CT / DE / ME / MD / MA / NH / NJ / NY / PA / RI / VT NOR THEAST E DITIO N YEARS40 AUTOBOD YNEWS.C OM Vol. 13 / Issue 6 / September 2022 EPRESORTEDSTANDARDU.S.POSTAG AIDP PERMIT CA8#28ANAHEIM, P.O.BOX1516,CARLSBAD,CA92018 ChangeServiceRequested
SEMA Show attendees can learn about current and future trends, proven business strategies and new opportunities from industry leaders and experts as part of the 2022 SEMA Show Education Program.
Bristol, CT, Manufacturer to Shut Components Plant as Car Manufacturers Shift from Gas-Powered Cars
Aaron Schulenburg, executive director of the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS), said the company contacted him, after speak ing with one of SCRS’s state affili ate groups, to see if SCRS might be interested in acquiring data it has on recently-written collision repair quotes.The company, which Schulen burg did not identify by name, told him the information could be used by SCRS member shops to contact consumers who received a recent es timate to say, “Hey, I know you’ve gotten a recent quote, and our busi ness could do the work for you.” Schulenburg asked what type of information was available. The company told him, “through our data aggregation partners and pro
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga announced a settlement with Brook lyn Mitsubishi and Brooklyn Volkswagen that will deliver $304,900 to New Yorkers wronged by the companies’ deceptive practices when selling used cars Company Says it Has Recent Auto Body Shop Estimate Data for Sale by John Yoswick
Beginning Oct. 31 the day before the official opening of the four-day SEMA Show the 2022 SEMA Show Education Program will include more than 70 free and premium sessions within 14 tracks. Showgoers may choose individual sessions across different tracks, mixing and matching the offerings to create a personalized agenda that meets one’s individual needs.
The agreement resolves nu merous violations of the city’s Con sumer Protection Law, as well as licensing laws prohibiting deceptive and unlawful conduct in the indus See $300,000 for Consumers, Page 26See Shut Components Plant, Page 10
The settlement was announced July 15 by New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City De partment of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga
Dozens of industry leaders and experts will take the stage at the 2022 SEMA Show Education Program, where attendees will have the opportunity to learn about current and future trends, proven business strategies and new opportunities while at the annual event taking place in November in Las Vegas.
It said it decided to close the Bristol operations “to make Engi neered Components more efficient and cost Workcompetitive.”performed at the plant will be transferred to other Engi neered Components manufacturing locations or permanently discontin ued. The shutdown is expected to be completed by mid-2023. Sales of new light-duty plug-in electric vehicles, including all-elec tric vehicles and plug-in hybrid elec tric vehicles, nearly doubled from A settlement with Brooklyn Mitsub ishi and Brooklyn Volkswagen will deliver $304,900 to New Yorkers wronged by the companies’ decep tive practices when selling used cars.
SEMA Show to Feature Educational Program Focused on Personal and Professional Development
New this year are four sessions focused on challenges and opportunities associated with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in the workplace. The first DEI session, “Diversity and Inclusion: How You Can Advance Equal Opportunity in Your Workplace,”
by Stephen Singer, Hartford Courant Barnes Group Inc. said July 28 it’s shutting its Engineered Components plant in Bristol, CT, employing 95 workers, in response to declining production of gasoline-powered cars, inflation and supply chain problems.Theplant serves the U.S. auto motive industry and focuses on man ufacturing, stamping and assembly of legacy transmission springs and washers. Barnes cited a decline in U.S. powertrain automotive produc tion “as manufacturers increase their electric vehicle models.”
The ongoing discussion about auto body shop data privacy at the quar terly Collision Industry Conference (CIC) meetings took a new turn this summer when an association lead er described what a data aggregator company had recently offered to sell to his organization.
NYC Secures More Than $300,000 for Consumers Harmed by Predatory Brooklyn Used Car Dealerships
“The Education Program is one of the SEMA Show’s key pillars, and it’s always been highly rated by participants,” said Pamela Brown-Matthis, SEMA director of education. “We challenged ourselves and pushed to make the program better than ever. We focused heavily on bringing in elite subject matter experts and high-profile industry leaders. SEMA Show attendees are encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity to hear from industry experts while at the show.”
See Data for Sale, Page 34 See SEMA Show, Page 28
autobodynews.com / SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS 3 CONTENTS REGIONAL 14-Electric Bus Fleet Coming to Rhode Island 20 AASP/NJ President Reflects on First Collision Industry Conference 22 AASP/NJ President Tees Off in Support of Collision Students and Schools 23 AASP/NJ to Host Special Meeting at Car Lofts Featuring SCRS’ Aaron Schulenberg 6 Autocrafters CARSTAR Collision in Bensalem, PA, Announces New Owner 24 BOCES Career and Technical Education Center Celebrates Grand Opening 18 Bristol, CT, Manufacturer to Shut Components Plant as Car Manufacturers Shift from Gas-Powered Cars 1 Car Trips to Heart of Manhattan May Get Expensive 12 EVgo Fast Charging Station Now Open at Farley Service Plaza on Atlantic City Expressway 10 High Oil Costs Impact New Hampshire Roadway Upgrades 16 NABC Recycled Rides Program Joins Steelers Great to Donate Refurbished Vehicles to Pittsburgh Veterans 8 NYC Secures More Than $300,000 for Consumers Harmed by Predatory Brooklyn Used Car Dealerships 1 COLUMNISTS Anderson - Don’t Let Higher Sales Take Your Eye Off the Ball 36 Attanasio - Forward-Thinking Program Creating Great Auto Body Techs of the Future 54 Attanasio - How is Your Auto Body Shop Dealing with the Great Resignation? 46 Attanasio - Mike’s Auto Body Gave Away 100 Cars in 21 Years, Changing Countless Lives 58 Phillips - How to Profit from ADAS Services and Calibration—It’s Not Just About the Targets 38 Phillips - Lemonade to Use Mitchell’s Claim Solutions for Newest Product 66 Phillips - OEM Roundtable Working to Improve Quality of Collision Repair 50 Phillips - Repairify’s New Partnership with ATG Will Provide Industry with Advanced Diagnostic Training 56 Phillips - Technician/Painter Recovering from Severe Burns Recognized During 11th Annual CIF Gala 60 Strandberg - Build Your Collision Repair Business with a Buyer in Mind 49 Yoswick - Gerber Collision CEO Talks Parts, Personnel Challenges 48 NATIONAL 3M, CREF Donate Products to 300 Schools 76 Agenda Announced for CONNEX 2022 62 AirPro Diagnostics, CCC Partner 74 Appeals Court Rejects GM’s Attempt to Overturn FCA Racketeering Lawsuit Ruling 13 Audi, VW Vehicles Recalled Airbags 22 Average Collision Repair-Related Rental in Q2 Decreases by Half a Day from Q1 30 BendPak Announces Leadership Plan 28 Biden Signs $740B Climate, Tax and Health Care Bill into Law 53 CIECA Forms AI Committee 72 Collision Repair Association Conducting Study of Blend Time Formula 62 Company Says it Has Recent Auto Body Shop Estimate Data for Sale 1 CREF Invites Collision Industry to Fall 2022 High School & College Transportation Student Career Fairs 76 CREF Raises $100,000 at Golf Fundraiser 64 Ford Testing Robot EV Charging Station 24 Ford’s July Sales Up 37% Compared to Same Month a Year Ago 74 GM Offering EV Education 4 Hunter Wins Innovation Awards 6 Hyundai Gets $19.2 Million Penalty for Tarnishing Millions of Customer Credit Reports 78 KECO Donates to Schools in MT, IL 20 Krauss Joins I-CAR Board 12 Lightning Strikes Across America: Customer Deliveries Now Stretch Across All 50 U.S. States ........................................................... 4 Lordstown Reaffirms Endurance Pickup Production for Q3 4 Lucid Cuts Production Goals by 50% Once Again 13 MSO Symposium Registration Open 16 New-Vehicle Prices Set Record in July as Inventory Improves, Luxury Share Remains Elevated 72 Ohio Groups, Lawmakers Praise CHIPS Act Passed to Boost Intel Investment 64 Rivian Amazon Vans Delivered 430K-Plus Packages During Pilot Program 70 SEMA Show to Feature Educational Program Focused on Personal and Professional Development 1 TikTok’s Latest ‘Kia Challenge’ Encourages Users to Steal Cars 43 YANG Announces TopGolf Fundraiser 23 ADVERTISERSOFINDEX Publisher & Editor: Jeremy Hayhurst General Manager: Barbara Davies Contributing Writers: John Yoswick, Janet Chaney, Toby Chess, Ed Attanasio, Stacey Phillips Advertising Sales: Joe Momber, Norman Morano, (800) Office699-8251Manager: Louise Tedesco Digital Marketing Manager: Bryan Malinski Art Director: Rodolfo Garcia Graphic Designer: Vicki Sitarz Senior Editor: Abby Andrews Accounting & HR Manager: Heather Priddy Permissions Editor: Randi Scholtes Office Assistant: Dianne Pray Serving New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Northern Virginia, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and adjacent metro areas. Autobody News is a monthly publication for the autobody industry. Permission to reproduce in any form the material published in Autobody News must be obtained in writing from the publisher. ©2022 Adamantine Media LLC. Autobody News P.O. Box 1516, Carlsbad, CA 92018 (800) 699-8251 / (760) 603-3229 Fax www.autobodynews.com editor@autobodynews.com Acme Nissan 47 Acura of Westchester 50 American Icon Automotive Finishes 34 Audi Devon 58 Audi Wholesale Parts Dealers 71 Auto Data Labels 11 Axalta Coating Systems 2 BendPak 7 Biener Audi 8 Biener Ford 8 BMW Wholesale Parts Dealers 68-69 BRAM Auto Group 51 Brown-Daub Kia 30 Cadillac of Mahwah 49 Car-O-Liner 17 Carworx Distribution, Inc 19 Central Avenue Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram 27 Certified Automotive Parts Association 23 Circle BMW 66 Classifieds 78 Colonial Automotive Group 59 Courtesy Mitsubishi 54 DePaula Chevrolet-Ford 32 Dominion Sure Seal, Ltd 6 Eagle Abrasives 21 Eastchester Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge 28 Empire Auto Parts 26 Equalizer Auto Glass Tools 16 Ford Wholesale Parts Dealers 77 Franklin Sussex Automall 24 GM Wholesale Parts Dealers 63 Grieco Toyota 30 Hoffman Auto Group 65 Honda-Acura Wholesale Parts Dealers 39, 40-41 Hyundai Wholesale Parts Dealers 72 Industrial Finishes and Systems 37 Infiniti of Norwood 42 Jaguar Land Rover Cherry Hill 43 Kelly Jeep-Chrysler 10 Kia Motors Wholesale Parts Dealers 75 Kia of Attleboro 54 Kia of Coatesville 33 Kundert Volvo 20 Launch Tech USA 29 Lexus Wholesale Parts Dealers 76 Liberty Kia 24 LKQ Corporation 31 Long Automotive Group 22 Mazda Wholesale Parts Dealers 76 Mercedes-Benz of Atlantic City 57 Mercedes-Benz of Fort Washington 57 Mercedes-Benz of Goldens Bridge 23 Mercedes-Benz of Paramus 53 Mercedes-Benz of West Chester 12 Mercedes-Benz of Wilmington 12 Mercedes-Benz Wholesale Parts Dealers 79 MINI Wholesale Parts Dealers 70 MOPAR Wholesale Parts Dealers 44-45 New Holland Ford 52 New Holland Toyota 64 Nissan/Infiniti Wholesale Parts Dealers 76 Northstar Kia 46 Nucar 61 Open Road Acura of East Brunswick 60 Open Road Chevrolet 18 Ourisman Chevrolet 28 Ourisman Chevrolet-VW-Mazda of Rockville 55 Packer Norris Parts 67 Porsche Wholesale Parts Dealers 74 PPG 9 Rafferty Subaru 64 Rockland Nissan 48 SATA Dan-Am Company 5 Schultz Ford 36 SEMA Trade Show 25 Sheehy Lexus of Annapolis 16 Shoot Suit 13 Spanesi Americas 35 Steck Manufacturing Company 38 Subaru Wholesale Parts Dealers 56 Sunmight USA 14-15 Symach 26 Toyota Wholesale Parts Dealers 72 USI of North America 80 Volkswagen Wholesale Parts Dealers 73 Volvo Wholesale Parts Dealers 66 White Plains Volkswagen 64 Yonkers Kia 62
“From the time we watched it at the reveal, we knew that we wanted it,” Tam my Head said. “We had no doubt that this truck will have trademark Ford quality which gave us the confidence to transition to an electric vehicle.”
Lordstown Reaffirms Endurance Pickup Production for Q3
TexasHawaii.the
Jeff and Tammy Head, owners of both an F-150 and now an F-150 Lightning, who have pri marily used their new electric truck to tow a boat from Anchorage to Kenai River, about a three-hour drive, for salmon fishing.
Ford’s newest truck is winning EV fans. Nearly 80% of early reser vation holders said in a survey that F-150 Lightning will be the first full EV in their household.
“The Lightning is the best thing I have ever purchased,” said Chris Ashley, a resident of Maryland and a first-time electric vehicle buyer. “With this truck, I can enhance my love of tailgating while at the same time play a small role in creating a better planet for my children.”Ashleyhas contemplated pur chasing an EV for the past couple of years before his wife, Emily, convinced him to buy the F-150 Lightning.Fordhas sold more than 4,400 F-150 Lightning electric trucks in the U.S. and Canada (YTD).
August.Inthe company’s Q2 Sharehold er Deck, it listed several outlooks for the future, as Lordstown has struggled to begin production of the pickup. Struggling with cash flow and having trouble keeping its doors open, Lordstown formed a joint venture with Foxconn, with the au tomaker becoming the company’s primary development partner for EV development in North America. Lordstown expects Q3 to see the start of commercial production, while deliveries should begin in Q4, it said. However, the company only expects to produce around 500 units through early 2023. “In Q2, we made significant progress towards our plan to launch the En durance in Q3 of 2022 and begin sales in Q4. We look forward to getting the Endurance into customers’ hands, as we think they are going to love it,” said Edward Hightower, CEO of Lordstown Motors.Hightower also hinted that Lordstown and Fox conn’s first project as a joint venture is currently undergoing “pre-devel opment work.” In terms of financials, Lord stown CFO Adam Kroll noted the automaker will need to raise more money to support the 500-unit pro duction goal. However, Lordstown only requires between $50 million and $75 million to accomplish this, a substantial reduction from the $150 million it said it would need earlier this year.Lordstown reported an operating profit for the first time in its history, but it did not come from the sale of any vehicles, obviously. Instead, Fox conn’s acquisition of the company’s Ohio production facility is where the realized gains came from.
4 SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com
“And the guy in me likes having the baddest truck on the planet,” Jeff Head added. Among the most popular and most-photographed features of the F-150 Lightning so far is the Mega Power Frunk. Owners are using the 400 liters of space1 to store gear and are taking advantage of the 2.4 kW of Pro Power Onboard in the frunk to help power their campsite or charge their power tools while driving.“This truck is a workhorse. We have driven more than 3,000 miles already and towed and carried hun dreds of pounds of concrete in the frunk,” said Emre Gol of Texas, who uses his F-150 Lightning Lar iat pickup for work at his kitchen and bathroom remodeling business. Recently, he helped his neigh bor’s wife, who was away from home with only six miles of charge left on her electric sedan’s battery. Gol connected his F-150 Lightning with the sedan’s charging adapt er and provided enough energy to safely get her back home.
Take for instance
Source: Ford Lightning Strikes Across America: Customer Deliveries Now Stretch Across All 50 U.S. States
“This truck is a workhorse. We have driven more than 3,000 miles already and towed and carried hundreds of pounds of concrete in the frunk,” — Emre Gol by Joey Klender, Teslarati Lordstown Motors reaffirmed its plans to start production of the En durance all-electric pickup during the third quarter of 2022, while re porting its earnings for Q2 in early
“In Q2, we made signif icant progress towards our plan to launch the Endurance in Q3 of 2022 and begin sales in Q4. We look forward to getting the Endurance into customers’ hands, as we think they are going to love it,”
That was quick lightning quick. In just two months, Ford has delivered electric F-150 Light ning trucks to customers in all 50 U.S. states, from the shores of the Kenai River in Alaska to Houston and even
— Edward Hightower
As part of its mission to make EV ownership accessible to all, General Motors on July 25 launched EV Live, an immer sive, virtual experience that al lows participants to interact oneon-one with EV specialists and learn everything about electric vehicles for free. EV Live allows anyone to connect with an EV specialist from any internet-connected mo bile or desktop device. These EV specialists will answer EV-re lated questions in real time and give virtual tours of the EV Live studio, which houses real EVs and dynamic displays of home charging, public charging, bat tery technology, sustainability, commercial applications, EV apps and more. EV specialists can also guide participants through the home charging installation pro cess and refer them to certified installers.Formore information, visit evlive.gm.com.Source:GM GM Offering EV Education
truck capital of America and California the EV capital of America lead the way with the highest number of F-150 Lightning deliveries through late July. Early customers have discov ered F-150 Lightning can handle a variety of needs, regardless of where they are located.
SATA®RPS™ #02 CLEAN #03 SAFE #04 REFILLABLE Firm connection between lid and cup (thread). No accidential detaching of cup from lid. The *SATA RPS cup can be safely tilted by up to 45° forward, right and left to facilitate easy access to almost any painting situation. The cup can be easily, cleanly and safely separated from the spray gun without making a mess! The cups can be easily be refilled. The paint strainer can be exchanged by a spare strainer at any time. #01 BENDABLE tonothowevercups,standardRPSSATAalltoapplies* series.olderand3000SATAminijet The exclusive independent distributor of SATA products in the US and Puerto Rico 800-533-8016 email: satajet@satausa.com www.satausa.com SATA, SATAjet and/or other SATA products referenced herein are either registered trademarks or trademarks of SATA GmbH & Co. KG in the U.S. and/or other countries. ScanINFO for more info on the SATA RPS Cups SATA RPS Sept.indd 1 8/8/22 2:28 PM
Staying up to date with the latest re sources and information while also taking the time out to interact with peers can be key in staying success ful in today’s collision repair world. This is the intent of the Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of New Jersey’s (AASP/NJ) Fall kick off meeting, featuring Society of Collision Repair Specialists’ (SCRS)
AASP/NJ to Host Special Meeting at Car Lofts Featuring SCRS’ Aaron Schulenberg
“This will be a great opportunity for repairers to learn about the various resources SCRS provides,” — Aaron Schulenburg
Awards
Hunter Wins
Hunter Engineering is pleased to announce it has been named the winner in four separate cat egories of the PTEN 2022 In novation Awards. The awards were estab lished in 1999 to honor compa nies that help auto repair pro fessionals excel at their jobs through innovative new tools and equipment.Hunter’swinning entries were: in the Automotive Soft ware category, HunterNet® 2 Multi-Store View; Body Shop Innovation
benefits programs SCRS offers and more.“This will be a great opportu nity for repairers to learn about the various resources SCRS provides,” suggested Schulenburg. “We’ll re view some specific examples of how utilizing the BOT, in combination with OEM procedures, can build more comprehensive and indisput evening will be followed by an af terparty on the upper level at Car Lofts, where attendees can sit back with a cocktail, sample the hors d’oeuvres, take in the atmosphere, view the show floor of high end cars and interact with their peers. Pizza and soft drinks will be served during the meeting.CarLofts was founded on the concept that car enthusiasts should not only have to rely on “car season” to showcase their vehicle and so cialize. Car Lofts provides space for those who don’t possess the proper storage all year while simultaneously
autobodynews.com / SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS 7 ROLLING CREEPER SEAT FROMCONVERTSHIGHTOLOW WORKCOMFORTMEETS LOCKINGHEIGHTSUPTO 6 1-800-253-2363 • WWW.BENDPAK.COM ©2022 BendPak Inc. All rights reserved. The ergochairTM is the adjustable height rolling work seat which will make performing awkward work tasks ergonomically easier and safer. This comfortable creeper seat offers a full range of mobility, increased productivity, and reduced fatigue. To Learn more visit www.bendpak.com/ergochair FROMCOMFORTABLYCONFORMSCREEPERTOUPRIGHTSEAT
“This will help me maintain em ployment and take care of the simple daily things like grocery shopping,” said Richmond. “I am forever grateful for this opportunity and very thankful that it’s been made available to me. It is awesome that this program helps veterans when they need it.”
NABC Recycled
The presentation was held at Rosedale Technical College, in con junction with the Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF) in dustryBleierreception.joined the festivities, along with representatives of All state, Farmers Insurance and Body by Cochran Collision, shared stories of inspiration and teamwork, and met with the veterans and other guests.
Source: NABC Rides Program Joins Steelers Great to Donate Refurbished Vehicles to Pittsburgh Veterans
8 SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com 795 Northern Blvd Great Neck, NY 11021 Audi Genuine Parts Make Your Repairs Easier wwwparts@biener.com.bieneraudi.com One of the largest Inventories of Audi Genuine Collision Parts in the NYC Area Fast, Dependable Daily Delivery to the Entire NYC Metro Area (including all 5 Boroughs, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester Counties) Professional , knowledgeable, Attentive Staff Ready to Help Competitive Pricing and Discounts Always Mon-Fri 8am-4:30pm Sat 8am-4pm Mon-Fri 8-5 • Free Daily Delivery to Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau and Su olk Counties • Fleet of Dedicated Delivery Vehicles • Extensive Inventory of Ford OEM Parts Updated Daily • Professionally Trained Sta of Wholesale 661SpecialistsNorthern Blvd., Great Neck, NY 11021 516-466-6406PARTS 516-407-3537FAX kwww.bienerford.comshakur@bienerford.com BIENER FORD
“It’s been three or four months since I had a reliable vehicle, so I can only take a job that I can walk to,” said Mueller. “Thanks to this, I have a job making twice as much money starting tomorrow because I now have transportation to get there. This will help me move forward in my life, get to work and go back to school to complete my master’s to help other folks in need.”
Bleier is a U.S. Army veteran, drafted while playing for the Steelers to serve in Vietnam. He works in the Pittsburgh community to help other veterans in need. “I am so pleased to be able to be here and present these cars to veterans in need of transportation,” said Bleier, a four-time Super Bowl champion with the Pittsburgh Steel ers. “I’m proud to work with Vet erans Leadership Program, which identified these veterans and con nected them with the NABC Recy cled Rides program. It is a tribute to our community that we have organi zations like them to take care of our veterans. I am very privileged to be able to help with this program. The NABC does this around the country throughout the year and gives away 300 cars to people in need, like sin gle mothers and about 75% to veter ans.”The veteran recipients, who were selected by the Veteran Leader ship Program, included: Anita Richmond, a U.S. Ma rine Corps veteran, was working dai ly at her full-time job and part-time job as a Lyft driver until her 2007 vehicle experienced extensive trans mission issues too expensive to re pair. Richmond has since been using public transportation and had to give up her part-time Lyft job.
Ryan Mueller served his coun try in the U.S. Army Reserve for eight years, and as a combat engineer in Iraq he sustained injuries in com bat which have led him to great pain he deals with every day. Through the pain, he walks two miles to work as a cook at a local restaurant, which adds stress on his knees. Mueller is an extremely hard worker and is also enrolled in Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment to help him retrain in a different line of work that would be less stressful on his body.
On July 18, Pittsburgh Steelers leg end Rocky Bleier and the Veterans Leadership Program helped two de serving Pittsburgh veterans receive donated vehicles to provide them independence and the ability to work and take care of their families.
The presentation was made possible thanks to the National Auto Body Council Recycled Rides® pro gram, along with car donors Allstate and Farmers Insurance® and Body by Cochran Collision Monroeville.
NABC Recycled Rides is a unique program in which businesses representing all facets of the colli sion repair industry team up to repair and donate vehicles to individuals and families in need of reliable trans portation. Since the inception of the NABC Recycled Rides program in 2007, members of the NABC have donated nearly 3,000 vehicles valued at some $42 Additionalmillion.partners in the NABC Recycled Rides presentation included PPG, which donated the paint for the vehicles; 1-800 Chari ty Cars; TOONA Automotive Paint & Equipment and FindPigtails.com, both of whom provided generous gas cards for the two veterans; CREF and Rosedale Technical College, which hosted the event.
Since color variants to OEM prime colors are an everyday challenge for identifying a correct formula, those identified by PPG’s color variance team are quickly incorporated into PPG’s comprehensive color formula database. Formulas are updated daily through PPG’s PAINTMANAGER® XI color software. In the long run, the daily update of the database saves the technician valuable time searching for the right color formula.
How Waterborne Technology Can Improve Cycle Time Performance
Blending Performance
Given that refinishing most often calls for blending, how efficient a system can perform an accurate repair and eliminate chances for redos is especially critical to achieving maximum cycle time performance. PPG’s waterborne system employs an easy, one-gun process designed to achieve a fast, tight blend and accurate match the first time out. In fact, in a 2-3 coat application, it’s possible to perform a spot repair in less than an hour. This fast blend process is aided by a very thin film build, enabling the basecoat to dry fast. Only 2-3 minutes flash time is needed between coats and the clearcoat can be applied in 10-15 minutes. The system’s EN-V® Series clearcoat line offers fast bake times as short as 10 minutes. To ensure color accuracy, the basecoat’s latex particles orient metallic flakes smoothly to accurately match the color travel from face to flop. Painters won’t find any evidence of mottling or halos around the repair, which can appear using conventional basecoats. Any dirt or specks can be easily de-nibbed, further facilitating a fast blend repair.
SPONSORED EDITORIAL
Color ID and Matching Efficiency
The throughput of a refinish system must include its color-matching ability. Afterall, if the color doesn’t match, how fast the repair was achieved won’t matter. In this regard, PPG has heavily invested in ensuring the ENVIROBASE® High Performance waterborne basecoat system delivers color-matching excellence. Its color variance program is one example of this commitment.
autobodynews.com / SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS 9
To summarize, when evaluating throughput performance— from color identification to final clearcoat—the Envirobase High Performance system covers all the bases to achieve the cycle time performance demanded by today’s high-production collision centers.
The number of color coats required to make a refinish repair is one primary consideration for evaluating the throughput performance of a refinish paint system. Yet, as most know, the most accurate way to vet a system’s productivity is to evaluate the entire refinish process – from color identification, right on through to the final clearcoat. As example, PPG’s waterborne refinish system incorpo rates a host of features designed to speed cycle time performance.
Another real time saver is the Chromatic Variant Deck since it can significantly reduce sprayouts. Comprised of thousands of variant and prime color chips, each chip is sprayed with actual waterborne paint. “The color deck is ‘dead-on’,” says Jeff Smith of Pro Collision, Grand Rapids, Michigan. “If the color is in the deck, there’s no need to do a sprayout, like we always had to perform with our previous system.”
“The SJTA is excited about our partnership with EVgo and this new charging station at Farley Travel Plaza will provide EV drivers with convenient and reliable charging service while traveling along the Atlantic City Expressway and sup port the state’s growing EV registra tions,” said SJTA Executive Direc tor Stephen F. Dougherty. “Thanks to EVgo, drivers have an additional amenity to take advantage of along side the food, ATM, gift shop, picnic area, dog walk and tourist informa tion offerings currently available.”
Source: EVgo
EVgo Inc. and the South Jersey Transportation Authority (SJTA) on Aug. 4 announced the opening of the first EVgo public fast charging sta tion at milepost 21.3 on the Atlantic City TheExpressway.addition of four new 200 kW fast charging stalls extends EVgo’s collaboration with transpor tation agencies and total station count to 17 EVgo-owned and operated lo cations across the Garden State.
Drivers who visit the Farley Service Plaza station can initiate a charging session by using the EVgo app, EVgo program card or by credit card. EV drivers who sign up for and use an EVgo account will also un lock lower charging rates and earn EVgo Rewards™ points after every charge, which can be redeemed for charging
“EVgocredit.recognizes that more convenient and reliable fast charging on New Jersey roads means even more EV drivers can travel through South Jersey with the SJTA,” said Jonathan Levy, chief commercial officer at EVgo. “These new EVgo fast charging stations on the Atlan tic City Expressway are a win-winwin: a key part of EVgo’s contin ued growth, an integral piece of the state’s broader electrification goals, and a clear benefit to drivers looking to take advantage of the benefits of electricBuilttransportation.”incollaboration with Nis san and funded in part by the New Jersey Department of Environmen tal Protection’s It Pay$ to Plug In program, this new fast charging sta tion will add charging infrastructure along a major corridor in South New Jersey.In 2020, Gov. Phil Murphy set a goal of registering 330,000 EVs in the state by 2025 and more than 2 million by 2035. As of December 2021, there were approximately 46,453 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) registered in New Jersey, up 61% from 2020.1 The growing EV adoption in the state war rants the fast deployment of charging infrastructure.EVgo’s public fast charging network in New Jersey boasts 54 charging stalls, 46 DC fast charging stalls and eight L2 stalls. Six of EVgo’s 17 locations in the state are within the New Jersey Turnpike Au thority’s territory which includes two of the busiest toll roads in the U.S.—the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway.
EVgo Fast Charging Station Now Open at Farley Service Plaza on Atlantic City Expressway 308,000 in 2020 to 608,000 in 2021, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.It’s a small number compared with traditional gasoline-powered cars, but the number keeps rising as car manufacturers increasingly invest in electric vehicle production lines and government at the state and federal levels encourage production with tax benefits for car buyers and higher emissions rules. Electric vehicle sales grew by 85% from 2020 to 2021, while sales of plug-in hybrids more than dou bled, with an increase of 138% over the previous year, the Energy De partment reported.
Continued from Cover Shut Components Plant LIKEONUS FACEBOOK : Autobody News 10 SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com ©2021 FCA US LLC. All Rights Reserved. Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Wagoneer, Mopar and SRT are registered trademarks of FCA US LLC. FIAT is a registered trademark of FCA Group Marketing S.p.A., used under license by FCA US LLC. PROTECT YOUR CUSTOMER’S INVESTMENT WITH ORIGINAL MOPAR ® PARTS. Authentic Mopar® Parts are built to fit perfectly and function properly every time. This ensures that your customers are getting the highest quality parts manufactured to meet the original specifications and safety standards of their vehicle. Providing more peace of mind for each customer you serve. KELLY JEEP CHRYSLER 353 Broadway, Route 1 North Lynnfield, MA 01940 (800) 278-8558 Fax: (781) Mon.–Sat.kjcparts@kellyauto.com581-24908:00a.m.-6:00 p.m. We accept orders via CollisionLink, PartsTrader, OE Connection, OPS Trax and CCC One. Check out MoparRepairConnect.com for resources, promotions and technical information. THE RIGHT FIT FOR THE PERFECT FINISH. 26510_COL10_H_AB.indd 1 9/2/21 3:25 PM
autobodynews.com / SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS 11 VEHICLEEMISSIONCONTROLINFORMATIONConformstoregulations:2016 MY California: Not for sale in states with California emissions standards. TWC/HO2S/WR-HO2S/CAC/TC/DFIU.S. EPA:T2B4 FED2.3L-Group:LDVGFMXV02.3VJWEvap:GFMXR0125NBVNoadjustmentsOBDII Fuel: Gasoline ABZ VEHICLEMFD.BYFORDMOTORCO.INU.S.A. DATE: EXTPNT: RC: DS0: WB BRK INTTR TP/PS R AXLE TR SPR 114 4 GP K 45 V DB F05 UTC THISVEHICLECONFORMSTOALLAPPLICABLEFEDERALMOTORVEHICLESAFETYSTANDARDSINEFFECTONTHEDATEOFMANUFACTURESHOWNABOVE.01/03 VIN:TYPE:00000000000000000 MPV FRONTGAWR: 2735LB AT AT 205 kPa/30 240 kPa/35 1240KGP235/70R16SL16X7.0J REARGAWR: 3325LB 1508KGP235/70R16SL16X7.0JGVWR: 5880LB/2667KG WITHTIRESRIMSPSICOLD WITHTIRESRIMSPSICOLD F0085T0183 UA 13 3U51B TIRE SIZE COLD303kpa 44psi 303kpa 44psi 303kpa 44psiThecombinedweightofoccupantsP265/70R17P265/70R17P265/70R17FRONTREARSPARE ADDITIONALINFORMATIONSEATING CONTROLVEHICLEEMISSIONINFORMATION Conformstoregulations: 2015 Fuel: Gasoline U.S.EPAclass/stds: LDV/TIER2 Californiaclass/stds: PC/ULEVqualified Group: FGMXV01.80111.2L Evap:SFI/HO2S/TWCFGMXR0095805,OBD:II 00000000 FRONTREARSPARE 215/55R1697H215/55R1697HT125/85R1699 SEATINGCAPACITY TOTAL 4 FRONT 2 REAR 2 Thecombinedweightofoccupantsandcargoshouldneverexceed352kgor776lbs.240kPa,35PSI240kPa,35PSI420kPa,60PSISEEOWNER’SMANUALFORADDITIONALINFORMATIONTIREANDLOADINGINFORMATION TIRE SIZE COLDTIREPRESSURE COUSSINSRSSIDEAIRBAGGONFLABLELATÉRAL(SRS) TOAVOIDSERIOUSINJURYORDEATH:•Donotleanagainstthedoor.•Donotuseseatcoversthatblocksideairbagdeployment.Seeowner’smanualformoreinformation.POURÉVITERDESBLESSURESGRAVESOUMORTELLES:•Nevousappuyezpascontrelaporte.•N’utilizezpasuncouvre-siègequipeutbloquerledéploiementducoussingonflablelatéral.Voirlemanuelduconducteurpourdeplusamplesrenseignements. WARNINGAVERTISSEMENT VEHICLE MFD .BY: TOYOTA MOTOR MANUFACTURING, GVWR 4233LB GAWR FR 2668LB RR 2668LB THIS VEHICLE CONFORMS TO ALL APPLICABLE FEDERAL MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY , BUMPER , AND THEFT PREVENTION STANDARDS IN EFFECT ON THE DATE OF MANUFACTURE SHOWN ABOVE . PASS. CAR C⁄ TR : 4Q2 ⁄ LA43 ACV30L --CEPGKA A ⁄TM: --01A ⁄ U241E MADE IN U.S.A. 08270KENTUCKY,00000000000000000INC.02 ⁄ 04 THIS VEHICLE RAL MOTOR STANDARDSVEHICLEINEFFECTONSHOWNABOVE.V.I.N.:00000000000000000STKAAA5--NH737M --A --A GAWR Contact Us : Contact your LKQ/Keystone Local Sales Rep Upload your photos to the Website: www.AutoDataLabels.com Email your photos: Labels@AutoDataLabels.com DELIVERY IN 1-3 DAYS! SUPPLY CHAIN ISSUES COSTING YOU TIME & MONEY? AUTO DATA LABELS ARE CUSTOM DESIGNED AND MADE IN AMERICA Place Your Label Order Via One of These 3 Easy Ordering Options: To Visit Our Website SCAN HERE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT AUTO DATA LABELS: visit our website at www.AutoDataLabels.com email us at labels@AutoDataLabels.com or call us at (631) 667-2382 ©2022 Auto Data Labels an LKQ Company. Visit us at Shop.LKQcorp.com and LKQcorp.com Vin Labels AC Labels Caution LabelsEmission Labels Tire Pressure Labels Paint Code Labels SRS SIDE AIRBAG COUSSIN GONFLABLE LATÉRAL (SRS) TO AVOID SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH: D not lean against the door.D not use seat covers that block side air bag deployment.See owner’s manual for more information. POUR ÉVITER DES BLESSURES GRAVES OU MORTELLES: Ne vous appuyez pas contre la porte. N’utilizez pas un couvre-siège qui peut bloquer le déploiement du coussin gonflable latéral. Voir le manuel du conducteur pour de plus amples renseignements. AVERTISSEMENTWARNING TIRE AND LOADING INFORMATION TIRE SIZE COLD TIRE PRESSURE 303kpa 44psi 303kpa 44psi 303kpa 44psi The combined weight of occupants and cargo should never exceed 505 Kg or 1114 Lbs. P265/70R17P265/70R17P265/70R17FRONTREARSPARE SEE INFORMATIONMANUALOWNERSFORADDITIONAL SEATING CAPACITY TOTAL 3 FRONT 3 REAR 0 VEHICLE EMISSION CONTROL INFORMATION Conforms to regulations: 2016 MY California: Not for sale in states with California emissions standards. TWC/HO2S/WR-HO2S/CAC/TC/DFI U.S. EPA T2B4 LDV 2.3L-Group: GFMXV02.3VJW Evap: GFMXR0125NBV No adjustments needed. FED OBD II Fuel: Gasoline ABZ VEHICLE MFD. BY FORD MOTOR CO. IN U.S.A. DATE:EXTPNT: RC: DS0: WB BRK INT TR TP/ PS R AXLE TR SPR 114 GP K V DB F05 UTC THIS VEHICLE CONFORMS TO ALL APPLICABLE FEDERAL MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY STANDARDS IN EFFECT ON THE DATE OF MANUFACTURE SHOWN ABOVE. 01 03 TYPE:VIN: 00000000000000000FRONTMPVGAWR: 735LB AT AT205 kP 30 240 kP 35 16X7.0JP231240KG570R16SL REAR GAWR: 3325LB 16X7.0JP231508KG570R16SL GVWR: 5880LB 2667KG PSIRIMSWITHIRESCOLD PSIRIMSWITHIRESCOLD T0183F0085 UA 13 3U51B
The I-CAR® Board of Directors on Aug. 5 announced the elec tion of Paul Krauss, executive vice president of Caliber Colli sion Centers, to serve a three-year term filling the board’s open large MSO collision repair seat. The board’s election process concluded July 25 and Krauss will assume his new role immediate ly following the Aug. 24 I-CAR Board of Directors meeting. I-CAR’s Board of Directors is composed of four represen tatives from the collision repair segment; three each from OEM and insurance segments; and one each from education; equipment, tool and supply; and related ser vices segments. Furthermore, the collision repair segment allocates one seat each to a single shop re pairer; MSO (2-199 shops) and large MSO (200+ shops), and one seat open to any size entity. At the board’s option, up to four hybrid seats can be added for requisite subject matter expertise.
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Krauss Joins I-CAR Board
Under the plan being consid ered, people who live in the Man hattan CBD and make less than $60,000 would be eligible to receive a state tax credit for the tolls they paid during the year.
Under this proposal, vehicles would pay only one toll a day, no matter how many trips in and out of the CBD are made. Another scenario would con sider peak hours to run from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. The peak rate would be $9 for privately owned cars, with offpeak and overnight rates at $7 and $5, respectively.Underthat plan, private vehi cles would still just be tolled once per day, but drivers of taxis, for-hire vehicles, small and large trucks and buses would face no limits on the number of times they’re tolled each day. All tolls would be paid through the E-ZPass system, where a sensor would scan a transponder located in the vehicle. The registered owner would receive a bill by mail for vehi cles without a transponder for the toll. With the report’s release, a pub lic comment period will run through Sept. 9 to solicit feedback on the plan. There will also be six virtual meetings open to the public to gar ner feedback. Those meetings will start on Aug. 25 and run from Aug. 27-31.
by Steve Bittenbender, The Center Square Car trips to the heart of Manhattan may become even more expensive for drivers, according to a report re leased Aug. 16 regarding a proposal to implement congestion tolling on New York City streets. If approved, New York would become the first American city to implement congestion tolling, a practice used in London, Stock holm, Milan and Singapore. Under the proposal, driving through Manhattan from 60th Street and points south---with a couple of exceptions---could cost motorists up to $23 per day depending on the time they’re behind the wheel. The tolls would go toward the Metropol itan Transportation Authority, which needs to find revenue sources to bol ster the bus, subway and commuter rail lines in and around New York City.The report said even with rail and bus options available for com muters and other travelers, New York City remains the most congest ed urban area in the country. Nearly a quarter of the 7.7 million people who come to the Manhattan cen tral business district every weekday travel by “Statecar.and City of New York officials and stakeholder and advo cacy groups have conducted multi ple studies over the past 45 years to determine the most effective way to address congestion in the Manhat tan CBD,” the executive summary said. “These studies overwhelming ly pointed to congestion pricing, or introduction of tolls based on traffic levels, as the most effective tool.”
The report offers seven possi ble tolling scenarios, each offering tiered pricing for peak, off-peak and overnight driving. In one scenario, peak hours would run from 6-10 a.m. and 4-8 p.m. on weekdays and from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on week ends. Vehicles would be charged $23 during peak hours, $17 in offpeak hours and $12 for overnight drives.
Car Trips to Heart of Manhattan May Get Expensive
Source: I-CAR
by Joey Klender, Teslarati Lucid Group cut its 2022 produc tion outlook to between 6,000 and 7,000 vehicles after citing “extraordinary supply chain and logisticsLucidchallenges.”initiallyprojected its 2022 production goal as 20,000 units last year. This was quickly revised in February to between 12,000 and 14,000 vehicles. As automakers across the world struggled with supply is sues and parts shortages, startups began to reconsider their goals for the year. Rivian also slashed production goals considerably in early 2022, citing supply issues and other challenges as the rea soning.Lucid’s situation is no dif ferent. Struggling with cash flow, the company lost nearly $5 billion in 2021, and took an other $220 million loss in Q2, it disclosed in its Shareholder Deck. Only 679 Lucid Air vehi cles made their way to customers in Q2.When asked about a week ly production rate, CEO Peter Rawlinson said it would be best not to start “cherry-picking spe cific weekly production rates.” Meanwhile, CFO Sherry House said customers and investors should see deliveries begin to pick up substantially through the next few “Ourquarters.revised production guidance reflects the extraordi nary supply chain and logistics challenges we encountered,” Rawlinson said. “We’ve identi fied the primary bottlenecks, and we are taking appropriate mea sures…We continue to see strong demand for our vehicles, with over 37,000 customer reserva tions, and I remain confident that we shall overcome these nearterm challenges with a relentless tenacity and a steely determina tion.”Rawlinson also said Rivi an has brought logistics opera tions in-house and is working to strengthen its executive team. Lucid shares were trading at $18.74, down 8.9% the morning of Aug. 4 in New York.
FCA had long called the law suit “meritless” and said GM’s recently amended complaint was “full of preposterous allegations.”
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by Brad Anderson, CarScoops An appeals court in the U.S. has upheld a 2020 ruling tossing out the racketeering lawsuit that Gen eral Motors filed against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. General Motors filed the racketeering lawsuit against FCA in November 2019. It claimed its rival had bribed United Auto Workers (UAW) union officials to corrupt labor talks to its advantage. GM claimed this cost it billions of dollars.While GM has long believed it had a strong case, a federal judge in mid-2020 ordered General Mo tors CEO Mary Barra and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Mike Manley to meet and resolve the lawsuit. The judge noted there were more urgent issues facing the U.S. and the lawsuit was a “waste of time and resources.”
GM tried multiple times to have the lawsuit reinstated but ear lier in August, the three-judge pan el of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the attempt, Auto News“Evenreported.accepting GM’s theo ry as true, the chain of causation between FCA’s bribes and GM’s injury is still too attenuated,” the three-judge panel said in its ruling. The lawsuit alleged FCA cor rupted the contract bargaining pro cess between GM and the UAW in an attempt to force a merger be tween the two car manufacturers. The lawsuit claimed late FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne was responsi ble for conceiving, executing and sponsoring the wrongdoing.
14 SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com
autobodynews.com / SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS 15
New Hampshire stands to get more than $2.05 billion from the spending bill over the next five years from the law, including at least $1.1 billion for highway upgrades and $225 million for bridge repairs, according to a breakdown from the WhiteMostHouse.of the roadway projects that will receive additional funding are included in New Hampshire’s 10-year transportation improvement plan.Amid lingering supply chain issues, record high inflation and Russia’s war in Ukraine, benchmark crude oil prices have skyrocket ed from $70 a barrel last March to about $130 in March of this year. While the cost has dropped since then to about $100 a barrel, analysts are predicting crude pric es to remain high for the foresee able future, adding to inflationary costs.Recently, President Joe Biden visited oil exporter Saudi Arabia, de facto leader of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, in an effort to boost oil production to help stabilize prices.
The Automotive Service As sociation (ASA) and the MSO Symposium advisory board an nounced the 11th annual MSO Symposium will be held Oct. 31, the Monday before SEMA/ AAPEX, in Las Vegas. Created by and for multishop owners, the event will be gin at 10 a.m. PDT with a light breakfast, networking and ven dor displays. Following will be a unique program providing infor mation and insight on the econo my, the industry’s current state of affairs, matters concerning ESG, DEI and the lessons observed in private equity and electric vehi cle repair adaptation.
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High Oil Costs Impact New Hampshire Roadway Upgrades
In July, the New Hampshire Executive Council signed off on $1.3 million in additional spending to cover increases in several ma jor roadway construction projects across the state.
For example, the price tag of a paving project on U.S. 202 and N.H. 9 in the town of Hillsborough will increase by $250,000, to more than $3.5 million, according to NHDOT. Meanwhile, roadway resurfac ing work on N.H. 110A in the towns of Milan and Dummer and on N.H. 16 in Errol will cost an additional $675,000, with the project’s price tag rising to more than $5 million.The additional funding to cover higher construc tion costs will come from the federal government, state transportation offi cials noted in their request to the Thecouncil.risingcosts for con struction materials comes as New Hampshire and other states look to make use of bil lions of dollars in federal infrastruc ture funding.Thefederal Bipartisan Infra structure Law diverts billions of dollars to states to help replace hun dreds of aging, structurally deficient bridges, fix potholed roads and im prove public transit.
by Christian Wade, The Center Square The cost of resurfacing roadways in New Hampshire is going up amid high prices for crude oil used to make asphalt and fuel, forcing the state to spend more money on scheduled transportation upgrades.
The state Department of Trans portation, which requested the in creased spending, cited the rising cost of fuel and asphalt in requests to amend contracts for the projects.
The conference will conclude at 7 p.m., after an exclusive indus try reception.Forthose interested in reg istering for the 2022 event, be advised attendance is limited and you must qualify to attend. To begin the registration pro cess, go to com/registerwww.msosymposium.Source:MSOSymposium
autobodynews.com / SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS 17
“Theworkforce.grandopening of this center marks an important mile York workers for a rapidly chang ing economy,” Hochul said. “A di verse, skilled workforce is one of our state’s most valuable resources and it goes hand-in-hand with our ability to attract the best business es with the best jobs. Thanks to $5 million in state funding, the CTE Center will bring state-of-the-art facilities, world-class job training, and hands-on learning to the Capi tal Region and continue building up New York’s workforce for genera tions to “Fromcome.”cutting edge equip ment to modern labs, this new facility will meet the workforce development needs of the region for decades to come by preparing thousands of students for careers in skilled trades, health care, digital media and more,” said Capital Re
Celebrates Grand Opening “The grand opening of this center marks an important milestone in our mission to prepare New York workers for a rapidly changing economy,” — Gov.
Capital Region BOCES will offer 25 workforce training pro grams in eight high-demand career clusters, including health sciences, building trades and manufacturing, supporting the creation of a skilled regional
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Aug. 16 announced the completion and grand opening of the $30 mil lion, 167,000-square foot Capital Region BOCES Career and Tech nical Education Center in the Town of Colonie, NY. The CTE Center contains new state-of-the-art labs and learning spaces and on-site day care, replac ing six deteriorating and antiquated buildings and consolidating train ing into one centralized location.
An entire floor focuses on careers in health care, offering five health care labs—two for li censed practical nursing and three for certified nursing assistants— plus a sterile processing lab and a general science lab.
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The new center also includes administrative and support spaces for career counseling, work-based learning and job/apprenticeship placements.
The newly-completed CTE Center will provide state-of-the-art facilities where students can acquire market directly or pursue further ed ucation. The $30 million project was supported by a $5 million Empire State Development capital grant, recommended by the Capital Region Economic Development Council. The remaining project cost will be divided among the BOCES compo nent school districts, who will be re imbursed in part by the state through BOCES Aid in the State Education Department“Capitalbudget.Region BOCES has a proud history of teaching career building skills in a large range of in dustries—from traditional trades to licensed professions, to college lev el courses, that are essential to the economic ecosystem of the region,” said Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight. “The new Capital Region BOCES Career and Techni cal Education Center will build and expand on that foundation and en sure their students acquire essential skill sets for in demand occupations that require technical education.”
Source: Official Website of New BOCES Career and Technical Education Center Kathy Hochul
cational Services Senior Executive Officer Joseph P. Dragone, Ph.D. The CTE Center has combined lab and classroom spaces to support technical training for careers in: early childhood education, culinary arts, construction trades, HVAC/R, welding and metal fabrication, manufacturing and machining technology, electrical trades, diesel technology, automotive trades tech nology, auto body collision repair and refinishing, video game design, digital media design, cosmetology, criminal justice, retail services and global fashion design.
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New Flyer Xcelsior CHARGE NG bus. Credit: New Flyer/Facebook
The first recipient, nominat ed by Julie Lombardo, execu tive director for the Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of Illinois (AASP-I), was College of Lake County-Grayslake Campus (CLC) automotive collision repair program.The second recipient, nomi nated by Mariah Litton, executive director for the Montana Collision Repair Association (MCRA), was City College, MSU Billings, colli sion repair and refinishing technol ogy program.Source:SCRS
“As a leader in clean, renew able energy, Rhode Island has the momentum to create a more sus tainable future and our administra tion is committed to advancing that goal,” McKee said in the release. “Ensuring clean air, zero-emission sustainable energy, and easier ac cess to public transportation is a priority.”According to the release, the electric bus line is anticipated to lower emissions in the region where air pollution has affected low-income and diverse neighbor hoods. The buses, bright green in color, will be fitted with 320 kWH batteries.The 40-foot electric buses, according to information from the Environmental Protection Agency, can prevent up to 135 metric tons of greenhouse gases from being emit ted each year when compared to a diesel-fueledAccordingbus.to the release, the fleet will benefit from a high-pow ered charging infrastructure, which will be situated on Broad Street at the Cranston/Providence city line. There will be four overhead panto graph chargers at the site, permit ting frequent recharging without humanTheinvolvement.buseswill roll into the charging station and the overhead device will lower to connect with bars placed on the bus’s roof to charge, according to the release. The buses will charge for five to nine minutes before going back into service.“The arrival of these New Flyer electric buses demonstrates RIPTA’s commitment to mitigating climate change and contributing to a zero-emission future,” Scott Avedisian, RIPTA CEO, said in the release. “These electric buses are yet another example of how pub lic transportation can help achieve cleaner air quality. We already know that using public transpor tation as opposed to single occu pancy vehicles is beneficial to our environment. Switching to electric buses only furthers the benefits of using public transportation.”
by Brent Addleman, The Center Square A new electric bus fleet will be available to public transit riders in RhodeFourteenIsland.
The Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) announced a collaboration with KECO Body Repair Products to gift a tool and training package to one collision industry educational institution per quarter.Schools are nominated by SCRS affiliate associations, who were encouraged to nominate schools in their market. The recip ient schools will be awarded the KECO Level 2 Glue Pull Repair System + On-Location Training.
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14-Electric Bus Fleet Coming to Rhode Island
New Flyer Xcelsior CHARGE NG buses will be deliv ered over the next couple of months and replace diesel-fueled buses that are in use on the R-Line, the route with the highest ridership. The bus es are battery-electric powered, Gov. Dan McKee said. The R-Line connects Providence and Pawtuck et. Each bus, according to the re lease, carries a price tag of $1.072 million. Funding is from the Feder al Transit Administration, Volkswa gen settlement dollars and Rhode Island Public Transit Authority.
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For more information about AASP/ NJ and its initiatives, visit aaspnj. Source:org. AASP/NJ
“Getting involved is a great way of truly showing your support for the industry because, without that support, we’ve got nothing,” — Jerry McNee
More information about CIC can be found at ciclink.com.
For nearly 60 years, the Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of New Jersey (AASP/NJ) has been dedicated to promoting and enhanc ing the collision industry by offering educational opportunities, advocat ing for repairers and establishing a community for shops in the Garden State.In July, AASP/NJ President Jerry McNee took a couple days away from the shop to learn more about what’s happening on a nation al scale when he attended Industry Week in Pittsburgh, PA. Each quarter, some of the brightest minds from all segments of the collision repair industry gath er at the Collision Industry Confer ence (CIC) to discuss and explore the issues plaguing shops, associa tions and other involved parties. A new face in the crowd, McNee sat among them to gain insights on the multitude of changes impacting the industry—and as a first-time CIC at tendee, he sure was impressed.
“Getting involved is a great way of truly showing your support for the industry because, without that support, we’ve got nothing,” McNee said. “Join us at the next CIC to be part of the elite. Being the best you can possibly be isn’t going to harm you. It’ll only work to your benefit!”
“CIC is like the founders of this industry when it comes to looking out for the best interest of the shops and the consumer, represented by the ‘empty chair,’ and we should all be that focused on performing safe, proper and quality repairs,” McNee said. “It was a great experience and a wonderful opportunity to come together, sit in on the seminars and listen to guest speakers who are the best of the best in our industry. It’s important to get out there and see what others are doing current ly, what’s new on the horizon and what’s coming down the pike.”
Participating in association events, both locally and nationally, offers a chance for collision profes sionals to learn from their peers and strengthen their individual business es while simultaneously contribut ing to the advancement of the indus try as a whole. CIC’s next meeting will be Nov. 1 in Las Vegas, in con junction with the SEMA Show.
AASP/NJ President Reflects on First Collision Industry Conference
www.autobodynews.com FREE 4x Monthly E-Newsletter. Subscribe Today! by David A. Wood, CarComplaints.com Exploding Audi and Volkswagen passenger airbags have caused a recall of more than 1,200 of these vehicles. 2016 Audi TT Roadster 2016 Audi TT Coupe 2016 Audi S3 Sedan 2016 Audi R8 Coupe 2016 Audi A3 Sedan 2016 Audi A3 e-tron 2016 Audi A3 Cabriolet 2016 Volkswagen Golf Sportwagen 2016 Volkswagen Golf R 2016 Volkswagen Golf GTI 2016 Volkswagen Golf A7 2016 Volkswagen e-Golf Dealers will replace the passen ger airbag modules once owner recall letters are mailed Sept. 23. Owners may contact Volk swagen at 800-893-5298 or Audi customer service at 800253-2834.Volkswagen’s and Audi’s recall numbers are 69DY and 61C1. Audi, VW Vehicles Recalled Airbags 22 SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com Direct: 800-982-2298 Fax#: 508-879-1212 Hours: Mon - Fri 8am - 5pm 218 Turnpike Rd. Southboro, MA 017 72 Insist On Genuine GM Parts. ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT FIT AND FINISH • CONFIDENCE • WARRANT Y • Snap-On Electronic Parts Catalog • Experienced and Accurate Sales Staf f • Competitive Discounts • Liberal No-Hassle Return Policy • GM Bump the Competition Conquest Program • OE CollisionLink Dealer • Internet Based National Parts Locator • Over 2 Million in inventor y • 40,000 sq/f t. Warehouse • 30,000 Part Numbers in-Stock • Fleet of 18 Wholesale Delivery Trucks GPS-Equipped • GM and ASE Certified Staf f par ts@longauto.com www.longautoparts.com The Right Part,The Right Price,atThe Right Time! The Right Part,The Right Price,atThe Right Time! Since 1927
The foundation also strives to con nect new collision professionals with the vast array of career op portunities within the industry by partnering with industry business es to host career fairs each fall and spring, but their efforts require the industry’s assistance through mon etary and in-kind donations as well as other types of involvement.
“There’s no question about it—we all see the need for young techni cians,” said Jerry McNee, presi dent of the Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of New Jersey (AASP/NJ), summing up the tech shortage dilemma. But as a man of action, he also took steps to address the problem by participating in the Collision Repair Education Foundation’s (CREF) 20th Annual Golf Outing, co-hosted by PPG Automotive Finishes and held at the Edgewood Country Club in Pittsburgh, PA, during Industry Week.“Let’s face it: Shop owners are getting older, and if nobody is en tering this industry, it’s easy to see our struggle. You advertise looking for an employee, no matter what position, I don’t have to tell you what’s showing up…if they show
More information about CREF can be found at collisioneducation
“We’re all fighting for the same technicians. We need new techs, and we need to get the young peo ple involved,” McNee reminded the industry, lauding the fact “CREF focuses on exactly that through their scholarships, tool grants and work with schools and students. We need to support the organizations that are supporting others, so get ting involved with the foundation is just as important as anything we do. Getting involved and donating to CREF supports their efforts to help schools and students. They’re doing this for a reason, and that’s to help shops, but we have to get out there and help them too!”
YANG TopGolfAnnouncesFundraiser UPDATED DAILY AUTOBODY www.autobodynews.com autobodynews.com / SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS 23 YOUR ASSURANCE OF QUALITY www.capacertified.org Mercedes-Benz of Goldens Bridge 321 Route 22 Goldens Bridge, NY 10526 914-232-4770 24 Hr. www.mercedesbenzgb.comachristiano@mercedesbenzgb.comFax 914-232-8146 M-F 8am-5:30pm Sat 8am-2pm HOURS • 1M+ Inventory of Genuine Mercedes-Benz Parts & Accessories Updated Every Day • Experienced Cer fied Team of Wholesale Parts Specialists Ready to Help You • Fast Free Daily Deliveries throughout the Greater New York Metro Area Your Trusted Source for Genuine Mercedes-Benz Parts Mercedes-BenzofGoldensBridge
Since 1991, CREF has sup ported collision repair educational programs, schools and students to ensure graduates are qualified, en try-level employees through their grant and scholarship programs.
AASP/NJ President Tees Off in Support of Collision Students and Schools
up at all. It’s very difficult. If we don’t get young blood in this indus try, we’re going to age out, shrivel up and fall to the wayside.”
Forfoundation.org.moreinformation about AASP/ NJ and its initiatives, visit aaspnj. Source:org. AASP/NJ
“We’re all fighting for the same technicians. We need new techs, and we need to get the young people involved,” — Jerry McNee
The Young Auto Care Network Group (YANG), an Auto Care As sociation community of young in dustry professionals, is partnering with the Automotive Aftermarket Charitable Foundation (AACF) to raise support for the foundation through a nationwide TopGolf event Sept. 8. In continuing its ef fort to provide support to members of the auto care industry, YANG is proud to once again partner with AACF to bring the auto care com munity together while raising funds that will provide resources, guid ance, financial support and more to those in need. Six major TopGolf locations across the country will host events for the fundraiser, with the support of industry sponsors: Atlanta, GA, Midtown location; Denver, CO, Thornton location; Detroit, MI, Auburn Hills location; Houston, TX, Katy location; Oma ha, NE; and San Antonio, TX
Ford has developed a prototype robot charging station that drivers operate via their smartphone from inside their electric vehicle. The technology could enable disabled drivers to stay in the car while charging, or they could leave the car while the robot does all the work. Disabled drivers have al ready identified ease of charging as a key purchase consideration for electric vehicles. Ford is testing the robot charging station as part of a research project to develop handsfree charging solutions for elec tric vehicles and fully automatic charging for autonomous vehicles. Following initial lab testing, Ford researchers are now putting the robot charging station to the test in real-life situations. Once activated, the station cover slides open and the charging arm extends towards the inlet with the help of a tiny camera. For the trial, drivers were able to monitor the charge status via the FordPass app. After charging, the arm retracts back into place.Source: Ford
In addition, Autocrafters CARSTAR Collision is an I-CAR Gold certified facility, one of the industry’s highest designations in collision repair train ing. “It is CARSTAR’s mission to provide the best quality collision re pair to every customer,” said Dean Fisher, collision group president, Driven Brands. “Our goal perfectly aligned with Jimmy’s, and we could not be more thrilled to welcome him and his team into our CARSTAR family. His dedication to the indus try is unlike any other and we are excited to watch as his facility con tinues to make an impact in Bensa lem!”
Jimmy Nguyen, the new own er, has been in the collision repair industry for 21 years. A former em ployee, he recently took over the store and has welcomed change in order to meet his commitment to be ing the best repairer in the industry. The facility is located in Bucks County, just one mile from Philadel phia, and has been offering repair services to its community for nearly 45 years.“Delivering quality collision repair to each and every customer is my priority,” said Nguyen. “Hav ing been in the community for many years now, I am excited to take this step in becoming the owner and to begin a partnership with CARSTAR in order to help my facility and team grow.”Autocrafters CARSTAR Colli sion’s facility is 10,000 square feet and home to a team of 12 employ ees. The facility is equipped with the necessary tools and resources to pro vide the best quality collision repair to all customers in their community.
Autocrafters
CARSTAR announced new own ership of Autocrafters CARSTAR Collision, located at 2659 Bristol Pike, Bensalem, PA 19020.
Autocrafters CARSTAR Colli sion prides itself in supporting the community. Every year, Autocraft ers CARSTAR Collision participates in various community efforts, like Feasterville Business Association initiatives, which raise more than $25,000 annually for distribution to local charities that support veterans, police dog training, aid in making wishes come true for children with disabilities through the Sunshine Foundation, donations to food pan tries, supply funds for scholarships and more.In addition, Autocrafters CARSTAR Collision chairs fundrais ing for a program providing books to the local library, putting books in the hands of children and adults. Please join us in welcoming Autocrafters CARSTAR Colli sion’s new owner to our growing CARSTAR Autocraftersfamily.CARSTAR Collision 2659 Bristol Pike Bensalem, Pennsylvania 19020 (215) Monday638-2322toFriday: 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday: 9 a.m.–noon For more information on CARSTAR, visit Source:CARSTAR.com.CARSTAR CARSTAR Collision in Bensalem, PA, Announces New Owner Monthly E-Newsletter.
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Continued from Cover $300,000 for Consumers See $300,000 for Consumers, Page 30 26 SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com EMPIRE AUTO PARTS Spend more time running your business and less time worrying about your parts. www.empireap.com Parts Accuracy Friendly Sales Team Quality Assurance Fast, Free Delivery Lamps Bumper Covers Grilles & BezelsCooling FansSteel BumpersDoor Mirrors Radiators Hoods & Fenders MA DISTRIBUTION 888.366.5155CENTER Serving ME, MA, NH, RI, VT MD DISTRIBUTION 888.700.8074CENTER Serving DC, DE, MD, NC, PA, VA, WV NC DISTRIBUTION 800.318.5030CENTER Serving GA, NC, SC, VA NJ DISTRIBUTION 800.624.4561CENTER Serving CT, DE, MA, NJ, NY, PA, VT BaseTron PREPARATION BAY & PRIMER SPRAY BOOTHSCANHERE to thewatchvideo www.symach.com
try. Adams and DCWP also secured $500,000 in civil penalties from the companies and a seven-day suspen sion of Brooklyn Mitsubishi’s two licenses, which has been completed.
DCWP currently licenses 509 used car dealerships across New York City and has received more than 5,000 complaints about the in dustry over the past five years. In that same period, DCWP has con ducted more than 3,346 inspections of used car dealerships and issued more than 2,070 violations, most of which were for failure to post re quired signs, parking or storing cars on sidewalks and public roadways, or missing price disclosures. As a result of mediating com plaints, charging businesses with violations of the applicable law and rules and executing settlements, DCWP has secured more than $1.8 million in consumer restitution and more than $4.7 million in fines against used car dealerships over the past five years. DCWP encourages New York ers who are looking to buy a used car to read the Used Car Consumer Bill of Rights, which dealerships are required to post and give to each consumer before they sign a sales contract. This Consumer Bill of Rights must be provided to the consumer in the language in which the contract was negotiated if the translation is available on DCWP’s website. When shopping for a certified pre-owned automobile, consumers should make sure they know the specific criteria for certification, ob
“We’re not going to allow any one to pick New Yorkers’ pockets on the street or in a used car lot,” said Adams. “This settlement is about protecting New Yorkers and sending a clear message: If you break the law and harm consumers, we will hold you accountable.“Wearehelping deliver more than $300,000 back into the pockets of New York City consumers who were ripped off by Brooklyn Mitsub ishi and Brooklyn Volkswagen and are stopping their unlawful behavior dead in their tracks,” Adams said. “New Yorkers can trust that our ad ministration will fight to protect ev ery consumer, especially when their making big purchases like a car.” “I wanted to buy a car to pro vide a better life for myself and my family,” said Karinie Olivero, a consumer who is receiving restitu tion as part of the settlement. “But these dealerships preyed on con sumers like me with false and mis leading information, and they failed to notify me of my rights under the law. Thankfully, Mayor Adams and Commissioner Mayuga have helped me recoup some of my investment and sent a clear message to all deal erships engaged in fraudulent prac tices that this kind of activity will not beLasttolerated.”November, DCWP charged Brooklyn Mitsubishi and Brooklyn Volkswagen with more than 7,000 violations. As part of the settlement, 36 consumers are getting restitution totaling $154,900, leaving $150,000 for new consumers who come for ward with complaints, which can be submitted directly on DCWP’s website in English or Spanish. As part of the settlement, these dealer ships agree to fully comply with the law going forward. In the suit, DCWP charged the dealerships with using deceptive advertising to lure customers to their dealerships and then illegally selling cars at prices well above the advertised prices. The dealerships persistently advertised “expired” prices with false claims stating, “the price you see is the price you pay” and “no dealer fees” that weren’t honored when consumers got to the dealership.Thedealerships also falsely ad vertised accessories, warranties and add-on products that did not come with the Additionally,vehicle. the dealerships had a practice of luring consumers with lower credit scores by prom ising “guaranteed approval” for fi nancing and pre-approval for financ ing from a fake finance company. The dealerships misled consumers about warranties, executed illegal contracts, failed to maintain re quired records, failed to respond to DCWP’s subpoenas and submitted false license applications to DCWP.
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Source:com.
Source: BendPak, Inc.
“The SEMA Show has a lot to offer, from seeing new products and vehicle builds, meeting with manufacturers, learning from experts and developing meaningful relationships that you can only get from an in-person event,” said Tom Gattuso, SEMA vice president of events. “We encourage showgoers to take advantage of all the elements of the SEMA Show, so that they get the greatest ROI.” All sessions are held in meeting rooms at the Las Vegas Convention Center, making it easy and convenient for attendees to schedule seminars between meetings with exhibitors. Registrants can sign up for the education program while applying for SEMA Show credentials at www.semashow.com/ register.Those who are already approved for credentials can add education sessions by going into their SEMA Show dashboard. Sessions will also be able to be added through the SEMA Show mobile app. This year’s information will be updated in the mobile app in August, but the app can be downloaded now from the appThestore.SEMA Show is the world premier automotive trade show, featuring new products and trends in vehicle customization. Complete details about the Nov. 1-4 SEMA Show taking place in Las Vegas, NV, are available at www.semashow.
takes place Nov. 1, and will be presented by James Pogue, Ph.D., president and CEO of JP Enterprises. Part of the Business Management Track, each DEI session will feature thought leaders, skill-building seminars, networking, inspiring role models and action-oriented content.
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BendPak, Inc., a global man ufacturer and marketer of ve hicle service equipment and specialty consumer products, announced changes to its ex ecutive team, effective Aug. 3. President Don Henthorn, who has led the company since establishing it in 1965, will take on a more limited role in its daily operations as chair man emeritus. Jeff Kritzer will be promoted from execu tive vice president to succeed Henthorn as president and CEO.At the same time, Rudy Diaz will step up from vice president of information tech nology to executive vice presi dent and chief operating officer (COO). Jim Fornear moves from financial controller to chief financial officer (CFO). Rounding out the leadership team, Javier Arias continues in the critical role of vice pres ident of operations.
“Celebrity Insights,” moderated by African American Racers Association co-founder Chris Harris, features automotive celebrities, legends and luminaries with diverse backgrounds and experiences. The one-hour discussion will give attendees a glimpse into the lives of some of their favorite personalities.
Continued from Cover SEMA Show
“Celebrity Insights” takes place Nov. 4, along with five other sessions that comprise the brand-new Enthusiast TrackReturningprogram. by popular demand is the Leadership Essentials Track, presented by Dale Carnegie. Consisting of six courses spread out over three days, the program can be taken as a whole or individually. Each course features acclaimed trainers from Dale Carnegie Training. Known for having a leadership, communications and sales program that improves both individual and business performance, Dale Carnegie Training focuses on core human relations principles and is said to transform lives. Also continuing in 2022 are comprehensive programs from partners, including the Society of Collision Repairers (SCRS), the Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair (I-CAR) and the Tire Industry Association (TIA).
autobodynews.com / SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS 29
Average Collision Repair-Related Rental in Q2 Decreases by Half a Day from Q1
While the overall totals in 2022 are much higher than previous years, this quarter-to-quarter decrease of a half-day fits historical trending from the first quarter of the year to the sec ond quarter. While trending seems to be reverting to historical normalcy, the results themselves continue to illus trate a “new normal.”
As noted in Q1 2022’s results, there was little regional difference in the results, confirming the increases as a national occurrence resulting from many factors, including parts availabil ity and delays, staffing, backlogs and processes.Regarding parts, Enterprise spoke with Greg Horn, PartsTrader’s chief innovation officer, who oversees their data analytics department.
The states with the lowest LOR were Hawaii (13.1), North Dako ta (13.2), Iowa (13.3) and Nebraska (13.7). Hawaii also had the lowest in crease from Q2 2021 at 1.2 days. Ne braska (2.5) and Iowa (2.7) were the only other states to have increases less than three full days.
“We look at the median plus two standard deviations to properly capture the impact of delivery days for all parts on the repair,” Horn said. “PartsTrad er’s Q2 2022 median of 14.9 days, compared to the Q1 2022 median of 15.6 days, represents a reduction of 0.7 days, which aligns with the quar ter-over-quarter LOR reduction.
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Source: Office of the Mayor of New York City Continued from Page 26 $300,000 for Consumers
The second quarter of 2022 saw the av erage length of rental (LOR) for colli sion replacement-related rentals at 17.7 days, a 4.5-day increase from the sec ond quarter of 2021, according to a new report from Enterprise. This represents a decrease of half a day from the first quarter of 2022, when average LOR was 18.2 days.
Alaska recorded the highest LOR in Q2 2022 at 22.1 days, which is also the highest year-over-year increase (7.0). Louisiana recorded an LOR of 21.9 days; Rhode Island was third high est at 21.0 days, followed by Oklahoma (20.7) and Georgia (20.4). Eight additional states had a re placement LOR of 19 days or higher, with nine more states recording LOR of 18 days or more.
tain proof the car they are interested in purchasing met those criteria, and receive documentation of any prom ised Anywarranties.consumer who has had a problem with a used car dealership should file a complaint with DCWP online or call 311. New Yorkers who are trying to get their finances in order before buying a car or who are struggling with debt can make an appointment for free with one-on-one financial counseling at one of the city’s Fi nancial Empowerment Centers by calling 311 or going online. This case was handled by DCWP Staff Counsel Matthew Mansfield and former Staff Counsel Mark Butler, under the supervision of former Associate General Coun sel Adam Blumenkrantz of the Gen eral Counsel Division, which is led by General Counsel Michael Tiger.
“New OEM parts availability is still driving many delays, but the good news is there are fewer brands show ing big delays,” Horn continued. “Six OEM brands had median (plus two standard deviations) delays of more than 20 days in Q1 of this year, while the same was true for only three OEM brands in Q2 2022. As we head in the second half of 2022, aftermarket and recycled parts supply and deliveries are returning to pre-COVID levels. Most OEMs have made significant improve ments as well.”
“Morebacklogs.than 100 of the 650 shops
John Yoswick, editor of the week ly CRASH Network newsletter, also shared information regarding parts and repair
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Overall, LOR for rentals associated with non-drivable claims was 26.4 days, up 7.7 days from Q1 2021. In the first quarter of this year, five states had non-drivable LORs 30 days or greater for the first time. In the second quarter, that number rose to eight states: Alaska (34.7); Montana (32.9), Louisiana (32.0), Colorado (31.8), West Virginia (31.6), Oklahoma (30.9), Delaware (30.5) and WashingtonMarkedly,(30.0).eight states had non-driv able LOR increases of 10 days or greater over last year, with Washington represent ing the highest increase (12.3). Fourteen states had year-over-year increases of 9.0 days or greater, and nine other states plus Washington, D.C., had increases of eight days or Iowagreater.had the lowest non-drivable LOR at 22.1 days. New York was second at 22.5, followed by Nebraska at 22.8. Massachusetts had the lowest yearover-year increase of “only” 4.2 days. Given recent trending, Enterprise broke down LOR by first-party insureds and third-party claimants. Overall, in sured replacement rental LOR was 17.1 days in Q2 2022, whereas claimant rental LOR was 18.7 days. Focusing specifical ly on non-drivable rentals, insured LOR was 24.1 days in Q2 2022, a six-day in crease from Q2 2021. West Virginia’s insured non-driv able LOR was 28.6, followed by Del aware at 28.1. Sixteen additional states had insured non-drivable LOR greater than 25 days. Virginia came in lowest at 19.9 days.Claimant non-drivable LOR was 33.8 days, a 12.8-day increase from Q2 2021. Alaska’s claimant nondriv able results help explain some of the increase their LOR was 52.9 days in Q2 2022. This is a 25-day jump from Q2 2021.Vermont (43.8), Louisiana (42.5), Montana (41.4), Colorado (40.6) and West Virginia (40.2) were other LORs greater than 40 Accordingdays.tothe weekly CRASH Network newsletter, the national av erage repair backlog remains near re cord levels. While scheduled work at shops nationwide eased somewhat in the second quarter, it was not nearly as much as generally happens heading into spring. The length of time a cus tomer is likely to currently wait to get their vehicle repaired has not changed significantly from this past winter’s re cord-highShopsbacklogs.onaverage are still schedul ing work out a full month 4.3 weeks compared to 4.5 weeks in the first quar ter of 2022. The decline of 0.2 weeks is only about half the usual decline in
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North Dakota had the lowest driv able LOR at 10.1 days, followed by Ha waii (10.7), Iowa (11.2) and Nebraska (11.7).Rhode Island, Arizona, Colorado, Washington and Georgia had the largest drivable LOR increases in Q2 all being five or more days higher than Q2 2021. Hawaii had the lowest year-overyear increase, with LOR only up 0.7 days.
Non-Drivable Claims
Drivable Claims Drivable LOR was 15.2 in the second quarter of 2022, an increase of 3.7 days from Q2 2021’s 11.5 days. Louisiana had the highest LOR for rentals associated with drivable repairs at 19.0 days. The next highest state was Rhode Island at 18.6 days, followed by Georgia at 18.0 days. Three states had an LOR greater than 17 days. Eight more had an LOR of 16 or more days, and 13 states had an LOR of 15 days or more.
responding to the latest CRASH Net work survey included a written com ment about backlog of work,” Yoswick said. “Of these shops, more than onethird cited a similar refrain: ‘Almost every car waiting on parts. Swamped with work,’” a shop owner in San Di ego said, according to Yoswick. Enterprise also spoke with Ryan Mandell, director of claims perfor mance for Mitchell International, who offered some additional observations that reflect on LOR and cycle time. “Luxury vehicle frequency in creased to 12.9% in Q2 2022 (compared to 10.3% in Q2 2021),” Mandell said. “In addition, BEV frequency increased from 0.63% of repairable claims in Q2 2021 to 0.83% in Q2 2022. BEVs on average have 1.3 days longer keys-tok eys cycle times in the U.S.” Mandell also provided another interesting analysis: “Comprehensive claims involving a catalytic converter increased from 1.9% in Q2 2021 to 3.5% in Q2 2022. Thefts of catalytic converters are being driven primari ly by the increase in rare earth metal prices, which have only been exac erbated by the Ukraine-Russia con flict.”
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Summary The results for the second quarter of 2022 offer several items of note. As noted in the first quarter, the second quarter results are traditionally the lowest of the year. While the historical trending seems to have returned, the results themselves continue to be ex acerbated by supply chains disruptions, parts delays, collision repair backlogs, claims process challenges and techni cian shortages.Andwith the complexity of vehi cle repairs only increasing, for both ICE and BEV models, the entire industry must play a part in ensuring all colli sionrelated businesses are aligned not just for procedural solutions, but to en sure our mutual customers receive safe and proper repairs, and excellent expe rience and peace of mind. Enterprise is committed to partner ing with insurers, repairers and suppli ers on each one of these issues. Through foundational support provided by the Enterprise Holdings Foundation, Enter prise is spearheading the Collision En gineering Program, in partnership with Ranken Technical College. The pro gram, designed to attract and develop entry-level talent to fill essential roles within the collision repair industry, is piloting at four schools nationwide. For more information, visit www. beacollisionengineer.com.Source:Enterprise
Total Loss Claims
backlog between the first and second quarter, when spring brings a seasonal drop-off in winter weather-related acci dents and the average shop backlog has typically fallen by 0.4 weeks. General trending of repair volume correlates with historical trending of LOR. Yoswick said: “More than 13% of shops are still scheduling more than eight weeks out, a percentage that, until this past winter, hadn’t exceeded 2%. Shops with three months of backlog are not uncommon.”“Cosmeticwork is 11 weeks out, non-drivers are four to five weeks out,” the manager of an independent shop in Fort Wayne, IN, told CRASH Network. An estimator in Georgia, when asked about current backlog in June, said sim ply, “Middle of July!” Almost four in five shops (79%) are scheduling two or more weeks into the future. Less than 3% of shops have no backlog and can start on a new job right Onlyaway. two regions in the coun try South Central and West have an average backlog of less than four weeks. The shortest average backlog in the West, including California, is 3.1 weeks. Until this past winter, that region had never exceeded an average backlog of 1.5 weeks in the more than five years CRASH Network has been tracking the statistic.The longest backlogs are in the Pacific Northwest, where shops are scheduling work 5.2 weeks in advance, on average.When describing parts availabili ty’s impact to the repair backlogs, Part sTrader’s Horn agreed: “While there are parts availability improvements in Q2 2022, delays still exist in the OEM parts supply chain and consequently, shops are scheduling farther out to pro tect themselves from potential parts de lays.”Another consideration with non-drivable LOR is in the communi cation process between shop and in surer. Enterprise spoke with Dominic Martino, owner of Gold Coast Auto Body in Chicago, who said: “We are consistently seeing seven to 10 business days elapse between initial estimate or supplement submission and repair authorization. And if the submission requires reconciliation, we could see an additional three to five days. When insurer staff are coming into the shop in-person, we see reconciliation times drop to 24 to 48 hours.”
The LOR for rentals associated with total loss claims was 17.3 days in Q2 2022, up 3.1 days from 14.2 in Q2 2021. Washington was highest at 22.8 days, followed by Oregon (20.9), West Virginia (20.8), Alaska (20.2), Idaho (20.1) and North Carolina (20.1). Iowa was lowest at 14.2 days, fol lowed by Wisconsin (14.5), Nebraska (14.5), Wyoming (14.6), Florida (14.8) and MaineWhile(14.9).Washington’s results were an increase of 8.4 days from Q2 2021, Ha waii (17.2) dropped 1.2 days, and Wyo ming saw a small drop of 0.2 days. Notably, California (16.6) was only up 0.6“Withdays.used vehicle values reaching new highs in Q2 2022, total loss frequen cy continued to decline to the lowest level in the past six years at 14.2%, compared to 17.1% in Q2 2021,” Mandell said.
The revelation was of interest to a CIC committee that, like SCRS and other organizations, has been looking into how shop estimate in formation sometimes ends up as entries on vehicle history reports. Schulenburg said the company of fering to sell the data was not one he, nor anyone else he has talked to about it, has heard of.
summer’s Collision Industry Conference (CIC) in Pittsburgh drew hundreds of attend ees from around the country 34 SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS
This
He confirmed it was not coming from public registries, DMVs or po lice reports, Schulenburg said.
“It was a complete shock to us that something like that would fall into Aaron’s lap,” said Dan Risley of CCC Intelligent Solutions, cochair of the committee. “I’m glad below the waterline is all of your DRP relationship information: who you have DRP relationships with. What your negotiated labor rate is. Who you buy parts from. What dis counts you offer. Anything that can be gleaned off that estimate is being taken, compiled and aggregated, and being used for other purposes.”
The founder of the company, who Schulenburg said he spoke to after the initial call, said a non-dis closure agreement prevented him from revealing the source of the data; he told Schulenburg he couldn’t say more because “if I answer too many questions, you’ll figure it out.” He said it was a company Schulenburg would know because their primary business model “has something to do in collision,” and that licensing the data to be sold is “just a side stream of revenue.”
“It is coming from a data aggre gator, who is selling it,” Schulenburg said. “There’s a lot of good compa nies out there that are utilizing data to do the right thing for this indus try. And there’s at least one compa ny who is not doing the right thing. There’s at least one company that is turning it into a separate revenue stream to take the information you shared with them for one intended purpose, and selling it to someone else to sell for an entirely different purpose that you didn’t intend.”
Not yet. But you will,” said Tagliapietra, whose com pany is developing a service to root out data pumps on shops’ computers systems.Panelist Tom Allen of Condi tion Now said he understands body shops’ frustration with their estimate data resulting in an entry on a given vehicle’s CARFAX or other history report.“The shop becomes the face of this incident,” Allen said. “The offi cer directing traffic [at the accident scene] may come and go. The insur ance company may be just a voice on the other end of the line, or the other side of the app. But the first human we see in this instance is the shop. I believe they get the brunt of things, right or wrong.”
Virginia shop owner Barry Dorn asked the panel how a shop can know a company that says it is only pulling limited estimate data needed for a specific purpose---like parts locating or customer satisfac tion indexing—is actually doing only just “Youthat.can’t.
cesses, we collect 86% of all quoted collision repairs in North America, whether the quote is taken through a body shop or any insurance carri er.” Even if that quote doesn’t reach an insurer, Schulenburg said he was told, “that data goes into our system within 24 hours.”
The 40-plus data fields the com pany said it has include on a daily basis more than 62,000 VINs and 135,000 quotes---written by shops or insurers. It includes customer name and contact information—ad dress, phone and email—where the collision occurred and where the re pair quote was generated. It includes nearly $72 million of quoted parts per day, and the year, make, model and mileage of vehicles along with body, trim and engine descriptions.
The leaders of the CIC com mittee, knowing Schulenburg’s long-standing work on data privacy issues, noted the irony that a data aggregator selling such information would contact him.
“Our goal is to actually docu ment that stuff in a way that is help ful to Mrs. Jones, the customer,” Allen said. “To show, not only did we fix your car properly, it was done with OEM certified repair proce dures.”
Allen said his company for about a decade has offered a way for body shops “to control the negative,” a way to use a vehicle history report to “show the good, not the bad,” by playing up the use of OEM parts in the repair of the vehicle, for example.
“The point here is not that they have this data, but it’s where they are getting it from,” Schulenburg said.
Though some believe estimate data finds its way to CARFAX or vehicle history reports after the VIN and other information is sent to “live” parts locating services during the es timating process, Tagliapietra blamed thousands of “data pumps” running on shop computer systems, scraping esti mate data sometimes without a shop’s knowledge or consent.
Continued from Cover Data for Sale
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From the Desk of Mike Anderson
There’s an expression I’ve been thinking about in relation to the col lision repair industry: “Pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered.” As it applies to business, I think it means if you end up being greedy or taking the good times for granted, it’s going to catch up with you. It reminds me of another ex pression I use a lot: “Lots of sales cover lots of sins.” You can substi tute “mistakes” for the word “sins.” I hear from a lot of body shops about how much their sales are up, some times to record levels, and I’m con cerned a false sense of security can settleItin.can be easy to take your eye off the ball when work is plentiful. Let’s start with the higher sales number. At least some portion of that is likely attributable to more parts per repair order. CCC Intelli gent Solutions reported there were almost 12 parts per claim on aver age last year, a number that has been climbing since 2011, and especially in more recent years. I’ve seen some other statistics that suggest there’s anywhere between seven and nine more parts per repair now. Add to that the increased price of those parts. Again, CCC data shows parts prices increased 5% in the first quarter of this year alone, after a 7.4% overall increase last year. I’ve seen other statistics show ing some parts prices have gone up between 18% and 23%, depending on the type of part. So if there are more parts per repair order, and the prices for those parts have gone up, then of course your sales should be up. But remem ber, as a repair order includes more parts and less labor, your overall gross profit as a percentage starts to decline.
Mike Anderson is the president and owner of Collision Advice, a consulting company for the auto body/collision repair industry. For nearly 25 years, he was the owner of Wagonwork Collision Center, an OEM-certified, full-service auto body repair facility in Alexandria, VA. NY 10954
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with Mike Anderson
36 SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com 80 Route 304 Nanuet,
I’m not saying that’s bad or good. All I’m saying is looking at just your increased sales may be giv ing you that false sense of security. Remember the start of the pandemic, when work temporari ly stopped coming to the door? So many shop owners and managers told me during that time they real ized they needed to get back to ba sics, in terms of making sure SOPs were being followed, focusing on selling and capture rate, and offering great customer service. That’s what I’m suggesting to you here, that your increased sales may have led you to stop keeping your eye on the ball. Maybe your estimate quality isn’t as good as it should be, but the higher parts dollars are masking that. Are you continuing to watch your profit margins on labor, parts, materials, sublet, etc.? Is the backlog of work leading to any customer service “sins”? It can be easy to get complacent when you know if one customer gets mad at you, you have 20 more lined up at the door. But you still need to care about that customer not going some where else. Make sure your custom er service isn’t slipping. Maybe your outstanding parts credits are stacking up. Maybe your receivables have started to slip. Maybe you’re not closing out ROs in a timely manner. Are you still watching your efficiencies? There are a lot of things to still make sure you’re keeping an eye on. I’m not an economist. I don’t know what the future holds. But in every recession, I’ve seen shops wish they had stuck to the basics. Take some time right now to make sure lots of sales are not masking a lot of sins in your business, and that you’re not going to suffer the fate of the hogs.
Don’t Let Higher Sales Take Your Eye Off the Ball
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with minimal shadows
Tools One of the essential tools for a cali bration center to acquire, according to Terlep, is an OEM and/or after market diagnostic tool and/or soft ware.“You probably need both,” said Terlep. “You need multiple after market tools because they all have limitations.”Theyalso need to be kept up to date.“You aren’t going to do a 2022 calibration with 2021 software,” he from ADAS Services and Calibration—It’s Not Just About the Targets with Ed Victoria Antonelli Strategies with Stacey Phillips for Busy
OEProductAttanasioInnovationGaryLedouxShopCertification with
Frank Terlep recommends a properly outfitted calibration business ensure all calibration procedures without of
The floor should be painted in a neutral tone, be pristinely clean and be able to be written on. He also stressed the importance of having evenly-diffused lighting with minimal shadows. LED bulbs should be 300-400 lumens that can be adjusted based on the seasons, weather and time.
Shop
“These are moving variables depending on the shop’s location and time of year,” said Terlep. Ideally, the facility’s walls should be a matte color. He rec ommended a solid color coating in beige, grey, light grey or white with no patterns.
ADAS services and
fa cility should
Industry statistics show nearly 50% of the North American car parc will be Advanced Driver Assistance Sys tems (ADAS)-equipped by 2025. By 2030, the percentage of ADASequipped vehicles will be more than 75%.With the overwhelming growth in this area, Frank Terlep, co-found er of Auto Techcelerators, said col lision repair facilities are currently faced with many challenges conduct ing ADAS services and calibrations.
obstructions or uneven surface shadows. Credit: Courtesy
For owners/operators consider ing opening a mobile business, Ter lep said to consider the skills person nel will offer, the cost of insurance and equipment, space availability, lighting, who will be checking the alignments and how documentation will be collected.
Stacey Phillips is an award-winning freelance writer and editor for the automotive industry. She has 20 years of experience writing for a variety of publications, and is co-author of “The Secrets of America’s Greatest Body Shops.” She can be reached at sphillips.autobodynews@gmail.com.
Body Shops with Stacey Phillips My SEMA with Stacey FromProductPhillipsInnovationwithMikeAndersontheDeskofMike Anderson
The first is location. Based on industry data, Terlep said 80% of collision repair facilities do not have the required space to perform these services. They also need a business operating system, trained person nel and equipment, which includes targeting systems, diagnostic tools, alignment systems, vehicle lifts and more.One of the biggest challenges is identifying a vehicle’s ADAS tech nologies and required calibrations, which Terlep noted most shops do He shared a February finding from Honda that identified 80% of appraisals processed through CCC Intelligent Solutions that needed a calibration did not include a line item related to calibration. During a recent webinar spon sored by Auto Techcelerators, Terlep shared some of what he believes are the requirements to run a properly outfitted ADAS services and cali brationEstablishedbusiness.in 2019, Auto Tech celerators assists the automotive, collision, glass, insurance and truck industries to properly estimate, cal ibrate and validate ADAS systems, repairs and calibrations. The compa ny’s Test Drive CoPilot™ platform was chosen as one of 15 semifinalist solutions in the 10th annual Special ty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Annual Launch Pad Com petition. The Facility For businesses planning to perform 10 or more calibrations or ADAS repairs per day, Terlep advised fa cilities allocate at least 4,000 square feet. “If you are going to do calibra tions properly, you can’t do them in a parking lot, under a tree or in space where there isn’t enough room for targets to be the proper distance,” he explained.Terlep recommended setting up three work bays and outfitting the facility to ensure all calibration pro cedures are performed indoors with out obstructions or uneven surface shadows.Each calibration bay needs a floor space of at least 33 feet wide by 17 feet in length to perform the calibrations, and the floor should be level within four 10ths of an inch from one side of the workspace to the other.“Aslight incline along the floor of the space could result in the miscalibration of a camera or radar sensors, thus skewing the vehicles’ reactions,” Terlep explained.
How to Profit
“Targets are patterns and you don’t want to confuse the sensors you are calibrating with patterns be hind the targets,” explained Terlep. “Ensure there are no reflections or shadows and there are no reflective surfaces that might interfere with the calibration equipment.”
are performed indoors
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Frank Terlep said lighting should be diffused
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40 SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com
Clinton Honda Annandale 877-657-2787 Dept. Hours: M-F 8-5; Sat abdulc@clintonhonda.com8-2 Honda of Turnersville Turnersville 800-883-0002856-516-6262 Dept. Hours: M-F 8-6; Sat mbivario@penskeautomotive.com8-4
Ide Honda Rochester 800-462-0056585-586-4919(N.Y.) Dept. Hours: M-Thur 8-8; Fri 8-5:30; Sat parts@idehonda.com8-5
Hudson Honda West New York 866-483-6917201-868-9500 Dept. Hours: M-Sat mdasilva@hudsonhonda.com8-5
Dept. Hours: M-F mmmparts@berlincity.com7:30-5:30 Honda Saco Saco 207-282-0900207-391-7910 Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-6; Th. 7:30-7; Sat klavalle@driveprime.com7:30-4
autobodynews.com / SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS 41 Apple Honda York 800-960-9041717-848-2600 Dept. Hours: M-F 7-6; Sat 7-4; Sun applehondaparts@appleauto1.com10-4 Baierl Honda Wexford 818-332-7351 Dept. Hours: M-F 8-5; Sat markludwig@baierl.com8-4 Shenango Honda Hermitage 800-858-0849724-981-7106 Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-5:30; Sat 8-4 parts@shenangoauto.com Sussman Honda Roslyn 800-682-2914215-657-3301 Dept. Hours: M-F 8-5; Sat rendrick@sussmanauto.com8-1 802 Honda Berlin 802-223-9700 Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-5; Sat hondaparts@802cars.com8-Noon Curry Acura Scarsdale 800-725-2877914-472-7406 Dept. Hours: M-F 8-6; Sat parts@curryacura.com8-5 Paragon Acura Woodside 718-507-3990 Dept. Hours: M-F 8-6; Sat 8-5; Sun 9-4 parts@paragonacura.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 800-246-7457724-935-0800 Dept. Hours: M-F 8-5; Sat cameronegerter@baierl.com8-4 Davis Acura Langhorne 215-943-7000267-296-1000 Dept. Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat frankp@davisacura.com8-4 Sussman Acura Jenkintown 800-826-4078215-884-6285 Dept. Hours: M-F 8-5; Sat rendrick@sussmanauto.com8-1 VERMONTPENNSYLVANIANEWYORK PENNSYLVANIA
noted.One of the costliest pieces of equipment required is the targeting system, which is typically rectangu lar with black and white patterns.
“It’s critical to have the right size targets,” said Terlep. “Be pre pared to purchase additional targets when new ADAS systems or com ponents are introduced.”
Terlep highly recommended having OEM tools on hand for the vehicles the facility typically repairs or subscribing to a remote diagnos tic service. He said there are current ly five of these types of businesses available today. Not only do remote diagnos tic companies perform pre- and post-scanning, but many also offer remote calibration services. In some cases, Terlep said they provide free targets or a low dollar amount and split the revenue with the facility. He recommended owners/op erators compare the remote cost vs. the cost of purchasing OEM soft ware.Another consideration he not ed is related to alignments. With 11 auto manufacturers requiring a calibration following a wheel align ment, Terlep said in most cases, a vehicle needs an alignment check before a “Alignmentscalibration.and calibrations are like peanut butter and jelly sand wiches,” he said. “If the vehicle isn’t aligned correctly, there’s a good chance the ADAS systems aren’t going to work.”
Organizing Pricing and Getting Paid
Although some shops organize pric ing by service category, Terlep and his team have found organizing by manufacturer is preferable. He also recommended shops take steps to ensure they have an ac curate and detailed billing system.
ADAS/Calibration Software
ADAS repairs and calibrations also require additional tools such as reflective metal sheets, metal cones, window calibration tools, floor mat calibration targets, doppler simula tors, HUD systems and more.
For shops planning to enter this side of the business, Terlep said it is critical to have a software platform. However, he believes there isn’t one on the market to meet all of the cur rent needs.“I’vetalked to a lot of business es and most are using five to seven different systems to manage and op erate their companies,” he said. He said the ideal software would help identify and locate ADAS technologies, calibration triggers and required calibrations, educate customers about what needs to be done with their vehicles, and assist shops to create better, fast er and more accurate repair plans. The software would also help the business manage all workflows and processes, generate, share and store detailed documentation, and operate an efficient and profitable business.
Because most collision repair facilities don’t have the required space to prefer a calibration, Terlep foresees the industry will operate in a “hub and spoke” model in terms of calibrations, where several stores in a certain area will use a central loca tion for these services. As a result, ADAS/calibration software should ideally include this business model.
He noted five of the largest or ganizations in North America cur rently manage calibrations in this way. Documentation and Liability Terlep recommended facilities doc ument every aspect of the ADAS service/calibration process as if the shop were going to court tomorrow.
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Workflows and Processes
As a result, he said facilities must be in the alignment business or have an alignment company nearby.
Terlep shared what he referred to as the “seven moments of truth” when repairing/calibrating ADASequipped vehicles. They include identifying and locating the tech nologies and needed calibrations; communicating with the customer; preparing an accurate repair plan; ordering and scheduling the ser vices; documenting all pre-calibra tion requirements; documenting calibration actions and results; and performing, managing and docu menting the test drive.
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This includes the vehicle com ponents, calibration triggers and required calibration types, pre- and post-scans, repair order/lines, a health scan and images of a vehicle. It should also include a calibration results report, post-calibration safe ty system verification test results, a detailed invoice and a workflow re port.“How can any organization look at a customer and give them the keys to the vehicle without provid ing them with validation and docu mentation that they accurately test ed and validated the systems work properly?” said Terlep. He advised shops to remember that ADAS systems directly affect acceleration, braking and steering.
“If one is off and doesn’t work, the outcome is not good,” he pointed out. “If an ADAS system fails, who is to blame? The driver, the OEM, the shop or the insurer?” Without documenta tion, Terlep said, you don’t know. The Investment When determining the investment to begin offering ADAS services/cali bration, Terlep said to consider the cost of the facility, targeting systems, targets, the alignment system, diag nostic tools and business software. While he estimates a mini mum investment might be around $150,000, it could easily reach $250,000-$300,000.
Return on Investment (ROI) To be successful in the ADAS repair and calibration business, Terlep ad vised facilities to focus on process and volume.“Thekey to success is to cap ture three to 10 customers who re pair 100 vehicles a month where you can expect to receive 25-40% of those vehicles,” he said. For shops doing 4,800 calibra tions annually, he estimated $773,577 annual gross profit. For more information, visit www. Toautotechcelerators.com.watchthewebinar, visit f5Css50Hkwww.youtube.com/watch?v=dbhttps://
by Brad Anderson, CarScoops A viral challenge across TikTok and YouTube has led to a spike in thefts of Kia and Hyundai models through out theTheU.S.“Kia Challenge” shows so cial media users how to steal certain Kia and Hyundai models by simply removing the plastic cowl under the steering column and using a USB cable. The issue has become partic ularly prevalent in Milwaukee, WI, where there is a group of young teen agers known as the “Kia Boys” who have become notorious for stealing cars and taking them on dangerous joyrides.It’s not just in Milwaukee where car thefts have surged though. In St. Petersburg, FL, the police depart ment said 23 of the 56 cars stolen on local streets since July 11 have been Kia and Hyundai models model year 2021 and older. Writing on Twitter, authorities encouraged Hyundai and Kia owners to be cautious.
“Anyone with a Kia/Hyundai that uses a key, please #lockitup,” it wrote. Speaking with the Tampa Bay Times, police said Kia models produced from 2011 and 2012 and Hyundai models from 2015 to 2021 have a vulnerability that means the ignition can be easily bypassed. Most of the individuals stealing Kia and Hyundai models are aged between 14 and 17. St. Petersburg Police Depart ment Sgt. Cody Lance said the ma jority of the cars stolen are unlocked and encouraged owners to always lock their vehicles. He also encour aged the use of steering wheel locks and said parking vulnerable Hyundai and Kia models behind other vehicles can make them more difficult to steal. The trend is spreading across the country. Authorities in St. Paul, MN, have reported a more than 1,300% increase in Kia thefts from last year and an 854% increase in stolen Hyundais. In Grand Rapids, MI, Hyundai and Kia models also made up roughly 45% of the city’s auto thefts in June. Spikes in thefts have also been reported in St. Louis, Memphis, Cincinnati and Columbus. The two car manufacturers said they were aware of the in crease in thefts and noted all of their current models are fitted with engine immobilizers.
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During the pandemic, many shop owners and managers decided to push employee communication to the sidelines. The idea was they should not focus on engagement, saying “We can’t ask our manag ers, techs, estimators and painters to do one more thing!” Stressed out employees were on their own and forced to navigate it all solo. Some quit and many were laid off, and even a few took early retirement or sold their shops to an MSO. So now is the ideal time to re connect with your top talent if you want to retain them. Post-COVID, your disengaged employees will start looking for a better deal else where. Will the return to normal
Keep Millennials in your dis cussions. They’re focused on things such as diversity and inclusion, so keep them in the loop. The worst thing is to have them feeling like they’re not being heard. Let them play a role and watch them excel as people and leaders. To accommo date your younger crew members, keep your meetings short and sweet and create mechanisms to enable them to contribute.
tempt your best people to pursue otherTheoptions?best thing to do is to step up employee engagement and keep everyone in the fold. Turnover can seriously impede a body shop, and poaching can spread quickly. Joe Technician is happy at his new shop and the word is out they’re looking for more people, so a strong bond with your employees is more im portant now than ever. Focus on retaining your female employees, because they are the most likely to switch or quit alto gether. According to NPR, 865,000 women left the U.S. workforce— four times more than men—in just September last year.
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One of the smartest ways to do this is to start inviting employ ees outside the leadership team and closer to the rest of the crew to par ticipate in the decision-making pro cess.Some body shop owners said communication improved tremen dously during the pandemic because it became mandatory. “People were no longer in the same room, so im parting communication changed,” one owner said. “We became a Zoom culture, and in many cases, we became more comfortable with it and adapted.”Thepandemic created a virtu al world, but unfortunately it won’t have much of an impact down the road in collision repair, because you can’t fix cars via Zoom. It means some employees who were sitting home for more than a year are going to undergo major changes, like commuting and spend ing less time with their families. Some people won’t adapt well and it may take a month or two to re-en gage, so patience but accountability should play a role.
Poaching employees is a prob lem, especially in states like Cali fornia and New York, and it will un doubtedly get worse within the next year or so, I believe. So, with moti vating your crew and strengthening them more important than ever, here are some methods to help you retain your best employees. The pandemic caused body shop owners and managers to cen tralize decision-making to be more efficient, pulling it into the leader ship team without feedback from key stakeholders, like top techni cians or the head painter. This was essential during the pandemic, but this will need to change to ensure long-term effectiveness and contin ued employee engagement.
“The coronavirus pandemic is wreaking havoc on households, and women are bearing the brunt of it,” the NPR study said. “Not only have they lost the most jobs from the be ginning of the pandemic, but they are exhausted from the demands of childcare and housework---and many are now seeing no path ahead but to quit working.
by Ed Attanasio You thought we would be done with the pandemic by now, but like Al Pacino’s character, Michael Corle one, said in The Godfather II, “Just when I thought I was out, they drag me back in!” Will the effects of the pandemic always be a part of our lives? It sure looks like Thereit.are still many questions we never had to deal with before, and many things we thought would be in our rearview mirrors by now. Are you prepared for the postCOVID work environment? Are you ready for a majority hybrid-remote office model? Are other shops try ing to hire away some of your top people? Will some of your upper management take this opportunity to retire? Is it time to sell? These are life-changing deci sions and the time to make them is here.We’re now entering the post-pandemic world and many of your employees have different opin ions. While some of your crew is en thusiastically returning to work, oth ers are reluctant and have concerns about hours, safety and other issues. Regardless of whatever your employees think will happen next, body shop owners and managers are just happy to return to some level of normalcy after these 30 months. But, are things really back to nor mal—and what is normal now, any way?In many parts of the country, the shortage of qualified people got even worse during the pandemic. An MSO owner told me recently he could put 80 collision professionals to work immediately, if they existed. I would bet any shop out there right now could use a few more qualified people, as car counts rise and cus tomers who were reluctant to bring their vehicles for repairs start show ing up at their doors.
It’s a whole new game out there and those shops that can adapt will succeed, while others might encoun ter a never-ending carousel of new and returning employees. The pandemic changed the rules, but many principles of em ployee communication are still the same. Try to keep stress levels low, keep your eyes open for changes within your team and proceed care fully, and you will be able to retain your people and avoid the pitfalls of the Great Resignation.
How is Your Auto Body Shop Dealing with the Great Resignation?
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technicians,” O’Day said. “So about a 17 or 18% reduction in workforce. It’s just a highly disruptive environ ment. And there’s really no shortterm“Mysolution.view, and most of the re pairers I’ve spoken to share it, is the only way we’re going to build our workforce is by paying more money to that workforce, pulling them from other industries,” O’Day said. “The only way we can do that is through pricing. It’s going to cause increased premiums for vehicle owners. But otherwise we’re not going to solve our customers’ problem and get their cars repaired on a timely basis.” He said the industry lacks “a formal, universal way” to work with students coming out of collision re pair training programs to build their skills.“They come into our industry, and because we don’t train them properly to move them to the next level, we lose them to other indus tries,” he said. To that end, he said, Gerber created an 18-month technician ap prenticeship program for students coming out of school or for internal candidates working as a porter or car-washer.“Wespend tens of thousands of dollars per trainee, but they come out with pretty good skills after 18 months,” O’Day said. “We’ve made a commitment to more than double the size of that program this year. But I think in the long run, we can’t do it alone. We really need the ma jority of collision repair shops to make the same type of commitment, and do it in an organized way so these students grow and are success ful in our Anotherindustry.”“area of opportunity”
Gerber Collision CEO Talks Parts, Personnel Challenges with Ed Attanasio Shop Showcase with Ed SocialAttanasioMedia for Shops with Ed MediaAttanasioand Publicity for Shops SEMAAttanasioShow Goes On Industry Insight with John Yoswick with Stacey Phillips Shop Strategies with Victoria Antonelli Shop Strategies with Stacey Phillips Tips for Busy Body Shops with Stacey Phillips Body Shops Giv ing Back with Stacey Phillips My SEMA
“Last year, we probably thought maybe the beginning of the second quarter of this year, but I haven’t seen it,” he said. “I’ve heard tem porary positive signs, but nothing that’s systematic that’s going to drive the change we need. So I think we’re probably in for a couple of years of challenging times.”
When asked to compare suppli er service levels, O’Day said “prob lems with parts that come in incor rectly is much, much lower with OEM than it is with the aftermarket.
“We’re going to get to the point where if you do business with us, and one of our stores calls you and says, ‘Deliver me this part, I need it this afternoon,’ if you don’t get the order electronically, I don’t want you to deliver it,” O’Day said. “Because what’s going to happen is you’re going to deliver the part. I’m going to put it on the car, and I’m never going to charge my customer for it. And 60 days from now, you’re going to come back to me and say, ‘You owe me for that part, because you didn’t get it in your payables system and you haven’t paid for it yet.’ “So it’s a huge loss for me when we do that. So we want to do busi ness with suppliers that are connect ed electronically,” with ordering, invoicing and payment all handled electronically.O’Dayalso discussed the tech nician shortage impacting all colli sion repair businesses. He serves on the Board of Directors for I-CAR, and said the segment of the industry renewing its I-CAR Gold Class des ignation in 2019 averaged 9.5 tech nicians per shop. “In the most recent round of renewals, the average shop has 7.5
“I think if you talk to a parts manager or estimator at one of our stores, if price and margin were equal, they would buy the OE part because it tends to be reliable a high percentage of the time,” O’Day said. But he noted the gross profit margin on non-OEM parts is better, so “our staff is motivated both in terms of how we get measured by our insur ance partners, and in how it drives our profitability, to identify and source higher-margin, lower-cost al ternativeO’Dayparts.”said the company is working toward centralized parts or dering for its more than 800 shops in North“WhenAmerica.we leave the buying de cision at a local level, there’s some times influences that aren’t consis tent with what our objectives are,” O’Day said. “It could be something as simple in the old days as ‘I got tickets to the ballgame tonight, so I’m going to buy parts from this sup plier,’ to something worse than that, that may not be good for our busi ness. The direction we’re moving is to establish contractual relationships in writing with a supplier.” Part of that agreement will be all electronic parts ordering.
Tim O’Day, president and CEO of Boyd Group Services, parent com pany of Gerber Collision & Glass, referred to his company as “one of the better users of alternative parts” in a presentation this spring at the Automotive Body Parts Association annual“Butconvention.rightnow, we’re more re liant on OEM parts than we’ve ever been, which is unfortunate,” O’Day told the non-OEM parts manufactur ers and distributors at the event. “It negatively impacts our profitability, and it drives repair costs up for our customers. So hopefully the after market will figure out how to bal ance out supply so that we can buy the parts from you that we want to O’Day acknowledged that cur rently even OEM parts are often un available, and he doesn’t foresee a quick end to supply chain issues.
See Gerber Collision CEO, Page 53 48 SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com GENUINE SERVICE & PARTS 845-358-3670 Order Par ts Online at: www.rocklandnissan.com Par ts Hours Mon-Fri 7:30am−5:30pm Sat ldesir@rock8am−4pmlandnissan.com Fax 845-358-6049 608 Route 303 Blauvelt, NY 10913 Wholesale Parts Ro ckla nd Nissan Offers Quality Par ts With A Level O f Ser vice That Our Competitors Ca nnot Matc h • Free Same Day Deliver y to NY, NJ & CT (order by 11 am ) • No Fee For Returns (some exclusions apply) • Wholesale Labor Pricing With Priority Dispatching For Coding And Programming • Price Matching on CCC One and OPS Trax • Your 100% Satisfac tion is Our Most Important Priority
—John Yoswick is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon who has been writing about the automotive industry since 1988. He is the editor of the weekly CRASH Network (for a free 4-week trial subscription, visit www.CrashNetwork.com). Contact him by email at jyoswick@SpiritOne.com.
Cole Strandberg is a principal with FOCUS Investment Banking, specializing in automotive aftermarket mergers and acquisitions. Cole works closely with automotive equipment providers, paint jobbers and collision centers. For more information, contact him at cole.strandberg@focusbankers.com or (561) 400-1015
Most entrepreneurs start a business based on one or two of many poten tial reasons—it could be to exploit a unique skillset or access to talent, pursue a passion or simply meet a need otherwise not being met in the marketplace.Mosttimes, though, new entre preneurs start businesses with the beginning in mind, but not the end, building a business that meets their immediate personal needs without giving much thought to the long term. As a result, many business owners fall into the trap of limiting their business’s growth, and subsequent options for the long term, based on short-term-minded decisions.
First, let’s discuss what buyers are looking for, and work our way backward.What do buyers want?
Build Your Collision Repair Business with a Buyer in Mind
with Cole Strandberg Guest Columnist
Footprint and layout: As you might expect, the more space you have, the better. While each poten tial consolidator’s footprint desires vary, a safe sweet spot is 10,000 square feet of shop space or larger, though not a hard and fast require ment. Additionally, parking and storage is equally important. If you fall short of that square footage, don’t fret. Maximize the space you have. Maximizing shop space via a well-thought-out equip ment layout and shop flow allows for more revenue per square foot. If you’re just building a new location, or considering upfitting an existing location, reach out to one of the quality paint booth manufacturers, most of whom will offer a no-charge designRevenue:consultation.You want to maxi mize your space because consol idators care about revenue, plain and simple. While most businesses I work with are valued based on a multiple of adjusted EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, de preciation and amortization, the collision repair industry places sig nificant importance on revenue as well. This is because, for the most part, if a consolidator can generate a certain amount of revenue within a footprint, they believe they can make that revenue profitable. Again, while there is no hard and fast rule on revenue require ments for consolidators, $2 million in annual revenue seems to be an entry point, with $5 million being a common sweet spot. Anything over that, and you should have some compelling regional and national interest when you eventually go to market.It’s important to note purchase price as a percentage of revenue typ ically goes up as revenue goes up, just as EBITDA multiples increase when EBITDA increases. Obvious ly, becoming a small multi-shop owner with two, three or more shops can help that revenue scale more quickly, and make you even more desirable to a potential acquirer. Val uation multiples vary significantly based on a multitude of factors, so if you’d like to discuss situation-spe cific valuations, feel free to reach out to me Communitydirectly.and relationships: While there is no quantifiable value placed on your shop being a pillar within its community, it certainly doesn’t hurt. Many consolidators are very charitable, so a culture of giv
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By contrast, many of the most successful people in the collision repair space have started their busi nesses with one goal in mind: to sell it. How can you build your business by thinking like a seller?
oped by some auto manufacturers, bringing awareness to the techni cian shortage, addressing challenges faced by repairers and parts sellers, as well as researching new industry programs and technologies.
Twenty-five years ago, many auto manufacturers found they were ex periencing similar non-competitive issues in the industry. George Gil bert from Ford and Rick Sherwood from Campbell & Co. suggested meeting to discuss these issues.
* The interests of all parties in volved in the collision repair process are best protected when vehicle own ers are allowed to make informed de cisions regarding collision repairs to their vehicles.
In addition, the group discuss es industry programs and legislative and legal updates. Allen said the OEM Roundtable operates under strict anti-trust guidelines.
•
by Stacey Phillips
•tors2020–2021:
* Active participation by all par ties in the collision repair pro cess is necessary if the quality of collision repair available to ve hicle owners is to continuously im
*prove.Open discussion among those in volved in the collision repair process and reliable sources of collision re pair data are paramount if the qual ity of collision repair is to continu ously improve.
“We want to be available for the
The group’s mission is to continuous ly improve the quality of collision re pair available to vehicle owners.
The following year, six explor atory meetings were held with nu merous OEMs to find out if it would be helpful to form a more formal group and convene regularly. In 1999, the OEM Roundtable was formed. Since then, the group has held quarterly meetings along side the Collision Industry Confer enceDuring(CIC). the April 2022 CIC meeting in Oklahoma City, OK, rep resentatives from the OEM Round table shared some of the history and guiding principles of the group.
•
Allen talked about some of the OEM Roundtable’s frequent topics of discussion, which have included improving access to and use of repair procedures independently devel
Working to Improve Quality of Collision Repair
•
“We want to help the partici pants in our programs do better,” said Allen. “By offering support, we hope to build better success quicker for shops.”Wilcox said some of the guest presenters at the quarterly meetings may include information providers, industry associations, training or ganizations, service and equipment providers, MSOs, dealers and shop owners, and insurers.
The OEM Roundtable and its member companies are in volved in the industry in many ways. This includes financial sup port and engagement with nu merous organizations, such as the Automotive Service Association (ASA), Collision Industry Confer ence (CIC), Collision Industry Elec tronic Commerce Association (CIE CA), Collision Industry Conference (CIF), Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF), Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Re pair (I-CAR), National Auto Body Council (NABC), Society of Colli sion Repair Specialists (SCRS) and Women’s Industry Network (WIN).
OEM Roundtable
To support these principles, Allen said OEMs constantly enhance the availability and functionality of re pair information developed by each of them.“The information is there to document the file and repair the car the right way,” he said. “Some of us include what the equipment is that the repair procedures were devel oped with to get the achievable out come of repairing the car.”
They included Mark Allen, colli sion programs and workshop equip ment specialist at Audi of America; Dan Ducharme, wholesale parts se nior manager for Volkswagen of Amer ica; and Devin Wilcox, collision certi fication manager at Subaru of America. Currently, 13 major member companies are involved in the OEM Roundtable, including Ford, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mazda, Mer cedes-Benz, Nissan, Stellantis, Sub aru, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo. Many of the representatives are ac tive participants in industry organi zations and committees as well as events and panel discussions.
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•da2021:
“We’re always open-minded to meeting and discussing what pro grams and offerings could be benefi cial to us as a network and an indus try,” he Thesaid.group adheres to three guiding principles:
Ducharme is the 2022 president of the OEM Roundtable. Prior lead ers include: 2013–2014: Paul Massie, Ford 2015–2016: Gary Ledoux, Honda 2017–2019: John Eck, General Mo Rossana Alvarez, Hon Mark Zoba, Nissan
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Looking ahead, the OEM Roundtable hopes to help the indus try move forward by increasing col laboration and transparency among all industry segments, providing greater use of tools and continuing to learn from all stakeholders.
So how do you build like a seller?
industry at these conferences and be accessible,” said Wilcox. In 2008, the roundtable launched the www.OEM1Stop.com website to respond to the industry’s request for easier access to OEM repair procedures and information. Auto manufacturer position state ments were added in 2016. By 2021, there were more than 300,000 total visits to the website and more than 120,000 unique visitors that year alone.“The number of visits has jumped over 300% since 2016,” said Wilcox. “Many body shops are referencing the site now on a regular basis.”Another resource available is www.CrashRepairInfo.com, launched in 2014. This website provides direct outreach to customers and guides vehicle owners through the collision repair process with a focus on proper repairs.Ducharme explained individu al OEMs work internally with their engineers to determine what needs to be done pre- and post-collision to streamline repair procedures. At the engagement with body shops and insurance partners. “We want to make sure ev eryone has the knowledge and the ability to keep up with all the latest advanced technologies that, as man ufacturers, we’re putting into these vehicles,” said Ducharme. “We’re trying to get feedback from all seg ments so we can make informed de cisions and provide a great experi ence to our mutual customers.”
Talent: As you likely know firsthand, there’s a theme in the col lision industry as it relates to con stant challenges: talent—much less good talent—is hard to come by. This is evidenced by some of the largest consolidators in the country investing millions in training pro grams, incentivizing—aggressively, I might add—experienced techni cians to train apprentices, and more. This industry puts a premium on talent. Therefore, if you have a lot of talent within your organiza tion, it will help your business get a premium valuation. Validate this by having I-CAR certifications, both at the shop and technician level, as well as original equipment manufac
Cole Strandberg is a principal with FOCUS Investment Banking, specializing in automotive after market mergers and acquisitions.
“As OEMs, we are here to sup port the industry and make sure ve hicles are being taken care of and repaired properly,” said Wilcox. “We’re always looking to make it better,” said Allen. “Let’s become professional and agree that we are going to take a look at these repair procedures, have the conversations with customers and insurance part ners, and get the car repaired the ing in your shop will make it more attractive. Not to mention, local re lationships with the customer base, direct repair programs (DRPs) and dealers will only serve to add value to your business. It never hurts to do good things within your community.
In terms of working your way backward, determine what you want your eventual exit value to be. Once that’s determined, you’ll know what you must do in order to get there. The focus, ultimately, is on scal ability and avoiding roadblocks to achieving that scale, such as limited space and poor shop flow.
While you might not be a seller today, tomorrow or even five years from now, everyone is in business to make money. Modeling your busi ness after some of the best opera tions in the industry is a good thing. Chances are, building your business by regularly taking a step back and looking at it through the lens of a po tential buyer will pay off in both the short and long term.
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Cole works closely with automotive equipment providers, paint jobbers and collision centers. For more in formation, contact him at cole. strandberg@focusbankers.com or
he said Gerber is “pursuing pretty aggressively” is improving the “di versity of our industry,” working to attract more women, Black or Asian Americans and other minority groups.“We’re doing a lot to create an inclusive environment that will al low us to successfully recruit people who don’t look like me, and build our workforce with greater diver sity,” O’Day said. “Because if we go after the same group that we’ve always been targeting, we’re nev er going to solve the problem, and we’re not going to be as good of a company. So we have a very strong commitment to improving diversi ty.”
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Biden Signs $740B Climate, Tax and Health Care Bill into Law
Continued from Page 48 Gerber Collision CEO
As The Center Square previ ously reported, experts say more than 30 million small businesses will be in the crosshairs of those audits.“There is no doubt that boosting IRS audit capabilities through a vast increase in the hiring of 87,000 new staff focused on this effort will hit small businesses the hardest,” said Karen Kerrigan, president and CEO of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council. “The tax data shows that it is small businesses of moderate means, not ‘the wealthy,’ that are targeted most frequently.”
Don’t
“Wetechnology.didn’t look back, we looked forward,” Biden added. The bill also includes a 15% minimum income tax on companies with more than $1 billion in revenue. Critics blasted the bill, saying cutting pharmaceutical companies profit potential will disincentivize investment in new medicine. Critics also argued more federal spending means more waste and handouts for large corporations. “Biden’s inflation bill: $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit,” said Daniel Turner, head of the energy workers advocacy group, Power the Future. “Ford: Raised price of electric vehicles by $8,500. Way to go, Joe.”One of the bill’s most controversial provisions is $80 billion in federal funding to hire an army of 87,000 IRS auditors, more than doubling the agency’s size. The Biden administration has claimed the increased auditing will more than pay for the $80 billion investment and help pay for the bill.
by Casey Harper, The Center Square President Joe Biden signed a $740 billion spending package into law Aug. 16, the final step for the green energy, health care and tax hike bill after months of wrangling and controversy, in particular over the legislation’s hiring of 87,000 new IRS agents to audit Americans. Democrats at the White House on Aug. 16 touted the bill’s deficit reduction of $300 billion over the next decade. The bill includes several measures, including a $35 per month cap on insulin copays, an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies and authorization for Medicare to negotiate certain drug prices.“With this law, the American people won, and the special interests lost,” Biden said. “This administration began amid a dark time in America...and yet we’ve not wavered. We’ve not flinched, and we’ve not given in. Instead, we’ve delivered results for the American people.”The bill also spends $386 billion on clean energy and climate change initiatives. That funding includes more than $270 billion in tax credits for manufacturing wind turbines, solar panels, batteries and other electric vehicle and green energy
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In the summer of 2019, Southeast ern Community College (SCC) in West Burlington, IA, hired Dr. Ash lee Spannagel as its new dean of ca reer and technical education (CTE) and workforce development.
A: We receive an annual al location of funding that is called ACE (Accelerated Career Education) funding. The whole pur pose of that money is to reinvest in infrastructure, so that we can pro vide more classes and accommodate more students. One of the things that we chose to do with the mon ey was to remodel our auto collision facilities, and it has worked out very well. We are confident that this will lead to more enrollment down the road, which is obviously the goal. It shows that we are open and commit ted to collision repair and ready to pivot if needed.
The college’s goal is to enable and empower the body techs and painters of the next 30plus years
Q: While other CTE programs in the country have stepped back during the pandemic, you have stepped up in many ways for your collision repair department. Can you tell us about that?
A: I personally think our colli sion instructors are excited that the students are highly interest ed about technology. Our students have grown up with technology. They are technology natives. So anytime we can include those hightech pieces—either tools, equipment or concepts that the students are likely to engage with—that is ideal. We want to enable the body techni cian of tomorrow to be adept at us ing technology and that’s one of our main goals here at SCC.
Q: It’s a huge job and a big school, so how are you able to do it all?
Q: How can you stay current in an industry that is changing at a rapid rate?
Q: How has establishing mutu ally beneficial partnerships with local shops and vendors helped Dr. Ashlee Spannagel is the dean of career and technical education (CTE) and workforce development at Southeastern Community College in West Burlington, IA Southeastern Community College recently remodeled all of its classrooms and labs and invested in a wide range of new tools and equipment
Spannagel stays busy as she oversees the school’s entire CTE division and works closely with fac ulty and area employers to ensure SCC provides top-notch, indus try-level education to its students. Her role within SCC’s auto and col lision repair programs is only one small part of everything she does at this forward-thinking institution.
Forward-Thinking Program Creating Great Auto Body Techs of the Future
Q: How do you find, hire and maybe most importantly re tain good instructors?
A: Yes, I am responsible for 47 certificate, diploma and degree programs, and collision is just one them. I’ve been involved in technical education and post-sec ondary education 13 years now. The technology in the collision repair industry changes so rapidly that we can’t possibly keep up with the changes that are occurring. We need to do our best to keep pace with what’s going on, and then bring in other learning opportunities to help students to be up to date. We have been working very hard to align with industry-recognized cre dentials and what our local shops need in our graduates, so we rewrote the curriculum and pursued ASE accred itation to match the newly remodeled shop. We’ve rewritten the curriculum to where we’re actually going to be aligned with I-CAR more, so that our students now will graduate from the program with far more credentials than they would have been qualified to earn previously.
by Ed Attanasio
A: My biggest concern now is that we have a lot of staff on my team who are eligible for retire ment in the next five years. There is a lot of talent, knowledge and expe rience that is highly skilled and in valuable to our programs. So, in the next five years, we’ll have to figure out how to replace it. I think the way that we’ve handled the pandemic and our instructional continuity has really helped us retain our staff. But now I’m growing concerned about the fact that they’ll be retiring here shortly.
Spannagel entered the job excit ed and ready to take on the world— and then the pandemic hit. It’s been a “work around” project ever since, but she hasn’t been dissuaded one iota, taking the position and making it her own as the school’s collision repair department benefits in many ways.Spannagel came to SCC after working in education for nine years. One of the first things she did was to build relationships with established area educators, industry leaders and workforce and economic develop ment partners to continue building opportunities for students. This in cluded local body shops, car deal erships, vendors and companies that manufacture collision repair-related products, tools and equipment.
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In 2002, Chesney moved to Ra leigh, NC, to build out an automo tive training team. When he left that organization in 2021, it was hosting 150,000 active learners who were taking self-paced online courses or participating in the 3,000 to 4,000 in-person or live virtual classroom events held each year.
Repairify’s New Partnership with ATG Will Provide Industry with Advanced Diagnostic Training
About three months after Chesney’s retirement, Cris Hollingsworth, president of Repairify, asked him to join the company in 2021 to head up its training arm. Most of Repairify’s training is currently targeted to internal trainers and technicians and is offered both virtually and in-person. The com pany also offers product-oriented training to customers in a virtual set ting. “Up until now, the primary fo cus has been to rightsize and enable the internal training team so that our own people can be best prepared to serve our customers in their remote services that that we have made tremendous headway with,” he ex plained.Future training will be present ed in what Chesney refers to as an adaptive learning model in which online course materials are custom ized to the learner for an experience not available in a traditional class room“Imaginesetting. the instructor of a vir tual classroom knowing the skills gap of every student on the call,” said Chesney. This will allow in structors to better focus content during the lessons and interact with students.Hesaid Repairify will be work ing with I-CAR to align ATG con tent with I-CAR standards to count towardTrainingaccreditation.willbedeveloped with a diagnostic approach, combining OEM support information with re al-world technician experience us ing actual case studies where possi ble.
With the growing need for collision repair technicians to understand the mechanical components of vehicles, Repairify is taking steps to equip them with the skills they need to re pair vehicles properly. In July, Repairify announced it acquired the Automotive Training Group (ATG) to create and offer advanced diagnostic training for the industry focused on both mechani cal and collision repair.
“Their content and workbooks are the best in the industry,” said Chris Chesney, Repairify’s vice president of training and organi zational development. “I’m really looking forward to bringing them on board and integrating them into what we do.”
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See Repairify’s New Partnership, 62
Working in this field for the ma jority of his career, Chesney under stands the importance of connecting with technicians so they have a full picture of what needs to be done to be successful on the shop floor. He has worked as a shop owner, service advisor, trainer, training manager and training program owner. All these roles have focused on the me chanical side of the business.
“Partnetworks.of that network might have been damaged or had corrosion or resistance in connectors or what ever that are not a part of the of the collision but affect the overall re sults or capabilities of that one net work,” said Chesney. “It’s important for [technicans] to know how to tri age those and validate that they’re actually working as designed.”
by Stacey Phillips
Page
Founded in 2004, ATG offers live and virtual technical training worldwide. Chesney has a long his tory of working with the ATG team over his career and has great respect for the company and team of in structors for presenting excellent in formation in an understandable and interesting format. As a result of their new part nership, Repairify will support ATG in such a way that they can produce and deliver meaningful content to a wider audience. This includes offer ing classes that focus on scanning and calibration, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and electric vehicles, as well as vehicle data
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thropic initiatives, in particular those that most impact our neighbors and the community organizations they rely on,” said Brennan Rose, CEO of Mike’s Auto Body. “To this end, we could not be prouder to celebrate our 100th vehicle donation as part of our Benevolence Program. For more than two decades, this program has been a staple of our charitable giv ing, and as we transition under the Crash Champions name and banner, we look forward to finding new and creative ways to give back to the communities where we operate.”
Over the years, Mike’s Auto Body got more and more people involved in its Benevolence Program, including vendors, technicians and insurance partners. Sal Contreras, Benevo lence Ambassador, is pictured far right www.autobodynews.com
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Mike’s Auto Body Gave Away 100 Cars in 21 Years, Changing Countless Lives
The Rose family made the Be nevolence Program part of their lives, and it was quickly ingrained into their DNA.
“Thanks to everyone involved, in cluding employees, insurance part ners, vendors and the nonprofit orga nizations that helped us find worthy recipients over the years.”
by Ed Attanasio
“We feel very fortunate to be involved with such a wonderful pro gram and are very excited to be able to give back to the area communities that have supported us for the past 50 years,” owner Mike Rose said. “After receiving hundreds of appli cations over the years and reading the heartbreaking stories, we only wish that we could do more. But hopefully, with increased publicity of our Benevolence Program, other shops will adopt a similar program of their“Asown.”afamily-founded company, we have always prioritized philan
Mike’s Auto Body made its first presentations from 2001 through 2006 at its Concord, CA, location, with a one-year exception in Brent wood, CA. Since then, it has held car presentations at some of its shops in the East Bay, as well as at other locations, including in conjunction with the U.S Coast Guard’s CPOA in Alameda, CA, on the pier in front of the USS Hornet Museum. The Benevolence Program di rector at Mike’s Auto Body is Sal Contreras, who has been involved with every car presentation since the program’s inception and is consid ered the Benevolence Ambassador.
“We always say that at Mike’s, we are providing ‘a gift of chari ty wrapped in dignity,’” Contreras said. “These deserving people are working towards making a better life for their families; all they need is reliable transportation to make it happen.
“Early on, Mike [Rose] said he wished he could give 100 cars to families; well, we achieved Mike’s dream in December of 2021,” Con treras said. “We presented the 100th car to a single mom who had been struggling to raise her family with out a car. The Benevolence Program came full circle, as our first recipient was a single mom raising her fami ly.”
CFO Ragen Ortland-Rose was a major force behind MAB’s Benev olence“WeProgram.never imagined that the program would grow as it did,” she said. “Our people and the commu nity rallied around it, as the power of giving grew exponentially. We’ve always stressed quality in everything we do, and the program illustrates that. We enabled so many worthy people to improve their lives, and that’s why it gained so much mo mentum.
“Other body shops reached out to us and started their own pro grams, so the giving spread, and to day our program will live through other shops all over the country,” Ortland-Rose continued. “We know that Crash Champions will continue our legacy in some form because they share our passion for helping others. My father and my mother stressed that this is important, and that’s why we did it every year for 21 years.“When we gave away our 100th vehicle, we did not realize that it would be the last within our program, but now it is fitting and a number that all of us can easily re member!” Ortland-Rose concluded.
When Crash Champions announced it was acquiring Mike’s Auto Body (MAB) in June, many people throughout the Bay Area thought about MAB’s nationally acclaimed Benevolence Program. It became part of the brand at Mike’s Auto Body as the company and its owners, the Rose family, gave away exactly 100 vehicles to deserving families, individuals and nonprofit organizations over the past 21 years.The goal has always been to give people a hand up as opposed to a handout with the gift of transpor tation, and the MSO achieved that mission with every vehicle it pre sented to a deserving recipient. In 2001, Mike’s Auto Body be gan giving refurbished cars to peo ple in need. The very first recipient was a single mom with two children. Reporter Wayne Freedman from Channel 7 ABC News reported on the presentation and broadcast the story on the evening news. It quick ly became an annual tradition, as Freedman and his news team report ed on every presentation throughout the years during the holiday season, along with more and more media that flocked to the feel good story. Over the years, Mike’s Auto Body got more people involved in its Benevolence Program, includ ing vendors, technicians, car rental companies and insurance partners. The vendors donated products and their services, the technicians at Mike’s Auto Body donated their time and skills, and the insurance and car rental companies donated the vehicles.Thevehicles donated were con sidered totaled, but by refurbishing them and returning them to their pre-accident condition, they looked brand new.
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“Thefuture.event provided the oppor tunity to bring industry individuals together as well as the opportunity for additional fundraising through event ticket sales, raffles and silent auctions,” said CIF President Mi chael Quinn, president of AirPro Diagnostics. “At the gala, we were able to bring one of our most recent recipients of CIF support, Bryan Miller, to meet with and thank in person many individuals from orga nizations who provided direct sup port to Duringhim.”the event, CIF Trustee Jim Ocampo, strategic accounts sales manager at Axalta Coating Systems, presented Miller with a $15,000 check. Approximately 40% of the amount was donated by the in dustry to a campaign specifically to help Miller, and CIF contributed the remainder.Miller began working in the auto industry in 2016 and has spent time since then as a collision techni cian/painter. Last September, he was working on a motorcycle at the shop he was employed at, and a fire broke out. When Miller’s body caught on fire, he was trapped in his work area before escaping out of a window. He was transported to a hospital by he licopter.Although he survived, Mill er had third-degree burns covering most of his body and multiple sur geries and skin grafts. He said he lives in constant pain and expects it will take at least a year to regain full mobility.
by Stacey Phillips
Members of the collision industry gathered at the 11th Annual Col lision Industry Foundation (CIF) Gala in Pittsburgh, PA, on July 20 to show their support for Bryan Miller, an Ohio-based technician and painter recovering from severe burns he suffered from an in-shop fire in September 2021. The fundraising event, held at the Howl at the Moon restaurant, was the first time CIF has hosted its annual gala since the pandemic. The nonprofit organization is committed to assisting those working in the col lision repair industry through crises and tragedies.“I’mhappy to report we had re cord attendance,” said Petra Schro eder, “Collisionista” and secretary of CIF. “About 163 individuals from all segments of the industry were present, of which 41.7% were firsttime Earlierattendees.”inthe year, CIF put out a call to the industry at large for the first time looking for volunteers interested in joining the organiza tion’s committees. The following individuals became part of the gala volunteer committee: Tracy Dar rington, Enterprise; Matt Hamer ling, Enterprise; Paul Hill, I-CAR; Tom Julius, Car-Part.com; Stacey LaViola; Cherlyn Schultz, Enter prise; Scott Stiber, Enterprise; Ann Swayka, AirPro Diagnostics; and John Webb, TenPointComplete. “I want to give a big shout-out to those gala committee volunteers,” said Schroeder. “What they did to help us was incredibly valuable and their support was outstanding.”
Miller, his fiancé, Kassi Nellett, and his cousin, Steve Legg, attended the gala to show their appreciation for the assistance provided by CIF and the industry to help him recov er from his injuries and get back to work.“I want to go back to work right now! It’s my passion; I feel blessed to have found a career that’s given me a sense of pride to be able to tell people what I do for a living. I just love everything about my job,” said Miller in an article written by Joel Gausten.
Schroeder said the assistance from the volunteers was instrumen tal in preparing the gala to help Mill er and raise money for others in the industry who might need assistance in the
Technician/Painter Recovering from Severe Burns During 11th Annual CIF Gala
For more information about CIF, vis it .org.www.collisionindustryfoundation
Recognized
CIF Trustee Jim Ocampo presented Bryan Miller with a $15,000 check. Pictured, left to right, are CIF President Michael Quinn, of AirPro Diagnostics; Jim Ocampo, Axalta; Bryan Miller and Kassi Nellett your collision repair department?
A: Within the past 18 months, we have been working on bolstering the relationships we have with our local body shops. We have a lot of body shops in our service area that are actually owned and op erated by former students of the pro gram. We also have a couple dealer ship repair centers in our area, and we have been able to partner with them as well. I realized we had an opportuni ty to strengthen our program when six local businesses approached me questioning the skills they were see ing in our students who had entered the workforce. So, I personally built relationships with these companies, and their managers have partnered with us in the work we have done to strengthen our program. We have worked to bolster our relationships with local body shops. The shops have been very receptive, very helpful and very engaged. We also work with vendors like PPG that come and do special paint class es for our students. This is just one great example of the learning oppor tunities we provide our students.
In addition, we did just receive ASE accreditation that we have been working on for the past 18 months.
Continued from Page 54 Techs of the Future Your leading source for NORTHEASTERN CollisionNews!Repair northeastern.autobodynews.com 60 SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com • Competitive Pricing • Free and Fast Delivery • Knowledgeable Wholesale Parts Staff • Acura Genuine Parts Mon-Fri 8am-5pm • Sat 8am-4pm Parts:732.238.077724HrFax732.238.5466 We have you Covered Front and Back with ACURA GENUINE PART S OpenAcuraRoadof East Brunswick wwrobert.talbot@openroad.comw.openroadacuraofeastbrunswick.com1041NJRte18SouthlEastBrunswick, NJ 08816
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Speakingindustry.atthe
“We will actually be using a systematic approach where we do complete refinish on doors, fenders and hoods, and then blend on doors, fenders and hoods, to evaluate the delta between the full refinish task and the blend tasks,” Schulenburg said. “We’re not doing a refinish time study. Our goal is not to estab lish a refinish time on those panels. We will just be evaluating what percentage of the full refinish value blendHerepresents.”saidthestudy will use pan els for a high-volume Ford truck, waterborne products used in all U.S. markets, and color codes that repre sent a solid, a metallic and a tri-coat.
association’s open board meeting in late July in Pittsburgh, Executive Director Aar on Schulenburg noted the three estimating system providers each
“The refinish time for a fender in Audatex will look different than the refinish time for that fender in CCC, which will look different from the refinish time in Mitch ell,” Schulenburg said. “Which is fine, they’ve each done their own research on it. All three companies identify 50% as a blend value; de spite the fact that they don’t have the same refinish values, all identify blend time as 50%.
An important aspect of the training will include learning how to find OEM service information.
establish its own refinish labor al lowance for any given panel.
“We look forward to enabling technicians with skills and technolo gy so that what happens in the class room sticks more and it gives them the ability to apply it when they get back to the shop,” he said.
The company also plans to offer career paths for potential collision and mechanical technicians that are appropriate for their roles.
by John Yoswick The Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) has provided a few more details about its study be ginning in August into the accuracy of the blend time formula commonly used in the
“Bringing ATG alongside what we’re doing on the collision side re ally allows us to leverage our exist ing content, so our internal team of technicians and remote techs can be better prepared to help our custom ers,” said Chesney.
For additional information about ATG, visit www.atgtraining.com.
Continued from Page 56 Repairify’s New Partnership www.autobodynews.com
UPDATED DAILY AUTOBODY
“This has been an issue for a long time,” Schulenburg said. “We hope to put a punctuation mark on this one.”
“The big myth in the industry is the belief that OEM service infor mation is hard to get a hold of,” said Chesney.Hestressed the importance of checking the repair information on every“Invehicle.the case of things like ADAS, it changes daily and you need to go look at it for every re pair or calibration,” recommended Chesney. “Otherwise, it can catch you by surprise and get you in trou ble.”Repairify’s ultimate goal is to help prepare technicians to repair future vehicles and present informa tion in a way they will understand.
“Our members have long chal lenged that,” Schulenburg said. “We don’t believe 50% is reflective of what we’re actually doing, because there are a lot of tasks associated with [blending] outside of just the application of the base coat, which, for a large part, is the task that is be ing adjusted.”Schulenburg said given the lack of “positive movement” SCRS has seen on the issue based on its long-standing discussion with the estimating system providers, the association is working with the five primary refinish companies on a study taking place at Global Finish ing Solutions’ Center of Excellence facility in Wisconsin.
CIECA announced its agenda and speakers for the upcoming CIE CA CONNEX Conference, to be held Sept. 13-14 in St. Louis/St. Charles, MO. In addition to a line-up of top industry speakers, there will be networking opportunities, a gifting ceremony by the National Auto Body Council® (NABC) as part of its NABC Recycled Rides® program, CIECA’s open annual meeting and a tour of Hunter Engi neering.This year’s theme is “CIE CA Next Gen: Evolving to Meet the Needs of the Collision Indus try.” All industry stakeholders, including CIECA members and non-members, are invited to attend. Conference attendees are el igible to receive credit toward a professional designation from the Automotive Management Institute (AMi).The day prior to the confer ence, NABC will be holding the Boone Valley Golf Club Fundrais er in Augusta, MO.
Aaron Schulenburg of the Society of Colli sion Repair Specialists said shops have long challenged the accuracy of the estimating systems’ blending formula
Source: CIECA Agenda Announced for CONNEX 2022 www.autobodynews.com FREE 4x Monthly E-Newsletter. 62 SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com Yonkers Kia 1840 Central Park Ave Yonkers, NY 10710 914.268.0279M-Th7:30am-8pmF7:30am-7pmSat8am-5pmGenuine Kia OEM Parts Fast & Free Delivery Efficient Service on All Orders Fax Your Order www.yonkerskia.comTodayTheRightPart Makes the Difference 914.652.7665 Fax YourYonkersKiaKiaPartsSource
Collision Repair Association Conducting Study of Blend Time Formula
What sets ATG apart from oth er training, according to Chesney, is the company’s specialization in OEM repair information and its ap proach to “Whatlearning.ATGdoes is take that factory information and dissect it,” explained Chesney. “When it’s a competency around a standard that’s used by all brands, then they level the terms and the diagnostic ap proach so that it’s brand agnostic.”
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Opponents argued the bill serves as both $250 billion in taxpayer subsidies to multi-billiondollar companies and would subsidize construction of factories in China.Portman, though, said July 26 in a CNBC interview that language was inserted into the bill he believes can avoid China concerns.
The winning team, with a score of just 56, consisted of Rich Finoli, PPG; Steve Morel li, community supporter; Derek Severns, Bowser Automotive; and John Parran, PPG. Participants also had the chance to win great prizes by competing in individual hole con tests.Helicopter ball drop winners included Linda Mazur, commu nity supporter; Charlie Jordan, Caliber Collision; and Mary Mahoney, Enterprise Holdings.
Ohio Groups, Lawmakers Praise CHIPS Act Passed to Boost Intel Investment
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The Collision Repair Education Foundation’s (CREF) 20th Annu al Golf Fundraiser, co-hosted by PPG Automotive Finishes, was a roaringHeldsuccess.onJuly 19 at the Edge wood Country Club in Pittsburgh, PA, the event sold out to capacity with 146 sponsors and industry supports enjoying a day on the green while raising over $100,000 to support collision repair pro grams, schools and students around the country.
by J.D. Davidson, The Center Square The lack of federal subsidies Intel said was holding up its planned $20 billion chip plant in suburban Columbus, OH, cleared the U.S. Senate on July 27. It was signed into lay by President Joe Biden on Aug.The9.
CHIPS Act, which passed the Senate 64-33, will provide $52 billion to U.S. semiconductor manufacturers to help build plants to makeAftermicrochips.announcing in January plans to build and create 3,000 jobs at a microchip facility in Ohio, Intel pulled back over the summer, canceling its July 22 groundbreaking while the federal money remained in limbo.
Source: CREF CREF Raises $100,000 at Golf Fundraiser autobodynews.com
“We did insert some language that I supported on the so-called guardrails to avoid just what you had talked about. I think that’s important. China is very interested, as you know, in investing a lot of money in chips and providing huge incentives, far more than what we are talking about in the CHIPS legislation here, and so are other countries, by the way, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan of course,” Portman said in theOhiointerview.Gov. Mike DeWine said in January an additional 7,000 construction jobs could come from the project that is expected to add $2.8 billion to the state’s annual grossOhioproject.committed nearly $2 billion in incentives and tax breaks to Intel.“The best thing this does with the CHIPS Act is to make sure these jobs are brought home,”
64 SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS /
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said in a Twitter video statement. Business and manufacturing groups throughout the state praised the Senate“Ohio’spassage.economy stands to benefit even more from the transformational nature of Intel’s investment in semiconductor manufacturing in our state thanks to the CHIPS Act, which will bolster American manufacturing and national security,” said Steve Stivers, president and CEO of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce. The Ohio Manufacturers’ Association called passage and Intel’s planned investment a unique opportunity for the state and country.
“Right now, our country has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to strengthen U.S. manufacturing and ensure it consistently competes and wins on the world stage,” said Ryan Augsburger, president of the OMA. “Just as it has since its earliest days, Ohio will play a key role in the next chapter of American innovation. It is time to finally enact this game-changing investment.”
“Today’s passage of the CHIPS Act is critical in the effort to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the United States, protect our na tional security and create thousands of high-paying jobs in Ohio,” said Sen. Rob Portman, R-OH. “I was proud to help lead efforts in the Senate to pass this legislation and ensure that Intel’s planned semi conductor plant in central Ohio re mains on track and reaches its full potential. Intel’s announced invest ment is already the largest in Ohio’s history and the company has indi cated that with this CHIPS legisla tion its record investment will grow even larger over time.”
An artist rendering of Intel’s planned $20 billion chip manufacturing plant expected to be built in central Ohio. Credit: JobsOhio
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Lemonade to Use Mitchell’s Claim Solutions for Newest Product
Launched in November 2021, Lemonade Car uses telematics to measure how much and how safe people drive. It provides 24/7 on-location roadside assistance, re al-time crash detection and dispatch of emergency services, and offers perks for safe and environmentally conscious customers. These include discounts for low-mileage drivers and those who own electric and hy brid Aftervehicles.being introduced in Illi nois and then expanding to Tennes continue rolling out Lemonade Car across the Mitchell,country.aleading technology and information provider for the property & casualty (P&C) claims and collision repair industries, will support Lemonade in delivering an efficient, digital claims experience for consumers purchasing auto pol icies.Lemonade is a full-stack insur ance carrier built to provide the best, most delightful and most transparent insurance experience in the world, according to a company spokesper son. A Certified B-Corp, Lemonade gives unused premiums to nonprof its selected by its community, during its annual Giveback campaign.
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by Stacey Phillips Mitchell, an Enlyte company, re cently announced Lemonade, the insurance company powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and so cial impact, has chosen Mitchell’s claims management platform for the insurer’s newest product, Lemonade Car. The company will use Mitch ell’s claims workflow, automation and total loss solutions to help streamline and optimize claims han dling.“At Lemonade, we’ve set out to make the most lovable car insurance available, and part of that is creat claims management technology, we’re able to build efficiencies into our product to make it as seamless and easy for our customers to file a claim following an accident, as well as share necessary information with third-parties including auto body shops and medical facilities.”
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names and logo are registered trademarks.
Rozint explained Mitchell’s solutions provide Lemonade with the technology needed to streamline key steps in the claims process, in cluding loss reporting and damage appraisal.“Mitchell is committed to help ing our customers—both automotive insurers and collision repairers— BMW of North America, LLC. The BMW name, model 500 State Route 36 07
“We’re extremely proud that Lemonade—a top-rated insurer with a focus on fast, efficient claims reso lution—has selected our technology to support their entry into the U.S. auto insurance market,” said Jack Rozint, senior vice president, repair sales, Mitchell Auto Physical Dam age division. “Their decision to do so validates Mitchell’s leadership position in claims processing tech nology.”“We’re honored to support Lemonade,” said Debbie Day, ex ecutive vice president and general manager of Mitchell’s Auto Physi cal Damage division. “At Mitchell, opment of innovative, cloud-based solutions that are designed to allow ciently while meeting consumer ex pectations for an automated, digital claims experience. Our auto physi cal damage and casualty solutions help carriers like Lemonade scale quickly as they bring best-in-class offerings to market.”
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68 SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com MarylandConnecticutBMWofDarienDarien203-328-1325203-978-0043FaxM-F8am-5pmwholesale@bmwdarien.comBMWofWaterburyWaterbury844-895-6839860-274-5471860-274-0617FaxM-F7:30am-5:30pmSat7:30am-4pmJohn.musco@hoffmanauto.comBMWofCatonsvilleCatonsville855-996-2906410-818-2600FaxM-F8am-5pmwww.bmwofcatonsville.com BMW of Silver Spring Silver NewNewwww.bmwofsilverspring.comwholesaless@mileone.comM-F301-890-3748800-288-6982301-890-3015SpringFax7:30am-5pmHampshireBMWofStrathamStratham800-989-5200vfollansbee@group1auto.comwww.bmwofstratham.comJerseyBMWofBloomfieldBloomfield888-261-6471973-748-8373M-F8am-5pmSat8am-4:30pmpsantos@dchusa.com
YOU ONLY GET ONE CHANCE AT THE FIRST REPAIR. ©2022 BMW of North America, LLC. The BMW name, model names and logo are registered trademarks.
Park Ave. BMW South
BMW of CircleBMWwholesaleparts.bmw@openroad.comM-F973-796-3146973-796-3145MorristownMorristownFax8am-6pmwww.bmwofmorristown.comofNewtonNewton973-579-6020973-579-6702FaxM-F8am-5:30pmwww.bmwnewton.comBMWEatontown732-440-1238732-440-1239FaxM-F7:30am-5pmSat8am-3pmWholesale@circlebmw.comwww.circlebmw.com Newwww.parkavebmw.comal@parkavebmw.comSatM-F201-291-2376888-349-5168HackensackFax8am-5pm8am-4pmYorkBMWofBaysideBayside516-304-3733516-570-4268FaxM-Sat8am-5pmbmwparts@bmwbayside.comwww.bmwbayside.comCompetitionBMWSt.James631-724-3322631-265-0501FaxM-F8am-5pmSat8am-4:30pmasolla@competitionbmw.comwww.competitionbmw.com
autobodynews.com / SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS 69 Habberstad BMW Huntington PennsylvaniaKeelerparts@habberstadbmw.comSatM-F631-271-7931631-271-7488StationFax8am-5pm8am-4pmBMWLatham877-553-3909518-785-4197518-785-4710FaxM-F7:30am-6pmSat8am-4pmbmwparts@keeler.comwww.keelerbmw.comAppleBMWYork717-849-6597717-843-2948FaxM-F7am-5pmSat8am-4pmapplebmwparts@appleauto1.comwww.applebmwofyork.com Rhode Island BMW of wwwbmwofnewport.comgromani@metromotorgroup.comM-F401-841-0680401-847-9600MiddletownNewportFax7:30am-5:30pm Original BMW Parts & Accessories. When you repair a BMW, use the parts that are identical to those used in Series production – and just as reliable. Choose Original BMW Parts and Accessories. Because you can’t repair your reputation.
“A close development partner ship with Amazon and its delivery drivers enabled us to optimize the EDV features and design for last mile delivery,” Rivian said in its Q2 Shareholders Letter. “This pro cess included delivering more than 430,000 packages through multiple pilot deployments that began in early 2021 these pilots enabled a rapid refinement of a range of features.” Rivian explained each EDV fea ture, providing a reason behind each design decision. For instance, the EV automaker equipped the electric delivery van with rear roll-up doors so it would be easier to load bulky warehouse items. Rivian’s Amazon Delivery Van also has a tall roof, so drivers can easily walk through it. Plus, Amazon EDV vehicles work with Rivian’s fleet management sys tem, called FleetOS. The EV automaker also high lighted how closely Rivian engineers worked with Amazon employees to optimize EDV features. “To ensure optimal temperature, Rivian engineers spent time in the vans during delivery routes, which helped the development of an HVAC system optimized for driver comfort and efficiency,” noted Rivian. One Amazon delivery driver already provided his first impression of Rivian’s EDV via his YouTube channel, Friday Adventure Club. He was impressed with the EDV and list ed its advantages over ICE delivery vehicles.Amazon deployed Rivian EDV 700s in July. Rivian has two other variants for its electric delivery van: the EDV 500 and the EDV 900. The EV automaker announced it started production validation for the EDV 500 in Q2 2022.
430K-Plus Packages
For more information about Lemon ade Car, visit www.lemonade.com/ Forcar. property casualty and collision repair updates and perspectives, fol low Mitchell on Twitter @Mitchell Claims and @MitchellRepair. by Maria Merano, Teslarati Rivian reported delivering more than 430,000 Amazon packages with its Electric Delivery Van (EDV) during the vehicles’ pilot deployments, which rolled out in July. In July, Am azon announced Rivian EDVs would be deployed in locations across the U.S., including Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, Nashville, Phoe nix, San Diego, Seattle and St. Louis. Rivian and Amazon worked closely together to design the EDV vehicle.
agement,” said Rozint. “Lemonade presented an excellent opportunity to apply our industry-leading solu tions with a partner that is poised for rapidThroughgrowth.”the collaboration, Ro zint said Mitchell can assist the in surer with settling claims seamlessly while delivering an exceptional cus tomer“Theexperience.integration of Mitchell’s solutions with Lemonade’s existing technology stack will support an automated, digital claims process— from first notice of loss (FNOL) to settlement,” he said. Lemonade is also leveraging Mitchell’s auto casualty injury claims processing solutions to automate both first-party auto and third-party liabili ty claims.“Automating these functions is intended to align with the insurer’s goal for Lemonade Car: to use tech nology to handle emergencies and settle claims seamlessly, providing the best possible experience for cus tomers,” according to a press release.
www.autobodynews.com 70 SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com Choose Original MINI Parts. The Dealers Below Are Original MINI Parts Distributors MINI of Montgomery County 240-238-1204Gaithersburg Parts (240) 238-1493 Fax M-F 7:30-6:00; Sat 8-4 miniofmontgomerycounty.comminipartsmd@ Keeler MINI 518-785-4197877-553-3909Latham Parts (518) 785-4710 Fax M-F 7:30-6; Sat keelerMINI.comminiparts@keeler.com8-4 MINI of Allentown 610-820-2950Allentown Parts (610) 336-8125 Fax M-F parts@danielsbmw.com8-5:30 New York PennsylvaniaMaryland ©2022 MINI USA, a division of BMW of North America, LLC. The MINI name, model names and logo are registered trademarks.
“Lemonade is advancing the auto insurance market with sophis ticated technology and Mitchell, being an auto casualty technology leader, is happy to support those goals with our specialized casualty technology and service solutions,” said Norman Tyrrell, vice president of product management, Mitchell Casualty Solutions Group. “Lem onade will be leveraging Mitchell’s DecisionPoint Medical Bill Process ing software as well as a number of our Technology Enabled Solutions.”
“With each new customer, we believe that the market is validating this direction,” said Rozint.
Several years ago, Mitchell de cided to rebuild its core platform around key concepts that included an open, cloud-based architecture, and support for proper and safe repairs.
Rivian Amazon Vans Delivered During Pilot Program
autobodynews.com / SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS 71 Order Audi Genuine Parts from these select dealers. Audi Part Professionals are exper ts on collision par ts, replacement components and mechanical items. MARYLAND Audi Silver Spring Silver Spring 301.890.3748800.288.6982301.890.3015 Fax M-F www.audisilverspring.comwholesaless@mileone.com7:30am-5pm MASSACHUSETTS Audi Shrewsbury Shrewsbury 508.845.1642508.581.5880888.751.7214 Fax M-F audiwholesaleparts@mcgovernauto.com7:30am-5pm NEW JERSEY Audi Meadowlands North Bergen 201.223.7842201.408.2085 Fax M-F 7am-6pm Sat jpooler@bbmcc.com8am-2pm Bell Audi Edison 732.396.9090732.396.9630 Fax M-F 8am-5pm Sat dmcsorley@bellaudi.com8am-4pm DCH Millburn Audi Maplewood 973.762.2381800.553.9250 Fax M-F 7:30am-6pm Sat www.dchmillburnaudi.comddipalma@dchusa.com7:30am-4pm Flemington Audi Flemington 908.782.1795800.221.1256 Fax M-F 7:30am-5pm Sat www.njparts.com8am-12pm Paul Miller Audi Parsippany 973.575.5911862.277.0009 Fax M-F 8am-6pm Sat Audiparts@paulmiller.comwww.paulmilleraudi.com8am-5pm NEW YORK Audi Brooklyn of Bram Wholesale Parts Network 718.392.6570866.770.5999 Fax M-F parts@lexusofqueens.com7:30am-5:30pm Audi Southampton Southampton www.audisouthampton.comparts@audisouthampton.comTue-Sat631.204.25658am-5pm Biener Audi Great Neck 516.829.4821516.487.0127 Fax M-F 8am-4:30pm Sat 8am-4pm parts@biener.comrfeyjoo@biener.comalutchman@biener.comwww.bieneraudi.com PENNSYLVANIA Audi Devon Devon 610.688.1742610.263.7027610.263.7026 Fax M-F 7:30am-6pm Sat 9am-4pm wmohler@audidevon.combnawn@audidevon.comwww.audidevon.com
CIECA Forms AI Committee 72 SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com THESE DEALERS ARE GENUINE WHOLESALE PARTS SPECIALISTS. Downeast Toyota / Scion BREWER 800-432-0220 207-989-4610 Fax M-F 7am-5pm; Sat partsdepartment@downeasttoyota.com7am-4pmwww.downeasttoyota.com Toyota of Massapequa SEAFORD 516-217-1420 516-217-1421 Fax M-Sat www.toyotaofmassapequany.comjpinero@aagny.net7am-5pm Grieco Toyota EAST PROVIDENCE 401-438-2206 401-431-0673 Fax M-Th 7:30am-7pm; F 7:30am-6pm Sat toyotaparts@griecocars.com7:30am-5pmwww.griecotoyota.com Maine New York Rhode Island The RIGHT COLLISIONPARTSVisit these Genuine Hyundai Parts Dealers FOR YOUR COLLISION JOB Connecticut MERIDEN HYUNDAI Meriden 318 South Broad St. 203-935-0896 203-440-9969203-935-0895Fax Mon-Fri 7:30am - 5pm Sat 8am - 4pm parts@meridenhyundai.com Massachusetts BOCH HYUNDAI Norwood 391 Providence Hwy. 800-559-9210 800-991-1009781-762-9210Fax Mon-Fri 7:30am - 5pm bchwholesale@boch.com
New-Vehicle Prices Set Record in July as Inventory Improves, Luxury Share Remains Elevated CIECA has announced the forma tion of a new Standards Develop ment Committee focused on Artifi cial Intelligence (AI). All industry stakeholders, including CIECA and non-CIECA members, are in vited to Thejoin.new committee will be chaired by Raj Pofale, a found er and CEO at Claim Genius, and Jimmy Spears, head of automotive at Tractable. Both are active CIE CA committee members who have presented at the CIECA CONNEX Conference. The committee chairs encourage all interested industry stakeholders to attend the meetings. To RSVP, visit Pau lette Reed at paulette@cieca.com.
The average price paid for a new non-luxury vehicle in July was $44,431, up $363 from June, and a new record for non-luxury vehicles, beating out the high set the prior month. Car shoppers in the non-luxury segment paid on average $875 above sticker price, a decrease from the prior month. Still, shoppers are paying more than they did compared to a year ago when they paid 0.8% below MSRP. In July, the average luxury buyer paid $65,530 for a new vehicle, down $382 from June, when luxury ATPs hit a record $65,912. Luxury buyers continue to pay more than MSRP for new vehi cles, although prices are trending closer sticker prices. For comparison, luxury vehicles were selling for $386 under MSRP one year ago. Luxury vehicle share remains historically high, push ing the overall industry ATP higher, but decreased to 17.8% of total sales in July from 18.2% in June.The average price paid for a new electric vehicle (EV) dropped in July by 2.3% compared to June but increased by 18.8% versus a year ago. The average price for a new electric vehicle more than $66,000, according to Kelley Blue Book esti mates remains well above the industry average and more aligned with luxury prices versus mainstream prices. Incentives increased slightly in July versus June, but remain low, at only 2.4% of the average transaction price. A year ago, incentives averaged 5.9% of ATP. Full-size cars and luxury cars had the highest incentives in July, while high-performance cars, full-size luxury SUVs and electric vehicles had the lowestSource:incentives.KelleyBlue Book
Source: CIECA
The average price paid for a new ve hicle in the U.S. in July topped June’s record and kept the average transaction price (ATP) solidly above the $48,000 mark, according to new data released Aug. 10 by Kelley Blue Book, a Cox Automotive brand. The Kelley Blue Book new-vehicle ATP increased to $48,182 in July, beating the previous high of $48,043 set the month before. July prices rose 0.3% ($139) from June and 11.9% ($5,126) from July 2021. New-vehicle inventory days’ sup ply held steady in the mid-30s in July, where it has been consistently since the final months of 2021. Surprisingly, days’ supply the end of July was 27% high er than it was in 2021, when inventory shortages first started to impact the mar ket, demand was even higher and days’ supply dropped into the 20s. Still, with roughly 1.1 million units in inventory in the U.S., new-vehicle inventory re mains significantly below levels seen in 2020 and 2019. With tight inventory and sufficient demand, transaction prices re main elevated. Most dealers continue to sell vehicles above the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP). Honda, Kia, Land Rover and Hyundai continue to show the most price strength in the market, transact ing between 5% to 8% over sticker last month. Ram, Volvo, Lincoln, Buick and the smaller Italian brands, Alfa Romeo and Fiat, showed the least price strength in July, selling 1% or more be low MSRP. “It’s still a sellers’ market,” said Rebecca Rydzewski, research manager of economic and industry in sights for Cox Automotive. “New-ve hicle inventory levels are better than a year ago, but remain historically low, and that’s keeping new-vehicle prices elevated. Still, even though average prices are at a record level, there are affordable vehicles out there. Compact cars and SUVs and subcompact mod els typically transact for 30% to 40% below the industry average.”
com/committeesmittee,informationaddressthatstandardsCIECACi05Tsp3jJzc3wTMRSDqhCgma/6aIyVdjmpAtfHmP0kiDYform/AICommittee/formperforms.zohopublic.com/cieca1au/https://has27productandprojectdevelopmentcommitteesfocusoncreatingstandardstoindustryneeds.Formoreaboutjoiningacomvisithttps://www.cieca.orcontact
NEW
FlemingtonJERSEYVolkswagen Flemington 877-657-2787877-NJPARTSFax:908-782-1795 M-F www.njparts.com7:30am-5pm Open Road Volkswagen of Bridgewater Bridgewater 908-685-1068Fax:908-685-1547 M-F 7:30am-5pm; Sat www.openroadvwparts.comvwb.parts@openroad.com8am-3pm Paul Miller Volkswagen Bernardsville 908-360-1162Fax:908-766-6171 M-F 8am-5pm; Sat aaitchison@paulmiller.com8am-4pmwww.paulmillervw.com NEW YORK Hudson Valley Volkswagen Wappingers Falls 845-298-2365Fax:845-224-3686 M-F 7:30am-5pm; Sat billsantoro@thepremiercollection.com8am-5pm Platinum Volkswagen Hicksville 516-822-4800Fax:516-822-4831 M-F parts@platinumvw.com7:30am-5:30pmwww.platinumvw.com PENNSYLVANIACioccaVolkswagen Allentown 610-791-4177Fax:610-289-7016 M-F 8am-5pm; Sat cioccavwparts@cioccadealerships.com8am-4pm
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autobodynews.com / SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS 73 “Volkswagen” and the Volkswagen logo are registered trademarks of Volkswagen AG. ©2022 Volkswagen of America, Inc. Find an authorized Volkswagen dealership near you at vwwholesaledealers.com Fresh and ready to go—help increase customer satisfaction with OEM-quality Genuine VW Collision Parts. Coming in hot: Your partsnextorder CONNECTICUTLiaVolkswagen Enfield 860-698-6890Fax:860-265-7840 M-F 8am-5pm; Sat aguimaraes@liacars.com8am-12pm OurismanMARYLANDVWofRockville Rockville 855-417-4511Fax:240-499-2488 M-F 8am-5:30pm; Sat rockvilleparts@ourismanautomotive.com8am-5pmwww.rockvillevolkswagen.com
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Ford total market share hit 13.9% up 1.0 percentage point from June and 4.8 percentage points over a year ago. Gains come from higher EV sales and share, F-Series and high-end large SUVs.
Source: CCC Intelligent Solu
Activation is simple. Repair facilities using CCC Diagnostics select their preferred diagnostic provider(s) from those available through CCC’s network and pro viders send scan data directly to the CCC ONE workfile.
“Ford was America’s best-sell ing brand in July powered by strong demand across our lineup,” said Andrew Frick, vice presi dent, sales, distribution and trucks, Ford Blue. “Our overall sales rose 37% in July and electric vehicle sales grew at three times the rate of the EV segment. F-Series hit the 60,000-truck mark for the first time this year, with our all-new electric F-150 Lightning having its best sales month yet. Ford SUVs were up 70%, while E-Transit leads the electric van space with 95% of the electric van segment.”
On improved inventory flow, Ford for the second month in a row is the only major automaker to produce sales gains, as its July sales grew 36.6% vs. an industry down 10.5%.
Ford electric vehicle sales were up 168.7%. With Mustang Mach-E up 74.1%, F-150 Lightning deliv ering its best-month since launch and E-Transit’s dominant share po sition, Ford grew more than three times the rate of the overall electric vehicle segment in July. Sales of Ford Hybrid vehicles continue to climb, increasing 35.3% in July, placing the Ford brand sec ond in hybrid vehicle sales to only Toyota. F-150 Hybrid sales totaled 4,364 vehicles, while Maverick Hy brid sales totaled 2,153 trucks. To date, 66,500 customers have purchased Ford’s BlueCruise hands-free driver-assist technolo gy. Ford is expanding BlueCruise through Power-Up software up dates, adding nearly 15,000 2021 F-150 and Mustang Mach-E cus tomers in July, with another 35,000 in process. Ford BlueCruise cus tomers accumulated 11.4 million miles of hands-free highway driv ing since July 2021. For the fourth straight month, Ford reported a record pace of just over 50% of retail sales com ing from previously placed orders. Meanwhile, on Aug. 2, retail order banks re-opened for Bronco Sport, Edge, Explorer and Ranger. Retail orders for Ford’s hot-selling F-150 and Transit re-opened a few weeks earlier. Ford overall pickup sales, including F-Series, Ranger and Maverick, produced total sales of 74,034 up 27% over a year ago. Ford’s total pick up share for the month was 31.6% up more than 6 per centage points over last year and the highest share of any brand in the total pickup segment. Ford brand SUV sales gained 70% over last year, totaling 66,266 SUVs. Combined Bronco family sales, including Bronco Sport, were up 227% over last year.
tions AirPro Diagnostics, CCC Partner 74 SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com Porsche Genuine Parts and Service, only at your local authorized PorschePorscheMARYLANDdealer.SilverSpring Silver Spring, wholesales@mileone.com301-890-3748800-288-6982MDFax PorscheMASSACHUSETTSNorwell Norwell, 781-261-5274781-261-5230MA porschenorwell.comFax NEW PorscheYORKHuntington Huntington Station, NY 631-272-1805631-424-1310 Fax M-F 8-5; Sat parts@porschehuntington.com8-4 Porsche Manhattan New York, 212-208-0916347-226-3913NY parts@manhattanmotorcars.comFax Porsche of Southampton Southampton, gspano@porscheofsouthampton.com631-204-2559631-204-2565NYFax Porsche South Shore Freeport, mtotaram@mcgovernauto.comM-Sat516-277-0543516-277-0542NY8-5:30 NEW FlemingtonJERSEYPorsche Flemington, 908-782-9397800-221-1256NJ Fax rmuir@flemington.com Porsche Monmouth West Long Branch, NJ avacchiano@penskeautomotive.comM-F732-483-85608-5;Sat8-4:30 ©2022 Porsche Cars North America, Inc. Porsche recommends seatbelt usage and observance of traffic laws at all times.
Source: Ford Ford’s July Sales Up 37% Compared to Same Month a Year Ago
CCC Intelligent Solutions on Aug. 2 announced AirPro Diagnostics will become the newest member of the CCC® Diagnostics network. Through an integration with AirPro, collision repair users of CCC Diagnostics will soon be able to capture and document AirPro scan and calibration information in their CCC ONE® workfiles. The streamlined service with AirPro is expected to be available via CCC ONE in September. The integra tion does not require a physical connection between the AirPro device and CCC ONE. Informa tion is uploaded automatically, and the scan report is automatically at tached to the vehicle’s CCC ONE workfile.
autobodynews.com / SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS 75 Find your local Kia dealership today at www.kia.com We’ve Got Your Parts Covered 100% Genuine. No Exceptions. CONNECTICUTNapoliIndoorKia Milford (203)203-876-3331876-3325Fax 8am-6pm paulc@napolimotors.comMon-Fri Gary Rome Kia Enfield (860)860-253-5095265-2674Fax 8am-7pm Mon-Thu 8am-5pm Fri; 8am-4pm parts@garyromekia.comSat MASSACHUSETTSKiaofAttleboro South Attleboro (508)508-761-9300761-0768Fax 8am-8pm Mon, Wed; 8am-5pm Tue, Thu, Fri 8am-4pm frank@courtesyma.comSatwww.courtesyma.com Lev Kia of Framingham Framingham (508)800-462-1014626-1585Fax 7:30am-6pmparts@levkia.comMon-Fri MARYLANDBobBellKia Baltimore (410)800-638-4967285-1376Fax 7am-7pm smelson@bobbell.com7am-5pmMon-FriSat NEWLibertyJERSEYKia Ramsey (201)201-818-8995783-8848Fax 8am-5pm www.libertykiaofnj.comjoel@libertykiaofnj.comMon-Sat NEW YORK Kia of Middletown New Hampton (845)845-374-6575374-4718Fax 8am-5pm nissankiaofmiddletownparts@yahoo.com8am-3pmMon-FriSatwww.kiaofmiddletown.com Northstar Kia Long Island City (718) 683-5300 (718) 489-9889 Fax M-F 7:30am-5pm; Sat www.northstarkiany.com8am-2pm Yonkers Kia Yonkers (914)914-268-0279652-7665Fax 7:30am-8pm Mon-Thu 7:30am-7pm Fri; 8am-5pm Sat PENNSYLVANIABrownDaubKia Easton (484)610-829-3020546-0292Fax 7am-5pm parts@browndaubkia.com7am-3pmMon-FriSatwww.browndaubkia.com Kia of Coatesville Coatesville (610)610-384-7700384-2171Fax 7:30am-5pm jkiernan@jimsipalakia.com7:30am-4pmMon-FriSatwww.kiaofcoatesville.com Kia of West Chester West Chester (610)610-429-3500429-0164Fax 7:30am-5pm www.kiaofwestchester.comjkiernan@jimsipalakia.com7:30am-4pmMon-FriSat Outten Kia Hamburg (610)610-562-4166562-9436Fax 7:30am-5pm jhenne@outtencars.com8am-12pmMon-FriSatwww.outtenkia.com BerlinVERMONTCityKia Williston (303)800-684-5779928-6905Fax 6am-6pm Mon, Wed, Fri 6am-7pm Tue, Thu 7am-3pm ableau@berlincity.comSat *Kia Genuine replacement parts sold but not installed by an Authorized Kia Dealer are covered for 12 months from purchase date, regardless of mileage, for the part only, and any labor charge is the consumer’s responsibility.
Fall 2022 High School & College Transportation Student Career Fair Schedule Oct. 4: 3M Headquarters, SaintPaul, MN Nov. 9: Kingwood Park High School, Houston, TX Nov. 10: Collin College, Dallas,Dec.TX6: Suburban Showcase Conference Center, Detroit, MI To complement the physi cal career fair events and ensure CREF helps connect students with employers across the coun try, CREF also has an electron ic student resume database with contact information for over 600 collisionInterestedstudents.inparticipating in an event listed above, or in col laborating with CREF to schedule one in your market?
Source: CREF 3M, CREF Donate Products to 300 Schools
Aging workforce blues got you down? Worried about who will fill the workforce as older em ployees retire? Ready to do something about it?
CREF Invites Collision Industry to Fall 2022 High School & College Transportation Student Career Fairs
The Collision Repair Ed ucation Foundation (CREF) invites industry businesses to participate in its Fall 2022 High School & College Transporta tion Student Career Fairs, being scheduled across the country to provide employers with an op portunity to get to know thou sands of incoming industry pro fessionals.“CREF’s Career Fairs pro vide a unique opportunity for collision industry employers to connect with hundreds of stu dents who have trained for en try-level positions and are ready to start their careers,” said CREF Program Manager Tiffany Bu lak . “Engaging with future transportation industry profes sionals is vital for all segments of the industry collision cen ters, dealerships and even paint, tool and equipment companies as a means of generating brand awareness for the business but most importantly, in order to showcase the diverse career paths available to the students in attendance.”
madeEckenrode@ed-foundation.org.atEckenrode,gramscollisionsecondaryportingeddation.orgTiffany.Bulak@ed-fountolearnmore.IndustrymembersinterestingettinginvolvedandsupCREF’seffortstoassistandpost-secondaryrepairtrainingproshouldcontactBrandonmanagingdirector,312-231-0258orBrandon.Monetarydonationscanbeonline.Source:CREF
As 2021 drew to an end, 3M do nated $889,719.50 in products and supplies to 300 schools around the country, through the Colli sion Repair Education Foundation (CREF). Equipping collision edu cation programs with the most upto-date supplies, materials, tools and equipment allows collision instructors to train students with the same products they’ll be using in their future positions in the in dustry—without maxing out the department’s budget. Each care package included several DA sanders, along with sanding/graining/finishing discs, sandpaper, repair glue and “all kinds of good stuff,” according to Jerry Goodson, collision repair and refinishing instructor at Chip pewa Valley Technical College in Eau Claire, WI. Since 2008, 3M has actively aided CREF’s efforts to assist collision students, instruc tors and schools, generously pro viding frequent in-kind donations, funding grants and supporting CREF’s Hire Our Heroes campaign.
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Contact Bu lak at Tiffany.Bulak@ed-founda tion.org.Can’t attend a career fair but still anxious to get your com pany name in front of incoming technicians? Support local high school and college collision students by sponsoring work uniforms to ensure the future workforce recognizes the value of looking professional. For a donation of just $50 per student, companies can provide students with a brand new Cintas tech nician shirt, branded with your logo, work pants and a safety kit.
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In a statement, Consumer Fi nancial Protection Bureau Direc tor Rohit Chopra said, “Hyundai illegally tarnished credit reports for millions of borrowers, includ ing by falsely reporting them to credit reporting companies as be ing delinquent on their loans and leases. Loan servicers must be complete and accurate when fur nishing information that affects a borrower’s credit report.” HCA will pay a $6 million civil penalty to the Consumer Fi nancial Protection Bureau, as well as $13.2 million in compensation to current and former customers who had inaccurate information furnished to credit reporting com panies saying they were “30 or more days past due on an automo bile retail installment contract or lease.”While $19.2 million sounds like chump change, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau not ed this was its largest Fair Credit Reporting Act case against an auto servicer. The bureau also revealed Americans owe $1.4 trillion in auto loans, making it the third largest consumer credit market.
by Michael Gauthier, CarScoops Hyundai Capital America the captive finance partner of Hyund ai, Kia and Genesis in the U.S. has been slammed by the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for “widespread credit re porting failures” that harmed mil lions of Accordingcustomers.tothe government, HCA repeatedly provided inaccu rate information to credit reporting companies and didn’t take proper steps once problems were identi fied. Furthermore, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau al leges the company used “manual and outdated systems, processes and procedures to furnish credit reporting information which led to widespread inaccuracies and resulted in negative inaccurate information being placed on con sumers’ credit reports through no fault of their own.”
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The scale of the problem was massive, as the Consumer Finan cial Protection Bureau found HCA furnished inaccurate information for more than 2.2 million custom ers on more than 8.7 million oc casions between 2016 and 2020. Even worse, “In many cases, Hyundai knew it was providing inaccurate information and failed to take reasonable measures” to address the issue. This hurt consumers as HCA would report customers delin quent on loans and leases, despite having been paid on time. In par ticular, the government found “in approximately 570,000 instances, Respondent (HCA) inaccurately inserted codes showing delinquent or no payments in the PHP (pay ment history profile) when the consumer had in fact made the re quired payments and the account was actually Unsurprisingly,current.”this lowered customers’ credit scores and im pacted their access to credit. It also subjected them to higher interest rates due to their lower credit Followingscore. an investigation, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau determined HCA violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act by failing to report complete and accu rate loan and lease account information, failing to provide date of first delinquency information when required, failing to modify or de lete information when required, failing to have reasonable iden tity theft procedures, and failing to have reasonable accuracy and integrity policies and procedures.
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80 SEPTEMBER 2022 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com Please see us at BoothSEMA#33127
