Overturn FCA Racketeering Lawsuit Ruling

This includes the vehicle components, calibration triggers and required calibration types, pre- and post-scans, repair order/lines, a health scan and images of a vehicle. It should also include a calibration results report, post-calibration safety system verification test results, a detailed invoice and a workflow report.

“How can any organization look at a customer and give them the keys to the vehicle without providing them with validation and documentation that they accurately tested and validated the systems work properly?” said Terlep.

He advised shops to remember that ADAS systems directly affect acceleration, braking and steering.

“If one is off and doesn’t work, the outcome is not good,” he pointed out. “If an ADAS system fails, who is to blame? The driver, the OEM, the shop or the insurer?” Without documentation, Terlep said, you don’t know.

The Investment

When determining the investment to begin offering ADAS services/ calibration, Terlep said to consider the cost of the facility, targeting systems, targets, the alignment system, diagnostic tools and business software.

While he estimates a minimum investment might be around $150,000, it could easily reach $250,000-$300,000.

Return on Investment (ROI)

To be successful in the ADAS repair and calibration business, Terlep advised facilities to focus on process and volume.

“The key to success is to capture three to 10 customers who repair 100 vehicles a month where you can expect to receive 25-40% of those vehicles,” he said.

For shops doing 4,800 calibrations annually, he estimated $773,577 annual gross profit.

For more information, visit www.autotechcelerators.com.

To watch the webinar, visit https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbf5Css50Hk

www.autobodynews.com

Harper Volkswagen

by Brad Anderson, CarScoops

An appeals court in the U.S. has upheld a 2020 ruling tossing out the racketeering lawsuit that General Motors filed against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

General Motors filed the racketeering lawsuit against FCA in November 2019. It claimed its rival had bribed United Auto Workers (UAW) union officials to corrupt labor talks to its advantage. GM claimed this cost it billions of dollars.

While GM has long believed it had a strong case, a federal judge in mid-2020 ordered General Motors CEO Mary Barra and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Mike Manley to meet and resolve the lawsuit. The judge noted there were more urgent issues facing the U.S. and the lawsuit was a “waste of time and resources.”

GM tried multiple times to have the lawsuit reinstated but earlier in August, the three-judge panel of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the attempt, Auto News reported.

“Even accepting GM’s theory as true, the chain of causation between FCA’s bribes and GM’s injury is still too attenuated,” the three-judge panel said in its ruling.

The lawsuit alleged FCA corrupted the contract bargaining process between GM and the UAW in an attempt to force a merger between the two car manufacturers. The lawsuit claimed late FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne was responsible for conceiving, executing and sponsoring the wrongdoing.

FCA had long called the lawsuit “meritless” and said GM’s recently amended complaint was “full of preposterous allegations.”

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