Access to its Data

DataTouch Offering New Service to Help Collision Repair Shops Manage Access to its Data

Pete Tagliapietra is sympathetic to collision repairers whose customers have found accident information about their car on a vehicle history report.

But Tagliapietra said that’s only a small subset of what he sees as a much larger concern of shop estimate data being obtained, used and sold by unauthorized third parties.

“It’s my belief that most shops are oblivious to how much estimate information is being scraped off their computers, giving third parties a wealth of knowledge about how that shop does business,” said Tagliapietra, founder of the newly-launched DataTouch, LLC. “Even just a small set of a shop’s estimates tells someone whether or not the shop has DRPs, and if so, which ones. It tells them the labor rates the shop has negotiated with different insurance companies. It shows who the shop is buying parts from, and at what price. It also shows what kind of cars the shop repairs, and what cars the customers in that geographic area buy and drive.”

All that, Tagliapietra said, is even aside from the customer’s personal identification information on the estimate, which a growing number of states have mandated businesses take adequate steps to protect.

“If I owned a body shop, I wouldn’t want third parties to know all of this—how I run my business and with whom—and to be able to use it or sell it without my authorization, and clearly even in ways that are not in my best interest,” he said.

Tagliapietra said it’s his belief “the CARFAX issue”—estimates resulting in entries on a vehicle’s history report—and all the other third-party use of shop information are the result of thousands of “data pumps” running on shop computer systems across the industry.

“Data pumps have become prolific,” Tagliapietra said earlier this year. “It’s gotten out of hand, from my point of view, because the data has become so valuable. Most shops probably have an unauthorized data pump, or more likely multiple data pumps, that are sucking the repair line information and personally identifiable information off of every estimate they write.”

A shop may have authorized the installation of some or all of the data pumps running on its computer system, because they can help automate some shop processes, such as sourcing alternative parts, subletting repairs or materials. In other cases, the shop may not be aware of a third-party vendor installing a data pump, or that a data pump installed

Shop Showcase by a company the shop is no longer doing business with continues to with Ed Attanasio scrape estimate data from the shop’s computers. “But the data pumps themselves are only the first part of the problem,” Tagliapietra said. “The Social Media for Shops real issue is that shops can’t control what portions of an estimate with Ed Attanasio get scraped by those data pumps. A parts vendor doesn’t need your labor rate information or the customer or insurer name nor even the entire VIN, yet they get all that. A SEMA Show Goes On CSI provider doesn’t need anything other than the basic customer conwith Ed Attanasio tact information, yet they get all the estimate line items and subtotals. A remote scanning company doesn’t need anything other than the comMedia and Publicity for Shops plete VIN to identify the specific vehicle and the ADAS functions on with Ed Attanasio that vehicle. “Too much of a shop’s infor-

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