Gene Crozat’s Legacy of Giving�������������������

The late Gene Crozat of G&C Auto Body died in 2016, but his sons have taken his zeal for helping others to the next level, and giving cars to those in need is a big part of it.

The company has now presented more than 200 vehicles to deserving individuals and families within the last 20 years and the number keeps climbing.

On Dec. 16, seven deserving Sonoma, CA, area residents experienced a life-changing event thanks

to the National Auto Body Council (NABC) Recycled Rides® program, along with car donor GEICO, G&C Auto Body and automotive refinish coatings partner PPG.

The presentation was held at the Sonoma County Event Center at the Fairgrounds in the Garrett Building. More than 200 people were in attendance.

G&C Auto Body CEO Shawn Crozat is proud to continue his family’s legacy and knows his father would be smiling from ear-to-ear watching the presentations.

“Dad had a huge heart and wanted to help as many people as he could,” Crozat said. “He used to tell us that we are in a position to help others, and it’s a role we’re obligated to play. When you think about the fact that more than 200 people are driving vehicles around in the North Bay that they got through G&C, that is pretty amazing!”

Bill Garoutte, president and CEO of the NABC, is ecstatic about what G&C has achieved through its philanthropy over the years.

“What an honor to be part of a tremendous event with an organization that provides such incredible support for the community,” he said. “To gift more than 200 cars to area residents in need is an amazing milestone, and to present seven in one day by G&C Auto Body is truly remarkable.”

The seven recipients of completely refurbished vehicles included Stephanie, a single mom to two young children, who received a 2014 Honda Civic. Her partner of 15 years recently and unexpectedly passed away.

Stephanie was in need of transportation to continue her journey of stabilization with her children after the loss of their father. Stephanie and her son are living in a transitional house as they actively look for a place to live.

She heard about the Crozat Family Foundation and its benevolent giving from a person who recently received a vehicle through the foundation.

Sue, a single mom, was presented with a 2016 Nissan Versa. She has been a single mom from the time her oldest was 3 years old. Now, she is the matriarch of a multigenerational household consisting of herself, her two adult daughters and her grandson.

She owns a 1996 Toyota 4Runner with 300,000 miles and a blown head gasket and relies on her youngest daughter to drive her to work and her oldest daughter’s boyfriend to pick her up. She has been trying to save for another vehicle, but this gift of transportation will help her be able to get to work and not rely on others.

Cheyanne, a mother of two, was gifted a 2017 Hyundai Sonata. She and two of her three children were living in Lake County, CA, when their house was deemed uninhabitable and they had to leave. They also had to leave behind their older model vehicle that had stopped running.

Cheyanne said they left that house with the clothes on their backs and a few other personal items. She will use this car to help get her and her sons to medical appointments, and her youngest to school.

Shannon, a mother of three, received a 2016 Hyundai Elantra. She and her kids lost the home they were renting to wildfires in 2017. They have been living with Shannon’s parents since, but the home environment has become unhealthy for everyone and she is currently looking for a new place to live.

Shannon had two older, unreliable vehicles, one of which was a 2006 Chevy Tahoe with 246,000 miles and was falling apart.

Shannon currently holds one full-time job and two part-time jobs to cover living expenses. The gift of transportation will allow her to manage her children’s schedule and get to her jobs.

Mike, a single dad, received a 2017 Toyota Camry. Since his separation, he has been trying to rebuild his life while keeping up with legal fees, fighting for his share of custody of the kids, working full time and juggling the kids’ extra-curricular activities.

He drives a used truck he is struggling to afford. He was in need of reliable transportation so he can comfortably sell the truck he has a payment on without relying on friends and family for rides to maintain his job and his children’s quality of life.

Eva received a 2017 Volkswagen Jetta and will be using it to make her life easier.

Clara, a mom of three, received a 2018 Nissan Altima. She and her husband, Kristopher, and their three children are a blended family trying to get by with a vehicle that has been overheating and is constantly breaking down.

She is working full time as a security guard at Graton Resort and Casino, while Kris has been staying home with their youngest son until he recovers from a recent surgery. Once all the follow-up doctor visits are completed, Kris will get back into the work force.

The new vehicle will allow them to more effectively manage family life, jobs and medical visits.

In addition to the vehicles, each recipient also received six months of full vehicle coverage from GEICO and six months of gas gift cards, six months of grocery gifts cards and $100 Target gift cards for each child

The Crozat family has given away more than 200 cars to deserving families within the last 15 years� In this photo, Shawn Crozat talks to the crowd while his brother Pat looks on See Legacy of Giving, Page 54

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an insurance company estimate from another database program and nothing matches.

“The reality is that we’re never going to get an exact result from three different database products,” said Gredinberg. “They all talk differently and have different logic and P-pages. They will never line up to each other.”

He said it’s the estimator’s job to understand the system they are using in order to explain and justify the estimate to the vehicle owner.

Gredinberg encourages repairers to talk to vehicle owners on the front end, use the estimating system the way it is intended, and capture all of the included and non-included items.

“At the end of the day, the goal is for the consumer to get their vehicle fixed with the least amount of friction possible,” he said.

Gredinberg strongly encourages the industry to share any database by submitting a database inquiry: https:// degweb.org/deg-database-parent/ submit-a-database-inquiry.

Pete Tagliapietra, product director at NuGen IT, an OEC Company, talked about leading-edge technologies, such as machine learning, computer vision, robotics automation and artificial intelligence (AI).

“What’s unfortunate to me is how these technologies seem to be left behind as far as collision repairers are concerned,” said Tagliapietra.

He challenged collision repairers to think outside of the box.

Tagliapietra shared an idea of using these technologies to capture images of a damaged vehicle and immediately access all of the OEM information required by a collision repairer to repair it.

In the current environment, Tagliapietra said repairers have access to individual OEM repair information through the manufacturers’ websites. However, each OEM has its own format, and repairers often don’t know what to look for and where to find it. Alternatives include accessing information through OEM 1Stop; a third-party provider, such as ALLDATA or Identifix; or via estimating systems repair lines.

He talked about the possibility of accessing OEM repair information via computer vision. In this scenario, digital images of the vehicle damage would be uploaded to a computer vision central server. Once the images are analyzed, a collision shop could have the information available through the OEM website or a third-party provider within seconds.

“The premise of the idea is to give collision repairers all of the information needed to create a complete blueprint of the automobile before the estimate is written,” explained Tagliapietra.

In addition, reporting capabilities would be available. “Over time, you would be able to look at a certain year, make and model and understand what repair procedures are typically being used to repair that vehicle.”

Tagliapietra said all of this is possible with the technology available today.

“When you look at all of the different repair information opportunities, none of them bring all of the information that you need as a collision repairer to have access to them,” he said.

By using computer vision, Tagliapietra said collision repairers would immediately know all of the necessary repair procedures to include if a pre-and post-scan is required, as well as a recalibration. They would also have access to manufacturers’ position statements before writing the estimate and repairing the vehicle.

He encourages the industry to leverage the same technology used by other industries, such as insurance.

“Dreaming big is something we need to do in this industry,” said Tagliapietra. “Otherwise, we’ll fall behind and, in some cases, fall further behind.”

Michael LoPrete, vice president of global operations at Plastfix Inc., talked about sustainability and the future impact on collision repairers.

LoPrete shared a broad definition of sustainability, which he described as meeting the needs of the present without compromising future generations’ ability to meet their needs.

“I think about sustainability as a journey to a place where we are able to complete vehicle repairs while

eliminating all of our current waste streams,” said LoPrete. “I don’t think that there is a point that we’ll ever be finished.”

He shared what he referred to as the 3R’s of sustainability, in order of importance: reduce, reuse and recycle.

Examples of reduce include repairing something rather than replacing it, and conducting online training rather than incurring travel time. Reuse also refers to repair vs. replace, and LoPrete used the example of purchasing a new cell phone as soon as it is introduced, even if a person’s current device is working perfectly well. Recycling is often the first thing that comes to mind when people think of sustainability, but LoPrete said it has the smallest impact on sustainability initiatives.

He introduced the term “recoverability,” which he described as an item that has the capability of being recycled and then converted to a new product of the same type, such as glass or aluminum.

“The recoverability rate on those items is nearly 100%,” he said. With plastics, recoverability is less than 5% and includes specific products such as water and soda bottles.

The automotive aftermarket is reportedly the No. 2 generator of polypropylene waste globally and recoverability is close to 0%.

LoPrete said green consumers are driving the increased awareness of sustainability, and Greta Thunberg is a leading spokesperson for Generation Z.

“Generation Z looks at the world through the lens of the sustainability triple bottom line, which includes

Pete Tagliapietra, product director at NuGen IT, an OEC Company� Michael LoPrete, vice president of global operations at Plastfix Inc�

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economy, environment and society,” he said. “Every decision they make tends to have filters that pass through all three of those things.”

Many say Generation Z is demanding industries be more responsible and accountable for their actions.

“The ones who do it in a meaningful way are positioning their businesses well to move forward,” he said. “The ones who delay taking action will have to catch up eventually because that segment of the population is only going to become a larger and larger piece of the audience out there.”

Moving forward, LoPrete encourages industry stakeholders to work together and make sustainability part of their strategic thinking to reduce the amount of waste being generated while still producing safe repairs.

“While we can do things individually that will make a difference, the reality is that the greatest impact will come if we work together,” he said. “Sustainability needs to be a topic of discussion; it can’t be left undiscussed.”

He challenged the industry to do the following: • Make sustainability an agenda item during meetings • Appoint a subject matter expert within your organization • Track and record your current waste and look at trends • Identify pathways for improvement • Involve other stakeholders in your conversations • Share initiatives broadly across your organization

“If we begin thinking about sustainability from this perspective, we can make progress that will shape legislative actions, rather than being subjected to requirements from outside of our industry,” said LoPrete. “There will be winners and losers across the stakeholder chain. The green consumer will make sure that happens. They will support the ones that make the right choices.”

Learn more about the SCRS Repairer Driven Education series: https://rde.scrs.com. to help make Christmas a little easier—all courtesy of G&C Auto Body and the Crozat Foundation.

NABC Recycled Rides is a unique program in which businesses representing all facets of the collision repair industry team up to repair and donate vehicles to individuals and families in need of reliable transportation. Since the inception of the NABC Recycled Rides program in 2007, members of the NABC have donated more than 2,750 vehicles valued at more than $38 million.

The late Gene Crozat started the Crozat Family Foundation in 2004 and it’s still going strong. He used to like to say, “It is our responsibility to help our fellow men.”

It started as a “Car-A-Month Giveaway” on various local radio stations and has grown into a foundation that provides support to the individuals and families they encounter when they meet through the company’s various car giveaways, according to the foundation’s website.

There have been a few setbacks for the Crozat family since they lost their patriarch, but the business is still growing. Since Gene’s passing, the Crozat family has lost seven of their homes, which burned to the ground in two separate fires, including the house they all grew up in.

One thing Gene taught his four children—Shawn, Josh, Jamie and Patrick—and his beloved granddaughter, Maddy, is to make helping people a priority. Crozat took philanthropy to the next level, giving people cars, cash and even jobs at one of his shops in some instances.

The company has given away approximately 200 cars since it started the “Car-A-Month Giveaway” nearly two decades ago.

“We hope to help the recipients get back on the road of life, giving a reliable ride and additional support to those who have fallen upon misfortune or endured catastrophic, unforeseen events,” Gene Crozat said when he established the program. “We strive to help create success where failure may have seemed inevitable.”

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