Anticipation for the Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of New Jersey’s (AASP/NJ) flagship event, the NORTHEAST® 2023 Automotive Services Show—set for March 17-19 at the Meadowlands Exposition Center (MEC) in Secaucus, NJ—has reached new heights with the unveiling of this year’s educational slate, sponsored by AirPro Diagnostics.
The Romans Group announced its 16th annual white paper, A 2021 Profile of the Evolving U.S. and Canadian Collision Repair Marketplace, is now available.
The pinnacle year for the collision repair industry was 2019, with an alltime high total addressable market (TAM) of $38.3 billion. Repair facilities were flush with repairable vehicles and had the manpower and parts to service the demand.
The recovery years of 2021 and 2022 were and continue to be awkward and choppy, as the collision repair industry attempts to bounce back within the constructs of numerous macro industry challenges and opportunities, U.S. economic and geo-political headwinds despite the many post-pandemic recovery advances within the collision repair
industry and throughout the broader interconnected auto physical damage landscape.
In 2021, despite a continued reduction in repairable claims, the industry’s TAM recovered to $38.6 billion despite fewer repairable claims, which were primarily supported by an offset increase in higher severity.
Our near-term future view sees a coalescing of several trends that portend industry growth with both risks and opportunities.
From the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 and continuing throughout 2022, demand for collision repair services exceeded technician capacity for most of the
Year after year, the courses offered at NORTHEAST, which typically draws more than 6,000
industry professionals every March, are so relevant and worthwhile, no collision repairer can afford to miss it if they want to have a successful future in this industry. This year’s agenda is designed to help repair professionals continue to elevate their knowledge and skills.
Some of the industry’s most sought-after speakers will be presenting at NORTHEAST 2023, including Mike Anderson of Collision Advice, Aaron Schulenburg of SCRS, David Luehr of Elite Body Shop Solutions, Tim Morgan of Spanesi Americas, Danny Gredinberg of the Database Enhancement Gateway, Chuck Olsen of AirPro Diagnostics and
By the time Mainers get their spring tires put on, the waiting room of their local automotive shop might be decorated with political signage.
You might not think who is allowed to repair a vehicle could be a political discussion, but it will be one of the four likely ideological skirmishes waged on the airwaves and roadside signs as Maine gears
larger MLO consolidators in the U.S. and Canadian markets, which resulted in high levels of work-in process. We see this extending into 2023 due to the continuing labor shortage. It is not a matter of demand, but a supply side lack of labor availability.
Labor shortages and technician skill deficiencies are creating competition to acquire those who are interested in receiving training to improve their skill levels. This situation is consequently increasing technician acquisition, retention and benefit costs.
Insurance carriers have taken additional steps to increase premiums to cover their rising costs. Historically, repairers had a difficult time pursuing labor rates with insurers. Today, the collision repair industry is aggressively pursuing labor rate increases and is hopeful that insurer premium increases will allow for their labor rate increases.
Insurance carriers, which continue to account for a significant volume of claims to repairers, tend to favor MSOs that offer largely predictive and standardized outcomes.
We do see a nascent movement
by several MLOs to move away from DRP relationships while opting into a predominantly OEM certification preference model.
MLO scale remains a competitive advantage.
The groundswell of support and adoption of OEM repair standards continues to emerge as the preferred norm. However, the degree of influence and control by the OEMs in directing business remains limited. There is a better near-term chance for ROI with premium and luxury brands today due to their more active involvement and adherence to program standards and processes influencing where cars are repaired.
Vehicle telematics will become a more influential factor in the future control of the claims process.
Electric vehicle sales are trending upward toward 10% of new car sales by YE 2022. We expect EV sales to increase to between 30% and 40% of sales by 2030.
Despite the expectation of the onslaught of EVs, range anxiety will need to be addressed and overcome through increasing battery range capability coupled with growing the number of charging stations nationally.
Full digitalization of the estimating process for qualified repairable claims starts with less complex
repairs and eventually migrates to more complex damaged vehicles. The journey starts with photos and evolves to telematics, reliance on artificial intelligence coupled with insurer-driven rules and integration of supplier network connections. This throughput connected process will automatically initiate and populate the line-item detail necessary for predictive and actionable estimates.
Continued evolution of business segmentation strategies will have the largest consolidators marketing their “one national shop model/ platform” to insurers, boosting a large marketplace network of available collision repair locations throughout the U.S.
This one-national-shop model is further segmented within markets by various clusters of collision repair locations that can provide a broad range of segmented capabilities able to satisfy a wide range of repair types including glass installation, express same or next-day service, non-drivable/total-loss processing and disposition, OEM standards and luxury model certification, advanced material repair, mechanical repair, diagnostic services including pre- and post-repair scanning and calibration, and partnering and operating dealership collision repair centers.
Private equity continues to be
highly committed to the collision repair industry. MLOs will continue to aggressively acquire and merge. Consolidation is active within all auto physical damage segments. There remains much opportunity for further consolidation and continued private equity investment.
Despite the growing market share of the larger platforms and segments we track and analyze, there is still a long tail of smaller independent repairer fragmentation in the market which will be the basis for the next wave of industry contraction and consolidation.
Within the broader automotive aftermarket landscape, private equity and institutional capital continue to invest in most of the satellite segments surrounding the collision repair industry such as parts, paint, body and equipment (PBE), tire outlets, carwashes, dealerships and technology.
Comparing the first six months of 2022 to the same period in 2021, we saw an unusually slow period for MLO collision repair acquisitions by most consolidators, with Crash Champions and Classic Collision being the exceptions. Both Crash
“The
“The ability to … track and, more importantly, provide an invoice and receive reporting based on that specific repair in regard to materials used is critical to the profitability of body shops.”
Mike Anderson, President and Owner of Collision Advice Group
main reason for implementing 3M™ RepairStack™ was to become profitable with my paint material and that happened right away. It’s cut my bill in half!”
Adan Ibarra, Owner of Leading Edge Collision
Champions and Classic Collision will most likely advance in the ranking at year end 2022.
While Caliber and Gerber did acquire some MLOs during this time period, much of their expansion was through single-location acquisitions, brownfields and greenfields.
The most significant acquisition event of 2022 came in July, when Crash Champions announced its transaction with Service King with its new private equity partner Clearlake Capital.
There are a number of secular trends that exist today that will continue to have a material impact and influence on the collision repair industry and within the broader auto physical damage industry segments.
Insurtech claims processing operating models reinforce insurers’ preferred business economics, which frequently is at odds with the OEM repair model.
Vehicle damage estimation with photos evolving to vehicle telematics, relying on artificial intelligence coupled with insurer-driven rules with integration of supplier network connections.
U.S.-Canada trans-border market entrance as reflected by companies such as Collision Solutions Network, which merged in mid 2020 with 1Collision in the U.S with its continued
onboarding of new members; Fix Auto with ProColor entering the U.S. in early 2021 with its expanding franchise network in 2021 and 2022; and Lithia Dealership Group entering Canada with the acquisition of Pflaff Automotive Dealer Group.
OEM certification programs’ continued evolution, importance and involvement in collision repair. Our five-year forecast to 2026 has the $20 million segment and the top three consolidators aggressively growing their businesses while maintaining their significant market share lead over the franchise networks and the $10 million to $19 million MLO segments. We expect that by 2026, the top three consolidators will grow from their 2021 market share of 18.4% to between 24% and 28%.
Our annual report, A 2021 Profile of the Evolving U.S. and Canada Collision Repair Marketplace, is now available. The report contains the complete results of our research and analysis for 2021, including over 90 charts and graphs throughout more than 130 pages with historical trends and a future view.
The report can be purchased by contacting Mary Jane Kurowski of The Romans Group LLC at maryjane@ romans-group.com.
Source: The Romans Group LLC
On Dec. 11, a dozen vehicles were stolen from a Hertz location in Gates, NY, sometime in the night.
At first, Hertz thought 17 cars were stolen; after crossreferencing inventory with other locations, that number was changed to 12.
Gates Police Chief Robert Long said the heist was “definitely something out of a movie.” About five suspects broke into the secured lot by cutting through the chain link fence. Once inside, they boosted a Chevy Suburban, using it to push a box truck parked in front of the gate out of the way. Then they used the big SUV to push the gate open.
By the morning of Dec. 12, police had recovered six to eight of the stolen cars. According to Long,
those had been found parked in different locations. It’s likely they were left in public areas to see if authorities found them using GPS trackers. Thieves often do this for a few days to keep police from finding their chop shop.
Police don’t believe those recovered rental vehicles were used to commit any other crimes. They were found in good condition, adding fuel to the theory they were left to be recovered by the thieves later if police couldn’t track them.
No suspect descriptions are available, though there’s surveillance footage of the theft. It sounds like the suspects covered their faces. Long said the suspects are likely teenagers since they’re most commonly involved in car thefts due to New York’s Raise the Age law. Car theft rings recruit minors to steal vehicles because of such laws.
The Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF) attempts to address education funding concerns through its Student Scholarship awards.
In order to be eligible for the foundation’s scholarships, applicants must visit a collision industry business—shops, suppliers, paint companies or any other segment.
CREF’s 2022 Student Scholarships provided 46 students with nearly $150,000 in financial assistance to ensure those students will be able to continue their education and that they are prepared to pursue a successful career in body shops around the country.
In addition to scholarships and tool grants, 50 veterans will receive toolboxes, valued up to $500 each, through CREF and 3M’s Hire Our Heroes initiative.
Applications opened Jan. 13 with a deadline of March 9. Apply for a Student Scholarship at www. collisioneducationfoundation.org/ student-scholarship-and-grantapplication/
Source: CREF
An interstate project benefitting western Maryland is getting an infusion of state funds.
The state’s final fiscal year 20232028 Consolidated Transportation Program will see $100 million being invested to advance the Interstate 81 Phase 2 project in Washington County, Gov. Larry Hogan said. The improvements support expansion of the Howard Street Tunnel and growth of manufacturing and operations centers.
Phase 2 of the project, according to the release, has been a key priority for the western portion of the state and will facilitate economic and job growth while improving safety. The project will also address congestion and reinforce supply chain reliability.
“Our administration has been committed to making these
chain,” Hogan said in the release. “We are proud to move this project forward in spite of federal inaction and look forward to seeing all the jobs and opportunities it will deliver for the region. This is another way we are keeping our promises and changing Maryland for the better.”
The announcement, according to the release, comes on the heels of a U.S. Department of Transportation announcement declaring the project was not picked for federal assistance within the Rural Surface Transportation Grant Program.
Upon learning of the federal decision, according to the release, Hogan directed the state’s Department of Transportation to develop alternatives to make the project a reality.
According to the release, the project will focus on a four-mile stretch of I-81, between Maryland Highways 63 and 68 and the CSX
to prepare Maryland for the growth we know is coming to the logistics and supply chain network from good-paying jobs in Baltimore City at Maryland’s Port of Baltimore to jobs in western Maryland at growing logistic centers,”
Transportation Secretary James F. Ports Jr. said in a release. “This commitment from Gov. Hogan is an investment in the future and will pay dividends here in Maryland and across the region for generations to come.”
The highway improvements, according to the release, support the Howard Street Tunnel expansion project, which was announced in November, as previously reported by The Center Square.
The expansion project, according to the release, will permit double-stack capacity for container railcars while increasing the demand for trucks to haul freight
Crash Champions on Jan. 17 announced it finalized the acquisition of Gengras Collision Center at 630 Tolland St. in East Hartford, CT.
The acquisition of the highquality repair center marks Crash Champions’ second location in the state, following the acquisition of Andrade Motor Car on Dec. 9. Crash Champions now operates a leading national lineup of premier collision repair centers in 36 states and Washington, D.C.
“This is another proud step in our growth across the Northeast and state of Connecticut,” said Matt Ebert, founder and CEO of Crash Champions. “Gengras Collision Center is a top-tier collision repair team with a reputation for high-quality service to the East Hartford community, and we’re thrilled to welcome them to Crash Champions.”
Gengras Collision Center features more than 13,000 square feet of production space and is certified Gold Class by I-CAR, representing the highest
standards for technician training in the collision repair industry. It is also a Volvo certified repair center.
“We’re proud to partner with an industry leader like Crash Champions,” said Chip and Jonathan Gengras, co-owners of Gengras Collision. “Gengras Collision has carefully built a reputation for high-quality collision repair service and joining the Crash Champions team is a natural next step for our business. Crash Champions is a dynamic and innovative founder-led collision repair team that aligns with our culture seamlessly. We look forward to the long-term value that this new chapter will bring to our customers, team members and business partners.”
Independent collision repair centers and owners interested in joining the Crash Champions team are encouraged to visit www.crashchampions.com/sellyour-shop to learn more about the process and opportunities available.
Source: Crash Champions
The National Auto Body Council® (NABC) announced Jan. 11 it has named Deborah Robinson as the executive director for the organization. Robinson, who has served the NABC as head of marketing and public relations as president of Victory Management Group
the momentum of the NABC in changing and saving lives every day.”
Robinson brings deep experience in the automotive industry, leading clients such as Driven Brands with its portfolio of companies including CARSTAR, Fix Auto USA, ABRA, Maaco, Auto Glass Now, Take 5 Oil Change and Meineke; VeriFacts Automotive; Goodyear Brakes; Lowe’s Racing; Dodge Motorsports; Ray Evernham Enterprises; Charlotte Motor Speedway and NASCAR Racing Experience, among others.
since 2017, was selected in a unanimous decision by the NABC Board of Directors and Executive Committee for the role after an extensive search process.
“I am honored to continue serving the National Auto Body Council and its members in a new role as the executive director,” said Robinson. “I admire the members and the work they do in giving back to their communities, and look forward to continuing
“We’re proud to welcome Debby, with her background and experience, as our next leader for the National Auto Body Council, said Scott Sampley, chairman of the NABC Board of Directors. “She has provided unwavering support, valuable counsel and impactful results to the NABC over the past five years. We are excited about the future for our organization and our members.”
Source: NABC
Unlike
By John Yoswick Autobody News
Denise Koukal, chief information officer for the LaMettry’s Collision chain in Minnesota, said her company, like others, has had a customer upset his vehicle repair generated an entry on a vehicle history report.
“We got a phone call as he was preparing to sell his vehicle at an auction and noticed that this had been reported to a third-party vehicle history report,” Koukal said during a data access and privacy discussion at the Collision Industry Conference
history report,” she said. “This customer was a repeat customer for us. We had done five repairs for him. We have done none since.”
Another panelist, New Mexico shop owner Scott Benavidez, said he has been working since 2016 to track down how some estimate data from his shop has made it to vehicle history reports He shared a flowchart similar to Koukal’s, but the estimate it tracks was not a customer-pay job but one involving an insurance company.
“As repairers know, we get information every day that says, ‘Add this vendor, add this vendor,’ so that they can continually look for the least expensive part,” Benavidez said. “That absolutely opens it up to people that I didn’t even invite….as a vendor, but now are in my platform because of the insurer relationship.”
Koukal agreed, noting insurer and automaker programs can similarly require the use of different customer satisfaction indexing services, “exposing that data to many more places.”
“It’s really hard to say how frequently it happens because we don’t usually hear about it until a customer goes to sell or trade in their vehicle,” Koukal said. “There’s probably been about 10 times that we’ve been called about it, so we
difference,” she said. “But the reality is [the agreements] are more of a punitive thing—only if we find out that something has happened—than something on the front-end that stops the data from going out.”
Koukal said her company falls between Benavidez’s and Caliber in terms of size, and has EULAs with some of its vendors but not others. She agrees with Denison’s view that such agreements have limited value.
(CIC) in November. “I’m sure many of you have had the conversation about ‘Why did you report my repair? Now it’s going to financially impact me with the sale of my vehicle.’ We didn’t report it, but we don’t know who did either. So it’s a very difficult conversation to have with a customer.”
Koukal shared a flowchart tracing everywhere data related to that repair—a customer-pay job—went from the shop, including to three different parts procurements systems that each searched for parts from multiple vendors; thirdparty scheduling and customer service indexing services; OEM repair procedure sources; an aftermarket scan tool system; a materials invoicing system; and an aftermarket clips and fasteners tracking system.
Koukal said other common places the data is sent—though not for this particular repair—include a rental management system, sublet sources and an online estimating program.
There was no way of knowing, Koukal said, how in all that data flow the repair made it to the vehicle history report. She said both her company and the customer asked to have it removed from the report for the vehicle.
“To my knowledge, the accident was never removed from the vehicle
Benavidez said once last year, he had entered about the first 20 lines of an estimate before he got called away to do other things.
“I came back to that estimate about an hour or two later,” he said.
“As I went through my emails, I had received one from Wheels America that said, ‘Hey, we have your wheel’ for that particular vehicle. I hadn’t locked the estimate. I had never done anything with that estimate other than start it. Wheels America is someone I’ve never done business
know it’s happened. But there’s probably a lot we don’t know about.”
Ashley Denison, chief information officer for the Caliber Collision chain, agreed, noting the company’s CEO even came to her about tracking down the issue because the repair of his own daughter’s car made it onto the vehicle’s CARFAX report.
Denison said Caliber has resources to try to address the issue, but she sees the need for an industry solution because if it happens to any shop, “it happens to all of us, it’s a knock on the industry.”
She said listening to what Benavidez as the owner of a single shop has done trying to track the problem down, she was “blown away by how much as an operator he had to know about all this,” when he should be focused on the quality repairs and customer service everyone wants from shops.
“So how do we as an industry begin to flip that,” Denison asked rhetorically.
Benavidez said he worked with the Automotive Service Association years ago to create an “end-user licensing agreement” (EULA) shops could require vendors to sign related to their use of the shop’s data.
“In order to do anything about them, you have to know where that data was shared and who shared that data,” Koukal said. “You’d also need to take it to a court of law in order to have anything done with it. I don’t think everyone is in a position to do that, nor do they want to do that. So I don’t know how much value [the EULAs] have.”
The panel was asked if some sort of government regulation, similar to those designed to protect patient information in the medical field, was the answer. Denison said that certainly would create compliance,
with. They were put in there by the insurance company. And I had no idea it was going to them.”
The panelists all agreed it’s difficult to know how often a shop’s data related to a repair somehow makes its way onto a vehicle history report.
“But I have yet to get one company to sign that,” Benavidez said. “I think the reason for that is even they don’t always know where [the data] is going. I’ve brought it up numerous times, but I’ve had zero response in getting anybody to sign that EULA.”
Denison said Caliber does have EULAs in place with its vendors.
“I think this is where size and scale makes a little bit of a
“But I absolutely believe that as an industry we can solve the problem without the government getting involved.”
In the meantime, Koukal and Denison each said their companies added verbiage to their repair authorization indicating the customer allows the shop to access and share vehicle data with third-parties as relevant to the repair of the vehicle.
“My concern is: Do they read it and understand what that actually means,” Denison said, acknowledging that if she knew little about the industry and was getting her car repaired, she would just check the boxes as necessary and sign the form.
Benavidez said his similar concern led him to create a second authorization related to the use of their vehicle data from scans.
“It’s really helped us with the consumer to gain their trust,” Benavidez said.
“It’s really hard to say how frequently it happens because we don’t usually hear about it until a customer goes to sell or trade in their vehicle.”
DENISE KOUKAL CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, LAMETTRY’S COLLISION
By Mark Phelan Detroit Free Press
After a century as one of the world’s leading makers of convertible tops, family-owned manufacturer Haartz Corp. produces materials founder John C. Haartz might not have been able to imagine, but the company’s essential principles haven’t changed much, to hear CEO Eric Haartz describe it. “We’ve always had an inclination to innovate. Otherwise, you fossilize and die,” said Haartz, the third generation to run the Acton, MA-based company, which was founded in 1897 and began making convertible tops in 1922. “There’s been a consistent family willingness to adapt to what our customers need.” Today, Haartz has operations in Detroit; Munich and Mannheim, Germany; Tokyo; Shanghai and Chongqing, China; Irapuato, Mexico; and Pune, India.
Innovative materials have been a key from the start.
“My grandfather had a good sense of textile style,” said Haartz. “We began with textiles then added expertise in plastics engineering. We cultivated the ability to manufacture
flexibly, in small batches.”
A 1932 advertisement for the then John C. Haartz Automotive Fabric Co. touted its patented Jonarts CV Line of Cleaneasy fabrics that could match the convertible top to interior upholstery. “At the Salon in New York, December 1931, every American made body with a convertible top was made of Jonarts Material, with but one exception and that was a mistake as Jonarts had been specified for it,” reads an advertisement the company ran in 1932. The ad listed the company’s Detroit office on the second floor of the then-new General Motors Building.
Cleaneasy’s virtues included the ability to “be easily cleaned with gasoline, naphtha, etc. without impairing the fabric,” according to the ad. Today, the company reproduces some “ancient materials” for collectors. Haartz is the standard for high-end replacement and restoration of classic convertibles.
John C. Haartz cultivated 1920s and ‘30s coachbuilders and German luxury brands, too, but “the
Depression darned near put us into bankruptcy,” Eric Haartz said.
Other challenges over the century included vinyl tops in the 1940s and convertible hardtops.
“People like the appearance of textile as opposed to plastic, but hardtops looked intimidating when Mercedes introduced the SLK” in the 1990s. The company diversified into making rubber and vinyl interior trim. In the end, the market for soft tops survived, for reasons including appearance, and that they’re lighter and take up less space than convertible hardtops.
“There’s always a demand for longevity,” Haartz said. “What we produce now will last decades.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if some parts we make are still around in a century. They may outlast the car.”
Today’s challenges include developing sustainable materials.
“We add value. We don’t want to become a commodity,” Haartz said.
Haartz’s largest current customers are the Jeep Wrangler and Ford Bronco.
2023 Women in Auto Care Leadership Conference
Join the Women in Auto Care community Feb. 27 - March 1 in Palm Springs, CA, for an another great conference focused on sharpening personal and professional development skills and providing the latest industry updates and trends.
The event includes dynamic speakers, engaging sessions and the chance to connect with colleagues and peers. This event will include one of the association’s largest fundraisers of the year to provide tools and training to women in the industry—while having fun doing it.
We’re on track for record attendance—don’t miss it!
To register, and for more information, visit www. autocare.org/networking-anddevelopment/communities/ women-in-auto-care/events/ women-in-auto-care-leadershipconference
Source: Women in Auto Care
up for a referendum-heavy year.
Unlike 2021’s bruising campaign over whether Mainers should block Central Maine Power’s hydropower transmission line from Canada from coming through the Kennebec Valley, multiple ballot questions will be up for debate in 2023.
Among them is a debate on who should get access to telemetric data from a customer’s vehicle for repairs, which is likely to make the ballot.
The other three include a question asking if Mainers want to establish a consumer-owned utility, and buy out CMP and Versant Power, which has been approved for the November 2023 ballot. Opponents have a counter referendum aiming to hobble the consumer referendum by making government bonding over $1 billion subject to voter approval. That one is also likely to make the ballot.
Finally, an effort to prohibit companies with foreign ownership from spending in referendum campaigns has been certified.
If all four are voted on in November, it will be the most
questions on the ballot since 2016, according to state records.
Trends and fights in other states over similar measures indicate next year’s battles, if they do make the ballot, will cost millions and flood the airwaves with commercials.
The concept of “right to repair” has been around for years, but one of its first major battles took place in Massachusetts a decade ago. A right to repair coalition—a group of automotive aftermarket companies that create, distribute and sell vehicle parts or perform vehicle services—brought forward a ballot measure to require motor vehicle manufacturers to grant access to vehicle diagnostic and repair information to independent repair shops.
That referendum passed with 88% of the vote in Massachusetts. And car manufacturers, rather than fight the same battle in 50 states, chose instead to create a memorandum of understanding between themselves and the aftermarket industry to make that information available nationwide.
But Timothy Winkeler , president and CEO of VIP Tires &
Services and the lead proponent for Maine Right to Repair, said the memorandum does not cover the wireless diagnostic information common in newer cars. The Massachusetts right to repair campaign took the issue to the ballot box again in 2020 and won, and Winkeler hopes Maine will be the second state to make this information available to independent repair shops.
“This is about consumer choice,” he said. “It’s about your ability to choose who repairs your car.”
Winkeler said there has not been much strategizing on how to message around the referendum, but imagines once it is certified by the Maine Secretary of State’s Office, which he expects in January, posters will start popping up in repair and parts shops advocating for the measure.
It is certain to meet resistance from the car manufacturing industry. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, one of the main opponents of the Massachusetts referendum, sent out a memo outlining its arguments against the proposed Maine measure. It accuses the aftermarket industry of going for a “data grab” that would allow it to create targeted ads toward car
owners. It also said the measure is unnecessary and could open up vehicles to cybersecurity risks.
The alliance’s resistance was so strong, automakers have been fighting it in court for two years.
The Maine campaign could be expensive: The Massachusetts campaign finance website shows a collective $51.6 million on the referendum in 2020, with opposition slightly outspending support. At the time it was projected to be the single most expensive ballot initiative in the state’s history, the Boston Globe reported.
A movement to block referendum spending by corporations with foreign backing has no organized resistance---yet.
This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor, themainemonitor.org, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization covering statewide news in Maine.
Chris Slack manages a parts department at Ivan Gandrud Chevrolet in Green Bay, WI, that employs 30 people, including eight counter people and three service technicians.
part of Michigan with a fleet of 18 trucks.
Gandrud has been exhibiting at SEMA for the past four years, after attending it the four years before that. Autobody News asked him about the show and its impact on his business.
Q: What were the central issues that shops and parts suppliers were dealing with in 2022?
performance and collision customers at the show so that is nice also.
Q: How has SEMA changed since your first show?
A: I think there will be fewer collision shops and also fewer wholesale parts dealers.
The department carries an inventory of approximately $5.5 million, consisting of mechanical, collision and performance parts, and is an authorized Mopar dealer that sells genuine Mopar parts online. With 30-plus years of experience under his belt, Slack is succeeding in a very competitive marketplace. He’s well-known for being one of
A: We have been dealing with a bunch of issues but the biggest is backordered parts. So many parts are unavailable from the manufacturer. We have been trying to make it seamless by buying parts for our customers from other dealers across the country. We have bought more parts from other dealers than ever before, but if that’s what it takes to get a car finished and out of our customer’s shop, then that’s what we have to do.
Q: Do you see value in a show like SEMA for dealer parts suppliers?
A: SEMA is a great show for us because we have a large
A: I think SEMA has changed from a performance show to a more complete automotive show. Now even the service manager and the collision shop manager should attend and visit all the vendors and attend training.
Q: Do you think parts availability will improve significantly in 2023?
A: No, maybe by the end of 2023, availability is improving but very, very slowly.
Those are definitely the three top concerns. We need a bigger facility because we need more inventory which means more people and more delivery drivers. We have had to cut back on our delivery area because we don’t have time to deliver to all our customers.
Q: What will your sector look like in 2025?
The parts dealers are under a lot of pressure right now. Our discounts from the manufacturers have dropped because of availability— many parts can no longer be ordered at a truckload discount but instead we have to special order it one at a time to get the part at a much lower discount. Delivery expenses have gone up, personal costs have gone up.
But as the large MSOs buy up all the collision shops, they are demanding bigger discounts. That’s a business model that doesn’t work. The collision shops should instead work on getting a higher labor rate from the businesses that control that.
Q:If a young person was going to enter this industry, what would you tell them?
A:Now is a great time to get into the parts and collision business. Demand for qualified people has never been higher. Every collision shop and wholesale parts department in the state is hiring right now.
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Maaco looked back at 50 years in business—and forward to its next 50—at its 2022 convention, held Nov. 15-18 in Carlsbad, CA.
The second day of the gathering, Nov. 16, featured messages from Maaco’s senior leadership team, a message from keynote speaker Mike Anderson of Collision Advice and several breakout sessions for attendees. The recipient of the Tony Martino Hall of Fame and Vendor Partner of the Year awards were also announced.
The convention ran through the evening of Nov. 18, featuring a charity golf tournament, vendor trade show, fall festival and a gala.
“Let me be clear—we are proud to be celebrating the achievements of the past, but it is equally important to stay hungry, ensuring many more achievements for the future,” said Chris Dawson, president of paint and collision for Driven Brands.
The award was presented by Maaco founder Tony Martino’s son, Mark Martino, who shared memories of how his dad got the franchise started, opening the pilot location in Wilmington, DE, in 1972.
“I remember saying to Dad, ‘Are you sure anyone would want to do this for a living?’” Martino said. “He hesitated for a minute and then said emphatically, ‘Yes, I’m sure someday we are going to have hundreds of these Maaco centers all over the country.’
“His prophecy proved true and
here we sit, 50 years later, celebrating his foresight and dedication,” Martino said.
The Hall of Fame award named for Tony Martino is given to an owner who personifies Maaco’s founding values of providing quality service at a fair price.
This year, it was presented to Jay Patel, who owns 11 Maaco stores in four states and, over his 30+ years with the franchise, has gotten much of his extended family involved in the business.
“I am so grateful for this honor, and I give all the credit to Tony Martino,” said Patel. “He taught me so much that I have applied to my business to be successful. The most important thing was taking care of the customer. His saying was ‘paint a car, make a friend,’ and my goal and my team’s philosophy is to treat them like family, and the goal is always to make a customer for life, whatever it takes.
“I believe in the Maaco system,” added Patel. “Maaco has the successful formula, and all I have done is applied it. I don’t try to reinvent the wheel—they already invented it, and it works.”
Mike Anderson of Collision Advice spoke about how franchisees should grow their teams to grow their business.
“Everybody on the collision side in the U.S. has a five- to eight-week backlog of work,” Anderson said. “What everyone does not have is people.”
To grow a team, owners have to either help existing staff get better at what they do, or bring on new hires. And to do that, owners must create an environment where people don’t love their jobs—they love the organization.
“You want them to love working for YOU,” he said. “Culture is your commodity, the goose that lays the golden egg every single day.”
Anderson said the industry has a whole does not have a staffing shortage—it has a “we don’t pay enough” problem.
“We have got to offer better compensation,” he said.
Another key is to lay out a career path for employees, so they see how they can advance.
The lines between collision work and what Maaco does are becoming more blurred, Anderson said, thanks to increased ADAS features on cars
that make recalibration necessary to complete what was once a simple paint job on a front bumper. Improper recalibrations can cause accidents, leading to liability issues.
“This is not a message of doom and gloom; it’s an area of opportunity,” Anderson said, noting Maaco owners might be able to expand their services to include ADAS calibrations for other area shops.
Anderson said Maaco owners also need to make sure their customer service is modern, not antiquated, offering conveniences like concierge service, email receipts and a 24/7 digital presence, so customers feel like they can start the repair process even outside of normal business hours.
Maaco’s Online Estimating Tool, launched pre-pandemic in 2019 and now on its fourth version, is a great way to do that, Anderson said.
“It’s difficult if not impossible to write an estimate based on a photo, but look at it as a marketing strategy to capture a hot lead outside of business hours,” when most crashes occur, he said.
Shops like Maaco also have to dominate online reviews, as voiceactivated searches for things like “best auto paint repair shop near me” only return the top result.
To do that, shops need “social proof,” like online reviews, to vouch for their ability to fix a car.
who have both partners for more than a decade.
Executives, including Dawson, Maaco COO Daryl Hurst, Porcelli and Driven Brands Senior Vice President of Marketing Hannah Whitesides, participated in a media roundtable.
Dawson opened the roundtable by saying 2021 was a stellar year, as Maaco assembled an incredible leadership team, listened to franchisees and leveraged data for the first time to look at what was happening and what needed attention within the franchise.
Shops like Maaco also need to regularly communicate with vehicle owners during the repair process, even if it’s a “no update” update.
“Keeping them informed drives the customer experience,” he said. “Let them know you’re still working on it, you haven’t forgotten them.”
Partner
Senior Vice President of Strategy and Franchise Administration Chris Porcelli presented the Vendor Partner of the Year award to cowinners Sherwin-Williams and 3M,
“Most importantly, we listened to consumers, started using research to find out what they were asking from us and putting together a plan, and the results are beginning to show,” Dawson said.
Porcelli said Maaco, as part of Driven Brands, is using scale to support its partners.
Whitesides talked about some of the ways Maaco has acknowledged its 50th year, including celebrating a shop-level employee every week and partnerships with other companies, like one with Ray Ban to give away 50 pairs of golden sunglasses.
Going forward, Hurst said Maaco will “stay true to our core, look at the evolution of vehicles and what the consumers need, and leverage data to help franchisees to do business in the future.”
In 2023, Porcelli said, Maaco will be focused on growth, specifically strengthening fleet partnerships.
“We just went through one of the most trying times as a nation,” Dawson said. “We didn’t just thrive, but Maaco was there for franchisees every step of the way. We came out in a better place. Existing franchisees want to open more stores, and we couldn’t be more excited for that growth.”
Tim Ronak of AkzoNobel. Widely-recognized for his engaging and interactive seminars, Anderson returns to NORTHEAST with “Be Extraordinary.” In today’s industry environment, being average just doesn’t cut it, and Anderson will demonstrate how one must be extraordinary in delivering customer service, building shop culture and in all other ways in order to produce extraordinary results.
Anderson will also team up with Gredinberg for “Bulletproof Negotiation Tactics,” a newlybuilt exclusive session exploring the fundamentals of creating the perfect platform to win any attempt to negotiate or rebuke repair plan necessities.
Repairers will walk away from Ronak’s presentation, “Overcoming Insurer Objections to Payment for Repair Procedures,” knowing how to overcome insurer pushback on the operations and procedures required to restore today’s complex vehicles due to increased technology, such as ADAS. Attendees will learn to combat objections and get paid to properly restore the vehicle to its pre-
accident condition by confirming the consumer’s vehicle functions the same in the next collision event as it did in the one that created the loss.
The recently revealed Society of Collision Repair Specialists’ (SCRS) blend study results have repairers all across the nation applauding proof that blending is more time-consuming, but what’s next? Schulenburg, SCRS executive director, will be on hand to take a deeper dive into the study’s influence in 2023 and beyond.
Industry favorite Luehr makes his NORTHEAST debut with “Supercharge Your Business and Attract the Best Employees.” It seems everyone these days is complaining about their business’ inability to attract and retain good employees. According to Luehr, not everyone is facing that same dilemma. He will provide attendees with the five key elements they can use to build a high-performance culture and become a talent magnet in their marketplace.
Morgan and Jeramy Holloway of Spanesi Americas will lend insight on enhancing the pre-repair process with proven methods to capture additional time and operations while improving cycle times and repair
quality during “Proper Pre-Repair Planning.”
I-CAR’s Dirk Fuchs and Bud Center will be presenting two sessions, “When an ADAS Calibration Fails” and “EV Intake Process and High Voltage Battery Handling.”
AirPro Diagnostics’ Olsen will kick off the NORTHEAST educational slate with an eye-opening March 17 presentation, while Josh McFarlin, also of AirPro, concludes the slate with “Own Your Calibrations,” lending insight into keeping ADAS calibrations in house.
Panel discussions are a popular staple at NORTHEAST, and this year’s installment will once again be tackling repairers’ most pressing issues with engaging dialogue between industry representatives and attendees.
Sessions include a “Shop of the Future” discussion, where some of the industry’s leading professionals— including Ron Reichen, John Shoemaker, Anderson, Luehr, AASP/NJ President Jerry McNee, Michael Bonsanto, Robert McDorman and CIC Chairman Frank Terlep—will share insights on what tomorrow’s shop will look like.
This year’s thought-provoking “Slaying the Dragon” panel will feature shop owners and valuations
experts as they offer suggestions on the various avenues shops can take to get properly reimbursed.
A bonus session, “Inside the Appraisal Clause,” featuring McDorman of Auto Claim Specialists and McNee will be offered free to all attendees.
“We have some of the industry’s very best coming from all over the country to deliver training for NORTHEAST attendees. Expect to learn and grow from seminars and panel discussions on today’s top issues!” said AASP/NJ board member Ken Miller. “Our industry is changing quickly, and we’re providing everything shops need to be successful today and in the future. We’re really looking forward to a great turnout in March.”
Attendees can purchase single classes for $25 each or get a huge discount on a full access NORTHEAST educational pass, good for 12 sessions, for $199— more than $100 in savings. Class registration will open Jan. 25.
To register and to keep up with the latest information and announcements related to NORTHEAST 2023, visit aaspnjnortheast.com.
Source: AASP/NJ
Delaware is planning to enact some of the most stringent regulations for vehicle emissions in the nation, as the Carey administration seeks to curb tailpipe pollution contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.
duty trucks in model years 2026 through 2035.
State environmental officials say the rules will lead to more zero-emission vehicles on the road in Delaware, which will in turn reduce gasoline and diesel fuel consumption, and maintenance costs due to more fuel-efficient vehicles. They held a series of public hearings in December to discuss the state’s plans.
New York and Massachusetts, to adopt California’s stringent rules.
Environmental groups say the move will help the state meet its climate change goals, which call for reducing the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by 26% to 28% by 2025, from 2005 levels.
Transportation is the leading source of greenhouse gas emissions in Delaware, according to state environmental officials.
to electric will “collectively cost consumers, utilities, businesses and the state and federal governments uncounted hundreds of millions of dollars.”
The new regulations, drafted by the state Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, would adopt California’s newly approved Advanced Clean Cars II standards, which require vehicle manufacturers to sell an increasing percentage of new zeroemission passenger cars and light-
“Delaware is preparing for a transition to a clean transportation future,” Shawn M. Garvin, secretary of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, said in a statement. “More choices from manufacturers, longer range and affordability are making it easier for consumers to switch to cleaner vehicles, including electric vehicles.”
The move will make Delaware one of a handful of states, including Washington, Oregon, Vermont,
The state signed onto the U.S. Climate Alliance in 2017, making a commitment to reduce carbon emissions by at least 26% by 2025.
Critics say adopting California’s standards will have a cost for consumers, but also businesses and local governments that use trucks for delivering freight and goods, and providing other services from municipal trash collection to construction.
Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers have criticized the Carney administration’s decision to enact the strict new vehicle regulations with little or no legislative input.
State Rep. Jessie Vanderwende, R-Bridgeville, said the accelerated switchover from fueled vehicles
“Without any consent or input from the public’s elected legislative representatives—Gov. Carney and the agencies under his command are seeking a rapid, potentially traumatic, transition to electric vehicles, despite unresolved massive logistical, environmental, social and economic concerns,” he said in a statement.
Vanderwende said he plans to introduce legislation in the new session to scale back the “coercive” regulations, arguing the industry should be responsible for the transition away from gas-powered vehicles.
“Most of the major players in the automotive industry have already made ambitious plans to either shift most or all of their product lines to electric vehicles,” he said. “Carmakers, dealers and citizens will move to electric vehicles on their own as the technology matures, problems are addressed, and EVs become more attractive.”
Over the years, the University of the Aftermarket Foundation (UAF) has awarded millions of dollars in scholarships to high school and college students looking for a career in the automotive aftermarket and commercial vehicle industry, by making it easy for them to be considered for scholarships from more than 40 organizations by filling out just one application.
In 2022 alone, UAF awarded 461 scholarships totaling $731,350. This year, that single application is due March 31, and can be completed on UAF’s website, automotivescholarships. com/apply-online.
Full-time students at an accredited U.S. college or university, or an ASE/ NATEF-certified post-secondary automotive, heavy duty or collision repair school, as well as graduating high school seniors planning to attend any of the above full time are eligible for the scholarships. There is no GPA requirement.
Priority in awarding scholarships is given to those pursuing a career in the automotive aftermarket, and sons and daughters of aftermarket industry families.
Students who receive a UAF scholarship are eligible for a second grant upon graduation from their program and after completing six months of employment as a technician in the automotive or heavy-duty industries.
Scholarship recipients for the 2023-
said.
Later, in 2001, the Global Automotive Aftermarket Symposium (GAAS) was formed, Pavey said, also to raise money for and distribute scholarships.
In 2016, GAAS became a part of UAF. Between the two organizations’ histories, both separately and since they combined, more than 5,000 scholarships have been awarded.
“We have scholarships today for every different part of the industry,” Pavey said. “We promote scholarships to anyone who has any kind of aftermarket interest, and work with different suppliers and distributors to make sure we are addressing the entire marketplace.”
about our industry when you see the quality of people trying to get involved.”
Pavey said he thinks little by little, the automotive aftermarket industry is being seen as a viable career option, as vehicle technology becomes more sophisticated, but he thinks it could still be better promoted.
“The need for techs has never been bigger; the shortfall is the largest it’s ever been,” Pavey said. “The average age of [existing] techs is getting higher. Certainly the numbers are still such that we need a lot more technicians.”
24 school year will be announced in June.
Larry Pavey, vice chairman of the UAF Board of Trustees and CEO of Automotive Parts Services Group, said UAF, originally known as the Automotive Warehouse Distributors Association (AWDA) University Foundation, was established in 1986.
“It brought together distributors and manufacturers who wanted to promote education and participation in the automotive aftermarket, with the feeling we were beginning to lose people coming into industry,” Pavey
Pavey said the UAF gets a few thousand applicants every year.
Teams of 10 volunteers review 100 or 150 applications each. Pavey said he has been managing one of the teams for the last 12 or 15 years, and has seen how the applications have changed over time.
More women are applying for the scholarships, and the educational credentials of the applicants has only increased.
“It’s a tremendously better group of students,” Pavey said. “Once you’ve spent a long weekend reviewing 150 scholarships, you feel really good
Pavey said the advantage to filling out a single UAF scholarship application means students might win a scholarship they didn’t even realize they qualified for.
“The cool thing about our process is there’s over 40 organizations offering scholarships, and they’re all different,” he said. “A student can be focused on collision, but could also get [a scholarship from] Women in Auto Care. If they’re from Kentucky, they could get one from KIAWA. We’re kind of a one-stop shop for the automotive aftermarket.”
UAF funds the scholarships through a combination of donations and fundraising events. For more information on how to donate, visit uofa-foundation.org.
Direct Repair Programs (DRPs) were designed in 1963 for an era where all cars were pretty much built and repaired the same way. Lower rates meant the insurance companies would be satisfied, and everyone thought it was a good idea for a while.
Industry veterans say things changed when insurance companies began cutting costs by sacrificing quality. Many body shops were willing to jump through a few hoops to get the volume. When it became more competitive, shops were willing to use more aftermarket, used and reconditioned parts, and became more willing to negotiate on every repair.
Thomas Zoebelein, owner of Stratosphere Studio, recently discussed the future of DRPs in the collision repair industry. He said some compelling things that should interest any body shop owner in the country.
Initially, DRPs worked well because shops that wanted them had to step up their games.
“The DRP forced, or allowed, shops and insurers to focus not
on customer acquisition but production,” Zoebelein said. “Every shop tool, business method, marketing tactic and class was centered on production and how to make body shops more efficient.”
That road reached a dead end when vehicle construction moved from mild steel to ultra-high-strength steel a decade ago.
body shops out there scared to work without DRPs.
“The fear of dumping your DRPs is that if you jump out of a plane every day without your DRP golden parachute, you will crash and die,” Zoebelein said. “The work will dry up, and you will be out of business. The pandemic proved everyone wrong because the cars stopped coming for a while, but the non-DRP shops stayed open.”
Stratosphere Studio has developed a marketing plan, Capture the Keys’ “Dump the DRP” program, and forward-thinking shops are embracing it.
Zoebelein is not promising he can help collision repairers replace the volume of a DRP contract.
“That’s when the repair process changed, and OEM procedures became more and more necessary,” he said. “Now the big dilemma for shops is how to get off the DRPs and get paid more.”
The problem is there are a lot of
“So how do you dump a DRP and replace it with a system to get your shop in the hands of customers who need collision repair and keep cars coming into the shop?” Zoebelein said. “What’s the most efficient way to reach a person who you know has a collision repair need, where they are buying, when they are buying
but just before they make a final decision?
“Geofencing allows you to get in front of that customer, when they are shopping for collision repair, even if it’s at just one location,” he said. “We don’t care how they got there—DRP referral, family referral, convenient location, marketing, etc. We just need them to be there, and then geofencing will find them, collect their data and offer them a second opinion.
“I believe that the future of collision repair is fewer cars, more money, more profit,” Zoebelein said. “It’s a fact that vehicles will be getting into fewer accidents. The same ADAS systems that shops are currently repairing will be in more and more cars, so shops need to start rethinking tomorrow’s volume.
“Autobrake will reduce crashes. And every new vehicle sold now has it, and soon it’s going to be federally mandated,” he said. “The times have changed, and it’s time for shops to reconsider where the industry is right now. On top of everything, these issues with labor rates, supply chain issues and technician shortages is the proverbial straw that is breaking the camel’s back.”
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Holiday shoppers may have a little more jingle in their pockets this year thanks to plummeting gas prices.
The national average pump price slid 12 cents over the previous week to $3.14 as of Dec. 19. There are now about 20 states with averages below $3 per gallon.
“The cost of oil, gasoline’s main ingredient, has been hovering in the low-to-mid $70s per barrel, and that’s $50 less than the peak last Spring,” said Andrew Gross, AAA spokesperson. “Combined with low seasonal demand, gas prices could slide a bit more before leveling off.”
According to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas demand decreased slightly from 8.36 to 8.26 million b/d the same week. This coincides with the arrival of the winter driving season, when fewer people hit the roads due
to shorter days and more lousy weather.
Meanwhile, total domestic gasoline stocks rose significantly by 4.5 million bbl to 223.6 million bbl. Increasing supply and lower gasoline demand are pushing pump prices lower.
The Dec. 19 national average of $3.14 is 54 cents less than a month ago and 16 cents less than a year ago.
The nation’s top 10 largest weekly decreases: Nevada (-20 cents), Indiana (-19 cents), Michigan (-17 cents), Arizona (-17 cents), Ohio (-16 cents), Washington (-16 cents), Delaware (-16 cents), Illinois (-15 cents), California (-15 cents) and Oregon (-15 cents).
The nation’s top 10 least expensive markets: Texas ($2.62), Oklahoma ($2.64), Arkansas ($2.69), Missouri ($2.71), Mississippi ($2.74), Tennessee ($2.75), Wisconsin ($2.75), Louisiana ($2.76), Georgia ($2.77) and Kansas ($2.78).
Source: AAA
With the holiday season fast approaching, the employees of Passport Auto Group were eager to reunite with one of Washington, D.C.’s oldest emergency shelters, Central Union Mission, during the frigid winter season.
With even a small contribution of $2.09, individuals are fed and cared for at Central Union Mission, so Everett Hellmuth, president of Passport Auto Group, has coordinated a large effort over the years to participate in a holiday meal drive. “We’re blessed to be able to impact our community even in a small way,” said Hellmuth. “To be warm, to be fed, these are things we take for granted. Everything, especially food costs, are getting more expensive. We can do more together to help those in need.” Each of the Passport dealerships had a store goal, and the employees of Passport Auto Group began this important initiative to fundraise for meals throughout the month of December. After fundraising just one month, Passport Auto Group and its employees donated more than $65,000 to Central Union
Mission, which nearly equals 31,000 meals and care.
Over the holiday season, Central Union Mission expected to provide thousands of Christmas season meals. “The financial support provided by the Passport Auto Group comes at such a critical time,” said organization President Joseph Mettimano. “So many people living in poverty or on the street need more help than ever before. With Passport’s generous support, we are able to make sure that we are providing food for the hungry and shelter for the homeless each and every day. Passport is an incredibly important partner.”
“Passport Cares is all about teaming up with those who support our community,” said Jay Klein, vice president of Passport Auto Group. “We’re proud of all the hundreds of employees that volunteer their own time and pay to support this mission.” Passport Auto Group has been partnering with Central Union Mission for years through its Passport Cares program. To learn more about Passport Auto Group giving back, visit www.passportcares.com.
Source: Passport Auto Group
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During consultant Vince Romans’ annual presentation on the state of consolidation within the collision repair industry at the MSO Symposium in November, he noted there were currently 19 private equity firms or other investor groups backing 14 multi-shop operations.
Those MSOs have combined annual revenues of about $13 billion. That represents about 34% of the industry’s total revenues of $38.6 billion in 2021, according to Romans’ data.
“That’s not going to stop,” Romans said. “I get calls from private equity firms every week, looking to know about this industry, looking to know where they should invest. And that will continue.”
When the additional MSOs with $10 million or more in annual revenues are added in, multi-shop operators accounted for about 43.6% market share, he said, meaning more than half—about 56%—of total industry revenues are still captured “by individual or smaller operators.”
But that is going to flip in the coming years, Romans predicted. As he does most years at the annual symposium, he shared two five-year forecasts: A “more likely” scenario in which MSOs control 55% of the total collision repair market revenue in 2026, and what he call his “more aggressive” forecast, “based on dynamics that we don’t have a lot of control over,” showing MSOs capturing more than two-thirds (67.7%) of the market.
In either case, he doesn’t foresee any short-term end of business for smaller operators.
“Just like in other industries, it will take a couple more decades to get to scale where the smaller shops no longer exist,” Romans said.
By Romans’ count, there are more than 100 MSOs with annual sales of $20 million or more, and they are certainly most interested in the more than 400 with revenues above $10 million.
“That’s where consolidation will happen, just like in the hardware industry, just the like in the drug industry, which took decades to consolidate,” Romans said. “The collision repair industry will also take decades, but it will happen. So for those who decide to stay in it, you have to decide how you can be successful while deciding whether there’s an exit plan for yourself in the future.”
Another speaker at the MSO Symposium, Andy Challenger, pointed to three key factors creating the current labor shortage in the U.S. Challenger, senior vice president of a Chicago-based firm that companies hire to help their laid-off employees find new positions, said the participation rate—the number of Americans age 16 or older either working or looking for work as a percentage of the population—has been declining over the past 20 years. At 62.3% currently, that’s down from 63.4% just prior to the pandemic, which equates to “about 3 [million] to 4 million people missing from the workforce.”
Because his firm, Challenger, Gray & Christmas, works to find new positions for laid-off workers, Challenger said he has regular data on what people most want from their employer. He said the ranking of employees’ priorities shifts. Last fall, for example, his company’s survey found “flexibility” remains the top priority, but “empathetic leadership” has risen to the No. 2 spot, higher than in the past.
Gerber Collision, said the “E” section of that company’s first ESG report, published earlier this year, outlines how Boyd is mitigating its impact on the environment. Its “Repair First” program, for example, was created “to repair more plastic parts to keep them from entering landfills,” and the company is committed to using waterborne paints in both its existing and newly-acquired shops.
The “social” aspect of ESG encompasses such thing as wages, employee and community engagement, and supply chain relationships. Boyd’s report, for example, highlights its talent development program started in 2018, which has provided a 12- to 18-month training program attributed with developing more than 100 new technicians, with a goal of doubling that number next year.
Challenger said three trends contribute to that. First, more Baby Boomers are retiring, and early retirements accelerated in 2020.
Second, while immigration numbers are back to pre-pandemic numbers, “what we haven’t made up for yet is the decrease we saw in 2020 and 2021, when we saw a real dip during the depths of the pandemic.” There are currently 1.7 million fewer new immigrants in the country than there would have been if the numbers had stayed on the trendline in 2019, he said.
Third, challenges and costs associated with care for children and the elderly have led more households to decide to get by with only one parent working.
The tight labor market could change if there’s a recession, and Challenger said his company’s surveys of employers last fall indicated about one-third say they were currently preparing for a recession.
“It’s not an extremely alarming number, but it’s more than nothing,” he said. “I think almost certainly it will be a cooler job market a year from now.”
“That wasn’t even on the list when we started taking this survey two years ago,” Challenger said. “But this is something that employers are hearing from workers constantly, that they want to feel listened to, they want to feel like people, and they want to feel cared about.”
Discussion about “wage inflation— and increases in the cost of living— have helped bump “higher wage” up from sixth on the list to the No. 3 spot, he said. And “upward career trajectory” remained the fourth highest priority.
“Employees today are saying they really want a path forward in the organization,” Challenger said. “Employers that are able to provide that are going to be rewarded in this strong labor market.”
Although most collision repair organizations likely are not familiar with the term “ESG practices,” it’s something they may be increasingly asked about by insurance companies—or from larger MSOs looking at valuing and acquiring new locations.
ESG stands for environmental, social and governance practices. During a panel discussion on the topic at the MSO Symposium, Diane Kappas of PPG said ESG is a term created by the investment community to talk about a corporation’s non-financial impacts, risks and opportunities.
Susie Frausto of The Boyd Group, the Canadian parent company of
Governance, Frausto said, focuses on such things as how a company’s leadership is aligned in providing transparency in its ESG practices.
Eddie HightowerCollision said one reason more collision repairers may want to focus on ESG is insurance companies’ interest in partnering with companies that do. Three years ago, he said, insurers would ask questions about Caliber’s focus on sustainability, for example, but Hightower said it seemed largely about checking a box.
“The last couple of years, they started to get more intense,” he said. “They’re asking many more questions. ‘Do you really have a program really thinking about this?’ That’s because if you have a well-thought-out sustainability program, you’re thinking about risk. If you’re thinking about risk, you’re a good risk for the insurers. So looking ahead, if you want to have access to insurance markets, you’re really going to have to think about sustainability. It really does have an impact on your bottom line.”
“But this is something that employers are hearing from workers constantly, that they want to feel listened to, they want to feel like people, and they want to feel cared about.”
ANDY CHALLENGER SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, CHALLENGER, GRAY & CHRISTMASOutplacing consultant Andy Challenger said the labor shortage is based on there being “about 3 [million] to 4 million people missing from the workforce,” compared to pre-pandemic.
Auto Care Alliance has partnered with Elite to offer online sales training for service advisors. Elite is offering a benefits package valued at more than $300 to ACA member shops who are new to the program.
Each ACA member that signs on with Elite’s Sales Master University will receive a full year of access to 16 lessons taught by Ratchet & Wrench All-Star Award winner Jen Monclus, including quizzes and activities to improve retention and accountability, and quality content developed by America’s top shop owners and service advisors with real-world applications that can be implemented immediately, ensuring consistent and profitable sales cycles.
Elite and Hamilton will host a 30-minute webinar on this benefit to member shops at 1 p.m. CT Jan. 24.
More information on the program and upcoming webinar can be found at autocarealliance. org/elite
Source: Auto Care Alliance
Early December brought the loss of two longtime members, supporters and friends of the Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of New Jersey (AASP/ NJ) with the passing of Jack Wilson, former owner of Coury’s Auto Body in Toms River, NJ, and Sebastiano “Sal” Failla of Sal’s Auto Body in Green Brook, NJ.
Wilson passed away Dec. 5 at the age of 68. Wilson was the prior owner of Coury’s Auto Body and a past vice president of an organization that he assisted in starting to address the problems of the collision shops in that area, which ultimately turned into the Ocean County Chapter of AASP/NJ. He retired with his wife to Florida, where they enjoyed living along Jupiter Inlet and made many new friends. Wilson’s accomplishments and contributions to the industry helped make it a better one, and he will be remembered as a friend to many and a longtime supporter of AASP/NJ. Wilson is survived by his wife Deborah TravisanoWilson, his daughters Melanie Lowden and Dawn Nolan,
stepchildren Valerie Travisano and Daniel Travisano, five grandchildren, siblings and many other family members and friends.
Failla passed away Dec. 11 at the age of 93. He was one of the oldest living members of AASP/ NJ and a much valued one.
passed within one week of each other, really makes for a sad time,” said AASP/NJ Executive Director Charles Bryant. “Both men were longtime members of the association and were good friends of many, including myself. They will be remembered for all they did to improve the collision industry.
Failla’s voluntary participation and fundraising activities in too many charitable organizations to mention allowed him to share a wealth of knowledge to all he came in contact with, including so many in the automotive repair industry. He will be remembered as a great guy and good friend to those who knew him. “Losing two great members of AASP/NJ, who
It’s pretty amazing how much the two had in common, like their pleasant smiles which were always visible no matter what difficulties either may have been enduring at the time. I would like their families to know just how much they will both be missed and remembered for all they did.”
AASP/NJ offers the families, friends and colleagues of Wilson and Failla its deepest condolences. For more information on AASP/ NJ, visit aaspnj.org.
Source: AASP/NJ
The United States Postal Service on Dec. 20 announced it expects to acquire at least 66,000 battery electric delivery vehicles as part of its 106,000 vehicle acquisition plan for deliveries between now and 2028.
The vehicles purchased as part of this anticipated plan will begin to replace the Postal Service’s aging delivery fleet of more than 220,000 vehicles.
The Postal Service anticipates at least 60,000 Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDV), of which at least 75% (45,000) will be battery electric. As part of this plan, a total of 21,000 additional commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) vehicles are also expected to be battery electric, depending on market availability and operational feasibility. The Postal Service also anticipates including internal combustion vehicles necessary to meet immediate vehicle replacement needs.
In keeping with the Postal Service’s priority to provide its carriers and communities with safer, more efficient vehicles as
soon as possible, these vehicles will, unlike the vehicles they are replacing, feature air conditioning and advanced safety technology and are more suited to modern day operational requirements. For any COTS vehicles purchased, the Postal Service will include a preference for domestic manufacturing.
The announcement is enabled by the Postal Service’s overall network modernization efforts which allows for a more rapid deployment of EVs, and its improving financial condition which includes $3 billion in congressional funding appropriated under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
The Postal Service will continue to evaluate and procure vehicles over shorter time periods to be more responsive to its evolving operational strategy, technology improvements and changing market conditions, including the expected increased availability of BEV options in the future.
“We have a statutory requirement to deliver mail and packages to 163 million addresses six days per week and to cover our costs in
doing so---that is our mission,” said Postmaster General Louis DeJoy “As I have said in the past, if we can achieve those objectives in a more environmentally responsible way, we will do so.”
The Postal Service has been steadfastly committed to the fiscally responsible and mission capable roll-out of electric-powered vehicles for America’s largest and oldest federal fleet. The agency has continually assessed its capacity, financial position and vehicle mix over the past year:
February 2022: USPS completed its obligations under the National Environmental Policy Act process and issued a Record of Decision to acquire up to 165,000 NGDV, with a commitment for at least 10% BEV. This decision was expressly designed to provide the Postal Service the flexibility to acquire significantly more BEV NGDV should financial and operational circumstances permit.
March 2022: USPS announced
a purchase order of 50,000 NGDV from Oshkosh Defense, including 20% BEVs.
July 2022: USPS announced its intent to conduct a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that anticipated increasing the NGDV minimum BEV percentage to at least 50% and supplementing the NGDV order with a purchase of 34,500 COTS, so that the combined purchase would be for at least 40% BEV.
By May 2023: USPS will publish for public notice and comment a Draft Supplemental EIS that will assess the potential environmental impacts of vehicle purchase alternatives, likely including those from the Dec. 20 announced plan. New NGDVs are expected to start servicing postal routes in late 2023.
Source: U.S. Postal Service
The Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of New Jersey’s (AASP/NJ) flagship event, the NORTHEAST® Automotive Services Show, has been named to the prestigious Top 100 Trade Shows in the U.S. list by Trade Show Executive magazine.
Trade Show Executive magazine’s Gold 100 honoree list recognizes the top trade shows across all industries that set a gold standard in 2021 by managing to prevail among challenges set forth by the pandemic. Other honorees named include SEMA and AAPEX.
“There are close to 13,000 trade shows annually in the United States, so we are deeply honored that NORTHEAST has been included in TSE’s Gold 100,” said Alicia Figurelli, senior vice president of Thomas Greco Publishing, the NORTHEAST event manager.
“Our team works closely with AASP/NJ to provide an excellent experience for all NORTHEAST show stakeholders, and we look forward to continuing on that path as we plan NORTHEAST 2023.”
NORTHEAST, which typically draws more than 6,000 industry
professionals every March, is the largest and fastest growing show of its kind. Now in its 46th year, the show supplies automotive repair industry professionals with an incomparable experience offering the latest tools, products, equipment and services, as well as a premium educational slate featuring some of the industry’s most recognizable presenters.
Anticipation is sky high for this year’s NORTHEAST Show—set for March 17-19 at the Meadowlands Exposition Center (MEC) in Secaucus, NJ—with attendance expected to exceed the past two years with record-breaking numbers. Attendees can expect to see more than 150 exhibitors along the aisles of the MEC, interact with celebrity guests and have a chance to win some fantastic prizes. Preregistration is now underway, and attendees can visit aaspnjnortheast. com to get their free badge. For more information on AASP/NJ’s NORTHEAST Automotive Services Show, visit aaspnjnortheast.com. For more information about AASP/ NJ, visit aaspnj.org.
Source: AASP/NJ
Sales of electric vehicles in the U.S. grew by 65% in 2022, despite a decline in total new vehicle sales for the first time since 2011, new data from Kelley Blue Book showed.
According to Kelley Blue Book, for the first time in just over a decade, Americans bought fewer new cars than the year before. However, EV sales grew year over year by a significant margin.
EV sales topped 800,000 units and will likely continue to rise for years to come. Cox Automotive suggested 2023 will be the first year EV sales will beat 1 million units.
Boosted by government incentives like President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which intends to push consumers toward EVs, 2023 could be the year of the electric car. Many manufacturers are planning to roll out exciting and competitive models this year.
Despite a slight decrease in
market share from 70% in Q1 to 58.3% in Q4, Tesla still dominates the U.S. EV market. Over the past few years, many companies have come with competitive and more affordable options, but car buyers are still tending to stick with Tesla based on EV tech, charging infrastructure and performance.
Tesla is off to a hot start in 2023. After cutting prices in the U.S. market by as much as $13,000, demand seems to have increased as the company’s inventory is dwindling.
The Model 3 and Model Y were the automaker’s best sellers.
More positive news: the average cost of an electric vehicle fell 5.5% in December to $61,448.
Please contact these dealers for your Honda or Acura Genuine parts needs.
Curtiss-Ryan Honda
Shelton
800-523-4190
203-929-0635
Dept Hours: M-F 7-5; Sat 7-4 callen@curtissryan com
Lia Honda of Enfield Enfield
800-221-3131
860-741-3401
Dept Hours: M-F 7:30-5:30; Sat 8-4 jdoucette@liacars com
Berlin City Honda
South Portland
800-640-6685
207-774-6685
Dept Hours: M-F 7:30-5:30 mmmparts@berlincity com
IRA Honda Saco Saco
207-391-7910
207-282-0900
Dept Hours: M-F 7:30-6; Th 7:30-7; Sat 7:30-4 klavalle@driveprime com
Criswell Honda
Germantown
240-864-0880
Dept Hours: M-Fri 7-7:30; Sat 7-6 hondaparts@criswellauto com
ACURA
MASSACHUSETTS
Acura of Boston Brighton
800-254-1169
617-254-5400
Dept� Hours: M-Thur 8-7; F 8-6; Sat 8-4 manny aliagra@bernardiauto com
Acura of Peabody
Peabody
800-878-3600
978-532-9110
Dept Hours: M-Sat 8-5 dbritt@acurapeabody com
Boch Honda Norwood
833-319-6270
781-619-6791
Dept Hours: M-F 7:30-5 bh-wholesale@boch com
LIA Honda Northampton
Northampton
800-369-7889
413-587-2900
Dept Hours: M-F 7:30-5; Sat 8-3 dstanisewski@liacars com
Clinton Honda
Annandale
877-657-2787
Dept Hours: M-F 8-5; Sat 8-2 abdulc@clintonhonda com
Honda of Turnersville
Turnersville
800-883-0002
856-516-6262
Dept Hours: M-F 8-6; Sat 8-4 mbivario@penskeautomotive�com
Hudson Honda
West New York
866-483-6917
201-868-9500
Dept Hours: M-Sat 8-5 mdasilva@hudsonhonda com
Madison Honda Madison
800-648-0293
973-822-1710
Dept Hours: M-Thu 7-7; Fri 7-6; Sat 7-5; Sun 8-4 jay madisonhonda@gmail com
Rossi Honda Vineland
800-893-3030
856-692-4449
Dept Hours: M-F 7:30-5 (W until 7); Sat 7:30-3 dlyons@rossihonda com
Route 22 Honda Hillside
973-705-9100
Dept Hours: M-Sat 8-5 rt22hondaparts@route22honda com
Sussex Honda Newton
800-842-0557
973-579-3500
Dept Hours: M-F 8-5 realhondaparts@sussexhonda�com
Ide Honda Rochester
800-462-0056 (N.Y.)
585-586-4919
Dept Hours: M-Thur 8-8; Fri 8-5:30; Sat 8-5 parts@idehonda com
Lamacchia Honda Syracuse
315-471-7278
Dept Hours: M-F 7:30-5:30 parts@lamacchiahonda com
Lia Honda of Albany Albany
800-272-6741
518-482-2598
Dept Hours: M, T, W, F 7:30-5:30; Thur 7:30-8; Sat 8-5 mjerard@liacars com
Lia Honda of Brewster Brewster
845-278-4177
Dept� Hours: M-F 7:30-5; Sat 8-4 cpaulson@liacars com
Lia Honda of Williamsville Williamsville/Buffalo
877-659-2672
716-632-3800
Dept Hours: M & W 7:30-7; Tu & Thur 7:30-6 Fri 7:30-5; Sat 8-5:30 mmiller@liacars com
Ray Laks Honda Orchard Park 716-824-7852
Dept Hours: M, Tu, Th 8-8; W, F 8-6; Sat 8-5 jmaybee@raylaks com
Acura Turnersville Turnersville
888-883-2884
856-516-6060
Dept� Hours: M-F 7:30-5; Sat 7:30-4:30 sbaptist@penskeautomotive com
Autosport Acura Denville
973-361-3117
Dept Hours: M-F 7-6; Sat 8-4 erin@theautosportgroup com
Bill Vince’s
Bridgewater Acura Bridgewater
908-704-0307
Dept Hours: M-F 8-7; Sat 8-4 mattn@bridgewateracura com
Elite Acura
Maple Shade
856-722-9600
Dept Hours: M-Sat 7:30-6 bmartinsen@eliteacura com
Open Road Acura of East Brunswick
East Brunswick
732-238-0777
732-238-5466
Dept Hours: M-F 8-5; Sat 8-4 robert talbot@openroad com
Open Road Acura of Wayne Wayne 973-696-5151
Dept Hours: M-F 7:30-6; Sat 8-4 jonathan�tangen@openroad�com
Acura of Westchester Westchester 914-834-8887
Dept Hours: M-F 7:30-8; Sat 8-4; Sun 9-4 acura parts@yahoo com
Curry Acura Scarsdale 800-725-2877 914-472-7406
Dept Hours: M-F 8-6; Sat 8-5 parts@curryacura com
Paragon Acura Woodside 718-507-3990
Dept Hours: M-F 8-6; Sat 8-5; Sun 9-4 parts@paragonacura com
Apple Honda York
800-960-9041
717-848-2600
Dept Hours: M-F 7-6; Sat 7-4; Sun 10-4 applehondaparts@appleauto1 com
Baierl Honda
Wexford
818-332-7351
Dept Hours: M-F 8-5; Sat 8-4 markludwig@baierl com
Shenango Honda
Hermitage 800-858-0849
724-981-7106
Dept Hours: M-F 7:30-5:30; Sat 8-4 parts@shenangoauto com
802 Honda Berlin
802-223-9700
Dept Hours: M-F 7:30-5; Sat 8-Noon hondaparts@802cars com
Smithtown Acura St James
631-366-4114
Dept Hours: M-F 7:30-5:30; Sat 8-4 parts@smithtownacura com
Baierl Acura
Wexford 800-246-7457
724-935-0800
Dept Hours: M-F 8-5; Sat 8-4 cameronegerter@baierl com
Davis Acura
Langhorne 267-296-1000
215-943-7000
Dept� Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat 8-4 frankp@davisacura com
Dozens of traffic safety projects will receive $15 million in funds from PennDOT for pedestrian-focused infrastructure and signal upgrades, among other priorities.
Announced by the Wolf administration Jan. 5, the 36 projects are spread across 20 counties and run from electronic speed signs to crosswalk improvements.
“This program helps communities across the state make important investments in traffic flow and safety,” Gov. Tom Wolf said in a release. “These improvements complement the many road, bridge and multimodal projects happening in Pennsylvania.”
Most grants are relatively smallscale, with the most expensive being $7 million in Philadelphia for roundabouts, traffic calming, bike network improvements and intersection modifications.
Almost half of the money will be used in Philadelphia, and the grant is funded by drivers violating traffic
laws within the city.
“Grant funding is supplied by fines from red light violations at 36 intersections in Philadelphia,” the release noted.
The money, from the Automated Red-Light Enforcement program, has supported more than 500 projects with more than $127 million since 2010. The grants were competitive, with cities and townships sending in 151 applications.
“Pennsylvania’s ARLE program aims to improve safety at signalized intersections by providing automated enforcement at locations where data shows red-light running has been an issue,” the release noted.
Allegheny County was awarded $565,000 to replace traffic signals in Penn Hills and $451,000 for upgrades to pedestrian signals, rewiring and other equipment upgrades in McCandless. Hanover in York County will get $487,000 for traffic congestion and pedestrian safety improvements downtown. And Mercer County was awarded $400,000 for traffic signal and pedestrian
improvements in Sharon, and $414,000 for equipment upgrades in Springfield.
Other major grants were $760,000 for traffic signal upgrades in Montgomery County, $465,000 for traffic signal replacements in Lycoming County, and $447,000 for signal replacements in Butler County.
investments
Urban, suburban and rural areas across the commonwealth have a need for traffic safety upgrades. Pedestrian deaths have risen over the last decade, and Pennsylvania
has had a 21% increase since 2019, as The Center Square previously reported. Larger vehicles have meant a greater chance of death for pedestrians, critics note.
Alcohol-related crashes in the state hit a five-year low in 2020, while the death toll has been flat.
While red-light cameras have brought millions in new revenues to the state, they have been contentious. Nationally, more than 100 bills have been introduced for red-light and speed cameras each year since 2018, and more than 50 have become law, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia allow redlight cameras to be used, but the number of municipalities using them has declined since 2016. Seven states have outright banned them, and the Missouri Supreme Court ruled their use was unconstitutional in 2015.
Critics have argued that the cameras issue too many tickets in error and act as a substitute for better road design that would prioritize safety.
“This program helps communities across the state make important
in traffic flow and safety. These improvements complement the many
bridge and multimodal projects happening in Pennsylvania.”
TOMWOLF PENNSYLVANIA GOVENOR
-Kevin Donnelly, Parts ManagerRecipient of the 2013 Award
The Collision Industry Foundation (CIF) is excited to announce the Board of Trustees and elected officers for 2023.
The board includes 15 individuals who have volunteered their time and made the commitment to serve the mission and vision of CIF.
The incoming 2023 officers, rounding out the executive leadership, are as follows: President Dan Risley of CCC Intelligent Solutions Inc., Vice President Casey Steffen of Saint-Gobain Abrasives, Treasurer Jim Ocampo of Axalta, Secretary Petra Schroeder, Collisionista, and Immediate Past President Michael Quinn of AirPro Diagnostics.
CIF also welcomes the following newly elected trustees for 2023: Martin Crowell of GEICO, Harry Hall of National Coatings & Supplies
| Single Source, Paul Hill of I-CAR, Brenda Hogen of PartsTrader and John Webb of TenPoint Complete.
Trustees continuing their terms to serve CIF are: Yvette Burke of Enterprise, Jordan Hendler of Admin Concepts, Frank LaViola, Scott Walton of Sherwin-Williams and Jeff
Full-year sales in 2022 are forecast to finish near 13.9 million units---a decrease of 8% from 2021 and the lowest level since 2011, when total new-vehicle sales were recovering from the Great Recession and reached only 12.7 million, according to forecasts released Dec. 28 by Cox Automotive and Kelley Blue Book.
On a monthly basis, newvehicle sales in December are expected to increase nearly 4% compared to the same month last year. Sales volume in December is expected to rise by nearly 11% compared to November, mostly due to two additional selling days in December.
The December 2022 auto sales pace, or seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR), however, is expected to finish near 13.2 million, a large decline from November’s 14.1 million pace.
Sales in 2022 are forecast to
the COVID-19 pandemic shut down much of the U.S. economy. Sales in 2020, according to Kelley Blue Book counts, were 14.6 million.
In what started as a year with a supply problem, 2022 is ending with a demand problem. Inventory levels have been increasing since late summer, and those gains have helped support increasing sales.
The supply gains, however, have been uneven, with many Asian bestsellers nearly unavailable, while many of the Detroit Three’s top products have ample supply.
In October, the SAAR reached 15.1 million, the best level since January and likely a result of improving inventory. As inventory improved, the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate increases have driven auto loan costs to levels not seen in more than 20 years, pushing some shoppers out of the market due to vehicle
October, the sales pace has declined significantly---by nearly 2 million units.
“This December, there were fewer giant red bows than dealers would have liked,” said Charles Chesbrough, senior economist at Cox Automotive. “Given the large improvement in supply levels, it seems likely that rising interest rates are now constraining demand in the retail auto market. With record-high prices and elevated loan rates, the pool of potential new-vehicle buyers is shrinking.”
As we head into 2023, Cox Automotive is expecting the economy to see weak growth as the Fed tightens monetary conditions and consumers wrestle with high interest rates. New-vehicle sales are forecast to increase modestly versus 2022, supported in part by growing fleet volume. Affordability will continue to be a challenge for vehicle buyers in the year ahead.
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MASSACHUSETTS
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353 Broadway – Route 1 North
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NEW JERSEY
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Crash Champions on Jan. 10 announced it expanded its New Jersey footprint through the acquisition of T Masters Collision Center. The acquisition officially closed Jan. 6.
T Masters Collision Center is located at 847 S. White Horse Pike in Hammonton, NJ. Following the acquisition, Crash Champions now operates four locations across the state and a nationwide lineup of more than 595 high-quality repair centers in 36 states---all providing customers with a seamless experience and written lifetime warranty on repair work.
“This is a great start to the year for our team as we welcome another high-quality collision repair operation to the Crash Champions team,” said Matt Ebert, Crash Champions founder and CEO. “T Masters has a celebrated legacy that dates back more than 30 years and a well-earned reputation for providing the South Jersey community with a premier collision repair experience. We look forward to honoring that culture while
infusing the nationwide scale and resources that come with the Crash Champions team.”
T Masters Collision Center operates an I-CAR Gold Class repair center with more than 10,000 square feet of production space. Its reputation and commitment to high-quality workmanship has also positioned the repair center to serve as a preferred location for several major insurance providers.
As one of the fastest-growing collision repair providers nationwide, Crash Champions added more than 400 high-quality repair centers and expanded to 18 new states in 2022.
For more information and to locate a local repair center, visit www.crashchampions.com. Independent collision repair centers and owners interested in joining the Crash Champions team are encouraged to visit www.crashchampions.com/sellyour-shop to learn more about the process and opportunities available.
Source: Crash Champions
PepsiCo is planning to deploy 100 Tesla Semis in 2023 that it purchased in 2017, and will begin delivering products to customers such as Walmart and Kroger, PepsiCo Vice President Mike O’Connell said on Dec. 16.
In an interview with Reuters, O’Connell added the company was buying the large allelectric trucks “outright” and is upgrading its plants. He said this includes the installation of four 750-kilowatt Tesla charging stalls at its Modesto and Sacramento locations in California.
“It’s a great starting point to electrify,” he said. “Like any early technology, the incentives help us build out the program.”
He said there were several development and infrastructure
costs. Although the company didn’t share details on the price of the trucks when asked, O’Connell said it was a good investment.
“We keep the trucks for a million miles, seven years. The operating costs over time will pay back,” he said.
PepsiCo plans to begin rolling out the Tesla Semis in the central U.S. and then the East Coast. O’Connell also said Tesla didn’t help pay for the megachargers for the vehicles, but it provided design and engineering services for the facilities.
The megachargers are equipped with solar and battery storage systems. O’Connell said it will take 35 to 45 minutes to recharge a Tesla Semi after a 425-mile trip carrying Frito-Lay products, which should bring the battery down to around 20%.
Classic Collision announced new acquisitions in Las Vegas and suburban Houston, bringing its total number of locations to 209 in 15 states.
Las Vegas Collision Center is now the third Classic Collision location in Las Vegas, while Dennis Collision Center in Conroe, TX, expands the company’s footprint in the Lone Star State.
Las Vegas Collision Center opened in 2000.
“Our system of operation is streamlined to make it as convenient as possible for our customers and know that Classic Collision will operate in that exact manner,” said Anna Daniellyan, former owner of Las Vegas Collision.
Dennis Collision Center opened in 2002 approximately 40 miles north of Houston.
“We have always provided turnkey jobs—from start to finish, knowing it will be professional and right and believe Classic Collision will too,” said Dennis Gorrell, former owner of Dennis Collision Center.
Source: Classic Collision
Innovative Solutions and Technology, LLC, a leading provider of collision repair equipment in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, and a top-tier supplier of GYS welding machines, AUTEL ADAS Systems and Chisum collision auto body repair tools, announced the addition of Karl Kirschenman
Innovative has retained Kirschenman for the newly-created director of business operations role, where he will lead the Innovative Solutions team.
Kirschenman is an automotive industry veteran who has extensive automotive experience. He has been a director of technology for an international, nonprofit organization that develops and delivers technical training programs and services to professionals in all areas of the automotive collision repair industry. He has overseen product development of well-known industry national accounts and sales team training for an industry-leading data provider. Most recently, Kirschenman was a director of corporate communication and technology for
an American subsidiary of a leading global manufacturer of collision repair equipment.
Kirschenman holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Northern Arizona University.“I am excited to join ISAT (Innovative Solutions and Technology) team as director of business operations,” Kirschenman said. “ISAT carries an incredible array of tools and equipment made to produce OEM-specified repairs. With ISAT’s extreme focus on delivering local sales, service and customer support, their core values align with my leadership style.
“After speaking with Nick Mattera and Todd Witten, co-owners of ISAT, it became apparent to me that I would be able to utilize all my skills to contribute to the growth of their business,” said Kirschenman. “I’m looking forward to engaging in all facets of ISAT’s operations to ensure that the organization continues to grow well into the future.”
Kirschenman’s job experience includes designing and installing complex technology solutions
and custom software interfaces, CRM administration, budgeting, marketing and brand strategist. Kirschenman has created, monitored and identified action items for various organizations to address performance KPIs. In his career, Kirschenman has extensive experience in social media post content creation.
“We are thrilled to bring Karl to the team at Innovative Solutions and Technology,” said Mattera. “I have known and respected Karl for over 15 years. To bring him here to the team at Innovative is something that we are all grateful and excited for.”
“As we continue focusing on the best value of collision repair equipment through product sales and training for our customers, Karl and his skillsets are exactly what we need as a company to guide us as a leader,” said Witten.Kirschenman can be reached at Innovative Solutions at Technology via email at karl@ isatwelding.com or by telephone at 973-348-9490 x 310.
Source: Innovative Solutions and Technology, LLC
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Ho man Porsche M-F 7am-5:30pm Sat 7:30am-3:30pm michael.belvedere@ho manauto.com 860.290.5536 860.290.6101 Fax
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Audi New London 490 Broad Street New London, CT 06320
860.447.5090
860.447.5099
patrick.brady@hoffmanauto.com
M-F 7-5:30, Sat 7:30-3:30
The 2023 New York International Automobile Show announced it will be held April 7-16 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.
The annual automobile spectacular is doubling its electrification effort with an expanded multi-brand Electric Vehicle Test Track with more vehicles, industry participation, sponsors and more elaborate automaker EV tracks on Level 3.
“Auto shows are a fundamental component of every car company wanting to influence buyer behavior. No other event can create this volume of direct vehicle contact and brand awareness,” said New York Auto Show President Mark Schienberg
This year’s show also includes more OEM and specially curated displays and an even bigger aftermarket showcase called “Never Ride Stock,” featuring the biggest names in the specialty equipment industry, the latest custom vehicle trends and some of the most extreme tuner cars.
The New York Auto Show is also where the business of the industry gets done and the uniquely
important 2023 New York Auto Show includes the nation’s leading industry events during its Press Preview days.
with a program more important than ever as traffic fatalities continue to rise in the U.S. The Media Post Automotive Advertising Conference—the largest and most influential media, marketing and advertising online site—will return with an increased lineup of speakers and programs to round out the lineup of exciting and important 2023 industry events and symposiums.
was instrumental in providing consumers an opportunity to experience electric vehicles firsthand and a survey by J.D Power revealed that nearly four out of every 10 of our test track participants had no prior EV exposure, and that’s why we are doubling our efforts this year,” said Schienberg.
Kick-starting the week, the Automotive Forum—created by J.D. Power, the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) and the New York Auto Show—returns with the biggest names in the industry April 4. The exceptional World Car Awards—the No. 1 automotive awards program in the world—returns with its unique program designed to celebrate the best of the best that the auto industry has to offer on a uniquely global scale.
The prominent World Traffic Safety Symposium also returns
With more than 80,000 attendee rides through multiple indoor and outdoor tracks last year, the spring show will increase opportunities for OEMs to engage with consumers. Chevrolet, Nissan, Kia, VinFast, INDI, Volkswagen and Volvo knocked it out of the park last year at the show’s multibrand Electric Vehicle Test Track. Thanks to the exceptional success of the brands taking part, the 2023 show is growing its electric vehicle presence with more new vehicles, industry participants, sponsors and an even larger track.
“The NYIAS EV Test Track
J.D. Power interviewed more than 100 EV test track participants and found simply riding in an EV increased purchase consideration for seven out of every 10 participants. For some, the lift was even greater. The data also showed the positive impact of EV exposure on purchase/lease consideration, with seven out of 10 EV Test Track participants saying they are now more likely to consider purchasing or leasing an EV based on their event experience.
With nearly 1 million square feet of exhibit space on four different levels, the New York Auto Show is a unique marketing event that continues to draw unprecedented numbers of car buyers from the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut metro area, as it has done since 1900.
Source: New York Auto Show
By Emily Thurlow Daily Hampshire Gazette
Investigators have found no evidence the fire that devastated Ed’s Auto Body & Repair Inc. in December was intentionally set or the result of arson, according to Jake Wark, spokesman for the Massachusetts Office of the State Fire Marshal.
The fire at the auto body shop on Mechanic Street in Easthampton, MA, which has been in business at that site for more than 44 years, started on the morning of Sunday, Dec. 11.
“They (investigators) identified some potential factors, all of which were accidental, but the scope of the damage made it impossible to determine exactly how it began,” Wark said in a statement.
The shop’s owners, Ed and Joann Nalewanski, said they knew in their hearts it wasn’t anything they had done that could have caused the fire. For several years, Ed Nalewanski had made a point to stop welding at the site by 3:30 p.m. during business hours in case of a rogue spark and there were never any issues.
Joann Nalewanski said she was told by the insurance company the fire started in the rafters above
the office where there are several electrical wires and spread to the left and right of the building swiftly.
“When the fire department arrived, the building was already engulfed in flames, but it wasn’t their fault. They were there within minutes, but the smoke detectors didn’t pick up the
below, the fire department would have been alerted sooner.”
In the meantime, the charred structure remains in place as the Nalewanskis wait for further review from their insurance company.
“It’s not safe to go into the building yet. Over the weekend, another part of the roof collapsed,” said Joann Nalewanski. “The hold up right now is the insurance company. We’re waiting for them to see it like it is. They were supposed to be here on Dec. 26, but they never came.”
working together to get the business back up and running.”
In the days following the fire, members of the community have reached out offering cards, letters, gift baskets and desserts. One
smoke until it had spread down to the other parts of the building,” she said. “We had installed a $20,000 fire alarm system last year, which is automatically hooked up to the fire department. Had the fire started
The couple offered gratitude for the property’s landlord, Charles Patterson, who has been working with them as they hope to rebuild. Joann Nalewanski said while they’re waiting for the existing structure to be demolished, Patterson has been discussing clearing out the property to the left of the current structure to help facilitate the building of a new structure.
“We’ve been looking at Morton steel buildings because they could go up quicker,” she said. “We’re all
customer even suggested starting a GoFundMe online fundraiser to support the business, but the couple respectfully declined and instead suggested donating a toy to the Easthampton Community Center.
After learning the city’s police and fire departments were hosting a toy drive, Joann and Ed Nalewanski went shopping for a few toys to donate to their drive as well.
“It’s Christmastime and times are so tough out there. For our
“The crew has been with me for so long, they wanna come back and want to reopen. Hopefully it will all fall into place.”
ED NAWLESKI OWNER, ED’S AUTO BODY & REPAIR INC.
generation, we can get through this. We have insurance. But young families, with utilities and rent, we wanted to do something for the community,” she said.
One of the few items the couple was able to salvage from the blaze was a wreath with a scorched bow, which Joann Nalewanski thanked Fire Chief Christopher Norris for finding.
In addition to the building itself, the shop had seven vehicles inside in various states of repair and restoration, including a one-of-akind Dodge Challenger Hellcat. Unfortunately, all seven have been deemed total losses, according to Joann Nalewanski.
“The owner of the Hellcat told us that he would be our first customer once we reopen if it was salvageable. When we had to break the news to him, he was so understanding. In fact, every single one of our customers have been wonderful and so understanding,” she said.
Prior to the fire, Ed’s Auto Body & Repair was booked almost solid until March. While many customers with vehicles in need of cosmetic repairs said they’ll wait for the shop to reopen, the Nalewanskis have made a number of referrals to other area shops for those customers with more urgent vehicle concerns.
“We have three generations of customers and they’re all so loyal. I can’t say enough about them, the fire department, our neighbors … the community has just been terrific,” said Joann Nalewanski.
For now, the biggest challenge for Joann Nalewanski continues to be trying to comfort her husband, whom she called her “soulmate.” The couple has been together for 41 years and married for 39.
“Ed was always the first one in and the last one out. Besides me, that was his life,” she said. “To have this happen to him, it’s disheartening to me. I just can’t comfort him enough. He’s broken and upset.”
Ed Nawleski started his business on May 1, 1978, in a single bay on Mechanic Street. Over the years, his wife says he’s continued to pitch in wherever the business needed it, whether it was stepping in for a sick employee wet sanding and buffing a vehicle for a few weeks or staying open to finish a job and offering customers a meal.
Right now, one of his big concerns is the shop’s 10 employees and reopening.
“It’s overwhelming,” he said. “The crew has been with me for so long, they wanna come back and want to reopen. Hopefully it will all fall into place.”
Despite continuing challenges around vehicle supply, staffing shortages, demand shifts and the cloud of a recession, the
Meanwhile, the estimated number of new vehicles sold into rental fleets in 2022 represents less than half the total number of vehicles sold in 2019. However, rental companies are holding their cars in fleets longer to compensate.
The high-pricing, tight fleet environment drove another new record for revenue per unit per month (RPU) of $1,424.
U.S. car rental industry earned an estimated $36.1 billion in revenue for 2022, based on data collected by Bobit.
That yearly total represents a 24.7% growth over 2019’s record year and is likely the highest yearover-year gain in industry history.
“This year’s results are a testimony to the agility of the industry to change with the rapid fluctuations of market conditions and supply and demand,” said Chris Brown, executive editor of Auto Rental News.
“I never would’ve guessed the industry would’ve rebounded this quickly exiting the pandemic to reach record revenues. That said, the environment isn’t one to relax in, as those same pressures will ease only slightly in 2023.”
A $1.25 million settlement agreement was reached with DMO Auto Acquisitions, LLC, dba Dan O’Brien Kia, to resolve allegations of unfair and deceptive acts or practices committed at the Dan O’Brien Kia dealership in Concord, NH, New Hampshire Attorney General John M. Formella announced Dec. 19.
The settlement, approved that day by the Merrimack Superior Court, requires DMO to comply with a series of strict injunctive terms over the next five years to ensure consumers are protected from similar practices in the future.
An investigation by the Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau revealed DMO employees engaged in three distinct types of deceptive acts or practices: they persuaded consumers into purchasing vehicles they could not afford, falsely inflated consumer income information on loan applications and forged the signature of a customer on loan paperwork.
The bureau started investigating the company’s business practices after the volume of consumer complaints filed against DMO drastically increased between 20192021.
The investigation revealed that between 2019 and 2020, DMO used a sales pitch referred to as either the credit repair program, credit rehabilitation program or the sixmonth financing program.
The program was used as a lastditch effort to close a sale when a customer informed DMO the terms of the approved financing were outside of their price range, and to convince customers to agree to accept loans they admittedly could not afford.
Customers were told they had qualified for the program and if they made timely payments on the loan for six months, the customer’s credit would improve significantly and DMO would then be able to assist the customer in refinancing the loan to a more affordable rate.
The investigation revealed that program did not actually exist and was nothing more than a carefully calculated sales pitch. There were no written policies, procedures, literature or information available for the customers to review. The program was not endorsed or affiliated with any financial institution despite representations by salesmen that it was affiliated with well-known banks.
Customers who relied on employees’ assurances they would refinance the customers’ loans after six months of timely payments were ultimately left in a contractual obligation to pay a loan they could not afford.
The investigation also revealed DMO was deceptively inflating the income of potential borrowers on applications for financing approval.
Between 2019 and 2020, customers interested in applying for financing were required to provide their monthly income as part of the application process. A DMO employee would then use the customer’s monthly income, as well as other information, to solicit financing offers from various banks and credit unions.
On several occasions between 2019-2020, DMO employees would submit a customer’s accurate information only to receive declinations from all potential financing sources. DMO employees would then resubmit customer applications shortly after receiving declinations and would falsely increase the income of
potential borrowers on subsequent applications in order to increase the chances of obtaining approval.
The investigation also revealed in one instance, a customer’s signature was forged on loan documents then submitted without the customer’s approval. In addition to forging the loan documents, the DMO employee signed the customer up for multiple insurance products the customer had expressly stated she did not want. The insurance documents were also submitted without the customer’s knowledge or approval.
DMO will be required to:
Make a payment of $1.25 million to the attorney general on behalf of the state.
Reimburse the attorney general for $49,209.50 in legal costs incurred in the investigation of this matter.
Hire an independent compliance monitor to review and report on its business practices for the next five years. The monitor will work closely with the Attorney General’s Office to ensure DMO remains in full compliance with state consumer
protection laws.
Audio and video record all substantive financing discussions that occur between DMO employees and customers.
Pay restitution to two consumers who were victims of the deceptive sales practices.
Implement an approved training and education program for all DMO staff to ensure knowledge of and compliance with state consumer protection laws.
The case was investigated by Senior Assistant Attorney General Brandon Garod and Investigator Calice Ducey of the Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau.
If you or someone you know has experienced unfair or deceptive acts or practices by a New Hampshire business, contact the Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau of the Attorney General’s Office by calling (603) 271-3641.
Source: New Hampshire Department of Justice
As auto manufacturer websites become increasingly important to shoppers, overall satisfaction for manufacturer websites is also growing, up 11 points on a 1,000-point scale for the premium segment to 722 and 3 points for the mass market segment to 708, according to the J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Manufacturer Website Evaluation Study—Winter, released Jan. 9.
When shoppers use certain tools, specifically the build and price, vehicle compare, 360° viewer and payment/lease calculator, the likelihood of the shopper to consider the brand increases by 11 percentage points.
“In today’s shopping environment, manufacturer websites must have a robust set of tools for shoppers to use,” said Jon Sundberg, director of digital solutions at J.D. Power. “Not only is it important to have the tools, they also need to be easily discoverable, well-designed and intuitive to use to significantly
drive brand consideration.”
The J.D. Power U.S. Manufacturer Website Evaluation Study is a semiannual study that measures customer satisfaction of automotive manufacturer
premium manufacturer websites with a score of 749. BMW (742) ranks second and Infiniti (740) ranks third.
Jeep ranks highest among mass market manufacturer websites with a score of 727. Dodge (725) and Nissan (725) rank second in a tie. GMC (719) and Mazda (719) rank fourth in a tie.
websites during the process of shopping for a new vehicle by examining four key measures, in order of importance: information/ content, visual appeal, navigation and speed.
Land Rover ranks highest among
The U.S. Manufacturer Website Evaluation Study, initially released in 1999, is based on responses from 10,487 new-vehicle shoppers who indicate they will be in the market for a new vehicle within the next 24 months. The study was fielded in October-November 2022.
For more information about the U.S. Manufacturer Website Evaluation Study, visit www. jdpower.com/business/resource/ us-manufacturer-websiteevaluation-study
Source: J.D. Power
A Ford Super Duty truck roof lawsuit alleges occupants are injured and killed in rollover crashes because the truck roofs are weak and dangerous.
The class action lawsuit includes 1999-2016 Ford F-250, F-350, F-450 and F-550 Super Duty trucks that allegedly have roofs that cannot handle the weight of the trucks in rollover incidents.
Even if the crash impact leaves truck occupants unscathed, the roofs allegedly collapse onto the occupants as the trucks roll over.
Ford truck roof-crush class action lawsuits began being filed following a Georgia court case where the jury awarded $1.7 billion to the family of two 2002 Ford F-250 Super Duty truck occupants.
The crash was allegedly caused by a Pep Boys service shop that installed the wrong size tire on the Ford F-250, which caused the tire to blow out. The truck rolled, which caused the roof to collapse.
The class action alleges the Ford Super Duty trucks are built
around steel frames which should maintain the form and structure of the trucks to keep occupants safe.
But the plaintiffs assert the Super Duty steel frames aren’t strong enough to support the weight of the trucks, which causes the roofs to collapse onto occupants in rollover crashes.
“The Roof Defect has caused serious injury, paralysis and death to vehicle drivers and occupants. Ford has repeatedly been found liable for injuries and deaths resulting from the Roof Defect in the over 160 wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits that have been filed against it regarding the Defect,” according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit further alleges that with more than 5 million Super Duty trucks equipped with defective weak roofs, Ford has allegedly admitted more than “80 incidents of roof crush resulting from the Defect.”
According to the plaintiffs, the allegedly weak defective roofs also affect safety features such as the Safety Canopy System, which is advertised as a way to increase safety in rollover crashes.
Those plaintiffs also claim
their 1999-2016 Ford Super Duty trucks have lost their resale values because of the roofs.
According to the Super Duty roof class action lawsuit, “Ford must buy back these dangerous Vehicles or reimburse Plaintiffs and Vehicle Owners and Lessees for the serious risk inherent in continuing to drive them.”
The Ford Super Duty truck roof lawsuit was filed by these plaintiffs:
Curtis Bright, Washington, 2000 Ford Super Duty Extended Cab
William P. Griffitt, Oklahoma, 2000 Ford F-250 Lariat Super Duty
Desmond Rains, Oregon, 1999 Ford F-350 Super Duty
Ivan Tellez, California, 2016 Ford F-350 Super Duty
Kevin Thomas, Kentucky, 2002 Ford F-250 Super Duty
The Ford Super Duty roof class action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (San Francisco Division): Bright, et al., v. Ford Motor Company.
The plaintiffs are represented by Keller Rohrback L.L.P.
I-CAR on Dec. 15 announced
Jaguar Land Rover has joined I-CAR’s Sustaining Partner Program, designed to fund the various initiatives that drive I-CAR’s vision that every person in the collision repair industry has the information, knowledge and skills required to perform complete, safe and quality repairs for the ultimate benefit of the consumer.
The move builds upon Jaguar Land Rover’s longstanding training partnership with I-CAR, which provides customized training programs to Jaguar Land Rover’s Authorized Repair Network facilities throughout North America.
Since the program’s founding in 2017, I-CAR Sustaining Partners has helped fund I-CAR curriculum and student fees in career and technical schools, which have become I-CAR fixed training sites; that funding exceeds $3 million. Sustaining Partners has also funded all Industry Training Alliance training credit fees for individuals who train with curriculum from approved Industry Training Alliance partners.
Source: I-CAR
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844-895-6839
860-274-5471
860-274-0617 Fax
M-F 7:30am-5:30pm Sat 7:30am-4pm
John.musco@hoffmanauto.com
Maryland
BMW of Catonsville Catonsville
855-996-2906
410-818-2600 Fax
M-F 8am-5pm www.bmwofcatonsville.com
BMW of Silver Spring Silver Spring
301-890-3015
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During a recent meeting I had with my SPARTAN 300 20 Group, we reviewed some vehicle crash test videos posted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, like one showing a side crash test of a 2022 Toyota Corolla.
A preventative maintenance alignment—what people were talking about years ago when they said, “Set the toe and let it go”—are the typical $89 alignments to make sure the vehicle handles properly and the tires don’t wear unevenly.
trying to avoid that by putting some weight in the vehicle instead: Stop it! Follow the OEM procedures. I have seen only two automakers that give you procedures for how to do that instead of filling.
We may also have to do some advanced diagnosis. The subframe could be misaligned, for example. If you let the subframe bolts loose and it jumps, that tells you it’s got some pressure on it. You may also have to adjust a cross-member for torque steer.
There’s just a lot more that we have to do.
37% of shops said they were paid “always” or “most of the time” for a pre-diagnostic alignment by the eight largest national insurers. That was up to 45% in last year’s survey.
In the video, if you watch the tires on the vehicle as it gets pushed sideways by the sled, you can see they leave black marks on the floor just as they would if they scraped against the pavement in a real collision.
Watching this, the question came up: Could that create flat spots on the tires?
One of our group’s members checked the run-out on tires on collision damaged vehicles in their shop using the Hunter Road Force Elite, and found more than 27% of the tires they checked did have flat spots.
That led us to a discussion about alignments. We know more and more vehicle system calibrations require an alignment prior to the calibrations. And more and more alignments require a calibration of some system after the alignment. It won’t take you long looking through automaker repair procedures to know more and more automakers are saying an alignment is necessary any time a vehicle has been in an accident. Electronic stability systems are just one of the systems that rely on the vehicle being properly aligned.
Given all this, I believe in today’s collision world, you really need to be able to do alignments in-house.
I know some of you will say: But the bill-payer only wants to pay me $89 for an in-house alignment. But let’s remember there are at least four different types of alignments.
But there are also “symptom alignments,” where the customer comes in to say their car is pulling or they’re experiencing a shudder or shimmy. There are also “performance alignments” for someone who wants their alignment to a certain spec ahead of going to the racetrack.
But what we’re doing in our industry are “collision alignments,” which are very different than these other types of alignments. The work involved in these alignments starts during intake of the vehicle. At that point, we need more information about the accident. We need to ask what the weather conditions were; the tires on a vehicle hit on dry pavement are going to grip the road more, more likely resulting in a flat spot.
We need to understand if the vehicle left the road, vertically or horizontally. Did it hit a curb? How many occupants were in the vehicle? How fast was the vehicle moving? Were the brakes applied at the time of impact? Is the steering wheel offcenter? All of these things can impact the repair and alignment of the vehicle.
It’s also important to understand all we have to do as part of a collision alignment that is not included in those $89 alignments. We may need to do a steering angle sensor reset. We may have to empty unnecessary customer cargo. We may have to ensure the gas tank is full, and all the other fluid levels are full.
By the way, for those of you
Being able to do alignments inhouse is also important because I believe that in order to write an accurate damage analysis, a prealignment check is necessary. I’ve been heartened to see in our “Who Pays for What?” surveys over the years that more shops are reporting regularly being paid for this procedure. Back in 2015, only
Still, about two in five shops acknowledge never having sought to be paid for this important process. I’d like to think those shops are doing the pre-alignment check and just not billing for the labor involved, but I’m also concerned some of them are not taking vehicle alignment into account early in the process as they should be.
Six
“We know that more and more vehicle system calibrations require an alignment prior to the calibrations.”
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The Ford F-150 Lightning is charging into the new year as the North American Truck of the Year™.
This is the latest award in the electric truck’s trophy case and marks the third straight NACTOY Truck of the Year award for Ford. It’s also the fifth NACTOY award for Ford in the past three years.
“Earning North America’s Truck of the Year is huge for the team that has been working so hard to build and deliver as many Lightnings as possible, as quickly as possible,” said Jim Farley, Ford president and CEO. “We’re moving fast to further ramp production to a 150,000 run rate this fall and pushing to improve every aspect of this truck. We’ve started delivering Lightnings from the factory with a fantastic new user interface update to improve the driver experience that we’ll also roll out to all of our Lightning owners over-the-air.”
The F-150 Lightning is the bestselling electric truck in the U.S. since its launch in May 2022, with sales totaling 15,617, helping Ford to become the No. 2 EV automaker
in the U.S. in 2022.
“When America’s best-selling vehicle goes electric you know the transition has momentum,” said Karl Brauer, NACTOY juror and freelance journalist for Forbes. “Ford’s effort to create an all-electric F-150 is remarkable because it combines the standard truck’s dimensions, which means it retains massive aftermarket support, with substantial upgrades to areas like storage and mobile power support. It’s really the best of all worlds, giving the F-150 Lightning a wide range of applications for both traditional and new-to-the-segment truck customers.”
To win the North American Truck of the Year, vehicles must be
new or substantially changed for the year. The jury of 50 professional automotive journalists from across North America choose a winner based on innovation, design, safety, performance, technology, user experience, driver satisfaction and value.
North American Truck of the Year is the latest award in the F-150 Lightning trophy case. Others include Motor Trend Truck of the Year, The Car Connection Best Car to Buy, Edmunds Top Rated, Detroit Free Press Truck of the Year, Green Car Reports Best Car to Buy, TIME Top 200 Invention of 2022, 2023 Kelley Blue Book Best Buy Award, 2022 Altair Enlighten Award, Sobre Ruedas 2022 Awards, Wards 10 Best Engines & Propulsion Systems, Internet Brands Best Car to Buy, Victory & Reseda Vehicle of the Year, TopGear.com 2022 American Car of the Year, Autoblog Technology of the Year 2022, Motor1 Star Awards, CarBuzz Save the Planet award and multiple Sabre awards.
Source: Ford
asTech, a Repairify company, on Jan. 11 announced the full deployment of its patented Rules Engine, which presents users with the most accurate and cost-effective diagnostic scan type for the vehicle throughout the blue printing process and repair workflow.
The new feature gives asTech customers access to the most accurate way to identify the diagnostic and calibration scan tools that read all of a car’s OEM modules correctly—versus those that don’t— down to the year, make, model and trim. With the Rules Engine enabled, asTech users, insurance carriers and their customers can be confident with the accuracy and cost of the recommended scan type.
To build the Rules Engine, Repairify’s research and development team scanned tens of thousands of vehicles from different years, makes, models and trim levels with the leading aftermarket tools available, then compared the results to the relevant OEM tool. Researchers used like-for-like tools on the same cars at the same time to ensure accuracy.
Source: AsTech
The short days and messy weather of January are combining to keep people off the roads, lowering gasoline demand. But the price of oil rose as fears of a global economic recession eased.
The national average for a gallon of gas rose by five cents over the previous week to $3.32 as of Jan. 17.
“Gasoline demand is usually lackluster this time of year,” said Andrew Gross, AAA spokesperson, “and it likely won’t start to tick up until spring break draws near. So the primary factor in this latest increase is the higher cost of oil, which accounts for more than half of what you pay at the pump.”
According to data from the Energy Information Administration, gas demand barely budged over the same week, rising slightly from 7.51 million b/d to 7.56 b/d. Meanwhile,
total domestic gasoline stocks rose from 222.7 million bbl to 226.8 million bbl. Flat gasoline demand and increased supply are contributing to limited pump price increases.
The Jan. 17 national average of $3.32 is 17 cents more than a month ago and a penny more than a year ago.
The nation’s top 10 largest weekly increases: Colorado (+32 cents), Georgia (+30 cents), Indiana (+17 cents), Nebraska (+13 cents), Wyoming (+12 cents), Illinois (+10 cents), New Mexico (+10 cents), Texas (+9 cents), Washington, D.C. (+7 cents) and Utah (+7 cents).
The nation’s top 10 most expensive markets: Hawaii ($4.98), California ($4.42), Washington ($4.00), Nevada ($3.94), Alaska ($3.71), Oregon ($3.68), Pennsylvania ($3.64), Washington, D.C. ($3.53), Illinois ($3.52) and New York ($3.44).
Source: AAA
Ford F-Series will surpass 640,000 trucks in 2022, making it America’s bestselling truck for 46 consecutive years and America’s bestselling vehicle for 41 years after selling an average of at least one F-Series Truck every 49 seconds in 2022.
From F-150 to F-550 chassis cab, entry level XL to well-equipped Limited, EcoBoost to the all-electric F-150 Lightning, lined bumper to bumper, all of the Ford F-Series trucks sold last year would stretch approximately 2,400 miles, or further than the driving distance from Los Angeles to Detroit.
“The Ford truck team’s ability to anticipate customer needs, continuously innovate and provide best-in-class levels of capability and performance has helped make F-Series the sales leader time and time again,” said Kumar Galhotra , president, Ford Blue. “We’re honored and humbled that our customers have helped
us achieve this milestone for more than four decades.”
F-Series celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2023 and continues to set the tone for innovation, leading the industry with the allelectric F-150 Lightning, which began sales in 2022 and immediately became the best-selling EV pickup on the market. Furthermore, the allnew F-Series Super Duty, with ground-breaking capability and features, has racked up an incredible 150,000 orders, further cementing F-Series as the truck of choice for heavy-duty truck buyers. First deliveries start early this year.
With Maverick, Ranger, F-150, Super Duty, all the way up to F-750, Ford offers America’s broadest lineup of trucks to best deliver on the needs of customers and is the only one that is Built Ford Tough.
S ource: Ford
The National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) announced its officers for its 2023 Board of Directors. The officers were elected during the annual ASE board meeting held in Arizona.
The officers are Chair Homer Hogg, vice president of truck service, TravelCenters of America; Vice Chair Tom Trisdale, vice president of quality, Toyota; Treasurer Jason Rainey, vice president of NAPA AutoCare; Secretary John Wolf, president of Snap-on Business Solutions; and Past Chair Brad Pellman, president of Pellman’s Automotive.
“Volunteer leadership is instrumental in helping ASE set an agenda and fulfill the established mission each year,” said Tim Zilke, ASE president and CEO.
ASE also elected three new governors to its board of governors: Stacy Balzar, Ford; Elisha Huddleston, GM; and Gary Uyematsu, BMW.
Source: ASE
The Ram Truck brand introduced a visionary road map Jan. 5 at CES 2023 with its Ram 1500 Revolution Battery-electric Vehicle (BEV) Concept, which provides a glimpse into the future and demonstrates how the industry’s leading truck brand will once again redefine the pickup truck segment.
The leading-edge Ram 1500 Revolution BEV Concept showcased a truckload of innovative features that will be seen in future Ram trucks and in particular on Ram’s electrification journey.
Ram will differentiate itself by offering a portfolio of fully electrified solutions to better meet customer needs, including a segment-redefining Ram 1500 BEV in 2024. The entire Ram lineup will offer electrified solutions with leading-edge advanced technology in the years to come. The Ram 1500 Revolution BEV Concept establishes how Ram will push past competitors’ future EV offerings.
“The Ram 1500 Revolution BEV Concept is our clearest signal yet that we’re on the precipice of something extraordinary at Ram and points directly to where we’re going on our electrified journey,”
“The Ram Revolution represents several important things to the Ram brand,” Koval added. “Of course, it’s our new Ram 1500 Revolution BEV Concept that serves as a roadmap to our electrified future. Yet Ram Revolution is also our philosophy as we redefine the pickup segment, with a steady drumbeat of announcements and initiatives as we embark on our electrified journey.”
said Mike Koval Jr., Ram brand CEO-Stellantis. “At Ram, we’ve redefined what pickup trucks can be, and we will do so again by pushing past what competitors are offering by delivering the best electric pickups on the market.”
The Ram 1500 Revolution BEV Concept is part of Ram’s significant contribution to Stellantis’ Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan to lead the way the world moves by delivering innovative, clean, safe and affordable mobility solutions.
Ram will once again redefine the pickup truck segment with its revolutionary Ram 1500 BEV production model in 2024. It will be the leader in a combination of areas customers care about the most: range, towing, payload and charge time. More news on the production version will be available in the coming months.
Source: Ram
Maryland
Ourisman Chevrolet
MARLOW HEIGHTS
800-358-7788
301-899-6990 Direct
301-899-9375 Fax
M-F 7:30 am - 6 pm
Sat 8 am - 4 pm wholesale@ourisman.com www.ourismanchevrolet.com
Ourisman Chevrolet of Rockville ROCKVILLE
800-345-4640
301-424-5332 Local
301-294-6381 Fax
M-F 7 - 5:30
Massachusetts
Balise Chevrolet Buick GMC Business Elite SPRINGFIELD
413-233-2185
413-733-8617 Fax
M-F 8 - 5
lvazquez@baliseauto.com
Boch Chevrolet NORWOOD
800-559-9210
781-762-9210
800-991-1009 Fax
M-F 7:30 - 5 bchwholesale@boch.com
Long Cadillac SOUTHBOROUGH
508-820-9322
800-982-2258
508-879-1212 Fax
M-F 7:30 - 5
tschube@longauto.com
Marty’s Buick GMC KINGSTON
800-870-7573
781-585-7570
781-585-2966 Fax
M-F 7:30 - 5:30; Sat 8 - 4 brucem@martysbuickgmc.com
Massachusetts
Mastria Buick
Cadillac GMC
RAYNHAM
888-572-1045
508-822-4074 Fax
M-Th 7:30 - 7:30; F 7:30 - 6 Sat 7:30 - 5 wholesale@mastria.com
New Jersey
Barlow Chevrolet
DELRAN
800-220-1452
856-461-8417
856-764-1498 Fax
M-F 7 - 6; Sat 8 - 4 pseay@barlowautogroup.com
Cadillac of Mahwah
MAHWAH
201-579-6497
201-579-6506 Fax
M-F 7 - 5
Malouf Buick GMC NORTH BRUNSWICK
800-669-6256
732-821-5410
732-821-7549 Fax
M-F 8 - 4:30; Sat 8 - 1 bsnyder@malouf.com
Malouf Chevrolet Cadillac
NORTH BRUNSWICK
800-769-6256
732-821-1517 Fax
M-F 7:30 - 5 kdiperi@malouf.com
Nielsen Chevrolet DOVER
973-366-1730
973-366-5867 Fax
M-F 7 - 4:30; Sat 8 - 4:30 parts@nielsenchevy.com
New Jersey
Open Road Cadillac FLORHAM PARK
973-845-3014
973-538-6978 Fax
M-F 7 - 5 Christopher.salgado@openroad.com
Open Road Chevrolet UNION
800-981-9451
908-686-2727
908-687-4267 Fax
M-F 8 - 5; Sat 8 - 4 Christopher.salgado@openroad.com
New York
Cadillac of Manhattan NEW YORK CITY
212-765-0909
718-392-6570 Fax
M-F 8 am - 5 pm Sat 8 am - 4 pm vdeliso@bramautogroup.com www.cadillacofmanhattan.com
DePaula Chevrolet ALBANY
800-727-8357
518-489-0184 Fax
M-F 7:30 - 6; Sat 8 - 5 parts@depaula.com
East Syracuse Chevy EAST SYRACUSE
315-437-5464
315-437-0878 Fax
M-F 7:30 - 5; Sat 8 - 3 partsdept@esyrchevy.com
New York
West Herr Chevrolet ORCHARD PARK
716-662-7707
716-688-5519 Fax
M-F 7:30 - 5; Sat 8 - 4 sgraham@westherr.com
Pennsylvania
Blaise Alexander Chevrolet
GREENCASTLE
717-597-2131
717-597-6932 Fax
M-F 8 - 5; Sat 8-2 jsnyder@blaisealexander.com
Tom Hesser Chevrolet SCRANTON
800-435-9586
570-558-3677
570-342-8645 Fax
M-F 8 - 5; Sat 8 - 2 mhanson@tomhesser.com
Presenters at online events this fall aimed at dealership service departments offered some information and ideas about employee recruitment and retention that could be equally helpful for collision repair businesses.
Meredith Collins of Carlisle & Company, for example, said that company’s research across multiple automakers’ dealerships found those companies lose an average of 29% of technicians annually.
“So almost a third are leaving dealerships each year,” Collins said. “We’re losing a great deal of money when we lose a single tech [let alone] when you extrapolate it to the whole industry.”
communication between service advisors and technicians. They found a significant disconnect on this topic, with the majority of service advisors thinking they communicate properly, but fewer than 30% of technicians saying that was the case from their viewpoint. This impacts performance, Collins said.
“The technicians who strongly disagree that they are communicated with well are much less productive than those who say they are,” she said. “They are turning fewer hours, and earning less money if they think that there’s not good communication.”
Another speaker, WrenchWay founder Jay Goninen, said the technician turnover at dealerships is even more problematic than it may seem at first glance.
said. “You’ve got to be able to be better as a manager and as a leader to really have their best interests in mind.”
A CRASH Network survey earlier this year found one in five collision repair shops had an opening for a detailer, and nearly twice as many were looking to hire a body or paint department apprentice.
Joel Fumo , founder and CEO of Citrin, said all industries are short on this type of hourly, 17- to 24-year-old employee, so collision repair businesses are competing not just with each other for such workers, but also with Target, Costco and Whole Foods.
organization that have moved up from the type of position you are offering them.
“Testimonials from people they can relate to is huge when it comes to attracting people,” he said. Employers also need to move quickly.
“Time to hire is everything,” Fumo said. “Make sure you’re quickly getting them on the phone or in for an in-person interview. Get them earning a paycheck as quickly as possible. We see [clients] having up to a two- or three-week hiring cycle. When it comes to hourly employees, they can’t wait around that long for a paycheck.”
She pointed to several factors driving that turnover. The company’s surveys of technicians found only about a quarter of them expressed satisfaction with their job.
“They overwhelmingly wouldn’t recommend this career, which has implications on our ability to recruit new technicians into this space,” Collins said.
One driver of that dissatisfaction appears to be pay methodologies. She shared a chart showing technicians paid hourly or by salary are more likely to express job satisfaction; those paid flat-rate were the group with the lowest percentage of job satisfaction. She noted those employees pointed to the time they spend at work for which they are not paid.
“What we’ve heard from technicians in the last year is that nearly one third of their time while they are at work is non-compensated time,” she said. “They estimate this is costing them about $17,000 a year on average. So it’s a huge amount of money they see they are leaving on the table.”
But Collins said it’s also not just about the money.
Carlisle & Company also surveys dealership service personnel about their perception of the
“What we’re hearing is that it’s not techs just leaving one dealership to go to another. They’re leaving the industry,” Goninen said. “When we’re already coming from behind, it really puts us in a bad position. They have a perception that all shops are the same, and that they’re going to get treated the same way. Some of them have probably experienced that.”
Employers, he said, need to find ways to portray themselves as a different and better place to work, with a well-designed career path for technicians.
“For the longest time, we pinned it on just Millennials wanting to know what their career path is,” he said. “But think about that 55-year-old tech out
His Ohio-based company specializes in recruiting for such entry-level positions, primarily for dealerships. He said it requires thinking about what these young people want in a job: a flexible schedule, competitive pay and opportunity for career growth.
“Our benchmark for wages is Chick-fil-A,” he said. “We try to be as close [in pay] as we can to Chick-fil-A in any market.”
Show them people within your
Other companies, he said, are converting applications to a new hire in three or four days.
Lastly, he said, your company has to be a place where people want to work.
“Culture is really everything that drives our ability to recruit and retain great people,” he said.
John Yoswick has covered the collision industry since 1988, is the editor of CRASH Network and can be contacted at john@CrashNetwork. com.
there, whose body may not be feeling the best right now. You have another 10 years to work. You probably want to know what your career path is more than anybody.”
Having a genuine interest in your employees’ goals and interests can’t be something you just talk about, he said.
“If you treat people like a number and are surprised when people are leaving, I think that’s on you,” Goninen
“If you treat people like a number and are surprised when people are leaving, I think that’s on you.”
JAY GONINEN WRENCHWAY FOUNDER
Napoli Indoor Kia Milford
203-876-3331
(203) 876-3325 Fax
8am-6pm Mon-Fri
paulc@napolimotors.com
Gary Rome Kia Enfield
860-253-5095
(860) 265-2674 Fax
8am-7pm Mon-Thu
8am-5pm Fri; 8am-4pm Sat parts@garyromekia.com
Kia of Attleboro
South Attleboro
508-761-9300
(508) 761-0768 Fax
8am-8pm Mon, Wed; 8am-5pm Tue, Thu, Fri 8am-4pm Sat frank@courtesyma.com www.courtesyma.com
Lev Kia of Framingham
Framingham
800-462-1014
(508) 626-1585 Fax
7:30am-6pm Mon-Fri
parts@levkia.com
Bob Bell Kia Baltimore
800-638-4967
(410) 285-1376 Fax
7am-7pm Mon-Fri
7am-5pm Sat
smelson@bobbell.com
NEW JERSEY
Liberty Kia Ramsey
201-818-8995
(201) 783-8848 Fax
8am-5pm Mon-Sat
joel@libertykiaofnj.com www.libertykiaofnj.com
NEW YORK
Kia of Middletown
New Hampton
845-374-6575
(845) 374-4718 Fax
8am-5pm Mon-Fri
8am-3pm Sat
nissankiaofmiddletownparts@yahoo.com www.kiaofmiddletown.com
Northstar Kia
Long Island City
(718) 683-5300
(718) 489-9889 Fax
M-F 7:30am-5pm; Sat 8am-2pm www.northstarkiany.com
Yonkers Kia
Yonkers
914-268-0279
(914) 652-7665 Fax 7:30am-8pm
Brown Daub Kia
Easton
610-829-3020
(484) 546-0292 Fax
7am-5pm Mon-Fri
7am-3pm Sat
parts@browndaubkia.com www.browndaubkia.com
Kia of Coatesville
Coatesville
610-384-7700
(610) 384-2171 Fax
7:30am-5pm Mon-Fri
7:30am-4pm Sat
jkiernan@jimsipalakia.com www.kiaofcoatesville.com
Kia of West Chester West Chester
610-429-3500
(610) 429-0164 Fax
7:30am-5pm Mon-Fri 7:30am-4pm Sat
jkiernan@jimsipalakia.com
www.kiaofwestchester.com
Outten Kia
Hamburg
610-562-4166
(610) 562-9436 Fax
7:30am-5pm Mon-Fri
8am-12pm Sat
jhenne@outtencars.com www.outtenkia.com
VERMONT
Berlin City Kia Williston
800-684-5779
(303) 928-6905 Fax
6am-6pm Mon, Wed, Fri 6am-7pm Tue, Thu 7am-3pm Sat
ableau@berlincity.com
Financing a new or used vehicle is growing more expensive than ever for consumers, according to the car shopping experts at Edmunds. New data from Edmunds reveals: Interest rates are continuing to rise. The average annual percentage rate (APR) on new financed vehicles climbed to 6.5% in Q4 2022 compared to 5.7% in Q3 2022 and 4.1% in Q4 2021. The APR on used financed vehicles climbed to 10% in Q4 2022 compared to 9% in Q3 2022 and 7.4% in Q4 2021.
A greater share of consumers are committing to monthly payments of $1,000 or more. 15.7% of consumers who financed a new vehicle in Q4 2022 committed to a monthly payment of $1,000 or more—the highest it’s ever been— compared to 10.5% in Q4 2021 and 6.7% in Q4 2020. 5.4% of consumers who financed a used vehicle in Q4 2022 committed to a $1,000+ monthly payment—also a record high—compared to 3.9% in Q4 2021 and 1.5% in Q4 2020.
Consumers are putting more money down on their purchases to offset rising costs. The average
Alarming new numbers from CARFAX show odometer rollbacks are on the rise nationwide.
More than 1.9 million vehicles on the road have had their odometer rolled back—a 7% increase from the previous year.
Consumers lose an average of $4,000 in value from unknowingly buying a rolled back car, and that doesn’t include unexpected maintenance costs.
“Many people think odometer fraud disappeared with the invention of digital odometers,” said Emilie Voss, public relations director for CARFAX. “But that couldn’t be further from the truth. We’re still seeing the number of vehicles on the road with a rolled back odometer rise year-over-year. It takes con artists a matter of minutes to wipe thousands and thousands of miles off a vehicle’s odometer, and unfortunately these swindlers likely see this unprecedented used car market as a way to make quick buck.”
CARFAX offers a free Odometer Fraud Check tool and tips to protect yourself at www.carfax.com/odo.
Source: CARFAX
down payment for new and used vehicles hit record highs in Q4 2022, climbing to $6,780 and $3,921, respectively.
A growing share of luxury shoppers are turning their backs on leasing and choosing to
purchase instead. Edmunds data reveals that new-vehicle lease penetration dropped to 16% in Q4 2022, compared to 29% in Q4 2019. Luxury new-vehicle lease penetration dropped to 26% in Q4 2022, compared to 53% in Q4 2019.
“Just as new and used car prices finally started to cool off in Q4, rapidly rising interest rates created an even greater barrier to entry for consumers who rely
on financing---which is the vast majority of car shoppers,” said Ivan Drury, Edmunds’ director of insights. “Although the last quarter of the year typically skews toward luxury vehicle purchases, this nearrecord percentage of vehicles that are being purchased rather than leased reflect tougher market conditions far more than affluent consumers shelling out a bit more than usual to treat themselves over the holiday season.”
Edmunds analysts caution the combination of costlier vehicle financing and cooling used car values could spell trouble for some consumers down the road if they do not budget or plan accordingly. Edmunds experts conducted a deeper dive into the share of new vehicle sales with a trade-in that had negative equity in Q4 2022, which reveals:
17.4% of new vehicle sales with a trade-in had negative equity in Q4 2022, compared to 14.9% in Q4 2021 and 31.5% in Q4 2020.
The average amount owed on upside-down loans was $5,341 in Q4 2022 compared to $4,141 in Q4 2021 and $5,059 in Q4 2020.
“Vehicle equity is really a tale of two gears for consumers over the past few years,” said Drury. “At the onset of the pandemic, consumers benefited from low interest rates and elevated trade-in values, helping shield even the more questionable financing decisions from resulting in negative equity. This unique confluence of market forces resulted in some vehicle owners being able to take advantage of positive equity on their loans and even their leases. But as we shifted toward an environment with diminished used car values and rising interest rates over the past few months, consumers have become less insulated from those riskier loan decisions, and we are only seeing the tip of the negative equity iceberg.”
As a 2023 resolution, consumers may benefit from resolving to more closely monitor their vehicles’ values so they are not shocked to find out later about potential significant negative equity.
Source: Edmunds
MARYLAND
Audi Silver Spring Silver Spring
301.890.3015
800.288.6982
301.890.3748 Fax
M-F 7:30am-5pm wholesaless@mileone.com www.audisilverspring.com
MASSACHUSETTS
Audi Shrewsbury Shrewsbury
888.751.7214
508.581.5880
508.845.1642 Fax
M-F 7:30am-5pm audiwholesaleparts@mcgovernauto.com
Audi Meadowlands North Bergen
201.408.2085
201.223.7842 Fax
M-F 7am-6pm Sat 8am-2pm jpooler@bbmcc.com
Bell Audi Edison
732.396.9630
732.396.9090 Fax
M-F 8am-5pm Sat 8am-4pm dmcsorley@bellaudi.com
DCH Millburn Audi Maplewood
800.553.9250
973.762.2381 Fax
M-F 7:30am-6pm Sat 7:30am-4pm ddipalma@dchusa.com www.dchmillburnaudi.com
Ciocca Parts Warehouse Audi Flemington
800.221.1256
908.782.1795 Fax
M-F 7:30am-5pm
Sat 8am-12pm www.njparts.com
Paul Miller Audi
Parsippany
862.277.0009
973.575.5911 Fax
M-F 8am-6pm Sat 8am-5pm www.paulmilleraudi.com
Audiparts@paulmiller.com
NEW YORK
Audi Southampton Southampton
631.204.2565
Tue-Sat 8am-5pm parts@audisouthampton.com www.audisouthampton.com
Biener Audi
Great Neck
516.487.0127
516.829.4821 Fax
M-F 8am-4:30pm Sat 8am-4pm www.bieneraudi.com alutchman@biener.com rfeyjoo@biener.com parts@biener.com
Audi Devon Devon
610.263.7026
610.263.7027
610.688.1742 Fax
M-F 7:30am-6pm Sat 9am-4pm
www.audidevon.com
bnawn@audidevon.com
wmohler@audidevon.com
Hyundai announced it aims to grow auto sales by 10% this year alone.
Over the past two decades, Hyundai Motor Group has become a sizable competitor in the automotive industry. It is now a leader in affordable offerings and electric vehicles, along with the likes of Ford. Following this success, the Korean automotive group has set the ambitious goal of growing its vehicle sales by 10% in 2023.
According to Reuters, Hyundai Motor Group is already a massive seller of vehicles globally, selling 6.85 million in 2022. And while this achievement was off from its 2022 sales goal of 7.16 million vehicle sales, it was still a significant growth year despite numerous poor macroeconomic conditions.
A growth of 10% in sales would equate to roughly 7.54 million vehicles sold in 2023, an increase
of 685,000 vehicles compared to 2022.
Hyundai has good reason to be optimistic. While Tesla continues to dominate the EV market in the U.S. and numerous other markets globally, Hyundai Motor Group— which includes Hyundai, Kia and Genesis—has rapidly expanded EV offerings over the past three years and is now a leader in more affordable models. And with new models planned to be coming in the new year, it is poised to continue to find success.
In a statement to Reuters, a corporate spokesperson said, “Hyundai plans to expand market share and operate profitabilityoriented businesses by flexibly responding to market changes, accelerating its transition to electrification, responding to global environmental regulations and optimizing production, logistics and sales by region.”
Hyundai’s ambitious goal faces a couple of hurdles. Foremost, without EV manufacturing
operations in the U.S., none of the company’s EVs are currently eligible for federal EV tax incentives, a significant discount for many buyers.
Secondly, while Hyundai has performed admirably in the past year, tackling supply chain issues, due to the current COVID spike in China, many expect disruptions to continue.
Finally, while the EV market in the U.S. remains fairly sparse, European and Asian markets have become far more competitive over the past year, which could hinder the ambitious company’s growth.
With EVs coming into the mainstream in most major markets, Hyundai Motor Group is in a fantastic position to seize the opportunity, and its ambitious goal is an excellent sign of optimism in a highly uncertain time.
Michael C. Buzzard, 20-year veteran of the automotive aftermarket industry, brings his wide range of executive leadership experience to the University of the Aftermarket Foundation (UAF) Scholarship Committee as its new chair.
He will lead the nonprofit program that has awarded millions of dollars in scholarships to students enrolled in four- and two-year colleges as well as ASE/NATEF certified automotive, collision and heavy duty postsecondary schools.
Currently a partner with Schwartz Advisors, Buzzard has held leadership roles in marketing, sales management, corporate development and general management during his time with Auto Plus Auto Parts. Prior to his career at Auto Plus, he was an internal consulting services analyst at JP Morgan.
The deadline to apply for scholarships for the 20232024 academic year is March 31. To learn more, visit www. AutomotiveScholarships.com.
Source: University of the Aftermarket Foundation
RMI, a nonprofit dedicated to accelerating the global energy transformation, on Jan. 10 announced the formation of the Virtual Power Plant Partnership (VP3).
In recognition of the critical work needed to tackle scaling the market for virtual power plants, initial funding of the VP3 effort was made possible by General Motors and Google Nest. As of Jan. 10, VP3 includes founding members Ford, General Motors, Google Nest, OhmConnect, Olivine, SPAN, SunPower, Sunrun, SwitchDin and Virtual Peaker.
VP3 is an initiative based at RMI that works to catalyze industry and transform policy to support scaling VPPs in ways that help advance affordable, reliable electric sector decarbonization by overcoming barriers to VPP market growth.
Virtual power plants are portfolios comprised of hundreds or thousands of households and businesses that offer the latent potential of their EVs, smart thermostats, appliances, batteries, solar arrays and additional energy assets to support the grid.
VP3 follows in the path of successful institutional spinoffs in the electric sector space previously incubated by RMI, including the Clean Energy Buyers Association and the Energy Web Foundation.
“Virtual power plants are poised for explosive growth, and RMI is committed to being at the forefront of their success by launching VP3,” said RMI CEO Jon Creyts. “Our analysis shows that VPPs can reduce peak power demand and improve grid resilience in a world of increasingly extreme climate events. A growing VPP market also means revenue opportunities for hardware, software and energyservice companies in the buildings and automotive industries. For large energy users, VPPs can significantly reduce energy spend while providing new revenue streams.”
“The next 12 to 24 months are critical for policy and program development to seize the potential offered by virtual power plants, and VP3 is here to ensure that the energy transition doesn’t miss a beat,” said Mark Dyson, RMI managing director for carbon-
free electricity. “Policy change, customer and stakeholder education, and unilateral action by individual businesses or organizations all take time and resources. We’re excited to partner in this work with leading businesses in VPP-related sectors including electric vehicles, building controls, residential energy technologies, utility-facing software solutions and more.”
With the guidance and support of its members, VP3 is working toward a future where businesses, households and communities are empowered through VPPs which can help to support cost-effective energy, emissions reductions and a more resilient electricity grid. To achieve this, VP3 will work to:
Catalog, research and communicate VPP benefits
Develop industry-wide best practices, standards and roadmaps
Inform and shape policy development
“Virtual power plants present an
exciting opportunity to unlock additional value for homes, businesses and communities, helping to drive greater energy independence and grid decarbonization,” said Mark Bole, GM VP and head of V2X and battery solutions. “This collaboration underscores GM’s commitment to creating a more resilient grid, with EVs and virtual power plants playing a key role in helping to advance our all-electric future.”
“Electric vehicles are introducing entirely new opportunities for consumers and businesses alike, creating a greater need for sustainable energy solutions to responsibly power our connected lifestyles,” said Bill Crider, head of global charging and energy services, Ford Motor Company. “Supporting grid stability through the introduction of technologies like Intelligent Backup Power is central to Ford’s strategy, and collaborating to advance virtual power plants will be another important step to ensure a smooth transition to an EV lifestyle.”
Source: RMI, Ford
Autobody News runs into great stories like this one all the time, in which collision repairers invent things to do a better job.
Colten Davidson, a painter and now the owner of his own restoration shop in Birnamwood, WI, created Linear Blocking Tools, a sanding block system that can create a perfectly flat surface easily and consistently. His system is also designed to alleviate the wear and tear on the human body caused by hours of sanding.
Q: How did you get the idea for Linear Blocking Tools?
A: One day a few years ago, I was trying to get the clear to be literally like a mirror where there’s no ripple, no chop—nothing in it. And we were using a lot of foam blocks and different other types of blocks. Then I came up with a rough draft and made them.
I used them for a while and then I had a couple other people who said they wanted them. Then a distributor in Australia saw these on Facebook, and asked me how much would it cost for 10,000. I couldn’t even make that many, I thought. So, I got the ball rolling a little bit more and have applied for patents, and now we have a manufacturer in Minneapolis that makes them for us.
In September, we moved into a new building that contains two shops—one shop is like the clean shop; we’ve got the hoist and the paint booth on that side. And then we’ve got a dirty side that’s basically for sanding and welding. We’ve got everything under one roof. I am running the shop and my wife is running the product side, and it is working well.
I have two people working with me in the shop and my wife Brittany has some part-time help.
Q: How did you get where you are today?
A: Right out of high school, I went to tech school for auto body, where I completed a oneyear program. And then from there I started working at a Ford dealership doing mostly collision and some light restoration stuff. I worked there for about five years and then I worked for a shop that did both restoration, collision and some dealer work. We did a little bit everything and it was a great learning experience.
Then I had a great opportunity to work for a top shop here in Wisconsin, where I could work on high-end restorations. And that’s where I really progressed into knowing what I know now by pushing the envelope. I was the body guy and the painter there and I did probably 90% of the body work and all the painting, and then early last year I started my own
Q:You have created a whole universe around your tools, with online courses and an upcoming series of in-person classes. Tell us about those.
A:Yes, on June 22-25, I am hosting a four-day hands-on restoration class with Ryan Evans and world-renowned paint correction specialist Jason Kilmer. It will take attendees through everything from stripping old finishes, metal work, filler work, all the paint and cut/buff. We will be “restoring” a few different front clips from Auto Metal Direct, taking you through all the fine details, like perfecting gaps and panel-to-panel along the way.
Day one will cover stripping old finishes, metal work, perfecting gaps, prepping metal work for panel-topanel blocking, proper metal prep using the DX metal prep system, applying epoxy to bare steel and types of DTM primers. Day two will cover prepping epoxy for filler work, proper understanding of use
and types of body fillers, panel-topanel blocking, blocking techniques, proper application and types of primers over filler work and priming over filler work. Day three will cover proper blocking techniques of primer, paint prep, masking, painting, laying stripes, spraying candies and
hand really well. More importantly, they are hard but flexible and very flat. They’re made of polycarbonate, which is very flexible and extremely durable. You can drop them or even throw them at the wall and they won’t break. There are a few companies out there that make acrylic blocks, and if you drop them, they’ll shatter like glass. Our blocks are warrantied for life, much stronger and more flexible.
custom tri coats. Finally, day four will cover sanding and polishing finishes, curing clear before buffing, sanding techniques, buffing techniques and processes, with Kilmer. These classes will be held at Linear World Headquarters in Birnamwood, WI.
Q:Why are your Linear Blocking Tools so popular with painters worldwide?
A:One of the major benefits of
Linear blocks have slits in them that distribute the pressure from your hand to the entire block evenly. They create something like a slinky effect. In addition, all our blocks don’t have sharp edges. They cost a little more because there’s a lot of machine time going into them, but you get what you pay for, like anything else.
We did over $1 million in sales in our first year, which was pretty good. We have a distributor in the U.S. and Australia, and are currently working with a few in Sweden, Germany and from other parts of Europe. We have been getting awesome feedback from painters all over the world, so we are excited about more international distribution.
For more information, visit linearblockingtools.com.
“One of the major benefits of using them is that they fit your hand really well. More importantly, they are hard but flexible and very flat.”
COLTEN DAVIDSON CREATOR OF LINEAR BLOCKING TOOLS
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They used to call it customer engagement, but now they should call it customer entanglement, because companies are more involved in their customers’ lives than ever.
Today, marketers are staying engaged indefinitely and as seamlessly as possible to keep their customers in the loop. Through social media, direct mail, online advertising, public relations, mobile apps and other channels, companies establish and maintain lifelong relationships with their customers and reap big rewards.
To keep the relationship going strong, businesses of all sizes need to think differently or be left behind. Here are five deliverables that must always be in the mind of any business that wants to attract customers.
Developing effective tools to promote customer engagement is no longer simply a one-time thing, or something a company does quarterly or even monthly. Now you have to be in your customers’ minds all the time.
Simply periodically jumping in and out when it comes to your customer engagement efforts won’t work anymore. You need a well-designed strategy and a definitive plan, and to stick to it.
Every time you engage with your customers, have a clear goal in mind, whether it’s improving your product or adding benefits customers will want. Sixty-eight percent of Americans are willing to spend 13% more with companies providing superior customer service, according to Inc.com. This means all of your customer engagement endeavors must lead directly to some type of offer, decision or action, backed by a strategic approach.
More people use their personal devices to buy products and services online. Nearly 70% of all adults in the U.S. have a smartphone, and tablet computer ownership has edged up to 45%, according to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center. If you are not engaging with your customers via their cell phones or tablets on a semi-regular basis, you’re still in medieval times.
To achieve this, marketers have researched and engaged with what their customers are doing, to stay ahead of trends and effectively identify fads, as well as to ride the former and discard the latter until the buzz begins to die down.
Companies always covet peerto-peer, one-on-one relationships. People love to share personal stories about products and services they like, and that’s the sweet spot every marketer wants to tap into.
By learning as much as you can through online reviews and social media, you can learn your customers’ habits quickly and respond promptly. Adapt or perish is the motto when it comes to customer engagement, and listening carefully is a vital part of that.
If you truly want to stay engaged with your clients in an effective manner, treat them more like good friends instead of customers. Too many companies milk their customers dry with a different offer every other day. That’s overkill and you won’t won’t remain friends if you do it on a continual basis.
Your overall strategy shouldn’t be all about selling them something aggressively, but rather more about developing good friendships with your client base.
To this end, value all feedback you receive from your customers and
share it with your team. If you’re listening to what your clients are saying about you, you can respond quickly and improve your products, services or processes if needed.
Pivoting is not just for Stephen Curry of the NBA companies must be ready to do it on the drop
There’s a whole big world out there when it comes to all of the different approaches to stay engaged and entangled with your customers for the long run.
In-product messaging, email, mobile, social media and customer care/support are the five leading ways companies can consistently achieve top-tier results. The ones that truly excel at it have figured out how to do it all well.
The role of any smart marketer is to provide its customers with the correct tools to enable easy and natural communication. You should always be easily available and visible, but you should also offer options for varied types of interactions.
If you can offer your clients an intuitive tool, rather than just a platform for communicating with you, they will take the reins and do the
Simply periodically jumping in and out when it comes to your customer engagement efforts won’t work anymore. You need a well-designed strategy and a definitive plan and stick to it.Credit: Shutterstock
A study from the University of Michigan says more than 90% of vehicle-owning households in the U.S. would reduce the percentage of income spent on transportation energy if they switched to electric vehicles.
However, more than half of the lowest-income U.S. households, or about 8.3 million households, would continue to experience high transportation energy burdens, defined as spending more than 4% of household income on filling the tank or charging up.
Study author Joshua Newell from the university’s Center for Sustainable Systems said the results confirm the potential benefits of widespread EV adoption. He called for “policy interventions” to increase EV accessibility for people with low incomes.
“However, EV ownership in the
behind,” Newell said in a statement.
In 2016, 78% of federal EV tax credits flowed to taxpayers with incomes over $100,000.
In other words, the study says the government needs to subsidize EVs even more. Michigan taxpayers have helped subsidize EVs by $2 billion.
Jason Hayes, director of environmental policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, said the study only accounts for the amount spent on gasoline or charging—not the initial purchase price of the vehicle, which is one of the most significant barriers to EV adoption.
“They can spend less money on transportation energy, but their overall transportation budget would go up,” Hayes said in a phone interview. “So it’s equivocation: you’re playing with words there.”
According to Kelley Blue Book, the average price of an electric car in September 2022 was $65,291. Meanwhile, the average price for a
The study says more than 90% of households that replace gaspowered vehicles with EVs would reduce the generation of climatewarming greenhouse gases.
The new study was published online Jan. 11 in Environmental Research Letters, an IOP Publishing journal. It considers the spatial variation of EV energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions nationwide.
EVs currently account for about 1% of the vehicles on American roads. If EVs replaced all vehicles on the road, the transportation energy burdens and associated greenhouse gas emissions would vary widely.
Some households could reduce their annual transportation-energy costs by $600 or more and cut their annual carbon footprint by more than 4.1 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents, by buying a new EV.
Very high EV transportation energy burdens, ranging from 10% to 64%, would persist for the lowestincome households and would be concentrated in the Midwest and the two states with the highest electricity prices: Hawaii and Alaska.
Contributing factors to low EV savings include cold winter temperatures that hurt battery performance, electrical grids that rely largely on fossil fuels, or high electricity prices relative to gasoline prices.
The study evaluated three factors associated with the EV transition: transportation energy burden, fuel costs and greenhouse gas emissions.
The researchers calculated transportation energy burdens and lifetime greenhouse gas emissions of new EVs and internal-combustion vehicles at the census tract level. Then they compared the energy burdens of the new vehicles to the energy burdens of the current on-road vehicle stock. Finally, they compared the spatial variation and extent of energy burdens and greenhouse gas emissions for EVs and internal-combustion vehicles nationwide.
Transportation accounts for the largest portion of the greenhouse gases emitted in the U.S., with direct emissions from passenger vehicles and light-duty trucks comprising roughly 16% of U.S. emissions.
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A Ram tailgate recall involves more than 1.4 million Ram trucks equipped with tailgates that may not latch correctly because the tailgate strikers may be misaligned. This can cause a tailgate to suddenly open while driving and allow unsecured cargo to fall out.
Stellantis (Fiat Chrysler) advises Ram customers to follow the owner’s manuals and make sure items in the truck beds are secured.
The Ram tailgate recall involves 2019-2022 Ram 1500, Ram 2500 and Ram 3500 trucks, but Ram 1500 Classic pickups are not affected by the tailgate recall. Additionally, Ram trucks equipped with sensors that alert drivers to insecure tailgates are also not included in the tailgate recall.
Chrysler opened an investigation in July due to
tailgates that opened while driving 2019-2021 Ram 1500 trucks. As of Nov. 22, FCA was aware of 736 warranty claims, 101 field reports and 15 customer assistance records regarding tailgates that dropped open.
However, the automaker is not aware of any crashes or injuries related to the tailgate problem.
Along with the 1.2 million recalled Ram trucks in the U.S., the tailgate recall involves about 121,000 Ram trucks in Canada, more than 26,000 in Mexico and more than 27,000 Ram trucks outside North America.
FCA expects to mail Ram tailgate recall notices Jan. 27, 2023, and dealerships will inspect the tailgate striker alignments to the box latches and adjust them if necessary.
Owners who have questions about the Ram truck tailgate recall may call 800-853-1403. Chrysler’s Ram tailgate recall reference number is ZB8.
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