Low-Cost Steps Can Prepare For, Prevent Cybersecurity Disruptions
by John Yoswick Autobody News
Collision repair shops of all sizes in 2024 likely felt the impact of a cyberattack, albeit indirectly. Two such attacks on CDK Global over the summer hindered parts departments and body shop operations at thousands of dealerships around the country.
had no direct connectivity, but our operations were stopped and we had to pull people off of projects. And it took us months to clean that up.”
It demonstrated how deep the connection is among shops and suppliers, she said, and it prompted Caliber to look more closely at all of its dependencies and planning what it would do “if another CDK happened.”
Crash Champions Expands Luxury, EV Repair Line With Virginia Beach Acquisition
Crash Champions announced the expansion of its LUXE | EV Certified brand, a collection of best-in-class certified repair centers specializing in highline and luxury EVs, after finalizing a deal to acquire the Charles Barker Automotive Collision Center in Virginia Beach, VA.
The collision center, previously under the ownership of Charles Barker Automotive, will begin operating as Crash Champions LUXE | EV Certified immediately at 4945 Cleveland St. in Virginia Beach.
Charles Barker Automotive retains ownership of its dealership located at 4949 Virginia Beach Blvd.
“We are pleased that our collision repair center joining Crash Champions
LUXE | EV Certified means our customers continue to receive the exceptional service they’ve come to expect,” said Charles Barker, chairman of Charles Barker Automotive. “As a Mercedes-Benz Certified collision repair center, this allows us to maintain the highest standards in vehicle repair while meeting the evolving needs of our clients. Supporting our community and keeping our customers on the road is always our top priority.”
Since acquiring DC Autocraft in May 2024, the Crash Champions LUXE | EV Certified collection has expanded to 13 locations across the U.S., with plans to quickly expand premium service in all markets nationwide.
“This is another proud step forward
ON PAGE 7
The disruption also affected independent collision repairers who order parts from those dealers -- a good example of how cybersecurity at shops goes beyond securing their own systems and data.
“CDK was like a fifth-level supplier to us. It was not on our radar, but it had such a big impact,” Ashley Denison, chief information officer for Caliber Collision, acknowledged during a panel discussion on data security at the MSO Symposium in Las Vegas. “Our shops couldn’t order parts. We had to make sure that [our systems] were safe and secure and
“It’s not just about protecting Caliber, but how do we react when something outside of Caliber happens,” Denison said.
Think about what your company would do, she suggested, if, say, CCC Intelligent Solutions had a similar issue and went down for days or weeks.
“What would you do to continue to bring revenue into your locations?”
Denison asked. “So thinking through all those pieces of the chain from revenue and suppliers, and either
Celebrates 5 Years in Tennessee With Major Milestones
Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. (MMNA) is celebrating five years in Franklin, TN, highlighting a series of remarkable achievements as part of its commitment to growth, sustainability and community impact.
Since relocating from Cypress, CA, in 2019, MMNA has created approximately 180 jobs in Tennessee and indirectly employs more than 8,000 people nationwide through its network of 330 dealer partners.
“We are incredibly proud of
what we’ve accomplished here in Tennessee over the past five years,” said Mark Chaffin, president and CEO of MMNA.
AL / FL / GA / MS / NC / SC / TN / VA / WV
A panel discussion on cybersecurity at the MSO Symposium included, from left: Caliber Collision’s Ashley Denison, Spencer Colemere of Cisco, Jerry Davis of Microsoft and Kyle Rankin of CCC Intelligent Solutions.
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How – and Why – to Create a Culture of Safety in Your Collision Shop ��������� 6
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Passion, Process Keys to Mastering the Art of Collision Repair Refinish ���� 5
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The Cost of Contamination: How to Clean Up Your Paint Department to Drive Profit
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ASA Hones in on Labor, Right to Repair Issues Amid Shifting Political Landscape ��������������������������������������� 16
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‘Voice of the Technician’ Survey Reveals What Employees Want from Employers, Work Situations������������� 28
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Start-Up Shops A Minority, But Still a Way to Grow, Get Into Collision Repair Industry 11
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Website Launches to Buy and Sell
$171M Granted to Upgrade Crash Data Systems Nationwide 31
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AI Will Augment – Not Replace –Invaluable Role of ‘Human Intelligence’ in Collision Industry 22
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PPG Receives Innovation Award for PPG LINQ Digital Ecosystem ����������� 39
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getting secondary suppliers, which is really hard, or thinking through: How do you keep people working? How do you keep getting people paid?
“Having transparency with your vendors becomes super important, CCC being one of the big ones out there,” Denison said. “That’s why we’re working with them to understand their communication plan. Then, the moment we hear something from them, what would then be our actions? How would we tell our stores? And then how do we tell operations: This is what our plan is. We’re going to have to go to paper and pencil for a while. And it’s hard to think through, but we prepare.”
She compared it to preparing for a hurricane, wildfire or other natural disaster.
“You know what you would do in that instance, and I think this is exactly the same,” she said. “What would it do to business continuity if something happened for your paint distributor or any of your vendors? How would you react? And do you have somebody next in line to take up that slack?”
Simple Step Could Have Sped Response
Denison recalled the first time the company had a third party come in to run an exercise to assess the company’s plans and procedures for a hypothetical emergency.
“They tell us the scenario and they said, ‘What are you going to do,’” Denison said. “And all of us turned to our computers. They’re like, ‘You’ve already failed.’ All our communications plans, all our numbers, everything was stored in a document on the network. So we had failed from that very first line. So it’s about thinking through those things.
“Things as simple as: Do I have [Caliber CEO] David Simmons phone number saved in my phone so that if something happened, I can get in touch with him and I’m not reliant on the Caliber infrastructure to do it.”
The CDK cyberattacks taught
the company it didn’t know which management system each of its dealer suppliers use.
“Our supply chain had a ton of work to get done immediately, and they did a phenomenal job, but we could have been 24 hours sooner to a solution if we’d just known that,” Denison said.
Basic Protective Steps Don’t Cost Much
In terms of your own company’s cyber security, Spencer Colemere of Cisco said there are a few basic things to do that are free or inexpensive.
“The first is to have a password policy,” Colemere said. “Require passwords. Ask people not to write down their passwords on a notepad. Installing and using a password manager is a good idea.
that the investment you already have, you’re using to the fullest.”
Jerry Davis, customer security officer for Microsoft, said there is help available through the federal government.
Spencer
“There’s an organization called the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA),” Davis said. “It’s part of Homeland Security, and they’re responsible for cybersecurity of the nation. They do a lot of publicprivate partnerships, and they create a lot of guidance for the public at
Colemere offered precautions about artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace.
“Are your employees going to thirdparty applications, like ChatGPT, as part of their work?” Colemere asked repairers to consider. “If you go to ChatGPT, if you’re exposing anything to OpenAI or ChatGPT, they can now see that and train on that data. So we have to be careful both in the AI we’re building for our business to make sure that’s safe and secure, but also about employee usage of third-party AI, making sure they aren’t exposing our intellectual property to these third-party applications.”
Beyond all these basic steps, Colmere said, as a company gets larger, it likely will need to bring in experts to implement tools to help detect and prevent cyberattacks.
“I don’t know if I have the best answer in terms of when you make that next leap of investment,” Colemere said. “It’s really a risk decision that the organization needs to make: How much risk do you want to expose yourself to? And at what
Ashley Denison of Caliber Collision said preparing for how to respond if a key vendor was a victim of a cyberattack should be part of a company’s data security effort.
Passion, Process Keys To Mastering the Art of Collision Repair Refinish
By Abby Andrews Autobody News
Bruce Sorensen Jr� is a master paint technician with years of experience working on luxury vehicles at No. 1 Collision Center, an MSO with five locations in Canada, one in Bellingham, WA, and another coming soon in Newport Beach, CA.
of work, no matter the vehicle make, Sorensen said.
“The quality has to be presented the same, and the pride has to be presented the same,” he added.
OEM certifications can play a big role in how the technicians repair some cars.
“Our techs are more and more trained, almost to a doctor level, of working on vehicles. There’s no more panel beaters anymore,” Sorensen said.
“They’re very precise.”
No. 1 schedules and pays for its techs’ OEM certification training. For someone who has to do that on their own, it may seem daunting, but it’s worth it, Sorensen said.
“You can’t have enough [certifications] in how this is pushing the craft in the future,” he said. “The certifications are going to be the future of the trade.”
Color Matching in High-End Refinishing
Strandberg asked how Sorensen color matches finishes on cars made by BMW and Mercedes-Benz that until recently may have only been available on exotics.
Sorensen said he gets information from the OEM, as well as field formulas from techs across the U.S.
Strandberg asked if Sorensen has any favorite finishes — or any he dreads.
“I love blue, but I don’t really love a blue car,” Sorensen said. “I love spraying black. It’s very easy. It’s a great money maker. Everybody’s in it for the money, no matter what.
“I just did another flat, clear job this past week,” Sorensen said. Those can be intimidating, but again, Sorensen said to “just calm down. Take it easy, work through it. It’s no big deal. And that’s no different than any other, harder color or different texture,“ he said, like some of the greens Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Porsche have come up with.
How to Become a Great Refinish Tech
He recently appeared on The Collision Vision podcast, driven by Autobody News and hosted by Cole Strandberg, to discuss OEM certified refinishing and the precision and tools required to work on high end vehicles.
Getting Started in Collision Repair Refinishing
Sorensen said he grew up a creative kid. When he was 15, he worked on his first car. He later received on-thejob training in a collision repair shop.
“We were combo techs at the time,” Sorensen said of his first job in a shop. “You cleaned the bathrooms, you swept the floor, you replaced quarter panels, you painted the car, you sand the car, you did the whole thing.”
Sorensen said his employer told him he would be a painter someday, but Sorensen “shrugged it off…I had no idea at that time, probably 18, 19 years old, that later it would come full circle, and what I’m into now, which is amazing. So it was quite the journey.”
He has applied the skills he’s learned over the last nearly three decades to his current position working on premium vehicles with No. 1 Collision Center. Strandberg asked about the unique challenges related to working on those types of vehicles.
“That’s always a tough one, because we really try to keep standard and premium the same,” Sorensen said.
The technicians at No. 1 have invested a lot of time and money into training to ensure the same quality
Sorensen acknowledged the training is less travelintensive for paint techs like himself, as it is mostly online, while body techs usually have to go an automaker’s facility. Sometimes those trips can be to interesting locations though –recently some body techs at No. 1 went to Germany for Porsche training.
Tools and Technology
Strandberg asked what tools and techniques Sorensen relies on most to achieve perfection when refinishing high-end vehicles.
“The biggest thing that I rely on is paint guns,” Sorensen said, adding he looks for consistency and reliability that allows him to match any texture, as well as great customer service from the manufacturer.
He also needs a good camera system and paint booth.
“Paint booths don’t get looked at enough, being a huge part of your refinish,” he said. He prefers one that provides good airflow and dust control.
“They have great documentation, even in the chips. The chips are all sprayed. They’re not printed. So the reliability on the chips is is bar none,” he said. “And that still comes with spray outs. You still have to do spray outs in your own environment, the temperatures in your booth, the humidity, different paint guns, different air pressures. They’re all going to change the color slightly. Doing spray outs is 100% key to a successful color match.”
Some of the finishes may seem difficult, but refinish techs should jump in and try them. “You never know until you get the first one done,” Sorensen said. “Practicing your trade is key.”
Refinishing high-end vehicles can also require problem-solving.
“There’s been many times that I’ll look up a formula and it’s got a brand new toner in it. I don’t have that toner. This car still needs to be sprayed today. I won’t be able to get that toner. What do I do?” Sorensen said. “You come up with crazy solutions sometimes.
“Sometimes you’re flipping through chips and looking for something to start with. You find something to start with. You start supplementing different toners to get you to that level. That’s where maybe the art, the chemistry part of it comes from,” he said.
“The figure-it-out part is one of the biggest parts in the trade,” Sorensen added.
Sorensen said becoming a great refinish tech starts with having a process in place. “I have a process. I stick to my process. Some may think that my process is a little overkill; it works for me,” he said. “It hasn’t worked for a lot of people that have worked under me, but my team right now is amazing. They stick to the process and we try to achieve great finishes, some of the best finishes around.”
Strandberg asked about balancing efficiency with quality when working on more complex finishes.
“It can be tough because we all have to bring home a paycheck,” Sorensen acknowledged. “I will put that aside to really care about what you’re doing. The money will come later. You can’t always worry about how fast you could get something through.”
Sorensen said it’s important to focus on making sure the car is repaired and refinished in such a way that you can be proud of it and the customer will appreciate it.
“You really have to be obsessed,” he said. “In this field, the passion, the commitment all plays a role of doing high end finishes.”
Aspiring refinish techs should “practice your trade,” Sorensen said. “Being passionate is the only way you can get to the top.
“I don’t feel like I’m at the top yet. I feel like I have a ways to go,” he said. “There’s a lot of people out there, a lot of refinish techs that I would say they’re way further along than me.
“Being obsessed is probably one of the funniest keys that my wife gives me crap about,” he added. “But being obsessed…is probably the only way you’re going to get there.”
No. 1 Collision Center specializes in repairing and refinishing premium brands. All images via No. I Group’s Facebook page.
No. 1 Collision exterior
A customer’s refinished BMW.
How – and Why – To Create a Culture of Safety in Your Collision Shop
By Abby Andrews Autobody News
Andrew Batenhorst, body shop manager at Pacific BMW Collision Center in the Los Angeles, CA, area, is a leader with a vision for how to embed safety in the day-to-day practices of body shops.
With about 25 years of experience in the collision repair industry, Batenhorst also serves as Glendale/ Foothill chapter president for the California Autobody Association, is a member of the Executive Committee for the Society of Collision Repair Specialists and is on three Collision Industry Conference (CIC) committees.
He appeared on The Collision Vision podcast, driven by Autobody News and hosted by Cole Strandberg, to discuss his strategies for building a strong culture of safety and reducing risks on the shop floor -- and how prioritizing safety can ultimately improve a collision repair business.
Safety-First Mindset
Batenhorst said his team is reassured by how seriously he takes their safety. Beyond providing the “bare minimum” requirements, like having standard operating procedures in place, he also audits the shop and makes sure they have all necessary PPE and get regular training.
“They see that I’m vested in it to the to the max that I possibly can be. I think that gives them a level of comfort, a level of peace to a degree, because they know this is dangerous work,” he said.
The effort needed to establish that mindset is much smaller than the safety risk if it isn’t. “After you get through that portion of it, and it’s regularly maintained, I find that it’s not that difficult,” Batenhorst added.
Take small steps, he advised.
“I always joke with my staff on any project you do, we don’t want the ‘snake swallowing the pig’ syndrome where you just bite it all off in one shot. It’s all about tiny bitesized segments,” Batenhorst said.
“Spread the project out into a wide range of steps to achieve the end goal of having that safety culture.”
If a manager doesn’t have the bandwidth to do it themselves, they should hire a third-party company.
“At our dealership, we use KPA. I’ve been really, really happy with them,” Batenhorst said. “They give a lot of flexibility and customizing the safety protocols that we need, and helping us answer questions
on stuff we aren’t familiar with. And then they also assist with auditing.”
Positive reinforcement of good behaviors, like awarding a gift card or free lunch, works better than punishment for bad behaviors.
Strandberg acknowledged some techs may think safety protocols slow down their work, and asked if Batenhorst had examples of the opposite effect.
Tooling is a great one, Batenhorst said. Techs have a tendency to apply a “Band-Aid fix” to a piece of equipment to get through a job, but “that’s where things could go dramatically wrong,” he said.
“You as a leader have to have some type of mechanism in place to ensure proper maintenance of tooling, so people don’t do funny ‘Mickey Mouse’ things to the equipment that gets them through the job, but maybe doesn’t resolve the problem for the next person who’s going to use that tool,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of experience with that.”
Shop safety will continue to evolve as vehicle construction does, Batenhorst said. He recalled when the BMW i3 was released, and working on its carbon fiber frame required “the whole spacesuit” with a hood, taped wrist and ankle openings and special booties.
“The technicians thought this is ridiculous,” he said.
One technician refused to wear the suit and had an allergic reaction on his skin to the dust created when working on carbon fiber.
“He never did that again. He made sure he wore his PPE,” Batenhorst said.
Batenhorst predicted advancements in adhesives, materials and joining methods, as well as in equipment that operates at higher pressures will similarly present new safety risks.
“As leaders, we have to have an eye on the future and be aware of what’s coming down the pipe, looking at repair instructions… to make sure we are properly equipped,” Batenhorst said.
Batenhorst said he currently sees issues with making sure body and paint techs have proper respiratory gear, and that filters are changed on time.
He also sees issues with welding PPE. “I still hear about guys that are closing their eyes when they weld, so they don’t get the arc flash,” he said.
Organizations like CAA, SCRS, CIC and SEMA are working to reinforce the safety message
through education.
“I think there’s a good part of the country that has just kept old habits from their past, from older technicians that are passed on to younger guys like, ‘Oh, you don’t need any of that; you’re going to be fine’ mentality. And that is not the case,” Batenhorst said.
The Importance of Tool and Equipment Maintenance
“A properly operating piece of equipment is going to do what it’s intended to do,” Batenhorst said. Making sure equipment doesn’t fail while performing a job improves shop productivity.
Failing to maintain equipment can also erode employee morale, he said.
“My dad always told me when I was a kid, ‘If you’re going to do a job, use the right tool and make sure that tool works.’ I’ve always tried to keep that mentality as I became a manager, and I knew that was going to be my responsibility,” Batenhorst said. “But I think there are managers that look at that as a nuisance and an additional cost.”
Regular maintenance is usually relatively inexpensive and not timeconsuming, “but if that gets ignored and years go by, and it’s not taken care of now, the cost is very, very high,” he said.
Batenhorst recommended writing schedules and keeping maintenance logs, or paying a third party to handle it.
Dent-pulling equipment, welders, plastic repair tools, seam sealers, caulking guns, paint spray guns, fresh air systems, paint booths and prep stations are among the tools and equipment Batenhorst’s shop regularly checks, either on a weekly, monthly or semi-annual basis.
He said digital tools — like the calendar in his email service, or BitRip’s barcode tracking system — help him keep track of maintenance schedules and ensure they are completed, and in some cases can even generate messages letting him know when a piece of equipment needs to be fixed.
“When the guys see me out in the shop doing this stuff, they are also more prone to be careful with the tools and to take care of them, because they know I’m the one fixing it,” he said.
EV Safety Risks
“There’s tremendous risk” when servicing EVs, Batenhorst said, due to the high voltage batteries.
His shop has added infrastructure
to address those risks, like safety barriers around an EV, signage to indicate when an EV has been safely locked out and a “buddy system” to make sure a technician never deactivates the high-voltage system alone.
The shop’s techs also test EV gloves with an air pump in front of Batenhorst before using them, so he can personally see they don’t have any pinholes. The gloves, which have a six-month lifespan, are replaced as needed.
To address fire risks associated with EV batteries, the shop has fire suppression blankets and halon fire extinguishers.
There is also a “significant investment” in EV safety training and reinforcing it to create that culture, Batenhorst said.
“Once they see the seriousness that I’m putting behind it, that sets the tone for the rest of the team,” he said. “Because if I slack off on this, they’re going to think that it’s not that important to Andrew.”
Using a Culture of Safety to Attract
Talent
Batenhorst said his shop has been fortunate to not struggle with hiring enough qualified technicians. He partly accredited that with telling interviewees they will be provided all the necessary PPE.
“When people come through for interviews with me and they tour the facility, a lot of them are shocked to hear I’ll give you a welding jacket if you’re going to be welding,” Batenhorst said.
“It disturbs me to a degree that that separates me from other shops,” he added. “That only motivates me more to help the industry and show that these are all minimal things.
“I hope I can lend a perspective to other managers that this is something that should just be a standard, not something that’s a perk or a luxury of working here,” he said.
Providing proper PPE and maintaining equipment prevents injury, which means techs are in the shop working, instead of recuperating.
“Once you start to make these kinds of cultural shifts in your operation with safety, you’ll start to see that the interruptions each day start to diminish, and then morale starts to become a lot better,” Batenhorst said.
His shop is “all about work-life balance, and I don’t want to add any more stress to the work that we’re doing” by making it less safe than it
already is, he said.
Instilling a culture of safety also reduces the liability risk for the shop owner, as well as the chances of being sued by an employee or fined by OSHA. “There’s the fear motivator” for managers, Batenhorst said.
For a shop manager trying to get started, Batenhorst recommended auditing the shop to find deficiencies and then starting with the “lowhanging fruit of the common things” like equipment and procedures related to welding and refinishing.
Then set up a safety budget that includes staff training — either when needed, like heat illness prevention as the weather warms up, or to address prevalent problems in the shop.
“Then begin just walking the floor, looking at the equipment that they’re using, making sure it’s safe and that it doesn’t need repair,” Batenhorst said. “Look at the technicians and make sure that stuff they have on is not worn out or broken or even just missing.”
Batenhorst reiterated his advice to take small steps.
“Break it down, take your time. The team that you’re running will start to feel that you’re making concerted efforts to improve the situation they’re in,” he said.
Federated Car Care Applications Open
Applications are currently being accepted for the Federated Car Care Scholarship program, which supports students pursuing education in automotive-related fields. Administered by the University of the Aftermarket Foundation, the program provides scholarships to employees and children of active Federated Car Care Center members, as well as high school seniors graduating in 2025.
These scholarships are open to students enrolled in two- or four-year colleges, ASE/NATEF-certified postsecondary programs, or licensed vocational schools specializing in automotive, heavy-duty or collision repair training, as well as students graduating from high school in 2025 and heading to any of these post-secondary programs.
Qualified applicants should specify “Federated” on their applications when applying at AutomotiveScholarships. com. The deadline to apply is March 31.
Crash Champions
for the growth and evolution of the Crash Champions LUXE | EV Certified brand,” said Crash Champions founder and CEO Matt Ebert. “The hard-earned reputation of the Charles Barker Collision Center team is welldocumented and aligns strategically with our vision to deliver best-in-class luxury and EV collision repair service. We look forward to welcoming the Charles Barker team and bringing this luxury service to our existing and new Virginia Beach customers.”
The acquisition of Charles Barker Collision Center adds a renowned team of factory-certified collision repair technicians with a longstanding reputation for excellence in the
Virginia Beach community. Charles Barker Collision Center features OEM certification from Mercedes-Benz and is I-CAR Gold Class certified.
After merging with Service King in mid-2022, Crash Champions slowed dramatically in 2023, adding just 27 locations, as it focused on integrating 336 Service King repair centers. Four out of the 27 locations added by Crash in 2023 were greenfield developments, signaling the company’s willingness to build new repair centers from the ground up in attractive markets where acquisition targets may be limited. Crash ended the year with 617 shops.
As of now, Crash Champions now operates more than 650 collision repair centers in 38 states, providing customers with more than 25 years of expertise and backs all work with a written lifetime warranty.
AUTOBODY
HP Mobility Segment Manager Shares Insight on 3D Printing Potential in Collision Industry
By Stacey Phillips Ronak Autobody News
When the 3D Printing in Collision Repair Task Force began investigating the potential use of 3D printing in the collision industry, participants reached out to HP for guidance. Aaron DeLong, HP Personalization & 3D Printing’s worldwide segment manager, is part of the task force and a member of Auto Additive’s Strategic Advisory Council, specializing in worldwide mobility.
providers, shift their mindset from 3D printing as solely a prototyping option to a technology that can deliver production parts,” he explained. “Many recognize the massive potential for a more robust, long-term digital manufacturing strategy.”
Automotive manufacturer leaders such as GM, BMW and Volkswagen — are adopting production-ready 3D printing technology.
“The use of 3D printing opens the door for manufacturers to express their creativity,” DeLong noted.
The collaboration with Auto Additive involves connecting to HP’s Digital Manufacturing partners to deliver production capabilities.
DeLong explained that HP provides the printing technology, which is similar to injection molding machines.
impacting the adoption of AM include part size restrictions, cost, production time and material constraints.
“Over the last few years, we’ve seen an increased focus on developing production-grade materials for auto applications as 3D printing moves from prototyping to full production
jobs more efficiently and accelerate revenue recognition,” he said.
Over the next few years, DeLong predicts one of the most exciting developments enabled by 3D printing will be entirely new design opportunities for manufacturers and engineers.
“We collaborate with Auto Additive and our digital manufacturing network, connecting the needed automotive manufacturing to this sustainability effort,” said DeLong. “Our network of suppliers has a proven track record of implementing applications through design, engineering, testing and innovation.”
DeLong has more than 25 years of experience in the automotive industry. Since joining HP in 2019, he has helped original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) understand the benefits of 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM).
“3D-printed car parts create better opportunities for optimization and mass customization,” he explained.
DeLong said the 3D printing industry has evolved in three distinct segments: rapid prototyping, additive manufacturing (applications at scale) and digital transformation.
“We’re seeing many players in the automotive industry, including OEMs, suppliers and software
“There are many elements involved, such as the powder manufactured to be processed with HP’s technology, the software used to create the design, and the post-processing used for the final part finishing with other processes,” he said. “Testing is the responsibility of the OEM as the endto-end owner.”
He said HP’s Multi Jet Fusion 3D printing technology was created to enable high-quality parts and breakthrough economics.
Some examples include the collaboration with Oechsler and TECHART to use HP Multi Jet Fusion to develop a lightweight, performance-oriented car seat that offers enhanced ventilation and breathability while also providing the ideal damping properties needed for use on racetracks.
Stellantis’s brand Peugeot created a range of 3D-printed accessories using HP Multi Jet Fusion for storage of sunglasses, cups, phones and other items.
DeLong said the use of AM is far from widespread, and several challenges exist to employing it in a manner that would allow for its significant and speedy expansion. The most important challenges
of final parts and products,” noted DeLong. “HP’s Open Materials Platform has been a key driver in this evolution and has enabled HP and its customers to accelerate the development of production-grade applications.”
DeLong said collision repair facilities can greatly benefit from the opportunity to print parts locally by licensing designs from manufacturers or engineering their own designs.
“This approach can significantly speed up the repair process, enabling body shops to complete
“This is an opportunity for a oncein-a-generation platform redesign as the industry moves toward the electrification of fleets and meets the demands for personalization and customized experiences,” he said.
DeLong added that HP is committed to accelerating that transformation through an ecosystem of solutions and technologies that enable automotive manufacturers to go from prototyping to full-scale production on the same technology platform. He shared some benefits for the auto industry and the larger mobility segment.
“Accelerating the development cycle has never been so critical,” emphasized DeLong.
To meet the rising demand for fuel and range efficiency, he said HP’s offering of plastics and metals allows engineers to explore creating parts traditionally made with metal as plastic, potentially saving on fuel costs without sacrificing the durability of a part.
In addition, he said metal parts can be optimized to reduce weight and flow improvements by unlocking design freedom.
“3D printing allows manufacturers to reduce the number of parts they stock, while still meeting customer demand for speed when new parts are required,” explained DeLong. “It also allows faster manufacturing speeds, and manufacturers to move closer to a 1:1 ratio for supply to demand.”
HP provides 3D printing technology to produce parts for automakers, like these pieces seen here produced for GM.
These parts were produced for Peugeot using HP’s 3D printing technology.
Joe Hudson’s Collision Center Grows To 250 Locations
By Elizabeth Crumbly Autobody News
Joe Hudson’s Collision Center recently celebrated a significant landmark: 250 locations.
“That was a huge milestone for us,” said Wendy Patrick, the company’s chief administrative officer. “In 2014, when we merged with our first private equity partner, Carousel Capital, we had 23 locations. Through that partnership, we grew to just over 100 locations. Most recently, we added over 150 additional locations through our partnership with TSG Consumer.”
Aggressive Growth
The MSO’s growth plan started in January 2015, Patrick said. It began with adding several new locations each year and grew swiftly from there.
“We quickly realized that we could acquire more locations annually than we initially projected,” Patrick shared. “While there was a slight slowdown during and immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic, we resumed our aggressive expansion pace in the third quarter of 2022. We opened more than 40 locations in 2023 and over 50 locations in 2024 — our most rapid growth to date.”
Joe Hudson’s Collision Center shops dot 18 states, primarily in the Southeast, stretching north into Maryland and as far west as Texas. The company, headquartered in Montgomery, AL, began in 1989 as a single shop under the leadership of Traweek Dickson and the organization’s namesake, Joe Hudson. Over the next 25 years, Patrick said, the company blossomed to more than 20 locations, primarily in Alabama with a store in Georgia and several in Florida.
‘We Work for Our Employees’
Company culture, Patrick said, is sturdily based around its 3,000 employees, despite its growth trajectory.
“We pride ourselves on maintaining a family-oriented culture,” Patrick said. “Naturally, as we grow exponentially, it can become more challenging to maintain that closeness. However, our core value is that we work for our employees. We take great pride in employing family members and ensuring they don’t miss out on important family milestones like Little League games and other cherished moments.”
Adequate and ongoing training is also a focus to maintain company
health going forward.
“Our employees are the most valuable asset to our business,” Patrick explained. “It is a company priority to promote from within to ensure our employees grow alongside the company. We are laser-focused on providing the necessary training to equip our valued employees with the tools they need to succeed, grow and thrive.”
Quality of Acquisitions
Joe Hudson’s Collision Center has stayed focused solely on collision repair services rather than trying to integrate other types of revenue streams. Growth, Patrick said, will continue in ways that are productive for the company, with its executive team actively considering additions that will integrate well and allow the organization to continue an upward trajectory operationally.
Right now, acquisitions include some small MSOs, but are mostly family-owned single shops, Patrick said. The company looks at quality of acquisitions over quantity to ensure performance, and that practice will continue.
“In 2024, we integrated more locations than in 2023, but we believe we found the right balance.
This is something we continuously assess,” she said. “Moving forward, we will be very selective about the quality of acquisitions we pursue and the number we believe we can effectively integrate. We will not add any locations that we don’t believe we can integrate seamlessly and operate at a high standard.”
Nevertheless, growth in the coming year very well could match last year’s.
“You will see us continue to expand in 2025, in much the same way we grew in 2024” Patrick said.
Qualified talent has been a big part of healthy growth, Patrick posited.
“One of the key factors in our success has been onboarding qualified, talented employees,” she said. “This has allowed us to hire more local talent in new markets and provided our existing employees with opportunities to grow and take on new challenges in other areas.”
Growth aside, repairing cars correctly is still of top importance to the organization.
“Doing the right thing is at the heart of Joe Hudson’s,” Patrick said. “We are committed to repairing cars to the highest standards and ensuring we provide our customers with exceptional service. This commitment to quality is what drives us.”
Start-Up Shops A Minority, But Still a Way To Grow, Get Into Collision Repair Industry
By Paul Hughes Autobody News
While ever and always a definite minority versus buying an existing collision center, start-ups — launching a body shop business from the ground up — can have legs.
It continues as an option for indie owners or techs with time in the business who want to add a location or, in the American Dream second only to home ownership, “be your own boss.”
Everyone thought I was a joke.”
The punch line: 23 years, $3 million annually, $11,000 average ticket, in 12,000 square feet.
“We built a building a hundred feet from the garage and kept adding onto it,” Paap said.
Orlando Collision Center didn’t launch in a garage or from experience. Drew Bryant’s 2011 “baby” began in a storage facility.
“I could just fit the nose of a car into it,” he said.
He was a Panera Bread regional training manager. “I didn’t even know how to paint cars.”
An uncle backed his play with “an $8,000 debit card,” Bryant said.
The 400 square feet was the genesis of his current 11,000 square feet. His second shop, at 34,000 square feet, will include training space and ADAS work, among other amenities.
20 staffers and $6.5 million in annual revenue.
Whittemore had added Scottsdale after several insurance claims managers from the Phoenix area, with whom he worked for the Vegas shops, suggested it. He took on Flagstaff when vendor demographic studies showed a need.
market; we’re trying to tell him it’s not as large here,” and limits his options.
Tough Crowd: Cons and Pros
Pantelis “Peter” Alexopoulos and Zoran Pipercic are partners in an M&A collision center consulting venture and lead a private Facebook group for buying and selling shops. Each has a couple decades in the industry.
“It makes more sense to buy a business,” Alexopoulos said. Existing shops have relationships with all the right parties, for instance — fleet accounts, insurers and so on.
Operators that start from zero “look for a building to convert, some sort of automotive-related” layout, he said.
In some ways it’s tougher — if it was easy everyone would do it. But start-ups offer benefits as well, or no one would. These include the chance to do it your way, learn from — by not repeating! — past mistakes, be all-in on and solely on the hook for results, and possibly that most fun one: naming rights.
Autobody News found intrepid entrepreneurs in Southern California, Arizona, Texas, Illinois, Florida and as far-flung as Canada. At least one wants to expand out of state, operating now in Cali, and attempting to add an operation in Texas.
New Year, New Work
You have to start somewhere, and some owners make that somewhere from scratch. Tim Paap’s Christmas wish list included a second start-up “or at least some satellite facilities.”
Paap Auto Body began in 2001 “in a two-car garage, 10 feet from the house.” Paap then added his first satellite, an ex-Jiffy Lube.
It’s become a “concierge shop” with “a really inviting office, drive-in estimating bays, drop-offs and pickups, rental cars; a whole bunch of PDR gets done there; we’re going to start doing PPF, too.”
He started-up because in his early 20s, “nobody would sell to me.
It’s another start-up, in a former medical technical vocational school building. Michael Whittemore was in body shops for nearly 20 years, rising to lead tech for BMW in Las Vegas. He opened his first shop, leasing “a brand-new building, already built,” in 2004.
Flagstaff shops were more than 30 years old and “people were driving down to Phoenix,” Whittemore said. “My paint company said they need a good shop up there really bad.”
He started with start-ups of necessity. “We had $600,000. You’re not going to buy a business for that,” Whittemore said.
One operator of a 19,000-squarefoot shop in California has looked in the San Antonio, TX, area for a startup. His Core Commercial brokers, An Tran and Moises Hernandez, seek buildings running at least 15,000 square feet, and the land under them.
Three of four locations in Vegas and Scottsdale, AZ, under his New Look Collision Center moniker were start-ups.
Whittemore sold the four to Gerber five years ago, then completed another start-up, Flagstaff Collision Center in Flagstaff, AZ, which he and wife Theressa own. “We put the first cinder block in the ground.”
Their son-in-law is Paul Williams, president of Brightpoint Auto Body Repair, a multi-state MSO.
Flagstaff Collision Center is 30,000 square feet in the local auto mall, with
Hernandez said the owner will keep his California shop and expand to Texas to put profits to work “in a more businessfriendly market [without] the high tax rates” in his home state.
The slightly elevated size need flows from a soup-tonuts operation including all aspects of repair. California customers come largely from an Asian-American community and the owner wants the same in Texas.
“We’re educating him on demographics,” Hernandez said. “He’s used to dealing with that
“Nobody’s doing it from brownfields,” Pipercic said, referring to sites with environmental issues. Start-ups are by “technicians stepping up, someone in the industry.”
“Of course it would’ve been better to buy a shop,” Whittemore said of his first start-up. “There’s history of sales and profits, it’s easier to go to the bank or equity partners.”
As to company culture, “You might even adopt stuff from a good [one].”
Canada’s Carl Jamieson essentially launched Abbotsford Maximum Collision 27 years ago. The hibernating shop at the time had some abandoned cars in the lot, and that was about it.
“We started under a real shadow,” Jamieson told Autobody News. “Repair orders one, two and three were the abandoned vehicles: the shop had closed its doors” partway through the work.
Jamieson had to establish relationships with insurers, reconvince customers the shop would do the work, and build itself in the market. It took at least five years to break even.
“Start-ups are kind of fun, but it takes a good four to five years” of work, Whittemore said. “They really need to understand that. You don’t just open the doors. People think they’ll be profitable in a month or two.”
Michael and Theressa Whittemore started Flagstaff Collision Center in Arizona after selling their four previous shops to Gerber Collision & Glass, three of which had also been start-ups
Michael and Theressa Whittemore’s Flagstaff Collision Center in Arizona
Carl Jamieson in his shop, Abbotsford Maximum Collision
EV Collision Repair Calls For Specialized PPE, Safety Protocols
By Abby Andrews Autobody News
As EVs continue to grow their market share in vehicle sales, they are showing up more frequently in collision repair shops — EVs represented 2.4% of repairable claims in the first half of 2024, up from 1.6% in 2023, according to CCC’s latest Crash Course Report.
Baily Soto and Mavrick Knoles from Legacy EV appeared on The Collision Vision podcast, driven by Autobody News and hosted by Cole Strandberg, to discuss best practices for protecting technicians working on EVs and share insights into how Legacy EV is helping shops create safer environments for EV repairs.
Knoles, president and cofounder of Legacy EV, said the company was founded in 2019 with a focus on enabling the workforce transformation for the introduction of EV technology into the transportation sector.
Soto, a curriculum specialist with Legacy EV, was invited by Knoles to help build out the career and technical education offered to K-12 and secondary school students and
to working technicians.
Unique EV Safety Challenges in Collision Repair
Knoles said while there are dangers associated with working on EVs, it’s a misconception that they catch fire frequently — in fact, they catch fire at much lower rate than their ICE counterparts.
“It’s like 25 fires per 100,000 vehicles for EVs, whereas gaspowered vehicles are 1,500-plus for every 100,000,” Knoles said.
However, technicians do still need to take that danger seriously and follow safety protocols. “You can’t smell electricity like you can gasoline,” he said.
EV fires are also hard to extinguish because there is so much stored potential energy, Knoles said.
“We’re seeing fire departments around the world try and figure out how to put these fires out,” Knoles said. “What ends up happening is they smother them until they can get them to somewhere safe. And then they let them burn over time. Sometimes these EV fires will burn for weeks or more.
“You just have to be able to smother it, get it moved to
somewhere safe, and then let it burn as the energy dissipates from the system,” he added.
Specialized EV PPE, Tools
Soto said shop cleanliness is paramount, especially in areas like Arizona, where dust is full of metal particulates that can generate excess heat. She recommended keeping tools clean and separating those that will be used on high-voltage batteries from those that might get covered in grease.
Current from high-voltage batteries can pass through a technician’s body, so the key is to increase a body’s resistance through tools and PPE.
“They have specialized tools that are rated to be able to work around up to 1,500 volts of DC, so that you don’t have to worry about dangerous current passing through your body as you use that tool,” Soto said.
“It only takes five milliamps of current to be dangerous, so we’re always looking to increase resistance,” Soto added. “And your tools can do that for you.”
Knoles said instruments can verify an electrical system is not live.
Soto said in addition to the high-voltage battery, energy can be stored in the motor due to regenerative braking, which many technicians do not consider when they verify a battery has zero voltage.
“You also have to make sure that all of that energy has discharged on the motor side as well before you service something,” Soto said.
Class 0 gloves with leather overprotectors keep the wearer safe to up to 1,500 volts DC, Soto said, but technicians still have to be cognizant of other possible conductors that might be on their clothing, like metal rivets and zippers, as well as glasses and jewelry.
Cotton coveralls are preferable for technicians working on EVs, Soto said, as cotton will burn instead of melt, like polyester. However, all coveralls still have metal zippers or buttons.
“I think there’s a whole business opportunity…making non-conductive coveralls for the workplace,” she said.
Training Techs for EV Repair EV technology is “ripping out the carpet from underneath the
10 Things I’d Like to See in 2025 in the Collision Repair Industry
Many years, I spend some time during the closing weeks of December or the early weeks of January thinking about some of the key things I’d like to see transpire in the industry in the year ahead. This year is no exception, so without further ado, here are my current Top 10 wishes for the collision industry, in no particular order.
1 I wish non-DRP shops could gain quicker supplement approvals — or even non-approvals if they were at least quick. The delays waiting to hear back from insurers are killing shops and ultimately inconveniencing the consumer. That’s true whether the supplement review is being done in-person or remotely.
Many years ago, when I owned my shops, I did Top 10 list and I said I hated waiting on approvals for something that was as basic as a $200 part. At that time, Jimmy Spears from USAA reached out to me, and that conversation was part of what led to the development of CCC’s Open Shop feature. Now we
see insurers that are truly taking weeks, not just days, to get back to shops on supplements. We have to find a better, faster more efficient way to get to resolution.
2 On behalf of wholesale parts departments at dealerships, I wish all industry stakeholders help give parts wholesalers a voice at industry events. Everyone needs to wake up and realize the margins for those departments are shrinking, and if we don’t quit forcing them to use multiple software solutions nor help find a way to protect their margins, they will be getting out of the wholesale business — and that is not good for anyone in the industry or for consumers.
3� I also wish shops had similar freedom to use the software system they prefer for electronic parts locating and ordering. The amount of time that is being wasted within shops to use multiple systems required by insurers or automakers is inefficient and is impacting the productivity of the parts personnel within shops.
Harper Volkswagen
4� I wish all the automakers —just the few that have — would come up with a clearer definition of what post-crash safety inspections need to be performed. Shops right now are caught in the middle, trying to follow OEM procedures on safety inspections but getting push-back from bill-payers.
5� I wish that insurers would educate themselves and offer up solutions — not just denials — in terms of these safety inspections. This friction point is not going away. We need insurers, for example, to donate vehicles to I-CAR for research purposes.
6� And not to be belabor the topic, but I wish I-CAR would take a lead role in researching and vetting an industry-accepted resolution regarding these safety inspections.
7� I wish the dealership management systems — and the automakers — would give dealershipowned body shops more flexibility and detail for their financial statements, so they are better able to benchmark against industry standard measures
and improve their performance.
8� I wish for a simplified solution of getting parts invoice information into shop management systems efficiently. Why can a shop snap an image of an invoice that can then post it to the management system accurately, reducing the redundancy and wasted manpower keying parts into the system?
9 I have two wishes related to scanning: I wish the industry would better understand the importance of in-process scanning of vehicles — not just the pre- and post-repair scan. I also wish that the industry also better understood the need to use an OEM scan tool — not just an aftermarket scan tool. They are not the same!
10� Finally, I wish the shops dedicated to performing safe and proper repairs would be recognized and rewarded for doing so. That goes hand in hand with addressing the issue of the shops not doing that. The number of poor repairs I am seeing is only increasing, and that is a cause for concern.
technology platform, and starting with this brand new, nascent technology,” Knoles said.
The first key is to ensure everyone in a collision shop is trained on EV safety, Knoles said.
Level One training is for anyone — from people answering phones at the front desk to people handling material in the warehouse — who works in a building where high voltage is present. They should know how to identify where high voltage is or could be, how to avoid it, and how to be safe around people working with it.
Level Two training is for those employees servicing vehicles with high-voltage batteries. They should know how to pull out a battery pack that’s been locked out, tagged out and zero-voltage verified.
The second key is to develop a business plan to address having high voltage in the building; it should establish where EV service work should be performed, and standards like limited approach boundaries.
Legacy EV designs curriculum, trains instructors and provides hardware for schools’ EV repair
programs. It also offers upskill and reskill training for working technicians at its facility in Gilbert, AZ.
“There’s a lot of nuance and new things that technicians need to understand,” Knoles said.
Soto said Legacy EV trains anyone who needs to service EVs, from tow truck drivers to people who want to perform restomods.
The basics can be taught in one day, she said, but Legacy EV also offers a five-day “boot camp” course for people who need a deeper dive into the components and wiring of an EV system.
“We have three different offerings to meet the needs of the industry right now, trying to be that one-stop shop,” Soto said. “No matter what skill level, we’ve got a training that’s going to help you feel safe in your high voltage workplace.”
Legacy EV is also involved in parts distribution, and works with manufacturers to fully understand every component.
“I would say it’s the part side of the business that helps us stay bleeding edge,” Knoles said. “As a subject matter expert, we’re working with manufacturers on technologies that are going into OE vehicles, not next year or the year after, but the year after that, where we’ve already been able to see it and do integration
projects with it, which is really fun and exciting for us.”
Education and parts distribution, along with the third piece of Legacy EV’s business — systems integration and design — “work together to create this flywheel effect,” Knoles said.
“We’ve got businesses that are cracking into the EV industry and they want help integrating their product. And then as we integrate their product, they want help getting it out in the hands of the knowledgeable technicians, which we’ve helped build, because we’ve created a network of trained and certified technicians that we can now sell their product out into,” he said. “So it really helps us to be this like hub-and-spoke model for the EV industry as a subject matter expert and thought leader.”
The physics behind EV safety will never change, Soto said, meaning as the technology advances, “energy is already standardized. You’re just learning it on a new system.” However, there isn’t any standardized training or regulations yet.
Knoles said establishing standards for EV repair education is the first step in building a talent pipeline to support the industry.
“That’s getting EAS (Electrotechnical Assessment Specification) to agree to
the same standard on what it means to be a knowledgeable and master EV technician,” Knoles said. That standard can be applied to build out an international workforce, but it can also be worked back to apply to earlier grades in school.
Knoles said Legacy EV recently launched a pilot project with Maricopa County School District in Arizona, signing up 30 schools to teach their students to work together to build an electric go kart.
“It is so fun to see the kids get so engaged in building those programs and see this ignition of the automotive programs across schools around the globe,” Knoles said. “It’s really exciting.”
Future of Electrification in Car Culture
Soto said the car community isn’t going to change their minds about EV powertrains because of regulations mandating EV sales.
“They have to fall in love with the technology. And it’s been really cool to see that happening,” Soto said. “I have a due diligence to the next generation of gearheads to make sure that they’re figuring out what goes faster, which I think is really fun to see that cultural shift now, more than anything.”
2025 Series Topics:
End of the Era of Single Store Generalist Shops
Technology Takeover: The Impact of ADAS & Calibration
Talent Shortage & Workforce Development
Sustainability in Collision Repair: Going Green
Evolution of OEM Certifications
And more
ASA Hones in on Labor, Right To Repair Issues Amid Shifting Political Landscape
by Brian Bradley Autobody News
In light of the coming changes in the presidential administration and the start of a new congressional term next year, the Automotive Service Association (ASA) will remain involved in efforts to address technician training programs and vehicle data access, among other issues, ASA head lobbyist Bob Redding said during a webinar Dec. 11.
ASA has taken a “targeted approach” to educate Congress members on technician training and vehicle data access issues for the last two years, Redding said.
“They do get that vehicles are becoming more sophisticated,” he said.
In connection with this, lawmakers and their staffs are realizing “the people we recruit are going to have to be bright and well-trained with continuing education.”
But many lawmakers don’t understand the criticality of the ongoing tech shortage or the competition that the automotive repair field faces from other industries, Redding added.
“The ladder of training and recruitment, I think, is a harder
concept,” he said. “We’re starting from zero in many cases.”
ASA will seek to tie the necessity of technician training to the increasing complexity of modern vehicles in its advocacy work on
starts, Redding added.
While a bipartisan majority stopped a right to repair bill during the current Congress, a large two-party minority supported the legislation, he added.
Capitol Hill and with the second Trump administration, Redding said.
The first Trump administration’s Department of Labor heavily pushed apprenticeships, and ASA will revisit how these programs can get more support when the next administration
Right to repair initiatives have substantial bipartisan support in Washington, but not enough to advance legislation, according to Redding.
Under current Chairwoman Lina Khan, the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) has taken a strong stance in support of general right to repair standards — not relegated to just automobiles. In July 2021, the FTC voted 5-0 to “prioritize” investigations and bolster enforcement regarding unlawful repair restrictions apparently imposed by manufacturers.
But the next presidential administration and prospect of a new FTC chair could bring some changes.
It’s “not likely to be an aggressive stance that we saw with FTC Chair Khan and her team,” Redding said.
In July 2023, ASA joined the Society of Collision Repair Specialists and the Alliance for Automotive Innovation in submitting a letter to Congress committing, among other things, to collaborate in support of federal legislation to ensure “consumer choice in vehicle repair across the country.”
Among several other appeals, the letter calls for automakers to make telematics data available to vehicle owners and independent repair facilities through “fair and reasonable terms” if such data is needed for a repair and is “not otherwise available through a tool or third-party service information provider.”
USCapitol
In addition to tech training initiatives and right to repair legislation, ASA in the New Year also expects shifts in federal electric vehicle (EV) policies, as Redding said there could be “quick” movement in the House to roll back some Biden administration initiatives.
Consumer subsidies for EV purchases are one of the most vulnerable EV policies from the Biden era, but revoking EV production subsidies would be harder for President-Elect Donald Trump and the incoming GOPcontrolled Congress to accomplish, as EV production subsidies are flowing to manufacturing projects in many congressional districts, Redding noted.
“Look for hearings and initiatives to come up pretty quick,” he said. “Whether they move forward and go all the way to the President’s desk or not, this will be an early issue most likely for the [House] Ways and Means Committee.”
The Trump administration and presumptive U.S. Trade Representative nominee Jamieson Greer are expected to ratchet up tariffs on many imports, potentially including auto parts, with a particular focus on imports from China, Redding said.
Many Chinese companies are
moving operations to Mexico to avoid higher tariffs; however, certain imports from Mexico could fall under any upcoming tranches of tariffs.
“We want to make sure that there are some quality checks on many of the parts, particularly the crash parts coming into the U.S. that are pushed at many times on our collision repairers and consumers,” Redding said. “Look for President Trump after the inauguration to move quickly on tariffs relative to China, Mexico and possibly Canada.”
ASA will work to limit any tariff impacts on the auto repair industry, he added.
Finally, Redding expects the next Congress to debate language governing how autonomous vehicles (AVs) will be inspected, including the people and parts to be involved as well as potential inspection exemptions for AVs.
ASA will continue to push for federal right to repair and AV legislation, as it has in recent years, to avoid a patchwork of state laws that many believe can create a complicated regulatory landscape, Redding said.
“We need one set of rules, not 50 different state laws in the AV space,” he said.
Key milestones include the launch of the award-winning Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in Hybrid, which recently secured its third consecutive title as Green Car Journal’s Family Green Car of the Year. The vehicle has also earned recognition as the 2024 MotorWeek Drivers’ Choice Award for Best Small Utility, Puros Autos’ Latin Flavor SUV of the Year, and a Top Safety Pick designation from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
MMNA’s presence in Tennessee goes beyond its business achievements. The company’s corporate social responsibility initiative, “Driving Confidence, Driving Community,” has led to impactful partnerships. Notably, the Community Utility Vehicle program provided a
2023 Outlander Plug-in Hybrid to Tucker’s House, a nonprofit helping families of children with disabilities enhance home accessibility.
MMNA’s forward-looking “Momentum 2030” business plan aims to debut new vehicle models annually, expand dealer networks, and integrate cutting-edge technology into the carbuying experience. This ambitious strategy reflects the company’s vision for sustainable growth and enhanced customer engagement.
In addition to economic contributions, MMNA has played a vital role in emergency response efforts, such as supporting tornado recovery with vehicles for Nashvillebased nonprofits.
“By delivering exceptional vehicles and fostering strong community ties, Mitsubishi has firmly established itself as a key player in Tennessee’s economic and social fabric,” Chaffin added.
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Website Launches To Buy and Sell Collision Repair Shops and Equipment, Hire Workers
By Paul Hughes Autobody News
CollisionClassifieds.com debuted the week before Christmas after a year of planning and development on both coasts, and in the fabled and ubiquitous cloud. It’s a path that fits the stated aim of its founder to give body shoppers “a platform for all things collision.”
The venture is based in Florida, though Laura Gay, who started it, is usually on the road to somewhere else as a consultant to body shops and collision centers selling their shops, via her Consolidation Coach company. The new site is programmed, developed and marketed by Micki Woods and her eponymous firm to the industry, in Thousand Oaks, CA.
“When I was a shop owner, it was so frustrating,” Gay said. “There’s a lot of good stuff out there for sale, or to find teammates, office or any type of position. I realized there was a definite need to have one-stop shopping.”
Now, she notes, and anyone who’s looked experiences, there are “50 different Facebook platform, CraigsList,” and a few, more finely focused external sites.
Choices Abound, Which Might Be a Bad Thing
In that latter category, there’s BodyShopJobs.com, for instance. But that, of course, is only for, well, jobs.
There’s BizBuySell.com — a general businesses-for-sale site, part of big real estate watcher CoStar Group, which also hawks land and apartment slots at some of its other sites. Body shops are on BBS, but you might have to wade through 179 listings of all “auto repair and service shops” in, say, Florida, first.
Facebook throws up dozens of groups — public, private and some parochial, with perhaps a couple dozen or so members, most of whom are inactive anyway.
Options include Buying and Selling Collision Repair Shops; Selling or Buying Body Shops, where Gay is an admin; Auto Body Shop Owners Group and at least two for technicians: “auto body” or in “collision repair,” as well as a global group of them. Tere’s one for
painters, whether “professional and novice.”
They range in size from about 1,000 members to more than 30,000. The global tech group has more than 70,000, and 463,000 have signed on to the painting one.
Content can be, like social media itself, sketchy.
Moderated groups, buy-sell ones, especially, control access. The wider universes — there are more techs than there are owners — can get chaotic, with complaints or unhelpful comments, as well as jokes. The worldwide gathering is heavy on sometimes oddball TikToklike videos.
There are often good discussions, the trading of advice and best practices, and the general information of “shop for sale in Des Moines,” so there’s some value, and we’re already perhaps on Facebook a bit.
The Plan is Coming Together Differently
As a new site, Gay knows there will be bugs similar to social media —“There’s a lot of tire kickers out there, people who will never be able to buy” —along with, no doubt, some new ones.
She’s considering different options — paid memberships, which always pre-qualifies a person, for instance.
“We’ve talked about an inner circle,” Gay said. “There may be a qualification process.”
In the first 90 days, “anyone can use it free” and searching is likely to remain free; whether comments will is another question. Advertisers eventually will pay, and there are of course options for different kinds of ads.
After all the “interweb” isn’t new.
“Next thing, though, will be multiple chat rooms,” Gay said. “You’re not sure what you need, need guidance for financials, any topic” is possible. This element is likely about a year off, she said.
The buy-sell-shops-stuff-jobs site could then overlap with her main work, selling body shops.
Specifically anonymous users seems not to be an option, but users higher-up the M&A food chain might seek some kind of shadow use to cut
down on the tire kickers contacting them directly. Still, their standard access barriers are in place and gatekeepers are on duty, and some people want the phone call.
Little by Little, Then Perhaps an Explosion “There will be, starting out, some phases if you will,” Gay said.
The site, after some 12 months of labor and hours of bi-coastal conversation and meetings, basically just dropped, as the kids say. It opened for business Dec. 18.
Gay acknowledged there are likely to be “very few” ads and listings at first.
About 40 people participated in creating dummy ads to test the programming, and Gay is putting the word out for shop sellers to, well, kick the CollisionClassifieds tires a bit.
She emphasized the “professional” aim, and the site looks clean and simple, in vibrant reds and formal black.
Marketer Woods has 20 years in the industry, including as a shop owner, and in marketing for an MSO.
She hosts a podcast, Body Bangin’, builds body shop and mechanics’ websites, does graphic design, marketing — especially, at the moment, a Google plan, “a hot thing for shops
right now” — for topping listings.
Speaking like a web maven, Woods said she wouldn’t mind things starting slow so bugs can be worked out better.
“There are sites up three or four
years that nobody uses,” she said. “We want to see what errors flush out, get users’ feedback, and get this going, because there’s such a need.”
Speaking like an entrepreneur, Gay said long-term she wants to “take it across all automotive industries” with sites for mechanical repair operations and dealerships, new and used.
For now, for buyers, sellers, employers, workers, it’s “anything you want in the collision space: there’s a place for you here.”
Laura Gay
Micki Woods
Quality Fit, Quality Repair.
• Save time and money: reduce returns by up to 16%
• Faster ordering process
• More accurate orders
• Easier invoice processing
• Live information
• Seamless fit
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Carlock Honda
Birmingham
800-987-0819
205-949-5457
Dept Hours: M-F 8-6 robert thompson@carlockcars com
AutoNation Honda
Clearwater
Clearwater
888-205-2564
727-530-1173
Dept Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat 8-5; Sun 10-3 santosr1@autonation com
AutoNation Honda
Hollywood
Hollywood
800-542-8121
954-964-8300
Dept Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat 7-5; Sun 9-5 hernandeze@autonation�com
Classic Honda
Orlando
888-893-4984
407-521-1115
Dept Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat 8-4 parts@classichonda com
Headquarter Honda
Clermont
800-497-2294
407-395-7374
Dept Hours: M-F 8-7; Sat 8-5 pepe guevara@headquarterhonda com
Acura of Orange Park
Jacksonville
888-941-7278
904-777-1008
Dept� Hours: M-F 7-8; Sat 7-5; Sun 9-3 msweeney@acuraoforangepark com
Rick Case Acura Fort Lauderdale
800-876-1150
954-377-7688
Dept Hours: M-F 7:30-6; Sat 8-5 rubenramos@rickcase�com
Hendrick Honda Pompano Beach
Pompano Beach
954-425-8244
Dept Hours: M-Fri 7-6; Sat 7-5; gerardbruno@hendrickauto com
Holler Honda
Orlando
407-442-1938
Dept Hours: M-F 7-6; Sat 7-4 parts@hollerhonda com
Honda of South Miami
Miami
305-256-2240
Dept Hours: M-F 8-6 mfranceschi@hondaofsouthmiami com
Rick Case Honda Davie
877-544-2249
Dept Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat 7:30-4 robbutton@rickcase com
Ed Voyles Honda
Marietta
800-334-3719
770-933-5870 Direct
Dept Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat 7-6 hondaparts@edvoyles com
Gerald Jones Honda
Augusta
800-733-2210
706-228-7040
Dept Hours: M-F 7:30-6; Sat 8-5 tdunn@geraldjoneshonda com
Jackson Acura Roswell
877-622-2871
678-259-9500
Dept Hours: M-F 7-6; Sat 7:30-6 kmcmillan@jacksonacura com
Nalley Acura
Marietta
800-899-7278
770-422-3138
Dept Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat 7-5 byoung@nalleycars com
Gwinnett Place Honda
Duluth
800-277-8836
678-957-5151
Dept Hours: M-F 7-6; Sat 8-5 GPH-WholesaleParts@hendrickauto com
Honda Mall of Georgia
Buford/Gwinnett 678-318-3155
Dept Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat 7-5 cdunlap@penskeautomotive com
Milton Martin Honda Gainesville 770-534-0086
678-989-5473
Dept Hours: M-F 7:30-6 robertthomas@mmhonda com
Honda of Newnan Newnan 678-423-8183
Dept Hours: M-F 7-6; Sat 7-4 samuel trapani@henrickauto com
Nalley Honda Union City 866-362-8034
770-306-4646
Dept Hours: M-F 7:30-7; Sat 8-5 hondawp@nalleycars com
Patty Peck Honda Ridgeland 800-748-8676
601-957-3400
Dept Hours: M-F 7:30-6; Sat 8-5 pmartin@pattypeckhonda com
Dept Hours: M-F 7:30-5:30; Sat 8-3 coreythompson@radleyautogroup com
Apple Tree Honda
Asheville
800-476-9411
828-684-4400
Dept Hours: M-F 8-5; Sat 8-4 appletreeparts@hotmail com
McKenney-Salinas Honda Gastonia 888-703-7109
704-824-8844 x 624
Dept Hours: M-F 7:30-5:30 parts@mshonda com
Vann York Automall
High Point
336-841-6200
Dept Hours: M-F 7:30-6; Sat 8-3
Fred Anderson Honda Greenville
864-234-6481
Dept Hours: M-F 7:30-6; Sat 8-5 hgrparts@anderson-auto net
Piedmont Honda
Anderson
800-849-5057
864-375-2082
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MISSISSIPPI
SO. CAROLINA
ALABAMA
Airport Honda Alcoa
800-264-4721
865-970-7792
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AutoNation Honda
West Knoxville Knoxville
800-824-1301
865-218-5461
Dept Hours: M-F 7:30-6 rossd1@autonation com
Wolfchase Honda Bartlett
800-982-7290
901-255-3780
Dept Hours: M-F 7-7 ekerr@wolfchasehonda com
Checkered Flag Honda
Norfolk
800-277-2122
757-687-3453
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Hall Honda
Virginia Beach
800-482-9606
757-431-4329
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Valley Honda
Staunton
800-277-0598
540-213-9016
Dept Hours: M-F 7:30-5:30; Sat 9-5 bwimer@myvalleyhonda com
West Broad Honda
Richmond
800-446-0160
804-672-8811
Dept Hours: M-Fri 7:30-6:30; Sat 8-5 wbhonda@aol com
TENNESSEE VIRGINIA
VIRGINIA
AI Will Augment – Not Replace – Invaluable Role of ‘Human Intelligence’ in Collision Industry
By Stacey Phillips Ronak Autobody News
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve, it is increasingly being used in the collision repair industry for tasks such as damage assessment, estimating repair costs, and parts ordering and inventory management. However, many industry experts believe human intelligence (HI) will remain essential, particularly in complex decision-making, customer interactions and quality control.
Josh McFarlin, president and COO of AirPro Diagnostics, and Tim Ronak, senior services consultant at AkzoNobel, discussed the role of AI and HI in collision repair during a presentation held at the SEMA Show in November 2024 as part of the Society of Collison Repair Specialists (SCRS) Repairer Driven Education series.
Looking to the future, they predict there will be a hybrid approach, where AI augments the expertise of skilled technicians, leading to more efficient processes without replacing the invaluable role of human judgment.
McFarlin began the presentation by describing AI and HI. He shared
two definitions of AI, one from IBM and the other based on asking an AI chatbot to define itself.
According to IBM, AI is technology that enables computers and machines to simulate human learning, comprehension, problem
of computer science that uses algorithms, data and computational power to create machines that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence.
McFarlin defined HI as the ability to learn from experience, adapt to
solving, decision-making, creativity and autonomy.
AI described itself as a branch
new situations, understand and handle abstract concepts and use knowledge to manipulate one’s
environment.
“Human intelligence, at its best, can be summarized by an unofficial slogan for the U.S. Marines: improvise, adapt and overcome,” he said. “That’s what makes human intelligence, in my opinion, different from AI.”
McFarlin shared examples of AI being used in the automotive industry, such as self-driving cars and virtual personal assistants. He explained AI can currently be categorized into narrow and general.
“Narrow AI is designed to perform a single task or very limited set of tasks and lacks the ability to adapt to new situations outside of its programmed domain,” he said. “General AI aims to replicate human-like intelligence and will perform a wide variety of tasks across different domains and is largely theoretical.”
The best-known example of an AI application, according to McFarlin, is likely ChatGPT (Generative, Pretrained transformer), an AI machine trained on a database that runs on a foundational large language model (LLM). Many in the collision industry are familiar with ChatGPT, including
Tim Ronak, left, and Josh McFarlin, right, discussed the role of artificial and human intelligence in collision repair during a presentation held at the SEMA Show in November 2024.
Classic Collision Acquires 2-Location One Stop Auto in Virginia
Classic Collision announced its first acquisition of 2025: One Stop Auto, a family-owned collision repair business with locations in Yorktown and Newport News, VA.
Virginia, and we look forward to serving the community with the same excellence they’ve come to expect.”
Founded in 1984, One Stop Auto has built a reputation as one of the premier facilities on the Virginia Peninsula. The familyowned business has been recognized for its commitment to quality craftsmanship and superior customer service.
The acquisition adds to Classic Collision’s growing portfolio of multi-site collision repair facilities nationwide.
“We are thrilled to welcome One Stop Auto to the Classic Collision family,” said Toan Nguyen, CEO of Classic Collision. “Their strong reputation for quality repairs and customer care aligns perfectly with our values. This marks an important step in expanding our footprint into
“Joining Classic Collision ensures that our legacy of superior customer service and expert repairs will carry on for generations to come,” said former owner Chip Rowley. “We are confident this partnership will bring even greater value to our loyal customers.”
The Yorktown and Newport News locations will retain their focus on providing exceptional service and quality repairs under the Classic Collision brand.
Collision Repair
“It’s the performance that’s grabbing people’s attention now,” Knoles agreed. “It truly is a very highperformance platform.”
Knoles said automakers are building EVs for the global market, but there are “more headwinds in the U.S. than in other countries” in regards to adopting the technology, because they “have become uniquely politicized in the U.S.”
“EV adoption is still soaring globally, and all the OEs that want their cars to be sold in global markets are going to continue to push electrification,” Knoles said. “It might just look a little bit different in the U.S.”
Advice for Collision Shop Owners
Soto said Legacy EV worked with a small shop that produced about one full restoration every six months, but it chose to train its 10 technicians to work with EVs. That grew the shop’s market.
“Now they can take on gas restomods and EV restomods. It’s really grown the opportunity for them, and made them feel safe,” Soto said. “It also allowed them to springboard into the future. It’s not surviving any mobility. It’s going to be thriving.
Knoles said he was an “early
adopter” who owned a 2014 Ford Focus Electric that only got 72 miles to a charge. The high-voltage battery went out while he owned it. He didn’t know what was wrong with it, so he took it to his local mechanic.
“When I brought that vehicle in, they were like deer in the headlights,” Knoles said. The mechanic didn’t know how to diagnose the problem or where to get parts.
Knoles took it to the dealership, “bracing for impact on what the price was going to be for that repair,” but it was under warranty. He learned most EVs come with a long battery warranty.
When he started Legacy EV in 2019, there were about 20,000 EVs out of their battery warranty. Today, there are nearly 1 million, and that number is going to keep growing.
“The need for qualified third-party service and repair for OEM vehicles is going to grow drastically over the next five years,” he said. “I would echo Baily’s advice: get somebody trained, start learning how to work with this technology and get prepared, because there’s going to be a lot of car owners like me that want to bring their car to you to get fixed, and they need to have options.
“You need to have trained technicians to be able to service it, and we’re happy to help along that journey,” he said.
McFarlin and Ronak, who generated images used for their presentation by visiting an AI platform online. They also used AI to help build the presentation.
McFarlin shared some of the overall benefits of using AI in business, such as automating repetitive tasks to reduce human errors, improve productivity and ensure accuracy. AI has also been proven to make data processing and analysis more efficient.
He used the example of monitoring thousands of sales calls. While AI can do this almost instantaneously, McFarlin said it would take a significant amount of time for a human resource to listen to just a sample of those calls.
Another advantage of using AI is the ability to recognize patterns in large datasets.
“Finding patterns in large datasets, especially when they’re really large data sets, is not an easy thing to accomplish,” said McFarlin. “It takes time. Being able to automate that process and have it present you results almost instantaneously is very helpful.”
For those interested in exploring
how to use AI in their businesses, McFarlin suggests asking AI how to accomplish X, Y or Z and providing options to achieve that result.
“What ChatGPT and other products like it are doing is crawling the web for all the information available, and they’re serving that back up to you almost instantaneously as a result so that it’s faster than Google,” he explained.
McFarlin then discussed some strengths of HI, such as the importance of empathy and emotional understanding, which is often referred to as emotional intelligence.
He talked about how human intelligence provides creativity and innovation with the ability to think outside the box, understand context and moral implications with ethical decision-making, solve complex problems, and adapt to changing situations.
“Unless you really define the parameters, AI will provide the most direct route from A to B,” noted McFarlin. “It’s not necessarily going to tell you whether that route is the best way to handle an employee, so you have to give it some guardrails.”
McFarlin also mentioned some limitations of AI and HI. He said AI lacks common sense, does not have the ability to identify ethical
dilemmas, and has biases in algorithms depending on how it is embedded in the data. HI limitations include cognitive biases, emotional responses, indecisiveness, speed, cost and availability.
After discussing the pros and cons of using AI and HI, McFarlin talked about the synergy of using both together and shared examples.
Improved Decision Making: AI can quickly provide data and insights while HI considers context and ethical judgment. For example, AI will help compile the results of sales training calls and a manager or coach can come in and work with employees in a fair and understanding way.
Customer Service: AI can handle repetitive tasks and provide fast response times; HI focuses on more nuanced interactions.
Accurate Forecasting: AI procures data whereas HI brings strategic oversight and context.
Learning Experiences: AI handles real-time feedback and support while HI interprets the outcomes and ensures it is used ethically.
Using AI in the Collision Repair Industry
Ronak discussed some applications for AI in the collision repair industry, the first of which was damage assessment and estimation. AI-
powered image recognition software is currently being used to analyze photos and estimate repair costs, potentially reducing the need for inperson inspections. After a collision, a vehicle owner, estimator or adjuster can use AI to capture photos that are uploaded to an app that uses image recognition to evaluate the vehicle’s condition.
The AI model analyzes the images and uses computer vision to find visible damage. It then classifies damage severity based on thousands of pictures of similar damage patterns and their repair histories.
As part of the damage assessment, the AI model estimates repair costs based on parts, labor and other repairs.
“Within seconds, AI provides a breakdown of estimated costs and the time needed for repairs,” Ronak explained. “The estimate includes a preliminary list of damaged parts and repair recommendations, such as ‘repair or replace,’ and an estimated cost.”
Ronak said the estimate can, and should, be adjusted by a human appraiser, when necessary, but AI typically reduces the need for manual adjustment. After being finalized, the estimate is shared with the customer and repair shop, which can l CONTINUED ON PAGE 26
streamline the insurance claim and repair process.
“AI-based damage assessment and estimation is increasingly being adopted by insurance companies and repair facilities to enhance accuracy, consistency and speed in handling vehicle repairs,” he said.
AI is also being deployed in subrogation investigations for claims payouts regarding parts pricing and operations paid, which Ronak said has driven increased requirements for supporting documentation.
He noted additional examples of AI such as VIN decoding, diagnostic and calibration recommendations and the use of onboard systems to provide automated notifications of emergency events and selfdiagnostics.
Other AI applications include parts ordering and inventory management to look at repair history and parts usage; predictive maintenance and diagnostics to research vehicle telematics and historical data; and repair process optimization to evaluate workloads, repair complexity and parts availability.
Ronak said AI can streamline repair scheduling and suggest optimal
workflows. In addition, it can be used for automated quality control and assist with safety compliance by analyzing images of completed work and detecting flaws.
When weighing the pros and cons of using AI and HI, McFarlin and Ronak offered the following to consider:
Efficiency vs Expertise: The speed of AI or problem-solving abilities of HI.
Cost vs Customization: Lower recurring costs of AI or potential higher quality via HI.
Consistency vs� Customization: Consistency of AI-driven processes or the adaptability of HI.
Integration vs� Collaboration: How AI and HI can complement each other and what hybrid approaches are available that leverage the strengths of both.
McFarlin and Ronak encouraged attendees to evaluate using AI in their businesses.
“You want AI to be a tool in your toolbox to be something that you can use to augment your process, your workplace and your workflows,” said McFarlin.
“It’s going to become even more prevalent,” Ronak pointed out. “Those who figure out how to leverage AI to their advantage are going to be the winners in the world of competition.”
Crash Champions Opens New Repair Facility in Florida
Crash Champions announced the continued rapid expansion of its Florida lineup with the opening of its newest state-of-the-art repair center. The new location opened its doors to customers Jan. 6 at 5602 Land O Lakes Blvd. in Land O’ Lakes.
“The entire Crash Champions team is proud to showcase our 59th Florida location since first expanding to the Sunshine State in 2021,” said Matt Ebert, founder and CEO of Crash Champions. “We look forward to delivering Land O’ Lakes and the greater Tampa community an expanded lineup of Crash Champions
collision repair centers and being a trusted partner for high-quality repair services.”
This new location will boast — CAR Gold Class certification and expands upon Crash Champions’ growing roster of centers providing customers with a bestin-class experience backed by a lifetime warranty.
After merging with Service King in mid-2022, Crash Champions slowed dramatically in 2023, adding just 27 locations, as it focused on integrating 336 Service King repair centers. Four out of the 27 locations added by Crash in 2023 were greenfield developments, signaling the company’s willingness to build new repair centers from the ground up in attractive markets where acquisition targets may be limited. Crash ended the year with 617 shops.
As of the end of 2024, Crash Champions has more than 650 repair centers across 38 states, including Crash Champions LUXE | EV Certified repair centers.
Auto Glass Trends For 2025: ADAS, Smart Glass and the Future of Vehicle Safety
By Leona Scott Autobody News
Consider the dilemmas facing auto glass technicians today.
A customer rolls into a body shop with a cracked windshield on a brandnew electric SUV. What seemed like a routine job quickly becomes a high-tech puzzle. The windshield houses the typical advanced driverassistance systems (ADAS) cameras, a heads-up display and temperaturesensitive coatings for climate control.
These systems, which often include cameras, sensors and LiDAR, are becoming standard in modern vehicles.
Davis said this trend is boosting the demand for calibration services, creating opportunities for auto glass shops to diversify their offerings.
“Windshields are no longer just glass,” Davis explained. “They’re critical components of a vehicle’s safety system. In learning about ADAS calibration, we’re seeing a surge of interest from other automotive aftermarket sectors, such as paintless dent repair (PDR) and hail damage repair.”
Kaizen Glass Solutions has responded to this demand by offering a twoday ADAS calibration course immediately following its auto glass training. Shops realize that if they don’t add calibration services, they’re leaving money on the table.
Levi Benn is the body shop manager at Auto Tech in Dyersville, IA. He said Auto Tech has been doing dynamic calibration in-house at the facility for six months and has seen a remarkable improvement in cycle time.
safe after a windshield replacement.”
Kaizen Glass Solutions emphasizes the importance of specialized training to handle these hightech windshields. Without proper knowledge, the vehicle’s safety and functionality can be compromised.
Regulations and Certifications: The Push for Higher Standards
As vehicle technology evolves, so do safety regulations. Davis pointed out that stricter calibration requirements are a significant industry discussion topic. This push for higher standards may lead to a new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) addressing evolving vehicle technologies.
“Insurance companies are starting to emphasize certifications and standards more,” Davis said. “They want to ensure that only qualified professionals handle repairs.”
This shift means auto glass businesses must invest in certification programs to stay competitive. It’s no longer enough to simply replace glass; technicians must prove their ability to handle the complexities of modern vehicles.
EVs and Their Impact on Auto Glass
Moments like these underscore the challenges glass technicians and installers are experiencing. Across the industry, technicians and shop owners are confronting a wave of innovations reshaping the auto glass landscape. From ADAS calibrations to smart glass, the future is arriving faster than many anticipated.
In recent years, the auto glass industry has experienced significant transformation driven by technological advancements, evolving regulations and shifts in consumer demand.
Shauna Davis, president of Kaizen Glass Solutions, shed light on some of the most pressing trends shaping the auto glass landscape today. From ADAS to tools that improve technician efficiency, these changes create new opportunities and challenges for auto glass professionals.
Rise of ADAS in Auto Glass Services
One of the greatest developments in the auto glass industry is integrating ADAS into windshields.
“Doing [dynamic] calibrations in-house has helped improve our workflow tremendously. We no longer have to send the work out and wait several days,” he said.
Benn quickly realized that sending vehicles to the dealership 30 minutes away to get glass work done was putting a delay in the shop’s cycle time. That’s when he sent his body technician, Nick Klein, to Kaizen’s auto glass replacement and calibration training class. As a result, it has reduced Auto Tech’s cycle time substantially and added a new revenue stream.
Smart Glass Technology: The Future is Here
Smart glass technology is another trend revolutionizing the industry. Modern vehicles are increasingly equipped with heads-up displays (HUDs), electrochromic dimming and augmented reality (AR) features that directly project navigation and other data onto the windshield.
“These features enhance the driving experience, but they also pose challenges for glass replacement,” Davis said. “Technicians must be trained to ensure that these technologies remain functional and
the specific needs of EVs. According to Davis, staying ahead of these trends is essential for auto glass businesses to remain relevant in an evolving market.
Tools of the Trade: Improving Efficiency and Safety
As the auto glass industry evolves, so do the technicians’ tools. Davis pointed out the growing popularity of auto glass cord-and-wire tools and setting devices designed to improve safety and ergonomics.
“These tools allow one technician to complete jobs that previously required two,” she said. “They improve time management and reduce the physical strain on technicians, which is a win-win for businesses and employees.”
Investing in these tools enhances efficiency and helps shops attract and retain skilled technicians by creating a safer and more manageable work environment.
Embracing Change in the Auto Glass Industry
The rise of electric vehicles (EVs) is also influencing the auto glass industry. EVs often feature unique designs and materials that require specialized repair procedures.
“EV windshields are different in shapes and materials,” Davis explained. “Technicians must adapt to these changes and follow OEM repair procedures to ensure the job is done right.”
Kaizen Glass Solutions is helping shops prepare for this shift by offering training programs that cover
For auto glass businesses, keeping up with these trends requires a proactive approach. Davis emphasized the importance of ongoing education and training to ensure technicians are equipped to handle the challenges of modern vehicle technology.
“The industry is changing rapidly,” Davis said. “Those who embrace these changes and invest in their teams will be the ones who thrive.”
From ADAS calibration to innovative glass technology and evolving regulations, the future of auto glass is filled with challenges and opportunities. By staying informed and adaptable, auto glass professionals can position themselves for success in this dynamic industry.
Kaizen Glass Solutions onsite training service techs perform a windshield replacement on a Freightliner Cascadia with the Panther Pro Fit Glass Setting Device.
‘Voice of the Technician’ Survey Reveals What Employees Want from Employers, Work Situations
By Elizabeth Crumbly Autobody News
The annual Voice of the Technician survey, conducted by online platform WrenchWay and its partner, the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE), revealed significant trends in the industry about what technicians want from their employers and work situations.
The survey drew nearly 5,000 responses through organizations WrenchWay and ASE work with — a steep uptick from about 800 last year, according to Wrenchway cofounder and CEO Mark Wilson. Although most respondents were automotive or diesel technicians, collision repair techs made up a small percentage.
A panel made up of WrenchWay and ASE representatives evaluated the numbers and shared their findings.
What Technicians Want from Employers
When evaluating employers, 87% of respondents said they must have proper equipment in a shop, while 13% said it would be nice to have. A well-documented career path topic
attracted must-have answers from 38% of respondents and nice-to-have answers from 55%. Paid vacation was a must-have for 83% and nice to have for 16%.
When it came to pay scale, 36% of techs preferred an hourly/salary structure, 25% an hourly rate with production bonus, 19% a flat rate with a 40-hour guarantee, and 18% a traditional flat rate.
Hourly/salary structure saw a significant rise from last year, while hourly pay with a production bonus fell. George Arrants, vice president of the ASE Education Foundation, said that may be because bonus amounts could feel unattainable, and techs might prefer to know exactly what they will be making in order to budget and invest adequately.
Lots of young people today are working not for extra spending money, but to actually support families, Arrants asserted.
“Their decision on where to work at that early part of their career has to do with what they can make and what they can bring home,” he said. “Knowing the potential workforce that you have and being able to get them in and show them you care and
making sure they have a livable wage — I think that goes a long way.”
Work Schedules and Commutes
When it came to work schedules, a four-day/10-hour day tied with five days/eight hours at 32% each.
“Either way as long as there are no
weekends” drew a 7% response, and “as many hours as I can work” pulled in 27%.
Arrants said he thought the fourday/10-hour response would have been higher, but the lower rate might be based on technicians not understanding how to make a shorter
week work for them, alongside the fact that parts suppliers might not be on the same schedule.
Techs looking at new employers said they would make a daily commute of 15 minutes or less at a rate of 8%, while the 16- to 29-minute choice drew a 35% response. The 30- to 59-minute option got a 48% response, the 60- to 89-minute choice drew 7%, and the 90-plusminute response got a 2% response.
The swing toward longer commute times, Arrants posited, might be related to job commitment.
“That’s pretty impressive that 48% would be willing to go a half hour to an hour. That basically adds two hours to your day,” he said. “Does that also say for the right job they’re willing to make the commitment to that company, which goes back to culture?”
These statistics, Wilson said, could mean shops should expand their applicant search radiuses to net technicians tired of conditions in their current jobs.
Tech Satisfaction
Technician satisfaction levels with current employers came in at 34% overall, down 13% from last year. The issue of whether shops do a good job of teaching new techs and
compensating mentors drew a 28% positive response, down 14% from last year. And the question of whether shops provide good benefits drew a 53% positive response, down 10% from last year.
“A lot of this comes down to executive leadership if it’s a dealership, if it’s a shop,” said Jay Goninen, WrenchWay cofounder and president. “If the only thing you’re focused on is that month’s profit and loss, it’s really hard to attack some of this culture stuff. It comes from the top down in what you signify as the most important things.”
Progress in tech satisfaction levels will help with retaining people in the industry, he said.
“Being able to judge yourself, figuring out how you get better… That’s going to move the scale up,” he said.
And in the category of “what’s important to techs versus what employers provide,” 87% of those surveyed said proper equipment was a must, while 58% said their current shop provides it. Paid training drew must-have responses from 67% of technicians, and 51% said their current shop provides it. Paid vacation was a must for 89% of technicians, and retirement benefits were a must for 72%, while 53% were
satisfied with their current benefits.
Higher pay was a key industry issue that needs to be solved, with higher pay coming in at first or second for 78% of respondents and better pay structure coming in at 55%.
Overall Takeaways
Answers on a lot of issues, Arrants said, have stayed virtually the same over a period of years, indicating that action is essential to move the needle as a younger generation comes up.
Simple things like communication, he asserted, can go a long way.
“I don’t think it’s something that’s going to turn around overnight, but we’ve got to get some of these things moving in the right direction, because we want to attract these young people to our industry as our demographic is getting older,” said Matt Shepanek, vice president of credential testing programs for ASE.
Obtaining honest feedback, Wilson said, is key in making
improvements, adding that talking to techs in one-on-one settings or groups where they feel comfortable giving open answers can help.
The industry, he said, could also do a better job of sharing positive stories with the next generation in its recruiting efforts. For instance, he pointed out, 60% of respondents said their shops offer fair and adequate compensation, but the same subject was a big complaint when it came to the overall industry. This discrepancy, he said, could mean it took that person a long time in their career to find a job that fit them in this area, but that it’s still their No. 1 concern about the industry.
Shepanek agreed that sharing positive anecdotes is important and can offset statistics.
“While the numbers might not have looked great in some of these items in the survey,” he said, “there are a lot of people that are out there doing a lot of good every day.”
Shops Writing Larger Percentage of Initial Estimates For Direct Repair Claims
By John Yoswick Autobody News
Initial estimates prepared by insurance company staff are becoming increasingly rare for direct repair claims, according to data shared by CCC Intelligent Solutions at the MSO Symposium in Las Vegas during SEMA week.
As recently as 2017, insurance adjusters were writing more than 40% of initial estimates for
repairable vehicles. In the first nine months of 2024, they wrote less than half that — just 18% of such estimates.
The data, presented by Kyle Krumlauf , CCC’s director of industry analytics, showed more than 45% of initial DRP estimates in 2024 were prepared at shops. That’s almost a full percentage point higher than in any recent year, when DRP shop appraisals comprised between 37.4% (2018)
and 44.2% (2021) of the overall total.
Over the same time period, virtual/photo estimates have grown from less than 1% of claims volume in 2016 to more than 1 in 4 (25.6%) in 2024.
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processed each year since 2022 going through Open Shop, up from between 5.1% and 6.7% in prior years.
Shops using CCC’s Open Shop system may have seen an increase in claims volume as well, with more than 8% of initial estimates CCC
It likely won’t come as a surprise to most shops that total losses have been up significantly in the first nine months of 2024.
“One of the most influential factors over the past few years within the collision repair industry
WIN Accepting Applications For 2025 Scholarships
The Women’s Industry Network’s (WIN) has again partnered with the Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF) to administer its scholarship program, aiming at encouraging and empowering women with a passion for the collision repair industry. ApplicationsareopenthroughMarch6 at collisionrepaireducationfoundation. org/students-scholarships.
The expanded WIN Scholarship program offers the College Student Tuition and Conference Scholarship Awards on four awards tiers: CHAMPIONS, STARS, TRAILBLAZERS and LEGENDS. Recipients are awarded a scholarship ranging from $500 up to $2,500 based on the selection team’s evaluation of their application and the interview process. They are also eligible to receive WIN wearables and branded items. Some recipients are also eligible to receive tool kits. All applicants must be high school seniors or post-secondary students enrolled at the time of application in a collision repair program and must have been studying collision repair for at least one semester prior to applying for the awards.
CCC data shows insurance personnel are writing far fewer of the initial estimates for DRP claims.
Hours produced per repair day by shops remain below what they were three years ago.
and also within the insurance space has been the large shifts in vehicle values,” Krumlauf said. “Vehicle values increased significantly in 2021 and especially in 2022, leading to fewer total losses and more heavier-hit vehicles being repaired. We’re now on the other side of this, and while used vehicle wholesale and retail prices continue to recede, the value decreases appear to be slowing.”
CCC data shows total losses accounting for 21.2% of noncomprehensive claims in 2020, before falling to 19.2% in 2022, but rising to 20.8% in 2023 and 22.4% this year through the third quarter of 2024.
Krumlauf said the age of the vehicles in operation is also really showing up in claims data as well.
“Maybe the most relevant [claims] mix shift, at least in my eyes, over the past few years has been with our aging car [population],” Krumlauf said. “Vehicles seven years or older represented 35% of repairable claims in 2019. They now represent close to 45%, almost a 10 percentage point increase. On the other hand, vehicles 1 to 3 years old represent over seven percentage points less in the repairable mix. Now, much of that
can be attributed to the fact that there were simply fewer vehicles produced and sold for those model years, especially between 2020 and 2023.”
Another trend Krumlauf highlighted is the decline in shop labor hours produced per repair day for direct repair program (DRP) claims.
“What we can see is that this is down about one hour overall for drivable claims, although it is starting to come up gradually, as well as down about 0.9 hours per repair day for non-drivable vehicles,” Krumlauf said. “The question is really why is this? And I think it’d be easy to point fingers here, but I think we need to delve a little bit deeper and understand why that is.
“First, let’s take a look at diagnostics,” he continued. “About 83% of all repairable appraisals through a DRP shop now include a scan, and about 24% of those include some form of calibration.”
Krumlauf said the rise in the average number of supplements — and the length of time it takes for insurers to approve those supplements — could also be contributing to the decline in labor hours produced per day.
$171M Granted To Upgrade Crash Data Systems Nationwide
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced a $171 million investment to upgrade crash data systems in 19 states and territories, aiming to improve the accuracy, timeliness and accessibility of fatality data.
These upgrades, part of a program mandated by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will enable better intrastate data sharing and electronic transfers to NHTSA.
“These grants will provide much-needed funds for states and territories to upgrade their systems and make sharing data with NHTSA quicker and easier,” said Sophie Shulman, NHTSA deputy administrator. “These upgrades to crash data systems will provide the agency and the public more timely data, help us identify emerging trends, and advance our shared mission to save lives.”
The selected states and territories include American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, the
District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia. Participating entities will have five years to implement full electronic data transfers as part of the State Electronic Data Collection program.
The initiative aligns with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS), which seeks to reduce serious injuries and fatalities on U.S. roads. The NRSS adopts a “safe system approach,” emphasizing the importance of anticipating human error while creating a holistic system to mitigate risks.
Upgraded crash data systems will facilitate the identification of emerging trends and enable the development of informed countermeasures, rulemaking and public education campaigns. NHTSA said enhanced data flow will support its mission to save lives through responsive and effective strategies.
Automaker Details Repair Procedure Development, Says It Will Audit
Certified Shops
By John Yoswick Autobody News
At a Society of Collision Repair Specialists’ (SCRS) OEM Summit session during the 2024 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, representatives of Rivian offered a detailed look at the process it used to develop its collision repair frame rail sectioning procedures.
“It is quite a large job to replace a frame on our vehicle,” Kelly Logan, director of collision repair programs for Rivian, said at the start of the session. “So having these localized repairs are very important for cost of ownership for our customers, for making sure their vehicles can be repaired after accidents. When we started, I didn’t realize this was going to be a three-year process.”
Dan Black, senior manager of service engineering for Rivian’s collision repair program, pointed to one aspect of the now-published front frame rail sectioning procedure that highlights the need to follow the
stitch,” Black said. “You don’t fill the stitch. So you apply a portion of a weld starting at the corners, the top two corners preferably. Do not fill in the stitch, because if you do, you will create too much of a heat-affected zone and we will get an undesirable performance as a result of that.
If we add too much strength to the joint, we’ve actually gone backward and weakened the joint because there’s too much heat applied to that environment where the metal is hypersensitive to heat thresholds.”
As with most other automakers, Rivian has specified the adhesives that are to be used in its rivet bonding applications.
“In all of our vehicles, we use 3M 7333 and Lord Fusor 2098 in terms of our approved structural impact adhesives,” Black said of the front rail sectioning. “We use those throughout our entire vehicle in many other application areas.”
Validating the Procedures
The Rivian representatives also described the process they used to validate the procedures once drafted.
little more skilled all the way down to somebody who has a little bit less skill — and we have them do this entire procedure and follow the steps.
“It’s an easy instance, in my opinion,
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“We go through each repair procedure with a technician who has not done it before,” said David Sosa, manager of Rivian’s collision research and development workshop. “We take a fully drivable vehicle that we have in the workshop…and we grab one of the technicians in our workshop —usually
PARTS
“In most cases, we will record the whole process. We’ll allow them to take notes. We’ll time study it as well. This is really to get a technician’s perspective,” Sosa explained. “Do the repair procedures make sense? Is there an easier way of getting the point across to a technician? Is there
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From left, Rivian’s David Sosa, Kelly Logan and Dan Black said the automaker’s repair procedures are physically performed by Rivian employees before they are finalized.
The SCRS OEM Summit during SEMA included a panel of Rivian representatives explaining how their repair procedures are developed.
Can we get a better angle on the picture that we have in the procedure, because as the technician’s looking at it, maybe he doesn’t know which side he’s looking at: looking at it from the bottom to the top, from the left to the right? So we really want all that feedback.
“And our validation techs don’t hold back,” Sosa added. “They really let us know if something needs to get changed, if something needs to get improved, if there’s a better way of doing this.”
Sosa said the Rivian workshop is equipped with a lot of different tools and pieces of equipment they may use while physically doing the procedures all the way through.
“We look to see what works best, what tools may not work, where we may not have the right access,” he said. “We may even take that a little bit farther and see which collision centers in our network have those tools, or we can reach out and say you’re potentially going to need a new tool to do this procedure. We take all that feedback, and if there are any changes that we have to do in the procedure, we give that back to [the] team.
“We’ll then have discussions around: Is there a better image we can use here? Is there an additional step? Is there a note? Is there a warning? Is there something that we have to put
in to really make the life easier for the technician who is going to be doing this repair out in the real world?” Sosa said.
Logan said feedback on the procedures doesn’t end there.
“I think that’s another important thing to stress, that we do take input from our certified collision network out there on our procedures,” Logan said. “Having that kind of full feedback loop from our collision centers is important. I know for myself as a technician, having had some really bad procedures in my past life, you think: Who developed this thing? So we actually have a very open feedback loop so our network shops can get that feedback to us.”
Audi Part Professionals are experts on collision parts, replacement components and mechanical items.
Logan said he once saw a comment from a technician on an industry Facebook group that said automakers only create repair procedures to total out cars.
“That made me really mad, to be honest with you,” Logan said. “That’s the farthest thing from the truth. You’ll see in this presentation all the work that went into developing the procedures. We want our vehicles repaired, we want our customers to remain in their vehicles after accidents. And obviously, safety is critical.”
Rivian Will Audit Repairs
Logan also said Rivian does plan to conduct onsite audits of repairs at its certified collision repair centers.
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“The technicians go through the training, they look at the repair procedures, so no one is intentionally not wanting to do it properly,” he said. “So it’s like ‘trust but verify,’ right? Going out there and making sure that everyone understands.
“We’ve seen it: we get questions that come in from our network shops, just misunderstanding what the information is. You can interpret a procedure one way, or maybe you didn’t go into our repair guidelines and our repair manual,” Logan said. “The repair procedures themselves are just how to handle that particular part. But if you go into the service manual, we have repair guidelines that talk about welding, that talk about the welding wire and gas, weld prep, all these different things. Those are the kind of things that we really stress.
“You really have to do your homework and you have to do the research, and you have to become knowledgeable of our vehicles when you’re a technician,” Logan added. “And that’s not really different than any vehicle out there today.
“I joke all the time: It used to be easy to fix cars, right? It’s not easy anymore,” he concluded. “You have to research the repair procedures, and you have to do what the OEMs are stating in their repair procedures.”
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Regardless of the age of your customer’s Audi, Audi dealers have access to over 200,000 part numbers and are supported by a nationwide network of distribution centers to help ensure non-stocked parts are delivered the next day.
Kelly Logan said Rivian will begin conducting repair audits in its certified body shops.
Dan Black said the company’s repair information spells out specific adhesives to be used in its rivet bonding procedures.
From AAPEX To the Classroom: Educators Share Insights and Wish Lists
By Leona Scott Autobody News
For many in the collision repair industry, AAPEX is an invaluable opportunity to explore cutting-edge technologies and network with peers. For educators like Raven Luna and Jordan Short, it’s a way to bring real-world advancements back to the classroom.
Both Luna and Short understand the value of staying up to date in an industry that evolves quickly.
For Luna, a discipline lead and professor at Collin College’s collision technology program in North Texas, attending AAPEX is an annual tradition.
While she didn’t attend specific sessions this year, she spent significant time in Joe’s Garage, an area renowned for its hands-on demonstrations.
The instructors shared how their experiences at AAPEX have influenced their teaching and revealed what’s on their holiday wish lists to enhance their schools’ collision repair programs.
AAPEX Insights: Staying Ahead of
“We go to see what new equipment, software, and tools are available,” Luna explained.
This year, a standout find was an EV/hybrid safety package from John Dow, a mobile solution perfect for the lab environment where Luna’s students train on electric and hybrid vehicles.
Short, an instructor at Meridian Technology Center, Stillwater, OK, took a different approach, diving into specific sessions.
“I attended Electric Vehicles 101, Management Essentials for Leaders by Dale Carnegie, and all three OEM summits hosted by SCRS,” he shared. Short’s focus on emerging
that instructors must lead by example in embracing innovation.
“Collision repair is changing faster now than ever before,” he said. “Without industry-led continuing education, instructors will fall behind and lose relevance.”
One of Short’s most memorable takeaways from AAPEX was witnessing a laser welding demonstration by a former SpaceX engineer. The potential of laser welding to revolutionize panel replacement in collision repair left a lasting impression.
“Welding with photons of light, not electricity or a heat source, is hard to wrap your head around,” Short said.
Bringing AAPEX Lessons to the Classroom
For these educators, attending AAPEX is about personal growth
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and equipping their students for the future. Luna emphasized the practical application of insights gained at the show.
“The topics I learn about directly impact our courses,” Luna said.
For instance, the EV/hybrid safety package she discovered will allow her students to train with cutting-edge tools next semester, making lessons relevant and engaging.
Short, too, has already incorporated lessons from AAPEX into his teaching.
“I’ve used some of the leadership tools from the Dale Carnegie session to better manage my classroom,” he said.
He also involved his students in brainstorming sessions to evaluate tools and technologies showcased at the event.
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The Cost of Contamination: How To Clean Up Your Paint Department To Drive Profit
By Abby Andrews Autobody News
The paint booth is one of the most critical aspects of a collision repair shop’s performance, but contamination – from the vehicle, the painter or in the booth itself – can lead to costly re-dos, eating into a shop’s bottom line from multiple directions.
Rick Selover, national account manager with Garmat USA, appeared on The Collision Vision podcast, driven by Autobody News and hosted by Cole Strandberg, to talk about the main sources of contamination, solutions to reduce cost and best practices for maintaining paint booths to maximize their performance.
Selover has more than 40 years in the industry, starting as a technician, during which time he painted both in booths and on open floors. He later moved into paint material distribution. Recently, he joined Garmat USA.
He built a presentation on the “cost of contamination,” based on his experience with the issues dirt and other contaminants can cause when refinishing a vehicle, and how to minimize them.
“I dive really deep into the costs of contamination, because I don’t think most shops really realize how much it does cost them,” Selover said.
contamination.
“It’s either the booth, it’s the vehicle, or it’s the painter,” he said. “All three of those have multiple issues that
Selover said he got input from manufacturers, distributors, paint and material distributors, paint company reps and collision repair instructors to identify the three root causes of
may be tied back to them as the root source.”
However, the painter can mitigate any dirt brought in by the vehicle before it goes into the booth, Selover
pointed out.
“It really boils down to the booth and the vehicle, and it’s almost a 50/50 split, but…a painter can prevent a lot of his own problems,” Selover said.
The paint itself arrives clean, as do spray guns and paint booths, he said. “But sometimes between when everything’s brand new and you actually get that vehicle in the booth, pull the trigger, you’re bringing in some dirt as a painter.”
Slacking on maintenance makes it difficult to get a clean job.
Selover said he has heard from many shop owners who can’t figure out why their paint material bill is so high, or why their refinishes always “come out looking like crap.”
Most shop owners notice when a monthly statement shows an extra $4,500 spend on paint, but they don’t see the hidden costs of re-dos.
There are four cost components to a re-do: materials the shop wasn’t able to sell because it had to use them to repaint a vehicle; energy to run the equipment; production, as a re-do “chews up” a paint booth cycle at an average cost of $4,300; and retention,
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when a painter eventually leaves for another shop because they’re also losing money on too many re-dos.
“Most painters don’t realize how much they’re losing every time they have to re-do a job. Well, I’ve got those numbers too, and I think they’d be shocked,” Selover said.
The poor first finish could be the fault of a shop owner not keeping up with maintenance on air filters, for example, or it could be the painter’s fault: “Maybe they didn’t throw a suit on. Maybe they sanded a job between coats, maybe they’ve got five parts racks full of garbage and stuff in their booth that they work around,” Selover said “There’s a million factors to this.”
No matter whose fault it is, the money lost to re-dos could pay for a lot of preventative maintenance or new equipment that would prevent them going forward, Selover said.
“I think the sooner shops get an understanding of what’s at stake here, they may react a little bit differently than they have in the past,” he added.
Booth Maintenance
Maintaining a paint booth isn’t difficult, Selover said, if a shop buys the booth from a distributor that offers service.
He recommended purchasing from a distributor that will perform regular inspections of components
like filters, control panels, pulleys and fans; change filters when necessary and supply more if they need to be changed between visits. He said the distributor should also keep a log of inspections and maintenance actions needed.
Garmat does an annual “deep clean” for its customers, Selover said.
“They pull everything out. They power wash the floor, the grates, the walls. They clean the lights out. They go through all the mechanicals. You get a fully clean, feels-like-new booth,” he said.
Selover said a lot of shops don’t want to spend the money on preventative maintenance because it looks like a cost. “It’s like, ‘Well it’s working fine. Everything’s coming out OK. I don’t really need to do that right yet.’ They’re wrong.
“They need to stay on it because if you have a consistent preventive maintenance program, you’re not going to have those big costs of a motor going, of a fan sparking and catching fire,” he said. “There’s so much stuff that can go wrong inside of a booth. But it’s quite simply having somebody other than your painter, other than your maintenance guy or other than your shop floor porter go in there.”
Anyone who owns a high-end car would never skimp on maintenance
by taking it to a mechanic offering cheap oil changes, Selover pointed out. Shop owners should treat their paint booths – which can cost up to $200,000 and generate revenue – the same.
“But yet I’ve seen shops just totally ignore [paint booth] maintenance because it’s a cost they don’t really need to do,” he said.
Maintenance helps with retention, he reiterated. If a painter makes good money but has to do all the upkeep on his booth, he might be more likely to accept an offer from another shop that would pay the same but has a newer booth that is maintained by the distributor.
“I was a painter before. I know what they go through. I know the stress. I know the upset when you’ve got to redo something,” Selover said. “I didn’t realize the cost. Now, looking back at the cost, I wasted a lot of money back then.”
Painter Strategies to Reduce Contamination
Selover recommended establishing strong SOPs for the paint department, including a pre-paint checklist that will “help the painters help themselves” by eliminating all potential contaminants they might bring into the booth.
“That means blowing yourself off; having a clean paint suit on; having
good head protection like a sock or a full-faced, fresh air mask; gloves — don’t go in there with your bare hands,” he said.
Personal care items like hair gel and spray, beard cream and hand lotion can also bring contamination into the booth.
“You can create fish eyes just with what you put on your own body that day,” Selover said. “There’s been tons of studies done that ended up finding deodorant can mitigate its way right through your clothes, through your suit, and still end up causing fish eyes.”
The booth itself should also be empty of anything not needed to repaint a vehicle.
“There should be nothing in a booth but your tack rag and your spray gun and the vehicle, or parts rack. That’s it,” Selover said.
“I’ve seen incredible results from someone that takes the time to prepare themselves, prepare the vehicle. You get an almost flawless job,” he said “There’s always going to be a little something, but a quick nub is nothing like having to re-do because you got nasty, gnarly chunks of crap blown out of your gun into the base coat, clear coat.”
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Selover said. Think about production goals, whether opening a new shop or upgrading an existing one, and choose a booth that has the capacity to meet them.
Think about the shop’s potential business mix as well.
“So if you’re just doing regular vehicles right now, but you see yourself getting into doing more of these Sprinter vans, well then a normal height booth is not going to work. You’re going to need a high-top type of booth, which I’ve seen a lot of those go in,” Selover said.
“Prepare for growth. Pay ahead for the growth now. Because once you put a booth in, it’s a lot of work to pull one out and put a different one,” he added.
Finally, think about where in the shop the booth should be installed to enhance, rather than inhibit, workflow. For instance, don’t put one in a corner that requires a vehicle to be backed out.
“That means, ‘I get so much more production space for my body guys,’” Selover said of the logic behind that placement. “I hope they don’t mind moving all those cars out every time we have to take one out of the booth to get another one in. I’ve seen that a million times.”
He recommended getting input
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from the shop’s paint company and material distributor, as well as its booth distributor.
Also consider the booth manufacturer’s country of origin, Selover advised. If replacement parts have to come from overseas, the wait could hurt production while the booth is out of commission.
Innovation in Collision Repair Paint Booths
Strandberg asked about new technology in paint booths.
“It’s a box that moves air and provides heat. There’s only so much you can do with that, right?” Selover said.
However, he said, new booths are more efficient than ever, and installing lights horizontally, rather than vertically, reduces shadows.
Garmat is currently testing in about 50 shops a new piece of connected equipment that can monitor the booth, to keep track of preventative maintenance and remotely diagnose issues “before it becomes a problem.” The equipment was on display at the 2024 SEMA Show in November.
Selover wrapped up the discussion by reminding listeners he also has a bi-weekly podcast, Mind Wrench, available on Apple, Spotify, iHeart and Amazon Music.
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“Students enjoyed the activity and gave their input for next year’s equipment requests,” he added.
Educators’ Holiday Wish Lists: Tools to Transform Learning
With the holiday season here, Luna and Short are focused on items that could significantly enhance their programs.
For Luna, the John Dow EV/ hybrid safety package tops her wish list. The package’s portability and comprehensive design make it ideal for her program’s needs.
“Since we teach EV/hybrid safety, it’s a convenient tool for us to train with,” she explained.
Short’s wish list is equally practical but geared toward maximizing efficiency. He’s hoping for UV primers and putties for his lab.
“Student mistakes can cost them a whole class period with product dry times, but UV products could drastically shorten those times and allow students more time to complete their projects,” he said.
Another coveted item is the grate lifter from Garmat, which would simplify booth maintenance and improve workflow in the lab.
Why AAPEX Matters to Educators
Both Luna and Short agree that AAPEX is an indispensable resource for collision repair educators. While SEMA may have its appeal, AAPEX’s focus on networking and hands-on learning makes it particularly valuable for instructors.
“Exhibitors at AAPEX are more excited to see instructors,” Luna noted. Short added that staying connected to the industry is crucial for educators. “If we don’t stay current, we risk teaching outdated techniques, widening the skill gap for the next generation of technicians,” he warned.
Preparing the Next Generation
As Luna and Short reflect on their experiences, their dedication to their students clearly extends far beyond the classroom. Attending AAPEX ensures their teaching remains relevant, their programs are cuttingedge and their students are ready to excel in a competitive industry. With their holiday wish lists, these instructors are poised to make an even greater impact in the coming year— one tool, technique and class project at a time.
Interested in helping out these instructors with their wish lists? Contact Raven Luna at RLuna@collin. edu and Jordan Short at jordans@ meridiantech.edu.
PPG Receives Innovation Award For PPG LINQ Digital Ecosystem
By Stacey Phillips Ronak Autobody News
PPG received an Innovation Award for the PPG LINQ digital ecosystem during the Automechanika Frankfurt Show in September. The award recognizes outstanding technological developments with significant market relevance in the automotive supplier industry, automotive workshop and services sector, or original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
“The PPG LINQ digital ecosystem is really a complete digital solution in a market where optimizing the use of materials and efficiency is so important,” said Jason Moseley, a presenting juror at the Automechanika Innovation Awards ceremony. “That is why we have chosen this new system as the winner.”
“We are honored to receive this esteemed award,” said Jerome Zamblera, PPG vice president, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Automotive Refinish. “It is a testament to our commitment to innovation, excellence and sustainability in the refinish industry. The deployment of digital tools
allows us to create a better working environment and attract the younger generation to the industry.”
Zamblera said on behalf of the company, he takes pride in the team that worked on the project since its inception.
Introduced a year and a half ago, the PPG LINQ digital ecosystem is available worldwide. It includes the following components: PPG LINQ COLOR software, the PPG MAGICBOX™ body shop assistant, PPG VISUALIZID™ software, the PPG DIGIMATCH spectrophotometer and PPG MOONWALK®, the company’s award-winning, automated paint mixing system launched in 2019.
Zamblera said the product was created to assist painters in modernizing their repair processes using the cloud-based platform and its interconnected digital hardware, software and innovative services.
“Everything we do in terms of new product development is driven towards providing higher productivity in the shop, reducing the carbon footprint, and making the job more attractive to the young generation,” he said.
Zamblera said PPG LINQ is easy to
use, saves labor time, reduces waste and transforms the mixing room into a clean and safe environment.
“Everything that painters have done in an analogic manner, they can now do digitally,” he explained. “A body shop painter will save, on average, between 20 to about 60 minutes on each job when they do color matching.”
The system can automate routine tasks and optimize resource use, which can reduce operational costs for body shops.
In addition, he said using the product reduces material waste, energy consumption and process times, which contributes to meeting sustainability goals.
“Helping to reduce waste is very important,” noted Zamblera. “That’s one of the key attributes of Moonwalk because of its high level of accuracy.”
One way to help reduce shops’ carbon emissions, according to Zamblera, is by changing their habits in the way they process products. For example, PPG’s air-drying technology eliminates the need to put a spray booth in baking mode.
“They can let the product dry at ambient temperature without the
need for it to cure, which means they can air dry a primer or a clear coat in 20 to 30 minutes,” he said.
Zamblera said the one common theme across the globe in the industry is the lack of skilled labor.
Automating and digitizing some of the tasks painters have been doing allows others in the shop to help manage the process of color identification, matching and mixing.
He said PPG LINQ can also assist with the recruiting and hiring process by attracting a new generation of employees.
“Leveraging technology demonstrates that a shop painter doesn’t have to work in a dusty, filthy, noisy shop,” he said. “Instead, they can work in a very clean and digitized environment.”
To help collision repair students learn the critical skills they need, PPG’s foundation provides advanced technology and products.
“PPG LINQ includes scalable solutions that can be tailored to various business sizes, making it an indispensable tool for automotive professionals,” he said. “With precise application and monitoring systems, it ensures consistent, high-quality results, reducing the risk of errors and rework.”
BendPak Strengthens Leadership Team
BendPak Inc. is entering 2025 with updates to its leadership team. The company has appointed Sean Price , David Reunert and Tyler Rex to critical roles aimed at strengthening its operations and market presence.
Price, who joined BendPak in 2023, takes on a new role as director of quality control, product development and management for the Special Products Division. Price will oversee the lifecycle of new products and implement quality assurance programs.
Reunert steps in as director of sales operations, bringing with him a wealth of experience in luxury automotive sales and private leasing operations.
Rex returns to BendPak as senior director of marketing. Having previously served as the company’s director of digital marketing, he will now oversee all marketing disciplines across the company’s brands and product lines.
3M™ Clean Sanding System
The 3M™ Clean Sanding System is a complete sanding solution:
Designed to reduce dust in the air from sanding for a cleaner workspace.
Helps shops boost productivity and efficiency by helping to reduce rework and cleanup time.
Compact and mobile. Designed for easy, flexible use around the shop.
Compatible with pneumatic and/or electric sanders.
Tech-friendly design including auto on/off, antistatic hose, rubber wheels, brake locks, and LED indicator lights.
