Southeast 0714 issue

Attorneys for Florida collision repairshops that sued dozens of insurers re-cently responded to Hartford Accidentand Indemnity Co.’s request for theU.S. Middle District of Florida Court,Orlando division, to dismiss their an-titrust and steering lawsuit, writing,that, “The defendants misrepresentsboth the contents of the complaint andquite often the holdings of authorityto which it cites.”

The Florida body shops suedHartford, State Farm and dozens ofother insurers. The automotive glassrepair companies allege similar issueswith third-party administrators (TPAs),which handle automotive glass claimsfor insurers.

“When the correct legal stan-dards are applied, a straightforwardreading of the complaint establishesthere is more than sufficient facts as-serted to satisfy the pleading require-ments,” the attorneys claim. “The

defendants’ numerous misrepresenta-tion of fact and law do not alter this.The Motion to Dismiss is without anymerit, legal or factual. The plaintiffsrespectfully submit it should denied inits entirety.

“What is required from the com-plaint and its exhibits is to set forthsufficient facts to establish a probabil-ity of relief. That is all. The complaintmore than satisfies this requirement.The plaintiffs respectfully submit thatdefendants’ Motion to Dismiss is with-out any merit whatsoever and shouldbe denied in its entirety. Should thiscourt determine any portion of thecomplaint is lacking, the plaintiffsmove this court for permission toamend, the preferred remedy for suchsituations,” attorneys write in courtdocuments.

The judge has not issued any deci-sions at press time.

by John Yoswick

PartsTrader proposed state limits onuse of non-OEM parts, and challeng-ing the automakers’ patent designs oncrash parts were all being discussedwhen non-OEM parts manufacturersand distributors met recently inAustin, Texas.

The Automotive Body Parts Asso-ciation (ABPA) allowed only mem-bers in the room during discussion atits convention of the association’spending lawsuit challenging the valid-ity of six of Ford’s design patents oncollision repair parts. But proposed

federal legislation that would reducehow long automakers can use design

patents to preventother companiesfrom producing re-placement crashparts was amongthe topics dis-cussed at the eventby Louisiana taxlawyer Cassie

Felder, who is running for Congress.Felder, a Republican who be-

lieves in tax reform and repealingthe Affordable Care Act, told atten-

The Georgia Collision Industry Asso-ciation (GCIA) has extended an invi-tation to its members and otherGeorgia collision repair facilities toparticipate in the 2014 GCIA LaborRate Survey starting Monday, June 2,2014.

Unlike previous years, thisyear’s survey will include a real-time survey of shop labor and ma-terial rates plus a survey of training,certifications and equipment. Thepurpose of the 2014 survey, accord-ing to the GCIA, is to provide Geor-gia collision shops with PrevailingMarket Rate Ranges (PMRRs) intheir markets, which more accu-

rately reflect labor and shop ratesthan one single prevailing rate. TheGCIA says this survey methodol-ogy significantly improves thepossibility that shops will be com-pensated fairly and reasonably fortheir work.

The 2014 survey is being con-ducted by National AutoBody (NABR)Research. After submitting the surveyform, an email will be sent to you witha temporary username and passwordproviding seven-day access to theNABR’s “Survey the Market” and“Quote” tools, the new “NABR LaborRate & Profit Calculator” and the ShopLocator.

GCIA Invites All Georgia Shops to Participate inLabor Rate Survey to Gauge Market Rate Ranges

Aftermarket Parts Sellers Hear from CongressionalCandidate With Ties To The Industry

Body Shops Respond to Hartford’s Request forDismissal of Florida Antitrust Case

See Aftermarket Parts Sellers, 6

Cassie Felder

by Chasidy Rae Sisk

Three-C Body Shops, a four-facility,multi-shop operation in the ColumbusOH, area, has filed multiple lawsuitsagainst State Farm Insurance Com-pany in an effort to recover alleged

shortpay losses. Since November2012, Three-C has filed 104 suitsagainst the insurer, all of which accuse

State Farm of engaging in “repeatedunderpayments for services generallyrendered and charged to their cus-tomers when their vehicles have beendeemed total losses.” Currently,owner Bob Juniper is seeking$405,000 in recovery, including legalfees and court costs, of which StateFarm previously agreed to pay$31,565.03.

Juniper notes that he rarely hasproblems with insurers refusing to paythe full cost of repairs because “wenegotiate with them pretty well. Wespend a little time with their adjustersand can generally get to where weneed to be. We may not always get thefull amount of our estimate, but weget close by compromising until wecome to terms we can both agree on.”

In fact, Juniper hasn’t experi-enced difficulty from State Farm in

OH’s Three-C Body Shops Has Filed Over 100 LawsuitsAgainst State Farm Alleging Systematic Shortpays

See Three-C Body Shops, Page 14

Three-C is Suing State Farm, Alleging Re-peated Estimate Discrepancies on Total Losses

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32VOL. 5 ISSUE 5JULY 2014

2 JULY 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

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ContentsREGIONAL

Binghamton, TN, Body Shop Called Out

for Crime in Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Caliber Acquires MSOs in Los Angeles

and North Carolina. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Charlotte, NC, Shop Gets Big Pot Package

from CA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Culpeper, VA, Man Charged after

Body Shop Standoff. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

FL Gov. Vetoes Undocumented Drivers’

Licenses Bill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

GCIA Invites All Georgia Shops to Participate

in Labor Rate Survey to Gauge Market

Rate Ranges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Jon Hall Chevrolet Opens Shop in

Daytona Beach, FL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Pack Brothers in Belmont NC Wins

Short Pay Arbitration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

COLUMNISTS

Franklin - Ding Day–A Marketing Tactic . . 18

Luehr - Using an Outside Expert to Improve

your Competitive Position . . . . . . . . . . 34

Sisk - LaCIA Hosted Louisiana Attorney

General at May 22 Meeting . . . . . . . . . 26

Yoswick - Highway to Hell, Blueprinting,

Rekeying Estimates, State Farm and

OEConnection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

NATIONAL

Aftermarket Parts Sellers Hear from

Congressional Candidate With Ties

To The Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

ALLDATA Launches Collision Webinar

Series June 16. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

AMI to Honor New Managers . . . . . . . . . . . 6

ASA-CO to Host Pinnacol Safety Meeting

July 9 in Denver. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Attanasio - Tech Turned Tool Designer

Headlines EB-CAA May Meeting. . . . . . 30

Attorney and AASP-MN Lobbyist Kevin Walli

is Minnesota’s Shop Champion . . . . . . 24

AudaExplore Pledges $150K to SkillsUSA

in Tool Grants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

AutoZone Names Dornan Products

Vendor of the Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Body Shops Respond to Hartford’s Request

for Dismissal of Florida Antitrust Case . . 1

CARS This Year Is All New, ASA Promises

It Will Be The Best Show Ever . . . . . . . 10

CCAR and ShipMate Launch Improved

HazmatU website. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Chief Will Sponsor SkillsUSA for the

28th Consecutive Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Chrysler Airbag Recall Being Probed

by Regulators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Crashes Cost Almost $1T in Costs,

Loss of Life, Pain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Fix Auto Acquires Alaska Shops . . . . . . . . . 6

I-CAR Gold Class and ASE-Certified Shops

Rewarded at NACE | CARS . . . . . . . . . . 9

I-CAR® Adds New OEM Development

Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

I-CAR® And National Auto Body Council

Partner on Membership Discount,

30% Off Until End of 2014 . . . . . . . . . . 10

I-Car® Conference on Future of Collision

Repair and Automotive Industry, July 30

In Detroit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

IL Shop Owner Posts 20-min Video

of FPB for Panel Fixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Letter to the Editor - Why Should Insurers

Get Free Estimates When They’re

Not Using Adjusters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

MERA Joins the Excitement at

NACE | CARS 2014. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

New Study Says More Than 75% of All

Pickup Trucks will be Aluminum-Bodied

by 2025. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

NSF International’s Bob Frayer Earns

Prestigious ASQ Quality Leader Award . 36

OH’s Three-C Body Shops Has Filed Over

100 Lawsuits Against State Farm

Alleging Systematic Shortpays. . . . . . . . 1

Ohio Appeals Court OK’s Line

Measurement for Dealership . . . . . . . . 17

PartsTrader Integrates Hollander

Interchange Codes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

SCRS Open Board Meeting on

July 28th in Detroit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

SEMA Garage Now Features Photo Cove . 28

Service King Collision Repair Centers

Finalizes Sterling Collision Centers

Acquisition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Sisk - New Auto Body Association of

Texas Launches June 18, PartsTrader

Provides Impetus, Statewide Members

Invited to Join . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

VIN and Safety Labels from AutomotiveID

Bring Vehicles Another Step Closer to

Pre-Loss Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Women’s Industry Network Celebrates

Excellence In Leadership And The

Formal Transition Of The MIW Program. . 6

Young Technician’s Program to Debut

at CARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Southeast

Publisher & Editor: Jeremy HayhurstGeneral Manager: Barbara DaviesOnline Editor: Alicia BasteriContributing Writers: Tom Franklin, Stefan Gesterkamp, John Yoswick, Janet Chaney,Toby Chess, Ed Attanasio, Chasidy SiskAdvertising Sales: Joe Momber, Sean Hartman, Bill Doyle, David Petro (800) 699-8251Sales Assistant: Louise TedescoArt Director: Rodolfo Garcia

Serving Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina,South Carolina and adjacent metro areas, Autobody News is a monthly publication for theauto body industry. Permission to reproduce in any form the material published inAutobody News must be obtained in writing from the publisher. ©2014 Adamantine Media LLC.

Autobody NewsBox 1516, Carlsbad, CA 92018; (800) 699-8251 (760) 603-3229 Faxwww.autobodynews.com Email: [email protected]

Allan Vigil Ford-Lincoln . . . . . . . . . . 24Automotive ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12BMW Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 37Cavalier Ford-Lincoln Greenbrier . . 19Certified Automotive PartsAssociation (CAPA). . . . . . . . . . . 15

Chief Automotive. . . . . . . . . . . . 16, 17Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Coggin Deland Honda . . . . . . . . . . 19Crown Automotive Group . . . . . . . . 11Dent Magic Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Don Reid Ford. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Ford Wholesale Parts DealersFL, VA, GA, AL, MS. . . . . . . . . . . 33

GM Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . 29Gray-Daniels Auto Family . . . . . . . . . 5Gus Machado Ford. . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Hendrick BMW/MINI . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Honda-Acura Wholesale PartsDealers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21, 22-23

Hyundai Wholesale Parts Dealers. . 32Innovative Tools & Technology, Inc . . 8Jon Hall Chevrolet . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Kernersville Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Kia Motors Wholesale Parts Dealers. 31Lexus Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 36Malco. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Martech Services Company . . . . . . 16Mercedes-Benz Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

MINI Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 37Minute Man Wheel Lifts. . . . . . . . . . . 4Mitsubishi Wholesale Parts Dealers . 39MOPAR Wholesale Parts Dealers . . 27Nalley BMW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28PDR Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Performance Automall . . . . . . . . . . 18Porsche Wholesale Parts Dealers . 39Priority Honda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Safety Regulation Strategies . . . . . 26SATA Spray Equipment . . . . . . . . . 13Subaru of Gwinnett . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Subaru Wholesale Parts Dealers . . 35Tameron Hyundai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Toyota of Easley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Toyota Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 34UniCure Spraybooths . . . . . . . . . . . 40Valspar Automotive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Inde

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www.autobodynews.com | JULY 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS 3

I would like your opinion on somethingI’m seeing becoming a trend. I am see-ing more and more insurance companiesmaking the body shop do the original es-timate and send up pictures. We willhave one of our customers bring a car toour shop and they want US to do thework. They call their insurance companyup and let them know the car is at ourshop. Normally, they would send out ainsurance adjuster to do the estimate be-cause for years now if we did one it wasnot good enough for them. They wouldnot want it. They would do their ownand in turn we would go over it andmake adjustments or add to it from there.They may argue and haggle if repairtimes were unacceptable. Now, Nugentonline uploading of pictures and esti-mates is available. I’m finding more andmore insurance companies telling us togo ahead and use Nugent, upload andsend pictures.

All of a sudden now our esti-mates are good enough for them ! Ofcourse they are saving money by notsending out an adjuster! This is whatI’m upset about. Before we weren’tgood enough to write a estimates now

they want us to write the estimate andsend up pictures for free! Why do theythink my time is worth nothing?

My partner and I share the officework and are out in the shop workingall day. Our time is valuable. When weare in the office our production timesuffers. The insurance companies tellme “Well, you write free estimatesdon’t you?” My answer is ‘yes, to aprospective customer that I don’t know,or my regular customers,’ but when Ihave a customer that drops his car off Iknow I have that job already. The per-son has picked my shop. Why is it theinsurance company feels that I shouldprepare the estimate for them on mydime? They are saving money by notpaying an adjuster, but I feel theyshould at least pay me some fee for mytime and not take advantage of me.Small shops cannot take that kind ofabuse and I think it’s taking an extremeadvantage of shops and the proprietors.I would like your [readers’] thoughts onhow we can combat this abuse.

Thanks, Pete Gutierrez,Pete <[email protected]>

Letter to the Editor: Why Should Insurers Get FreeEstimates When They’re Not Using Adjusters

Letters to the Editor can be sent to [email protected]. They may be edited forlength and clarity. See Facebook/autobodynews to respond via comment.


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Caliber has acquired two multiple col-lision repair shop operators with a totalof nine locations—four in Los Angelesand five in Raleigh, NC. The NorthCarolina acquisition is the first locationfor Caliber in the eastern U.S.

Caliber Collision Centers an-nounced that it acquired Classic Colli-sion Center, Inc., with four locations ingreater Los Angeles: (Los Angeles,Pasadena, Tujunga, and La Crescenta),and Haddock Collision, a dominant re-pairer with five locations in the Raleigh,North Carolina market (Raleigh, Wake-field, Cary-Crossroads, Cary-Maynard,and Fuquay-Varina.)

Classic Collision was founded in1980 and Haddock in 1972.

Caliber Collision CentersSteveGrimshaw, Caliber Collision Chief Ex-ecutive Officer commented, “Our acqui-sition of Classic Collision Center, Inc.continues to offer more customer choicesin the Southern California market. Afterspending time with Classic Collision’smanagement team, it was obvious thatClassic Collision aligns perfectly withCaliber by delivering industry-leadingcustomer satisfaction across all four LosAngeles locations.”

“We are proud that Classic Colli-sion Center is now a part of the nation’sleading collision repair provider,” saidMajic Berenji, Classic Collision Presi-dent. “This combination will allow thecompany to continue to grow, while

providing Classic Collision’s cus-tomers with even higher standards ofquality and personal service that hasbecome our trademark. It will also pro-vide Classic Collision’s staff and theirfamilies’ new advancement opportuni-ties and a secure future in the dynamiccollision repair industry.”

“Our acquisition of HaddockCollision Centers in North Carolinarepresents our first of many acquisi-tions to come in the eastern U.S. I amvery excited to have Todd McGowan,and the entire Haddock Collision or-ganization, join forces with Caliber,”said Grimshaw.

With these acquisitions Calibernow operates 177 collision repair facil-ities in Arizona, California, Colorado,Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina,Oklahoma, and Texas.

Caliber Acquires MSOs in Los Angeles and North Carolina

A Culpeper man involved in a stand-off at a Madison County auto bodyshop was taken into custody on May28 and is now facing charges.

According to police, a standoffstarted shortly after 7:30 a.m. whenDavid Allen Cole, described as an “ac-tive shooter,” entered Skyline Restora-tion, an auto body shop on Route 29 inMadison. Someone working at the shopcalled police.

“According to the caller, one shothad already been fired and a second shotwas fired while the caller was on thephone with dispatch,” said Erik Weaver,Madison County Sheriff.

Cole, 42, stayed inside the shopfrom 7:30 a.m. until his arrest shortlyafter 10 a.m. When law enforcementfirst arrived the employees had alreadyleft the shop safely and Cole was theonly one inside.

“After several minutes the sus-pect came to the door displaying thefirearm. The deputies challenged thesuspect at which time he pointed thefirearm to his throat,” said Weaver.

Police say Cole had a semiauto-matic 9 mm gun to his throat the en-tire time. Authorities also say a totalof five empty casings were found on

the property. After about two hours ofnegotiations, Cole surrendered.

Cole, who was an employee atSkyline Restoration, has been chargedwith reckless use of a firearm. He iscurrently being evaluated under anemergency custody order.

Police say no one was injuredduring the standoff, including the sus-pect. Those involved credit the team-work of a number of law enforcementagencies for that.

“It was amazing to see nearly 20organizations come together in a mat-ter of minutes,” said Ernie Hoch,Madison County administrator.

Madison County Schools, lo-cated half a mile from the scene, wereput on lockdown while the standofftook place but the lockdown has nowbeen lifted. Police say no studentswere involved in the standoff.

Police were also forced to shutdown Route 29 in Madison in both di-rections while trying to get the suspectin custody.

“The establishment was alsovery close to Route 29. We did notwant a stray bullet leaving the vicinityand striking vehicles going up anddown Route 29,” said Weaver.

Culpeper, VA, Man Charged after Body Shop StandoffRecently, Florida’s Republican-con-trolled legislature overwhelminglypassed a bill that would have allowedmany young undocumented immi-grants to apply for temporary driver’slicenses.

That bill would have become lawif it wasn’t for Gov. Rick Scott (R).

Scott on vetoed the legislation,which would have allowed beneficiar-ies of President Obama’s Deferred Ac-tion for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)policy to seek driver’s licenses. Scottsaid his decision was rooted in his be-lief that DACA violates federal law.

“Although the Legislature mayhave been well intentioned in seeking toexpedite the process to obtain a tempo-rary driver license, it should not havebeen done by relying on a federal gov-ernment policy adopted without legalbasis,” he said in his veto message.

The measure would have addedan approved deferred action applica-tion to the list of materials that peopleseeking driver’s licenses can use to

prove their identity, according to TheMiami Herald. The state Housepassed the bill 115-2 and the stateSenate voted 36-0 to send it to Scott’sdesk.

More than 291,000 DACA ap-plications have been approved na-tionwide, according to the federalgovernment. And an estimated onemillion undocumented immigrants ofall ages reside in Florida. Immigrant-rights activists have urged state gov-ernments across the country to grantdriver’s licenses to DACA recipients,saying they are necessary to get toand from work and school.

Already, many DACA recipientsin Florida are eligible to receive tem-porary driver’s licenses under a pro-vision in Florida law that allows noncitizens with federal work permits toapply. DACA recipients can also ob-tain work permits, but approval ofwork permits sometimes does not co-incide with approval for deferred ac-tion.

FL Gov. Vetoes Undocumented Drivers’ Licenses Bill

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Fix Auto Acquires Alaska ShopsFix Auto USA continues expansion inthe Western United States with the in-troduction of five locations in Alaska,bringing the total number of Fix Autofranchises to 59. This marks the firsttime Fix Auto has ventured into theAlaskan market.

“We’re ecstatic to join this eliteand exclusive brand of high caliberoperators as we adapt to shifting mar-ket dynamics,” said Tony Stanley,who along with his wife Mel are theowners of the Fix Auto Alaskan fran-chise group, formerly Driven AutoBody.

AMI to Honor New ManagersThe Automotive Management Insti-tute (AMI) will honor its 20th classof Accredited Automotive Managers(AAMs) with a formal cap and gownceremony on Aug. 1 during the newIndustry Week 2014 July 28-Aug. 2at the COBO Center in Detroit. TheAAM designation is awarded afterthey successfully complete course-work and earn 120 credits of man-agement education. More than 1,700individuals have earned the AAMdesignation and approximately 100new graduates are added each year.For more go to www.AMIonline.org.

The prestigious Most InfluentialWomen in Collision Repair (MIW)Awards were presented to threewomen during a celebratory dinner inSan Diego during the Women’s Indus-try Network (WIN) Conference. TheMIW Awards recognize women whohave enriched the collision repair in-dustry with their leadership, vision,and commitment to excellence. DougHolmberg, representing AkzoNobel,formally transitioned the MIW pro-gram to Margaret Knell, Chair of WIN,by giving WIN a framed issue of Ak-zoNobel’s Profit Magazine with acommemorative note officially mark-ing the transition. Profit Magazine hashighlighted Most Influential Womenhonorees since inception of the award.

This year’s honorees were Fred-erica Carter, President of F. CarterEvents, LLC; Jordan Hendler, Execu-tive Director of the Washington Met-ropolitan Auto Body Association; andLeanne Jefferies, Director of CollisionPrograms at AIA Canada. Each hon-oree was introduced by an industrypeer and former MIW who nominatedthem for the award.

In a welcome message, Knellthanked those being honored as well asaward recipients from prior years, “for

your visibility and ongoing example ofmost influential women in the collisionrepair industry by your leadership, vi-sion, and commitment to excellence –both in your professions and in yourcommunities.” She then recognized Ak-

zoNobel for their vision and elevation ofthe societal issue of the advancement ofwomen in the collision repair industry.

The recognition program's charteraligns with WIN’s mission to ‘enhancethe role of women in the industry’ andhas recognized more than 75 women fortheir professional accomplishments andfor going beyond requirements of theirpositions to give back to their commu-nities. Honorees have held positions inevery facet of the collision repair in-dustry, as shop owners, body and paint

technicians, managers, wholesalers,lobbyists, suppliers, insurance adjusters,consultants, educators, editors and writ-ers, and industry association directors.

Established in 1999 by AkzoNo-bel, WIN assumed management of theMIW program in 2013. The Most In-fluential Women program has supportedthe industry by funding scholarships forprospective female students interestedin pursuing a career in collision repair.

“The Women’s Industry Networkhas, in a very short period of time, be-come a pillar association within theNorth American collision repair market,”commented Doug Holmberg, Director ofVehicle Refinishes for AkzoNobel Auto-motive & Aerospace Coatings NorthAmerica. “It was both a pleasure andhonor for AkzoNobel to be part of the2014 WIN Conference and formallytransition the Most Influential Women inthe Collision Repair Industry programfrom our stewardship to WIN for theircontinued mentoring. WIN will be ableto advance MIW and create sustainableresources to the full benefit of the entirecollision repair industry.”

To learn more about WIN and theMIW Awards, or to see a list of pastrecipients, visit http://thewomensin-dustrynetwork.ning.com.

Women’s Industry Network Celebrates Excellence In Leadership AndThe Formal Transition Of The MIW Program

MIW Handoff Knell and Holmberg


Jon Hall Chevrolet has moved itsauto body shop from its main locationat 551 N. Nova Road to a stand-alonebuilding a half-mile to the north. TheJon Hall Body Shop opened in itsnew 27,000-square-foot building at903 Brentwood Drive, just south ofthe Ritchey Cadillac Buick GMCdealership. Both businesses are partof the Daytona Beach-based RitcheyAutomotive Group that includes JonHall Chevrolet.

The bigger space has allowedthe body shop to add nine workers,said Glenn Ritchey, president andCEO of both Ritchey AutomotiveGroup and Jon Hall Chevrolet.

Moving the body shop also willallow Jon Hall Chevrolet to expandthe quick-service offerings, such asoil changes, at the dealership’s mainlocation, Ritchey said.

Ritchey Properties LLC boughtthe 4.5-acre property on BrentwoodDrive in June 2013 for $750,000, ac-cording to Volusia County propertyrecords.

Ritchey said his company addi-tionally spent more than $1 million torenovate the building which previ-ously housed a plumbing supply busi-ness called HD Supply Plumbing.

Jon Hall Chevrolet OpensShop in Daytona Beach, FL

A woman was shot in the hand at anauto body shop at the corner of Sum-mer Avenue and Eva Street in Bing-hampton, TN, on June 10. Neighborssay incidents like this have becomeall too familiar, despite their efforts torid the neighborhood of the shop.They say at any given time of day,you can find about a dozen men at theauto body shop either working oncars parked on the street or just hang-ing around. Businesses have vacatedthe corner after being caught in cross-fire stemming from activity at theshop. Help has been sought from thecity and district attorney's office inshutting the place down, but it is stillopen for business. Sharon Norfleetmoved into her home near the autoshop in February, eager to bring newlife to a struggling community. Nor-fleet's granddaughter was in the frontroom of her house facing the shopwhen shots rang out. Norfleet didn'tbelieve what the child said she hadheard until she opened her front doorto several cop cars on the street.

Before the business can be declareda nuisance and shut down, officials saythe city would have to determine howmuch money is spent responding tocriminal calls at that location.

Binghamton, TN, Body ShopCalled Out for Crime in Area

Pack Brothers Collision Center inBelmont, N.C., has won a short-payarbitration case in a North Carolinacourt against Allstate.

On May 27, a Lincoln Countyjudge ruled in favor of awarding a PackBrothers customer $891.72, which wasowed to the body shop for collision re-pairs that the insurer refused to pay afterthe insured’s car was fixed. The short-pay litigation was filed by Ronnie Pack,owner of Pack Brothers, on behalf ofhis customer using a Power of Attorney.

According to the insured cus-tomer’s policy, Allstate is obligatedto pay for necessary and proper re-pairs of his vehicle. The total amountcharged for repair of the vehicle was$3,445.27, but the insurer only paid$2,503.55 for the damages.

The customer is entitled to thefull amount of $891.72 owed to PackBrothers plus interest accrued sincehis accident, attorney fees and anyother punitive damages.

Pack Brothers in Belmont NCWins Short Pay Arbitration

Police in Charlotte, N.C., say that500 pounds of marijuana are offthe street thanks to a delivery mixup and a honest businessman.Miguel Garcia, 35, is a car loverand the owner of Boom Boom Carand Audio, was confused when hereceived a big package from Cali-fornia at his business. “The de-scription said chrome accessoriesand dash kits and that’s basicallywhat we sell. So my first thoughtwas maybe a vendor had sent it tome to resell it,” he told WCNC. In-stead, Garcia found 500 pounds ofmarijuana, with a listed value ofover $250,000. His sister immedi-ately called police.

“We never had that thought inour head to keep it. It’s one of thosethings, you have to have do the rightthing,” Garcia said. There was somuch that it took officers about anhour to stack up the pot and haul itaway. Police think the shipper neverintended that the package be deliv-ered because the instructions left aphone number.

Charlotte, NC, Shop GetsBig Pot Package from CA

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NACE | CARS, held at COBO Centerin Detroit July 30-Aug. 2, will offerspecial recognition to attendees whohave a proven commitment to collisionrepair training demonstrated through

achievement of I-CAR Gold Classrecognition or ASE Blue Seal certifica-tion. Collision and Service Repair fa-cility personnel that belong to an I-CARGold Class business or hold the ASEBlue Seal certification will receive a 50percent discount on the training andconference sessions at NACE | CARS

2014. In addition, any individual that iscurrently I-CAR Platinum or an ASEMaster Technician will be entitled to thesame 50 percent discount. This discountincludes individual sessions through theSuper Pass that covers sessions duringthe entire conference.

“We want those who have achievedthe highest levels of industry-recognizedtraining and certification to be rewardedfor their achievements,” stated Dan Ris-ley, ASA president and executive direc-tor. “This is a great way to highlight anelite group and to encourage their on-going technical and business educa-tion.”

“As technology advancements dic-tate a necessary evolution in repairabil-ity, more collision repair businessesthan ever are adopting a learning cul-ture to ensure that they are able to per-

form safe and quality repairs,” stressedJohn Van Alstyne, I-CAR CEO andpresident. “I applaud NACE and CARSfor recognizing this commitment to ed-ucation and knowledge by giving backto the businesses and individuals whotrain.”

“ASE’s relationship with NACEand CARS goes back to the very begin-ning of the event, and we are pleased toonce again be a part of this significanteducational opportunity for the indus-try,” said Tony Molla, ASE vice presi-

dent of communications. “We also salutethe efforts to encourage professionalismwith this generous discount program forour ASE certified professionals and thebusinesses that employ them.”

Registration is now open forNACE | CARS and hotel reservationscan be made via the Travel section ofthe website, www.NACEexpo.com orwww.CARSevent.com for the week ofJuly 27 and all events taking place dur-ing “Industry Week” in Detroit.

Now in its 32nd year, NACE|CARSwill feature numerous opportunities fortechnical training, business education,demonstrations, networking and technol-ogy showcases for stakeholders, owners,managers and technicians in the collisionand service repair industries.

I-CAR Gold Class and ASE-Certified Shops Rewarded at NACE | CARS

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The Motor Equipment RemanufacturersAssociation (MERA) has joined a grow-ing coalition of leading organizationssupporting NACE | CARS 2014 IndustryWeek in Detroit this summer. MERAwill host a Remanufacturing TechnologyExpo on Thursday, July 31, from 10:00am-4:00 pm in the Ambassador Ball-

room in the COBO Convention Center.Dan Risley, ASA president and ex-

ecutive director, stated, “We are excitedto have MERA join us in Detroit. This isa very important organization in the au-tomotive market and their participation,content, and attendance is beneficial toIndustry Week. The overriding purpose

of the event is to bring the industry to-gether, and MERA’s involvement furthersolidifies our goal of deeper market cov-erage.”

“Remanufactured parts offer like-new quality and real value that techniciansand end users can trust,” said John Chali-foux, president and COO, MERA. “Dur-

ing the MERA Remanufacturing Tech-nology Expo, members will showcase theadvanced methods they use to restore corecomponents to original—or better—con-dition and performance.”

Registration information and theagenda is available at MERA.org/tech-expo.

MERA Joins the Excitement at NACE | CARS 2014


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This year’s CARS will be held July 30-Aug. 2 in Detroit and for the first time,the focus will be on younger techs.

There will be a two-day, intensiveprogram called the “Young Technician’sSymposium.” Donny Seyfer, chairman-elect of the Automotive Service Associ-ation, which sponsors CARS, reports theprogram will be “powered” by Bosch.“It’s the brainchild of Bob Pattengale,”said Seyfer, “and will feature cutting-edge learning techniques and thoroughintroductions to the electronic systemsthat control modern cars. Targeting thetwo- to three-year tech, Bosch’s trainerswill use hands-on techniques mixed withclassroom training to move young techsfrom maintenance service and light re-pair to adding routine diagnostic skillsto their toolbox.”

Each program at CARS this yearhas been handpicked with an eye to-

ward making your shop better, saidSeyfer. Management sessions will belimited so that the “meeting after themeeting” networking opportunitieswill be enhanced.

Seyfer said the “crown jewel” ofthe CARS lineup will be Friday’sTelematics & Technology Forum spon-sored by the Alliance of AutomobileManufacturers. “We will bring youface-to-face with the future,” saidSeyfer. “Learn about what cars aredoing today and tomorrow from theengineers who build them. How doesthe independent repair shop fit into thisworld? You will only know if you at-tend CARS and attend this session.”

Business has changed, said Seyfer,“and things that were effective a fewyears ago are no longer working.” Tohelp bring attendees up-to-date, ASA isenlisting the aid of notables such as Vin

Waterhouse, Rissy Sutherland, DannySanchez and Margie Seyfer, all expertsin their respective fields.

Always a concern are employeeissues, including successfully integrat-ing new employees into the business.Bill Haas, industry consultant andtrainer, has a new class that will provideshop owners the tools they need to helpnew employees fit right in.

On the technical side, since CARS2014 will be in the Motor City, repre-sentatives from Chrysler, Ford and Gen-eral Motors will all be presentingclasses. Pete Meier will help you bringthose lab scopes back out to aid you indiagnosis for a new generation of cars.

“Speaking of diagnosis,” saidSeyfer, “we are going to push the bound-aries of your diagnostic techniques andunderstanding with presentations byMark Warren and Chris Chesney— both

technical wizards. They will bring newprograms that will take your diagnosti-cians to areas many of them will findcompletely new.”

Seyfer said ASA’s board of direc-tors and members of the association’sMechanical Operations Committee“are excited” to present a different ap-proach to training at CARS this year.“We surveyed members, asking whattheir biggest challenges were in run-ning their business and repairing cars,and we took the dominant responsesand sought out trainers to provide in-sight and new skills to solve thoseproblems.” Said Seyfer, CARS is builtfor shop owners. “It’s built for yourtechnicians and it is built for your salesstaff,” he said. “ASA puts on a few‘must attend’ programs each year. Thisyear, CARS will be at the top of thatlist. See you in detroit!”

CARS This Year Is All New, ASA Promises It Will Be The Best Show Ever

I-CAR®, in partnership with the NationalAuto Body Council (NABC), has an-nounced it will pilot a membership dis-count program for I-CAR Gold Class®

businesses. The promotional offer in-cludes a 30 percent discount towardNABC Bronze Membership throughDecember 31, 2014.

“I-CAR and NABC have compli-mentary goals of encouraging profes-sionalism and promoting a positiveimage of our industry,” explained JeffPeevy, I-CAR Senior Director of FieldOperations and Segment Development.“I believe all of us within the collisionrepair industry have an obligation topromote a positive image of it. And oneof the best ways to achieve this is tosupport and enable the growth of an or-ganization designed for this purpose.”

NABC membership provides busi-nesses with an array of opportunities formembers to reinforce their leadershiprole within the industry and community,and foster goodwill throughout thosecommunities. The NABC also imple-ments community-based programs likeRecycled Rides, Distracted Driving Ini-tiative and First Responders EmergencyExtrication, while recognizing those inour industry who epitomize the funda-mental goodness which exists in the col-lision repair world.

Recycled Rides is a widely-knownand unique program in which insurers,collision repairers, paint suppliers, parts

vendors and others collaborate to repairand donate vehicles to deserving indi-viduals and service organizations in localcommunities throughout the country.

NABC Executive Director, ChuckSulkala explained, “In addition to help-ing make a difference in someone’s life,participation in NABC initiatives such asRecycled Rides, provides many intangi-ble benefits. Within a business, it createsrewarding experiences, excitement andpride in and for your team, plus has avery positive impact on the community.The enhanced recognition of our mem-ber’s businesses in their community as aresult of gifting a Recycled Rides vehicleis an added benefit of membership.”

Over 800 vehicles worth in ex-cess of $10 million have been donatedthrough the NABC’s Recycled Ridesprogram since its inception in 2007.

“Collaborating with an industrypowerhouse like I-CAR really helps theNABC to enroll our industry to evan-gelize about just how good it is for oth-ers to rub elbows with all of us,” saidNick Notte, NABC president. “We atthe NABC are delighted that I-CAR hasembraced our vision and is so willing tohelp NABC reach out to even morequality individuals and businesses.”

Gold Class businesses are en-couraged to take advantage of this spe-cial promotion. To learn more aboutthe NABC or Recycled Rides, visitnationalautobodycouncil.org.

I-CAR® And National Auto Body Council Partner onMembership Discount, 30% Off Until End of 2014

ASA-CO to Host Pinnacol Safety Meeting July 9 in DenverOn Wednesday, July 9, ASA-CO willhost a Pinnacol Safety meeting enti-tled “Managing Safety Through GoodHiring Practices” at Pinnacol Assur-ance, located at 7501 E. Lowry Blvdin Denver, CO. The event will takeplace from 11:30AM until 1:00PM

and includes lunch.ASA-CO is hosting this event for

all ASA Safety Group Members, to-taling around 50 policyholders, andthey expect around 15 to 20 attendees.For more information, call 303-202-5231 or go to www.asacolorado.org





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Whether you’ve struggled with theneed to replace automotive VIN andsafety labels or if you’ve never giventhem a second thought, the fact re-mains that federal law mandates theselabels be permanently affixed to every

vehicle, yet they’re the part leastlikely to be fixed during a repair!Manufacturers rely on both the safetycertification label and the tire-and-load label to convey important safetyinformation to drivers. These labelsare customized with the VIN andmonth/year of manufacture for each

unique vehicle, but while it’s easy tomatch these labels to a specific vehicleon the production line, manufacturersare not equipped to replace a singlecustom label after the car leaves theirplant. That’s where AutomotiveIDcomes in!

Automotive ID launched in 2007to fill this need within thecollision repair industry.One-of-a-kind VIN andsafety labels were not beingreplaced and, at best, werebeing cut out and stuffed inthe glove box. The com-pany’s sole business is theproduction of these uniqueVIN and Safety certificationlabels, and AutomotiveIDsupplies collision repair fa-

cilities in every state in the U.S. aswell as throughout Canada.

As a provider of aftermarket au-tomotive labels to the collision repairindustry, AutomotiveID produceshigh-quality labels for all makes andmodels of cars and light trucks, al-lowing their replacement to go from

nearly impossible to one of the easiestparts to replace. Beyond the simpleneed to restore a vehicle to its pre-losscondition, replacing these labels is im-perative because they instruct driverson how to handle and main-tain their vehicles, includingtire inflation recommenda-tions and load limits, both ofwhich are extremely impor-tant since ignoring these rat-ings can lead to dangerouswrecks; this is why the Na-tional Highway Transporta-tion Safety Administration(NHTSA) insists the informa-tion contained on these labelsis critical to public safety.

For collision repair facilities, thebenefits of restoring a vehicle to itspre-loss condition by using Automo-tiveID’s labels is obvious, but becauseinsurance companies also recognizethe benefit of maintaining the safetyof their customer’s vehicle and thevalue of their own insurable interest,shops can finally get paid for doingthe right thing and replacing these cus-

tom VIN and Safety certification la-bels. Besides the safety factors men-tioned, AutomotiveID’s labels alsohelp consumers maintain the value oftheir vehicles as appraisers typically

discount trade-ins with missing labelssince the absence of these labels limittheir knowledge of the vehicle.

AutomotiveID’s replacement la-bels fulfill many needs to the benefit ofall vested parties. In addition to provid-ing federal regulation compliance of re-paired vehicles, these labels preservethe value of the vehicles, provide nec-essary tracking information, and supply

VIN and Safety Labels from AutomotiveID Bring Vehicles Another Step Closer toPre-Loss Condition

Installing a replacement Tire & Load label will ensure yourcustomers know how to maintain their vehicles and con-tribute to their overall safety

AutomotiveID’s replacement BMW certification label con-tains the same information as the manufacturer's original

the repair facility with incremental rev-enue and compensation on work forwhich they haven’t traditionally re-ceived payment. Each party in the col-lision repair industry has different, yetvalid, reasons for recognizing the im-portance of replacing vehicle labels, butthe predominant concern relates to pub-lic safety, and AutomotiveID’s servicesundeniably contribute to this factor.

AutomotiveID offers a completeline of automotive labels, includingcertification, service parts, tire andloading, emission control, paint andtrim, anti-theft and all other aftermar-ket labels that are typically difficult tofind. All of their replacement labelsmeet the standards set forth by theNHTSA, and AutomotiveID enters allinformation by hand to ensure accu-racy as part of their thorough processof quality control and independentverification procedures.

So how do you order replace-ment labels from AutomotiveID? Eas-ily because it’s all done online!Simply visit their secure website,complete the order form, and uploada photograph of the original label. Au-tomotiveID will enter the necessaryinformation and print a new labelwhich you can receive as early as the

next business day. AutomotiveID’s re-placement labels adhere to all NHTSAcontent standards, contain the exactinformation as the original label, in-cluding fully functional bar codes, andare permanent and weatherproof.

With their industry-leading, web-based ordering and rapid returnprocesses, AutomotiveID ensures theirreplacement labels are the “easiest partto put back on,” so what are you wait-ing for? Visit their website and restorethe vehicles in your shop to their pre-loss condition today!

AutomotiveID, LLC10805 Sunset Office Drive, Suite 300St. Louis, MO 63127866-929-1500www.AutomotiveID.com

Service King Collision Repair Centershas announced that it has finalized theacquisition of Sterling Collision Cen-ters. Service King now operates 175locations across 20 states.

The company says that the acqui-sition supports Service King’s robustgrowth strategy and further strength-ens its position as the premier providerof high-quality collision repair backedwith exceptional customer service.

“Acquiring a company like Ster-ling Collision Centers is about morethan expanding our network withbricks and mortar. The strength of ourorganization lies within our people andwe are extremely excited to welcomethe very talented Sterling team to theService King family,” said Chris Abra-ham, CEO of Service King. “ServiceKing has offered consumers a superiorcollision repair experience for morethan 38 years and we are well posi-tioned to grow that legacy with what Ibelieve is the most capable and expe-rienced team in the industry.”

Sterling’s 62 locations will begin op-erating as Service King immediately andthe rebranding of Sterling stores across

the country commences June 3, 2014.“Service King has built a strong

reputation in the communities wherewe do business. We recognize that col-lision repair is not just about the car,but it’s about the care and the lives wetouch every day. This acquisition al-lows us to expand our footprint andoffer more consumers an unparalleled,personal repair experience,” said JeffMcFadden, President of Service King.

Service King now employs morethan 3,800 technicians and support teammembers and offers collision repairservices in the following states: Arizona,Arkansas, California, Colorado, Geor-gia, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Michi-gan, Mississippi, Nevada, New York,Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, SouthCarolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah andVirginia.

For a full list of locations by cityand state or any additional informa-tion on Service King, visit www.ser-viceking.com.


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paying for repairs either. Three-C’sshortpay lawsuits are associated withcosts related to vehicles that aredeemed total losses which the insurerobjects to paying. Juniper provides thefollowing example: if the shop writesa $10,000 estimate on a car valued at$11,000 and the insurer’s adjuster es-timates $4000 in damages, the shophas to perform many additional stepsas part of the process of writing a thor-ough estimate. Moving the disabledvehicle, disassembly, taking inventoryof parts, recycling hazardous waste,and performing a comprehensivesafety check to test for damages arejust a few of the many steps needed inorder to document the car as a totalloss; however, when the adjuster re-turns to discuss the estimate and de-clares the vehicles to be a total loss,State Farm only wants to pay the costof storage and a few minimal charges,though all of these processes are re-quired. Other processes which Juniperfeels shops should be aware that theycan charge for include suspensionchecks, rough access, preparing thepack-totaled vehicle, glass clean-up,and labor.

Meanwhile, Three-C has time as-sociated with the estimate for whichthey expect (and deserve) to be com-pensated since they’ve lost time beinginvolved with a job they aren’t beingpaid for, yet State Farm wants to payonly the minimum charges. Juniperexplains, “our charges are necessaryto offset our lost opportunity. Whenwe’re working on these total losses,that’s time we can’t work on jobswhere we could make money, but theinsurer does not want to understandthat—that’s why we have to sue them.Other shops also have to performthese steps, and they should ask whythey’re not getting paid for all of theirtime and hard work!”

Over the past three decades, Ju-niper has been an active voice in theindustry, speaking out against insurersand their attempts to exert control overthe repair process. “Insurers have beenbeating on body shops for many years.

They used to just pay the bill, but overthe years, they’ve decided that theydon’t want to pay the labor times andrates. Instead, they want to argueabout which steps are necessary be-cause they are trying to control the re-pair itself. This industry has been beatdown so far that many shops are goingout of business; insurers have foundthe bottom on pricing and can’t pushanymore because there’s nothing left.We have to charge them for our timebecause we can’t afford to work forfree!”

Though Juniper admits that hisrelationship with State Farm is cur-rently less than perfect due to thepending lawsuits, he hopes that willchange after matters are settled. Healso believes that he is taking a neces-sary step towards preventing short-pays in the future. “Nationally, thereare over 70 body shops with pendingshortpay lawsuits right now, and weneed to win these battles to changethings. With enough victories, maybethe insurers will change their behav-ior.”

Three-C Body Shops asks theircustomers to sign documents, such asthe Authorization to Repair and As-signment of Proceeds, to enable themto pursue proper compensation whenthe need arises. Juniper explains thatthey “involve the vehicle owner in-stead of dealing with the insurancecompany directly because the insureris bound by a contract with the in-sured, but the problem is that manyconsumers don’t know the laws. Someare savvy, but others don’t understandor want to be involved; that’s what theinsurers take advantage of and the rea-son that lawsuits are necessary… It’snot convenient, but this still has to

happen. I don’t see any other alterna-tive.”

A family-owned business sinceopening in 1956, Three-C Body Shopsworks on around 250 vehicles monthly,yielding $700,000 to $800,000 in sales.They have never participated in DRPsbecause when the insurers introducedthese programs in the early 1990s, Ju-niper foresaw the negative aspects as-sociated with them, predicting that theywould start off good and get worseover time. Though he spoke out againstDRPs, the industry moved forward,and he believes “most DRP shops nowwish they’d never gotten involved, butwe weren’t loud enough with our ob-jections. DRPs have caused many bodyshops to go out of business. Onceyou’re dependent on them, you can’tafford to lose them—you’re unable towalk away because you’ve become re-liant on the insurance companies.”

Now, Juniper fears that insurersare using parts procurement systems,such as PartsTrader, to exert evenmore control over repairs, and heworries that insurers will take overparts distribution also, leaving shopsas labor providers only and inhibit-ing them from supplementing theirincomes with the price of parts. Be-

cause of this, many shops will be un-able to pay some of their personnel,such as office staff, customer serviceteams and detailers, whose salariesaren’t paid by the estimates but byparts profits. “If the insurers absorbthis discount, we won’t be able to af-ford these employees, so customerservice will decline, and that will bethe beginning of the next big prob-lem for our industry,” Juniper pre-dicts.

Juniper notes that the industrydid not stand up for themselves whenDRPs were developed and they havesince regretted it; he believes the in-dustry will really regret it if they donot step up to inhibit parts procure-ment as it will lead to poor customerservice in the collision repair indus-try, forcing repairers into a positionwhere they are not making any moneyand may be unable to pay their bills.He asks “when and where does thecollision industry say no? Because it’stime!”

A State Farm spokesman was in-vited to comment but declined due tounfamiliarity with the specifics of thecases. Autobody News will continueto invite comment on this story for fu-ture issues.

Continued from Cover

Three-C Body Shops

Three-C Body Shops has specific areas to in-teract with and educate customers


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dees at the ABPA event that havinggrown up in her parent’s BatonRouge business, Felder’s CollisionParts, she has a good understandingof the issues facing the non-OEMparts industry.

“This industry hasn’t had a realfriend in Congress,” Felder said. “Formany of you who have been to the leg-islature, who’ve been up there trying toget some of these bills passed, fightingagainst some of the things that affectyou, there aren’t a lot of real friends tothe industry there, not a lot of peoplethere who really understand this indus-try. And so it’s really important for youto pay attention to this race, and I’masking for your support in this race.”

One of the issues Felder men-tioned she would go to Congress un-derstanding is the “PARTS Act,” anABPA-supported bill that would slashautomaker design patent protectionfrom 14 years to just 30 months.

Felder also discussed the “devas-tating” impact that automaker partsprice-matching programs have had onher parent’s business and others in the

non-OEM parts industry. She said shedrafted the lawsuit that Felder’s Colli-sion Parts filed in 2012 against GeneralMotors, alleging that General Motor’s“Bump the Competition” price-match-ing program was an illegal predatorypricing scheme designed to drive non-OEM parts distributors out of business.(A U.S. District Court judge dismissedthe case in April, but Felder’s CollisionParts has filed an appeal of that deci-sion. See Autobody News June 2014issue.)

Felder asked ABPA members tosupport her campaign to representLouisiana’s 6th Congressional Dis-trict. She is seeking financial contri-butions (www.cassiefelder.com) bothfrom individuals and through businesspolitical action committees.

“Obviously there are a lot of is-sues that are going to be affecting mydistrict,” Felder said. “But this industryhas been so important to me and myfamily, that this was absolutely one ofthe industries I wanted to target.”

State Legislation DiscussedState legislation related to non-OEMparts was also the focus of anotherpresentation at the ABPA conventionin Austin. Ray Colas, director of gov-

ernment affairs for LKQ Corporation,told the non-OEM parts suppliers thatthe body shop industry seems reinvig-orated.

“PartsTrader is something thathas motivated them, not only throughlegislation but also litigation,” Colassaid. “With that momentum, they’rethrowing us under the bus as well.”

In the past, Colas said, most ofthe legislative challenges to aftermar-ket parts came from automakers.

“But the body shops have reallytaken it over,” he said. “Now the au-tomakers are supporting the bodyshop association initiatives.”

Colas talked about a number ofbills his company successfully lobbiedagainst, including one introduced inMaryland last year that would haveprohibited the manufacture, sale or in-stallation of a counterfeit or substan-dard airbag.

“Some of you may wonder: Whyare we concerned about airbags?There are no aftermarket airbags,”Colas said. “Well, that’s true today.That doesn’t mean that in the futurethey may not exist. So we want to pro-tect that market today in case in the fu-ture there is an opportunity for that.We don’t want to be restricted from

selling any alternative part.”Colas said after a “long, drawn-

out fight” and “a very, very close call,”aftermarket parts supporters were ableto convince Maryland lawmakers thisyear not to pass a bill that would re-quire insurers to pay for new OEMparts for repairs to vehicles manufac-tured within the previous three years.

“Jordan Hendler (executive di-rector of the Washington MetropolitanAuto Body Association, which backedthe Maryland legislation) has done agreat job educating these legislators,meeting with them year after year,”Colas said. “It’s something we reallywant to keep an eye on.”

A lawmaker in Iowa also neededto be “re-educated” about the after-market parts industry, Colas said, afterhe introduced at the behest of bodyshops a bill that included a provisionsimilar to the one in Maryland. Colassaid that lawmaker’s district includesan LKQ facility.

“We got there and told him, ‘Hey,you’re really going to affect our busi-ness,’ ” Colas said. “This is how manyjobs we have in your district.”

Colas said the Iowa bill also in-cluded provisions prohibiting an insurerfrom recommending a shop without


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also telling the customer they aren’t re-quired to use a recommended shop, andfrom requiring a shop “to use a specificvendor or process for the procurementof parts or other materials.” Colas saidthose provisions will likely be includedin a future piece of legislation.

“There will be a bill that’s rein-troduced, but it will not include the af-termarket parts restriction,” Colas said.

PartsTrader addresses questionsKen Weiss, director of business de-velopment for PartsTrader, also spokeat the ABPA convention, just daysafter his company completed nationalroll-out of its system, now reportedlyused by more than 7,500 body shopsand 8.500 parts suppliers. Weiss saidthat by the end of this past April, partslists from more than 700,000 esti-mates had been put out for quotethrough PartsTrader, and more than1.25 million orders totaling more than$450 million had been placed throughthe system.

Weiss said although State Farm“is a little bit restrictive with regard toaftermarket parts,” he expects non-OEM parts orders through the systemto increase as shops use PartsTraderfor non-State Farm jobs.

He cited a number of benefits thatPartsTrader offers suppliers, including“increased sales opportunities andfewer parts returns.” However not

everyone at theABPA conventionagreed with Weisson this last point.

“We have notnoticed a lower re-turn rate on (partsordered through)PartsTrader versus

phone calls versus faxes versus any-thing,” Bob Petty of Collins CollisionProducts in Loveland, CO, told Weiss.“Our return rate is higher than it’s everbeen in the history of the company.”

Petty also asked if returned partsare taken into account in the fees Part-sTrader charges to suppliers, which arebased on average monthly sales. Weisssaid they are, provided that parts pur-chased through the PartsTrader systemare also returned though the system.

“We all know the games todaywhere repairers will buy multipleparts, sometimes just to get a receiptthat they can show somebody else,and then return the part,” Weiss said.“With the PartsTrader system, youcan only buy a part once unless youreturn it. Then you can buy the partagain from another supplier. So wethink that will avoid some of thegames and will help bring down thereturns.”

Weiss was asked if there’s a wayfor a shop to bypass the system to re-turn a part.

“Only if you let them,” Weisstold the parts distributors. “If theywant to return a part, you need to tellthem, ‘You bought this through Part-sTrader; you need to return it throughthe system,’ so you get credit for thereturn.’ If they don’t want to return itthrough the system, then, I hate to sayit, but they are probably up to nogood.”


Ken Weiss




AutoZone, Inc., a leading distributorof auto parts and accessories, recog-nized Dorman Products, Inc. as itsVendor of the Year during the com-pany’s annual AutoZone VendorSummit held in Memphis, Ten-nessee. “Dorman exemplifies an in-dustry-leading vendor. The Dormanorganization is dedicated to innova-tion, collaboration and speed to mar-ket,” said Bill Rhodes, President andCEO of AutoZone. AutoZone alsorecognized a group of suppliers withthe company’s Extra Miler Award.

AutoZone Names Dornan Prod-ucts Vendor of the Year

Ohio Appeals Court OK’s LineMeasurement for DealershipAn Ohio appeals court on June 12upheld a lower court’s ruling in a dis-pute between two Nissan Motor Co.Ltd. dealerships contesting theproper method of measuring the dis-tance between an established dealer-ship and a proposed one, saying itcan be calculated by measuring astraight line between the two spots.

The three-judge panel affirmedthe trial court’s judgment in favor ofM6 Motors Inc., owner of Nissan ofMiddleburg Heights.

Shop owners with a shop in a metro-politan area see many vehicles withminor dings, dents, scratches andmore, all around the city. Many ofthese drivers have tolerated these im-perfections on their vehicle for weeks,months and possibly even years. Whyhaven’t they done something aboutthese eyesores? Maybe the discomfortof driving around with these flawssimply hasn’t been great enough tomotivate them to fix them. Or maybethey imagine the cost, not only interms of money, but also in consider-ing the inconvenience of being with-out the vehicle while it’s being fixed,is too great to bother.

If a shop mainly relies on insur-ance or dealerships for work, this maynot be an interesting marketing move.But if a shop seeks to bring in newcustomers and add to a database ofmarketing targets, this could be a realopportunity to increase the shop’s vol-ume and potential volume of business.

In general advertising a collision re-pair shop is mainly done to make ashop’s name, location and reputationbroadly known. When viewers of thead may not have an accident for threeor more years in the future, getting animmediate response is only a periph-eral intent of the ad. But the advertis-ing campaign I’m proposing here,aimed at a great many drivers withminor body damage, could produce animmediate volume of responses ifhandled right.

The proposed ad should offer a“Ding Day Special.” The two vital as-pects of the ad must be that it will below cost, and with very little timecommitment. For the bold shop owner,the ad could also offer “No risk—yourmoney back if not completely satis-fied.” Some owners might hesitate onthis one, but statistically the no riskoffer increases responses significantly.An additional attraction to be offeredby the tech-savvy shop would be an

on-line inquiry and approximate esti-mate for potential customers. Theprospective customer simply uploadsa photo of the damage and the shopgets back to him or her with an ap-proximate repair time and cost.

To make the “Ding Day” routinework well, a shop must commit sig-nificant resources to getting vehiclescompleted and out quickly at reason-able cost. The real profit should not bein the limited scope of the minor re-pair. Instead it should be viewed as asales opportunity. This is a chance tocollect many customer informationforms filled in with vital marketing in-formation. It has to collect informa-tion on all vehicles owned by thecustomer’s family and employer andany other vehicles in need of repair. Itshould have his or her insurance agentand possibly organizations the cus-tomer belongs to that could be mar-keting targets. Filling in of the formcan’t be simply handing it to the vehi-

cle owner, leaving him or her to omitmany important marketing bits of in-formation. The estimator or a well-trained front desk person should makecertain most of the requested informa-tion is captured. And this is just stepone in capturing this vital sales op-portunity.

While it may be possible to talkthe prospect into bringing in anothervehicle that needs repair right thenand there, this could be shortsighted.In order to keep the turn-around timeshort, it could be better to solicitwork on other vehicles with follow-up calls. If the customer was pleasedwith a quick turn-around, the esti-mator should get a welcome re-sponse when making the follow-upcall. This call would also be an ap-propriate time to ask for permissionto call the customer’s business andsocial organization connections tomake the shop known to them. Thistactic has worked well with Amway


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Ding Day–A Marketing Tactic

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

and Avon solicitors and builds anever-expanding network of relatedindividuals for marketing purposes.When there is reluctance to passalong phone numbers, these daysasking for an e-mail address or evenFacebook connection could get aneasier response.

Perhaps the greatest difficultygetting this tactic to work is the prob-lem of where to advertise and how toreach the greatest number of prospec-tive customers. Today print ads havelimited value as people turn awayfrom printed newspapers and get theirnews on-line. TV ads are generallytoo expensive, but radio ads could bea real possibility in some areas. On-line ads are essential.The ad has to bedirect and simple. It should start withthe key question: “Are you tired ofliving with that ugly dent, ding orscratch on your vehicle? For a limitedtime we are offering a very low-cost,fast turn-around repair to restore yourvehicle to its original beauty. Andwe’re located close enough for you todrop your vehicle off in the morningand pick it up, possibly as early asnoon. Call us or e-mail a quick photoof your damage and we’ll give you anapproximate estimate immediately.”


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CCAR, the Coordinating Committeefor Automotive Repair, and Ship-Mate, Inc. announced the launch oftheir new website, www.hazmatu.org.This intuitive new site is specificallydesigned to be easier to use and eas-ier to access for all HazMatU trainingand resources. CCAR provides tai-lored information and resources forOEM dealers, collision repair cen-ters, schools and mechanical servicecenters. The new website communi-cates updated news, events and serv-ices to HazmatU customers in aneasier, faster and more user-friendlylayout. ShipMate, Inc. works withclients to help resolve their most de-manding dangerous goods transporta-tion, environmental management andsafety issues. ShipMate provides cre-ative ideas and cost effective solutionsto resolve and manage their manycompliance challenges.

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20 years ago in the collision repairindustry (July 1994)If the collision repair industry does notget clearly focused on what the mis-sion is, it will be doomed to dance towhatever tune the insurance industrywants. Probably something like thatold AC/DC hit, “Highway to Hell.”

Bill Clinton was elected presidentof the United States because he keptthe country focused on the economy.(His slogan, “It’s the economy, stu-pid,” became famous. To win in theirongoing economic struggle with theinsurance industry, collision repairershave to concentrate on the car owner.“It’s the car owner, stupid.”

Collision repairers are too busytripping over their own swords to re-alize that pleasing the car owner everytime is a key to survival. Instead,many are more worried about pleasingthe insurance companies. They claimthat since it’s the insurance companieswho are writing the checks, it’s the in-surance companies they should be sat-isfying. Ultimately, though, it’s the carowners who write the checks. They,after all, pay the insurance premiums.

I predict that in another 10 year,the American public is going to wakeup and realize how monstrous a finan-cial institution the insurance industryhas become.

– excerpted from editorial bySheila Loftus, editor of Hammer &Dolly published by the Washington(D.C.) Metropolitan Auto Body Asso-ciation, July 1994

15 years ago in the collision repairindustry (July 1999)CIC’s “Research and Development Com-mittee” is continuing its exploration of a”new body shop operating model” to im-prove customer service and “cycle time”– the length of time between the accidentand the time repairs are completed and theinsurance file is closed.

At the meeting in July, committeechairman Randy Stabler said the aver-age repair claims process is 10 days –including four or five days before re-pairs begin. His committee, he said, islooking into ways to reduce the ineffi-ciencies before repairs actually begin,including the current estimating process.

“All of the things that are bottle-

necks in the repair process are a de-rivative of an inaccurate estimatingsystem,” Stabler said. “The back-endrepair process is never going to be ef-ficient and accurate if we don’t startout with an accurate blueprint.”

Among his committee’s initialrecommendations are:

- Improve the estimating systems sothat they create that “blueprint for repair”in plain language easily understood bytechnicians and vehicle owners.

“If the estimate is more than justan accounting of what we’re going tocharge or pay to fix the car, I thinkwe’re going to have faster cycle times,happier consumers and lower overallcosts for everyone,” Stabler said.

- Reduce inconsistency in partsnames and labor terminology used bythe estimating systems and vehiclemanufacturers.

- Eliminate confusion and ineffi-ciencies by having insurers distributetheir pricing guidelines.

- Stop insurer “micro-manage-ment” of each individual repair charge.

“Can you imagine someone goingin for surgery, and the doctors findingsomething else that needed to be donebut not doing it because they had to stopand call for authorization?” Stabler said.“That’s not an efficient model. ‘Pull itand we’ll come back and see the dam-age after it’s pulled’ is a flawed notion.That in the long run does not save theinsurer or consumer money.”

– As reported in The GoldenEagle. It was at least five years beforethe “blueprinting” aspect of “lean pro-cessing” was being widely discussed inthe industry, and still 15 years later it isfar from universally adopted by shops.

10 years ago in the collision repairindustry (July 2004)The Collision Industry Conference(CIC) “Information Technology Com-mittee” reported that rekeying esti-mates that shops could be receivingelectronically from insurers is costingthe industry an estimated $17 millionor more each year.

Based on a survey of 44 shop own-ers at a previous CIC meeting, the com-mittee believes that about 28 percent ofthe 9 million auto claims require rekey-ing of estimates, which takes an average

of 21 to 33 minutes per estimate. As-suming a wage of $20 per hour for theshop employees rekeying the estimates,“that basically says there are 2.52 mil-lion estimates that are rekeyed each yearby body shops, costing a minimum of$17.64 million,” Cindy Schnier, co-chairman of the committee, said.

–As reported in Autobody News,July 2004. In 2013, CCC InformationServices and Mitchell Internationallaunched services that enable a partici-pating insurer to enable shops not on thatinsurer’s DRP to download the insurer’sprepared estimate, eliminating the needfor the shop to rekey the initial estimate.

5 years ago in the collision repair in-dustry (July 2009)Shop owner response was mixed lastweek to the announcement by StateFarm that it was no longer requiringits Select Service shops in Californiaand Indiana to use OEConnection forelectronic parts ordering.

Debbie Moore of Diamond Colli-sion Services in Avon, Ind., said thatdespite some glitches with the systemover the past year, it has eventuallyworked well for the shop.

“We’ve been using it on all our or-ders, not just State Farm jobs, and willcontinue to do so at least for now,” shesaid.

But a Southern California shopowner who asked not to be identifiedsaid State Farm’s decision came at anideal time; his shop’s server had justcrashed and he now wouldn’t have to re-load the OEConnection parts orderingsoftware on the replacement computer.

“It’s kind of been a pain, andsome of my dealers really didn’t wantto mess with it,” he said of the partsordering system. “You almost alwayshad to do follow-up phone calls (to thedealer) with it, so if I have to do thatanyway, I can do without it.”

State Farm’s George Avery said


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Highway to Hell, Blueprinting, Rekeying Estimates, State Farm and OEConnection

with John YoswickHistorical Snapshot

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

See Historical Snapshot, Page 28


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Kevin Walli has been the lobbyist forthe Alliance of Automotive ServiceProviders (AASP-MN) for the past 20years. He is a shareholder in the lawfirm of Fryberger, Buchanan, Smithand Frederick in St. Paul, MN. Wegot in touch recently to discuss the re-cent history of legislation that has im-pacted the collision industry inMinnesota in the past five years.

Q: How did you become the lobby-ist for the AASP-MN?KW: I’ve been representing the colli-sion industry in Minnesota for 20 yearsnow, after working in government af-fairs for many years prior to that. Afriend of a friend knew someone at theAASP-MN and told me they were look-ing for some representation and moresupport at the Capitol. Over the years,we’ve been working hard to providemore balance between the interests ofthe collision industry and the insuranceindustry, because there’s an ongoingtug-of-war there obviously. I believethat there has been a constructive ap-proach by the two industries to try and

communicate with one and other. So,what we’ve done for several years run-

ning is that we sitdown usually a fewtimes per year to airout our issues andsometimes there’s aresponse from theinsurance compa-nies that indicatesthat maybe we canaddress some ofthese issues our-selves. But in othercases, we end upsaying let’s agree todisagree and armwrestle it out at theCapitol.

Q: You’ve dealt with legislationregarding steering?KW: Yes, and we’ve had some suc-cess with legislation concerning steer-ing. We’ve been able to find moreclarity on the laws dealing with steer-ing, so that we can understand whatsteering is and provide some directionin the law. The purpose of the lan-guage is obviously to protect con-

sumers from being steered and we’vehad some success with that. Steeringhas always been an issue and it still isin many ways, so we’ve developedlegislation to address that. We soughtlanguage a few years ago to preventan insured or claimant from being re-quired to take their vehicle to a partic-ular drive-in claims center and wewere able to get that changed. We alsoadded a section that restricts an insurerfrom specifying the use of particularvendors for the procurement of partsor other materials necessary to per-form a satisfactory repair. Now thisvery issue is still being contested.

Q: There’s been a battle in Min-nesota between the insurance com-panies and the body shops, becausethe insurers want the shops to usecertain parts, products and man-agement platforms, correct?KW: Yes, we had some legislationthis year that we did not succeed with(House File 2690/Senate File 2542-the Auto Repair Claims ProcessingBill) that would have prevented insur-ance companies from dictating certainbusiness practices at repair shops. I

think there’s a sense with the bodyshop owners in Minnesota that thereare more and more situations in whichinsurers are dictating what estimatingsystems and materials they should use.And we’re concerned that it’s a slip-pery slope where the insurance com-panies will take away the autonomy ofthe collision repair shop owner. Wehad some proposed legislation thatwould have restricted insurance com-panies from specifying or requiringthat repair shops have to utilize spe-cific vendors, manufacturers, suppli-ers, business platforms or internalprocesses and we got the bill intro-duced and some great authors for thebill both in the House and in the Sen-ate. But ultimately, we couldn’t getmovement for the bill on the Senateside. The Chairperson there (SenatorJim Metzen, who was also a co-au-thor of the bill) was uncomfortablewith the onslaught of input he re-ceived from the insurance industry.Some of what they had to say was le-gitimate, and some was not, but that’snot unusual. When we proposed thelegislation and it was circulating at theCapitol, the insurance industry came

Attorney and AASP-MN Lobbyist Kevin Walli is Minnesota’s Shop Champion

Kevin Walli, Esq.has been the lobby-ist for the Allianceof Automotive

Service Providers(AASP-MN) for thepast 20 years, so

he’s seen the ongo-ing tug-of-war be-tween shops andinsurers from theCapitol’s front row

forward and said that they hadn’theard of this bill. They said“Hey—we’ve had this practice forseveral years of discussing legislativeproposals with the collision industryin advance of the Legislative Ses-sion.” They argued that they hadn’thad such a discussion on this proposal.In addition, this year’s LegislativeSession was shorter with very tightdeadlines for getting bills heard, sothat also played a role in the death ofthe bill. But, we’re going to bring itback in a new form, after getting somevaluable feedback from the insuranceside. They said that we were trying tokill the DRP system, which was neverour intention at all. So, we have to ad-dress that issue and re-work some ofthe language the next time around, sothat it’s clear we’re not trying tochange the fundamental relationshipthat exists between body shops and in-surance companies.

Q: I imagine you haven’t been sup-portive of programs like Part-sTrader?KW:Exactly, because our concern hasalways been that if a body shop is re-quired to use a particular parts vendor,the shop doesn’t have a relationship or

a history with that vendor. As a result,parts that aren’t appropriate for the ve-hicle can enter the picture, because thecommunication between the shop andthe vendor is not present. Shops spenda lot of time and effort to developedbusiness relationships with particularparts vendors and then all of this goesout the door when they are forced towork with someone else they don’tknow anything about. In addition, wehave had an ongoing dialog with theDepartment of Commerce regardingits enforcement and there is an inves-tigation that’s open in this matter andthe Department of Commerce is con-tinually gathering information abouthow PartsTrader system is working ornot. We were hoping that the statutewould provide enough guidance forenforcement action. But now they’regathering information and studyingthe marketplace and as an industrywe’re trying to provide informationfor the Department of Commerce inthis matter.

Some time ago, we also addedlanguage to the same statute that “pro-hibits an insurer from unilaterally andarbitrarily disregarding a repair oper-ation or cost identified by an estimat-ing system…” This means, if you’re

using an estimating system that youand the insurance company have bothagreed that it’s acceptable to use, thenthey can’t deny the repair operationand cost without some clear justifica-tion. This kind of shifts the burden tothem and it’s now their responsibilityto prove the repair practice should notbe recognized.

Q: What other issues have you’vetackled on behalf of the members ofAASP-MN?KW: We had to deal with some taxprovisions in recent years. There wasa sales state tax on paint and suppliesfor shops when they were purchasedat wholesale. But, we were able toshift the point of imposition on the taxfrom the wholesale to the retail level.That way, shops are able to pass thattax onto the consumer. The repairshops were eating that tax cost before.Most of the other states were alreadydoing it this way and Minnesota waskind of an island in that regard, so thelegislation was much-needed.

Q: You have an annual LegislativeDay where shop owners can meetwith their legislators, right?KW: We’ve been doing a Day at the

Capitol on occasion, where we meetwith our members and give them anorientation of how things work at theState Capitol. Then, we ask them totalk with their Representatives andSenators and walk the halls to discussthe legislation we’re working on. Theinsurance industry is extremely well-represented and they have a lot verysmart people working for them, bothin-house people as well as consultantsthat they’ve retained. The sheer num-bers can be rather daunting at times,to be honest. So having the shop own-ers converging at the Capitol andmeeting with their Legislators puts apractical perspective on our issues--soit’s been a very positive thing. Plus, ithelps me to do a better job for theAASP-MN, because after these Sena-tors, for example, have met with oneof their constituents, we can follow upto emphasize the point made by theshop owners.


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On Thursday, May 22, the LouisianaCollision Industry Association (LaCIA)held a meeting at the Hilton Garden Innto update members on the direction theassociation is taking and their upcom-ing plans. Featured speakers includedAttorney General Buddy Caldwell andhis assistant AG, Randy Ishee, who up-dated attendees on their efforts. Execu-tive Director Alysia Hanks notes,“overall, the meeting and turnout wasexcellent, and I think the Attorney Gen-eral is on top of things! He was presentwith some of his other attorneys whoare working on our issues, and they hadsome great updates to share with us. Idon’t think I’m alone when I say this,but Mr. Caldwell very much exceededmy expectations with what he and hisstaff of lawyers have accomplished sofar. I heard the comment ‘blown away’when I asked others to describe themeeting. Mr. Caldwell and four otherattorneys are now working non-stop onour issues.”

The meeting began with ChairmanLynn Lejeune welcoming attendees andleading the group in prayer, followed byVice Chairman Derek Stubbs who in-troduced LaCIA’s Board of Directorsand discussed some of the association’sgoals and accomplishments.

When Caldwell was introduced, heassured the group that he and his teamare working diligently on resolving thecollision repair industry’s is-sues, and he provided an up-date on their progress thus far.Because State Farm is thelargest insurance company inLA and all other insurers fol-low their lead, he first set hissights on this insurance giant,learning that they did put upthe money for PartsTrader. Hisoffice has also begun a CivilInvestigation Demand wherethe Attorney General ordersthe insurance companies toproduce documents which they wouldnot ordinarily produce in a regular dep-osition, such as surveys and internalpolicies; he also pointed out his findingthat insurers aren’t even attempting tohide the fact that they are steering theircustomers to DRP facilities!

Although his office is still in thediscovery stages of the process, the

Attorney General’s influence in itselfis beneficial to legislative initiativessince politicians are less apt to ignoretheir pleas for help. They also plan toproduce some ad campaigns to advise

consumers to read their insurancepolicies and encourage them to un-derstand their rights during the repairprocess. Attorney Stacy noted that theAttorney General’s office may alsolook into possible tax evasion on thepart of the insurance companies. De-spite this progress, Hanks cautions “itwill take a while to get this situationwe find ourselves in today resolved,or even to see any movement on it.We did not get into this situationovernight, and it won’t go away thatfast either. We need to have patience.”

Next, Ishee updated attendees onseveral matters, beginning with thefact that he cannot comprehend why

any repair facility would willingly joina DRP since he can find nothing inthose agreements that benefits theshops whatsoever; his feelings aboutPartsTrader are the same. He notedthat by signing those agreements, itwas like relinquishing ownership ofthe shop to the insurance company.Furthermore, Ishee emphasized that

the repair professionals are responsi-ble for properly fixing their customers’vehicles, plus if a shop has a signedwork authorization from the customerand the insurer sends their vehicle to

another facility, that is a breach of con-tract for which they can be sued.

The Louisiana Attorney General’soffice is working with several other At-torneys General throughout the South,and they have also reached out to theirstate’s Insurance Commissioner’s of-

fice to inform them that they will bepursuing State Farm, with or withoutthe Commissioner’s support. Hanks re-calls, “they wanted to make it clearwhat their main objectives were, andthat was to attempt to get rid of DRPs,to get things changed through legisla-tion, and to make sure everyone knowsthe law on both sides. They want in-surers to stick to what they do, which iswriting policies, and let the body shopsdo what they do, which is fixing cars.They believe the insurers shouldn’thave their hands in our businesses.”

After the Attorney General’s pres-entation concluded, several additionalspeakers provided updates on some in-dustry trends. Abel Cantrell of Advan-tage Collision Center in Houma, LA,spoke about who really owns yourshop, you or the insurance company,and he also distributed instructions on“How to Use Twitter” so no one has anexcuse not to get connected to other


LaCIA Hosted Louisiana Attorney General at May 22 Meeting

with Chasidy Rae SiskSouthwest Associations

Chasidy Rae Sisk is a freelance technical writer from Wilmington, Delaware,who writes on a variety of fields and subjects, and grew up in a family ofNASCAR fans. She can be contacted at [email protected].

Executive Director Alysia Hanks (l) with Attny GeneralBuddy Caldwell (m) and Randy Ishee (r) from the LADept of Justice

LaCIA’s Board of Directors meet with their guests (l to r): Chris Medine, Randy McLachlin, AlysiaHanks, Derek Stubbs, AG Buddy Caldwell, Lynn Lejuene, Asst. AG Randy Ishee & Pat Graham

See LaCIA Meeting, Page 29

although the insurer was “suspend-ing” the requirement to use electronicparts ordering and had no plans to roll

such a program out nationally, StateFarm saw the test as valuable becauseit demonstrated electronic parts or-dering “has value.” He noted the Se-lect Service agreement still gives theinsurer the right to require electronic

parts ordering.“We encourage the repairers to

use it if they would like,” he said. “Itworks. It has advantages. Now thatthe test is done, we know moving for-ward that we have already tested thatfunctionality.”

State Farm began the test of elec-tronic parts ordering in two markets in2007, with a half dozen automakersoffering the insurer parts discountsthrough the program. The programwas rolled-out in 2008 to all SelectService shops in the two states, but thenumber of automakers offering dis-counts continued to decline until StateFarm halted the discount portion ofthe test earlier this year.

– As reported in CRASH Net-work (www.CrashNetwork.com), July20, 2009. State Farm subsequentlysaid it seemed inappropriate to seekOEM parts discounts at a time whenautomakers were struggling econom-ically and in some cases filing bank-ruptcy. But it saw enough potentialbenefits to electronic parts orderingthat it sough proposals from compa-nies to develop an electronic parts or-dering system – which led to thelaunch of State Farm’s mandated useof PartsTrader in 2012.


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Cindy Schnier, co-chairman of the CIC Infor-mation Technology Committee in 1999, saidher committee’s research indicated thatrekeying of insurer estimates by shops wascosting the industry more than $17 million ayear in wasted labor

Continued from Page 20

Historical SnapshotAudaExplore has pledged a three-year commitment of $75,000 in toolgrants that will be awarded to all highschool and post-secondary collisionrepair and refinishing students com-peting at the national SkillsUSA con-test. By working together withindustry companies and their studentproduct discounts, the retail value ofthese tools will exceed $150,000.

The tool grants are meant torecognize the students’ outstandingefforts in qualifying to compete at thenational SkillsUSA event and helpprepare them for careers within thecollision industry. “This donationaligns well with our LIFT charitablegiving program, which focuses onhelping those in need to build sus-tainable roots for lasting change,”said Rick Tuuri, vice president of in-dustry relations, AudaExplore.

“The U.S. Department of Laborprojected the employment growth ofthe automotive body segment to be13 percent from 2012 to 2022. Skill-sUSA and the Collision Repair Edu-cation Foundation have done afantastic job enhancing career op-portunities for students to take ad-vantage of this growth, and we areproud to be a part of it.”

AudaExplore Pledges $150Kto SkillsUSA in Tool Grants

The photo cove in the SEMAGarage—Industry Innovations Centeropened for business last month, ascelebrity builders Pete Chapouris andJimmy Shine of So-Cal Speed Shoputilized the studio to photograph a cel-ebrated project car they are buildingfor rock guitarist Billy Gibbons. Largeenough to fit a full-size vehicle andcomplete with a 30”x10” adjustablelight box, the photo cove will helpSEMA members develop low-cost,professional marketing pieces for theirnew products. SEMA Garage servicesinclude a training facility, an emis-sions-certification lab and chassisdyno. “The SEMA Garage is able tohelp SEMA members throughout theentire product development cycle,”said Mike Spagnola, SEMA VP ofOEM and Product Development Pro-grams. Spagnola says that memberscan measure new vehicles for productsusing a portable coordinate measuringmachine (CMM). A prototype canthen be developed from SEMA’s 3Dprinter, before being tested in the dynoand emissions lab.

“The SEMA Garage can liter-ally cut the entire product develop-ment process down to six weeks,”said Spagnola.

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shops. Ray Gunder of Gunder’s AutoRepair in Lakeland FL discussed howinsurers pushed him to the edge andwhy he started suing them to get thingsdone, nothing he has not lost a case be-cause “right is right!” Next, MikeParker of Parker Auto Body in WestMonroe, LA, shared the measures hehas taken to maintain control of hisbusiness which includes installing

video and audio surveillance in andaround his shop as well as a module torecord every call made to or from hisbusiness.

LaCIA’s Board of Directors is verygrateful to all of their guests who spokeat the meeting. Vice Chairman DerekStubbs said “we have to be excitedabout the turnout and have to keep themomentum we are establishing goingin a positive direction and not let it slipaway.” Board member Pat Grahambelieves the Attorney General and hisstaff “had a very positive vibe that I

think was felt by everyone.” All in all,Hanks believes the meeting “was an in-credible success! We are taking backthe industry ladies and gentlemen!”

LaCIA will hold their next meet-ing on July 8 in Lafayette.

www.la-cia.com


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LaCIA MeetingFor the 28th consecutive year,Chief Automotive Technologieswill sponsor and supply equip-ment for the Collision RepairTechnology (CRT) Championshipat the SkillsUSA National Leader-ship and Skills Conference. Theconference, which features studentcompetitions in more than 90 dis-ciplines, will be held June 23-27 inKansas City, MO.

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Search:Autobody Newson Facebook

Francesco’s Italian Restaurant in Oak-land, CA was the place to be on May20, especially if you were a member ofthe East Bay Chapter of the CaliforniaAutobody Association (EB-CAA). Itwas the association’s spring dinnermeeting and featured a program withthree speakers discussing three distinctsegments of the collision industry. TimBrusher from Honda’s ProFirst Pro-gram discussed the importance of OEcertifications in today’s collision indus-try while reviewing Assured Perform-ance Network’s Certification Program;Karl Kirschenman from Alldatamadea presentation entitled “Creating Cus-tomers for Life” and Tim Gerhards, aformer body tech turned tool designerpresented his line of collision repair

tools during a presentation he called“Tool Time with Tim.” More than 30collision professionals attended themeeting as they dined on Italian cuisineand networked with fellow body shopowners, local vendors and prospectiveEB-CAA members.

Gerhards’ story will resonate withanyone looking to make a bettermousetrap, or in this case, an improvedway of skinning a car door. Many greatinventors started out the same way asGerhards did. In fact, Thomas Edisonwas a salesman before inventing thephonograph and the light bulb andHenry Ford was a machinist before hefounded Ford Motor Co. Both saw a

burning need and found solutions byinventing tools that can make our liveseasier. And that’s why Tim Gerhardsembarked on a journey that eventuallyled this collision repair veteran to hisfirst invention and six other tools thathe subsequently designed—all ofwhich are currently being used for awide range of applications worldwide.

It all began one day when Ger-hards was skinning a door whileworking at B & J Body Shop in Ran-cho Cordova, CA back in 2001, he ex-plained. “This procedure normallyrequires lots of hammering and dolly-ing and walking around the entiredoor frame and beating this metal overand over until you get what you need.It puts a ton of wear and tear on yourhands and it’s time consuming. I keptasking myself ‘how does the factorydo this?’ and I just began experiment-ing with a better way of doing it.”

So one day Gerhards picked up apiece of wood and shaped it into a crudetool that would enable him to bend thedoor’s flange over and flatten it out at thesame time. After testing it and tweakingit a little, Gerhards realized that it workedand named it the Skin Zipper. “I realizedwow—I need to patent this thing,” hesaid. “This tool takes a two-hour repairand cuts it down to about 10 minuteswith a hammer, so I thought shops aregoing to love this thing.”

After more than 40 months, Ger-hards received his patent and jumpedinto the inventor’s world with bothfeet. “I immediately joined a local in-ventors’ group and was advised tomarket the tool at a trade show. So Iwent to NACE in 2009 and showedthe Skin Zipper to everyone I couldfind. Steck Manufacturing called meback after NACE was over andshowed some interest in manufactur-ing and distributing the tool. It was agreat moment, because all of the workI had done on designing it and devel-oping it were finally paying off.”

Since inventing the Skin Zipper,Gerhards and Steck Manufacturing inDayton, OH started working togetheron more tools, he explained. “The peo-ple at Steck must have been pleasedwith the Skin Zipper, because theywere interested in pursuing patents foranything else I could think of, Ger-

hards said. “Those products include aMIG Light, Panel Shaper, WorkstandClamp, E-Z II Strip Molding Tool anda Handipull Kit that consists of a se-ries of eyebolts that screw into welded-on nuts to allow for light pulls allaround a vehicle. Once I get into thatinventor’s mindset, the ideas just keptcoming. As a tech, I was encounteringdifficulties all the time during repairs,so I started asking myself, how can Imake a tool to solve these problems?”

Gerhards’ success with Steck hasinspired him to create his own company,TG Products, to manufacture and mar-ket other inventions on his own. TG’sfirst product is The Rail Saver, a systemthat repairs damaged side members andframe rails. Last year, Gerhards was ableto finally step away from his job as abody tech to pursue his dreams as a tooldesigner and inventor full-time. Hestrongly believes that the collision repairindustry is primed for new excitingtools, to be made by people who actu-

ally make the repairs, just like him.“Many collision repairers have the

skill sets to build their own prototypes,because they already know how to weld,shape metal and build prototypes,” hesaid. “In this business, we’re all con-stantly encountering situations wherethere is no tool. So, I know I’m not thefirst person to ever rig something to getthe job done and I surely won’t be thelast. One of the biggest problems is thatpeople are reluctant to show their in-ventions to anyone, because they’reafraid of them getting stolen. Or theythink it’s worth more than it really is andthink they’re going to be millionairesovernight, which is totally unrealistic.”

Gerhards advises aspiring inven-tors not to go to invention submissioncompanies. Instead, he says they shouldjoin a local inventor’s organization atthe United Inventors Association orwww.uiausa.org. For more informationabout any of his tools, visit his web siteat: www.therailsaver.com.


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Tech Turned Tool Designer Headlines EB-CAA May Meeting

Tim Gerhards, a former body tech turned tooldesigner presented his line of collision repairtools during a presentation at the East BayChapter of the California Autobody Associa-tion’s May dinner meeting

with Ed AttanasioWestern Associations

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


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The newly formed Auto Body Associ-ation of Texas (ABAT) will be holdingtheir Inaugural Meeting on June 18that the Henderson Civic Center withguest speaker Barrett Smith, Presidentand Founder of Auto Damage ExpertsInc. Burl Richards, Acting Presidentof ABAT, took some time to explainhow the association is getting startedand what they hope to achieve throughits development.

Several months ago, a local job-ber, Chad Neal of Paint Works inTyler TX, held an educational seminaron estimating which included a num-ber of Eastern TX shop owners. Nealand Richards had previously dis-cussed the need for a trade associationin their area, but when Richards triedto organize an association meeting ayear earlier, he garnered little interestand participation.

Thus, when Neal held the estimatingseminar earlier this year, they saw it as

the perfect opportunity to present theiridea for a new association. Richards be-lieves that a contributing factor to the

positive receptionthey received thistime around was“the fact that Part-sTrader had begunto be implemented,and these localshops were trulybeginning to seethat we had betterjoin together or theinsurance compa-nies were going to

continue to control more and more ofour businesses… [Neal and I] basicallycapitalized on the opportunity that pre-sented itself with shops from all overEast Texas being present.”

For the past three months,Richards has been working with hislocal attorney to set up the Corporate

Filings for the new association, yet ahandful of shop owners have con-tributed to organizing ABAT.

“This would not be happening ifnot for the enthusiasm and excitementshared throughout our region. Everyonehas been more than willing to assist andcontribute when asked. It’s really beenmore about spreading the word, andonce others hear about what is happen-ing, they know that they are not aloneand begin to realize that together wecan truly take back our business for thebest interest of our customers and theindustry as a whole,” Richards states.

Richards and those involved withorganizing ABAT are also grateful toJohn Mosley of Clinton Body Shopand Doug White of Capitol AutoBody for donating their personal timeand funds to travel from MS to TX toaddress shops about the benefits of anorganized auto body association in asecond meeting held to gauge interest

in ABAT. According to Richards,“their presence, being from an outsidearea, really motivated others to get in-volved.”

Though ABAT was originallygoing to be called the East Texas AutoBody Association, they were unable toobtain the name, opting instead forABAT which Richards feels “was justmeant to be… [it has been] fitting aswe have received interest from shopsand vendors throughout the state. Wewelcome members from all overTexas.”

While ABAT is still in develop-ment, Richards notes that their maingoal thus far is to “take back our shops.We repair vehicles, and insurance com-panies sell insurance; it’s that simple!Who knows better and is more qualifiedto make these repairs than us? We workfor the customer, so it is our responsi-bility to properly repair and restore theirvehicle to pre-accident condition.”


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Crown AutomobileMercedes-Benz

Hoover800-476-4669

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[email protected]

F LO RIDA

Brumos Motor CarsJacksonville

800-726-9150904-725-2923 FaxM-F 7:00am - 7:[email protected]

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Mercedes-Benz ofWinston-SalemWinston-Salem800-489-6537

336-659-6004 FaxM-F 7:30am - 5:30pm

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See these Hyundai dealers below for all your collision parts needs!

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Wilson HyundaiJACKSON

800-486-6871601-914-4200

601-914-4292 FaxMon-Fri 7am - 6pm

[email protected]

Downtown NashvilleHyundaiNASHVILLE

888-707-0658615-341-3176 FaxMon-Fri 7:30am - 5:30pm

partsmanager@downtownnashvillemotors.comwww.downtownnashvillemotors.com

New Auto Body Association of Texas Launches June 18, PartsTrader ProvidesImpetus, Statewide Members Invited to Join

with David BrownShop Showcase

with Attorney Martin ZuradaBody Shop Law

with Domenico Nigro

The Community-Focused Body Shop

with Janet ChaneyShop Showcase

with Frank SheroskyIndustry Business Beat

with Chasidy Rae SiskAssociations Assembling

with Chasidy Rae SiskWestern Associations

with Chasidy Rae SiskOld School Know How

with Chasidy Rae SiskAssociations Assembling

with Chasidy Rae SiskSoutheast News

with Chasidy Rae SiskMidwest Associations

with Chasidy Rae SiskNational Associations

with Chasidy Rae SiskNorthwest Associations

with Chasidy Rae SiskSouthwest Associations

with Chasidy Rae SiskSoutheast Associations

with Chasidy Rae SiskNortheast Associations

with John YoswickHistorical Snapshot

with Ed AttanasioShop Showcase

with Ed AttanasioMedia Matters

with Ed AttanasioOld School Know How

with Ed AttanasioAdvertising Advantages

with Ed AttanasioAssociations Assembling

Association Meetingswith Thomas Franklin

Western Associationswith Thomas Franklin

Chasidy Rae Sisk is a freelance technical writer from Wilmington, Delaware,who writes on a variety of fields and subjects, and grew up in a family ofNASCAR fans. She can be contacted at [email protected].

Barrett Smith ofADE will be thefeatured guest

speaker at ABAT’sInaugural Meeting

on June 18

ABAT will also strive to providemore education, both from a technicalstandpoint and as it pertains to shops’rights without solely relying on whatinsurers mandate. Along with that,ABAT plans to investigate legislationthat will promote beneficial changefor the consumer, rather than the in-surance companies whose focus is onsaving money. Richards add, “we willaddress more concerns legislatively aswe progress as an association andbegin identifying specific issues. Forexample, profit margins have de-creased over the years, and we mustbecome more profitable in order toprovide the training and equipmentnecessary to perform repairs to theever-changing technological advance-ments on today’s vehicles – and thatcan honestly be accomplished bybeing compensated for all repairs andprocesses that must be performed (notjust the hand-picked operations thatinsurers want to pay for).”

Since their initial meeting earlythis year, Richards has been verypleased with the number of repair pro-fessionals who have expressed inter-est in ABAT. “The response that wehave received has been more than Icould have imagined. Going back to

just six months ago, I felt like I wason an island by myself, and now Ihave more faith and excitement aboutthe future of our industry than ever.We will put the customer first, andeverything else will take care of itself;good things are about to happen!”

Smith also took time to speakabout the upcoming meeting, and heis excited to speak at ABAT’s meetingwith the “intent to generate excite-ment and to enlighten and edify Texasrepairers in several areas.” Smithplans to discuss three main topics, in-cluding Federal Antitrust Laws, Pro-cedures and Labor Rate Surveys. Tobegin with, he explains that o FederalAntitrust Laws “are fairly simple, yetoften misunderstood, and have beenused in the past to stifle conversationbetween repairers out of fear of pun-ishment. I will be giving a layman’soverview of the true nature of thelaws, why they exist and how to avoidbreaching them regarding what canand cannot be discussed. Federal an-titrust laws exist to promote and pro-tect competition. They are to governthe activities of businesses in ourcountry and are designed to be safe-guards against activities that may beharmful to the consumer, business

competition and the economy.”“Procedures are also an important

topic because many required repairprocesses and necessary materials gounpaid, and these overlooked andoften omitted processes and createsignificant liability issues for the re-pairer that need not occur.” Smithplans to highlight these important as-pects of the business operation andhow to avoid these unnecessary liabil-ities. He will also be introducing theVariable Rate Survey (VRS) programoffered by the National AutoBody Re-search, Inc. which “provides a viableand labor rate survey to show repair-ers, consumers and insurers the rangeof labor rates based upon the individ-ual rates and allowances of participat-ing repairers in a given area. Rangesof labor rates from an area comprisedof repairers within mere miles to par-ticipating repairers across the country.The VRS not only provides partici-pants the labor rates of repairerswithin various markets, the programshows them in real-time and canchange based upon a repairer’s changein rates, training, certifications, equip-ment and such. This defeats those so-called surveys which lump allrepairers together and provides the

same labor rates for the best of theworst to the worst of the best!”

As the President and Founder ofAuto Damage Experts, Inc., Smith be-lieves that one of the most valuableservices his company offers is Re-pairer Consulting and Coaching forthose who offer high quality work-manship and services. He states, “re-gardless of their size, all ADEconsulting/coaching clients have thesame fundamental characteristics incommon: integrity and the courageand conviction to do the right thing forthe right reasons. What we do is tohelp them to step outside the box thatis often built around them by ‘inter-ested third-parties’ and to see things ina more common sensical and prag-matic manner. This enables them tomodify their business acumen andmethods of conducting businesswhich is found to be much more prof-itable and enjoyable.” Smith hopes toshare his experience in this area atABAT’s meeting in order to aid thisdeveloping association and its mem-bers.


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I received a call last month from adear friend of mine on the West Coast.I’ll call him Paul here, but that’s nothis real name. His voice was shakyand he was clearly upset. Paul told methat one of the big MSOs had recentlyacquired a shop just down the streetfrom him and at first he wasn’t tooconcerned, but now he was extremelyconcerned. My friend has always ran avery good shop, so I asked him whathe was so worried about to which hereplied, “I hate to admit it, but theseguys are better than I thought and I amlosing business to them!” You seePaul’s biggest DRP provider put hisnew big MSO neighbor on the sameprogram even though they are only ablock apart! What’s more, Paul wastold by his DRP coordinator that un-less his shop improved its KPIs, hisnew neighbor was going to be receiv-ing the lion’s share of the business.

Paul’s story is not an isolatedone. Knowing Paul, he will figure out

a way to compete and win, but he isgoing to need some help.

Everyone in the collision repairindustry knows how challenging it hasbecome. DRPs are demanding more,Consolidators are growing faster thanever, and profits are shrinking. Theshops that are serious about compet-ing in this game need to quickly im-prove their position in the marketplaceby performing at unprecedented lev-els. This document is intended toshow the reader that many of the ad-vantages provided to large MSOs canbe afforded to any shop serious abouttransforming their business throughusing an outside firm to provide manyof the services.

Organizations like Service King,ABRA, Boyd Group, etc. have sys-tems in place that give them a verystrong presence in many major mar-kets in this country. These systemsallow for consistent and predictableresults in quality and customer serv-

ice. These systems when combinedwith the footprint of the consolidators,gives them a very lucrative “seat at thetable” with all major insurance carri-ers.

While each MSO is slightly dif-ferent in their approach to centralizedresources, this is a generalized list ofadvantages that large MSOs have overthe rest of us…■ Assurance of DRP affiliation whenopening new locations■ Centralized Human Resource De-partments■ Centralized Accounting ■ Centralized Customer Call Center■ Centralized Load Leveling ■ Centralized Management of I-CARGold Class ■ On-line training, Learning Manage-ment Systems, and testing■ Self-managed DRP with centralizedaudit teams■ Marketing Teams■ Safety and Environmental Compli-

ance Teams■ Proven workflow systems and ac-countability to make them work■ Mass advertising and name recog-nition■ Ability for employees to help otherlocations when needed■ Stability and benefits are attractiveto potential new-hires■ Buying power

Most small collision repair busi-nesses must attempt to perform manyof these functions, but are rarely ableto perform all of them well, if at all.To remain profitable typical shopowner/managers must perform manyof the functions that shop managers atlarge MSOs don’t have to deal with.The time that a typical shop managerwould spend performing many ofthese functions is spared to the largeMSO shop manager thereby provid-ing them time to ensure that processesare being followed, quality and cycletime standards are being met and in


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Toyota of EasleyEASLEY

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Tameron, your trusted automotive wholesale parts supplier, is now Tameron, your trusted automotive wholesale parts supplier, is now delivering Genuine Hyundai replacement parts to your area.delivering Genuine Hyundai replacement parts to your area.

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Parts Department:1-800-467-0699

205-443-7651 Direct205-443-7656 Fax

Equus

with Ed AttanasioWestern Associations

with David LuehrLean Operations

with Ed AttanasioWestern News

with Chasidy Rae SiskNortheast News

with Janet ChaneyAssociations Update

David Luehr is the owner of Elite Body Shop Solutions, LLC, a collision business consultingfirm based in Nashville, Tennessee. He is a 30 year veteran of the collision repair industry.David is an expert in Body Shop Operations and specializes in Lean, and Theory ofConstraints methods. Email him at [email protected]

Using an Outside Expert to Improve your Competitive Position

many ways acts as an “auditor.” Withthese disciplines in place, it becomesvery difficult to compete with theseguys.

In order to perform all these func-tions that are required, you wouldneed to hire people that are experts inInsurance DRP Relations, HR, Ac-counting, Customer Relations, I-CARGold Class, Marketing and Advertis-ing, Safety and Environmental Com-pliance, Admin Workflow Systems,Change Management, Lean, etc., etc.,etc. I would bet in most collision re-pair businesses, at least one or morehighly paid people would need to behired to perform all of these functionswhich are currently not being per-formed well or at all. That couldequate to $5,000 - $15,000 a month,plus benefits to hire who is needed toget all this stuff done! This of coursewould be considerably more if youhave multiple locations needing theseservices.

Solutions can be provided by anoutside firm at a substantially lowerprice and be performed by experts thatwill ensure these functions are per-formed precisely. So in other words,you could get many of these functionsat your shop performed both better

and cheaper than trying to do it your-self in-house.

A look at ROIIs it actually costing you money bynot using an outside firm? In manycases, yes! Training & Coaching hasbeen proven to increase a shop’s KeyPerformance Indicators substantially.Coaching and Training provided byqualified outside sources can have animmediate positive impact on bothKPIs and return on financial invest-ment. Even a modest 5% increase inproductivity at a shop producing$100,000 in revenue can yield an ad-ditional $2,000 in gross revenuewhich in many cases is enough to payfor the outside services. There aremany cases of shops experiencing sig-nificant gains in productivity and prof-itability that never would have beenpossible with the assistance of outsideexperts. Don’t expect quality outsideservices to be cheap, but look at it asan investment with a favorable ROI.

Do your homework when hiringa business coach or any kind of out-side service, these folks in many waysbecome a reflection of your businessand will have an impact either positiveor negative. You must be able to trust

them much as you would a new em-ployee, so don’t feel you need to hirethe first one that comes along.

The old saying that the “Defini-tion of Insanity is doing the samething over and over and expecting adifferent result” is exactly what manyshop leaders continually do. It doesn’thave to be this way. Quality of life forstakeholders at body shops doesn’thave to be so bad. We all need help,and there are resources available toprovide support.

Resources Available:Business Coaching & Consultants● General Business Consulting● Admin Workflow Processes & Im-plementation● Learning Management System● Leadership Coaching● Training Clinics

Online Human Resources● Hiring Programs● Performance Evaluation Process● Employee corrective action● Legal Advice

Data Management● CSI● Centralized Call Center

● KPI Management & ReportingSafety & Environmental Compli-anceMarketing & Advertising SolutionsI-CAR Gold Class ManagementAssociations, Buying Groups &Networks

If you would like more information,or a referral to a capable service inyour area, feel free to contact me [email protected]


The following dealerships are eager to serve your needs.Call your local Subaru collision parts specialist today!

Parkway SubaruWilmington

(800) 424-9434(910) 793-8710 Fax

Mon.-Fri. 7-6; Sat. 8-2

Flow SubaruWinston-Salem(800) 489-3534

(336) 725-3554 FaxMon.-Fri. 8-5; Sat. 8-1

[email protected]

Performance SubaruChapel Hill

(888) 377-1664(919) 942-3191

(919) 932-2574 FaxMon.-Thu. 7-7; Fri. 7-6; Sat. 8-5

[email protected]

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Subaru of GwinnettDuluth

(678) 584-7245(678) 584-7246 Fax

Mon.-Fri. 8-6; Sat. 8-4www.subaruofgwinnett.com

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Kelly SubaruChattanooga

(423) 490-0181(423) 385-7269 FaxMon.-Fri. 7:30-5:30; Sat. 8-2

[email protected]

TENNESSEE

ALLDATA will launch its Colli-sion Webinar series, which willeducate attendees about the com-pany’s Estimate Integration prod-uct and strategies necessary toperform safe vehicle repairs ontoday’s complex vehicles. Thefirst webinar will take place June16 at 10 a.m. Pacific (1 p.m. East-ern). The webinar will host indus-try experts Karl Kirschenmen,ALLDATA collision product man-ager, and Mike Anderson, colli-sion repair industry veteran andformer shop owner.

ALLDATA Launches CollisionWebinar Series June 16



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All The Genuine Lexus PartsYou Need For That TroubleFree Repair, And Lexus Finish!

These Dealers Below Are GenuineLexus Parts Distributors:

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Jim Hudson LexusColumbia

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Chrysler Airbag Recall Being Probed by RegulatorsThe automaker says 6 fixed SUVsfrom 2012 recall had inadvertentairbag deployments. Chrysler Groupmay be facing a recall do-over afterthe fix it initiated to stop inadvertentairbag deployments in older JeepLibertys and Grand Cherokees failedin at least six instances to fix theproblem, says a report inAutomotiveNews. The National Highway TrafficSafety Administration said in docu-ments filed on Monday that it hadopened a query into the 2012 recall744,822 Jeep Liberty SUVs frommodel years 2002 and 2003, and JeepGrand Cherokee SUVs from modelyears 2002 through 2004. NHTSAsaid it plans to study the effectivenessof the nearly 2-year-old recall, whichChrysler launched on Nov. 7, 2012.

Chrysler acknowledged in astatement that it had notified NHTSAof a half-dozen instances in which theSUV’s airbags deployed inadver-tently while the vehicles were in op-eration after they had allegedly beenfixed.

“Chrysler Group LLC advisedthe National Highway Traffic Ad-

ministration of the six reports and, inaccordance with the company’s long-standing practice, is cooperating fullywith the resulting investigation. Cus-tomer safety is paramount at ChryslerGroup,” the company said in a writ-ten statement.

In 2012, Chrysler addressed theproblem by installing an in-linejumper harness with an integratedelectrical filter to eliminate electricalspikes that the company believedwere causing the problem, accordingto the NHTSA documents. The safetyagency had previously opened an in-vestigation of the issue in October2011 and three months later upgradedthe probe.

In the latest six cases in theNHTSA documents, no crashes werereported, but injuries consisting ofcuts and burns were alleged. At thetime of the recall in 2012, another174,723 SUVs were affected inCanada, Mexico and outside of NorthAmerica. The probe found 215 casesof inadvertent airbag deploymentsthat resulted in 81 minor injuries inthe United States but no crashes.

PartsTrader Integrates Hollander Interchange CodesPartsTrader announced that it has in-tegrated Hollander Interchange codeswithin the PartsTrader application toassist suppliers when they are quot-ing recycled parts.

The Hollander Interchange is a75-year old numbering system thatindexes which parts are interchange-able among vehicles. For example,the timing cover for a 1976 GMCTruck also fits a 1969 Corvette. Hol-lander Interchange Manuals covermost foreign and domestic cars andlight trucks from the 1920s to thepresent. The manuals cover morethan 150 mechanical and body partsand assemblies.

For information on how to usethe Interchange, go to http://hollan-derinterchange.net/How_To_In-structions.pdf.

In the PartsTrader system a col-lision repair estimator will be asked,when appropriate, clarifying vehicleoption questions prior to sending outa quote request for their specific partneeds. The estimator’s answers tothese questions will trigger Part-sTrader to display the appropriateHollander code to the quoting recy-

cler whenever that code is availablefor the parts or assemblies required.

The new functionality has beenpreviewed in Illinois and New Jer-sey, and is now available to Part-sTrader users nationwide.

“The repairers and recyclerswho have been using this feature inour preview areas have been pleasedwith the efficiencies it has deliveredto them,” said Dale Sailer, Part-sTrader’s vice president of businessdevelopment. “Our developmentteam has worked diligently on ask-ing the right questions of repairers,and to display the Hollander codesin an easy-to-use manner for anysupplier quoting recycled parts.PartsTrader’s goal is to continuallyimprove our solution so that it re-duces the risk of getting the wrongparts and creates efficiencies forboth the repairer and the supplier.”

Said Rob Cooper, CEO of Part-sTrader, “In meeting with recyclersacross the country, we’ve heard theneed for integration with HollanderInterchange loud and clear, and it’s ex-citing to be able to respond to the mar-ket’s needs in such a positive way.”

NSF International’s Bob Frayer EarnsPrestigious ASQ Quality Leader AwardThe Automotive Division of ASQ(American Society for Quality) re-cently awarded Bob Frayer of NSFInternational its prestigious QualityLeader of the Year Award for hisleadership and NSF International’s

commitment totesting and cer-tifying aftermar-ket automotiveparts. The ASQ-Automotive Di-vision QualityLeader of theYear Award rec-ognizes leaders

in the automotive industry who ex-emplify outstanding dedication toquality.

Over the past four years, Frayer(NSF International Global ManagingDirector Automotive) has signifi-cantly increased the number of certi-fied automotive collision replacementparts available in the market, nowcovering more than 20,000 vehicleapplications including models fromall major auto companies. As back-ground, NSF International is a globalorganization with 70 years of certifi-cation and testing experience.

Frayer oversees NSF Interna-

tional’s Automotive Collision Certi-fication Program, which includesparts certification through which heand other NSF engineers independ-ently evaluate and compare theform, fit and function of aftermarketparts to original equipment (OE)parts. The program helps ensure thatcollision parts meet quality, safetyand performance standards throughrigorous facility audits and partstesting. He also oversees the Auto-motive Collision Parts DistributorCertification Program which certi-fies distributors who sell automotivecollision parts.

“We are honored to recognizethe achievements of Bob Frayer andNSF International for their dedicationto continually advance the quality andsafety of the aftermarket automotiveparts industry,” said Jd Marhevko,ASQ Fellow and ASQ AutomotiveDivision council member.

“It is an honor to receive thisaward on behalf of NSF Interna-tional from the ASQ. NSF Interna-tional and ASQ are committed toquality improvement and standards,and to helping ensure that the safetyand performance of auto parts con-tributes to that mission,” said Frayer.

Bob Frayer



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Hendrick BMWNorthlakeCharlotte(888) 286-2651(704) 379-3101 FaxM-F 7:30-6; Sat 9-5www.hendrickbmwnorthlake.com

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That includes $277 billion in actual cost,and an estimated $594 billion in “harmfrom the loss of life and the pain and de-creased quality of life due to injuries,” anew U.S. Department of Transporta-tion’s National Highway Traffic SafetyAdministration report said.

Studying crashes in the U.S. in2010, NHTSA counted up 32,999 fa-talities, 3.9 million non-fatal injuriesand 24 million damaged vehicles in“The Economic and Societal Impactof Motor Vehicle Crashes 2010.”

The sweeping report takes in a lotof ground, particularly in calculatingthe “quality of life” losses. Among thefactors considered in the direct lossesof $277 billion, the report said, were$93 billion in lost productivity, $76billion in property damage, $35 billionin medical expenses, and $28 billionin the costs of traffic-related conges-tion—like traffic jams and increasedair pollution.

The report concluded that drunkdriving, speeding and “distraction”were key contributors.

Drunk driving alone, the reportsaid, accounted for 18% of the total eco-nomic loss from motor vehicle crashes,costing the economy as much as $199billion in direct and quality-of-life losses.

Crashes Cost Almost $1T inCosts, Loss of Life, Pain

On Monday, July 28th, the Society ofCollision Repair Specialists (SCRS)will hold an open board meeting from3:00–5:00pm in Detroit. The meeting,held at the Marriott Renaissance Cen-ter located at 400 Renaissance Dr.West, Detroit, will be open to anyonewishing to learn more about the cur-rent state of the association's activitiesand pressing industry topics. The twohour meeting will include updatesfrom SCRS staff and committees out-lining current and future work initia-tives each group has undertaken onbehalf of the membership. It will in-clude a presentation from the SCRSEducation Committee who will be pro-viding a detailed presentation sur-rounding aluminum repair approaches,techniques and considerations.

Attendees are not required to bea member of SCRS to participate inthis meeting. Anyone interested inlearning more about the association,the work it does on behalf of the col-lision repair industry or interactingwith the SCRS Board of Directors isencouraged to attend. Pre-registrationis not required.

For more information aboutSCRS, or to join as a member, visitour website at www.scrs.com.

SCRS Open Board Meetingon July 28th in Detroit

Automotive service and repair shopowners will want their young techni-cians to attend this unique symposiumat this year’s Congress of AutomotiveService and Repair (CARS), whichwill be held in Detroit July 30-Aug. 2.It was designed specifically for youngtechnicians who shop owners believehave the skills to be all-star technicians.The Young Technician’s Symposium isa first time event at CARS and will bepowered by Bosch. Targeting the two-to three-year technician, Bosch trainerswill use interactive teaching methodsto move young technicians to electricaland driveability diagnosis with confi-dence and speed. ASA is working withBob Pattengale, training manager forRobert Bosch, to address the challengesyoung technicians face. Donny Seyfer,chairman-elect of the ASA, whichsponsors CARS, said Bosch recentlyconducted a trial training program withmembers of ASA-CO. Out of thatcame a two-day, four-session programthat would teach techs with two ormore years’ experience real-world di-agnostic skills in basic electronics, gasand diesel engine management, sensorsand actuators, and electronic brakemanagement, including ABS and vehi-cle stability systems.

Young Technician’s Programto Debut at CARS

Russ Hoernis of Hoernis Auto Body inBelleville, IL, has created a 20-minutevideo and posted it on YouTube todemonstrate all of the steps in thefeather, prime and block procedure thatmust be performed to bring a repairpanel back to a new, undamaged one.

“Feather, prime and block is a re-finish operation that for years has beensnubbed by the insurance industry as ei-ther an included operation in repair times,or they have just been unwilling to com-pensate shops for the work and materi-als utilized. I have researched the CCC,Audatex and Mitchell manuals, and eachestimating system has independentlystated that feather, prime and block is anecessary operation that must be per-formed to bring a repaired part back to anew, undamaged panel. Each manualalso clearly states that published refinishtimes are for new, undamaged panels.”

After documenting the entire op-eration, Hoernis goes over the laborand materials used and ultimately cal-culates that not getting paid for this re-sults in roughly $50,000 per year inlost revenue to his shop.

Hoernis concludes the video bysaying, “I hope for whoever is watch-ing that this clarifies some of the is-sues we are up against.”

IL Shop Owner Posts 20-minVideo of FPB for Panel Fixes


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Marketing research firm DuckerWorldwide is predicting that once the2015 Ford F-150 debuts and worksout the bugs with dealerships and theauto repair industry, other truckmak-ers will likely to follow suit. A studyconducted by Ducker Worldwide forthe Aluminum Association’s Alu-minum Transportation Group (ATG),projects that, by 2025, more than 75percent of all new pickup trucks pro-duced in North America will be alu-minum-bodied.

The study surveyed all major au-tomakers and reports Ford, GeneralMotors and Fiat Chrysler will becomethe biggest users of aluminum sheetin the next decade. It also forecaststhat the number of vehicles with com-plete aluminum body structures willreach 18 percent of North Americanproduction, from less than one per-cent today. Vehicle segments revealedas emerging aluminum content lead-ers are pickup trucks, sport-utility ve-hicles (SUVs) and both mid-sized andfull-size sedans.

The study finds that every lead-ing automaker will have numerousaluminum body and closure programsby 2025. As the material mix for bodyand closure parts continues to changedramatically in the years to come, use

of aluminum sheet for vehicle bodieswill increase to 4 billion pounds by2025, from 200 million pounds in2012.

“The numbers tell a powerfulstory of aluminum’s explosive growthacross the automotive sector,” saidTom Boney, chairman of the Alu-minum Association’s AluminumTransportation Group and vice presi-dent and general manager of automo-tive for Novelis in North America.“Within the next ten years, seven outof 10 new pickups produced in NorthAmerica will be aluminum-bodied,and so too will be more than 20 per-cent of SUVs and full–sized sedans.”

The ATG commissioned globalconsulting and research firm DuckerWorldwide to conduct the 2015 NorthAmerican Light Vehicle AluminumContent Study. Through detailed in-person interviews with automotiveoriginal equipment manufacturers(OEMs), component suppliers andregulators, Ducker Worldwide main-tains a comprehensive material usedatabase to track material and mass ofindividual components for every ve-hicle model manufactured in NorthAmerica. The findings were compiledusing data updated and verified be-tween October 2013 and April 2014.

“Aluminum-bodied cars andtrucks are coming in a big way, andsoon. Consumers won’t visibly noticea different metal under the paint, butthey’ll see greater savings at the gaspump and experience better perform-ance and handling at the wheel,”added Boney.

Additional findings from thestudy include:

For 2015, pickup trucks willcontain the most aluminum at 548.9lbs. per vehicle, followed closely byE segment sedans at 546.9 lbs., SUVsat 410.3 lbs. and minivans at 396.5lbs.

The average aluminum contentin 2015 will be up 44 pounds per ve-hicle or 13% over 2012.

Total North American light vehi-cle aluminum consumption will in-crease 28% in 2015 over 2012.

Tesla, Mercedes, BMW and Fordwill all exceed the average aluminumcontent and the average aluminumshare of curb weight for 2015.

By 2025, 26.6% of all the bodyand closure parts for light vehicles inNorth America will be made of alu-minum.

Total North American aluminumcontent in 2025 will be 10 billionpounds.

Aluminum hood penetration willreach 85% and doors will reach 46%;complete bodies will reach 18%, fromless than one percent today.

Globally, light vehicle aluminumcontent will approach 35 billionpounds by 2025 making light vehiclesthe most important global market foraluminum.

In a separate analysis, Bank na-lyst John Murphy said that Ford’saluminum F-150 will determinewhether consumers are willing to paya premium for a larger-but-lighter ve-hicle. The 2015 F-150 could be effi-cient enough to meet future U.S. fueleconomy standards without requiringFord to offset its performance by sell-ing more small cars, he said.

If Detroit auto makers can suc-ceed at slashing weight from theirlarge SUVs and pickups, Murphysaid, “you could see an environmentwhere [their sales] perform reallywell.” Heavy-duty pickups and SUVsare big moneymakers for Detroit automakers and efforts to make themmore fuel efficient would keep theprofits flowing.

New Study Says More Than 75% of All Pickup Trucks will be Aluminum-Bodied by 2025



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I-Car® Conference on Future of Collision Repair andAutomotive Industry, July 30 In DetroitI-CAR® announced that registration isnow open for the 2014 I-CAR Con-ference, which will be held on July30, 2014 at Cobo Center in Detroit.

This year’s Conference picks upI-CAR’s technology advancementdiscussion started at the company’s2013 Conference and will provideexecutives and leaders across the in-dustry further insight into the chal-lenges and opportunities surroundingthe Technical Tsunami.

John McElroy, host of AutolineDaily and Autoline This Week, will re-turn to moderate this year’s I-CARConference. The Conference will fea-ture an expanded lineup of speakersfrom Ford Motor Company, Oak RidgeNational Laboratory, Steel Market De-velopment Institute, Alcoa, Universityof Michigan, Robert Bosch LLC andmore. Key topics will include:• Ford: A high impact sessioncovering OEM strategies related toCAFE, details on the new aluminumF-150, and Ford’s enhanced Colli-sion Repair Service Strategy• Lightweighting: Advancementsand trends in Carbon Fiber, AdvancedSteels, Aluminum• The Changing DNA of the Ve-

hicle: Reinventing the Automobile• Advanced Electronics, Com-munications and Safety: VehicleWide Driver Safety Systems: V2XDeployment, and how Vehicle Datawill reshape our industry

I-CAR has also announced new,reduced pricing for this year’s Con-ference to encourage more of the in-dustry to attend and hear about theimportant challenges being faced. Theadmission price is now just $250 forEarly Bird registration—a promotionthat is running from now through June14.

As an added bonus, all I-CARConference attendees will receive aFREE pass to the NACE/CARS expo,also being held at the Cobo Center onJuly 31 and August 1.

In addition to insightful andthought-provoking presentations andpanel discussions, the I-CAR Confer-ence also offers numerous networkingopportunities, including an eveningreception celebrating I-CAR’s 35thAnniversary, complete with live en-tertainment.

For more information and detailson how to register, please visit: http://i-car.cvent.com/2014Conference.

I-CAR® Adds New OEM Development DirectorI-CAR® announced that John Bosinhas joined I-CAR in the role of Di-rector, Segment Development– OEM.John will oversee all business devel-opment and strategic activity for I-CAR in the OEM segment includingrefinement of strategies to better servethe OEM segment, as well as I-CARactivity with OEMs related to Colli-sion Repair Network (CRN) pro-grams that rely on I-CAR’s trainingand Gold Class program, I-CAR®

Welding Training & Certification™initiatives, and contract training. Hewill also work closely with I-CAR’sIndustry Technical Relations team toadvance I-CAR’s Reparability Tech-nical Support (RTS) program as I-CAR works to develop and maturethe portfolio of RTS services for thebenefit of OEMs and the Inter-Indus-try.

John Van Alstyne, I-CAR CEO& President stated, “Segment fo-cused sales and marketing, andstrategic alignment, have been keyto I-CAR’s progress over the pastthree years. John Bosin is a greataddition to our team, and with hisjoining, I-CAR is more firmly po-sitioned to create more positive im-pact in the OEM segment andacross the board.”

Bosin joins I-CAR with signif-icant experience in the OEM seg-ment through his extensive anddiverse roles in the Collision Re-pair industry. Most recently, Johnwas with AkzoNobel as OEM Af-termarket Manager, and earlier withFix Auto USA, ICI Autocolor andDuPont. John is also a Lean SixSigma Sensei.

“John brings a record ofdemonstrated success moving com-panies to higher levels as result ofstrategic visioning and developmentof sales teams and market/productstrategies. For more than 23 years,he has been an active member of, oraffiliated with, Boards of Directorsfor the Collision Industry Founda-tion, National Auto Body Council,Collision Industry Conference andother various industry AdvisoryBoards. We are thrilled to have Johnon the I-CAR team.” said Van Al-styne.

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