office, where aclaims adjuster estimated roughly$4,000 in damages payable to a localbody shop scheduled to work on thevehicle by the end of the week.

It could take up to 14 days to re-pair, Adams said.

Also navigating the aftermath isJonathon Tumblin of Smith County,

whose 2008 Dodge Ram suffered upto $10,000 in damage while sitting inthe Baptist Medical Center parkinglot. Unlike Adams, though, Tumblinsaid he’s still waiting for a claims ad-juster to confirm his estimate.

“It’s frustrating as can be,” hesaid. “It’s just slow because it’s sobacked up.”

Tumblin said he uses Geico in-surance.

Insurance companies have beeninundated with calls since the hail-storm, with some receiving as many as50 inquiries per hour. Although thenumber of those calls since has de-creased, the process lingers as ad-justers face a backlog of claims.

Despite this, Chaney said, thecommission has received few com-plaints and that he’s “pleased with theway the companies are responding toconsumers and processing claims.”

The commission recommendedthe following actions while awaitinginspections:• Cover any broken windows in yourcar to prevent damage to the interiorfrom rain and remove glass from thecar’s interior to prevent cuts and dam-age to upholstery and carpeting.• Save receipts for what you spend andsubmit them to your insurance com-pany for reimbursement.

Mississippi Hail Damage at $25 Million in Early April and Expected to Rise Dramatically

Hail as big as a softball These Infiniti vehicles were damaged at alocal auto dealer during the hailstorm. /TheClarion-Ledger

RDA’s First Collision Solutions TrainingSeminar Gets Excellent Reviewsby Melissa Jolls, Marketing Director

On March 16 in Dallas, TX, BernieBlickenstaff, President and CEO ofPro Finishes Plus, presented an elec-trifying training seminar to 105 RDAmembers, their sales people and keyemployees.

Blickenstaff gave an engagingpresentation on understanding theneed to continually differentiate our-selves to remain successful and com-petitive. He stressed the importance ofsetting ourselves apart not by sellingprice, but by using the value addedprograms we offer. This was an op-portunity to demonstrate “it’s not justthe deal” that sells in the collisionmarket today. Value added programsdistinguish us against our competi-tion.

Adam Duersch of IndustrialFinishes & Systems summed it up bysaying, “Bernie gets it.” Everyonecame away with valuable informationand new programs they can use withtheir customers.

The objectives at this meetingwere to explain and show first-hand to

the individuals whodirectly interactwith the end userhow to implementand make these pro-grams work forthem. These are theindividuals who ex-ecute sales and mar-keting strategies atthe shop level.

We would like to thank our spon-sors: Evercoat, Saint Gobain and PPCfor helping to make this event the suc-cess it was.

The only question left unan-swered at the end of the day was,when is the next training seminar?Everyone will be there!!

For more information on RDA/IM-PACT visit their website at www.im-pactcollisionsolutions.com or contactMelisa Jolls at 908-251-5713 or email:[email protected].


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Don’t be fooled by their sleek, stylishappearance and be sure not to be con-fused by their attractive price. Malco’sTurboShears metal-cutting tools areeasy on the eyes, but their high carbonsteel blades are not easy on 20-gaugesteel. For that reason and many others,the TurboShear by Malco is quicklybecoming the body repair technicians’go-to metal cutting tool.

Four years ago, Malco enteredthe automotive tools market and hasalready made a significant impact, ledby top reviews from body shops allover the country. With a selection ofdent removal tools (known as the Ra-ditap Rapid Dent Removal System);door skin tools (TurboX Tools DoorHemming and Door Skin RemovalTools); hole punches/flange air tools,the aforementioned TurboShears (withfive models); pliers, riveters, scratchawls, tube benders, slicers, seamers,snips, socket-drive Torx Bits, socketsand related accessories, Malco’s lineof auto body tools is impressive forthe three big reasons every collisiontech wants—cost, performance and

durability. And the fact that they lookgood while performing their respec-tive jobs surely doesn’t hurt either.

Mike Janey, Malco’s CreativeServices Specialist, discussed the man-ufacturer’s emergence into the colli-sion repair field.

“The TurboShears really took usinto the automotive market, becausewe saw a need for this tool back in2003 and saw how it could help bodytechs and companies or individuals

that restore vehicles. But the huge at-traction is the maneuverability andversatility it offers. It’s easy to controland operate and it won’t fatigue theuser’s hands, wrists and arms, becauseit doesn’t require a lot of force to op-erate. Starting at $99, while othercomparable tools retailing normallyaround $300, the TurboShear offers adouble whammy—quality and price.”

Available as a drill attachmentand in air models, Malco’s Tur-boShear metal-cutting device can per-form highly accurate straight cuts andleft circular or square cuts in automo-tive steel. The TurboShears’ wide jawopening allows the tool to easily makecuts in auto body panels, rocker panelsand plastic bumpers effortlessly.

Malco Products, Inc. in Annan-dale, MN, was founded 1950 when ayoung steel supply salesman, MarkW. Keymer, decided to manufactureand market a pipe crimper he had in-vented for use in sheet metal ductworkused with forced air heating systems.More tools soon followed and thebusiness that started in a garage soonbecame a national enterprise. Sixty-three years later, the name Malco is

still associated with quality and relia-bility, as well as being known for reg-ularly introducing exciting new handtool designs and modifications for thevarious industries it serves.

Malco’s website (www.malco-products.com) is packed with usefulinformation about its automotivetools, complete with easy-to-use intu-itive videos, a useful blog (Tool Talk)and a dealer locator.

In the United States, Malco’sauto body tools can also be purchasedthrough two main online distributors,Summit Racing Equipment and AutoBody ToolMart.

Malco’s TurboShears Quickly Becoming Tech’s Go-To Cutter

Malco’s TurboShears cut easily through autobody panels and profiles, including layeredmetal, rocker panels and plastic bumpers

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Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant intendsto sign a bill aimed at strengtheninglaws against drunken driving, hisspokesman said. With his signature,the bill will become law July 1, 2014.

The response from the Republi-can governor came the same day theAmerican Beverage Institute, based inWashington, D.C., urged Bryant toveto House Bill 481.

The group said it represents 80Mississippi restaurants. It said if thebill becomes law, it would be expen-sive to enforce and would create toomuch work for Mississippi probationofficers.

The bill says when someone isconvicted for a first-offense DUI, theperson’s driver’s license could be sus-pended for 90 days, or a judge couldorder a 30-day license suspension andrequire the person to use an ignitioninterlock device for six months. Thedevice prevents a vehicle from start-ing if the driver has alcohol on his orher breath.

The bill also says that a fourth of-fense DUI would automatically be afelony, carrying two to 10 years inprison. It wouldn’t matter how manyyears had passed between the previ-ous convictions and the fourth one.

Under current law, a person can

face a felony by having three or moreDUI convictions within five years.

The American Beverage Insti-tute’s managing director, SarahLongwell, said in a news release thatrequiring ignition interlock devicesfor first-time offenders is a bad ideabecause it might be a too-harsh pun-ishment for people who unintention-ally have a bit too much to drink.

“Requiring interlocks for hard-core … offenders is a much more ef-fective and financially sound way tofight drunk driving,” Longwell said.

She defined hardcore offendersas those with high blood-alcohol con-tent measurements or people withmultiple convictions.

In Mississippi, a person with ablood alcohol content of 0.8% can beconvicted of DUI.

The bill was sponsored by HouseSpeaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton,whose parents and sister were killedby a drunk driver in the late 1980s.One of the co-sponsors is Rep. MarkFormby, R-Picayune, whose youngniece was killed two months ago afterher parents’ vehicle was hit by a driverthat Formby said had previous DUIconvictions.

The final version of the bill passedthe House 112-4 and the Senate 52-0.

Mississippi Gov. to Sign Stricter DUI Bill


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Nearly 200 I-CAR instructors, vol-unteers, and industry membersgathered in Fort Lauderdale, FL,March 22-23 for I-CAR’s EasternRegional Conference. Outstandinginstructors and volunteers were rec-ognized for their dedication andcommitment to I-CAR and for de-livering collision repair training totheir local areas.

Jeff Peevy, I-CAR Senior Direc-tor of Field Operations and Segment

Development, wel-comed attendeesand said, “Thankyou, I-CAR in-structors and vol-unteers. It is anhonor to be hereand have the op-portunity to recog-

nize you for the significant impact youhave made in the industry that weserve.”

Attendees also participated in net-working events, presentations, andopen forum discussions throughoutthe conference.

Committee chairmen were rec-ognized for their 2012 results and an

individual from each region was rec-ognized for the following awards:the Lon Baudoux Instructor of theYear Award, the King TUT Award,and the Founder’s Award. In addi-tion, a veteran I-CAR instructor fromthe northeast region was recognizedfor 30 years of service to the indus-try.

For 2012, Phil Adams (NortheastRegion) and Tony Nethery (South-east Region) were recognized with theLon Baudoux Instructor of the Yearaward. This award is presented to an

I-CAR instructor who most exempli-fies the I-CARpresence in theclassroom, a com-mitment to excel-lence, and keepingpace with technol-ogy.

“Our award re-cipients are ex-

traordinary people. Their passion fortraining and their commitment to theindustry deserve recognition. Theirdedication truly shines through in theclassroom and touches many people,”said Allan Smith, I-CAR NortheastRegional Manager.

The King TUT (Total UnitsTaught) Award is presented to the I-

CAR instructorwith the most stu-dents taught intheir region. The I-CAR instructorswho were recog-nized for their2012 accomplish-ments were Gary

Opferman (Northeast Region) andRoy Taylor (Southeast Region).

The Founder’s Award is pre-sented to one in-dividual in eachregion who mostexemplifies the I-CAR VolunteerSpirit. Each recip-ient is given an I-CAR Founder’sring in apprecia-

tion of their dedication. Joe Mullenwas recognized in the Northeast re-gion; and in the Southeast Region itwas Julia Allegretta.

In addition to recognizing theaward winners, Dan Frohlich, I-CARinstructor in the Northeast Region was

I-CAR Hosts Regional Conference in Florida


need to be able to strategize as an in-dustry and have a plan. Being in-formed without having a plan won’tget us there. That’s part of what thismeeting is, to formulate our voice.”

I-CAR’s decision, announced justthe week prior to the meeting, waswidely criticized by those in atten-dance. In late 2011, three national tradeassociations (later endorsed by morethan two dozen state and regionalgroups) asked I-CAR to take on thetask of communicating with the au-tomakers in an effort to increase theamount and availability of OEM repairprocedures. As recently as late January,I-CAR CEO John Van Alstyne saidhis organization was moving forwardwith a planned roll-out this summer ofa 5-pronged approach to the issue, butthe members of I-CAR’s board in at-tendance at a March meeting votedunanimously to halt the program.

The request from the trade groupshad indicated such an effort wouldsupport their statement that OEM re-pair procedures are the industry “stan-

dard” for repairs. Meeting attendeeTony Passwater, executive directorof the Indiana Auto Body Association,said based on his past involvementwith I-CAR, he believes it was theword “standards,” more than the con-cept of expanding the availability ofOEM procedures, that led to the deci-sion.

“That’s where they all cringe, es-pecially on the insurance side,” Pass-water said.

Meeting attendee Dusty Womble,an I-CAR board member and an oper-ating partner in Roger Beasley Colli-sion Center in Austin, TX, said theI-CAR vote would not have been unan-

imous had it nottaken place at thefirst board meetinghe’d missed in fouryears.

Meeting attendeeBarry Dorn, a Vir-ginia shop owner,said he felt it was

important that people ask I-CAR whatled to the decision.

“I implore all of you to talk to thefolks at I-CAR about what happened,ask them to explain why they voted the

way they did,” Dorn said. “To me thisis inexcusable. In my opinion, I-CARhas been hijacked by special interests.”

But meeting attendee Scott Biggsof the Assured Performance Network,which joined the national associationsin their 2011 request to I-CAR, noted

that it was a deci-sion made by theI-CAR board, notstaff.

“It should benoted that the staffdid a huge amountof work in the last18 months to ad-

dress a lot of the things that we wantedthem to do,” Biggs said. “Most of thosethings they’re going to continue to do.”

What won’t continue, Biggs said,is I-CAR’s planned creation of a“council” to help facilitate and filterthe communication between automak-ers and the industry. Biggs and Schu-lenburg each said the conceptualsolutions for the council was one as-pect of I-CAR’s plan they hadn’t been“entirely comfortable with.”

“I-CAR seemed like a good fit atthe time. But any organization thatisn’t willing to publicly and clearly

state that the OEM repair proceduresare the standard for repair probablyisn’t a good partner for what we’relooking to accomplish here,” Schu-lenburg said. “So while there’s not alot of detail I can give, what I canshare is a large subset of the originalrequesters do intend to create an in-dustry council to address collision re-pair procedural standards. Theprimary mission of this council will beto gather feedback and provide inputto the OEMs to address deficiencies in

the library of pro-cedures and issuesor question thatarise form the in-dustry dialog. It’sabout communi-cation.”

Meeting at-tendee Dan Risley

of the Automotive Service Associa-tion, which also was among the or-ganizations requesting I-CAR’sinvolvement in 2011, said communi-cation will be important because there“are some instances where the OEMrepair procedure probably may notapply.” He noted, for instance, that


Repairer Roundtable

See Repairer Roundtable, Page 27

Dan Frohlich (l) commended by Allan Smithfor 30 years of service to the industry

Gary Opferman

Roy Taylor

Joe Mullen

Phil Adams

Tony Nethery (r) receives the Lon BaudouxAward from German Mejia

Barry Dorn

Scott Biggs

Dan Risley

commended by Smith during the con-ference for 30 years of service to the

industry.“Our instructors

and volunteers arewhat makes I-CARtraining possible.Each of them de-serve recognitionfor what they do.This weekend was

a great opportunity to celebrate theirachievements and thank them,” saidGerman Mejia, I-CAR Southeast Re-gional Manager.


Julia Allegretta

Northern California Man Pleads No Contest toSelling Counterfeit ALLDATA ProductsALLDATA LLC, a provider of man-ufacturers’ automotive repair infor-mation and solutions for theprofessional automotive service andcollision repair industries, recentlyannounced the successful arrest andprosecution of a software counterfeit-ing operation. The company hasa long-standing program dedicated totracking down illegal sales of ALL-DATA products, an effort which rou-tinely results in prosecution.

In the most recent case, WilliamEdwin White, III, was arrested inDecember 2012, following a five-month investigation by the StanislausCounty Sheriff Department andSacramento Valley Hi-Tech CrimesTask Force. The two law enforcementagencies worked with the ALLDATAAntipiracy team to investigate the il-legally copied ALLDATA productsthat White had advertised for sale.

“We aggressively pursue soft-ware piracy,” said ALLDATA Presi-dent Jeff Lagges. “It’s theft, and ithurts our customers by driving upcosts. But it’s not the same as down-loading a pirated song—it’s poten-tially a consumer safety issue becausecounterfeiters don’t care if the infor-

mation is correct. We do care, be-cause incorrect information shouldnever be used to repair vehicles. Peo-ple who don’t realize they bought pi-rated software often call us tocomplain that the product isn’t work-ing correctly, which is why it’s so im-portant to purchase ALLDATARepair through our sales team or ourcompany website.”

ALLDATA licenses vehicle re-pair, diagnostic and maintenance in-formation directly from manufacturersand provides it to customers through asecure, Web-based portal.

“Manufacturers often add, re-move and change information,” saidLagges. “Offering our productsthrough online subscriptions allowsus to get changes to our customersquickly. So buying counterfeit ALL-DATA products not only wastesmoney, it’s a risky business that we’reworking hard to stop.”

Following the investigation andDecember arrest, White was foundguilty, sentenced and ordered to payrestitution to ALLDATA.

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CCC Information Services recentlydonated $25,000 to the Collision Re-pair Education Foundation to helpsupport collision school programsand collision students. The fundingwill allow for four collision studentscholarships, which will be givenaway in May 2013 as part of the$300,000 in awards the Collision Re-pair Education Foundation is offer-ing.

CCC information Services willalso award a collision program with a$10,000 “Classroom MakeoverGrant” in order for the school to beable to purchase needed classroommaterial such as curriculum, comput-ers, audio-visual equipment, or otherrelated items needed for a school’scollision classroom area.

The winning school will be se-lected from the schools that apply forthe 2013 Collision Repair EducationFoundation Ultimate Collision Edu-cation Makeover grant. The applica-tion for the Makeover grant isavailable at www.CollisionEduca-tionFoundation.org and is due onMay 31. Schools who apply will beeligible for one of two $50,000Makeover grants, and an additionalsix $10,000 awards.

CCC Donates $25,000 to Education Foundation

www.autobodynews.comCHECK IT OUT!


A jury recently convicted AngelaWray, the wife of a Flagler CountySheriff’s deputy, of running an organ-ized scheme to defraud her formeremployer—Celico Auto Body of Bun-nell—of more than $50,000.

Jury members began deliberationson the second day of the trial, reachinga guilty verdict in 12 minutes despiteWray’s efforts to sway the outcome inher favor by testifying in her own de-fense earlier in the day.

Wray faces up to 30 years inprison for embezzling $58,964 fromCelico Auto Body, where she workedas a bookkeeper from June 2007 toFebruary 2010. Before the trial, Wrayturned down a plea deal that wouldhave had her serve five years inprison, with probation afterward.

Flagler County Circuit Judge J.David Walsh refused to let her remainout on bond until sentencing. She wasbooked back into the Flagler Countyjail. Walsh ordered a pre-sentence in-vestigation and set a sentencing hear-ing on April 29.

According to a Florida Depart-ment of Law Enforcement investiga-tion and her former employer, Wray

wrote checks to herself but misidenti-fied the checks in a ledger as legiti-mate business expenses. She alsowrote checks to pay GMAC, ChaseAuto Finance and Capital One creditcard bills, as well as a mortgage pay-ment.

“I’m being accused of taking allthis money and changing ledger,”Wray said. “All I can say is I didn’ttake the money and did not change theledger.”

The jury rejected arguments byWray and defense attorney ReginaNunnally that the checks were loansapproved by Carlo Celico, owner ofthe auto body shop, and that checkscashed at Publix and Walmart were foroffice supplies.

During Wray’s testimony, prose-cutor Jennifer Dunton forced the de-fendant to admit she was guilty of aprevious felony conviction in NewJersey. Dunton showed Wray a docu-ment proving the conviction whenWray hesitated to answer the question.Wray plead guilty to felony theft inNew Jersey for stealing more than$40,000 from 1999 to 2006 by writingchecks to herself and destroying

records of the checks at MountainLandscaping, where she also workedas a bookkeeper.

“I’m just very happy she will beheld accountable this second time fordefrauding a small business owner,”Dunton said after the verdict. “I’mhoping she will receive prison or in-carceration this time.”

Throughout the two-day trial,Wray and defense attorney Nunnallyattempted to shift blame from Wray toCelico by questioning payments tosuppliers and independent contractors.Wray claimed Celico sometimes di-rected her to change the businessledger, but denied she changed theledger to disguise checks to herself.

The business owner said his busi-ness problems resulted from the thefts.

“You understand that an em-ployee being paid as a contractor,there’s nothing wrong with that?”Dunton asked, referring to extensivequestions on those contractor arrange-ments by the defense attorney. Wraysaid the point was to show other peo-ple got multiple checks.

The prosecutor disputed Wray’stestimony that she had financial prob-

lems in 2008 and the checks she re-ceived were loans approved by Celico,a claim denied by Celico. Referring toWray’s financial records, Duntonasked and Wray confirmed monthlydeposits from $5,000 on up to $8,000,$9,000 and even $14,000. “That’s notmy definition of struggling,” Duntonsaid.”

Wray claimed the 28 checks shecashed at Publix and Walmart were forbusiness supplies, such as cleaning,paper and coffee.

Celico denied he ever sent Wrayout to buy supplies for his business.“My wife and I bought the supplies,”he said.

Wray also testified that the$58,964 she received were loansfrom Celico, which she was payingback with payroll deductions. Dun-ton responded by saying Wray’schecks were consistent with some-one being paid $10 an hour for 40hours work a week. Wray then saidshe didn’t pay her employer back butwas not paid for additional hoursworked.

The judge twice denied motionsfor acquittal.

Florida Bookkeeper Guilty of Body Shop Embezzlement



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Pro-Spray Launches YouTube ChannelPro-Spray Automotive Finishes recentlyreleased a branded YouTube channel tohelp Pro-Spray users improve the qual-ity and efficiency of their jobs. The URLis http://www.youtube.com/prosprayaut-ofinishes.

Visitors to the site can view a li-brary of resourceful, high-quality videosfeaturing veteran Pro-Spray technicaltrainer and instructor Bill Warner. Thechannel’s current playlist includes:• Pro-Spray in Action: Awesome rideswith Pro-Spray paint• Basecoat Tips and How To’s: Bestpractices to improve your paint joband bottom line • Bumper Repair and Refinishing: Re-view of the six simple steps• Spray Gun Essentials and Tips: Sim-plifying the process• Tech Tips and How To’s: Applica-tion tips from the pros

“Pro-Spray’s passion for our in-dustry, product and people drives ourcontent decisions,” explains LauraYerkey, Pro-Spray marketing man-ager. “With the Pro-Spray YouTubechannel in place, we now have the op-portunity to share our knowledge andexpertise with refinishers around theworld.”

YouTube is the leading onlinevideo community that allows people todiscover, watch and share originallycreated videos. The video-sharing web-site allows people to easily upload andshare video clips on youtube.com andacross the Internet through websites,blogs and e-mail.

Future plans for the Pro-SprayYouTube channel include regularly de-livered original content focused on techtips, how-to’s and FAQs, as well as in-troductions to new Pro-Spray productsand discussions of industry events andtrends. To stay abreast of all the latestnews and content, viewers can becomea youtube.com/prosprayautofinishessubscriber.

The Pro-Spray product line de-livers a comprehensive, versatile, andhigh performance waterborne and sol-vent intermix color system supportedby a full range of primers, clearcoats,hardeners, thinners and support prod-ucts to body shops worldwide.

The Refinish Distributors Alliance(RDA) has added new member Red-shaw Paint Supply, Inc., with head-quarters in Omaha, NE.

Redshaw Paint Supply, Inc. isowned by four individuals withAndy Weissinger as principalowner. Redshaw has four locationsin Nebraska—two in Omaha, one inLincoln and one in Fremont. Thecompany has been in existence since1954 and is a single line Axalta Coat-ing Systems (formerly DuPont) dis-tributor. They carry the DuPont,Spies, Nason, DIC and Aviation linesof paint.

Robert McKenzie Jr., Execu-tive Director of RDA, said, “We areexcited to have Redshaw Paint Sup-ply as part of the RDA/IMPACTgroup and know they are a great fitwith our organization.”

RDA/IMPACT is the largest na-tional group of refinish jobbers ded-icated to providing quality servicesand products to their collision shops.

RDA has 16 members, whichrepresents 180 locations and cover 27states. Members service over 3,500collision centers throughout theUnited States and represent a cross-section of all major refinish brands.

Refinish Distributors Alliance Adds New Member

The Martin Senour Company has in-troduced its new 2013 Global ColorManual.

The new manual offers colorcompatibility guides as well aslarger paint chips—actual chips, notink—which include larger viewingholes making for easier color identi-fication. The new Martin Senourmanual enables painters to improvetheir efficiency, accuracy, and speedin the color-selection process. Themanual also provides color chipsand detailed information for exteriorbody colors, accent, interior, andeven those available underhood col-ors.

The 2013 guide’s new layout isalso more user-friendly in that it in-cludes larger and bolder type fonts,comes on thicker and more durableprinted pages, and features paintchips that are twice as large as thosein previous manuals.

Presenting information on moremanufacturers than in previouslypublished manuals, the comprehen-sive Martin Senour 2013 GlobalColor Manual is available at a costthat is 36% less than last year’s edi-tion. When ordering, please use partnumber: MA5289.

Martin Senour Color ManualFeatures Actual Paint Chips

Pro-Spray YouTube Home Page


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New courses now available. Call 800-445-9262 or see the complete course list at chiefautomotive.com/courses/an.

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uParts, Inc., a leading provider ofcloud-based electronic parts procure-ment solutions, recently announcedthe appointment of Michael Quinnas Senior Vice President of BusinessDevelopment.

“I am thrilled to join the uPartsteam. They have developed a state-of-the-art cloud-based parts procure-ment platform that has been longoverdue for shops and parts suppli-ers,” stated Quinn. “Streamlining in-efficient parts procurement processeswill benefit these long-time tradingpartners as well as vehicle ownersand auto insurers through improvedrepair experience.”

Quinn is a repairer at heart whohas become one of the most trustedleaders in the collision repair indus-try with many prestigious awardsand distinctions. His most recentposition was Senior VP of Industryand Community Relations for Cal-iber Collision. Prior to Caliber, hewas co-founder and CEO of 911Collision Centers, where he and hispartner built seven successful repairfacilities in Arizona and Nevada. In2012, he completed a two year termas Chairman of the Collision Indus-try Conference (CIC) and was alsoinducted into the industry’s Hall ofEagles.

Through the NABC he helpedto spearhead numerous charitableefforts including Katrina Relief,Recycled Rides, First ResponderEmergency Extrication, and Opera-tion Comfort. He has brought forththe generous side of our industry byuniting people for these philan-thropic causes.

“I’m excited to welcome Michaelto our company,” said Alex Adegan,Founder and CEO of uParts. “His de-cision to join uParts is a testament toour vision and shared values with re-pair professionals and our mission tostreamline their interactions with theirsuppliers. There’s no better indicationof our commitment to help collisionshops than having one of their mosttrusted advocates join our team.”

uParts has been in stealth modeduring the past three years, develop-ing the next generation part procure-ment platform based on extensivecollaboration with its charter membercollision shops and parts suppliers.Repairers benefit by having immedi-ate pricing and availability informa-tion from participating suppliers,enabling them to order all of their re-pair parts with a single mouse-click.Suppliers benefit by receiving elec-tronic orders directly into their man-agement systems.

Industry Veteran Michael Quinn Joins uParts


Autoway HondaClearwater

888-205-2564727-530-1173

Dept. Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat 8-5; Sun [email protected]

Braman Hondaof Palm Beach

Greenacres888-479-0695561-966-5185

Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-6; Sat 8-4:[email protected]

Classic HondaOr lando

888-893-4984407-521-1115

Dept. Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat [email protected]

Coggin Deland HondaDeland

800-758-0007386-626-1811

Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-6; Sat [email protected]

Ed Morse HondaRiv iera Beach

800-232-1098561-844-8089

Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-6; Sat 7:[email protected]

Headquarter HondaClermont

800-497-2294407-395-7374


Hendrick Honda BradentonBradenton

877-706-2021941-752-2123


Hendrick Honda DaytonaDaytona Beach800-953-4402386-252-2301


Maroone Hondaof Hollywood

Hol lywood800-542-8121954-964-8300


Rick Case HondaDavie

877-544-2249Dept. Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat 7:30-4

[email protected]

South Motors HondaMiami

888-418-3513305-256-2240Dept. Hours: M-F 8-7

[email protected]

Carey Paul HondaSnel lv i l le

770-985-1444Dept. Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat [email protected]

Ed Voyles HondaMariet ta

800-334-3719770-933-5870 DirectDept. Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat [email protected]

Gerald Jones HondaAugusta

800-733-2210706-228-7040


Gwinnett Place HondaDuluth

800-277-8836678-957-5151


Honda Mall of GeorgiaBuford/Gwinnet t678-318-3155


Milton Martin HondaGainesv i l le

770-534-0086678-989-5473

Dept. Hours: M-F 7:[email protected]

Nalley HondaUnion C i ty

866-362-8034770-306-4646


Southern Motors HondaSavannah

888-785-8387912-925-1444


Jerry Damson HondaHuntsv i l le

800-264-1739256-382-3759

Dept. Hours: M-F 7-5:30; Sat [email protected]

Serra HondaBirmingham

800-987-0819205-949-5460


Patty Peck HondaRidgeland

800-748-8676601-957-3400


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Acura of Orange ParkJacksonvi l le

888-941-7278904-777-1008


Duval AcuraJacksonvi l le

800-352-2872904-725-1149


Rick Case AcuraFort Lauderdale800-876-1150954-377-7688


Jackson AcuraRoswel l

877-622-2871678-259-9500

Dept. Hours: M-F 7-6; Sat 7:[email protected]

Nalley AcuraMariet ta

800-899-7278770-422-3138


Southern Motors AcuraSavannah

800-347-0596912-232-3222


Jerry Damson AcuraHuntsv i l le

800-264-1739256-533-1345

Dept. Hours: M-F 7-5:30; Sat [email protected]

GEORGIA

GEORGIA

ALABAMA

www.autobodynews.comwww.autobodynews.com

AUTOMAKER, OEM, AND RECALLAUTOMAKER, OEM, AND RECALL

, ,, , ,R OEMR OEMR, OEMAUTOMAKER, OEM, OAUTOMAKER, OEM,AUTOMAKER, OEM,AUTOMAKER, OEM, OAU OM R AU OM R AUTOMAKER AUTOMAKER, OEM,O AUTOMAKER, OEM,AUTOMAKER, OEM,AUTOMAKER, OEM,O , , M M M,U U U M M MR R R E E EE E E K K K M M M T T T K K K A A A A A A E E KE A A A AK AK AK MA MA MA U U U M M MM M M R K K K O O O AUTOMAKER, OEM, DDNNNNA DDDDANDANDDDNNNNAAAAANANDNNDDAND A C EC C R L A C EC R R R C C C RE RE R R R L L L L L L A A A E E E CA CA AL AL LL LL L L R RECALLAUTOMAKER, OEM, AND RECALL

Autobody News May 2013FLORIDA • GEORGIA • ALABAMA • MISSISSIPPI


Volvo recalled only seven model-year2013 S60 sedans and XC60 crossoversdue to identification labels with an in-correct manufacture year, according tothe National Highway Traffic SafetyAdministration.

Affected vehicles were manu-factured on Jan. 7. An incorrect dateof manufacture on the certificationlabel means the vehicles are noncom-pliant with regulation requirements,and owners may not be able to deter-mine whether their vehicles are af-fected by future recalls. Volvoquarantined the affected vehicles andwill install correct labels before sale.

Volvo Recall for ID Labels

According to the automaker, therecalls stem from a variety of dif-ferent problems involving the tun-nel shield, parking brake, fuel-tanktransfer tube, warning light, rearbrake calipers and engine cover.

The recall includes 78,500older-model 4x2 SUVs for a heatshield that can loosen and contact thedriveshaft, causing wear and possi-ble breakage over time. Officials ex-plained the action follows fewer than40 complaints of broken driveshaftson the 2007 and 2008 Dodge Nitro,Jeep Liberty and the Liberty’s sistermodel sold outside NAFTA.

Chrysler will recall approxi-mately 9,300 trucks, more than halfof which are in currently in dealer in-ventory, to inspect their parkingbrakes and, if necessary, reset themaccording to specification. A routineinternal audit of 2013 Ram 1500pickups discovered a small numberof vehicles whose parking brakes didnot comply with mandated perform-ance standards.

Chrysler also will recall ap-proximately 30,000 model-year2012 SUVs to improve fuel flowwhen the vehicles are subject to cer-tain driving conditions. Affected areJeep Compass and Patriot models as-sembled between Oct. 18, 2011 andMay 7, 2012.

Chrysler will recall approxi-mately 139,000 sedans to preventimproper warning-light illuminationfor model-year 2011 and 2012Chrysler 300s, Dodge Chargers andDodge Challengers assembled be-tween April 11, 2011 and Dec. 14,2011.

Chrysler will recall 52 com-pacts to correct an issue that maycompromise parking brake function.Affected are model-year 2013Dodge Dart models built over 24-hour period in November with brakecalipers that do not meet specifica-tion.

Chrysler will recall approxi-mately 7,000 model-year 2013 heavy-duty pickups — almost all of whichare still in dealer inventory — to re-place their engine covers. Affected areRam 2500 and 3500 pickups.

Chrysler Issued 6 SeparateRecalls for 215,000 Vehicles

Japanese automakers, including Toy-ota, Nissan and Honda, are recallingabout 3.4 million vehicles worldwidedue to defective airbags supplied byTakata Corp.

Toyota is recalling about 1.73million vehicles produced betweenNovember 2000 and March 2004.Honda is recalling about 1.14 millionvehicles, while Nissan said it maycall back 480,000 vehicles. Mazdasaid it recalled 45,463 units.

This recall underscores the riskof huge global supply chain prob-lems as automakers increasingly relyon a handful of suppliers for com-mon or similar parts to cut costs.

Some airbags at the front pas-senger seat may not inflate correctlybecause of a problem with the pro-pellant used in the airbag inflator,Toyota spokesman Ryo Sakai said.

Takata has also supplied thefaulty airbags to non-Japanese car-makers, said Toyohiro Hishikawa,spokesman for the componentsmaker, declining to identify them.Tokyo-based Takata supplies airbagsand seatbelts to major automakers in-cluding Ford Motor Co. and Daimler,as well as the Japanese brands.

No injuries or deaths have beenreported as a result of the faultyairbags, Toyota said.

Japanese OEMs Recall 3.4Million Vehicles for Airbags

Chrysler is telling owners of certainV-6-equipped Dodge Challengers tostop driving their cars until a wiringissue can be fixed. The automaker isvoluntarily recalling approximately2,500 of the 2013 vehicle models toaddress possible short circuiting.

“This condition could cause awire harness to overheat and possiblylead to fire. Chrysler Group is awareof seven such incidents. None causedinjury,” the automaker said. The au-tomaker also advises owners not topark affected vehicles in or near anystructure. According to Chrysler, atotal of 4,459 vehicles are affected,but 1,900 are at dealerships. TheChallengers that are part of the recallwere built during an eight-week pe-riod ending Jan. 24, 2013.

2013 Dodge Challenger Recall for Wiring Issue

Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia MotorsCorp. are recalling about 1.7 millionvehicles in the United States to re-place a faulty switch that can preventbrake lights from illuminating andtrigger other problems.

When a driver presses thebrake, the switch is supposed to turnon the brake lights and turn off thecruise control.

A defective stop lamp switchcould cause the brake lights not to il-luminate, the cruise control not todeactivate or the push-button start towork erratically, Hyundai and Kiasaid.

As many as 1,059,824 Hyundaimodels could be affected. The recallcovers the 2007 to 2009 Accent andTucson; the 2007 to 2010 Elantra;the 2007 to 2011 Santa Fe; the 2008to 2009 Veracruz; the 2010 to 2011Genesis Coupe; and the 2011Sonata.

The Kia vehicles with poten-tially faulty switches are the 2007 to2010 Rondo and Sportage; the 2007to 2011 Sorento; the 2007 Sedona;the 2010 to 2011 Soul; and the 2011Optima. As many as 623,658 ofthose models could be affected.

Hyundai, Kia Recalls 1.7 Million Vehicles for Switch

Toyota Motor Corp. is recalling209,000 certain FJ Cruiser sport-util-ity vehicles from the 2007 through2013 model years due to a problemwith the driver and front passengerseat belts.

The retractors for the vehicles’front driver and passenger seat beltsare mounted in rear-door panels,where cracks can form if the reardoors are forcefully closed repeatedlyover a long period. If this happens,the seat belt retractor could detach,which would increase the risk of in-jury in a crash.

The car maker said it is develop-ing a remedy for the problem and willbegin the recall as soon as it decideson the necessary repairs.

Toyota Recalls 209,000 FJsfor Seatbelt Flaws

Subaru is recalling 16 2012 versionsof the Outback and Legacy due to aproblem with the windshield wipermotor, according to the NationalHighway Traffic Safety Administra-tion. It’s an expansion of an earlier re-call that affected 2010-11 versions ofthe cars.

The affected vehicles were man-ufactured from April 6 through May12, 2011 and use a wiper motor coverthat may overheat. This could lead toa fire.

2012 Subaru Outback,Legacy Recall for Wipers

Honda Motor Co. has the best brandimage of any major auto maker, ac-cording to a study released by KelleyBlue Book. The study takes resultsfrom 12,000 people who were shop-ping for a new car and using its Webpage to do research.

The 2013 Brand Image Awardssay Honda was the most trustedbrand and considered the best valueof all car brands in the survey.

Honda’s U.S. sales rose 24% in2012 and have risen a modest 4.4%in the first two months of the year. Itsredesigned Accord sedan is sellingwell and the company is investingheavily in plants in the U.S. andMexico to meet anticipated demand.

Honda Wins Best BrandImage Award


Ford Focus Outsells CorollaFord said it sold more than one millioncopies of its Focus for the first timelast year. More than 1.02 million com-pact Focus cars were sold worldwidein 2012, outpacing Toyota’s Corolla,of which close to 873,000 were sold,according to data compiled by Polk.

China accounts for one-quarterof all sales, and the Focus was thebest-selling passenger car in China in2012 for the first time ever.

Ford’s F-Series pickup truck,which has been the top-ranked U.S.pickup for close to four decades,rounded out the top three with 785,630sales. The Fiesta, with more than723,000 sold, came in sixth on the list,making it the world’s best-selling sub-compact car.

Honda’s Civic and CR-Vrounded out the top 10 with 651,000and 625,000, respectively.

Ford Motor Co. is recalling about3,500 Taurus and Lincoln MKSsedans and Explorer SUVs.

The Dearborn automaker said itis recalling 2,537 of its 2012 Ford Tau-rus sedans, 968 of its 2012 LincolnMKS sedans and 30 of its 2013 FordExplorer SUVs because their fueltanks may leak at the seam in the eventof a severe accident.

About 3,000 of the vehicles weresold in the U.S. Others were sold inCanada, Mexico, Europe and othermarkets.

The vehicles are all built at Ford’sChicago Assembly Plant.

Ford Recalls 3,500 Cars forPossible Fuel Tank Leaks

Subaru is recalling just 14 2012 Out-back wagons and Legacy sedans dueto a problem with the moonroof glassthat could cause it to detach, accord-ing to the National Highway TrafficSafety Administration.

Affected vehicles were manu-factured between April 6 and May12, 2011. An inadequate amount andposition of adhesive between theglass and retainer of the moonroofcould cause the glass to loosen anddetach while driving, creating a po-tential road hazard and increasing therisk of a crash, according to NHTSA.

2012 Subaru Outback,Legacy Recall for Moonroof

Honda is voluntarily recalling182,800 vehicles due to an electronicstability system malfunction, accord-ing to a statement from the au-tomaker. Affected vehicles are101,000 Honda Pilot crossovers,60,000 Acura MDX SUVs and21,000 Acura RL sedans, all frommodel-year 2005; 800 model-year2006 Acura MDX SUVs are also af-fected.

According to Honda, if an elec-trical capacitor on the system’s con-trol unit was damaged during themanufacturing process, the systemcould malfunction and apply a smallamount of brake force for a fractionof a second outside the driver’s con-trol. If the driver applies the brakesduring a system malfunction, a crashcould result.

182,800 Honda, Acura Vehicles Recalled

General Motors recalled 26,582 ofthe 2013 Buick LaCrosse sedans andCadillac SRX crossovers due to atransmission problem, according tothe National Highway Traffic SafetyAdministration. Affected areLaCrosses manufactured April 25,2012-March 6, 2013, and SRXs builtMay 29, 2012- Feb. 18, 2013. A soft-ware problem could cause the trans-mission to inadvertently shift toSport mode.

2013 Buick LaCross, Cadillac SRX Recalled General Motors is recalling 144 of

the 2013 Buick Encore compactcrossovers because of a steeringwheel malfunction, according to theNational Highway Traffic Safety Ad-ministration. The affected vehicleswere manufactured Dec. 9 to Dec.28, 2012, and are equipped with aheated steering wheel. NHTSA re-ports that in these vehicles, the steer-ing-wheel fastener may not havebeen installed properly, causing thesteering wheel to become loose andseparate from the steering column.

2013 Buick Encore Recalled

Mitsubishi is issuing two recalls for its2013 Outlander Sport compact crossover,according to the National Highway Traf-fic Safety Administration.

The first is to address a fuel pumpproblem that affects 3,724 all-wheel-drive-equipped Outlander Sports man-ufactured from June 11- Dec. 11, 2012.These vehicles may be missing a fuelsending unit harness, which could re-

sult in a false fuel tank level reading.The second recall affects 4,539

Outlander Sports with faulty brake stoplamps manufactured June 11- Sept. 11,2012. NHTSA reports that the brakelights may illuminate intermittently andthe shift lever could also be moved outof park without pushing the brakepedal. This condition could cause acrash.

Mitsubishi Issues 2 Recalls for Outlander Sport Crossover

A body shop owner came up to me at aCalifornia Autobody Association meet-ing recently and shared his tale of woe.A Multi-Shop Operator (MSO) had

opened a locationin his hometown,where he had beendoing businesssince the 1970s.The presence of theMSO caused himconcern, especiallywhen he lost a DRPto his new neighborand several of histop techs as well.His first instinct, hesaid, was to step uphis marketing, so-cial media and ad-

vertising efforts. When he then told methat he had borrowed $50,000 for mar-keting and wanted my opinion onwhere the money should be spent, Iwas a little flabbergasted.

My first question for him was,“Why did you wait so long?” It surelywasn’t what he wanted to hear at thetime and he certainly didn’t like what Itold him next. “It might be a little toolate.”

I always tell people that marketingis a churn—an ongoing endeavor. Youneed to do several forms of marketingall the time to some degree. I ask bodyshops how many hours are you or yourstaff willing to dedicate to marketing,which includes social media, public re-lations, advertising and the Internet? Iexplain to them that marketing is notsomething you do when your car countdrops or when you have a couple slowmonths in a row.

The biggest mistake body shopsmake with marketing is having unreal-istic expectations. I have heard thesestatements from body shop ownersmore than once. “We did some cableadvertising, but it didn’t work.” (Itturns out he tried it for one month andwhen the phone wasn’t ringing off thehook, he got out of his contract.) “Wedidn’t get any new customers from ourradio advertising.” But when I askedhim how did you track the results (orlack of them) he didn’t have an answer.

But, fear not. If you’re in a tightsituation and want to fast track your

marketing, you can still save the day ifyou work smart and jump in with bothfeet immediately. It’s not the best wayto do it because the majority of anymarketing won’t probably show anysignificant positive returns until you’vebeen plugging away for six months to ayear. When you embark on a market-ing plan, it’s like planting a littleseedling. It’s going to take some timebefore it will grow roots and eventuallyproduce fruit.

Here is a scenario where a bodyshop owner moved quickly and did allthe right things to save his 23-year-oldshop from folding when an MSO cameto town. Allen Sutfin, 54, the owner ofGolden Valley Auto Body, was sur-prised when a shop with a name simi-lar to his moved into his hometown ofYuba City, CA. Only a couple milesapart, the two shops were immediatelybeing confused with each other. (Thename of the MSO is being withheld).

Suftin quickly realized he had aproblem on his hands. “People startedcoming in here asking me When didyou open the new shop?” Suftin said.“I told them it’s not my shop! Rightthen and there I knew I was in trouble,especially when I learned that some ofmy customers mistakenly brought theircars to be fixed there, thinking it wasmy shop.”

Suftin has built a strong founda-tion and a large customer base in YubaCity, where he was born, so when hesaw what was happening to his busi-ness, he didn’t get mad—he got even.“I came to the conclusion that my mainadvantage over this new shop was mylongevity in town,” Suftin said. “We’rea locally-owned and operated businessand we’ve been here since 1990. Wehave second-generation customerscoming here. Hey, competition is al-ways going to be present and it can getpretty intense in this industry. But inthis case, I was losing cars not for myreputation, but because of a mistakenidentity. We lost a few jobs right off thebat and that’s when I asked myself,what can I do?”

Rather than taking the time tocarefully contemplate his next move,Suftin acted definitively and startedmaking things happen literallyovernight. “I started doing larger ads in

our local newspaper, the Yuba City Ap-peal Democrat,” he said. “We onlyhave one newspaper here, so I wantedto be in there as often as I could. We’vebeen picked as the best body shop intown for the past three years by thispublication, so we starting leveragingthat. In all of our ads, we began incor-porating the phrase ‘locally owned andoperated’ and started emphasizing ourlocation, to avoid further confusion.”

Ramping up his community out-reach also became a priority, Suftin ex-plained. “We’ve always been involvedin our chamber of commerce and havehosted charity fundraisers here at theshop over the years. But now, these ef-forts took on a whole new importance.Charity events are a win-win, becausewe’re helping those in need and gettinga lot of free publicity in the process,from the Appeal Democrat and thelocal radio stations here in Yuba City.”

To complement all his other mar-keting efforts, Suftin devised a broad-

cast plan that involved both local radioand cable TV advertising. “We got onthe air and made a statement,” he said.

“It was our way of telling the com-munity that we’re not retreating andthings are still the same. We keptstressing we’re Golden Valley AutoBody and you know us—we’ve beenhere for more than two decades andthere’s a good chance that you or some-one you know has had their car re-paired here.”

By pushing his exemplary trackrecord and the quality of his work, cou-pled with an avalanche of marketing,Golden Valley Auto Body was able tostay busy, while most of the name con-fusion was alleviated. Suftin is lookingat a profitable 2013 and his role in thebusiness community is stronger thanever. What advice can he offer to otherbody shops all over the country whosebusiness is threatened for one reason oranother?


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Is ‘Reactionary’ Marketing Too Little, Too Late? Maybe Not.

with Ed Attanasio

Social Media for Shops

Ed Attanasio is an automotive journalist based inSan Francisco, California. He can be reached [email protected].

Alan Suftin had toimplement some

marketingstrategies quicklywhen an MSO

with a similar namemoved into hishometown andthreatened thesurvival of his23-year-old shop

See Reactionary Mktg Page 27


they buy those parts from the au-tomaker rather than from AC Delcowholesale distributors.

Parts Managers’ forums such asthat at DealersEdge.com, are debatingthe impact of the program complianceon other programs such as Delcowholesalers and on GM’s Retail In-ventory Management (RIM).

Several parts managers at smallerdealerships were focused on the 10%Customer Special Order (CSO) sur-charge which they felt would impacttheir body shop parts orders.

However, the biggest immediateimpact is likely on AC Delco’s Whole-sale distributors, who are concernedthey could lose 30% of their volumefrom GM dealers. If so, it means Fac-tory Motor Parts stands to lose about$25M per year as a result of this pro-gram. “We are going to drop our pricesand go after your wholesale customer.GM has left us no choice,” said a repquoted in the DealersEdge.com forum.

Some parts managers are becom-ing very concerned that “using experi-ence, intelligence and common sense

to create a system that works to man-age obsolescence, return on invest-ment, maximizing gross profit, phasingin the right parts and days of supply,”are becoming devalued.

Worried dealers elsewhere sayGM’s incentive payments won’t beenough to offset the higher cost ofbuying more parts from GM and fewerfrom wholesalers, which typically sellat a 10–20% discount from the fac-tory’s price.

Some dealers also have doubtsthat it will improve same-day servicerates because the new system will re-duce their flexibility to search forneeded parts ‘on the fly’ from local dis-tributors or other dealerships becausedoing so would hurt their chances toearn bonus cash.

Steve Hill, vice president of cus-tomer care and aftersales for GM NorthAmerica, acknowledges some trepida-tion among dealers, but he says manywho have studied it see the advantagesfor their bottom lines and for retainingservice customers. Hill says the com-bination of offering in-and-out serviceand more original-equipment parts willhelp differentiate GM dealerships fromindependent mechanical shops.

Similar to GM’s facility-renova-

tion program, GM wants uniformity inparts and service. Some dealershipshave high same-day service rates, butmany don’t, says Tim Turvey, execu-tive director of customer care and af-tersales. “We wanted to have more of a‘McDonald’s approach’ to make surewe have a certain core group of partsavailable to the consumer to fix theirvehicle right then,” Turvey says.

Under the new system, GM hasadded dozens or hundreds of parts to thelist of items that dealerships are ex-pected to keep on the shelf for same-dayrepairs. The list varies by store, based onpast ordering. Items range from radia-tors and shocks to spark plugs andweatherstripping. GM says it has over-hauled its parts-distribution warehousesto get supplies to dealers faster and onthe same day they’re ordered. If theorder can’t be filled that day, GM willpay for overnight delivery.

A number of dealers consulted be-lieve they’ll break even because theirend-of-the-month bonus payments willoutweigh the higher inventory and pur-chase costs. Others think they’ll losemoney.

To earn a bonus, dealers must pur-chase at least 70% of the dollar volumeof service-lane parts from GM. And

they must use at least 70% GM or ACDelco parts on repairs to GM vehicles.Hitting those thresholds pays a bonusequal to 0.25% of the dealership’s totalparts purchases. For example, a storethat orders $100,000 in GM parts dur-ing a month would get $250. Dealer-ships that crack 90% on both purchasesand repair-order sales can max out at a4.25% bonus, or $4,250 a month on$100,000 worth of parts.

Most dealerships that hit the4.25% level should come out ahead,says Steve Hurley, dealer principal atStingray Chevrolet in Plant City, FL,and co-chairman of the Chevrolet Na-tional Dealer Council. Hurley’s storeshould come out $40,000 to $50,000ahead under the new system, he says.

Rowerdink Inc. is a Grand Rapids,MI, wholesale distributor to GM deal-erships in Michigan. In the Detroit areaalone, the company expects to loseroughly half of the $10 million revenueit makes from more than 50 GM stores,says Chris Mauro, Rowerdink GMdealer account manager. “It could forceus to change our discount program,”Mauro told Automotive News.

A large Midwest Chevy dealer sayshe figures the new system will cost his


GM Dealers’ Parts

See GM Dealers’ Parts, Page 27

by Ed Attanasio

While most teenagers were playingLittle League and going to summercamp, John Wargo, the owner of TheCustom Shop in Flanagan, IL, spenthis spare time restoring and paintingcars. Now 43 and a highly-acclaimedcar fabricator, builder and painter,Wargo uses Pro-Spray paint on all hiscreations, many of which appear atmajor car shows nationwide and sellfor as much as $80,000.

Every year, he wins an average of25 best paint awards for his show cars.And even though he’s worked on lit-erally hundreds of cars and motorcy-cles during his highly successfulcareer, Wargo still vividly remembersthe first vehicle he ever painted.

“It was a 1975 Firebird and I was15, so I couldn’t even drive it,” Wargosaid. “I worked on it for about sixmonths and that’s where it all started.I wanted to have a nice car when I wasold enough to drive, so I did all thebody work myself and then did a two-tone paint job on it. It wasn’t anythingspectacular, but I thought it was prettycool when I was 15.”

After completing two years of vo-cational training and learning the ba-sics of mechanical repair, Wargoturned down a college football schol-arship and pursued his passion forcustomizing cars. “I got involved in it

right after high school but I couldn’tafford to do it full-time. In 1988, Itook a job working the night shift at aprinting company producing full-colormagazine covers and then I openedmy shop during the day. It worked outvery well, because I learned a lotabout PMS colors, as well as tintingand mixing and blending themthrough my exposure to the printingprocesses we used. I wasn’t planningit like that, but it just worked out thatway.”

Wargo switched over to Pro-Spray seven years ago and he’shappy he did. “Pro-Spray gives usour best bang for the buck, and that’swhy we changed over in 2006. Withall the primers, sealers, hardeners,reducers—it can really add up. WithPro-Spray I am getting a real valueper every sprayable pint, because weuse less and the coverage is excep-tional.”

With six vehicles and three mo-torcycles in different stages of com-pletion currently sitting in his 12,000square-foot shop that includes a mod-est showroom, Wargo is passionateand driven to build amazing cre-ations.

But, he’s also passionate aboutcustomer service as well. To get alarge project ready for this year’s De-troit Auto Rama, Wargo worked 16hours every day for an entire month todeliver a spectacular 1967 KarmannGhia with a Viper V-10 motor to hiscustomer just in time for the show.

With a crew consisting of threemulti-talented techs, The CustomShop builds roughly a dozen vehiclesand 15-20 motorcycles every year,including one show-class car done

in-house annually.Wargo’s signaturestyle has been de-scribed in manyways, but the oneword most associ-ated with his workis simply, “Wow!”His love of colors isevident in every-thing he paints andhe isn’t afraid touse as many as it’s

required in order to fulfill his vision.In fact, one of his creations (a Fordpickup) was painted using 53 colors!

To achieve that wow factor eachtime on every car or motorcycle hepaints, Wargo uses Pro-Spray’s Sol-

vent Basecoat System. And eventhough it’s a British product, Wargopaints American cars with it all daylong and is always ecstatic with thefinished product. As his #1 critic and atrue artist, Wargo is always searchingfor that perfect paint job and Pro-Spray has been answering the calltime and again.

As a painter who covets new,exciting custom colors, Wargo was

immediately attracted by the colorlibrary Pro-Spray features, he ex-plained.

“Pro-Spray’s custom line is ex-ceptional, which is ideal for someone

like me who does custom paint work.I originally found the company whenI discovered their line of ‘OutrageousCustom Finishes,’ and used a few ofthem on some cars I was painting.From there I decided to go with thePro-Spray and it has worked out greatever since.

“I also really appreciate the at-omization I get with the Pro-Spray,”Wargo said. “In a perfect world, the

solvent is supposedto evaporate in theair, so that it does-n’t get trapped intothe paint job. Thatprevents us fromgetting that dieback. With the Pro-Spray, it’s easy togo back and makea repair on the caror on the paint jobdown the road, be-cause it’s easy to

match up and simple to blend into,which many painters don’t thinkabout until two years later whenthey have to go back and fix some-thing.”


Custom Shop Masters Pro-Spray to Make an Artistic Statement

John Wargo, the owner of The Custom Shopin Flanagan, IL, uses Pro-Spray on most ofhis award-winning vehicles

Wargo named this creation “SSAWD”— a play on words because hechopped the vehicle and it’s an SS model— a 1969 Camaro Road-ster, with all-wheel drive and a wide body air ride

Named “Project Grand Sport,” this 1968 Convertible Camaro GrandSport is a custom monster that has received a ton of awards for TheCustom Shop at major shows


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Honda calls for replacement of sun vi-sors after airbag deployment.

“And you can’t even use thesame screws. You’re supposed to havebrand new screws, otherwise you’vejust deviated from the standard proce-dures from Honda,” Risley said.

Similarly, he said, Toyota callsfor the complete replacement of someseats after airbag deployment.

“And if you meet with Toyota andyou ask them, ‘Why can’t I just replacea seat back,’ which was the procedure atone time, their response is a little bit dif-ferent than you might think,” Risley

said. “Most peopleassume it’s a safetyissue. In this partic-ular case, the reasonthey want you to re-place the full seat isthe impact on cus-tomer service. Thematerial on the seat

back wouldn’t match the seat bottomand customers were dissatisfied.”

Schulenburg acknowledged thatthe goal is not to give “automakers

carte blanche” in terms of proceduresbut to have two-way communicationwith them and to have mechanisms inplace to ensure it is a collaborative in-dustry effort.

“I think the key take-away is thatthe industry can be assured that therewill be solutions for you,” he said.“Where we go is predicated only onthe needs of the repairers who areusing these procedures.”

The discussion of insurer-man-dated parts procurement system alsofocused on potential ways to addresswhat one Arizona shop owner termed“the death knell of the industry.”

Several attendees discussed ex-isting or proposed state legislation thatcould limit such programs. A bill in-troduced earlier this year in Maryland,for example, would prohibit an insurerfrom requiring a shop to use a specificvendor or process for the procurementof parts or materials necessary for re-pair of a vehicle.

A number of attendees also dis-cussed the importance of shops edu-cating their local parts vendors.

Although several attendees saidthat based on their conversations withState Farm they felt it was now in-evitable that the insurer will move

ahead with PartsTrader, Schulenburgsaid he’s not so sure.

“I think ‘resistance is futile’ wouldbe a position I would want to take, too,if I wanted to get people who were re-sisting to stop resisting,” Schulenburgsaid. “‘We’re moving forward with itregardless…’ is a great approach to en-courage people to stop questioning it. Ijust don’t know that that’s true. I wouldcaution anyone hearing those messag-ing points to take it with a grain of salt.”

Schulenburg ended the meetingby saying he looks forward to eventu-ally having hundred of repairers in theroom for future meetings.

“I see the discussion in the in-dustry moving to more proactive strat-egy versus just a reiteration of warstories and gripes and complaints,” hesaid. “That’s really healthy for our in-dustry to make that transition.”

John Yoswick, a freelance writerbased in Portland, Oregon, who hasbeen writing about the automotiveindustry since 1988, is also the edi-tor of the weekly CRASH Network(for a free 4-week trial subscription,visit www.CrashNetwork.com). Hecan be contacted by email [email protected].

Continued from Page 14

Repairer Roundtable

Aaron Schulenburg

“Fight it, any way you can,”Suftin said. “Marketing was the keyfor us, because it was our way oftelling our story and clarifying who weare. Now the message is out there, andthe advertising we’re doing today issimply supporting that. Any companyis going to run into competition andadversity, but by using your resourcesand not panicking, you can surviveand keep your good name intact.”


Reactionary Mktg

store more than $100,000. He has tradi-tionally bought a large amount of in-ventory from local wholesalers. Thedealer also says he’s not willing to let arepair drag into the next day as he waitson an overnight delivery from GM. Hisparts manager will continue to buy thoselast-minute parts through distributors,which will count against his purchaseloyalty. Hill says that even if a partsmanager can run down that out-of-stockpart on the same day, it’s not as good ashaving the part already on hand.


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Kentucky is the 11th state to permitdrivers to use electronic versions oftheir insurance cards to show proofof coverage. Kentucky now permitsdrivers to use either paper or theircell phone to show proof of insur-ance during a traffic stop.

Regional Vice President for theProperty Insurers Association ofAmerica, Jeffrey Junkas, calls thenew law good news for consumersand the courts because it will avoidunnecessary fix-it tickets for driverswho did not have their insurancecard at the time of a traffic stop.

Kentucky Approves eProof

Nissan North America named KentO’Hara as senior director of aftersales for the U.S. and Canada, andparts and service (P&S) projects andstrategy for the Americas.

O’Hara previously served as Nis-san’s director of P&S and marketingand sales. His new role will includeoversight of after sales for Canada,and a focus on the revenue growth ofthe company’s overall P&S strategy.

O’Hara’s new position took ef-fect April 1.

Nissan Names O’Hara Director

The Boyd Group recently acquiredand opened four new collision repaircenters: In North Carolina, the threecenters are Wilmington Paint & BodyWorks, Factory Finish CollisionCenter and CBS Quality Cars. Thecompany also acquired Express AutoBody in Lakeland, FL.

Each of the shop locations willoperate under the Gerber Collision &Glass trade name. With these addi-tions, The Boyd Group now operates22 shop locations in North Carolinaand 38 in Florida. The company hasa total of 185 collision repair loca-tions throughout 14 U.S. states.

“The opening of these new loca-tions is in line with our stated growthstrategy of achieving 6-10% ofgrowth in number of centers throughsingle location additions,” said TimO’Day, president and chief operationsofficer of The Boyd Group. “Thesecenters allow us to better serve cus-tomers and insurance partners in thesemarkets and we plan to continue tofocus on expanding our presence insimilar attractive U.S. markets.”

Boyd Group Acquires FourRepair Centers in NC and FL

A 1940 Ford Coupe featuring PPGpaint and custom painted by CharleyHutton won the 2013 Ridler Awardat the Detroit Autorama.

The Ridler Award is presented tothe most outstanding car or truck mak-ing its debut appearance at the DetroitAutorama, held March 8-10 in Detroit.

This is the third time in six years thata PPG-finished entry has won the award.

The coupe, named “CheckeredPast,” is owned by Ron andDeb Cizekof Bennington, NE, and was built byAndy Leach of Cal Automotive Cre-ations in Omaha, NE.

Hutton, a noted painter in the cus-tom car world, did the paint work athis shop, Charley Hutton’s Color Stu-dio, in Nampa, ID, where he createdand mixed the red and gold customcolors using PPG waterborne Envi-robase products.

1940 Ford Coupe Wins Ridler Award in Detroit

Farmers Insurance has presentedKadel’s Auto Body with the 2012North American Regional MSOGroup of the Year award. The awardrecognizes Kadel’s commitment toservice and excellence.

“As in the past, Kadel’s contin-ues to provide outstanding customerservice and timely, quality vehicle re-pairs,” said Pete Hickey, nationalMSO claims manager for Farmers.“Congratulations to everyone atKadel’s Auto Body for their out-standing efforts and the well-de-served recognition.”

Kadel’s Wins Regional Award

www.autobodynews.comC

www.autobodynews.com

A Vermont couple have been chargedwith burning down their own autodealership business.

Ed and Tammy Davis of FairHaven, VT, were charged with arsonfollowing the fire at Ed Davis Autoand RV.

Following the fire, investigatorswith Vermont State Police and the Di-vision of Fire Safety searched thescene and determined the fire was setdeliberately. The investigation allegesthe Davises were responsible. EdDavis, 49 and Tammy Davis, 46, arescheduled to appear in court May 20.

VT Couple Charged With Arson

by Ed Attanasio

If you know anything at all about air-brush art, you’re familiar withMickey Harris. He’s a householdname in the airbrush world, knownmost for his military art, but alsorenowned for his realistic style, hispatriotic zeal and his willing to usehis art to raise money for charity andjust makes people happy. By teach-ing other fledgling artists about air-brush techniques and creatingbreathtaking scenes that have ap-peared at car shows all over theglobe, Harris is enjoying his busylife as a painter, consultant, artist,teacher, inventor and mentor.

Harris, 56, has been painting for34 years and has produced thousandsof murals on metal, including cars,trucks, motorcycles and assortedmediums. He embarked on a careeras an airbrush artist at the age of 19,in Ft. Walton Beach, FL, painting onT-shirts to learn the trade. After ab-sorbing as much as he possibly couldabout airbrush art and refining hisskills, Harris made a significant im-pact on the car paint art industry andtoday he is considered one of thefinest airbrush artists in the entireworld.

As a publisher, Mickey foundedAirbrush Magazine in 1994, and as arespected industry leader he waselected President of the InternationalAirbrush Association twice in the1990s. Mickey’s work has appearedin more than 100 publications, in-cluding on the covers of King of theRoad magazine, Truckin’ and Air-brush magazine, just to name a few.

Mickey has also appeared on awide range of TV shows includingappearances on Overhaulin’, Gearz,Car Crazy, Drag Race High and iscurrently working with an invest-ment group for his own television

show and has also been a guest onnumerous talk shows and newsbroadcasts over the years. He wasfeatured on the Travel Channel’sshow called King of the Road, inwhich he was shown painting theworld’s most detailed 18-wheeler,with more than 2,000 man-hours,and over a million strokes of the air-brush in 1999. One of Mickey’sshow trucks captured 22 “Best ofShow” awards and he also won theprestigious “DuPont Top Gun”award four times. Harris’ images cansell for as much as $100,000 andcelebrities such as Jay Leno covethis work.

Traveling to shows, seminarsand public appearances year-round,Harris doesn’t have a retail store or astudio where people can see hiswork. He works out of body shops indifferent parts of the country to com-plete his ongoing list of projects.

“I have a home in Tennessee andanother one in South Dakota, so Iwork out of body shops in each area.I do 2–3 large projects every year,which are basically complete vehi-cles, but I also do 10–12 smallerprojects every month—primarilymotorcycles, tanks and hoods, forexample.”

Mickey’s painting style is her-alded for its incredible depth and de-tail, complemented by hisknowledge of color, form and per-spective. In addition to his artwork,Mickey has been teaching the art ofairbrushing for over 20 years,through seminars for the UnitedStates Sign Council, Airbrush Maga-zine, SATA, the International Air-brush Association, Airbrush ActionMagazine, BASF and Sign BusinessMagazine. Mickey has also paintednumerous murals for the UnitedStates Air Force and painted nose arton nine B-1 Bombers.

Mickey Harris is known formany things, but his seven aviation-related paintings currently hangingin the Pentagon are probably some ofhis best-known, he said. “I’ve gottwo new paintings for the Penta-gon—they’re ready to go. But I’vereally made my career doing the au-tomotive stuff I do. That’s what Ipursue and that’s where I reallymake my living. I’m an artist, but inthe end it’s also a business, so I pur-sue the projects where I can makemoney and feed my family. The rest

of the things I do, such as donatingmy art for fundraising charity effortsfor the military, are also very impor-tant and meaningful to me.”

In 2002, Mickey’s Heroes truckgained a lot of media attention andthat’s when he started being knownfor doing amazing, real-life military

scenes on cars and motorcycles, hesaid.

“The Heroes truck was a tributeto 9/11 and it got a ton of exposure.So after that, people who were look-ing for that type of art started find-ing me on the Internet. All of asudden, I received a lot of referralsfor more memorial type stuff. Therewasn’t any conscious effort to get

into the military art, but it just hap-pened after the Heroes truck. Don’tget me wrong, I love doing this typeof work. My father was a fighterpilot, so I was an Air Force brat andthat’s why I have a close bond to themilitary and appreciate the sacrificesthat our soldiers make.”

Harris greatly values his decade-long relationship with SATA, he ex-plained. “I started working withSATA back in 2003, when I met theDan-Am Company people fromSpring Valley, MN, and immediatelyliked Tony Larimer at SATA. I wasdoing seminar programs and westarted a relationship and Tony and Ieventually became very goodfriends. Dan-Am has really goodpeople there and I like working withthem because their word is gold, andthat’s hard to find. SATA and Dan-Am invited me to go to Germany forthe SATA 100th anniversary and Idid a painting demonstration there atthe SATA factory in 2006. They hada James Bond theme at the party, soI dressed up like Bond and walkedout with a couple of mini-jet gunsunder my jacket and painted on a


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Renowned Painter Mickey Harris Co-Designed the SATAgraph 4

Legendary airbrush artist Mickey Harris usesthe SATAgraph 4 on all of his creations. In thisphoto, Harris is painting a scene from the Viet-nam War on a motorcycle

Mickey’s Tribute to the Heroes of 9/11 isknown as his First Responder Tribute Silverado

canvas to the James Bond themesong. It was a blast!”

Hooking up with SATA to de-velop a new airbrush has been an ex-citing and fulfilling experience, hesaid. “I sat down with the peoplefrom SATA to develop the SATA-graph 4. It took two years of devel-opment to get it where it needed tobe. It was introduced at this year’sSEMA Show and people immedi-

ately liked it. We wanted to come upwith an affordable airbrush that wasa good airbrush that can work wellin the trenches. I call this the AK-47of airbrush guns, because you canbeat the hell out of it, throw it in themud and it keeps working. It retailsfor $149, so it’s absolutely competi-

tive. It’s got good German engineer-ing in it, but one of the things I likethe most about it is we’re able tomake it here in the good old USA. Itell people it’s German engineeredand American made.”

Harris uses SATA airbrushes al-most exclusively for many reasons,he explained. “I really like all ofSATA’s airbrushes, but the SATA-graph 4 has some great features. It’sgot a tip protection cap that’s re-versible, so you’ll never lose the cap,which can be a problem with otherairbrushes out there. We believe it’sgoing to be the #1 selling airbrushwithin the next four years, becauseit’s a better product.”

Passionate about every aspect ofhis life, Harris describes himself assomeone who is “old, but still run-ning around like I’m 20 year-old.”He added, “I love what I do, but I’mstarting to realize that it’s a littleharder now to operate at a high level.I just hope I can live long enough todo everything I want to do. Rightnow, I’m very happy, because I’mreally enjoying my life; workingharder now and producing betterstuff than ever. So it’s a good time!”


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One of Mickey’s most celebrated vehicles isthis 100th GM Anniversary Chevrolet Suburbanthat was unveiled at SEMA 2011

I-CAR Responds to Associations’ Questions on RepairStandards, Clarifies Stance on OEM Procedures GapsI-CAR responded to questions posedby repairer associations regarding thetraining organization’s position on re-pair standards, as they relate to OEMrepair procedures, and I-CAR’s ulti-mate decision not to take an activerole in the identification of gaps inOEM repair procedures and forminga council to foster closing those gaps,something the association’s had re-quested of I-CAR in 2011.

In an April 12 letter to I-CAR,the three repairer organizations hadquestioned I-CAR’s reasons for notaccepting this expanded role in thedevelopment of repair standards, andquestioned statements made by I-CAR that “seem to suggest a beliefwithin I-CAR that not all industrysegments support using OEM repairprocedures as a standard of repair.”

I-CAR responded in the form ofa letter addressed to representatives ofthe Alliance of Automotive ServiceProviders (AASP), the Society ofCollision Repair Specialists (SCRS),and the Assured Performance Net-work.

In the latest official response, I-CAR reiterated its position that it“firmly believes that OEM collisionrepair procedures are the industrystandard for complete and safe re-pairs” while acknowledging that,“Unfortunately, not all OEMs offercollision repair procedures in the U.S.market, nor do all OEMs offer consis-tent levels of collision repair informa-tion,” and that “I-CAR is committedto helping the industry close thesegaps by working closely with the in-dustry and the OEMs to research, de-velop, and deliver collision repairprocedures where none exist.” I-CARalso acknowledged that work in theseareas must be performed “from a per-spective of neutrality with an uncom-promising priority on complete andsafe repairs for the consumer.”

In an email, I-CAR stressed thatits focus is on “complete and safe re-pairs for the ultimate benefit of theconsumer,” and said, “We believe theposition and intentions stated in thisletter, which complement those con-veyed speak directly to this.”

The National Auto Body Council(NABC) has received nearly $250,000 inpledges and donations towards its $1.5million Capital Campaign for OperationComfort’s AutoMotivation program.

The Capital Campaign goal is topurchase, renovate and equip a 30,000sq. ft. training facility in San Antonio,TX, that will serve as a permanenthome for Operation Comfort’s Auto-Motivation program. Wounded serv-ice members in the AutoMotivationprogram benefit from occupationaland rehabilitative therapies as theywork on automotive projects.

NABC-led efforts take the pro-gram to the next level by providingopportunities for participants to si-multaneously recover and heal whileacquiring certified I-CAR curriculum-based training for new career paths inthe collision industry.

“We are thrilled with the mo-mentum and support coming from allcorners of the industry to support thiscause,” said Chuck Sulkala, NABCExecutive Director. “Many compa-nies, regardless of size, are joining ourfundraising efforts and finding waysto engage their customers and em-ployees to support this great programfor our wounded troops.”

Companies that have already

launched their fundraising initiativesinclude:

Hertz launched a fundraising ef-fort over Presidents’ Day Weekendthat raised $50,000 in a two-day pro-motion. The company’s sponsorshipof Operation Comfort is part of itsHertz for Heroes program, a projectinitiated by Hertz employees withmilitary backgrounds.

3M Corporation is pledging$50,000 based on sales of selectedproducts through the Automotive Af-termarket.

Sterling Autobody Centers haspledged a $30,000 corporate donationand anticipates an additional $30,000will be raised through efforts from itsindividual body shop locations.

Keenan Auto Body is collectingdonations at each of their 11 shopsand are matching every donation untilthe Capital Campaign goal of $1.5million has been reached.

“Our heartfelt thanks to the manycompanies and individuals who havealready donated and pledged theirsupport. There are many more com-panies with fundraising efforts in theworks and we look forward to sharingmore exciting news on their contribu-tions towards our Capital Campaigngoal,” said Sulkala.

$250,000 Donated Towards Operation Comfort


by Melanie Anderson

Crazy Painters Mitch Kelly, 53, hisfather Tom Kelly, 73, and sonThomas Kelly, 22, might be a littlecrazy with the schedule they keep.Based out of Bellflower, CA, thethree-generation trio don’t have muchfree time between painting custom hotrods, Harleys, semi tractor trailers,race haulers, motor homes and, re-cently, even a plane.

Owners of Kelly & Son TheCrazy Painters, Mitch and his dadTom still have yet to add “& Grand-son” to the sign, but the younger gen-

eration is holding his own with hiscomputer-generated design and logowork.

You might say painting is in theirblood. Mitch’s great great grandfatherwas striping horse-drawn wagons onthe Ford line before motors were eveninvented. Tom Kelly’s grand-father did pinstriping back inthe ‘40s, and Tom, whostarted in the business at age13, is well-known for work-ing with Von Dutch as wellas Ed ‘Big Daddy’ Roth.Mitch also started in the busi-ness at age 13, paintingwheels for his dad. Mitchsays his dad and grandfathernamed the shop “CrazyPainters” because of the air-brush work they did back in the ‘50sinvolved a lot of monsters, flames and‘crazy’ graphics and lettering.

Blue HeavenAt SEMA 2012, Mitch unveiled his1957 Bel Air Chevy called ‘Blue

Heaven’ and since then the car haswon several awards. In November, itwas selected as Goodguys Builder’sChoice Top 10 at the Goodguys 2ndFall Del Mar Nationals in Del Mar,CA. In December it won ‘Best inShow’ at the 15th Annual John ForceHoliday Car Show in Yorba Lindaamongst approximately 3,000 cars inthe show. In January, Blue Heavencame home with the ‘Best Paint’award in their division from theGrand National Roadster Show inPomona, CA, and in March, the carwas selected as a Vintage Air Cus-tom Rod of the Year Finalist at the

Goodguys 4th Spring Nationals inScottsdale, AZ.

Upcoming shows include theLong Beach Grand Prix and Cruisingfor the Cure in Orange County. Thecar will also be featured in an upcom-ing issue of Hot Rod Magazine.

Despite the car’s popularity andaward-winning looks, Mitch says it’stime for the car to go and he is lookingfor a buyer. Mitch is eager to start hisnext street rod project and has a ‘61Impala and ‘57 Chevy Bel Air con-vertible awaiting his attention.

“Rock My RV”Mitch, Tom and Thomas Kelly alsohave been busy taping episodes of anew TV show called “Rock My RV”which will begin airing on the Travel

Channel in May. Legendary rockerBret Michaels, a long-time RV devo-tee, will host the all-new “Rock MyRV” series. According to their web-site, Michaels leads a team of skilled,custom RV designers and fabricatorsto transform ordinary RVs into “out-rageous, badass, hooked-up mobilemansions on the road.”

The Kelly’s have recently paintedtwo motor homes for the show, aGMC for a gourmet sausage entrepre-neur and a Fleetwood for a Midwestfamily who travels the Californiacoast.

The GMC, Mitch said, lookedlike it had been in a hurricane withbroken fiberglass and rusted screws,nuts and bolts. Kelly and crew re-paired the fiberglass, replaced allhinges, sanded, base coated with hisall-time favorite red—PPG’s HotRed—and then added a black and goldpearl belly stripe while son Thomascreated an awesome 3D logofor the owner’s business.

“This was a three-Kellyeffort,” said Mitch. Thomasdid the design and logo work,Mitch did the mask off, andbase painting and stencilgraphics, and Tom Kelly,with his phenomenal air-brushing talents, added depthand shine with candies andpearls and created a 3D af-fect.

Mitch painted the 30-foot Fleet-wood motor home belonging to the

Midwest family black with goldstripes and red candy with graphics ina three-layer design in red and goldwith drop shadowing done in stages.Three sets of graphics lay on top of

each other. Tom finished it off with acustom 3D mural painted in the backof the motor home to commemoratethe wild and scenic California coast-line that the traveling family loves tovisit.

Kawasaki Motocross Race TrailerAnother recent project the Kelly menhave worked on includes a KawasakiVolvo tractor with a race trailer.Painting extravagant tractor-trailerrigs is a Kelly specialty. Clients in-clude professional motocross and su-percross teams and manufacturers.These jobs are great calling cards forthe Kellys as the trucks travel acrossthe country on nationwide tours withriders giving TV interviews anddoing commercials in front of theKelly custom-painted trucks.

What’s different about this newproject is that Thomas is solely re-sponsible for creating all the design

work. Proud Papa Mitch says his sonpresented his design ideas to the cor-porate Kawasaki race team decision

Crazy Painter Mitch Kelly, Father & Son Keep on Truckin’ in SoCal

Kawasaki team trailer painted by Mitch Kelly

Mitch Kelly’s 1957 Bel Air Chevy, called “Blue Heaven” has won several awards

A slice of heaven

Brian Deegan’s truck

makers who loved his work andagreed to the concept within five min-utes. The semi is painted black withwhite and lime green and a heavymetallic blue, with a green and bluepearl for sparkle. Mitch says you can’tsee the glitter until the sunlight hits itjust right and then the paint job“winks at you.”

Mitch is able to paint semis in ahuge 63’x19’x19’ paint booth, but hedidn’t start in a fancy, monster-sizepaint booth. He got his first semi-truck custom paint job back in 1992from the Association of VolleyballProfessionals (AVP). They wanted animage of a 30-foot volleyball playerdiving for the ball on the side of thetruck. Mitch said yes before he evenknew they could do it. Mitch recallsthey set up a projector in the drive-way and parked the truck on thestreet. They projected the image theywanted on side of the truck to sketchit out. Out of hundreds of custompaint jobs completed over fourdecades, this job turned out to be hisall-time favorite. Today, custom paintjobs on a semi run about $50,000. Ittakes about a week of prepping andanother four days to paint a semi,Mitch said.

Truck for Brian DeeganMitch completed another recent trac-tor-trailer project for Brian Deeganwho races off-road trucks. Thomascreated the designs, incorporating allthe sponsors’ logos and Mitch paintedthe rig using his favorite PPG Hot Red,Titanium Silver and created a brightyellow to match the “Rock Star” yel-low. Mitch completed the black, red,silver and yellow look with red andgold micro sequence flakes.

Deegan of Temecula, CA, is a for-mer freestyle motocross racer whofounded Metal Mulisha, a freestylemotocross FMX team, and is a RallyCar Gold Medalist and winner of tenX-Games medals.

And a PlaneMotorcycles, custom vehicles, motorhomes, semi trucks. So, why not aplane? Mitch’s friend Dana Pontiouslives on an airport in the MojaveDesert and owns a 1955 Cessna 172,the second oldest Cessna 172 still fly-ing today. Dana has owned the planefor a few years and she’s been flying itbare aluminum. The plane needed apaint job. Who better than her goodfriend Mitch? The father of Dana’s fi-ance, Adam, happens to be a mechanic

and rated with FAA to work on planes,so they tore the plane apart and theyhauled it in a trailer in 104 pieces toMitch’s Bellflower shop.

Mitch met Dana yearsago as a fellow dirt bikerider. “Dana is the kind ofgirl who hooks up a trailer tothe motor home by herself,hauls it out to the desert, getsout her bike and rides withthe boys at the same speedwe did,” Mitch said.

Mitch recently spent along weekend prepping, seal-ing and painting the Cessna.He used PPG’s base colors, atitanium silver and white, tocreate a light gray with slight pearlmetallic sheen. Of course, he addedhis favorite Hot Red and then theycovered the plane in black and silvergraphics. Mitch said his son went a bitcrazy on the graphics and after threelong days of adding color and graph-

ics all over the body, tail and wings,Mitch was completely worn out.Adam put the plane back together andDana made immediate plans to fly to

Florida to pick up her sister to go toan air show and have some fun girltime. Dana’s plans included showing

the plane and flying in a showcase.“I have waited a very long time to

get this paint job,” Dana said. “As I sitback and look at it now, it was well

worth the wait. It is better than I couldhave ever imagined. I can’t believethis is my airplane!”

Can’t Move Without ItOne of the products that Mitch findsinvaluable in his shop is his mobile

car dolly built by DJS Fabri-cations Inc. The dollies canbe bolted to disk brakes, tiresaren’t necessary, and it al-lows a tech to work beneaththe car and works well forlow-sitting cars that can beput right on the dolly.

“They are invaluable forpushing a dead car around theshop,” said Mitch. “Currently,we have a 1982 low-riderCadillac getting customizedand it wouldn’t push any-where, so we have it on one

of Doug’s dollies. We can move itwherever we want to work on it. If youcan’t move it, you can’t work on it.They are vital to getting the job done.”

For more information about Mitchand Tom Kelly Crazy Painters, go to:www.kellyandsoncrazypainters.com.


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1955 Cessna 172 before paint job

Mitch Kelly and son Thomas Kelly

1955 Cessna 172 (after paint job) won “Grand Champion” in a recent air show

by Melanie Anderson

Darryl Hollenbeck, 45, of VintageColor Studio in Concord, CA, is athird generation custom painter andcar restorer. His grandfather ownedone of the first body shops in Oaklandback in the late ‘30s and early ‘40s

and later sold his shop to Hollenbeck’suncle. Darryl’s father worked in theshop as well, with Darryl joining thefamily business at age 21.

With 25 years experience, Hol-lenbeck has owned Vintage Color Stu-dio restoring hot rods and custom cars

for the past 10 years. Most of the vin-tage cars he works on date back to the‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s, with the ‘newest’car he’s ever worked on being a 1966Shelby Mustang.

“I love cars. I was born into it,”said Hollenbeck. “I love the challengeof taking something old and rusty andturning it into something beautiful andaward-winning.”

Hollenbeck has won severalawards, including the award he won

for painting John Mumford’s 27 TRoadster, built by Roy Brizio StreetRods, which won “America’s MostBeautiful Roadster” at the recent 2013Grand National Roadster Show inPomona, CA. He’s won that awardtwice. The first time he won the awardwas in 2005 for painting PaulHansen’s Moal Built 1932 Roadstercalled ‘Seduced.’

Over the course of his career, Hol-lenbeck has custom painted well over100 cars, many of which have gracedthe covers of hot rod and custom carmagazines. Several of those magazinecovers are featured on his website atwww.vintagecolorstudio.com. He ownsthree hot rods himself—a 1950 Mer-cury from his late father, a 1957 ChevyWagon and a 1932 Roadster that he’sstill working on.

Some of Hollenbeck’s favoriteprojects include restoring historicalcars that were originally customizedback in the ‘30s and ‘40s. For exam-ple, Hollenbeck restored a 1949 Mer-cury that belonged to Sam Barris(George Barris’ brother). Hollenbecksaid this car was the first Mercury tobe chopped and customized and it wasa new car when Sam Barris did it in1949. Hollenbeck also restored the1936 Ford Jack Calori Coupe, whichwas the November 1949 Hot Rod

Magazine Cover Car, and was Best inClass Winner at Pebble Beach in 2005.

Another famous historical car thatHollenbeck has worked on is the AlaKart, originally customized by GeorgeBarris and owned by Richard Peters.The car survived a fire that destroyedBarris’ shop in 1957. The car, namedfrom a menu at the time George Barris,Richard Peters and friend BlackieGejeian met at a local coffee shop todiscuss the car, is based on a 1929 Ford

Pickup and cost $15,000 to build. Pe-ters and Gejeian built the undercarriage.It won the prestigious “America’s MostBeautiful Roadster” award at the Oak-

land Roadster Show two years in a rowin 1958 and 1959. The Ala Kart isknown for being the first show rod thatturned into a model car kit. The AlaKart was restored by Roy Brizio StreetRods in 2011 and Hollenbeck did the

paint and body work on the car withArt Himsl doing the graphics.

Another favorite project Hollen-beck worked on was Vic Edelbrock’s

father’s 1932 Roadster that was re-stored by Roy Brizio Street Rods in2004. Otis Victor Edelbrock, whodied in 1962, was an American auto-motive aftermarket performance partsengineer, racer and is considered one


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Third Generation Custom Painter Was Born Into the Business

Custom painter Darryl Hollenbeck picturedhere in the rearview mirror

This 1932 Roadster was owned by Vic Edelbrock Sr

Hollenbeck painted this 1949 Chevy truck for Eric Clapton

of the founders of the hot rod move-ment. The 1932 Roadster was the per-sonal car of Edelbrock Sr. and wasalso as a test vehicle back in the ‘40sat the El Mirage Dry Lakes in south-ern California.

Hollenbeck said the average proj-ect takes about three months, fromstart to finish, with the paint work it-self taking about 10 days. Some ofHollenbeck’s famous customers in-clude English rock guitarist Jeff Beck,singer Eric Clapton, and James Het-field of Metallica.

The recent change from solventsto waterborne paint isn’t somethingHollenbeck is thrilled about. Like

many painters, he appreciates routineand using the new water-based prod-ucts has changed up the way he’s usedto doing things.

“Now we gotta try to make waterbase work for what we do, and it’sgeared more toward the collision in-

dustry,” he said. “It does have its ad-vantages in what we do, but you getused to doing something a certainway, then all the sudden the EPAchanges everything on you.”

He says waterborne is easier to use,but takes longer to dry between coats.For example, he said it used to take himeight hours to paint a Roadster with sol-vent and now that same size car takes

about 12 hours to paint using waterbase.He also acknowledges that the

water-based paint colors are more vi-brant, but adds that a custom line ofwater-base products for custom workdoesn’t exist yet. Hollenbeck has beenusing PPG for nearly 30 years, sincehe was “in high school and just startingto mess around with paint,” and saysthe PPG brand is very user-friendly.

“There isn’t a custom line of waterbase,” he said. “For instance, CandyApple Red isn’t available in water baseso you have to figure out how to makeit and that takes more time.”

According to Cindy Schauer, Seg-ment Communications Manager withPPG, the company is not launching anew waterborne platform for the custompainter, but over the last few years, PPGhas made some products that work wellwith their current waterborne brands,Envirobase High Performance andAquabase Plus, that make it easier to usein a custom finishing situation.

Darryl Hollenbeck’s Vintage ColorStudio, 2330 Bates Ave, Suite B-1Concord CA 94520 Phone : 925.671.7773www.vintagecolorstudio.com


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by Susan GuyerFinishmaster Marketing Manager

Audit is a scary word—tax audits, fi-nancial audits, and process auditsoften conjure images of mounds ofpaperwork. There are different ap-proaches to running an audit, many ofwhich are cumbersome, completedone time and forgotten, or too com-plicated from the first step.

Simplifying the process andmoving away from a process audit toa Process Analysis will help you withcontinuous improvement. FinishMas-ter has built a system to help shopowners improve processes by gettingthe entire team involved, applyingsmall changes, and monitoring suc-cess over time.

Jeff Smith, FinishMaster DistrictSales Manager in West CentralFlorida, discusses shop audits he hasseen in the past. “I have seen auditsthat are 30 pages long with 100+boxes to check off. People are readyto be done before they start. Our ex-perience shows that less is better andit is more about observing and askingquestions than checking boxes.”Smith said they have built a processfocused around six key points thatlead to an effective and successfulProcess Analysis.

Take off the blinders. Look atthe shop from a fresh perspective anddo not assume that anything is per-fect. FinishMaster helps remove theblinders by tailoring the processanalysis to what each shops needs.

Chris Shrewsbury, CollisionDirector for Ferman Acura andChevrolet in Tampa, FL, talks abouthis experience with audits. “Insteadof one size fits all, FinishMaster’sProcess Analysis really looks at ourfacilities for ways to improve on anindividual basis and they help imple-ment the changes. Being able to con-

stantly see ways to improve allows usto adapt to an ever-changing indus-try.” Even if a process is documented,review it using the Process Analysisplan, there might be additional op-portunity for improvement.

Keep it simple. Smith said hestarts with one area that needs im-provement, such as color match.Having a “road map of questions” inadvance and asking more that come

to mind while walkingthrough the process allowsyou to uncover opportuni-ties for improvement. Smithcontinued, “It is importantto take pictures while youare conducting the processanalysis. This is not only agreat reminder of each step,but it is also an importantvisual aid when compilingthe analytics. Here are someof the basic questions spe-cific to color match asked

during a Process Analysis.• When is color matching done?• Is it done in the spray booth?• Do you use all color documentationincluding variant chips?• When do you do spray outs?

Keeping it simple and walkingthrough one process from start to fin-ish, rather than tackling an entire list,enables the group to more easilyidentify points of opportunity forchange.

Gain more input from Man-agement and Technicians. Focusingon the questions and answers gath-ered during the Process Analysis isthe best opportunity to gain insightabout current process and ideas forchange. If you ask the right questions,

in most cases, both the managementand the technicians will give youmore than enough opportunities forimprovement. Building the ProcessAnalysis through documented con-

versation leads to solutions. To set upnew processes and implementchange, there has to be buy-in fromall participants.

Match changes/Standard Op-erating Procedures (SOPs) to ma-terial movement. Think back to thecolor match issue reviewed duringthe Process Analysis. Once the cur-rent process is understood throughquestions and photo documentation,digging through the data is the nextstep. Identify areas that the smallestchanges will have the greatest im-pact. For example, with color match asuggested improvement is to com-plete the initial spray out when jamb-ing parts.

When implementing a smallchange, this is the perfect opportunityto set up SOPs.

“During the SOP setup, we usethe data collected to match all mate-rials, storage, and distribution to thetechnicians so there is com-plete compliance. When youcan match procedures to ma-terials with no options to stepoutside the defined SOPs,you have a very high successrate on both profitability andproductivity,” said Smith.

Monitor for success.Smith reinforced, “Makingmajor changes is why we seeother audits fail. Focusing onsmall changes has the mostimpact, and monitoring thosechanges is the only way to be suc-cessful.”

There are two simple steps onceyou have identified an opportunityand set new SOPs.

Step 1 is to build a follow-upcheck list. Basically, this is asmall analysis custom builtto monitor compliance on allthe agreed changes and newSOPs with key performanceindicators (KPIs). Most ofthe time audits are per-formed, the results go in theback of the desk drawer andimplementation is rare. Witha follow-up check list per-formed at preset intervals,the same issues will notcome up six months or a

year later. A check list has to be cus-tom built with each Process Analysisconducted at the shop.

“Setting up procedures thatmatch only materials in our facility

has increased both profitability andproductivity. With FinishMaster’sunique KPI tracking methods wemonitor our progress to ensure theprocedures are followed and thechanges are positive,” said Shrews-bury of Ferman Acura and Chevrolet.

Step 2 is to monitor performance.Again, everyone has KPIs andspreadsheets with more numbers thanmost can digest. Keep it simple. Haveonly pertinent KPIs and build a cus-tom tracking calculator that can mon-itor the effectiveness of the changesimplemented. This takes some cre-ativity and some help from Finish-Master, but when you sit down toreview KPIs it will include very spe-cific measures of implementedchange that show profitability andproductivity results.

Understand that the processnever ends. The continuous im-provement model is a key component

of making the Process Analysis suc-cessful. By removing blinders, allareas in the shop can be reviewedover time and check lists can be up-dated if better process ideas are iden-tified. Larry Lampinen, Owner ofNu Finish Collision in Brandon, FL,discusses his experience with Finish-Master’s Process Analysis.

“Most companies claim to havea lot of tools to help you, but yourarely see them used. To my surprise,FinishMaster came in day one doinga Process Analysis and has notstopped bringing me ideas for im-provement. The data the ProcessAnalysis provides ties material usageto an individual technician in corre-lation to their hours produced. Thisgives us a very precise way to seeprofitability by technician so we canidentify opportunities for improve-ment right down to a technician.Their implementation of best prac-tices has been a benefit to my overallperformance.”

Six Tips to Finding Success in Process Analysis

Chris Shrewsbury, Ferman Acura and Chevrolet withJeff Smith, FinishMaster

Chris Shrewsbury, Ferman Acura and Chevrolet withJose Bezares, FinishMaster Account Manager

Larry Lampinen, Nu Finish Collision with Jeff Smith

Are signs still relevant in this digitalage of websites, Facebook, Twitter,YouTube and more? The U.S. CensusBureau says 18% of households relo-cate every year. It’s well known thatmany people choose a place of busi-ness by the attractiveness of its ap-pearance and signs. People who moveinto the vicinity of a collision repairfacility are likely to only know of theshop if they see a sign and like it. TheSmall Business Agency reports thatbusinesses that add, improve or en-large signage enjoy an average rev-enue increase of about 5%.

Signs in this digital age shouldalso have a broader focus. In additionto the usual location and services mes-sage, today’s sign should also driveviewers to the shop’s website, Face-book page, and other on-line locationslike Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube.This is especially true of signs not onthe shop’s physical property. Shop ve-hicles with printed information, or a

magnetic sign, should definitely em-phasize on-line connections in largertype.

The same is true if the shop in-vests in bus bench ads, bus ads, taxi-cab ads or billboards. All of the signsand ads should have the same lookand feel with a prominent logo andany other images used. Some shopslike to use a photo of the shop but thisspace could be much better used.

Signs with an emotional appealalways do better. Charities use photosof handicapped children or handi-capped older people to reach viewersemotionally. Sympathy may work forthem but fear is a much better targetemotion for body shop sign messages.One survey found 9% of vehicle driv-ers text or talk on a cell phone whiledriving. A dramatic photo of an in-verted crashed vehicle could captureattention with a message like, “Thiscould be you. Don’t text and drive oryou might be paying us a visit,” or

“Don’t read this sign if we’re inter-rupting your text message. We’ll seeyou at the shop.”

One key to an effective sign isuniqueness. Check out your competi-tion’s signs to see what you shouldn’tdo. You don’t want to be sending a “metoo” message. It’s pointless to empha-size quality. Everyone expects that. Em-phasizing cost for self-pay prospects isfine, but is unlikely to motivate thosewho expect insurance to pay. One ap-proach that isn’t often used is the colli-sion prevention emphasis. It takes a tipfrom dentists who emphasize tooth carebut know they’ll be fixing the teeth any-way. A shop with an adequate facility tohold a small weekly or monthly classcould provide information on collisionaversion and prevention. Insuranceagents would be glad to speak to youngdrivers or students just for the exposureto new potential customers. The signinvitation message would be trulyunique.

The size and location of a signgenerally determines how many peo-ple see and read it. Today’s huge, dig-ital moving signs are astonishing butalso very expensive. Ten years ago Ipriced out a Las Vegas style movingneon sign for a shop. The cost wasover $500,000. It’s probably muchless today but still prohibitive for anyregular sized shop. But this type ofsign is worth checking out. In a loca-tion by heavy street or highway traf-fic this kind of sign would capturecontinual viewers. A while back one

group of shops in the same generalarea pooled their resources and in-vested in large signage. They calledthemselves “Gold Class CollisionShops” and listed all locations on thesigns. I was surprised by the coopera-tion of shop owners who were actuallycompeting for business in that area.

There is one final concern aboutthe message on signs and relatedmedia. Any shop with a websitewould like to have their site appear onGoogle’s or Yahoo’s first page whensomeone searches for a collision re-pair facility in their area. The searchengine that weighs and evaluates thesite determines in what order their siteappears. My web-savvy sources tellme content on a site is very importantand the keywords used in that contentmay determine the fate of the sitewhen it is evaluated. If a shop hasdone its homework, the best keywordsthat people look for are known andused frequently in the site’s content.The problem is that all of the othershops doing a professional site will beusing most of the same key words.Here is where a shop seeking unique-ness in signs and ads can multiply thebenefit by incorporating key wordsand images that most other shopswouldn’t use. By approaching thecontent for a sign using the same basickeyword and image idea used to at-tract search engine recognition, it isalso likely to attract a sign’s viewerand drive that viewer to look for theshop’s website.

Using Signage to be Unique in the Digital Age

On Creative Marketingwith Thomas Franklin

Tom Franklin has been a sales and marketing consultant for fifty years. He has writtennumerous books and provides marketing solutions and services for many businesses.He can be reached at (323) 871-6862 or at [email protected]. See Tom’s columns at www.autobodynews.com under Columnists > Franklin


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The Women’s Industry Network (WIN)announced its scholarship winners forthe 2013 WIN Educational Conferenceto be held May 5–7, 2013.

In keeping with its mission tosupport and encourage women whoare entering or are already in the col-lision industry, WIN has offered ninescholarships to attend the event beingheld at the Ritz Carlton in Phoenix,AZ.

Receiving student scholarshipsare: Zoe Gorow, studying at LakeWashington Institute of Technology,Kirkland, WA; and Kaitlyn Lease, at-tending Lexington Technology Cen-ter, Columbia, SC.

The shop employee winners are:

Lindsey Hassevoort, Customer Serv-ice Representative, Holland AutoBody Xperts Carstar, Grand Rapids,MI; Myssee Grysen, Customer Serv-ice Representative, Holland AutoBody Xperts Carstar, Grand Rapids,MI; Melissa Kaboos, Collision Re-pair Teaching Assistant, Kent CareerTechnical Center, Hudsonville, MI;and Amanda Bolton, Estimator, Ger-ber Collision and Glass, Jessup, MD.

For more information on WINScholarships, visit http://www.wom-ensindustrynetwork.com/Scholar-ships.aspx or contact Teresa Boltonat [email protected].

WIN Announces Scholarship Winners for Conference



There is enough controversy in the in-dustry today to write three or four dif-ferent stories on the hot topics. I willnot contribute to the proliferation ofpropaganda and conspiracy theoriesby discussing parts or insurance com-pany direct repair programs. I haveanother controversy for shops to rallyaround.

Due to my executive position andthe company I am employed by, Ihave not been able to share my viewspublicly or within the confines of mycorporation. Don’t feel bad for me.That’s why I write these articles. I canshare my thoughts and experiencewithout placing my job in jeopardy. Ican only imagine what would happenif I decided to challenge “The Institu-tion” and talk about what is widelyconsidered heresy amongst insuranceexecutives.

Several decades ago, it was com-mon practice for shops to help cus-tomers with their “out-of-pocketexpense.” Shops would attract and as-sist their customers by paying a towbill or a portion of their rental car ex-pense. Some shops went further anddecided to cover the customer’s de-ductible.

How was this possible? It wasbecause there weren’t a lot of laws andregulations strictly prohibiting the be-havior of cost-shifting. Insurancecompanies knew about it, although we

didn’t take direct action to address it.It was easy to cost-shift 40 years

ago because OEM sheet metal partswere very expensive. Parts were threetimes the price they are today. Theywere also three times the size andweight. OEM parts were expensivebecause there wasn’t any real compe-tition. (The aftermarket parts industry

was still only in its infancy.) If youhad to replace a fender, you ordered agenuine OEM part from the dealer-ship. Because parts were expensive,shops could write for a new part andrepair the old one. This allowed shopsto make a lot of money on labor, savethe customer money and still do a saferepair.

Life was much easier for bodyshops back then. Direct repair pro-grams didn’t exist, which facilitatedthe body shop industry accepting thewidespread adoption of cost-shifting.Now, because of legislation, cost-shifting is considered fraudulent.

What about deductibles? There islegislation in many states that pro-hibits a shop from “saving” or “reim-bursing” the customer’s deductible.Here is where I am going to stray fromthe herd: I believe shops should beable to advertise and implement de-ductible saving programs. Shopsshould be able to decide whether ornot they want to offer incentives totheir consumers as a means of gaining

business. I think we refer to that ascompetition in the marketplace.

I do not believe I would find acolleague here in the insurance indus-try to support my ideology. The prob-lem is trust. I suppose this cunning oldwily insurance veteran still believesthat shops have some integrity. Butevery piece of legislation ever pro-posed or enacted was put in place be-cause generally my industry doesn’ttrust shops to do the right thing. No-body will publicly make that state-ment, but it is fact. Insurers believethat it is impossible for a shop to offera significantly discounted deductiblewithout cost-shifting.

I agree to some extent becausethe profit margins in the shops are cer-tainly not what they were in the 70s or80s. But if a shop decided they wantedto reduce their profit margin to gain acustomer, why should it be illegal?Isn’t that the true definition of a directrepair program? I am not sure how

providing a discounted deductible isany different. After all, shops agree toprovide a parts discount or reducedlabor rate in exchange for being on adirect repair program in order to gainbusiness.

I am not advocating for “cost-shifting” or committing fraud. I amnot supporting shops writing all OEMparts so they can repair them or re-place them with aftermarket parts. Iam suggesting that shops should beable to offer whatever discount theywant to customers, up to and includ-ing reduced deductibles. Consideringtoday’s economy, customers may bemore apt to have their vehicle repairedrather than cashing out.

If it was up to me, I would trustyou to do the right thing. You shouldalso know that I do not employenough adjusters to reinspect everyvehicle we insure, thus rendering myopinion moot.

But I trust you.

Shops Should Be Able to Offer Whatever Discounts They Want

with The Insurance InsiderInside Insurance

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]


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Car thefts in Massachusetts havedropped by 88% since the mid-1970s, when the state had the dubi-ous distinction of being the country’scar theft capital, the Claims Journalrecently reported.

Insurance experts and law en-forcement officials credit the dra-matic drop to anti-theft features,from transponder keys and immobi-lizing devices and vehicle trackingsystems, and to vigorous enforce-ment by police.

The Boston Globe reports thatthere were 1,575 reports of stolen ve-hicles in Boston last year, comparedwith 28,000 in 1975. In Massachu-setts, car thefts have dropped everyyear since 2001.

The state now ranks near the mid-dle of the pack nationally, a drop thathas helped stabilize insurance rates.

The bad news is that these daysstolen vehicles are less likely to befound. Many are shipped overseas orare driven to Mexico.

Car Theft Drops by 88% inMassachusetts

Matrix System recently promotedDavid Brunori to division presi-dent of Quest Automotive Products(QAP).

Brunori has 30 years of experi-ence in the collision repair andrestoration market and has beenwith Matrix System AutomotiveFinishes for 20 years.

Brunori currently serves on theBoard of Trustees for the CollisionRepair Education Foundation, theOakland Schools Education Founda-tion, and as an adviser for the OaklandSchools’ Technical Campus–South-west. He holds a bachelor’s degree inchemistry and a graduate degree inbusiness management.

“Being named division presi-dent is an honor and a major accom-plishment in my professional career,”said Brunori. “I have always tried tofollow very simple guidelines: have avision, lead people and stay focused.I am looking forward to see what thefuture has in store.”

David Brunori Promoted toDivision President at Matrix

Chicago Pneumatic has announcedthat it is providing ten $1,000 toolgrants to the Collision Repair Educa-tion Foundation. These grants willallow students entering the workforceto have the best pneumatic tools avail-able to enhance their new skill sets.

Secondary and post-secondarycollision students attending careerand technical schools and collegeshave the opportunity to apply formore than $300,000 in availablescholarships and tool grants avail-able through the Collision RepairEducation Foundation and its indus-try supporters.

Other sponsored awards in-clude:• 3M Hire Our Heroes VeteranScholarships & Tool Grants• Alliance of Automotive ServiceProviders Massachusetts (AASP-MA) Tool Grants• ABRA Auto Body & Glass ToolGrants• Alcoa Foundation AluminumTraining Grants• CCC Michael Salvatore MemorialStudent Repair Technician Scholar-ship.

Chicago Pneumatic Gives$10,000 in Tool Grants

Cathy Bonner, chairman of theboard at Service King Collision Re-pair Centers, will be a featuredspeaker at the 2013 Paint, Body &Equipment Specialists (PBES)Spring Conference, May 14–16 atthe Embassy Suites Phoenix-Scotts-dale.

Bonner will present “ServiceKing’s Vision for Expansion andOutlook for the Industry.” In addi-tion, she will share her view of theCarlyle Group’s entry into the in-dustry and her outlook on multi-shop consolidation.

Bonner is a business entrepre-neur with more than 35 years’ expe-rience in leading a variety ofmulti-million dollar organizations inboth the public and private sector.

Fortune Magazine named Bon-ner one of the 25 most influentialwomen entrepreneurs in America,calling her “…smart, gutsy, and in-novative—as interested in making adifference as in making money.”

In 2010, Bonner was hired asService King’s president to developa strategic growth plan for the com-pany. In August 2012, the CarlyleGroup, an investment firm, pur-chased Service King.

Service King’s Bonner toSpeak at PBES Conference

The Collision Repair EducationFoundation recently announced that91 cents out of every dollar donatedwent towards assisting the future pro-fessionals of the industry.

Charity Navigator, America’sleading independent charity evalua-tor, advises that “the most efficientcharities spend 75% or more of theirbudget on their programs and serv-ices and less than 25% on fundrais-ing and administrative fees.”

The Collision Repair EducationFoundation having a 91-9% givingratio displays its’ commitment to theindustry’s future, while staying leanin its’ operational expenses.

Collision Repair EducationFoundation Director of DevelopmentBrandon Eckenrode noted, “It isimportant for charities to be account-able and transparent to their donors.We are grateful to our 175 donors in2012 for their record breaking $4.9million in giving, and it is our re-sponsibility as a not-for-profit organ-ization to ensure that the industry’ssupport reaches those in the mostneed. On behalf of the organization’sstaff and Board of Trustees, we thankour supporters and look forward tomaking 2013 a year to remember.”

Foundation Says 91 Cents ofEvery Buck Went to SchoolsThe following slate of eight candi-

dates are vying for four open seatson the SEMA Board of Directors.

Chairman-Elect Category1. Doug Evans, Source InterlinkMedia2. Tim Martin, K&N EngineeringManufacturers Category3. Al Azadi, Omix-ADA, Inc./RuggedRidge4. Kyle Fickler, Weld Racing5. Steve Matusek, Aeromotive, Inc.6. Tim Watts, Superlift SuspensionSystemsManufacturer’s RepresentativeCategory7. Jeff Bates, Bob Cook Sales8. Greg Bernheisel, Considine Sales& Marketing

This year the voting will takeplace online between May 15–June11, 2013. Voting is open to currentSEMA member companies andvotes must be cast by the member’sdesignated primary contact.

Winners will be announced inJune, and formally inducted in July.

For more informationabout the 2013-2016 SEMA Boardof Directors election, contact ArleneWood at [email protected] or call909-978-6678.

SEMA Board Candidates

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Mitchell Releases New RepairCenter Connect, WhichAllows Insurers to Send Assignments to Any ShopMitchell recently released Repair-Center Connect, a new solution thatthe company says streamlines com-munications between insurance com-panies and collision repair shops byallowing any shop, even those outsideDirect Repair Program (DRP) net-works, to receive an appraisal assign-ment from an insurance company.

By simplifying assignment re-trieval and automatically consolidat-ing the important artifacts intoMitchell WorkCenter, RepairCenterConnect contains all the functionalitynecessary for insurers to expand theirbody shop network to include non-DRP shops.

As a result, Mitchell says workcan be shifted to more cost-effectivechannels, without the manual com-munications that often increasechances for error and create more in-efficiencies.

“Two important industry driv-ers—efficiency and cost—played amajor role as Mitchell sought to im-prove the often slow, manual commu-nications required when insurers workwith out-of-network shops on aclaim,” said Jesse Herrera, SeniorVice President, Product Management

and Customer Experience. “With Re-pairCenter Connect, the same toolswork for any shop, allowing evenlow-volume and out-of-networkshops to receive assignments and up-load artifacts. It is part of Mitchell’songoing commitment to increase effi-ciency within the claim and repairprocess.”

Mitchell says that for shops al-ready using Mitchell software forcommunication with insurance com-panies, the experience will be seam-less. They can receive assignmentsand upload estimates and supportingdocuments in their current platform.

Shops not using Mitchell soft-ware are directed to an intuitive, web-based portal for assignment needs,allowing for a simple transition thatimproves overall processes for insur-ers’ needs.

RepairCenter Connect is fully in-tegrated with Mitchell WorkCenter, anopen, modular, and end-to-end physi-cal damage claims settlement solu-tion.

To learn more about Mitchell’sshop program management capabili-ties, please visit mitchell.com/work-center/repairmanagement.

Automotive Body Parts Association Hires EdwardSalamy as New Executive DirectorThe Automotive Body Parts Associa-tion (ABPA) recently hired EdwardSalamy of ETS Management Group,Inc. as their new Executive Director.

He will officially join the associ-ation on April 1 to begin the transitionphase from retiring Executive Direc-tor, Stan Rodman.

Salamy brings to the position 15years of experience in the alternativeparts supply channel with the lastseven years serving as the Director ofIndustry Relations for member com-pany, KSI Trading Corporation.

He remains a distributor memberof the CAPA Board and will continueto help the association to promote theusage of certified parts—a long stand-ing position of the ABPA.

“Having served as a sales man-ager, regional manager and industryliaison, he is well aware of the manychallenges our members face and Iam excited to have him help lead theassociation into this new era of partsdistribution,” said Nick Scheid, Pres-ident of the ABPA Board of Direc-tors.

Stan Rodman, who has served asthe ABPA’s Executive Director forover 30 years, informed the Board in

2011 of his intentions to retire in 2013which lead to a 12-month nationalsearch for his successor.

Through Rodman’s leadershipand guidance, the members have en-joyed many years of insight, productand distribution advancements, mar-ket awareness and enjoyable confer-ences.

“It has been the Board’s honor towork with Stan as he finishes histenure and we are excited to nowwork with Ed as the new challengeswe face have matured just as the in-dustry itself has. At our upcoming an-nual convention, we will pay tributeto Stan Rodman as he passes on thebaton to Ed Salamy in a joint celebra-tion of where the ABPA has been andwhere we are going. We expect to seeall our members at this historicalevent where they can say goodbye toa great friend and hello to their newleader while also meeting with peers,suppliers and other industry represen-tatives,” said Scheid.

The ABPA will hold its nextbusiness conference in Charleston,SC, May 1– 4.

For more information, visithttp://www.autobpa.com/.

The 2013 Temkin Experience Ratingsranked 246 companies across 19 in-dustries based on the customers’ ex-perience. In its third year, the surveyof 10,000 U.S. consumers found theinsurance industry—comprised of 14carriers—showed steady improve-ment from an average experience rat-ing of 59% in 2011 to 65% in 2013.

Bruce Temkin, managing part-ner of Temkin Group, said the surveybegan with a much larger group of thenation’s largest insurance carriers.The 14 insurers were chosen based ona minimum of 100 responses to thesurvey.

The survey measured three com-ponents of customer satisfaction:• Functional—can customers do whatthey want to do.• Accessible—how easy is it to workwith the company.• Emotional—how consumers feelabout their indications with the com-pany.USAA: Ranking: 29/246Experience Rating: 77%Ranked with an overall carrier experi-ence considered “Good” was USAA.USAA’s score improved from lastyear by four points.

State Farm: Ranking: 64/246Rating: 73%. State Farm improved by1 point from last year.Liberty Mutual: Ranking: 203/246Rating: 56%In second-to-last place is Liberty Mu-tual, down 3 points from 2012.

Another insurer that received apoor rating is American Family,which ranked 191 and received a rat-ing of 58%.21st Century: Ranking: 242/246Rating: 49%In last place is 21st Century, a drop of7 points over its 2012 rating.

The company did poorly in allthree of the rating components com-pared to the overall industry averagewith Functional the worst followed byAccessible and then Emotional.

Nine insurers ranked in the mid-range, with industry average ratingbetween 60% and 70%.

Nationwide ranked 100 with arating of 68% and came in thirdamong all the insurers.

The other 10 insurance compa-nies on the list, which ranked in themid-range, are: GEICO, Allstate, Pro-gressive, Metlife, Travelers, The Hart-ford, Farmers, and AAA.

Insurers Rated for Best and Worst CustomerExperiences; USAA Ranked “Good”

Education Foundation to Offer Free 1-Year I-CARCurriculum Grants to 100 Post-Secondary SchoolsThe Collision Repair Education Foun-dation will offer free one-year I-CAR®

curriculum grants to 100 public post-secondary schools in 2013. This willassist post-secondary schools withbudget constraints, allowing theseschools to offer their students the newI-CAR® Professional DevelopmentProgram™—Education Edition. Theapplication for the curriculum grantwill be part of the Education Founda-tion’s 2013 Ultimate Collision Educa-tion Makeover grant.

The grants are being funded by adonation from I-CAR as result of anew initiative that began in 2012,where I-CAR pledged $1 for every I-CAR class attended in 2012. This re-sulted in a $200,000 donation to theCollision Repair Education Founda-tion; the largest monetary donation theCollision Repair Education Founda-tion has received since its founding in1991. Half of these funds will be usedto support the broad and importantwork the Foundation performs, andhalf will be reinvested specifically intopost-secondary schools to help themaccess much needed curriculum.

“Curriculum is the foundation toany collision repair training program,

and it is very unsettling to see thatwhen school budgets get cut, curricu-lum budgets also get cut,” said ClarkPlucinski, Executive Director of theCollision Repair Education Founda-tion. “If schools do not have even thebasic curriculum to teach, students aremissing out on a consistent and thor-ough learning experience. I applaud I-CAR for taking the initiative in gettingcurriculum in the hands of the collegesacross the country. This will benefitthe collision students studying in thoseprograms greatly.”

To be eligible, public post-sec-ondary schools must complete the2013 Ultimate Collision EducationMakeover grant, which is available onthe Collision Repair Education Foun-dation website at www.CollisionEdu-cationFoundation.org.

As part of the application, aschool must submit an additional state-ment on why they would like to beconsidered for a curriculum grant. Theapplication is due on May 31, 2013.

Any questions about the applica-tion can be directed to MelissaMarscin, Director of Grant Programsfor the Education Foundation [email protected].


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Most & Least Expensive States for Car InsuranceLouisiana has the highest average carinsurance rates in the nation, followedby Michigan and Georgia, accordingto Insure.com’s annual state-by-statecomparison of insurance premiums.

Maine enjoys the least expensivecar insurance rates, followed by Iowa.

Georgia rose from the No. 10 posi-tion in 2012 to this year’s third-place spot.

2013 state rankings of car insuranceratesAvg. annual premium*1 Louisiana $ 2,6992 Michigan $ 2,5203 Georgia $ 2,1554 Oklahoma $ 2,0745 Washington, D.C. $ 2,0066 Montana $ 1,9147 California $ 1,8198 West Virginia $ 1,8169 Rhode Island $ 1,73510 Kentucky $ 1,72511 Connecticut $ 1,72312 New Jersey $ 1,69713 Alabama $ 1,66714 Missouri $ 1,63815 Massachusetts $ 1,62516 Pennsylvania $ 1,60417 Delaware $ 1,58618 Hawaii $ 1,58319 Texas $ 1,54520 Arkansas $ 1,54521 Maryland $ 1,528

National average $ 1,51022 North Dakota $ 1,50123 Wyoming $ 1,49624 Alaska $ 1,45525 Utah $ 1,43826 Kansas $ 1,43527 Minnesota $ 1,43228 New Mexico $ 1,43129 Tennessee $ 1,40830 South Dakota $ 1,39731 Oregon $ 1,38732 Nebraska $ 1,38433 New York $ 1,36934 Florida $ 1,36435 Mississippi $ 1,34536 Nevada $ 1,34137 Virginia $ 1,32238 Illinois $ 1,32239 South Carolina $ 1,28840 Colorado $ 1,27141 Wisconsin $ 1,22842 Arizona $ 1,22743 Washington $ 1,22644 Indiana $ 1,18345 Vermont $ 1,17646 Idaho $ 1,13347 New Hampshire $ 1,11248 Ohio $ 1,10649 North Carolina $ 1,08550 Iowa $ 1,02851 Maine $ 934

Source: Insure.com.

Two versions of Honda’s Civic areamong five vehicles added to Insur-ance Institute for Highway Safety’slist of top safety picks for performingwell on a new crash test simulating asevere front-end collision.

The two- and four-door Civics,Honda’s second-best selling car in theU.S., earned the IIHS’ “Top SafetyPick Plus” award for performanceboth in previous tests and a new eval-uation of a crash in which a vehicle’sfront corner collides with a car, tree orpole.

Volvo Cars’s Volvo XC60,Ford’s Lincoln MKZ and Mazda’s2014 Mazda 6 also got the top picks-plus designation. Thirteen other mod-els were named in December.

“Improvements to the Civic andAccord allow us to put large-volumevehicles into the marketplace and im-prove the safety of the overall fleet,”Chuck Thomas, chief engineer of au-tomotive safety for Honda in the U.S.,said.

The insurance group, based inArlington, VA, has said it created thenew test in part to improve vehiclesafety. Honda made engineeringchanges to the 2013 Civic in part tomeet the test requirements and asked

the group to test the car, Thomas said.The institute this week said it

will release results of the small-over-lap front crash test for small sport-util-ity vehicles this year.

In December, it released resultsof the test for mid-size cars with Toy-ota’s Camry, formerly the best-sellingmid-size car in the U.S., and the PriusV hybrid, earning the lowest ratings inthe new front-end collision test.Camry was recently suplanted byFord’s Focus in this sales category.

The insurance-industry fundedgroup has said it introduced the testlast year because that type of accidentaccounts for almost a fourth of frontalcrashes that seriously injure or killpeople in front seats.

Honda used higher-strengthsteel formed at high temperatures tostrengthen the Civic body and de-signed the cars so the engine com-partment absorbs more energy in afront crash, Thomas said. He de-clined to comment on the cost of thechanges.

The Civic was redesigned for the2012 model year. It overtook Toyota’sCorolla last year as the best-sellingcompact sedan in the U.S., accordingto researcher Autodata Corp.

Safest Cars are Civics, Lincolns, Mazdas, Volvos;Toyota Camry, Prius V Get Front-End Downgrade

Axalta Coating Systems Holds Fleet Council MeetingAxalta Coating Systems (formerlyDuPont Performance Coatings) heldits 9th Fleet Business Council meet-ing in Paterson, NJ, on April 5-6 toprovide fleet business owners andmanagers with the leadership skills toimprove shop efficiency, enhanceprofitability and grow their business.

The Fleet Business Council isthe first forum of its kind in the U.S.Established in 2009 with a group of10 fleet customers from across theU.S., the Council brings together spe-cialists in heavy-duty truck, RV, busand commercial equipment repair andrefinishing.

The goal of the Council is topromote an environment where own-ers and managers can interact withother professionals, share best prac-tices and further develop their busi-ness management skills.

Led by industry expert MikeAnderson of Collision Advice andhosted by Axalta Coating Systems,the meetings are scheduled on aquarterly basis and are structured toinclude a discussion of financialmanagement principles, membershop tours and critiques, as well asguest speakers who provide industryinformation.

Valtek, Inc., located in Paterson,

hosted a tour of its shop that focuseson repair of heavyduty truck andequipment, fire apparatus, RVs andbuses.

A representative from ReliableEquipment presented an overview ofnew tools, equipment, and processesfor bonding and riveting on vehicles.

Kirsten Klabunde, a certifiedCPA with Collision Advice, provideda detailed look into the benefits ofusing the statement of cash flows toanalyze business operations.

“Participating in the Axalta FleetBusiness Council has significantlyimproved the direction and prof-itability of our business,” said JoelForte, one of the owners of FinalTouch Coach Works in Valencia, CA,who has been a Council member forone year. “The networking opportu-nity to address real-world businessconcerns has proven to be extremelyvaluable.”

For additional information or tobecome a member of the Axalta FleetBusiness Council, contact your localAxalta Coating Systems representa-tive or call 1.800.438.3876.



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The other day I heard about a lawsuitthat I would like to share with you(see article starting on the cover).

A Toyota dealer contacted Safe-lite to install a windshield into a2005 Toyota Tundra. The vehiclewas involved in a rollover accidentand the windshield allegedly “sepa-rated from the pickup” resulting intwo fatalities. Safelite contends thatthey only handled the claim andcontracted with a independent classcompany to handle the installationand they should not be named in themulti million-dollar lawsuit. I’m notgoing to comment on the merits ofthe case but it reminds us of the im-portance of correct windshield andglass installs.

Barrett Smith, President of AutoDamage Experts wrote: “This is whyit is so very import to be very carefuland selective when choosing a subletglass replacement company and otheroutside vendors to provide servicesfor your business. Just because youengage another’s service doesn’t ex-empt you and your company from lia-bilities that may arise from a tragicloss such as this. Even recommendinganother service could land you inenough trouble to cost you tens ofthousands in dollars proving you haveno liability!”

Let’s take a look at the basics ofglass and windshields in particular.1) What is the function of a wind-shield?The main function of today’s wind-shield is■ It is part of the vehicle structure■ It is part of the frontal air bag system■ It restrains the passengers in vehicle■ And yes, it keeps the bugs off yourface.

One reason rollovers are so dan-gerous is that, when a vehicle rollsover, its roof can crush down on the oc-cupants, causing head injuries, para-plegia and death. Today’s vehicles are

engineered so that the windshield pro-vides much of the stiffness necessaryto keep the roof from collapsing. Infact, some experts say that the wind-shield accounts for up to 60% of thecabin’s structural integrity in a rollover.

Some vehicles, the passenger’sside frontal air bag is deflected off ofthe windshield and is aimed at thefront passenger seat. Just these two ex-amples should serve to remind us thatinstalling a windshield takes more thana phone call to your local vendor andyou are finished. Not by a long shot.

2) Before going any further, let’slook at how glass is categorized.

All windshields are marked withtwo letters: AS stands for AmericanStandard. The number indicates theposition in the vehicle where theglass may be used, based on its opti-cal quality. AS1 is the clearest glass(at least 70% light transmission), islaminated, and can be used anywherein a motor vehicle (typically just thewindshield).

AS2 is tempered, with at least 70%light transmission, and can be used any-where except the windshield, and—

AS3 can be used in certain loca-tions in certain vehicles (it can be lam-inated or tempered, and has less than70% light transmission.) AS3 is alsoknown as Privacy Glass.”

We deal with 2 types of glass:laminated and tempered.Laminated glass is a type of safetyglass that holds together when shat-tered. In the event of breaking, it isheld in place by an interlayer, typi-cally of polyvinyl butyral (PVB), be-tween its two or more layers of glass.The bonding process takes placeunder heat and pressure. When lami-nated under these conditions, the PVBinterlayer becomes optically clear and

binds the two panes of glass together.Once sealed together, the glass “sand-wich” (i.e., laminate) behaves as a sin-gle unit and looks like any other glass.

Tempered glass is a type of safetyglass processed by controlled thermalor chemical treatments to increase itsstrength compared with normal glass.Tempering creates balanced internalstresses which cause the glass, whenbroken, to crumble into small granu-lar chunks instead of splintering intojagged shards.

These two pictures and examplesof the marking on the glass. They areknown as “bugs” and will be found onall automotive glass and to identifywhat type of glass it is.

Vehicle manufacturers must meetFederal Motor Safety Standards 208,212, 216 & 219 for glass and vehicleoccupant safety. Aftermarket installersuse urethane and primers that aremanufactured and tested to meet fed-eral and industry standards, but they

are not regulated by the government,which means that you better do yourdue diligence when subletting yourglass. (See form on page 56.) If youare not familiar with the safety stan-


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, Training specialist, and former salvage yard operator.Toby is universally known in the collision industry for his work with first responders and advocacyfor body shops and consumers. He can be reached at [email protected]

Glass and Windshield Installs Must Be Handled by the Book

dards here they are:

FMVSS and AutoglassFMVSS205, FMVSS212, FMVSS216,FMVSS219See below for a look at a few of the pop-ular Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Stan-dards pertaining to auto glass, includinga brief summary of each standard.

571.205 Standard No. 205; GlazingMaterialsScope. This standard specifies re-quirements for glazing materials foruse in motor vehicles and motor vehi-cle equipment.Purpose. The purpose of this standardis to reduce injuries resulting from im-pact to glazing surfaces, to ensure anecessary degree of transparency inmotor vehicle windows for driver vis-ibility, and to minimize the possibilityof occupants being thrown through thevehicle windows in collisions.

571.212 Standard No. 212; WindshieldMountingScope. This standard establisheswindshield retention requirements formotor vehicles during crashes.Purpose. The purpose of this standardis to reduce crash injuries and fatali-

ties by providing for retention of thevehicle windshield during a crash,thereby utilizing fully the penetration-resistance and injury-avoidance prop-erties of the windshield glazingmaterial and preventing the ejection ofoccupants from the vehicle.

571.216 Standard No. 216; Roof CrushResistanceScope. This standard establishesstrength requirements for the passen-ger compartment roof.Purpose. The purpose of this standardis to reduce deaths and injuries due tothe crushing of the roof into the occu-pant compartment in rollover crashes.

571.219 Standard No. 219; WindshieldZone IntrusionScope. This standard specifies limitsfor the displacement into the wind-shield area of motor vehicle compo-nents during a crash.Purpose. The purpose of this standardis to reduce crash injuries and fatali-ties that result from occupants con-tacting vehicle components displacednear or through the windshield.

Do you know what the black strip inthe photo is called and what’s it for?

It’s called a Frit and it serves two roleson the glass. First, as a cosmetic fea-ture that is used to hide interior trimand pinchweld details. Second, the fritinhibits UV degradation of urethaneadhesives. While the frit will not com-pletely block the UV rays from pass-ing through the glass, it doessignificantly reduce UV light trans-mission. Most urethanes are not UVstable. If urethane is left exposed tosunlight for prolonged periods of time,it will yellow and turn chalky. Pres-ence of the frit will extend the lifetimeof the urethane adhesive system.

Many of today’s vehicles havebeen specifically designed to utilizethe windshield as a structural compo-nent of the vehicle body by providingincreased torsional stiffness. Vehiclemanufacturers are careful to selectspecial, high-modulus polyurethane(PUR) adhesives to bond the wind-shield to these specific vehicles. Re-lying on the windshield as a structuralmember, the high-modulus adhesivealso allows the OEM to minimize thethickness of the steel used to build thecar, thus reducing weight and costs.The high modulus urethane is morerigid when completely cured, and theproperties of the non conductive ure-thane do not interfere with the newersophisticated electronics in vehicles

Each urethane has its unique setof primers which are an integral partof the bonding process. Each urethanealso has a cure time (the time that ittakes for the urethane to harden) be-fore it is safe to drive the vehicle. It is

important for the collision repair facil-ity to know what that cure time is. Ifthe urethane is not cured, the safety ofthe vehicle will not have been restored.

The pinch weld that has been re-paired or replaced, needs am epoxyprimer or a similar product applied tothe bare metal surface. Some vehiclemanufacturers allow refinishing thesurface, while others want only epoxyprimer applied. All OEMs state thatthere should be no body filler appliedto the pinchweld where urethane isused due the fact that the urethane willnot adhere to the substrate. Let’s takea quick look at adhesion failure.

Adhesive failure: The inabilityof an adhesive to stick to a surface.During adhesive failure, the adhesivecannot bind two surfaces together andseparates from the substrate.

Cohesive failure: The inabilityof an adhesive to resist internal sepa-ration. During cohesive failure, the ad-hesive sticks to both surfaces, but cannot hold them together.

Many windshields and backliteshave antennas and defroster grids em-bedded in the glass. A non-conductiveadhesive should be used if the adhesivewill contact the antenna or defrosterlines when the part is installed. Non-conductive adhesives prevent interfer-ence with antenna systems and heateddefroster systems that are contained inthe glass. Many new glass parts have theantenna, defroster connections or bussbars around the edge of the glass in thesame area that the adhesive is applied toinstall a glass part. Using a conductiveadhesive will affect the performance ofthe electrical system. Several adhesivemanufacturers offer a non-conductiveproduct for these glass applications.

A broken heated grid line on abacklite will affect the operation of the


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PPG Appoints Frank Sklarsky as VP of FinancePPG Industries announced Frank S.Sklarsky will join the company asexecutive vice president, finance, ef-fective April 15, reporting to Chair-man and CEO Charles E. Bunch.

“David’s detailed understandingof PPG’s global businesses and deepfinancial management expertise areinvaluable, as demonstrated recentlyin his role supporting our strategicinitiatives to separate PPG’s com-modity chemicals business and to ac-quire AkzoNobel’s North Americanarchitectural coatings business,” saidBunch.

Also, effective August 1,Sklarsky will be named PPG execu-tive vice president and chief financialofficer.

David B. Navikas, currentlyPPG senior vice president, financeand chief financial officer, will con-tinue in his current role until August1, and will then continue as seniorvice president in a senior leadershiprole that will be announced later.

“We are pleased to welcomeFrank to PPG. His deep financialmanagement expertise and executiveleadership experience guiding strat-egy and operations with large, globalenterprises will be an asset to PPG aswe continue to grow and expand our

positions around the world,” Bunchsaid.

“Frank, David and I will workclosely together with PPG’s global fi-nance organization and the entireleadership team as we carry out thisimportant senior leadership succes-sion,” Bunch said.

Most recently, Sklarsky was ex-ecutive vice president and chief finan-cial officer of Tyco International, Ltd.,a global provider of security, fire pro-tection and flow control solutions withrevenues that exceeded $17 billion.

Prior to joining Tyco, Sklarskyserved as executive vice president andchief financial officer at both EastmanKodak Co. and ConAgra Foods, Inc.

Previously, he spent 20 yearswith Chrysler in a series of senior fi-nancial leadership roles. He also heldfinance positions with Dell, Inc., afterbeginning his career with Ernst &Young.

Sklarsky is a member of the boardof directors of Harman International In-dustries, Inc., and of Rochester Insti-tute of Technology. He holds abachelor’s degree in accounting fromRochester Institute of Technology andan MBA from Harvard BusinessSchool, and he is a certified public ac-countant.

Rising new-vehicle sales lifted aver-age dealership pre-tax profit to arecord $843,697 last year, a NationalAutomobile Dealers Association sur-vey shows.

The average store’s 2012 profitrose 6% from the previous record setin 2011. NADA began the annual sur-vey in 1970.

Dealers’ average return on salesheld steady at 2%, but profit rose be-cause of a sharp increase in demandfor new and used vehicles. Total rev-enue rose 9% at the average store to$38,359,930, Automotive News re-ported.

The rising profit has given deal-ers a reason to cheer this tax season,said John Bachle, an accountant atSartain Fischbein & Co. in Tulsa, OK.

“They’re always fun to deal with,but they’re much more fun if they’remaking money,” said Bachle, whosefirm has about 50 dealer clients.

The new-car department pro-vided 56% of the average dealer’srevenue in 2012, up from 54% in2011. The used-car department pro-vided 32% of revenue last year, un-changed from 2011. Parts and servicebusiness fell from 13% of the averagedealer’s revenue to 12%.

In 2007, the last full year beforethe economic downturn, new cars pro-vided 59% of the average dealer’srevenue, while used cars provided29% and the parts and service busi-ness provided 12%.

Dealers again benefited in 2012from low interest rates and factoryfloorplan assistance programs.

Last year, the average dealermade money on floorplanning: a $72credit per new car sold, according tothe NADA data. That was up from$48 per vehicle in 2011, accountingfor nearly half of the total increase inpretax profits.

Typically, the interest paid tokeep cars and trucks on the lot hasbeen a major expense. In 2007, the av-erage dealer paid $103,708 for floor-plan interest, or $167 for every carsold.

Last year, dealers made moneybecause they took advantage of pro-grams in which factories repay themfor interest. Brisk sales left dealerswith tighter-than-usual inventories, socars and trucks did not sit on lots verylong and dealers profited from the in-centives, said Carl Woodward, adealer accountant at Woodward & As-sociates Inc. in Bloomington, IL.

NADA Says Rising New-Vehicle Sales Lifted DealerProfits for a Record Year in 2012

antenna. Many new radio and cellularphone antenna designs are incorporatedinto the heated grid design in the back-lite. If a heated grid line is broken it willaffect the performance of the antenna.The line break will become more no-ticeable with the general public as di-versity antennas gain popularity andreduce the need for traditional mast an-tennas. There are aftermarket grid linerepair systems available which can re-store both the heating and the antennacharacteristics of the grid line.

Does the rain sensor module comeon the replacement windshield? No. Atthis time, none of the rain sensor de-signs require the sensor to be applied bythe manufacturer on the replacementwindshields. The electronic sensor thatis on the existing windshield in the carmust be removed and re-mounted ontothe replacement windshield.

How is the rain sensor attached tothe replacement windshield? There arespecial re-attachment kits for the re-placement industry, available throughyour local dealer, which can be used tore-attach the electronic rain sensor to

the new windshield. The Cadillac kitconsists of tape, cleaners and primersfor replacing the Cadillac module. TheMercedes/BMW kit contains the tapeand a new lens. Instructions for appli-cation are included in all the kits.

Encapsulated Glass has the mold-ing permanently attached to the glass.Most of the time when the glass is re-moved, the molding is damaged and anew glass and molding is necessary.


Windshield Installs

As I promised earlier, here is my idea of a release form:

Date and Time of Install __________________________________Repair Order # _______________________________Make of Vehicle _________________ Model___________________Name of Company that is supplying the glass ___________________Name of Installer__________________________________________Brand Name of Adhesive and number _________________________Expiration Date ____________________________________Primer Applied and Type ____________________________________Drive Time _______________________________________________Type of Glass Installed _______________________________Location on Vehicle of Glass Installed _________________________Remarks ________________________________________________________________________________________________________


ABRA Auto Body & Glass continuedits national expansion with the open-ing of a new location in AmericanFork, UT. The new location increasesthe total number of corporate ABRArepairs centers in the state to eight.

With this recent opening, ABRAnow operates 101 corporate and 49franchises nationwide in 16 states.

“We’ve reached a substantialmilestone with the opening of our150th repair center,” said DuaneRouse, President and Chief Execu-tive Officer of ABRA. “Our uncom-promising commitment to superiorprocesses and operational excellenceconsistently rates us high in customersatisfaction. We’re serious aboutbeing the best and leading the way inthe industry. We have every intentionof not only continuing our growth,but accelerating it.”

The company celebrates its 30thanniversary next year. Tim Adel-mann, Executive Vice President said,“We’re all very proud of the hardwork, dedication to excellence, andloyalty we’ve built with our cus-tomers and business partners over theyears. We look forward to pursuingour mission of being the best autobody and glass company in America.”

ABRA Auto Body & GlassExpands in Utah


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I-CAR®, the Inter-Industry Conferenceon Auto Collision Repair, recently do-nated $200,000 to the Collision RepairEducation Foundation.

The donation made by I-CAR isthe largest monetary donation that theCollision Repair Education Founda-tion has received since its founding in1991 and it will support the organiza-tion’s commitment to philanthropicand collision repair education activi-ties that promote and enhance careeropportunities in the industry.

In 2012, I-CAR committed to setaside $1 for every I-CAR class at-tended in 2012. In effect, this donationwas made possible by the Inter-Indus-try that trained with I-CAR through-out 2012. In 2012, I-CAR deliveredjust under 2,000 “student units,”which equates to just under 600,000credit hours of training. Due to thegoodness of the cause, the I-CARBoard made the decision to round thedonation to $200,000.

John Van Alstyne, I-CAR CEO& President said, “Thank you, Inter-Industry. Without your commitmentto training, I-CAR would not havebeen able to provide this level of sup-port to the Collision Repair Education

Foundation! Together, I-CAR and theCollision Repair Education Founda-tion are working closely to reinforcethe future sustainability of the indus-try.”

The Collision Repair EducationFoundation and I-CAR foster a part-nership that supports education for theentire Inter-Industry. I-CAR serves asa provider of technical training cur-riculum to the education sector,whereas the Collision Repair Educa-tion Foundation’s objective is to ad-vance Collision Repair secondary andpost-secondary education by support-ing funding for both schools and stu-dents.

“Our collective goals are to helpeffectively equip secondary and post-secondary schools. We aim to helpthem attract aspiring students and toproperly prepare graduates to add im-mediate value as future employees ofour industry. Independently and to-gether, we have a number of initia-tives under way to accomplish thisgoal. This donation on behalf of theInter-Industry will greatly help theCollision Repair Education Founda-tion advance its mission,” Van Alstynesaid.

I-CAR Makes Milestone $200,000 Donation to Collision Repair Education Foundation

NABC’s Operation Comfort Fundraising Kit AvailableThe National Auto Body Council re-cently announced that an OperationComfort Fundraising Kit—completewith camera-ready artwork forposters, flyers, donation cards and en-velopes—is now available on its web-site to make it easier for collisionindustry related companies to partici-pate in the NABC’s $1.5 million Op-eration Comfort Capital Campaign.

The NABC is spearheading in-dustry-wide efforts to raise funds topurchase, renovate and equip a30,000-sq-ft. training facility in SanAntonio, TX, for Operation Comfort’sAutoMotivation program.

Wounded soldiers in the Auto-Motivation program benefit from oc-cupational and rehabilitative therapiesas they work on automotive projects.

NABC-led efforts take the pro-gram to the next level by providingopportunities for disabled soldiers tolearn new job skills and acquire certi-fied I-CAR curriculum-based trainingfor new career paths in the automotiveindustry.

“Our industry also benefits in thelong-run because the outcome will bean increased pool of skilled, trainedtechnicians,” said Chuck Sulkala,NABC Executive Director.

Suggested fundraisers that com-

panies could implement include:• Donating a specified dollar amountfor each repair or product sold.• Matching each dollar donated by cus-tomers and the local community, and• Offering a special promotion withproceeds to benefit Operation Com-fort.

Creative development of the Op-eration Comfort Fundraising Kit wasdonated by Enterprise Rent-A-Car,which is also sponsoring a grand prizetrip to Walt Disney World® Resort forthe local shop that raises the mostfunds.

“We wanted to offer a fun incen-tive and challenge to encourage asmany companies as possible to join inour fundraising efforts for OperationComfort,” said Mary Mahoney, VicePresident for Enterprise.

The Operation Comfort Fundrais-ing Kit can be accessed via the NABCwebsite at www.autobodycouncil.org.The Enterprise-sponsored contest runsto June 30. The awarding of the grandprize will be based on funds receivedby July 4, 2013. The winner will be an-nounced at the NABC Board meetingJuly 23 in Boston. For more informa-tion about the Operation ComfortFundraising Kit, contact [email protected].

Hoffman Auto Body Fined $54K for OSHA ViolationsAn body shop in East Hartford, CT, isfacing federal fines totaling $54,300for repeated workplace safety viola-tions, according to a statement fromthe U.S. Department of Labor’s Oc-cupational Safety and Health Admin-istration.

The Hoffman Auto Group in-cludes three dealerships and two autobody shops. The violations are spe-cific to the company’s auto body re-pair facility at its East Hartfordlocation. The shop was cited for un-safe storage of chemicals and flam-mable materials.

The auto body shop was citedafter an inspection that began on Dec.6 to “verify correction of hazardscited during a 2011 inspection,” ac-cording to the statement.

The inspection revealed that haz-ards identified during the 2011 in-spection were still present a year later,including storage of flammable equip-ment and materials near paint spray-ing booths and electric panels. Thestored materials “limited access to ex-tinguish potential fires, presented fireand shock hazards and impededcleaning around the booths, which al-lows potentially combustible materi-als to accumulate,” according to thestatement.

Two citations, carrying $40,000in proposed fines, were issued due tothe repeat violations. Three other “se-rious violations” resulted in $14,300in proposed fines, according to thestatement. The statement went on tosay that serious violations occur when“there is substantial probability thatdeath or serious physical harm couldresult from a hazard about which theemployer knew or should haveknown.” Those violations stemmedfrom improper storage, disposal andcleanup of combustible materials, aswell as unlabeled containers of haz-ardous chemicals and an improperlylocated electrical outlet.

OSHA said Hoffman had 15business days from receipt of the cita-tions to comply or contest the findings.

The company is not contestingthe citations.

“The Hoffman family considersthe safety of our employees a top pri-ority and all issues identified byOSHA regulators in December of2012 at the East Hartford body shopwere rectified immediately and com-pletely,” the company said in a state-ment. “Additionally, we will makewhatever changes are appropriate tocontinue to ensure a safe workplacefor our employees.”

by I-CAR staff

During the Collision Industry Confer-ence meeting in November 2011, I-CARreceived a joint request signed by repre-sentatives from SCRS, ASA, AASP andAssured Performance Network, request-ing that I-CAR support various OEM re-pair procedure initiatives in connectionwith the requesting organization’s asso-ciated position statement that OEM re-pair procedures are the recognizedindustry repair standard.

Over the past seventeen months,I-CAR has worked towards definingprocesses, capabilities and resources toenable the organization to support therequest in a manner that aligns with theorganization’s vision, mission and dutyto represent the interests of the Inter-Industry with neutrality, and for thecollective unbiased benefit of the Inter-Industry.

Despite the significant effort putforth by the I-CAR Board and Staff,given the organization’s duty to theInter-Industry, and the reality that thereare open disagreements on the relatedtopic of standards across the Inter-In-dustry, the I-CAR Board of Directorsdecided that I-CAR will not proceedwith implementation of a solution inresponse to this request as originallypresented. The I-CAR Board of Direc-

tors enacted this decision at its March7, 2013 I-CAR Board of DirectorsMeeting by unanimous consent ofthose board members in attendance atthe meeting.

In terms of the organization’s dutyto the Inter-Industry, on the basis of neu-trality, the following three points wereimportant in the Board’s decision:● The need for I-CAR to represent thebest interests of the industry in an un-biased manner, avoiding the possibleperception that I-CAR may be cateringto the interests of any particular indus-try sub-segment(s) to the possible dis-advantage of others.● Potential difficulties constructingand managing the requested “Council”that met both the needs of the re-questors and I-CAR’s Inter-Industrycharter.● The fact that although OEM proce-dures are widely recognized as the in-dustry baseline for repairs, and I-CARpoints to OEM procedures as such,there are opportunities to define rec-ommended repair processes that wouldsupport and/or supplement OEM pro-cedures given the span of possible re-pairs, consumer and insurer interests;while maintaining an unwavering com-mitment to complete & safe repairs.

The I-CAR Board of Directorsthanks the requesting organizations for

bringing forth the request. As I-CARidentified early on, much of the pro-posed solution that was developedbuilds on work that I-CAR already doesto serve the industry. And certain ele-ments of the solution are closely linkedto I-CAR’s strategic initiatives for 2013and beyond. Thus, seeing value in cer-tain elements of the proposed solutionthat would benefit the Inter-Industry,the I-CAR Board will work with staffto reframe and evaluate these elementsas independent projects for implemen-tation as follows:● I-CAR recognizes an opportunityto expand its technical processes andresources to better support the indus-try’s interest to improve repair pro-cedures and related repair processdefinition, and to provide real-timerepairability technical support for theindustry. This was a key part of ourproposed solution and remains underconsideration.● OE Linking Pin—I-CAR maintainstechnical relations with OEM’s today.Our plan was to further expand this ac-tivity linked to expansion of our tech-nical processes and resources, and thisremains under consideration.● Technical ISAC’s—I-CAR runsISAC’s (Industry Segment AdvisoryCouncils) today, our plan was to ex-pand these to include an OEM Techni-

cal ISAC and various technology fo-cused ISAC’s, and this remains underconsideration.● Repairability Summits – I-CAR runsRepairability Summits today, our planwas to expand these, and this remainsunder consideration.● Knowledge Portal—The primarygoal with the knowledge portal was toprovide enhanced Inter-Industry acces-sibility to the knowledge required toperform complete and safe repairs.There were 5 key elements to theknowledge portal, each adding uniquevalue; therefore, each element will beconsidered on its own merit.● All related initiatives will be subjectto further Board review consideringalignment with I-CAR’s charter, im-pact versus Inter-Industry definedneeds, prioritization versus other I-CAR initiatives, and funding require-ments.

I-CAR’s goal is to be of greaterservice to the Inter-Industry whilebeing true to its Inter-Industry charter.The Board and Staff of I-CAR remainsconfident that these initiatives holdgreat promise as steps forward for bothI CAR and the Inter-Industry.

See John Yoswick’s article on thecover of this issue for reaction fromcollision industry participants at CIC.

I-CAR Declines Facilitation of OEM Repair Standards


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The Collision Repair Education Foun-dation is encouraging collision indus-try businesses to take an active part intheir local collision school programsby assisting them in applying for the2013 Ultimate Collision EducationMakeover $50,000 school grant. Two$50,000 grants (one secondary, onepost-secondary) will be awarded thisyear, as well as several secondaryprizes of $10,000.

Below are the top 3 reasons whyindustry members should be workingtogether with their local collisionschool programs on the 2013 UltimateCollision Education Makeover grantapplication:#3. Establish connection with localcollision school, instructor, adminis-tration, and students. Now is the op-portune time for industry businesses tobecome fully engaged with their localcollision school programs. By meetingwith school administration, the colli-sion instructor(s), and their students,local businesses can view firsthandwhat their collision program needs areand coach them on what skill sets col-lision students should have by gradu-ation to ensure for the most efficientand capable professional possible.#2. Makeover applicant schools atthe top of Education Foundation’s

support list in 2013. The schools thatapply for 2013 Makeover grant re-ceive top priority for support by theCollision Repair Education Founda-tion in the coming year. Since theMakeover grant’s inception in 2009,the non-winning schools have re-ceived over $1 million (total) in dona-tions and support. Makeover applicantinstructors are also provided exclusiveopportunities to attend technical train-ing and receive other donations fromindustry supporters.#1. Congrats, your local school haswon and their $50,000 collision wishlist will be fulfilled. There will be atleast two selected Makeover winningschools this fall and local industrymembers taking an active part in theapplication process can help enhance aschool’s application. Many collisionschools are facing severely reducedbudgets and this grant will transformthe winning collision programs formany years to come. An industrymember’s guidance and support ofhelping a local school apply for theMakeover grant could lead to thatschool being selected as one of thewinners.

Instructors are advised to beginthe application early which is avail-able online at CollisionEducation-

Foundation.org. The Makeover grantis available to secondary and post-sec-ondary collision school programs na-tionwide, with priority going tonot-for-profit/public schools. The ap-plication is due May 31, 2013 and thewinning schools will be announcedduring an industry reception to be heldat SEMA 2013.

As part of the Makeover grant ap-plication, schools provide their ownitemized wish list, which can includeany tools, supplies, and equipmentthat are needed by the collision pro-gram. Each of the winning schoolswill have their $50,000 wish list ful-filled through the Collision Repair Ed-ucation Foundation and industrydonors/supporters.

The goal of the Ultimate Colli-sion Education Makeover grant is tohonor a school that has been doing anoutstanding job in educating studentsin collision repair, but needs some fi-nancial assistance to improve theirprogram’s teaching materials andequipment. With strained school budg-ets, the Education Foundation and in-dustry supporters have the opportunityto bridge the program’s financial gapand to make a difference in the livesof the students studying collision re-pair.

Collision Education Makeover School Grant Applications Due by May 31

The Automotive Service Association(ASA) will make several fundamentalchanges to the 2013 NACE Expo tocreate a different experience for bothattendees and exhibitors, ASA’s Exec-utive Vice President Dan Risley an-nounced during the Collision IndustryConference (CIC) meeting held inPhoenix in early April.

Risley said the goal of the changesto NACE is to promote unity in the in-dustry, and reaffirm the event as theplace where the collision repair indus-try comes together.

“Many exhibitors and regularsupporters of NACE expressed con-cern with supporting two nationaltrade shows several weeks apart.Many of those individuals have askedASA to help play a role in facilitatinga resolve to the issue,” Risley said.“ASA and its board of directors arecommitted to addressing many ofthose concerns and playing a role inunifying the industry.”

Risley said significant effort wasmade this year to change the dates ofthe NACE event, which is scheduledfor Oct. 17–19 at the Mandalay BayConvention Center in Las Vegas—lessthan three weeks prior to the 2013SEMA Show in Las Vegas. Risley saidthe ASA was unable to change the

dates due to several factors, so the or-ganization opted to implement newchanges to the trade show instead.

For example, the MSO Sympo-sium—which to date has been re-served solely for multiple-shopoperators—will be opened up to all in-dependent, single-location repairers.

In addition, Risley said the tradi-tional NACE Welcome Reception willno longer be a stand-alone event. TheWelcome Reception will be incorpo-rated into the trade show to furtherpromote networking and unity in theindustry.

Risley said more information re-garding changes to NACE will soonbe announced.

“Significant additional announce-ments that further illustrate our commit-ment to improve the overall experiencewill be made in the weeks and monthsleading up to NACE,” Risley said.

Darrell Amberson, chairman-elect of the ASA’s board of directors,said there will be a major announce-ment made later this year regardingthe 2014 NACE event. He said theASA is considering “a full range ofoptions,” including partnering withother shows or changing the date to adifferent time of the year.

“We have not worked through all

the details, but are certain the changeswill be viewed positively by the in-dustry,” Amberson said.

“The industry has strongly sup-ported NACE for more than 30 years.Based on that, it is clear to us that the in-dustry deserves to have a show solelydedicated to the auto mechanical andcollision repair industries. As part of thisindustry, it tears my heart out when we’reso fractured and dysfunctional. We’re re-ally serious about creating unity. We’rehere to take action and bring [the indus-try] together,” Amberson said.

The ASA also asked the CIC toconsider switching its fall meetingdates from November to October inorder to coincide with NACE ratherthan SEMA. CIC’s fall meeting hasbeen held during the week of SEMAsince 2010.

The ASA offered the CIC freemeeting space if it opted to alter itsdates.

Jeff Hendler, administrator ofthe CIC, said the organization has acontractual commitment to SEMAthrough 2016. The ASA’s request willnot be considered until that time.

Big Changes Coming for ASRW, Shorter Schedule, Possible Partnership

Axalta Coating Systems is offeringnew damage analysis and productionmanagement courses for the heavyduty truck market.

The HDT Damage Analysiscourse provides a standard damageanalysis approach to write morecomplete estimates and increase con-sistency of estimates to raise repaircenter’s gross profit and increase thepercentage of closed repair orders.

This one-day class includes nu-merous hands-on exercises related tothe commercial vehicle collision in-dustry, which emphasize the princi-ples taught during the course.

HDT Production Managementcourse focuses to assist implementationof lean principles relating to blueprint-ing, proper parts management and pro-duction controls in a commercial vehiclerepair center. Key techniques to improvetechnician efficiency, reduce cycle timeand improve customer satisfaction areexamined in this one-day course.

Industry experts from TeamMarketing Group are the main con-tent contributors and will provide theprimary instructors for these courses.

For additional information or toregister, contact your local AxaltaCoating Systems representative orcall 1.800.438.3876.

Axalta Offers Courses

Aaron Clark has been named As-sured Performance Co-Op Network’svice president of national certifica-tion and network development andwill be based at corporate headquar-ters in Irvine, CA.

“We are thrilled to have Aaronjoining our executive team to workclosely with our staff and membershops driving the Certification pro-gram. He has the perfect backgroundto help expand the impact and valueof body shop Certification for all in-volved,” said Scott Biggs, CEO ofAssured Performance.

Clark has worked in the auto-motive and collision repair industryfor more than 25 years as a bodyshop owner. Clark previously oper-ated five body shop operations in theIndianapolis area, which he sold toABRA Auto Body & Glass.

Clark founded the Indiana AutoBody Association (IABA), served aschairman of the Society of Collision Re-pair Specialists (SCRS) for the past twoyears, and served on Assurance Perfor-mance’s board of directors for four years.

“This new position fully lever-ages my knowledge as a former shopowner, and interests in the well-beingof the collision industry,” said Clark.

Aaron Clark Named VP atAssured Performance



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