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VOL. 34 ISSUE 7 JULY 2016

U.S. House Committee Holds Hearings on Career and Technical Education Act

MS and IN Lawsuits Alleging Steering and Price Fixing by Insurers Ordered Closed by Judge

OEM Training Details for NACE | CARS Released

A Florida judge has closed two related lawsuits brought forth by body shops in Mississippi and Indiana against insurers for alleged steering and price fixing.

On May 27, Middle District Judge Gregory Presnell dismissed the state claims in Capitol Body Shop, et al, v. State Farm, et al, with prejudice, meaning they cannot be refiled.

Two weeks later, on June 10, he made a similar ruling in Indiana Auto Body Association, et al v. State Farm, et al.

Both cases are part of the multidistrict lawsuit that involves more than 500 shops across the country.

The 24 lawsuits filed were eventually consolidated for pretrial purposes.

On May 18 the U.S. House Commit- serve those seeking to enter the techtee on Education and the Workforce nical workforce. Witnesses included: held a hearing titled, “Helping Stu- Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. dents Succeed by Strengthening the Paul Tse, project manager, Shapiro & Duncan Inc. Carl D. Perkins Career and Jason Bates, manager, ToyTechnical Education Act.” ota Bodine Aluminum Inc. Reauthorized in 2006, Dr. Monty Sullivan, presithe Carl D. Perkins Act allodent, Louisiana Community cates federal grants to states and Technical College System for distribution to secondary Throughout the hearing, school districts and post-secthe witnesses and members ondary institutions. The purSen. Tim Kaine, recounted personal examples pose of the hearing was to D-VA examine the Carl D. Perkins of the value of local career and Act and others like it to determine technical education programs. They exwhat reforms should be made to best See U.S. House Hearings, Page 12

plimentary basis with the purchase of a conference or expo pass: FIAT CHRYSLER AUTOMOBILES: Introducing the allnew 2017 Chrysler Pacifica—This class will provide you with information relative to the technical specifications, metal strengths, and repair procedures. John Hughes, MOPAR Collision Repair Responsible Service Engineering, TSO, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles FORD MOTOR COMPANY: Ford F-Series Repair Information & See OEM Training, Page 15

Change Service Requested

P.O. BOX 1516, CARLSBAD, CA 92018

NACE | CARS has announced the release of details for this year’s OEM programming. NACE | CARS 2016, taking place in Anaheim, CA August 9-13, will feature record involvement and expanded training from companies such as Audi, BMW, FCA, Ford, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota, and more, who will provide information on their latest vehicles, materials and technology, how to address specific repairs, and on becoming a certified repair shop.

Here is an overview of the training, which will be offered on a com-

by Stacey Phillips

According to industry reports, collision repairers across the United States are watching with anticipation to find out the national implications these recent rulings may have.

A similar judgment was made in 2015 when Judge Presnell dismissed all claims in Florida’s A&E Auto Body et al, v. 21st Century et al, with prejudice.

All three cases can be appealed to the Eleventh Circuit Court by Eaves Law Firm, the lead attorneys on the case. The Jackson, MS, law firm could not be reached for comment when Autobody News went to press this month.

The body shops have accused insurance companies of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act and state laws See MS and IN Lawsuits, Page 18

Ray Fisher of ASA-MI Addresses Changes to Motor Vehicle Service Repair Act, Governor Vetos Bill

by Stacey Phillips

A controversial bill that would have restricted aftermarket parts vendors to sell only certain types of parts on newer vehicles to licensed repair facilities in Michigan was vetoed by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder in June.

House Bill 4344 would have required body shops to use new or used OEM parts or certified aftermarket parts on vehicles during their original factory warranty period or five years, whichever is less, unless they received written permission from a customer to use non-certified parts. The 62-page bill updated the 1974 Michigan Motor Vehicle Service(s) and Repair Act. “I am unable to sign this bill because it overreaches in the limitation of aftermarket parts negatively impacting consumers and creating the potential for negative consequences for Michigan’s automotive industry,”

Snyder wrote in his veto letter.

“As Michigan continues its comeback and continues to be a leader in promoting new technology in the automotive industry, it is imperative that we ensure all components of that industry can remain strong, including Michigan’s robust aftermarket parts industry. I am concerned about HB 4344’s effect on market competition for replacement parts on motor vehicles.”

House Bill 4344 was first introduced March 12, 2015 by Rep. Peter Pettalia of Presque Isle, who co-owns an automotive mechanical repair facility in Alpena, MI. On February 10, 2016, the bill passed in the House 84-22 in favor of the amended bill and was sent to the Senate. The bill was unanimously voted out of the Senate subcommittee with the understanding that modifications to the bill were necessary for See MI Bill Veto , Page 22

Presorted Standard US Postage PAID San Bernardino, CA Permit #2244

2 JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

COLUMNISTS Attanasio - Body Shop Office Manager Racing Toward Her Dreams . . . . . . . . . 36 Attanasio - New Collision Career Institute Launched for All the Right Reasons . . . 48 Luehr - Lean Problem Solving . . . . . . . . . 34 Phillips - Massachusetts Collision Center Finds Multiple Benefits Hiring Students in Family Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Yoswick - Retro News: Erick Bickett, Progressive’s Concierge Program, Crash Prevention, Allstate Compliance. . 40 NATIONAL 10 Students Awarded Grants to Attend SkillsUSA’s Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 75-Year-Old CA Technician Discusses Career, Why He’s in No Rush to Retire . . 30 ABRA Auto Body & Glass Donates $81,000 to CREF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 AkzoNobel Introduces New Color Software. 60 ASA Announces New Advice Blog by Industry Veteran Bill Haas . . . . . . . . . . 28 ASA-CT Shops Meet with Tech Students and Learn about Parts Procurement Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Auto Care Association Participates in Copyright Roundtables on Embedded Software and DMCA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Auto Claims — The High Cost of Keeping Pace with Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 AutoInc. Seeks Submissions for Top 10 Websites Contest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Car-O-Liner Receives Lamborghini Approval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 CCCTC Students Build Chopper From the Ground Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Chief Introduces HD Collision Repair Line, Koala Bench From Globaljig® . . . . . . . . 27 Chip Foose and KC Mathieu Demonstrate Spray Gun Duel at BASF Automotive Refinish Open House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Collision Safety Consultants Announce Fourth Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 CREF Helps Next Generation of Collision Repairers Find Jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

CREF Launches Successful Pilot of Collision Student Resume Database . . . 60 Department of Motor Vehicles Inspects Auto Repair Businesses For Proper Permits. . 59 First Self-Driving Semi in U.S. Hits The Road —on top of Nevada’s Hoover Dam. . . . . 4 Global Finishing Solutions Adds Premier Collision Equipment to Distribution Team . 8 GM Manager Addresses State of Collision Repair Business; Considering Certification Program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Grateful Illinois Body Shop Owner Ready to Give Back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Greg Coccaro Sr. Passes Away at 66 . . . . 63 Hailstorm Brings Work for Billings, MT Roofers, Auto Repair and Glass Shops . . 52 Labor Rates are the Foundation of Consumer Care & Safety . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Maaco Says it Aims to Have Shops in Every State as Aggressive Growth Continues . 46 Martin Senour Launches New Industrial Maintenance Coatings DTM Acrylic Enamel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Mitchell Issues Second Quarter 2016 Industry Trends Report . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Moorhead MN Auto Body Shop Owner Says Insurance Agents Using Illegal Tactic . . 20 MS and IN Lawsuits Alleging Steering and Price Fixing by Insurers Ordered Closed by Judge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 National Autobody Parts Warehouse Expands 2nd Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 National Science Foundation Offers Grant for Training Tomorrow’s Technicians . . 37 Personal Safety Division Launches 3M Center for Respiratory Protection . . . . . 54 PPG Foundation Awards Student Scholarships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 PPG Introduces EC550 En-V® Ultra Gloss Clearcoat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Preparations Underway for Fall Automechanika Chicago Commitment to Training Events . . . . . . 21 Ray Evernham Leads Preservation of Iconic American Graffiti Impala With Axalta Coatings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Ray Fisher of ASA-MI Addresses Changes to Motor Vehicle Service Repair Act, Governor Vetos Bill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Same Faces, New Company Name: Parts Director Highlights Benefits of Being Acquired by AutoNation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Service King Contributes $75,000 to Two Texas Non-Profits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Sherwin-Williams Announces Partnership with CARSTAR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Sherwin-Williams’ 2016 3rd Quarter Training Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Tennessee Steering Lawsuit Against Progressive Insurance Dismissed. . . . . 14 U.S. Aftermarket to Grow at an Annual Rate (CAGR) of 3.7% through 2019 . . . . . . . 54 WIN Accepts Sponsorship from AkzoNobel & Presents ‘Cornerstone Award’ at WIN Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Aaron Lowe, senior vice president of regulatory and government affairs for the Auto Care Association, participated in a series of roundtables produced by the U.S. Copyright Office in Washington, D.C. on May

18-19. The roundtables were part of a study being undertaken by the office on copyright law and its relation to software-embedded consumer products as well as issues related to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

Lowe discussed the growing use of software on late model vehicles and concerns that the vehicle manufacturers were adopting anticompetitive technological protection measures that prevent parts manufacturers, service facilities and consumers from accessing the software needed for repair and maintenance.

Publisher & Editor: Jeremy Hayhurst General Manager: Barbara Davies Online Editor and Copywriter: Deana Cacus Contributing Writers: Tom Franklin, John Yoswick, Janet Chaney, Toby Chess, David Brown, Rich Evans, Ed Attanasio, Chasidy Sisk, David Luehr, Stacey Phillips, Victoria Antonelli Advertising Sales: Joe Momber, Sean Hartman, Bill Doyle, Norman Morano (800) 699-8251 Office Manager: Louise Tedesco Content/Social Media Specialist: Cass Heckel Art Director: Rodolfo Garcia Serving Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico,

“The absence of clear guidance regarding interpretations of copyright defenses is having a chilling impact on companies developing replacement components, causing companies in the auto care industry to be concerned about extensive and disruptive litigation,” said Lowe. He further requested that the Copyright Office make a determination that DMCA does not prohibit circumvention of technological measures that are used by companies to prevent lawful repair under patent law of products whose operation is controlled by embedded software.

Lowe told the Copyright Office that “a consumer who purchases a vehicle should own that car, including all of the software embedded in that vehicle. Therefore, consumers and those chosen by consumers to service those vehicles should have the freedom to access that software for purposes of lawful repair.”

For more information, contact Aaron Lowe at aaron.lowe@autocare .org.

Audi South Austin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Audi Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 35 AutoNation Chevrolet . . . . . . . . . . . 18 AutoNation Chrysler-Dodge-JeepRam NRH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Axalta Coating Systems . . . . . . . . . . 5 BMW Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 59 Bob Howard PDC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Car-Part.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Certified Automotive Parts Association (CAPA). . . . . . . . . . . 45 Chevyland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Chief Automotive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Classic Auto Group. . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Classic BMW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Dallas Dodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Dent Magic Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Diamond Standard Parts . . . . . . . . 51 Don Carlton Auto Group . . . . . . . . . 28 Eco Repair Systems of North America, LLC . . . . . . . . . . 27 ECS Automotive Concepts . . . . . . . 12 EMM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Equalizer Industries, Inc . . . . . . . . . 42 Finnegan Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge . . . . 2 Flatirons Subaru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Ford Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 61 GM Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . 55 Herkules Equipment Corporation. . 34 Honda-Acura Wholesale Parts Dealers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32-33 Hyundai Wholesale Parts Dealers. . 58 Kia Motors Wholesale Parts Dealers. 57 Killer Tools & Equipment. . . . . . . . . 10

Arkansas, Colorado and adjacent metro areas.

Autobody News is a monthly publication for the autobody industry. Permission to reproduce in any form the material published in Autobody News must be obtained in writing from the publisher. ©2016 Adamantine Media LLC. Autobody News Box 1516, Carlsbad, CA 92018; (800) 699-8251 (760) 603-3229 Fax www.autobodynews.com Email: news@autobodynews.com

Southwest

REGIONAL ABAT Members Learn from Industry Change Leaders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 ASA-CO Members Learn Importance of Record-Keeping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Certified Collision Group™ Announces Addition of New Mexico MSO Car Crafters to Elite 1stCERTIFIED™ Network. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Five UTI Houston Students Receive “Hire Our Heroes” Tool Grants and Scholarships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Gerber Collision & Glass Opens New Repair Location in Sapulpa, OK . . . . . . . 8 Gerber Collision & Glass Opens New Repair Location in Tulsa, OK . . . . . . . . . 6 Technaglass Accelerates Expansion In Colorado . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Auto Care Association Participates in Copyright Roundtables on Embedded Software and DMCA

Indexof Advertisers

Contents

Lusid Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Mazda Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 60 Mercedes-Benz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Mercedes-Benz of Houston Greenway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Mercedes-Benz Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Mike Calvert Toyota. . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Mitsubishi Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 MOPAR Wholesale Parts Dealers . . 39 NACE / CARS Trade Show . . . . . . . 31 North Freeway Hyundai . . . . . . . . . 40 O’Reilly Auto Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Orio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Polyvance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 PPG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 ProLine Tool & Supply . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Ray Huffines Chevrolet . . . . . . . . . . 41 SATA Dan-Am Company . . . . . . . . 13 Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20, 21 South Pointe Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge . 8 Subaru of Little Rock . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Subaru of Pueblo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Subaru Wholesale Parts Dealers . . 52 Symach s.r.l. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Toyota of Laredo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Toyota Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 54 U-POL US . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Valspar Automotive . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Volkswagen Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Young Chevrolet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

www.autobodynews.com | JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS 3

First Self-Driving Semi in U.S. Hits The Road—on top of Nevada’s Hoover Dam

Autonomous semi-truck driving officially arrived in Nevada on the night of May 5, and it did so on top of the curved concrete edge of Hoover Dam. Daimler chose the world-famous location to introduce its Freightliner Inspiration Truck, the world’s first licensed autonomous truck, according to reports at Autoblog.com.

On the same day, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval officially granted the first license for an autonomous commercial truck to operate on an open public highway in the United States to Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA). At the event, hosted by DTNA President & CEO Martin Daum, Gov. Sandoval took part in the inaugural trip of the Freightliner Inspiration Truck in autonomous mode with Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG Daimler Trucks & Buses, at the controls.

“Nevada is proud to be making transportation history today by hosting the first U.S. public highway drive for a licensed autonomous commercial truck.

The application of this innovative technology to one of America's most important industries will have a lasting impact on our state and help shape the New Nevada economy,” said Gov. Sandoval.

“The Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles has been closely monitoring the advancements being made in autonomous vehicle development and reviewed DTNA's safety, testing and training plans before granting permission for this demonstration of the Freightliner Inspiration Truck.”

This is the first 18-wheel commercial vehicle to garner the designation (the state actually licensed two autonomous Freightliners), and the truck showed off its hands-free driving skill on top of the 80-year-old landmark. The truck, which is based on the Mercedes-Benz Future Truck 2025 that drove on the autobahn last year, was tested in Germany where, according to Daimler, it has covered more than 10,000 autonomous miles.

Similar to the autopilot system in a passenger jet, Daimler’s Freightliner has “Highway Pilot,” which the truck driver engages. That’s how Daimler did it for the demonstration: A driver

pulled the truck onto the road atop the Hoover Dam, and the truck’s Highway Pilot took over.

Daimler’s truck has front radars that see the road over 800 feet in front of it, another radar to detect cars merging in front of the truck, and stereo cameras that analyze road markings to communicate with the steering mechanism. It knows the rules of the road and will brake and accelerate based on posted speed limits for semi-trucks.

Daimler cautioned in its announcement, “In terms of on-highway commercial trucks, it is incorrect to refer to a vehicle in autonomous mode as a ‘driverless truck.’ Drivers remain the boss in their vehicle because the technology ... requires the presence of a qualified truck driver with valid commercial driver’s license in the cab and on the gauges.”

In addition, there are numerous maneuvers the truck cannot make on its own, such as passing and lane changes.

Plus, if the Highway Pilot senses particularly adverse driving conditions, like bad weather, it will ask the human driver to take over.

Though only licensed for one state, autonomous freight trucks could not come at a better time. Driving a semi is tiring and dangerous work. A 2012 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study noted that, in the U.S., “333,000 large trucks were involved in traffic crashes.” A 2009 Harvard School of medicine study on Drowsy Driving reported that “truck drivers are often chronically sleep deprived.”

Those challenges may be leading to a dwindling number of commercial truck drivers. In 2014, the trucking industry reported nearly 35,000 unfilled jobs.

Nevada was selected because it is one of four states, plus the District of Columbia, with laws regulating autonomous vehicle operation. Nevada legislation passed in 2011 and 2013 regulates the testing and operation of autonomous vehicles. The legislation includes commercial trucks and sets standards specifying the number of miles an autonomous vehicle must have been tested in certain conditions before it can be granted a license to be driven in Nevada. Daimler obtained a special permit from the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles to operate the Freightliner Inspiration Truck on public roads near Las Vegas after supplying state officials with detailed information on the safety systems in the truck and the training program for the drivers.

Smarter trucks that take some of the burden off commercial truck drivers and always follow the rules of the road could make the job of commercial truck driver more attractive again.

4 JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

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www.autobodynews.com | JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS 5

ABAT Members Learn from Industry Change Leaders

by Chasidy Rae Sisk

On May 4-5, the Auto Body Association of Texas (ABAT) held Industry Change Leader presentations at the As-Tech facility in Plano, TX. According to Burl Richards, president of ABAT, “The meeting went very well and was extremely informative.

Attendees were extremely interactive and asked a lot of questions. The event actually exceeded my expectations.”

Jake Rodenroth of Collision Diagnostic Services provided a demonstration on the capabilities of the As-Tech 2 Scan Tool. Richards stated, “It was very eye-opening and educational. It also clearly pointed out the need to perform and include a pre-scan of diagnostics on virtually all wrecked vehicles before the repair process begins.”

Ken Boylan, global training manager for Chief Industries, discussed new technology as well as the various metals and other materials used to manufacture new vehicles.

He also stressed the necessity of continuing education in order to make proper repairs since the repair process has changed drastically over the past five years.

Collision Safety Consultants Announce Fourth Location Billy Walkowiak, President and founder of Collison Safety Consultants, has announced the opening of the company’s fourth location.

Collision Safety Consultants of Southeastern Louisiana will serve the Greater New Orleans Area. The owners are Pat and Vera O’Brien.

“The company will follow our corporate mission,” said Walkowiak.

“They will do diminished value reports, perform post collision repair inspections and total loss vehicle valuations. They will be advocates working with lawyers, body shops, vehicle owners and automotive dealerships. They will also assist shops to improve quality control by advising them, helping them to locate and perform proper repair procedures.

For more information, call (504) 452-4428.

Additionally, Carl Dumele, CEO and president of Aeromotive, provided information on the steps and procedures involved in making their products. Richards referred to these processes as “very technologically advanced and definitely a great alternative when it comes to price savings as opposed to having to replace entire wiring harnesses and other connectors on damaged vehicles.”

Richards said, “The purpose of the event was to provide muchneeded education when it comes to making safe and proper repairs on today’s vehicles. We as shops need to be seeking out this type of information, and ABAT is committed to helping do that. Shops need to have a voice and an outlet upon which they can rely to obtain information.”

ABAT released their new website on May 16 at www.abat.us, and the association is busily preparing for its first conference and trade show to be held September 16-17.

www.autobodynews.com

Gerber Collision & Glass Opens New Repair Location in Sapulpa, OK C

The Boyd Group Inc. (the “Boyd Group”) has announced the acquisition and opening of a collision repair center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The center previously operated as Desert Rose Collision.

“This is our fifth location in the Tulsa region, and it complements our Sapulpa and Broken Arrow centers by providing additional capacity in the southern part of the city,” said Tim O’Day, president and COO of the Boyd Group’s U.S. operations. “In

addition, David Frankel, who has operated this location for many years, will be joining the Gerber team. Customers can be assured of continued high-quality and caring service, supported by the national Gerber brand.”

The Boyd Group is continuously looking to add new collision repair locations to its existing network in Canada and the U.S. For more information, contact Kim Allen, director of business development, at (847) 410-6003.

6 JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

Five UTI Houston Students Receive “Hire Our Heroes” Tool Grants and Scholarships

Five students from Universal Technical Institute’s (UTI) Houston campus were honored with scholarships from 3M and the Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF) in a ceremony held May 19.

The recipients are all military veterans

(l to r) Pedro Londono, 3M, Joe Olivares, UTI Houston instructorJoshua Tapia, UTI Houston student Roan Cowart, UTI Houston student Robert Rioux, UTI Houston student Ramiro Serrano, UTI Houston student Kevin Hill, UTI Houston student Rick Sanchez, 3M

enrolled in the school’s Collision Repair and Refinishing Technology (CRRT) program and were selected based on a written essay and instructor nominations.

Each year, 3M and CREF join together to award and support America’s heroes by providing funds for education and training within the collision repair industry for returning military veterans and their families through the Hire Our Heroes Tool Grant and Scholarship program.

Roan Cowart, an Army veteran from Guyton, GA; Ramiro Serrano, an Army veteran from Lockhart, TX; and Joshua Tapia, an Army veteran from Corpus Christi, TX were each awarded a $4,500 tool set.

Kevin Hill, an Army veteran from Fort Collins, CO, and Robert Rioux, a Marine Corps veteran from Walled Lake, MI were each awarded a $4,500 tool set and a $1,000 scholarship towards their tuition at UTI. “It’s our way, as a part of the community, to give back to the veterans that give so much to us,” Rick Sanchez, senior account representative for 3M, said. “We’re so proud to be able to do this year after year, and to present this scholarship to UTI students is a great honor.”

“We are committed to making a UTI education accessible and affordable, so we are thrilled to have partners such as 3M and the Collision Repair Education Foundation to help provide opportunities for our students to pursue careers as collision repair and refinishing technicians,” campus president Darrin Brust said.

For more information about UTI, scholarships, or the CRRT program, visit www.uti.edu.

www.autobodynews.com | JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS 7

Gerber Collision & Glass Opens New Repair Location in Oklahoma

The Boyd Group Inc. (the “Boyd Group”) announced the acquisition and opening of a collision repair center in Sapulpa, OK on May 20. The center previously operated as Finishing Touches Auto Body Shop and is located at the intersection of Route 66 and Highway 117.

“This new location adds to the three locations we already have in the Tulsa metropolitan area and provides a presence in the southwest region to better serve new customers and our insurance partners,” said Tim O’Day, president and COO of the Boyd Group’s U.S. operations.

“We are also proud to become part of the Sapulpa community and continue the high-quality service this center has provided for over 25 years.”

The Boyd Group is looking to add new collision repair locations to its existing network in Canada and the U.S. Interested collision repair center owners are asked to contact Kim Allen, director of business development at (847) 410-6003 or kim.allen@gerber collision.com.

ASA-CO Members Learn Importance of RecordKeeping

On May 9, members of the Automotive Service Association of Colorado (ASA-CO) attended a Learning Circle training session on record-keeping at Extreme Auto Repair in Parker, CO. The session was taught by Dennis Brewster, owner of Extreme Auto Repair, who said the meeting “Went very well. We discussed what records need to be kept and how long. I also let shop owners walk around my shop to see how we do things and ask questions.”

Brewster felt that the training session went better than expected and that attendees responded well to his attempts to educate them on the importance of record-keeping.

He believes that association-sponsored events are important to ASACO members because they “keep us up-to-date on how to be a good shop. Plus, we get to talk with other owners and find out how they conduct business so we can all be better.”

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8 JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

Global Finishing Solutions Adds Premier Collision Equipment to Distribution Team

Global Finishing Solutions (GFS) has announced that they are proud to welcome Premier Collision Equipment to the GFS distribution

team, bolstering their ability to provide service to automotive body shops in the Dallas, Fort Worth and surrounding Texas area. Premier Collision Equipment is a full-service distributor located in Grapevine, TX. “We are excited to be aligned with Premier Collision Equipment,” said Brandon Lowder, vice president of auto refinish sales at Global Finishing Solutions. “Not only will they provide GFS products to collision centers in Texas, they’ll also

ensure that our large customer base in that area has an excellent partner to count on for service of existing equipment.”

According to the company, Premier has a team of sales managers, service technicians and installers with more than 65 years of experience in the collision repair industry.

As a full-service distributor, Premier Collision Equipment offers product sales, installation, service and repair, preventative maintenance programs, and facility design and consulting services for body shops and collision centers in Texas.

Premier Collision Equipment provides a wide range of equipment for established body shops, new collision repair facilities or automotive businesses starting from scratch.

“GFS is excited to be Premier’s exclusive provider of paint booths, prep booths and accelerated curing systems,” the company said. In addition, Premier supplies frame equipment, dust extraction, air compressors, welders, breathable air systems, and measuring systems.

For more information, visit global finishing.com.

National Autobody Parts Warehouse Expands 2nd Location

National Autobody Parts Warehouse, Inc. in Grand Prairie, TX has expanded their inventory and presence in the Austin/San Antonio market with the recent addition of a 50,000square-foot distribution warehouse.

“With the expansion of our location in Pflugerville, TX, we better serve the day to day needs of the collision repair facilities in the Austin and San Antonio market” said Mike Dolabi, President of National Autobody Parts Warehouse, Inc. According to the company, the location at 16221 Central Commerce Drive is strategically placed to provide timely delivery of the highest quality aftermarket collision parts (specializing in NSF and CAPA certified parts) along with competitive pricing.

Modeled after the headquarters facility in Grand Prairie, TX, this location will carry over 40,000 SKU’s with an inventory that is reflective of the vehicle market in the surrounding Austin/San Antonio market.

National Autobody Parts Warehouse, Inc. distributes automotive aftermarket crash parts throughout the United States. For more information, contact Denise Caspersen at (800) 214-7222.

Same Faces, New Company Name: Former Allen Samuels Parts Director Talks about Benefits of Being Acquired by Autonation

by Stacey Phillips

Nearly five months ago, AutoNation acquired Allen Samuels Auto Group, based in Waco, Texas. Since then, Andy Reed, a parts director for AutoNation and former employee of Allen Samuels, said there have been great benefits for both employees and customers.

“It a good thing we were acquired

by AutoNation,” said Reed, who began working at Allen Samuels in 1997 as a parts director at the company and holds that same position with AutoNation CDJR North Richland Hills and AutoNation Hyundai North Richland Hills. “There’s a huge team out there that helps us work closely with our other AutoNation dealerships as far as growing our wholesale business. We can reach out to them for resources and so forth.”

Allen Samuels, founded in 1981, grew to include 1,000 employees with locations in Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Corpus Christi, Tyler, Ennis and Waco, Texas. AutoNation acquired its 12 stores and 31 franchises February 1, which included Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Chevrolet, Hyundai, Mercedes-

Benz and Sprinter.

Reed said they didn’t lose one employee through the conversion within the parts operation, and customers should notice no major changes. “It’s the same great service. We have the same friendly faces, same sales guys, the same wholesale team and delivery team, with all of the benefits that AutoNation brings as well,” he said. “If anything, there is improvement because we have the backing of a Fortune 500 company.”

Established in 1996, AutoNation is America’s largest automotive retailer and part of the S&P 500 Index. The company is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and owns and operates more than 340 new vehicle franchises, representing 35 brands in 15 states.

“AutoNation has sold over 10 million vehicles, the only auto retailer to achieve this milestone,” said Reed.

“AutoNation seeks to be the best-run, most profitable automotive retailer in the nation.”

The company’s products and services include new and used vehicles, automotive repair services (75 collision repair shops) and automo-

tive finance and insurance products.

Reed said the transition to AutoNation entailed a lot of preparation, organization and a team effort. The entire dealership underwent a complete change, with new computers, printers, phones and systems.

He said some of their goals include working together as a team with the other AutoNation stores to not only grow the business, but to offer a better product to help the collision industry with cycle time.

“We are excited about being part of such an amazing and growing company,” said Reed. “This is such a wonderful opportunity for me and my department to continue to grow and expand with a company that has a strong vision for the future. AutoNation truly cares about our customers and its associates.”

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Service King Contributes $75,000 to Two Texas Non-Profits Service King Collision Repair Centers and its Texas-based teammates recently hosted a pair of charity golf tournaments that combined to contribute more than $75,000 between Safe Place of Austin and The Arbor School in Houston.

The two tournaments took place May 2 and May 16, as Service King teammates continued the organization’s ongoing commitment to serve local communities in forms that stretch beyond collision repair.

Service King Presents big check to Safe Place of Austin and the Arbor School

“There are so many organizations who talk about being committed to their communities and then there are organizations, like Service King, who don’t just talk about it, but they show up and make a real impact by putting their energies and dollars into making their communities stronger

through their support,” said JuliAnna Jelinek, Executive Director of The Arbor School. “The Arbor School is so blessed to be on the receiving end of Service King’s efforts, and we could not be more thankful for the $50,000 gift that is helping us give more students with special needs the educational home they need and deserve.”

The Arbor School provides students with developmental disabilities a one-of-a-kind intensive educational program with 1:1 or 2:1 student/teacher ratios. Its vision is to provide hope and opportunity for any child with developmental delays. Service King’s $50,000 contribution will go directly to offsetting The Arbor School’s operational costs as its tuition cannot cover it alone.

“This was truly a special time for all Service King teammates as we continue in our mission of connecting and supporting the heart of our local communities,” said Jeff McFadden, Service King President. “We cherish our relationships with both Safe Place and The Arbor School and it’s a privilege to support their great initiatives across South Texas and the surrounding areas.”

Albuquerque MSO Car Crafters Joins 1stCERTIFIED™ Network

Certified Collision Group™ (CCG), a certifications provider to the automotive collision repair and insurance communities, announced the addition of Car Crafters Collision Centers in Albuquerque, NM. With the addition of the Car Crafters five locations as well as four others, CCG is on pace

to meet the forecasted center count of 130 locations by year’s end.

Car Crafters provides Collision, Mechanical and Auto Glass services from their five locations in Montano and Carmony in the North Valley. Car Crafters is owned and managed by CEO Jim Guthrie, who began in the business as a technician in 1980. Family-operated and long recognized for its commitment to customer service, Car Crafters demonstrates its pledge to repair quality through its wide range of OEM Certifications, I-CAR Gold and VeriFacts VQ statuses.

“CCG provides Car Crafters a

unique and effective national relationship management platform to compete more effectively based on our advanced repair capabilities and proven ability to achieve KPI objectives,” stated Jim Guthrie, CEO of Car Crafters. “We see CCG playing a significant role in the evolving collision repair space and professionally representing independent shops like ours to consumers, insurers, vehicle manufacturers and vendors.”

“We are proud to add Jim Guthrie and his team to our family of CCG 1stCERTIFIED™ network providers; truly the best of the best in our industry,” stated Bruce Bares, CEO/president of Certified Collision Group.

“Performance-driven independent repairers who demonstrate their commitment to the proper repair of today’s technologically advanced vehicles through ongoing training and OEM Certifications, like Car Crafters, will dominate the repair landscape as vehicle technologies continue to advance at a quickening pace.”

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10 JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

Safe Place of Austin provides oncampus services for individuals and families affected by sexual and domestic violence and proudly partners with community leaders to curb attitudes and behaviors that perpetuate acceptance of such crimes.

Service King has proudly hosted numerous charity events in support of the organization in recent years.

Service King, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, contributed more than $500,000 to local non-profit organizations in 2015. The organization operates collision repair centers in 23 states across the U.S. For more information on the organization and to locate a local collision repair center, please visit www .ServiceKing.com

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Car-O-Liner Receives Lamborghini Approval

Car-O-Liner® has announced that Automobili Lamborghini has approved Car-O-Liner frame straightening and measuring systems.

The approval includes the Car-O-Liner Quick 42 frame alignment system, the Car-O-Tronic Vision2 X3 electronic measuring system, and the EVO anchoring, holding and fixturing system. According to the company, only Lamborghini-approved workshops will be given access to Lamborghini data found in the Car-O-Liner CarO-Data vehicle measurement database.

“We are very happy and proud to welcome Lamborghini as a partner along with the other members of the Volkswagen Group: Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, Seat, and Porsche,” said Stephen Paschke, Sales Director for Car-O-Liner GmbH. “This global partnership is further proof that Car-O-Liner equipment meets the high standards for product performance, service, support and distribution required by one of the leading vehicle manufacturers in the world.”

For more information, visit www.car-o-liner.com.

www.autobodynews.com | JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS 11

Chip Foose and KC Mathieu Demonstrate Spray Gun Duel at BASF Automotive Refinish Open House

On June 7, Chris Toomey, BASF senior vice president, Coatings Solutions North America, welcomed guests and hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony for BASF’s new Houston competence center alongside members of the Lake Houston Area Chamber of Commerce and real estate developer Trammel Crow.

The highlight of the open house was the appearance of automotive designers Chip Foose, owner of Foose Design, and KC Mathieu, previously featured on Discovery Channel’s hit series Fast N’ Loud.

“Our new competence center in the Southwest illustrates our commitment, not only to the automotive refin-

ish market, but also to our distributors and collision repair shops in the area,” said Toomey. “It’s great to have Chip and KC here to highlight their commitment to Glasurit® and R-M®. We’re honored that top designers and restorers exclusively use BASF paint systems.”

BASF opened the 13,000 square foot building in March.

According to the company, the center includes the latest in virtual and in-person training facilities, state-of-the-art spray booths and market-leading application equipment to enable next generation training for all job functions in the collision repair industry.

Caption: Chip Foose and KC Mathieu prepare For more information, visit for a spray gun duel at the BASF Houston www.basf.com.

Competence Center Open House

Technaglass Accelerates Expansion In Colorado

TechnaGlass has announced that it has expanded within the state of Colorado with five retail locations, providing full market coverage in Denver and Colorado Springs.

According to the company, this expansion is a key part of TechnaGlass’ growth strategy and mission to become the auto glass provider of choice in every market they serve.

TechnaGlass now provides service across the greater Denver market through three retail locations: a recently-opened store in Lakewood, formerly Best Buy Auto Glass; a newly-acquired TechnaGlass retail location in Denver, formerly operated by a TechnaGlass franchisee; and an existing TechnaGlass location in Parker. TechnaGlass is now able to provide auto glass repair and replacement services at these three locations or through its fleet of mobile techni-

cians across the larger Denver-metro area.

In addition, TechnaGlass has announced the acquisition of Affordable Auto Glass and Custom & Classic Auto Glass in Colorado Springs. The combined companies will operate under the TechnaGlass banner.

TechnaGlass also has an existing retail location in Grand Junction.

“Expanding the TechnaGlass brand in Colorado is a key part of our growth strategy, and we are excited about the team we have assembled in this market. Our purpose is to provide customers in Colorado with an outstanding auto glass experience, and these new locations enable us to do that,” said Troy Mason, CEO and founder of TechnaGlass.

For more information, visit www .technaglass.com.

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12 JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

Continued from Cover

U.S. House Hearings

plained how quality training benefits not only the students, but their community and the specific industry overall.

“Toyota’s direct and indirect employment needs in the U.S. are significant,” Bates said. “In fact, they are much like other large-scale, engineering-based and advanced manufacturing companies in the United States.

Consequently, Toyota faces formidable challenges arising from our country’s skills gap.

“By ‘skills gap,’ I mean the mismatch between the demands of a rapidly changing workplace and the shortfalls in the academic preparations that young people have acquired in high school and college. For example, the job of a maintenance technician at Toyota Bodine is very different today than it was 15 years ago. In the past, a technician likely focused on just one craft, say electrical. Today, that technician is expected to perform multiple tasks such as electrical, fluid power and mechanical. In the 10 years my plant has been operational, we were never at 100

percent employment in this job category—that is until now, thanks to the collaborations we have with the local education system.”

The members of the committee echoed the witnesses’ concerns. In his opening statement, Rep. John Kline, chairman, R-Minn., said, “This is an important conversation to have now because an anemic economy has made good-paying jobs hard to come by…

For young people entering this kind of job market, having the right skills and experience is essential. Career and technical education programs can provide these critical tools, and we have to ensure federal support for these programs is delivered in the most efficient and effective manner possible.

The Automotive Service Association is the largest not-for-profit trade association of its kind dedicated to and governed by independent automotive service and repair professionals. ASA serves an international membership base that includes numerous affiliate, state and chapter groups from both the mechanical and collision repair segments of the automotive service industry.

See www.ASAshop.org or call (817) 514-2900.

www.autobodynews.com | JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS 13

Tennessee “Steering” Lawsuit Against Progressive Insurance Dismissed

by Stacey Phillips

A lawsuit filed by a Tennessee body shop against Progressive Hawaii Insurance Corporation for alleged “steering” and underpayment of claims has been dismissed. In 2011, Price’s Collision Centers sued the insurance company for tortious interference of business relationships and breach of contract. A court date had been set for this fall.

The case was dismissed in April with prejudice, which means it cannot be refiled. There was no reason given for the ruling, and William Ramsey of Neal & Harwell, the lead attorney for the Plaintiff, declined to comment on the case. Progressive Insurance also declined to comment. Each party will pay their own attorney fees and other costs related to the case.

Based in Brentwood, Williamson County, TN, Price’s Collision Centers was established in 2000 and currently operates nine full-service collision center locations in Tennessee and Kentucky.

Price’s Collision, owned by Bobby Price, originally filed the claim on behalf of two of its cus-

tomers, Anne Crockett and Nicole Crosby. Both customers brought in their vehicles to be repaired following two separate accidents that occurred in June 2011. While repairing the vehicles, auto body technicians at Price’s identified additional repairs that were not on the original estimates written up by Progressive.

The body shop requested that the supplemental repairs be approved. Despite repeated requests, the Plaintiff alleged that Progressive refused to pay for the charges, which were $693.01 for a 2007 Honda Accord and $927.04 for a 2010 Honda Civic LX. Crockett and Crosby both asked the body shop to file a claim on their behalf and the cases were eventually consolidated. Price’s sued for breach of contract, violations of the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and tortious interference with business relationships in 2011. After the court ruled against Price’s Collision, the body shop appealed the case in November of that year. In 2013, the court dismissed the claim of TCPA. In court documents, Price’s Collision claimed that “…the Defendant’s

14 JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

refusal to pay for the supplemental repairs is part of a broader campaign waged against the Plantiff’s business.”

They further stated, “… in an effort to damage the Plaintiff’s business and ultimately drive the Plaintiff from the marketplace, the Defendant ‘steers’ customers away from the Plaintiff’s shop either by actively discouraging its customers from having repairs done at the Plaintiff’s shop and/or by discouraging customers from returning to the Plaintiff’s shop by refusing to pay for the total amount of the repair and leaving the customer ultimately responsible for the balance of the cost of the repair.”

David Edwards, a former of employee of Progressive, provided a sworn affidavit in 2014. Edwards worked as an estimator, supervisor, network manager and expert process property damage specialist during the 17 years he was employed at the insurance company.

His final job was as a managed repair representative, assisting in writing estimates in areas with high volume.

In 2014, he worked exclusively with claimants or insureds who brought their vehicles to Price’s.

“In my opinion, Progressive employees did intentionally steer insureds and claimants way from Price’s Collision Center,” Edwards said in the affidavit. “Progressive employees would do so by saying derogatory things about Price’s Collision Centers to the insureds and/or claimants. For example, Progressive employees would tell claimants or insureds that repairs at Price’s would take an inordinate amount of time, would cost too much, and would leave the insured potentially liable for the cost of a repair that was not ‘guaranteed.’ At the same time, the Progressive employees would be talking positively about network shops to induce the insured or claimant to bring his or her vehicle in network.”

Edwards further stated that, “In instances where a Progressive insured or claimant would bring his or her car to Price’s despite the steering, Progressive routinely denied payment on supplements. Despite these supplements being for required repairs, Progressive regularly refused to pay for supplemental repairs requested by Price’s and did so both to save money See TN Lawsuit, Next Page

Continued from Cover

OEM Training

Introducing the 2017 F-Series Super Duty—Join in on the discussion about Ford’s aluminum-body truck lineup.

This repairability presentation will include specifics about the F-150 and the 2017 F-Series Super Duty, including Ford-approved repair procedures and a Q&A session for technicians to speak personally with Ford service engineers. Gerry Bonnani, Service Engineer, Paint and Body Repair, Ford Motor Company AUDI OF AMERICA: Introducing the 2017 Audi Q7 Hybrid - Learn the material construction and repair methodology of the new 2017 Audi Q7 Hybrid. Mark Allen, Collision Programs and Workshop Equipment Specialist, Audi of America AMERICAN HONDA MOTOR CO.: 2016 Honda Pilot and Civic body technology and Honda’s Pro First Certified Collision Repair Facility Program - Learn about Honda’s latest collision industry support activities and accomplishments. This class will include an overview of body technology on the 2016 Honda Pilot and

Civic and the ProFirst Certified Collision Repair Facility Program. Gary Ledoux, Assistant National Manager, Collision Parts Marketing, American Honda Motor Co., Inc. Chris Tobie, Collision Business Specialist, American Honda Motor Co., Inc. GENERAL MOTORS: Focus on the customer and the importance of a safe repair & overview of Cadillac CT6 Repair Procedures - With a wide range of repair challenges facing the industry GM is focused on helping bodyshops access information to make quality, safe repairs. This class will cover “what’s new” at GM along with how to access new repair information. GM will also discuss the repair procedures for the all new aluminum unibody Cadillac CT6.

John Eck, Manager, Wholesale Dealer Channel, General Motors

TOYOTA MOTOR SALES: Work Smarter. Not Harder. New Skills For Repair Challenges! - James Meyer will demonstrate how Toyota’s Fix it Right the First Time philosophy pays off. Hence our claim that Toyota Collision Repair & Refinish doesn’t cost, it pays. This will be accomplished through a presentation on a typical non-structural/structural repair chal-

lenge, in which some repairers might guess at the right thing to do instead of planning the repair using skill and information resources learned during instructor-led training. James Meyer, Technical Training Administrator, Sr., Toyota Motor Sales

SERVICE READY: HONDA - Join Honda’s Valerie Sullivan and her team as they show service repair shops how to be Service Ready for their brand.

From Service information, Scan Tools, Key and immobilizer codes learn what is available and how you can utilize these resources to make your shop more successful when servicing American Honda vehicles. Valerie Sullivan, Parts & Service Communications, American Honda Motor Co “The support and participation of the car manufacturers is significant to the show’s development. Although NACE | CARS received support in the past, the industry has never before experienced this level of OEM involvement. Service and repair professionals will benefit from attending and learning directly from the car manufacturers on how to repair the cars of today and tomorrow,” said Dan Risley, ASA president and executive director.

According to NACE, “No other event offers this level and diversity of repair training while bringing together all facets of the automotive industry like NACE | CARS. Targeting business owners, management and technicians, this conference and exposition brings together all market segments for the latest and most comprehensive repair solutions, services, education, products and technology.”

For more information, visit www .NACEexpo.com or www.CARSevent .com.

TN Lawsuit

Continued from Page 14

and to also discourage insureds and claimants from ever returning to Price’s.”

Price’s Collision filed a similar complaint in 2014 against GEICO Insurance Company and Bob Taylor, a GEICO motor vehicle claims adjustor, for tortious interference with existing and prospective business relationships and slander. The parties have agreed to an order to attend mediation in 2016.

www.autobodynews.com | JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS 15

GM Manager Addresses State of Collision Repair Business; Considering Certification Program cian readiness for new technologies.

When it comes to the ease of reDuring a recent Verifacts Guild 21 pairs, he said that OEMs can help imwebinar, General Motors manager prove repair procedure content to John Eck talked about the make it easier to access. In complexity of the collision addition, OEMs can take the repair industry, the imporrepair learnings from body tance of quality repairs and shops and share them with how the company is considthe teams that work with veering the possibility of estabhicle development engineers. lishing an OEM collision Eck is finding that the acrepair certification program. John Eck, manager tual quality of repairs is an Eck said the ultimate of wholesale dealer area that collision repairers goal is a quality, safe repair channel for General are looking to OEMs for supMotors Customer for the customer. “That’s who port and said OEM certificaCare & Aftersales I work for,” said Eck, the tion is a step in that direction. manager of wholesale dealer channel During the webinar, he shared for General Motors Customer Care & data with attendees on repairs that were Aftersales. “We want the outcome to done on GM mid-size SUVs over a be a satisfied customer driving away three-year span. Looking at the perin a vehicle that has been repaired to centage of vehicles that were being repre-crash conditions using the right paired versus replaced, it was found procedures, parts, processes and qualthat over 50 percent of the time they ity checks. There is no alternative.” were being repaired. “We are very conWith more than 25 years of autocerned about the repair quality of the motive aftermarket experience with vehicle coming out,” said Eck. General Motors, Eck has held numerTechnology readiness is another ous field, marketing and management big concern for the industry, espepositions in several business segments cially for OEMs, according to Eck. In in the United States, Canada and South addition to industry age numbers, anAfrica. other worry is whether or not the

by Stacey Phillips, Assistant Editor

“We see an industry that needs to expand and grow and be ready for the challenges that I see coming down the pike from the OEMs’ perspective,” — John Eck, manager at GM

“Vehicles are complex, the dynamics of our stakeholder relationships are complex, and the repair process is as well,” said Eck. “Sometimes it’s interesting and even necessary to take a step back and all of the changes we have seen and the rate of change that will clearly indicate that this is clearly not going to slow down on us.”

He said there are several areas of concern currently working against collision repair shops.

One of these is that the equity balance of influence of a repair is in flux, whether that involves managing relationships, metrics or costs. “The collision repair facility feels the pressure in how a safe, quality repair is completed,” said Eck. Economics plays a key role in this; however, he said the concern is the point of balance when economics overrule certain repair decisions.

Eck said that OEMs can assist in the following areas: ease of repairs, actual quality of repairs, and techni-

training that is taking place is actually being replicated in the shops. “We have to leverage existing technologies and use some technologies that are in other industries to help audit and verify repairs,” he said.

He mentioned there are additional factors causing change in the industry, such as MSO growth with the rise of consolidations. In response, GM is working with MSOs to understand their concerns in order to help better meet their needs.

“The industry has already changed,” said Eck. “We see an industry that needs to expand and grow and be ready for the challenges that I see coming down the pike from the OEMs’ perspective.”

To respond to some of these changes in the industry, GM recently redesigned its website (www.genuine gmparts.com) to better support collision repairers. There is now content for both consumers and professionals.

GM is also currently looking at

16 JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

the impact on the industry in the following areas: ● OEM certification programs; ● Cost to shop for tools and training; ● Proliferation of collision crash avoidance and telematics; ● OEM repair procedure requirements and influence; ● Change from just selling OEM parts to focus on the customer and a quality and safe repair.

“The solutions we may come to find out may not necessarily be what some want to hear,” said Eck. “At least if we acknowledge these points, we can then collaborate together, on ways to minimize the negative impact that they might have on the collision repair business.”

With the overwhelming speed of change, Eck said that stakeholders need to work together and collaborate to better understand the issues at hand.

This includes repairers, insurers and OEMS. “We can’t do this alone,” said Eck. “We see huge benefits of collaboration and integration.”

Eck said GM is planning to put more emphasis on tech repair and support. By understanding the repair proce-

dures up front, it will help drive the correct parts decisions to ensure vehicles are being repaired to OEM standards.

In regards to General Motors’ plans for a possible certification program, Eck said the company agrees with certification but wants to ensure there is a focus on the output. He said it will take some time and stressed the importance of having discussions with stakeholders about how to best move forward.

“We can’t look at it from just GMs perspective,” said Eck. “We need to look at the rest of the stakeholders involved.”

Eck said the requirements to become a certified/authorized repair facility include tools, training, facilities, processes, tracking and OEM specific requirements. Areas that GM will be focusing on include a combination of industry outreach, repair procedures, training and verification.

The desired outcome is a quality, safe repair that restores the vehicle back to pre-crash condition. “You and your repair facility want your output to be a product you would put your family in without question or concern,” said Eck. “You want your customers to be satisfied.”

www.autobodynews.com | JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS 17

Continued from Cover

MS and IN Lawsuits

“…by conspiring to suppress the amounts they are obligated to pay for automobile repairs,” according to court documents.

Mississippi Case Capitol Body Shop, et al v. State Farm, et al. was the first of the 24 lawsuits filed. The court dismissed the claims in the Mississippi case on February 27, 2015 and the plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint. They alleged violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act, state law claims for tortious interference with business relations, quantum meruit, and a violation of Mississippi Code.

In 2015, Magistrate Judge Thomas Smith was asked by Judge Presnell to prepare a Report and Recommendation on whether or not the lawsuits’ should be allowed to move forward.

Except for four tortious interference claims, Judge Smith recommended that the state law claims be dismissed with prejudice in the Mississippi lawsuit. However, on May 27, Judge Presnell dismissed all of the state claims in the case.

In regards to tortious interference, “…the plaintiffs contend that the defendants tortiously interfered with their prospective business relationships by ‘steering’ insureds who intended to have repairs performed by one of the plaintiffs of a competing shop,” court documents stated.

According to Mississippi law, there are four elements to prove this claim:

1) The acts were intentional and willful; 2) The acts were calculated to cause damage to the plaintiffs in their lawful business; 3) The acts were done with the unlawful purpose of causing damage and loss, without right or justifiable cause on the part of the defendant (which constitutes malice); 4) Actual damage and loss resulted.

According to court documents, Judge Smith determined that most were too vague and conclusory to state a claim.

However, he did note in his Report and Recommendation four instances when the plaintiffs alleged that a defendant steered its insured away from a plaintiff’s shop and recommended

that the claims not be dismissed.

Judge Presnell disregarded this recommendation and dismissed the claim of tortious interference with prejudice.

“To state a claim for tortious interference, the plaintiffs must allege that the acts were done with malice— that is, with the unlawful purpose of causing damage and loss,” said Presnell in court documents. “There are no allegations that these plaintiffs had complained about the payment ceilings set by the defendants, so punishment could not have been the driving force behind the steering.”

The plantiffs based their quantum meruit claim “… on the defendants’ refusal to pay what the plaintiffs believed to be the true market price for the repairs they performed,” according to court documents. Quantum Meruit refers to the reasonable amount to be paid for services when a contract doesn’t exist.

In order to establish grounds for quantum meruit under Mississippi law, a prerequisite is a “claimant’s reasonable expectation of compensation.” In his Report and Recommendation, Judge Smith concluded that the plaintiffs knew the cost the defendant was willing to pay when performing a repair, so there couldn’t have been an expectation to be paid more.

In regards to the statutory claim, the plaintiffs argued that according to Mississippi Code, insurers are prohibited from having vehicles be repaired at certain shops and are required to pay for a proper and fair repair of the insured’s vehicle. Planitiffs alleged that the defendants violated these obligations.

“Judge Smith found that the statutory provision did not impose a duty upon insurers to pay the price of a ‘proper and fair repair’ and, in addition, it did not provide for a private right of action,” court documents stated.

The Sherman Antitrust Acts were resolved by a different order.

Indiana Case Following the dismissal of claims in the Indiana case on March 30, 2015, the plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint. They asserted two claims for alleged violations of the Sherman Act, state law claims for tortious interference with a business relationship, and quantum meruit. The Sherman Antitrust Act claims were previously dismissed, with prejudice.

In Judge Smith’s Report and Recommendation, he stated that all of the

18 JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

plaintiff’s state law claims be dismissed with prejudice. After consideration, Judge Presnell concurred with his recommendation.

Regarding tortious interference, the plaintiffs alleged that the defendants, “have repeatedly steered and attempted to steer customers who have either initiated or verbalized the intent to initiate a business relationship/ transaction with a plaintiff from the plaintiffs’ respective businesses through their repeated campaign of misrepresentation of facts, failure to verify facts damaging or tending to cause damage to the plantiffs’ business reputations before conveying the same to members of the public…implications of poor quality work, poor quality efficiency, poor business ethics and practices, and unreliability.”

Under Indiana law, to prove a claim of tortious interference with a business relationship, there needs to be the following:

1) The existence of a valid business relationship; 2) of which the defendant knew; 3) in which the defendant intentionally and illegally interfered; 4) without justification; and

2118 South Padre Island Drive Corpus Christi, TX 78416

5) damage to the plaintiff resulting from the defendant’s interference.

In his Report and Recommendation, Judge Smith concluded that the plaintiffs did not state a claim for tortious interference. According to court documents, he found that none of the four instances of steering cited by the plaintiffs were alleged to be successful. “As such, none of the plaintiffs had suffered a cognizable injury resulting from the interference, as required to state a claim under Indiana law.”

The plaintiffs’ also alleged quantum meruit. According to court documents, “They complain that they have “performed valuable services and expended material resources with the reasonable expectation of payment/ compensation’ but that the defendants have refused to provide ‘full payment’ for those services and materials.”

The three elements for a claim of quantum meruit, under Indiana law are: 1) a benefit conferred upon another at the express or implied request of this other party; See MS and IN Lawsuits, Page 27

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Moorhead Auto Body Shop Owner Says Insurance Agents Using Illegal Tactic

by Angie Wieck, Forum News Service

MOORHEAD, Minn. — The owner of Lloyd’s Auto Body in Moorhead is fed up with “steering” — when customers are advised, or coerced, by their insurance agent to use a preferred vendor after an accident.

Steering is against the law in Minnesota, but Lloyd Van Raden says it still happens. He wants insurance policyholders to know they have the right to choose where their auto repairs are made.

Insurance companies agree to refer clients to preferred shops through what is known as a Direct Repair Program. In exchange for referrals, these shops often agree to complete repairs at discounted prices determined by the insurer.

Van Raden is opposed to DRPs because he said they can encourage shop owners to take shortcuts or use inferior parts. That’s why he says it’s important policyholders know they have a choice.

“It is what it is and it’s always going to be. We’re never going to fix this, but we can try to let the public know they’ve got rights,” he said.

Policyholder rights: Judell Anderson, executive director of the Al-

liance of Automotive Service Providers in Minnesota, said insurance companies doing business in the state are required to provide the following statement to

company cannot make further attempts to convince him or her to use a certain shop, Anderson said.

The Minnesota Department of Commerce relies on tips from policyholders and repair shops to enforce the law.

The department recently imposed a civil penalty of $150,000 against the Auto Club Group for failing to provide the required notification and using a number of steering tactics such as informing policyholders they may not receive a warranty for work performed by non-preferred Lloyd Van Raden uses a pneumatic tool to drill out a spot glass vendors.

Laws against insurance weld on a truck body he is repairing at his shop, Lloyd’s steering do not exist in North Auto Body Inc., Wednesday, May 18, 2016, in Moorhead.

Dakota.

Credit: Dave Wallis, Forum News Source A preferred vendor relationpolicyholders once a claim is made: ship does not necessarily mean inferior “You have the legal right to parts or service. Anderson suggests choose a repair shop to fix your vehi- policyholders do the homework as they cle. Your policy will cover the reason- would before making any other major able cost of repairing a vehicle to its purchase. pre-accident condition no matter where “Check out reviews and that type you have repairs made. Have you se- of thing. Just because an insurance lected a repair shop or would you like company recommends a shop doesn’t a referral?” mean that shop is the only or the best If the policyholder replies that he shop to undertake those repairs,” she or she has selected one, the insurance said.

State Farm maintains a Select Service program, but spokesperson Holly Anderson said policyholders are informed they’re free to choose where repairs are made.

“A vibrant, profitable auto collision repair industry is in the interest of State Farm. At the same time, we are advocates on behalf of our customers for reasonable repair costs,” Anderson said. “We believe repairer profitability and quality auto repairs that are reasonably priced can both be achieved.”

Common phrases used to influence policyholders, provided by the Alliance of Automotive Service Providers in Minnesota:

▪ The shop you chose is not on our list.

▪ We can’t guarantee the repairs if your vehicle is repaired at the shop you chose.

▪ Your repairs could be delayed if you don’t use the shops on our list.

▪ You may be responsible for additional costs if repaired at the shop you chose.

Thank you to Angie Wiecks and Forum News Source for reprint permission.

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20 JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

Number of Days

Preparations Underway for Fall Automechanika Chicago Commitment to Training Events

Automechanika Chicago and its organizers Messe Frankfurt and UBM Americas | Automotive Group (formerly Advanstar Communications, Inc.) had more than 100 automotive professionals attend their inaugural single-day training program at Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, MI. Preparations are underway for two fall events in cooperation with technical colleges in select markets to help support automotive repair professionals in the service repair and collision repair markets.

According to Automechanika, the series of free training programs began in May as part of a new “Commitment To Training” initiative supported by the generosity of industry sponsors. Top instructors from both the mechanical and

collision repair industries presented their classes to full rooms. Automotive professionals from as far away as New York, New Hampshire, Illinois, Ohio, Virginia and Ontario, Canada attended the event. Attendees received certificates toward continuing education credits, including AMi and NATEF certifications.

The facility hosted the inaugural event as part of the initiative aimed at training today’s automotive professionals while providing them with a network to learn from peers.

“I’m very excited by the response to our first one-day training event,” said Pete Meier, director of training for UBM’s Automotive Group, which includes Motor Age and ABRN magazines. “The professionals who attended

G. Jerry Truglia of Technicians Service Training educates auto shop technicians about proper diagnostic techniques during May’s Automechanika Chicago Commitment to Training event at Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, Mich. Credit: PRNews Foto/UBM Americas)

the event really understand the need to continue learning about the changing technology and procedures needed to re-

pair vehicles today. I think they all took away lessons they can use immediately in their shops around the country.”

Mike Rowe, a technician at H&I Expert Auto Care in Rochester Hills, MI, learned about the event through Motor Age Training and while studying to become ASE certified. “I want to be better at what I’m doing and have answers for questions from customers,” he said, adding he was excited to learn from Meier and his electrical and scope class. “I’ve seen him on YouTube, and seeing him in real life was a lot of fun and very informative.”

Trainers for the sessions included Mike Anderson of Collision Advice; G. Jerry Truglia of ATTS and TST; Larry Montanez of P&L Consultants; Brad Mewes of Supplement, and Meier.

In additional to his two educational sessions, Anderson presented an industry keynote during breakfast and representatives from the Advanced Transportation Center at Washtenaw Community College introduced attendees to the program that focuses on connected vehicles and the associated infrastructure. Attendees toured the facility following a catered lunch.

The event at Washtenaw Community College was the first of three nocost live events scheduled for 2016.

Events are scheduled for Oct. 15 at Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton, WI and Nov. 19 at Joliet Junior College in Joliet, IL. Details of the events will be available once registration begins later this summer.

The Commitment to Training program is made possible by support from manufacturer sponsors Carquest Technical Institute, Delphi, Garmat USA, Abaris Training, Mitchell 1, PPG, Polyvance, Pico Technology, Schaeffler Automotive Aftermarket, Mitchell International, Motor Age Training, Axalta and GFS. “We’re very fortunate to have the involvement of leading companies in the service repair and collision repair market as we continue our ongoing efforts to properly train shop owners, managers, technicians and educators,” said Jim Savas, vice president of UBM Americas, Automotive Group. “This program, in partnership with vocational colleges in Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin will feature instructors known for providing outstanding content that can help shops keep pace with changing vehicle technology.”

The initiative culminates at Automechanika Chicago 2017, scheduled for July 26-29 in Chicago. For more information, visit http://automechanika .searchautoparts.com/commitment-totraining.

www.autobodynews.com | JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS 21

Continued from Cover

MI Bill Veto

compromise. The amendments were made and voted on in the Senate with a 33-4 vote in favor of the amended bill and returned to the House.

On May 31, Rep. Pettalia reintroduced an amendment to the bill that provided the opportunity for the vehicle owner to authorize in writing the use of non-certified aftermarket parts during a repair. The House then voted on the bill with 86-23 in favor and sent to the Senate for concurrence to the changes, which did occur. It also received an affirmative vote of 33-3 the next day with one Senator being absent.

The following amendment was added to House Bill 4344: If a motor vehicle repair facility that is subject to this act replaces a major component part described in section 2A(A)(iii) to (xiv) during the term of the vehicle manufacturer’s original warranty, or during the first 5 years of the vehicle manufacturer’s original warranty, whichever is less, the motor vehicle repair facility shall replace the major component part, and a person that is an owner or operator of the motor vehicle repair facility shall ensure that the major component part is replaced with 1 of the following: (A) A new original equipment manufacturer part; (B) A used or a recycled original equipment manufacturer part; (C) A part that meets any applicable federal motor vehicle safety standards established under 49 CFR 571, and meets the standards for parts recognized as OEM comparable quality as verified by the Certified Automotive Parts Association, NSF International, or another nationally recognized automotive parts testing agency.

(D) A part that does not meet subdivision (A), (B), or (C), if the facility is directed by the owner of the motor vehicle in writing to install that part.

“On its face, this policy seems to be intended to protect consumers and ensure vehicles are safely repaired. That is a laudable goal,” Snyder wrote. “The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety indicates that some structural parts, such as bumpers, do impact a consumer’s safety. However, the Institute also points out that some parts, such as fenders, grills, door skins, bumper covers, etc. are primarily cosmetic and ‘are irrelevant to crash safety.’ This bill doesn’t

sufficiently delineate between the two types of parts, thereby limiting the use of safe, high-quality aftermarket parts designed specifically for particular vehicles.”

In his veto letter, Snyder also voiced concern that HB 4344 would negatively affect auto insurance prices in Michigan. “ReRay Fisher quiring OEM parts file photo when a perfectly suitable and safe aftermarket part is available at a lower price will result in higher costs to insurers; higher costs which will be passed on to consumers in the form of increased premiums, deductibles, or both,” he said. “Those increased costs would be directly attributable to artificially limiting competition by requiring OEM parts when less expensive aftermarket parts are available.”

The Auto Care Association (ACA) issued a press release on June 3 voicing the association’s concerns over the bill being passed and urged members in Michigan to contact the governor’s office and request that he veto the bill.

ACA said the new restrictions using “major component parts” only apply to sheet metal and body parts.

“The Auto Care Association is extremely concerned with the bill author’s intent to restrict the vehicle repair community’s access to the broad range of non-OEM parts,” ACA wrote in the press release. “Based on this language, it would not be difficult for vehicle manufacturers to lobby to extend these requirements to many other aftermarket parts, as we have seen attempted in other states. Such action would provide a clear competitive advantage for OEM parts over those sources from the independent aftermarket.”

The ACA applauded the governor’s veto. “We had a tremendous effort from the industry to communicate directly with the governor’s office and I have to thank everyone who took the time to personally write the governor,” said Bill Hanvey, president and CEO of ACA. “We worked hard to sit down with the stakeholders early on in this process, but those efforts did not produce the compromise we were seeking, and we are very grateful that Governor Snyder had the astute ability to get to the heart of the matter and send this bill back to the legislature.”

22 JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

Ray Fisher of ASA-MI Responds Autobody News spoke to Ray Fisher, executive director of ASA-Michigan, about House Bill 4344. Fisher has been on a mission to update the state law in order to ensure that all parts used in collision repairs are certified.

What is your reaction to GovQ: ernor Rick Snyder’s veto of HB 4344?

It is disappointing, but we remain optimistic and focused A: on our cause. There was a great deal

of misinformation that circulated that was never part of HB 4344 and created fear. I could spend time contesting various statements, but what good would that serve? The governor, by law, had only 14 days to respond or it became law, so his window of opportunity to be completely informed on the issue with so many other things going on was limited – keep in mind we have the Flint water crisis and the challenges of the Detroit Public Schools needing his attention. Our objective remains that it is the right thing to do and we will continue forward with our goal accordingly.

Can you give us some backQ: ground about The Motor Vehicle Service Repair Act and how you became involved in helping to update it?

Michigan is one of multiple A: states that with a few exceptions, requires an automotive repair

facility and its technicians to be registered/licensed under the Motor Vehicle Service and Repair Act (Act 300 of 1974). Technicians must also identify the specialties they employ.

The act has had very few updates since its inception. Upon taking over as executive director of ASA-Michigan in January 2010, I began working with the secretary of state’s office to update the bill. Off and on for the previous 10 years it was discussed but really did not seem to get anywhere outside of a few meetings.

We began with our collision and mechanical division committees here in Michigan, met with key personnel at the secretary of state’s office and also held meetings at a grass root level with some of the legislators, both in the House and Senate. We stayed focused on the issues and continued on our path.

See MI Bill Veto , Page 24

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Continued from Page 22

MI Bill Veto

In 2014, a state representative had a constituent that had been taken advantage of in the Metro Detroit area and the representative was surprised about some of the “holes in the system” that had occurred over the past 40 years. Unfortunately, it took a victim to prioritize this task, but we were already there and working on things, so it began moving quickly.

Q: A bill was first introduced in A: 2014, but it had little time for the 60 plus pages of revision. In the

When was House Bill 4344 introduced?

spring of 2015, it was resurrected with the new term and the bill was introduced. It weathered multiple meetings, went through the sub-committee with a few changes and onto the House floor where it was delayed – basically because what has been deemed “controversy over aftermarket parts.”

In a section of the rules from 1974, under the definitions of fraud and misrepresentation, the verbiage of “merchantability of parts” was used.

Over the past decade or more, I was hearing more and more from the collision repair industry about the quality of some of the aftermarket parts they were being asked to use.

Due to today’s vehicles having multiple airbag systems, seatbelt tensioners and other safety devices on their vehicles, I could no longer accept the vagueness of the term “merchantability of parts,” so I sought to define it and took props as I did – my job was to protect my independent repair facilities and they in turn, their customers!

What were some of the changes Q: incorporated into the bill?

Keep in mind that this applies A: to mechanical and collision repair facilities here in Michigan, so

many of the changes were to update the law; a lot has changed in 42 years.

Picture for a second a 1974 Chevrolet Impala and a 2016 Chevrolet Impala…I would say the vehicles and technology have changed a little. Paraphrasing the law as it currently stands from 1974, anything $20 or more had to have a written estimate before work could be performed and if any additional work was needed, the work

could not exceed $10 or 10% of the original cost, whichever was less. In 1974, we could buy and install a headlight for under $20! What changed were things not applicable back in 1974. Since 1974, we have all come up with “best practices” that may have us start with a “zero” dollar amount and providing a written estimate before any work is performed, but still, we needed to update the “what if” scenarios.

I took in a chart with a calculation using the consumer price index (CPI) calculator and showed that $20 then was like $83 now. I wanted to get mechanical facilities to at least get their costs covered if they were to spend a little time using a scanner. The same holds true on the additional amounts. Unfortunately, we had to compromise logic during the process as I was seeking to raise it to $100, but the language as it is written in the bill allows for $50 or more, requiring a written estimate and then additional costs were increased to 10% or $50, whichever is less.

There are quite a few changes that brought the rules over into law as well, taking “interpretation” out of the equation. It also has laid some groundwork for better use of technology as we move forward. A lot has been accomplished in the bill that doesn’t get talked about as much because of the addressing of the merchantability of parts.

What was the main intention of Q: being proactive and getting involved in this legislation?

Our focus was to make sure A: that these parts had a requirement before being put on our con-

sumer’s cars, our friend’s cars and our family’s cars. We NEVER introduced any legislation to the House or Senate at any given time that prevented aftermarket mechanical parts like some organizations have falsely published.

We NEVER introduced legislation at any time that prevented the sale of any aftermarket parts nor any used/recycled parts; something that was also falsely published, emailed and communicated.

However, what we did do and stayed focused on was requiring aftermarket parts to be certified by a national third-party entity that would be able to say the parts are comparable to an OEM standard, hence certifying the part. As the bill evolved, we were quick to add language that clearly

24 JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

stated that recycled or used OEM parts could also be used. As the bill continued, many compromises were made but were never “good enough” to opposing parties, so we went as far as we were willing to bend. The final language is not what I had originally intended, but it was the best compromise while meeting the objective.

Q:

What are the implications for collision repair shops in Michigan if the bill is passed?

As already mentioned, we preferred our original language reA: garding the use of aftermarket sheet

metal parts because we believe it was the right thing to do, but as compromise was required, we remain 100% supportive of this legislation as it is written.

What is the general consensus Q: from collision repair shops in the state about the use of aftermarket and OEM parts?

The collision repairer will fiToo often we forget the presA: A: nally see only quality parts sure these repair facilities are coming through their door and in turn, under when performing collision re-

reduce their liability significantly.

Though I am not in agreement, the bill will also require the consumer to direct a repair facility in writing to use a non-certified aftermarket part during the vehicle manufacturer’s warranty period or a period of five years, whichever is less. This puts a great deal of responsibility and liability back on the consumer and off of the collision repair professional, which is still a win for the industry I represent.

What is the association’s posiQ: tion on this bill?

pair. They have a customer who has gone through a tragic event disrupting their lives and is seeking almost instantaneous results; they have various tasks coming at them during the process; if they are part of a program, they are constantly being measured; and lastly they need to be competitive while remaining profitable. So, anytime their touch time increases, their parts procurement is stalled or their cycle time overall is affected, their production goes down and their profits decrease and/or become a See MI Bill Veto , Page 30

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26 JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

Chief Introduces HD Collision Repair Line, Koala Bench From Globaljig®

Chief recently introduced Chief Heavy Duty, a product line designed to help heavy duty body shops improve technician ergonomics, shop efficiency, repair quality and cycle times. According to the company, the equipment also makes it possible to write more comprehensive estimates upfront and document repairs.

The new Chief heavy duty product line includes: • New Centurion heavy duty frame rack • New Cam Scan HD photogrammetric measuring system • New Vulcan ADU adhesive debonding unit • New Chief heavy duty rivet gun • New Chief blind rivet attachment for PNP90 rivet gun • Rotary Lift Mach Series mobile column lifts • Chassis-Liner Heavy-Duty Trucker frame rack “Heavy duty collision repair shops face unique challenges stemming from the sheer size of the vehicles being reContinued from Page 18

MS and IN Lawsuits

2) allowing the other party to retain the benefit without restitution would be unjust; and

paired,” said Lee Daugherty, Chief global data product manager. “There are no OEM specifications to follow when straightening frames that can be 60 feet long or bringing multiple axles back into alignment. Squaring up a trailer that has rolled and repairing a cab that’s manufactured with a mix of steel, aluminum and other materials also can be tricky when relying on traditional measuring and repair tools. The new Chief heavy duty product line draws on our more than 40 years of collision repair experience to provide fleets, independent repair shops and dealers with modern equipment that is faster and easier to use, reduces the chance of technician injury, speeds up the repair process and makes it possible to meet the growing need to document repairs.”

Additionally, Globaljig®, Presented by Chief®, recently introduced the Koala bench. According to Chief, although compact, the Koala bench is versatile enough to handle most of the

structural work that comes through a typical collision repair shop, including the center section holding required to repair the latest generation of vehicles.

The Koala structural repair bench can be used as an install or work bay lift for easier vehicle tear down and reassembly, sheet metal repair, blueprinting operations, or for structural straightening and holding of parts for replacement.

“For shops that don’t have a lot of space but do have high enough workflow to warrant an additional bench solution, Koala is a cost-effective investment in improved productivity,” said Bob Holland, director of collision sales in North and South America for Chief parent company Vehicle Service Group (VSG). “Koala has a small footprint and tremendous versatility—it will accommodate about 90 percent of the structural collision repair jobs at most body shops.”

Koala has a drive-over height of just six inches and can raise vehicles

3) the plaintiff expected payment.

fore could not have had a reasonable expectation of receiving more than that amount,” court documents stated.

“Similarly, Judge Smith again found that the plaintiffs had failed to allege that they had conferred benefits on the defendants, because the services and

“As was the case within the Amended Complaint, Judge Smith found that the plaintiffs admit that they knew, ahead of time, how much the defendants intended to pay for each repair and there-

weighing up to 5,500 lbs. to an ergonomic working height up to five feet three inches. The removable 10-ton pulling post can be mounted anywhere around the Koala frame for 360-degree pulling, and can be shared between multiple benches. Extension plates on Koala’s sill clamps provide increased space between the bench and vehicle.

According to Chief, “Koala is ideal for working on modern cars that need to be held in multiple locations during the repair. The optional double crossbeam/universal jig system makes Koala the smallest bench on the market to offer eight to 10-point center section holding, so it can handle even the hardest-hit unibody vehicles.”

Additional Koala optional accessories include an upper body/suspension measuring system, bench cover plate, and a loading ramp package. The Koala repair system can be floor or pit mounted. For more information, visit http://www.chiefautomotive.com/.

materials were provided to the defendants’ insureds rather than to the defendants themselves.”

Autobody News will continue to report on developments with the multidistrict lawsuit(s).

www.autobodynews.com | JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS 27

WIN Accepts Sponsorship from AkzoNobel & Presents ‘Cornerstone Award’ at WIN Conference

The Women’s Industry Network (WIN) 2016 Educational Conference was held May 2-4 in Tampa, FL. This year’s program celebrated the tenth anniversary of WIN’s formation with the theme “Power of the Past-Force of the Future.” AkzoNobel presented WIN with a $12,500 “WIN Technology Initiative Founder’s Sponsorship.”

WIN announced, “As a method of ensuring that WIN is able to sustain and grow its mission of engaging women in the Collision Repair Industry, AkzoNobel has provided the initial investment required to enable the organization to achieve one of its key strategic initiatives for 2016: moving the organization to a technology platform that can support all of its current and future needs.”

In presenting the sponsorship funds, Jennifer Solcz, marketing manager for AkzoNobel Vehicle Refinishes in North America, noted the significance of WIN by saying, “This resource delivers a method of networking and education at multiple levels which enables sustainable growth for those that actively choose to participate and for those yet to come.”

Petra Schroeder, WIN’s new chair, accepted the sponsorship, saying, “We are extremely grateful to AkzoNobel. With this wonderful sponsorship, they have provided WIN with the opportunity to grow and further support diversity and sustainability in our industry through engagement of women.”

In the future, a “WIN Technology Sponsorship” will be established as an opportunity for other organizations and/or individuals to support WIN’s ongoing technology needs. Additionally, Shellie Andrews of Dana’s Collision Center-CSN and Katie Henwood were presented the WIN Cornerstone Award by Denise Caspersen, National Autobody Parts Warehouse, Inc. and WIN’s immediate past chair.

“WIN is fortunate to have many diverse talents contributing to the success of this all-volunteer organization.

This year’s WIN Cornerstones represent a longevity of altruism that reaches beyond just one task or one moment, but many that impact WIN’s future,” stated Caspersen.

“Over the past six years, Katie Henwood has been instrumental in the formulation, execution and success of WIN’s main event: the WIN Education Conference. For the many that know Katie, it’s her quiet, steady approach that brings strength and calm to WIN. Shellie Andrews, who began her service filling an open seat, serves without hesitation on nearly every WIN committee. Shellie takes on tasks that both fit her skill set and stretch her personal strength. WIN is built by many hands making light work, and as WIN continues its growth and engagement, it’s the volunteers’ willingness to lend their time and talent that is the force of WIN’s future.”

Visit www.WomensIndustryNetwork .com.

ASA Announces New Advice Blog by Industry Veteran Bill Haas Bill Haas, AAM, owner of Haas Performance Consulting LLC is contributing a monthly article on business management-related issues to the Automotive Service Association’s (ASA) blog found at ASAshop.org. Haas has spent more than 40 years in the automotive service industry. According the the ASA, this depth of expertise gives him a wealth of insider perspective on the business challenges that shop owners deal with on a daily basis.

Those day-to-day issues will be the subject of Haas’s unique take on service-related and shop management advice.

Titled “Coach’s Corner,” Haas’ column will offer business solutions to ASA members and nonmembers alike. His first installment deals with the need to offer training programs to a shop owner’s working techs to ensure their continued service meets the quality performance standards the owner has established.

“Bill Haas is a well-respected industry leader and we are fortunate to have him contributing to the ASA Blog,” said Dan Risley, president and executive director of ASA. “Bill has a proven track record of providing train-

ing and information to help shop owners and managers better manage their business. Our members will benefit from his experience and knowledge.”

Currently, Haas provides coaching and consulting to automotive shops. During his career, he also has worked as a technician in a new car dealership and in several independent shops, as well as a shop manager, parts counter professional, shop owner and technical trainer. Since 2002, he has been a member of the Automotive Management Institute (AMi) faculty.

Haas also served as vice president of education and training for ASA, where he worked with shop owners and managers, advisory committees, vehicle manufacturers, information providers, tool and equipment companies, insurance companies, parts suppliers, program groups and related industry organizations.

To read Bill Haas’ inaugural blog post, visit www.ASAshop.org.

www.autobodynews.com C

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Sherwin-Williams’ 2016 3rd Quarter Training Schedule

Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes’ third quarter 2016 training schedule was recently announced, outlining the courses taking place nationwide at training sites from July 25 through September 26.

According to the company, from Painter Certification to Color Adjustment and Blending as well as Fleet CFR, there are a variety of topics addressed throughout the series to better equip technicians to handle multiple challenges experienced in the workplace. Participants will learn to perfect their skills through a combination of classroom, digital and hands-on settings at various metropolitan SherwinWilliams Automotive Finishes training centers.

“In any career, continuing education is an important factor to make sure employees know the best practices and continue to expand their horizons,” says Rod Habel, Sherwin-Williams automotive finishes di-

rector of training operations.

“Advanced training helps professionals stay productive and efficient on-site,” Habel adds. “For instance, our Painter Certification class will instruct students in the proper application and usage of the ULTRA 7000® Refinish System and the AWX Performance Plus™ Waterborne System.

The objective is to improve production targets and maintain the highest quality repair.”

Habel also noted that there are several opportunities for painters and technicians to attend a Color Adjustment and Blending course that introduces students to practical application techniques and troubleshooting during the painting process.

For more information about SherwinWilliams Automotive Finishes training including the full schedule of sessions, visit www.sherwin-automotive .com/refinish/training-support/ or call 1-800-SWULTRA (1-800-798-5872).

28 JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

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www.autobodynews.com | JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS 29

75-Year-Old CA Technician Discusses Career, Why He’s in No Rush to Retire

by Victoria Antonelli

Otto Nikoleyczik began dabbling in the collision repair industry at the age of 13. He had just moved from Germany to Long Island, NY, to live with his aunt and uncle, who owned a body shop.

After cancer took his uncle’s life in 1957, Nikoleyczik’s days were split between school and apprenticing at the family business. This continued until he went into the service after high school.

Once Nikoleyczik returned from the naval reserves in 1961, he took over the four-man operation, which his aunt had been running.

“Our house was in front and the shop was in the back,” said Nikoleyczik. “I was the owner until 1976, and by that point, I was married with five kids.”

The close proximity between the house and the shop proved to be a hazard. When one of his sons accidentally lost part of his toe that year, Nikoleyczik decided to sell the business.

“We then moved to Montana,” he said. “Figured it would be better for the kids, and it was.”

Nikoleyczik and his family spent the next 26 years in Montana, where he worked as a combination man (someone who works on both the paint & the body of the vehicle).

“I did everything on the vehicle; from the frame work to the body work to the paint work,” he said. “It’s the kind of thing where if you’re doing a job where you’re doing everything, you get a certain satisfaction; but it’s a little harder on you, too.”

After Montana, he and his wife Continued from Page 24

MI Bill Veto

loss.

One of the complaints we continue to hear is that some of these parts that probably shouldn’t even be available in the market are being requested for replacement on a 2015 vehicle, and in their gut they feel these parts won’t perform as they should, but were never tested to validate these concerns. I sometimes think that today we use the term “free market system” when all other debates fail, but we also have to un-

moved to Hawaii for five years. From then on, Nikoleyczik stuck to body work, and let the paint department handle the rest.

“Our daughter was living in Hawaii,” said Nikoleyczik. “That was when we started following our kids around the country.”

on commission,” he explained. “When you’re working on salary you don’t have to worry about getting the job done to get paid, so you have the tendency to do more quality work.”

Nikoleyczik added that quality work is what J P’s is known for.

“We complete the job at the highest standards - the paint and the body work,” he said.

Nikoleyczik plans to continue working at J P’s for at least another five years, especially since he’s been in good health.

“It’s the kind of thing where as long as you like the work you’re doing and you’re able to do it, why stop?” he said.

Otto Nikoleyczik, 75, poses in front of J P’s Paint and Nikoleyczik added that he Body Works in Chico, CA likes the challenge presented Their next stop was Cheyenne, by new makes and models.

WY to live and work near their other “I enjoy taking cars apart and daughter. putting them back together,” he said.

“We got to experience different “Every one is different, so you have to states and different lifestyles,” said relearn every car every year.”

Nikoleyczik.

Nikoleyczik said the industry has After five years of dealing with a changed a lot in the last 30-40 years. windy, cold climate, the couple made “There are a lot of electronics, a lot their final move to sunny Chico, CA, and you can probably guess why.

“Our other daughter and her husband owned a business just north of Chico,” said Nikoleyczik. “I then got a job at J P’s Paint and Body Works and have been here ever since. This will probably be my last stop.”

Out of all the shops he’s worked in, Nikoleyczik said he’s had the best experience at J P’s.

“I like it because I’m a salary person; most collision repair jobs work

of plastics, and nowadays, a lot more parts changing than repairs changing,” he explained. “For a door you might have previously repaired, you’re now probably going to replace the panel or put a used panel on, and when you consider the labor involved, replacing it is usually the less costly option.”

Nikoleyczik added that because vehicles nowadays have so many electrical parts in the front end, they total out a lot faster.

“Modern technology brings part prices up quite a bit,” he explained.

“When a vehicle gets a front end hit and the air bag goes off, the electronic parts - air conditioning units, cooling units - total out a lot faster. Years ago, you could do a lot more repairs on the vehicles before that happened.”

Nikoleyczik also believes that the industry today has stepped up to a higher level of repair and service.

“Shops are more responsive to the customer,” he said, which he believes is an important improvement.

To learn more about J P’s Paint and Body Works, or visit the shop, check them out on Yelp: www.yelp.com/biz/ j-ps-paint-and-body-works-chico

SUBARU of Pueblo

derstand that when it was identified as a free market system, we were also teaching “business ethics” in high school. Putting a five-year-old in a major league baseball game and saying “good luck” is not “fair competition” – these parts are the fiveyear-old and have no business being forced into the game!

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Lean Operations

Lean Problem Solving

with David Luehr

For just a moment I would like you to imagine a world where finding problems is considered a good thing. I know this may sound strange, but it is exactly the behavior that is encouraged by companies that have adopted lean thinking. The problem with most of us is that we have been conditioned over the years to believe that problems found in our production systems are a bad thing, therefore we don’t want to deal with them so we will do whatever we can to quickly sweep problems under the rug. Let me be clear here. The production problems themselves are inherently bad, it is the discovery of the problems that is a good thing. After all you can’t fix it unless you know it’s broke, right?

The “problem solving culture” is at the very core of great companies such as Toyota where a great deal of time and effort is spent to instill and reward the behaviors of exposing and solving problems every moment of every day. One of the many methods Toyota uses as a problem solving tool is what they call the Andon. Any moment when a critical problem is found on the assembly line at Toyota, any employee can pull what they call the “Andon Cord” and the entire assembly line will screech to a halt. A team of people will immediately scramble to the location of the discovered problem like they had just discovered a vein of gold or diamonds and begin the work of problem solving. It is amazing how much effort they put into problem solving to ensure that beginning from that crucial moment of discovery, Toyota will be a leaner and more enjoyable place to work. If only all of us in the collision repair industry could have this positive attitude towards dealing with problems.

Now I know many of my readers may be thinking right about now, how does all this apply to a collision repair business? While you probably won’t be seeing many Andon Cords in body shops, there are actually a lot of things you can learn from the assembly line model as it relates to problem solving.

The assembly line exposes problems and forces discipline. How do

David Luehr is the owner of Elite Body Shop Solutions, LLC, a collision business consulting firm based in Nashville, Tennessee. He is a 30 year veteran of the collision repair industry.

David is an expert in Body Shop Operations and specializes in Lean, and Theory of Constraints methods. Email him at dluehr@msn.com

you think it would affect everyone’s behaviors and habits if you were running a shop that lined the cars up bumper to bumper and you were not allowed to work on the next car in line until the car you are working on is complete? Do you think the estimate would need to be completely accurate

and do you think all the correct parts would need to be on hand? You’re darn right! At most shops in this country you would have a mutiny on your hands if you tried this approach despite being the most efficient way to process a repair job! But if you could somehow manage to keep your team from quitting you would see that each problem is exposed so glaringly obvious it would stare you in the face every time the assembly line came to a halt. You would need to identify each problem quickly and then put measures in place so it would never happen again. In this environment, you would very quickly adopt a problem solving culture, because if you didn’t, you would quickly go out of business!

So what do we do instead? We load up the shop with more work than we can efficiently process in order to “mask” the problems and inefficiencies. Technicians feel they need 4, 5, or more vehicles and stalls each in order to survive. As one repair order encounters a problem, they simply move on to the next vehicle and work on it until the problem from the first job is corrected and so on. The problems, usually called “supplements” are seen as a normal part of the business, so little or no attempt is made to permanently solve the problem. I believe Einstein called this “insanity?”

The typical American shop turning around $200,000 a month will have a WIP Count (work in process) of be-

34 JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

tween 40 and 45 repair jobs on the property on average in order to meet its sales goal. This is highly inefficient and causes cycle time to hover at or above 10 days and drives costs and chaos to be much higher than needed.

The efficient lean shop that has been on a journey of problem solving for a while can produce the same $200,000 while maintaining a WIP Count of only 20 cars or less and produce the repair jobs at a lower cost with a cycle time of only 5-6 days!

The best of the best shops put problem solving at the top of their priority list. You too can begin to expose problems if you put your mind to it.

Here are a few tips to get you started.

● Hold weekly or month “Continuous Improvement” meeting to discuss problems and solutions with the entire staff. ● Hold quick problem solving team meetings whenever an opportunity

arises. (Like the Andon) ● Keep a journal in the assembly department to track problems as they occur. Use this information to make continuous improvements. ● Create safety with the team. Praise people for helping to expose problems.

Discourage people from covering up problems. Remember, it’s okay to make mistakes, just don’t keep making the same mistakes over and over! ● Training and auditing. Quite often additional training will help in problem areas of the business. Once people are trained, occasional audits are a good idea to make sure processes are being followed. ● This may not work for every shop configuration, but I like to set up my shops with the vehicle damage facing the center aisle whenever possible in order to visually catch problems during production. As opposed to being hidden against the technicians wall and massive tool box.

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www.autobodynews.com | JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS 35

Day Job/Night Job

Ed Attanasio is an automotive journalist based in San Francisco, California. He can be reached at era39@aol.com.

Body Shop Office Manager Racing Toward Her Dreams with Ed Attanasio

You might say she’s on a fast track, because Cynthia Torp, 26, surely doesn’t travel half-speed with anything she does. Whether it’s running the front office at Classic Autobody in Berkeley,

Cynthia Torp is the office manager at Classic Autobody in Berkeley, CA, her father’s shop, but when she is not coordinating ROIs and DRPs, she is going for the gold in the world of car racing

CA, or reef diving, riding dirt bikes, river fishing in Montana or hiking, she goes all-in 24/7. And now, this includes her latest passion: car racing!

With one eye on eventually taking over the family business at Classic Autobody, Torp enjoys learning the business from her father and her uncle.

“They are great teachers, and the more I know, the more I like about this industry,” Torp said. “I came on here full-time about three years ago. This was never something I thought I would be doing, but I work with incredible people, so why not? I had some other things on my radar, but now I can see this as a career. I like fixing people’s cars and seeing their smiles when we show them their repaired vehicles.”

Torp has helped the shop in many ways, such as designing their new website and getting them involved in social media. The 28-year-old shop run by her father Steve and uncle Chris has succeeded in a tough market, and today, they’re one of the oldest shops in the area. “My dad and my uncle have always stressed quality and customer service here, and that’s why we’ve

done well,” Torp said. “I was a baby when they opened Classic, so I guess I’m a collision lifer, too. Now, we get

Cynthia will possibly be taking over the shop someday, but for now, she is enjoying life, and racing is a part of it

second-generation customers in here, and that’s definitely satisfying.”

One of the other items on Torp’s radar is a possible future as a profes-

sional race car driver. Move over Danica Patrick, because Cynthia is in it to win it and thrilled about racing.

“There is literally nothing like it,” she said. “Wow, it’s hard to describe the feeling I get out there on the track, but I know that this is something I really want to do as much as I can.”

Racing is in her family’s blood, right alongside waterborne paint and clearcoat, Torp said. “My father and my uncle have been racing for a long time, and I started bugging them about racing a while back. But we didn’t have a vehicle to race in, so that was a problem. But by working with Spencer Trenery at Fantasy Junction, I was able to get a car to drive.”

Fantasy Junction is a company in Emeryville, CA that collects and sells vintage vehicles, and after meeting Cynthia, they decided to loan her a Mazda Miata to drive at Thunderhill Raceway Park in Willows, CA. “The shop sponsored me and the people at

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Fantasy Junction helped me to get a car and I was ready to roll,” she said. “It was exciting because I anticipated this for a long time and it was finally here.”

Before she could race, Torp had to pass a safety class at Thunderhill.

Upon passing with flying colors, she was ready to start her engine and hit the track. “It is definitely a rush, and I was a little scared, but psyched, too. I know

Cynthia Torp realizes that she is a real rookie when it comes to racing, but even Danica Patrick had to start somewhere, right?

that I am a novice and it was all a little overwhelming. But pretty quickly, I became more comfortable in the car. I love everything about it. You’re sitting in that car at the start or chilling in the pit and your heart is racing. You have to control your breathing and then you

line up. When the start begins, I get into this Zen-like zone and then I’m ready to go. It’s a great feeling and a wonderful sensation!”

In just her fourth race, Torp finally gained enough confidence to run against a field of other more experienced racers. “There were roughly 25 racers, but a few never got off the starting line, so I ended up finishing 10th out of a field of 22. Thunderhill is a three-mile track and I was going about 95 mph on the straightaways, so I realized I needed to learn the track fast.”

When Torp isn’t driving on a track, she is a safe driver and proud of it. “My father taught me a long time ago that racing is for the track only. I don’t speed in my daily driving and will never be a reckless driver ever— on or off the track. I have seen a lot of cars that are all messed up due to unsafe driving and I don’t ever want to be there, that’s for sure.”

What is around the next turn as Torp pursues a career as a professional racer? “Being in my 20’s means that I can take my time and learn the right way. I eventually want to race at Sears Point (Sonoma Raceway), so I will have to practice on that track to get better.”

Mercedes-Benz of Houston Greenway

National Science Foundation Offers Grant for Training Tomorrow’s Technicians Emphasizing the importance of advanced materials in automotive design, the National Science Foundation has awarded a Michigan community college $200,000 for lightweight vehicle manufacturing education.

Awarded on May 10, the money will pay for Washtenaw Community College (WCC) curriculum related to making bodies-in-white and other auto parts out of lighter, stronger materials.

The grant also will fund the addition of lightweighting as a consideration into a regional (Great Lakes) auto design challenge.

The college is partnering with Wayne State University (WSU). The goal is to engage industry and educators in developing a talent pipeline and initial curriculum addressing the material properties as well as optimization and manufacturing processes associated with lightweight materials at the high school and community college levels to meet emerging industry needs for technicians in the manufacturing industry. A central element of this proposal involves the introduction of a new arrangement of course design and delivery. The manufacturing industry is shifting to a systems approach rather

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The Throw Away Society

by Mike Shesterkin

look at the beginning of the system: the production of automobiles. To build cars, one must have an assembly plant; building one takes a tremendous capital investment. Once committed, that sunk cost must be put to work building cars. OEMs must produce cars at a particular rate; otherwise, they run the risk of losing money fast.

This is what begets the practice of rebates, wherein an OEM will heavily incentivize consumers to buy certain

be processed by nature and consuming energy at rates that are destroying the atmosphere are things we cannot continue doing forever.

We need a new way of viewing the world; we need to move beyond what’s good for consumerism and find an answer that’s “restorative” – to society and to the environment. The answer is already here; it stands in marked contrast to the throwaway culture of today. It lies in the notion that

throwing them away. We have much work to do on the system of the automobile if we are to make progress and establish a sustainable existence. The collision repair industry can play a vital role in bringing about this transformation, but it will take leadership and focus. The industry needs an organization that will work across industry stakeholders to come up with the solutions that will foster its sustainable growth. This organization will lead everyone to seeing how it is repairing cars creates meaningful work for people and reduces environmental degradation. It’s that simple.

Mike Shesterkin is the general manager of What’s Next, LLC, a practice that helps businesses achieve sustainability through the creation of triple bottom line value. Using proven models of continual improvement, What’s Next helps management teams develop strategies and implement action plans that build social capital, reduce negative environmental impact, and grow profitability.

With more than 30 years of industry experience, Shesterkin has led

A Time magazine article published in 1955 extoled the idea of “throwaway living.” Back then, being able to simply throw stuff away, rather than cleaning it, was considered a welcomed aspect of modern, convenient living.

Today, more than 50 years later, throwaway living has become second-nature to us; we rarely think about it.

Our throwaway culture has its roots in the 1920s and 1930s, when mass production started to take off.

“Over the last 10 to 15 years, total losses, as a Beginning at that time, concepts such as “planned obsolescence” and “perpercent of claims, has gone from around 9% ceived obsolescence” were woven to over 14%,” — Mike Shesterkin into the design and marketing of products. The idea was to create continued and on-going demand for stuff by de- vehicles; it’s those vehicles that are repairing things provides meaningful signing things to break down and fail, not moving that receive the highest in- work for people and reduces environor go out of style. These concepts centives. This translates into “pres- mental degradation. Many are calling form the basis of consumerism, the sure” to move new vehicles through this the “circular economy.” It’s being philosophy or worldview by which the system, from the assembly plant practiced in certain manufacturing secmuch of the world now sees things. into consumers’ hands. This pressure tors today. Caterpillar’s repair and reToday, we hardly give a thought also means there’s no incentive to de- manufacturing businesses are a good to getting rid of a cellular phone or TV sign cars to be repaired, because mak- example of it. when the next model is introduced. ing them easy to repair would mean What the collision repair industry When something we own breaks fewer consumers in the market for needs is a voice that will champion the See Throw Away Society, Page 43 down, or is no longer fashionable, we new cars. Why not simply throw the value of repairing vehicles, versus throw it away and buy the new model. vehicle away when it’s reached a cerWe rarely consider fixing something tain age, or has been in an accident? that’s broken, or resisting the urge to Of course, insurance providers stay in style and “keep-up with the have a huge stake in total losses too.

Jones’s.”

For them though, it’s just a matter of We have become so accustomed running formulas, assessing the salto throwing away stuff that vage market and figuring out the average American now what makes the most eco• Toyota Star Elite Dealer generates roughly 4.5 pounds nomic sense for their bottom of garbage each day, which is line. This shouldn’t come as • Free Delivery to All of Texas up more than 66% from 1960. a surprise; after all, it’s just • Free Toyota Electronic Parts Catalogue While there are a number of business. Those who bear the for Our Wholesale Customers causal factors that have led to burden of this system are the this point, the fact remains consumers, many of whom Mike Shesterkin that the throwaway lifestyle is are forced to shell-out thouPARTS HOURS: the backdrop to the way we live. We sands when their cars are written-off M-F 7:30am to 6pm don’t give it much thought. as total losses. Collision repair shops Sat 8:30am to 5pm Fax: 956-718-4259 Consider the rising percentage of also suffer under this model, and so total economic losses – total losses for does the environment.

Toyota of Laredo is your short. Over the last 10 to 15 years, total Through mass production, autolosses, as a percent of claims, has gone mated assembly and increasingly lower on ne-stop shop for from around 9% to over 14%. Analysts labor costs, we’ve managed to create indicate much of this is due to the age quite a world for ourselves. Some of the fleet; however, this doesn’t exwould argue this is a good thing; howplain the whole issue. Factors such as ever, when we consider what we actuclaim severity and repair complexity ally pay for it – in terms of lost jobs and also play a role. Total losses are a comenvironmental degradation – we have plex industry problem; a number of to ask ourselves if it’s actually worth it. things have led to their rise, but we No one would argue that consumerism cannot overlook the influence our has not brought tremendous good to throwaway culture – our way of lookmany people – it has. What’s becoming at the world – has had on this issue. ing clear, though, is continually elimiwww.toyotaoflaredo.com To understand this, we need to nating jobs, creating waste that cannot

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www.autobodynews.com | JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS 39

Historical Snapshot

—John Yoswick is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon, who has a body shop in the family and has been writing about the automotive industry since 1988.

He is the editor of the weekly CRASH Network (for a free 4-week trial subscription, visit www.CrashNetwork.com). Contact him by email at jyoswick@SpiritOne.com.

Erick Bickett, Progressive’s Concierge Program, Crash Prevention, Allstate Compliance with John Yoswick

20 years ago in the collision repair industry (July 1996) Erick Bickett sees two possible scenarios for the future of electronic claims handling.

Bickett, a California shop owner whose name has become synonymous with the effort to standardize how shops and insurers link their computer systems, explained the two scenarios to those attending the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) in Phoenix in July.

In the first scenario, he said, insurers increasingly dictate which computerized estimating system that shops participating in its direct repair program (DRP) must use. To participate in multiple DRPs, shops will likely have to have two or even all three of the major estimating systems. Once the insurer chooses a system it will be difficult for that insurer to switch because that would also require the whole group of shops to switch. This lack of choice stifles improvements in the computerized systems, and prices escalate.

In the second scenario, the insurer uses the “network” of its choice to electronically send a standardized “assignment” to the shop. The shop uses its choice of estimating system, and uses the “network” of its choice to electronically send a standardized estimate to the insurer. Either side can switch estimating or network vendors based on price and performance without interfering with their communication.

Unfortunately, Bickett said, the industry seems headed more toward the first scenario than the second, but he hopes a demonstration of the second system now under way may help create the “market forces” needed to change the industry’s direction.

Bickett estimates the cost of running all three estimating systems at about $18,600 a year for hardware, software and training; at a 7 percent pre-tax net profit, Bickett said, a shop would need $265,000 in sales just to cover these estimating system costs. That, he said, is going to drive even more shops out of the industry.

“I think technology should be an enabler,” Bickett said. “It ought to enable people to do business better and more efficiently and to take better care

of their customer. It shouldn’t be a disabler. It shouldn’t cause the loss of good collision repairers who know how to fix cars and take care of customers.”

Bickett said that under the second scenario, a shop’s annual estimating system costs would be about $6,500,

In 1996, California shop owner Erick Bickett was a key champion for the industry’s development and use of electronic standards for the communications among shops, insurers and vendors

and that the system would save insurers money as well. Most importantly, he said, it would give both sides more choice as to the systems and communication networks they use.

State Farm Insurance and two collision repair shops are currently participating in a demonstration of this system, and Bickett said a report on the project should be completed later this year.

– As reported in The Golden Eagle.

Bickett has continued to champion the use of electronic communication standards developed by CIECA, the Collision Industry Electronic Commerce Association, which was established based on the work and discussions at CIC. State Farm remains one of the few insurers to allow its DRP network to use the estimating system of their choice; a 2016 survey found that more than onethird of shops have multiple estimating systems.

15 years ago in the collision repair industry (July 2001) By eliminating vehicle owners’ contact with shops, Progressive’s “Concierge” program may reduce the hassle for car owners, but it also eliminates any longterm marketing benefit for the repairers.

Shops that pare of “Concierge” now truly have Progressive as their customer, not the vehicle owner. If Progressive is satisfied with the quality and the cost, the

40 JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

shops will continue to receive referrals.

The vast majority of vehicle owners who opt for the “Concierge” program will not know which repair facility fixed their vehicle. Will they care? Progressive obviously believes not. The insurer holds that the higher level of hassle-free service far outweighs vehicle owners’ concerns regarding who actually performs the repairs. If vehicle owners really want to know who repaired their cars, Progressive will tell them, but Progressive prefers to handle the entire process, to serve as the facilitator.

In talking with shops participating in the “Concierge” test program, most have state little concern regarding the loss of customer contact and are highly satisfied with the program. Keeping their repair facilities filled is their most important concern. But this attitude is strikingly short-sighted. Ever shops with numerous direct repair program relationships and outstanding insurance

company relationships keep a firm eye on individual vehicle owner satisfaction and communication for the longterm benefit for their businesses.

Those who love Progressive generally cite the local claims manager as the reason. If this local insurance representative is reassigned, with the repairer be able to maintain their relationship with Progressive? Will they want to? If not, they could lose the “Concierge” referrals with no opportunity to secure a repeat customers from their prior work.

– from an editorial by Russell Thrall, at that time the editor of Auto Body Repair News (ABRN).

10 years ago in the collision repair industry (July 2006) “During the 1980s and 1990s, association and seminar leaders frequently pointed to changes in vehicle technology that were putting a dent in the collision repair market. Daytime running lights, the third brake light and anti-

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lock braking systems, they’d say, were among the key factors pulling accident frequency down.

The industry then got a sort of reprieve for a number of years in terms of crash-prevention efforts. Automakers turned their focus largely to vehicle safety and occupant protection, including the explosive growth of airbag systems. The Internet boom also had the OEMs and eletronics firms focused on passenger information and entertainment systems.

The bad news for the industry is that that is about to change – and change rather dramatically. Federal auto safety regulators – seeking to reverse a rise in highway deaths – are shifting their focus from mandates that help occupants survive crashes to technology that will help drivers avoid accidents altogether.

Dr. Jeffrey Runge, administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said in a speech before the Society of Automotive Engineers that bolstering vehicle “crashworthiness” represents the past, and that “crash avoidance” is the future.

“I’d like to begin to focus on the event before the crash,” Runge said.

“We may have plateaued out in terms

of crashworthiness.”

– as reported in Autobody News, July 2016.

5 years ago in the collision repair industry (July 2011) Allstate has notified its direct repair shops in recent weeks that participation in the program now requires three specific mandates designed to improve cycle time and give Allstate customers “priority service.” “Good Hands” shops now must upload an estimate to Allstate within 24 hours of receipt of the vehicle, provide the customer with a guaranteed delivery date and assume all costs after that date if not met, and extend hours of operation to meet customers’ reasonable requests for drop-off or pick-up of vehicles.

“Compliance with these items remains a core requirement for your participation in Allstate’s direct repair program,” Tracy Tramm, Allstate claim service manager, said in a video to Allstate DRP shops.

Last week, Allstate Corporation also announced that Joseph Lacher, president of the company’s residential and auto insurance business, was leaving the company effective immediately; no reason was given for his departure, just

two years after he joined Allstate. The company has seen its auto insurance market share erode in 2009 and 2010 as GEICO and Progressive have gained ground on Allstate.

– As reported in CRASH Network (www.CrashNetwork.com), July 25, 2011. Allstate’s market share has continued to decline, with Geico passing Allstate in 2013 to become the secondlargest auto insurer in the country. Progressive has gained ground on Allstate but still trails slightly in terms of market share. A month after Lacher left Allstate, the Wall Street Journal reported that his departure may have been prompted by a decline in the insurer’s stock value, but also that he reportedly used less-than-flattering expletives in describing Allstate CEO Tom Wilson while having drinks with some top Allstate agents after a meeting in the weeks before his departure. Lacher last fall became CEO of Kemper Corp.

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CCCTC Students Build Chopper From the Ground Up

Students in the Automotive Mechanics and Collision Repair program designed, built, and painted the new Clearfield County Career and Technology Center (CCCTC) chopper from scratch. Dan Kerlin, Automotive Mechanics instructor, said,

“The kids have done an amazing job putting the chopper together.”

Darrin Dale, Collision Repair instructor, also mentioned that he was impressed with the artwork the students designed for the bike. The Collision Repair students involved in the project were Josh Jarrett (MoValley), Zach Pentz (Curwensville), Matt Willis (adult student), Sage Rupp (adult student), and Kaylee Borger (Clearfield). The Automotive Mechanics students involved in the project were Dalton Foster, William Maines, Dylan Allison and Breanna Jury, all from West Branch.

To learn more about the Clearfield County Career and Technology Center, visit www.ccctc.edu.

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Grateful Body Shop Owner Ready to Give Back

by Ed Attanasio

Jose Esquivel, the owner of Midwest Auto Body in Melrose, IL, entered the collision repair industry at the top— as an owner. Without any experience

Jose Esquivel, the owner of Midwest Auto Body in Melrose, IL has survived and thrived by working with family, embracing education and stressing customer service above all

except for working on his friends’ vehicles, Esquivel had to learn the intricacies of the body shop world fast. He was 24 and exiting the furniture busi-

ness to enter an industry where he knew the odds were stacked against him. Instead of being scared or letting naysayers dissuade him from pursuing his dream, Esquivel took on all of the challenges headfirst and with a smile.

The timing was not ideal to open a shop, especially when you are a rookie in a competitive market, Esquivel explained. “We opened in 2007, and then here comes the recession. Some people thought I was bold, but I think others figured I was just crazy! Many small shops like us do not make it through their first year, so it was a little frightening to be honest.

But by working hard and becoming better every day, we made it through that rocky period.”

Now 33, Esquivel looks back and credits a supportive family for his success. “My father came into the business that first year and he was a great help,” he explained. “But he didn’t share my passion for this business, so he stepped away and is now semi-retired. When we first opened, my entire staff consisted of family members. I had my father and my two brothersin-law, Juan and Fernando, working

42 JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

here. Now Juan and Fernando work for other shops and they are I-CAR Platinum, so it has turned out to be a good career for both of them. Most everything they know was taught to them here and I am proud of them both.”

The crew at Midwest shares Esquivel’s philosophy of working hard but never forgetting to help the community as well

Working exclusively with family offered Esquivel many advantages in those early years. “There were some weeks where I could not make payroll, I have to admit it,” Esquivel said. “But because they were family, it was not as if they were going to quit or come knocking at my door. They trusted me, and of course, I felt the same, so having them working here gave me many benefits. It just made everything a lot easier, and now we are doing very well, so

payroll is never an issue.”

Today, Midwest Auto Body employs six collision professionals, including George, another brother-in-law who runs the shop’s front office. With a 5,000-square-foot shop and another 3,000 for storage, they maintain one DRP and rely heavily on their reputation for honesty, quality and a family environment. “We are roughly 70% non-DRP and we’re repairing 50-55 cars every month,” Esquivel explained.

“By not being totally dependent on the insurance companies, we built this business on referrals. We also have done some community service and we plan on doing a lot more in that regard.”

One downside of not working with multiple DRPs is steering, something that Esquivel has said is a constant burr in his side. “We encounter it all the time,” he said. “They’re all doing it, but some are more obvious than others. A customer will bring a car here and everything is going along fine, until they call their insurance company.

Then, someone comes here and tows or drives the vehicle away.”

By handling this common scenario adroitly, Esquivel is able to re-

tain most of his non-DRP customers and vanquish the evil steering specialists. “I tell the customers their rights and let them know that we’re honest and want to do a quality job on their vehicle,” he said. “I tell them that our repairs are always guaranteed and

Shop Foreman Jose Zumaya came onboard at Midwest Auto Body in 2011 and Esquivel calls him “my right hand man.”

we will give them a warranty for the vehicle, for as long as they own it.

Once they can see that we’re more into doing a good job than making a lot of money, they relax and the car usually stays right here.”

How was a 24-year-old able to learn the collision industry without

any previous training? “I went to every class I could—I-CAR, the classes sponsored by the paint companies and anything else I could find,” Esquivel said. “I had to learn every aspect of this business, because we had a small crew and we all had to multi-task to succeed. We were all learning on the job, but we never compromised any repairs and that is why we’re still here and flourishing now, I believe.”

To learn more about collision repair from a different perspective, Esquivel worked part-time for another body shop until Midwest Auto Body was up and turning a profit. “Yes, those were long days and I was basically married to this business for the first three years,” he said. “I would work at the other shop from 4:30 am to noon and then I would run right over to my shop. I would work there until the work was done, which meant until around midnight, in most cases.”

Esquivel has always had a goal to help his community in the village of Melrose Park, a suburb of Chicago. He mentored and trained 30 young people at his shop to introduce them to collision repair a few years ago. “We started a mentoring apprenticeship program where the kids came here to the shop

to learn the basics,” Esquivel said. “It was part of a program at my church where they help troubled youth, and out of the 30, one is a tech and three others work in some capacity in the automotive field.”

To take his philanthropic efforts even further, Esquivel is planning to fix up his shop’s loaner and give it to a deserving member of the community. It is something he has been wanting to do for quite some time, he said.

“Giving back is good for the soul and helps me to sleep well at night. My parents showed me that helping people is more important than all the money in the world. Now that we’re doing well and the cars keep coming in, this is the right time for us to step up and do the right thing.”

Your leading source for SOUTHWESTERN Collision Repair News! southwestern.autobodynews.com

Continued from Page 38

Throw Away Society

initiatives that have advanced the sustainability movement. Most recently, he has been working with AkzoNobel to advance triple bottom line initiatives within the collision repair industry. What’s Next is also a business in residence at the Green Garage, a triple bottom line co-working community located in Midtown Detroit, MI. What’s Next is working with the Green Garage community to launch “Lazarus Cars,” a business that will leverage economies of scale to repair and refurbish automobiles for use by those who would otherwise not be able to afford reliable transportation.

For more information, contact Mike Shesterkin at 734-464-8353, mdshesterkin@gmail.com or visit: www.whatsnextllc.com.

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www.autobodynews.com | JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS 43

Labor Rates are the Foundation of Consumer Care & Safety

by Richard Valenzuela, CEO, NABR

We see higher repair standards and increasing investment requirements coming from both luxury and massmarket manufacturers. For example, starting with its new CT6 model, Cadillac recently launched its Cadillac Aluminum Repair Network, which included a $4,500 annual fee, a list of equipment requirements, additional training, and auditing to verify compe-

A new era has arrived in the collision repair industry, an era in which OEM requirements to repair their modern production vehicles continue to grow and grow faster, as these vehicles increasingly include new technologies, new manufacturing techniques, and a wide range of advanced materials.

This may be good news for training firms, certification bodies, and equipment suppliers, but is there enough concern for collision repairers who find themselves in a quandary, caught in the middle between significant investments to meet these increasing requirements and present labor rate levels that are largely insufficient to cover both the necessary investments and earn a fair return? How are the shops Figure 1. Labor Rates Are The Foundation of Consumer going to pay for all this?

Care & Safety National AutoBody Research (NABR) is very concerned about the present state of labor tency. Likewise, Honda is raising the rates, because we think the right labor bar with its ProFirst Collision Repair rates are the foundation of consumer Facility certification, requiring shops care and safety (See Figure 1). Withto successfully complete Honda speout healthy labor rates, collision recific training courses, have the correct pairers are not able to generate tools and equipment, maintain exactsufficient profits to reinvest in people ing facility standards and a customer and training, tooling and equipment, satisfaction system, get an annual inand facilities and certifications. Morespection, and pay the annual $2,700 over, limited resources can adversely fee. These increasing investments to impact their skill and ability to repair support increasing collision repair retoday’s vehicles properly. This in turn, quirements are not just coming from may seriously jeopardize consumer the Audis and Mercedes of the world care and safety, which is irrefutably but also from mass market brands unacceptable. such as GM, Ford, and Honda, among At the core of NABR’s mission is others. a focused effort to restore the free NABR agrees that OEM and market system for labor rate pricing in third-party certification programs are the collision repair industry. Our Vari- a good move for collision repair shops able Rate System (VRS) technology and technicians, but only if shops are can help auto body shops determine able to adjust labor rates to suffithe right labor rates for their individ- ciently profitable levels. NABR also ual shop, in order to generate suffi- concurs with one group of industry cient profitability to pay for these panelists involved in training, certifiincreasing costs required to repair cations, and equipment validation and modern vehicles. That labor rate is not verification who stressed that things in just one price for everybody, and we the industry were changing so quickly believe that there is no such thing as that it would be financial suicide not one prevailing labor rate in a market. to keep up-to-date with training and Instead, there is a range of acceptable equipment, as expensive as it could rates, segmented by a shop's location, be. But again, it will also be financial level of training, type of certifications, suicide to attempt to stay up-to-date investment in equipment and technol- without having the surplus capital to ogy and facilities, quality of work, and do so which is largely dependent on overall cost of doing business. sufficient labor rate revenue.

44 JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

The Icing on the Cake – Inadequate Labor Rates Paid by Insurers To top it all off, even if shops are willing and able to make these investments, they still face a significant obstacle in getting insurers to pay qualified shops for all needed and proper repairs at the right labor rate. As an independent, unbiased third party, NABR questions insurers’ resistance in light of a wide range of premiums paid by their policyholders for auto collision coverage, especially for luxury vehicles.

NABR’s Goal: A Win-Win Paradigm for Labor Rates Taking a consumer centered perspective, NABR believes that crashed vehicle consumers have the right to a complete, safe, and proper repair at a fair price, and the right to be fully reimbursed for their loss. The shop owns the repair. The insurer owns the reimbursement.

We believe that paying shops what they’re worth as defined by an objective standard—which could include items such as levels of training and types of certifications, tooling,

equipment, and facilities—is a fair, reasonable, and equitable solution to the settlement of claims.

This win-win-win approach would benefit consumers, repairers and insurers. Insurers would reduce the significant friction costs between themselves and body shops experience every day across the U.S. Repairers would get paid the right rates, earning sufficient profits to enable them to reinvest to keep up with increasingly higher repair requirements. And consumers would get their vehicles repaired properly from a shop that is trained, equipped, and certified to do the repair.

For all this to happen, we think insurers and collision repairers must take a fresh approach to the collision repair and claims settlement situation, adjust their motives and attitudes, and have a keen awareness that doing so will lead all three participants—insurer, repairer, and consumer—to come out as winners. Most notably, it will help ensure the proper care and safety of consumers and their families.

Copyright © 2016 by National AutoBody Research.

www.autobodynews.com | JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS 45

Maaco Says it Aims to Have Shops in Every State as Aggressive Growth Continues

by Victoria Antonelli

On May 26, Autobody News reached out to Rob Cambruzzi, Vice President of Maaco Franchise Sales & Development at Driven Brands, Inc., to learn more about Maaco’s recent growth, future plans, and innovative customer service.

Q: Driven Brands, which is the A: parent company of Maaco, was acquired by Roark Capital last April; What are the driving forces behind Maaco’s rapid expansion?

and if you don’t know Roark, they’re the crème de la crème of the private equity world for franchising. They have acquired more than 50 multi-location brands, which collectively generate north of $20 billion in system wide sales. With that amount of financial support and expertise, it has enabled us to leverage everything from better relationships to best practices, and everything in between. I think that joining the Roark Capital portfolio has introduced a lot of new people who may not have looked at the auto body world as a potential investment. That’s the most significant change I’ve seen with the company since I started four and a half years ago.

Has the original Maaco model If so, in what ways?

Q: changed?

At its core, Maaco is based on a term we use called “cosmeA: lision” or cosmetic collision, which

consists of hits under $2,500. On average, cosmetic collision brings in about 58% of business to shops. The historic Maaco model remains intact.

We still work with single guys who are looking to get into the industry and own one shop. However, the multi-shop game has gotten to be very strong over the last two or three years, with the percentage of multi-shop operators in the chain raising from single digits in 2013, to 40% of the chain today.

We’ve done a great job at taking advantage of areas in the market that are often passed over, like consumer sales and fleet maintenance. While we have had success leveraging our expertise in these areas, there always remains room for growth in other aspects of our business. We are continuously strengthening the third leg in our stool,

through our growing insurance partnerships.

Do you find that Maaco cusQ: tomers usually go through insurance or pay out of pocket?

One of our value propositions A: is that we can typically get the job done for close to what the cus-

tomer’s deductible is; whether it’s $500-$1000. We’re providing them an opportunity to pay for their repair outof-pocket without having to make an insurance claim, worry about the increase in their rates and so forth. So, as of now, we do see more out-of-pocket payments.

Maaco prides itself on being easy, affordable and reliable, regardless of whether you need out-of-pocket or insurance work completed. But we’re also proud to have developed great relationships in the insurance industry and those partnerships are growing.

Q:

Out of the “three legs of the stool”- fleet, retail, and insurance, which is growing the fastest?

The fleet piece is definitely A: growing the fastest. By the end of 2016, $100M in fleet work will be

provided to franchisees through our corporate partnerships with national accounts. That’s more than a 30% growth rate; and it has been occurring for the last three years in a row. There really isn’t any organized competitor that can offer our clients the same easy, affordable, reliable service that we are known for.

What is the customer service Q: like at Maaco? How do you stand out?

We really prioritize marketA: ing; we spend close to $25M annually. Once we get the customer

in the door, it’s very important to us that they have a great experience.

What many may not realize is how important retail is to our business success. Since a lot of what we’re doing is selling retail, it needs to come across as an almost Apple-like experience.

Transparency is important in the industry, especially for Maaco, so we like to keep the customer up-to-date throughout the entire repair process.

In order to make that possible, we

46 JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

launched a new management system called OneMaaco, which integrates status updates for customers via text or email, easy-to-read estimates and automated customer reminders.

The Maaco app was specifically created to complement the way Maaco franchisees run their shops by allowing customers to receive high-level estimates, find locations, and track the progress of their car.

As we continue to evolve, our sales process does, as well. In the near future, a customer could walk into one of our centers and see a 60-inch TV that the salesperson will use to walk through our process, whether it’s for collision or paint services. The videos and other visual components of these digital boards provide user-friend details on our process and let customers see more on repairs that they are interested.

How do you keep your techniQ: cians up-to-date on the latest technology?

We have an online program Maaco University that is A: called

available to all franchisees; we update those materials constantly to include the latest in Maaco processes, OSHA regulations, etc. We’re also planning a tech expo in October in Charlotte, N.C. Vendors are joining us at the Charlotte Motor Speedway to display the latest technology.

Are there Maaco shops in every Q: state?

Maaco is in all but two states.

A: One of our value propositions, especially from the fleet side, is, if you have a company in every city and every state, we can help to make sure the paints match for every fleet.

Q: areHowtheremanytotal?Maaco franchises We currently have 480 Maaco A: locations. This year, our goal is to hit the 500+ mark. We anticipate

growing that number to north of 500 within the next two months.

For more information, visit www.maaco franchise.com.

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Western News

Ed Attanasio is an automotive journalist based in San Francisco, California. He can be reached at era39@aol.com.

New Collision Career Institute Launched for All the Right Reasons with Ed Attanasio

To fill an enormous need for new colliI’m obviously coming in from the edusion professionals, Erick Bickett, CEO cational side. We want to educate peoof FixAuto, and Charlie Robertson, a ple better, faster and cheaper. And Erick veteran automotive techChasidy instructor, rewith Rae was Siskkind of approaching it similarly cently launched the Collision Career Inand had instituted his own fast track stitute (CCI) in Anaheim, CA. This new program at FixAuto. Soon, we realized school will train its students in actual that we were both frustrated about the body shops and will be mentored by the current situation. So we decided to shops’ management and personnel. blend our two programs together. There Upon completing this 1.5–2 year proare large educational institutions out gram, CCI graduates will be ready for there where, for $40,000, you can get a with Janet Chaney employment and won’t need to be retech in two years. The problem is that trained, according to Robertson, whom you still have to stop and retrain them.

So we tried to address most of the top ABN sat down with recently. ten concerns that the shops have in hirWhat was the main reason be- ing somebody. They don’t want to inhind the formation of the Collivest in training someone if they’re just sion Career Institute? with David Luehr going to go out and move to the next MSO that’s going to offer them another Well, it started mostly out of fifty cents to a dollar more per hour. frustration on the part of shops They want to make sure that if they inthat were running out of qualified peovest in someone, they’re going to stay. ple. Shops have been poaching people So we address that in our program and from other shops for a long time in difprovide incentives for the technicians to with Jennifer ferent degrees. But whenever we runDriscoll-Chippendale stay, with tool and bonus packages that into a big expansion by the MSOs, they they’ll receive after two years at the start getting frantic. They have all these same shop. new contracts they need to fulfill and You carefully screen every pothey don’t have the techs to perform the tential student prior to admiswork. So it’s a business strategy for sion, is that correct? them. Poaching will never stop and the with Erica Eversman main problem is that the pool is small.

Yes, because not everyone is So the only thing you can do to remedy ideal for every job in a body the problem is to increase the size of the shop. The problem with most commupool of available technicians, estimators nity colleges is that they will graduate a and painters. At first, we were frusstudent if they meet minimum stantrated, but then we saw it as an opporwith Attanasio dards. Shops really don’t care if you get tunity, and that was the Ed genesis of the an A, B, or C on something anymore.

Collision Career Institute. I’ve been an They really want to know that they can educator in this industry at the commudo the job and do it successfully and not nity college level for more than 22 years cause any injuries. Similarly, in the inas an instructor at Cerritos College in dustry, we want these trainees to hit the Norwalk, CA. And the frustration that I was feeling was different from what ground running. So they don’t move on Ed Attanasio to the next class until they’re finished was being felt in with the industry.

I felt that and validated by a third-party that in training, we needed to be more focomes in—somebody that comes in incused on what the shops’ needs were and less focused on what the school dependently and evaluates their skills.

And so until they pass, they won’t needed. move on. That’s a different focus.

You’re working with Erick Everything else is always time-based or with Ed Attanasio Bickett (FixAuto) to develop money-based, related to profit rather this program and combining your skill than to competency. So we focus on sets to do some groundbreaking things competency that is a departure from the with CCI. Please elaborate. norms out there.

Northeast News

Associations Update

Q: A:

Lean Operations The Legal View The Legal Q: View

A: Midwest Associations

National Associations

Q: A:

Northwest Associations

Q:

Web Window

Yes, Erick and I are approaching For someone looking to attend with Victoria AntonelliCCI, what are the steps? it from two different directions.

48 JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

Once we have vetted the person A: and decided that they are a good candidate, we look for a shop in

the area that they’re willing to work in that wants to sponsor them and then we work out the agreements. Applicants go through a full series of assessments to asses their likelihood to succeed. Each job description that we train for has an ideal personality style that goes with it. There are certain people that you wouldn’t want to have in front of your customers. There are some people that you wouldn’t want to have in charge of putting a car back together. If they’re not detail-oriented, you probably don’t want to have them in charge of all the parts. We try to ferret all that out and we assess that person more discreetly and intensely than a community college is allowed to.

There are certain questions that you can’t ask at a community college and it’s more of an open door policy. We accept everybody into every program

in a community college, but we don’t at CCI.

will CCI start accepting first students?

Q: itsWhen Well, we’re still in the early A: stages and still running our beta program. We learned a lot from

the prototype. We went back and retooled it and modified it and cut it down from two years to a year and a half. We launched beta back in the fall and we’ve learned from those beta students and modified the program.

We’ve tweaked it, and those changes in the system will come out in our August launch. We are currently recruiting both shops and students to participate. Our target areas for August are the Bay Area and Southern California. Then, we will reload every three months and be going full-speed by the fourth quarter of this year in other regions.

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Shop Strategies

Stacey Phillips is the assistant editor at Autobody News magazine.

She has more than 20 years of experience writing for a variety of publications. She can be reached at sphillips@autobodynews.com.

with Stacey Phillips - ASSISTANT EDITOR

Massachusetts Collision Center Finds Multiple Benefits Hiring Students in Family Business We talked to Gallerani about the More than a decade ago, Cape Auto Collision Center in Plymouth, MA, benefits he has found hiring students began hiring co-op students from local over the years as part of the co-op protechnical high schools to help in Phillips the gram. with Stacey - ASSISTANT EDITOR body shop. Kevin Gallerani, owner of Cape Auto, said it has become an imHow did your family get started portant part of the family-run business. in the collision repair business?

One of their co-op students, Fred Cape Auto (the name) was esTeed, qualified to compete in the natablished in 1952, but my famtional SkillsUSA competition held in ily’s body shop goes back much further. My great grandfather was fixing crashed vehicles in the ‘30s under the name Alphonso’s Auto Body at the same location that my service department is currently in.

We have a service department at 53 Samoset Street with 20 employees. The collision center, with 17 employees, is located at 115 Kathy Chaves, customer care representative at Sandwich Street.

Body Shops Giving Back

Q: A:

Cape Auto Body, with Mark MacKinnon, service advisor

Louisville, KY, June 20-24 as Autobody News went to press.

Can you tell us about the Q: co-op program and the benefits of having students working at

technicians to fix vehicles the way that we want and need them fixed. They learn what is expected at an early age.

your business?

We have been involved with A: co-ops for at least 10 years. We have a co-op program at our collision

How long do they usually work Q: at your business, and are any of them hired full time?

center and our service center every year. We use students from Plymouth

Usually, we have at least A: two students at each shop every year and sometimes they

Cape Auto Body, located in Plymouth, Massachusetts, was established in 1952

South Technical School and Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical High School. The benefit of having students in the co-op program is that we get a chance to try them out and test their mechanical skills and their work ethics. We can then train and mold the

don’t make it or they do not stay in the trade. I would say less than 20 percent actually make it. We are always looking for new employees as we grow, and that’s why we keep looking to the schools for students.

What advice can you give to Q: other shop owners who are considering using students?

I would recommend that all A: shops look to trade schools for See Hiring Students, Page 59

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www.autobodynews.com | JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS 49

Auto Claims — The High Cost of Keeping Pace with Technology

by Bob Juniper and Mike Orso

The auto body repair industry has changed over the past few years in ways that far outpace the changes of the previous 25 to 50 years. Gone are the days of the ‘easy’ car repair – the days when a shade tree mechanic could go to the junkyard, pick up the necessary salvage parts.

Higher Repair Costs The auto body trade is an investmentintensive industry. Investments must be made constantly in new technology, certification, and training. Body repair specialists require training and certification and they must constantly strive to keep their skills and training on the cutting edge to keep up with the everchanging technological and passenger safety improvements implemented by the automotive industry. All this training and certification requires investments of time, money and resources.

In addition to having the necessary skilled worker ready to work on a vehicle, when a vehicle needs repair, technical information that is specific to that vehicle and the repair must be purchased through long-term licensing or paid for by-the-hour. Then the information needs to be reviewed and processed as material updates are everevolving, meaning a technician can’t simply rely on what he learned last month, or even last week, about the technical details before beginning to repair the vehicle.

The expenses for training and obtaining the technical specifications for a particular vehicle occur even before repair on the vehicle can begin. Once repair begins, there is the cost of parts.

New metal alloys add cost to the repair process. With the new technology of part imprinting, parts are being produced with VIN identification recognition making parts specific to a particular vehicle, not just a specific make or

model as in years past. Such an imprinted part would be incompatible with another vehicle thereby making a salvage part useless, maybe even dangerous to use, in the repair. Gone are the days when we could buy a used headlight to cut costs. To properly repair a vehicle, more expensive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts must be used. Additionally, special internal corrosion coatings and foams must be used as sound protection products. And every structural repair requires special adhesives and welding. Then, once the repairs are complete, paint and repair products require sufficient drying and curing time in controlled environments using up- to-date technical information and specifications that vary by automaker and often by sub-models.

Using vehicle- specific parts, installed by a trained professional, makes repairs much more expensive than in years past.

Higher Disposal Costs An expense area that hardly existed 25 years ago is the cost to properly dispose of damaged parts. Twenty five years ago, damaged parts removed from cars were hauled off to the junkyard or other disposal facility. That can’t always be done today. Various components in a damaged vehicle require special disposal – think about the various batteries, ballasts, and sensors in a car today – and reputable repair shops pay the requisite price to properly dispose of them.

One area, for instance, that is often not considered is the cost to replace seatbelts. Most manufacturers require that seatbelts be replaced after a crash.

These seatbelts often are considered hazardous and explosive waste that require special disposal, disposal which can be expensive. Some repair shops avoid this expense by not replacing seatbelts after a crash, thereby saving themselves money and avoiding the disposal process but possibly endangering the vehicle’s future occupants.

Reputable shops follow manufacturer requirements and replace the seatbelts, thereby adding the cost of repairs and the costs associated with disposal to the cost of repair of the more obvious vehicle damage.

All these newer components and disposal requirements mean that repair of a damaged vehicle is not a haphaz-

50 JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

ard event; it’s not an automatic, wholesale, chain-store, or while-you-wait, transaction. To properly repair a collision-damaged vehicle requires highly qualified personnel with continuing education and training utilizing specialized equipment. This situation results in costs that far exceed the costs and training of years past. And these costs must be properly addressed to protect the owners of vehicles, their passengers, the environment and the repair facility.

Saving Money/Cutting Costs — Paying the Consequences Insurance companies often seem anxious to save money where they can. In their attempts to do so, they sometimes seem to make short-sighted decisions that can impact them, and their customers, longterm.

First is the impact of trying to save money on the costs of repairs. When insurers try to unrealistically control the pricing of repairs, it encourages all repair companies to cut corners to save money – like not replacing seatbelts when the manufacturer of the vehicle requires it. This leads to shoddy and sometimes dangerous repair work.

Price Comparison of Replacement Side Mirrors YearMake/Model - Item - List price (2016):

1995 Chevy Blazer - Side mirror, manual - $88.23 2001 Honda CRV - Side mirror, power - $287.58 2005 Ford 500 - Side mirror, power, with heat - $351.13 2012 GMC Yukon - Side mirror, power, folding, with turn signal $483.40 2016 Lexus GX 460 - Side mirror, power, turn signal, camera, blind spot monitoring - $1,105.01

Post Repair Inspections conducted across the country are revealing how corners cut in the repair process by such shops are perpetuating a new breed of repaired vehicles that reclassified after repair as total losses. And when an insurance company requires that repair work be done in an ‘approved’ shop whose workmanship turns out to be shoddy, they may find themselves losing customers to other

insurers who don’t require that repair work be done in such ‘approved’ shops.

The claims procedures and processes that were effective and efficient five, ten, or 15 years ago are not readily transferable to the vehicles on the road today.

Another area where insurers may be making short-term money decisions with potential long-term consequences is in labor costs. Currently there is a 40-60% disparity between the labor rates insurers seek to pay for autobody repair and the cost of mechanical labor rates. Such a disparity may lead entry-level technicians and potential labor to look to other trades for a career. This could result in a shortage of qualified employees and qualified shops in the autobody industry in the future. And anytime there is a shortage of supply, costs will go up.

Will there come a time when insurance companies will pay $250/hour to repair body- damaged cars?

Ultimately, the insurance companies and the autobody repair industry pursue the same goal: a well- repaired, safe vehicle that a satisfied customer knows has been properly repaired. The task before us is to balance this goal with the realities of ever-changing vehicle technology, vehicle specific parts, expense controls and quality workmanship.

Bob Juniper owns and operates Three-C Body Shops, Inc., based in central and southern Ohio. Three-C, family owned, was founded in 1956.

Juniper and Three-C welcome the new opportunities brought about by the changing face of the auto repair industry as consolidation changes the auto repair market in Central Ohio.

Mike Orso is president of Nick Orso’s Body Shop and Service Center in Syracuse, New York. Orso joined the family-run business in 1973. Orso served as president of New York State Auto Collision Technicians Association, Inc. (NYSACTA).

www.autobodynews.com | JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS 51

Hailstorm Brings Work for Billings, MT Roofers, Auto Repair and Glass Shops

by Erik Olson, Billings Gazette

Jason Zapata launched his auto-body repair business in the wake of the 2014 hailstorm that pummeled Billings, and he’s gearing for the next big wave over the next few months.

The 36-year-old Billings man owns Hail Team 6, a one-man repair shop that works with auto-body shops around town. Following the May 22 hailstorm that pounded the West End of Billings, he’s expecting a rush of business.

During the last week of May, he worked on a new red Ford F-150 pickup with a cracked sunroof and quarter-sized dents all over the hood and door. Zapata did about $1,000 worth of work in his shop at 2120 Lampman Dr. using a method called paintless dent repair, where he pushes dents out from the inside to preserve the paint job.

A Huntley native, Zapata has done repair work for 15 years nationwide.

He’s repaired vehicles in California, Texas and other places after hailstorms there, gaining experience on different kinds of vehicles.

This summer, however, Zapata said he plans to stay home.

“We like the storms because that’s what our business is based on. We pray that no one gets injured, obviously. But it’s a great economic boom for any town that has them,” Zapata said.

Jason Zapata of Hail Team 6 shows some of the hail damage to a Ford F-150 from the storm at his shop on May 25. Credit: Casey Page / Gazette Staff

This most recent weekend storm swept through the West End and north along Airport Road and into the Rehberg Ranch subdivision, breaking windows and denting vehicles.

Since then, phones have been ringing constantly for roofers, auto repair shops, glass installers and other contractors involved in storm cleanup.

In 2014, contractors did $105 million of roofing, fencing and foundation work in Billings, most of which

was related to the hailstorm, according to the city’s building department.

That storm also attracted hundreds of out-of-town storm chasers, who did roofing work and other repair.

Some homeowners are opting for smaller repairs to avoid filing additional claims, Martin said.

Empire has about 50 employees, which is typical for the summer.

Hail covers the road on Laredo Place in West Billings. Credit: Bob Zellar/Gazette Staff

Many stayed for a few months, boosting revenue for local hotels, restaurants and bars.

Some of those companies stayed in town and are continuing to compete with long-time roofers, said Jake Martin, vice president of Empire Roofing Inc., which his grandfather founded in the 1950s.

“Healthy competition is always good. In our eyes, as long as they’re a legitimate company that does everything the right way… then we’re totally OK with that,” Martin said.

“The good ones actually upped the whole level of professionalism. The bad ones, they hurt everyone else’s name,” he added.

Martin said Empire has gotten a steady stream of calls since the storm.

Many are repeat customers who used Empire during the last storm, or they were burned by a storm chaser the last time and want a local brand, he said.

This storm hit a smaller swath of town and affected fewer people than in 2014, Martin said, but the damage is worse. Temperatures during hail storm were in the high 50s to low 60s, which hardened the roof shingles and made them more brittle, he said.

“It actually fractured and put holes in shingles while before it bruised,” said Martin, who is also vice president of the Montana Roofing Association.

Meanwhile, insurers have raised deductibles or dropped altogether homeowners who have filed multiple claims from past storms in the last five years.

52 JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

Local glass shops are also busy fielding repair requests from hail damage.

Ron Becker, owner of Becker’s Glass in downtown Billings, said he expects his biggest rush to come in the next few weeks after homeowners con-

sult with their insurance carriers.

Beckers Glass sells and installs window panes and other types of glass found in the home. The shop has three employees, who are typically busy this time of year without a storm, Becker said.

Over the next three weeks, workers will be measuring the spaces to install new panes before doing the work, and Becker expects a second wave of calls down the road.

“More than likely, it will carry on for the rest of the summer,” Becker said last week.

Zapata said he expects the same for Hail Team 6. He took some time off this holiday weekend but is planning for business to accelerate through the fall.

Long-term, Zapata said he hopes to use the storm as a springboard to grow the business and avoid having to travel for work. He added that he’d like to start hiring employees and gain more direct customers.

“Hail is insurance paid, and the profit margin is greater,” he said.

We thank the Billings Gazette for reprint permission.

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www.autobodynews.com | JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS 53

U.S. Aftermarket to Grow at an Annual Rate (CAGR) of 3.7% through 2019

The U.S. automotive aftermarket is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.7 percent through 2019, according to the “2016 Joint Channel Forecast Model” produced jointly by the Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association (AASA) and the Auto Care Association.

The 2016 Joint Channel Forecast Model also predicts that the total aftermarket sales will grow from $257.4 billion in 2015 to $296.3 billion in 2019, an increase of nearly $39 billion over the four-year period.

“The forecast model demonstrates that despite strong new vehicle sales, moderating gas prices and improved miles driven are conditions conducive to continued steady growth,” said Bill Hanvey, Auto Care Association president and CEO. “Why? The average age of light vehicles—now up to 11.6 years--is the oldest ever, and the age mix of vehicles continues to favor older vehicles, creating a robust sweet spot for service and repair.”

“The automotive aftermarket is a large and stable industry whose impressive growth, even through the Great Recession is forecasted to con-

tinue,” said Bill Long, president and chief operating officer, AASA. “The ‘Joint Channel Forecast Model’ is a valuable tool for all industry stakeholders in planning and positioning your business to capitalize on the opportunities ahead.”

The market sizing and forecast is conducted on behalf of AASA and the Auto Care Association by IHS Automotive, an economic and market information firm. It is based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s Economic Census, IMR and Polk data, and proprietary IHS Automotive’s economic analysis and forecasting models.

The Joint Channel Forecast Model is available at the AASA website, www.aftermarketsuppliers.org, and in the Auto Care Association’s 2017 Digital Auto Care Factbook, available at www.autocare.org

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10 Students Awarded Grants to Attend SkillsUSA’s Conference Ten state gold medalists will be attending the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in Louisville June 20-24 with support from contributions from the Troy Holm Memorial Fund. Created by PartsTrader in memory of collision industry member Troy Holm, the fund assists students with travel grants and other forms of assistance needed to attend the national event. The donation ensures the “best of the best” from around the country are represented at the national contest.

The Fund is facilitated by the Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF).

The 10 student recipients and their schools include: Alex Akers - Oxford Hills Technical School (Norway, ME) Lyric Arms - Walla Walla Community College (Walla Walla, WA) Zane Butler - Greenville Tech College (Greenville, SC) Daniel Graber II - Lincoln College of Technology (Indianapolis, IN) Emit Hoyt - Oxford Hills Technical School (Norway, ME) Tyrell Kirk - Walla Walla Community College (Walla Walla, WA) Eden Gabrielle Mays Greenville Tech College (Greenville, SC) Kenneth Ocasio - Central Montco

Tech High School (Plymouth Meeting, PA) Dariel Saldana - Automotive Training Center (Warminster, PA) Shelby Woods - Southwestern Community College (Creston, IA) “PartsTrader congratulates these deserving state winners and wishes them continued success as they compete at the national SkillsUSA competition. Troy Holm was a passionate advocate for the collision industry, and there is no better way to honor him,” said Dustin Whitehead, national sales manager for PartsTrader.

“The team at PartsTrader is proud to assist these state champions as they continue their pursuit of excellence in the collision repair industry.”

Collision industry members are encouraged to contribute to the Troy Holm Memorial Fund to ensure that as many deserving collision and refinishing students can participate in next year’s national championships.

Members interested in supporting this fund are asked to contact CREF director of development Brandon Eckenrode at (847) 463-5244.

www.autobodynews.com CHECK IT OUT!

Personal Safety Division Launches 3M Center for Respiratory Protection

3M™ Personal Safety Division has launched the 3M Center for Respiratory Protection, an online resource that can help companies navigate the requirements of an OSHA respiratory protection program. “When respirators are used in a workplace, OSHA requires companies to establish and maintain a written respiratory protection plan. A comprehensive and effective plan isn’t something that can be downloaded from the Internet.

An effective program needs to be tailored to the individual needs of the users at each worksite,” said Scott Larson, respiratory protection technical services manager of 3M Personal Safety Division. “With the 3M Center for Respiratory Protection, 3M’s technical service specialists summarize key points that those responsible for worker health and safety need to know to help establish and maintain a successful respiratory protection program. The 3M Center for Respiratory Protection also provides the tools to help employers as they put a program in place.” 3M Center for Respiratory Protection outlines general steps to help guide users as they work to create and maintain a respiratory protection program. The eight steps include: • Exposure Assessment

• • • • • • •

Respiratory Selection Medical Evaluations Fit Testing Respirator Training Respirator Maintenance Program Evaluation Recordkeeping These steps are a summary of requirements and are based on the OSHA requirements; the 3M website provides articles, videos, tool kits, fast facts, and more, all created or curated by respiratory protection technical service specialists at 3M. “As health and safety professionals, we aim to provide professionals with respiratory protection knowledge and tools that they need to help protect themselves and their workers,” said Larson. “This new online resource provides an outlet for 3M to present valuable information, and a place that helps make it easier for our customers to select and use respiratory protection correctly.

As we continue to help employers protect the respiratory health of their workers across the globe, the 3M Center for Respiratory Protection will prove to be a helpful way for us to disseminate information to those who are in need of it.”

For more information, visit www .3m.com/respiratorycenter.

54 JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

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Mitchell Issues Second Quarter 2016 Industry Trends Report Mitchell released its Industry Trends Report (ITR) for the second quarter of 2016.

In the report, Alex Sun, Mitchell’s president and CEO, weighed in on the company’s 70th anniversary milestone with past, present and future insights. He reflected on how Mitchell has changed over the years and explored what is to come.

Greg Horn, vice president of Industry Relations at Mitchell, demonstrated the importance of observing where claims fall on a natural distribution curve to glean key industry insights.

Horn detailed a few of the business areas exposed when analyzing claims distribution, including the performance of direct repair shops, staff, independent appraisers and overall operational efficiency.

According to Mitchell, first published in April 2001, the ITR now reaches more than 33,000 collision and casualty industry professionals and provides visibility into data-driven trends in the P&C market. The complete report is available at www.mitchell.com/industry -trends-report.

In addition to the release, Mitchell1 announced expanded integration of its RepairConnect software with NEXIQ Technologies eTechnician HD diagnostic application, giving truck technicians instant access to diagnostic fault-related service information on a PC platform.

Mitchell 1 RepairConnect has been accessible to NEXIQ users since 2013. The latest integration extends access to the diagnostic information from the NEXIQ Technologies scan tool to a desktop computer.

“We’re pleased to take the integration of RepairConnect with NEXIQ to the next level with the introduction into the eTechnician HD PC-based platform,” said Scott DeGiorgio, general manager of the commercial vehicle group for Mitchell 1. “Having this additional resource at their fingertips will give technicians another way to access the information they need to repair trucks more efficiently and with more confidence, which is always our goal.”

A technician using eTechnician HD can access RepairConnect and retrieve DTC-related service information, including descriptions of trouble codes; related wiring diagrams; component connector views; electrical component locations; testing procedures; removal and installation procedures and DTC-related specifications. RepairConnect anticipates the detailed information required to fix the vehicle based on the DTC and quickly retrieves it. No additional lookup of repair information is required to complete the service correctly.

For more information, please visit http://mitchell1.com/.

ASA-CT Shops Meet with Tech Students and Learn about Parts Procurement Software

senior students from the program attended, and shop owners conducted On April 28, the Automotive Service mock interviews with these individAssociation of Connecticut (ASA- uals to prepare them for their futures.

CT) held a meeting at the E. C. GoodShop owners also discussed the win Technical High School in New possibility of participating in a mysBritain, CT. Members spent time with tery shopping project to “ensure they students, discussed mystery shopping are offering the best in customer servand learned about new parts procure- ice as well as to confirm that the avment software. erage consumer can easily find them online,” said Lisa Siembab, executive director for ASACT. Finally, Eric St. Pierre, chief marketing officer for Parts Tech, delivered a presentation on the company’s parts procurement software which assists shops in locating parts in a more timely and accurate manner than E. C. Goodwin Technical High School instructor address most other programs. According to Siembab, “The The spring meeting began with program is designed primarily for a light dinner which was prepared by mechanical shops and allows shops to the culinary students at the school. input current vendors, view an exact Association members then met with illustration of the part, and research the automotive technology depart- availability of the part in real time. ment to learn how ASA-CT can aid Shops were encouraged to sign up for them in terms of curriculum, appren- a free trial made exclusive to ASAticeships and job placement. Two CT shops.”

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www.autobodynews.com | JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS 55

Ray Evernham Leads Preservation of Iconic American Graffiti Impala With Axalta Coatings For Ray Evernham, the 1958 Chevy Impala used in the film American Graffiti is the holy grail of hot rods, a car that inspired his life-long passion for cars.

Now, after pursuing the car for most of his adult life and finally buying it, he faces an even bigger challenge: preserving it in its original movie condition for generations to come.

Evernham has partnered with Axalta Coating Systems, a global manufacturer of liquid and powder coatings, to bring this piece of movie history and Americana back to life.

The car will go through a tedious forensic preservation and be unveiled in Axalta’s booth #22391 at the 2016 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show in Las Vegas during the first week of November.

“For me, American Graffiti was an incredible movie about an exciting time in America,” said Evernham. “It brought back hot rods and rock and roll and launched the careers of dozens of stars. George Lucas did such an exacting job creating the set, building the cars and telling the story that you were truly transported back to a time when horsepower was king, you and your friends ruled the drive-in and the world was a simpler place.”

American Graffiti, a film about

four long-time high-school friends set in Modesto, CA, in 1962, featured several classic cars throughout the movie, with the 1958 Chevy Impala being one of the most iconic.

After it was used in the film, Mike

to its original movie condition,” noted Evernham. “It really is a forensic preservation. We have to take it apart piece by piece, catalog every piece and then repair those pieces. Every piece of chrome is being straightened

Famalette, only 17 at the time, purchased the car directly from Lucas Films for $285 in 1972. Famalette held onto the car from that time until 2015 when Evernham acquired it.

“To save this car for future generations, we have to go back 42 years

and re-chromed. The emblems are being re-chromed. The nuts and bolts are being re-plated. The interior has been entirely dis-assembled and will be restored back to its movie condition. Everything we took off is going back in it. Even the tires are original

and the air in them came directly from the movie set.”

The only element Evernham is replacing is the engine, which was destroyed long before he purchased the car.

As seen in American Graffiti, the ‘58 Impala was equipped with a four-barrel 348, and three-speed manual transmission. Evernham found a 1960 327 Chevy engine with six-barrel Stromberg carburetor to power the classic machine.

With partner Axalta Coating Systems, Evernham will replace the exact paint and pinstripes on the vehicle.

“Paint technology has come a long way since 1958,” noted Harry Christman, North American Cromax® Brand Manager for Axalta. “Regardless, the paint scheme still represents the most recognizable aspect of this iconic car.

Axalta’s goal with this restoration is to precisely match the original colors using Cromax® ChromaPremier® to preserve the vehicle’s heritage and protect this unique piece of history for years to come.”

Evernham said the complexity of the restoration is daunting, and the time required will far exceed any project his team that has built, including award-winning, best-in-class cars for SEMA, Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance and the Pinehurst d’Elegance.

Martin Senour Launches New Industrial Maintenance Coatings DTM Acrylic Enamel

The Martin Senour Company has introduced its new Industrial Maintenance Coatings DTM Acrylic Enamel. It is a high gloss, 100% acrylic, waterborne, corrosion-resistant coating for light to moderate industrial use.

Designed for new construction, equipment, or a variety of maintenance uses, Industrial Maintenance Coatings DTM Acrylic Enamel can be used directly over a variety of properly prepared substrates while offering a substantial protective coating.

According to the company, the new coatings product (series IM110)

provides a number of features: it is a low VOC coating; offers good chemical and corrosion resistance; provides outstanding adhesion and moisture resistance; and is fast-drying with low odor characteristics.

Suitable substrates for Industrial Maintenance Coatings DTM Acrylic Enamel include steel, iron, aluminum, galvanized steel, concrete, masonry, wood, zinc rich primers, cement board and fiber board. It is recommended for use on a number of applications including ornamental iron, tanks and cylinders, steel fabricated parts, industrial, construction and farm equipment, metal buildings, piping, hand rails and select marine structures.

Available in 13 popular factory packaged colors (standard, safety and basic equipment), they dry to the touch in 15 to 30 minutes and are easy to apply with either brush or spray application.

For more information regarding Martin Senour industrial maintenance coatings, visit www.martin senour-autopaint.com.

56 JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

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www.autobodynews.com | JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS 57

CREF Helps Next Generation of Collision Repairers Find Jobs Seattle, Phoenix, St. Louis, Nashville and Chicago.

The Collision Repair Education FounAccording to Eckenrode, “High dation (CREF) hosted career fairs school and college collision students, across the country as part of their instructors and school administrators Cars, Careers and Celebrities initia- who attended said that the events were tive. The organization coordinated 10 eye-opening to how many different types of companies are interested in employing the students. Instead of ‘just hearing about the industry’ from their instructors, students are able to physically see and meet these companies.”

CREF’s Cars, Careers and Celebrities initiative is designed to introduce industry employers to local collision students who will be seeking employment.

Students have the opportuStudents meet with the various companies involved in nity to see the variety of inthe collision repair industry dustry companies interested career fairs this spring. Brandon Eck- in their future, distribute resumes to enrode, director of development for potential employers, view product CREF, said, “The events went great. demonstrations, and network with each We’ve received great feedback from other. both vendors and attending students, Eckenrode noted, “These events and students are getting hired at these are meant to serve several purposes. events.”

They address the industry’s aging The fairs were held in Houston, workforce issue by helping to connect Indianapolis, Orlando, Dallas, Denver, students with industry employees,

by Chasidy Rae Sisk

they serve as motivation for students entering their collision education by revealing the opportunities available after they graduate, and they showcase to school administrators that the multi-billion dollar collision repair industry cares about these students,

Students network with their peers

which demonstrates that investing in their collision programs is worthwhile.”

Although the job fairs were a great initial success, CREF is planning improvements, such as electronic registration for students, expanding to new cities, and getting more companies, schools and students involved.

The organization also hopes to engage more school administrators in

the future, and they are developing a better system for tracking which students are interviewed and hired during these events. CREF also credits and thanks the Indianapolis, St. Louis, and Phoenix I-CAR Volunteer Committees, as those groups took the lead in organizing the events.

CREF will look to get additional I-CAR committees involved to schedule even more career fairs in the future.

CREF has released its job fair schedule for Fall 2016 which includes Chicago on September 16; St. Louis on September 23; Boston on October 5; Atlanta on October 20; and Columbus, OH on November 16. They also plan to visit Minneapolis, but the date has not yet been determined. Eckenrode “encourages companies who are interested in participating in these events to reach out to the Education Foundation.”

For more information, contact Brandon Eckenrode at (847) 463-5244 or Brandon.Eckenrode@ed-foundation .org.

AutoInc. Seeks Submissions for Top 10 Websites Contest

The Automotive Service Association (ASA) and its official publication, AutoInc. magazine, are inviting all current ASA members to enter the magazine’s annual Top 10 Websites Contest.

ASA will publish reviews of the Top 10 sites in the November-December issue of AutoInc. Winners will be sent extra copies of the magazine to display in their waiting rooms. Addition-

ally, ASA is pleased to announce that all winners will receive $95 off their next membership renewal.

According to ASA, a shop’s website is its best business tool to attract and retain customers; aside, of course, from the consistent quality of service.

“AutoInc.’s Top 10 Websites Contest is a great opportunity for us to recognize our members for their hard work with their single greatest marketing tool,” said Leona Dalavai Scott, director of marketing and communications for AutoInc. “With an increasing number of motorists finding repair shops through online searches on their mobile devices, shops understand that their websites must be top-notch to capture consumers.”

ASA’s panel of judges will provide a uniform evaluation of each site’s specific features, including:

▪ Mobile-friendly and mobile-ready ▪ Technical ▪ Innovation ▪ Call to action ▪ Credibility ▪ First impression/visual design ▪ Social media presence ▪ Objective/purpose ▪ Consumer friendliness

The deadline for this year’s contest is July 15. To access the entry form and contest guidelines, visit http://www .autoinc.org/top-10-websites/

58 JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

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Continued from Page 49

Hiring Students

students. It is a lot more work than just hiring a technician off the street, but the value is much stronger. You train the technicians to learn your philosophy and expectations. Technicians get older every year, and you need to look to the schools for the technicians of the future.

How will co-op programs like Q: the ones you participate in help the industry?

It is very hard to find good qualA: ified employees in this trade.

Most kids are pushed to go to college

by parents and guidance counselors, but we still need technicians in many service trades. Who will fix our cars in the future? The average age of a collision technician is 40 right now and it is rising because it is hard to find younger technicians in the trade. There are great jobs available, and vocational schools need to convince their new students of this.

For more information, visit www .capeautorepairs.com or call (508) 7470316.

Department of Motor Vehicles Inspects Auto Repair Businesses For Proper Permits

fine Tuesday against Tinoco, who was forced to close his garage bays until he files for the DMV permit.

Jose Tinoco achieved a longtime dream “I better do this as soon as postwo months ago by opening an auto sible,” Tinoco said while holding his body repair shop just south of Nellis Air citation. “I might lose a lot of money Force Base. if we stay closed for too many days.”

Tinoco’s Auto Body and more than 40 other garages were visited Tuesday by 20 investigators from the DMV’s compliance enforcement team, who canvassed the city as part of the agency’s fifth annual “Impact Day,” aimed at making sure the businesses are properly registered.

“Usually, we hear that the business owners didn’t know that they Linda Vantilborg, left, a compliance investigator had to register with the with the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles, DMV,” said Lori Billingsley, a issues a citation to Jose Tinoco for operating an DMV supervisory compliance inauto body shop without a license, Tuesday, May vestigator.

17, 2016, in Las Vegas. Credit: Benjamin Hager, “Part of this is consumer Las Vegas Review-Journal protection because licensed reThe business bearing his name pair shops must have a bond,” Billingswas permitted by the secretary of state’s ley said. “If there’s any liability, the office and Clark County, but Tinoco consumer would have some recourse said he didn’t realize he needed to be li- by filing against the bond.” censed by a third agency: the DepartThe surprise visits Tuesday rement of Motor Vehicles. sulted in $1,500 fines for business That slip-up resulted in a $1,500 owners who failed to file for DMV

by Art Marroquin, © Las Vegas ReviewJournal

permits. Another $1,000 was tacked on for those who weren’t registered with the state or county. In comparison, repair garages can register with the DMV for $26 annually, while auto body shops pay $301 a year. In total, the DMV collected $148,000 in licensing fees in the past fiscal year.

Under state law, the DMV is charged with regulating the auto repair industry in Nevada by fielding consumer complaints about scofflaw mechanics, DMV spokesman Kevin

Malone said. Statewide, there are 312 body shops registered with the DMV as of Tuesday, and 1,582 repair garages.

“If you have an unlicensed business, the consumer has no recourse,” Malone said. “The business can take your money, do shoddy work and then disappear.”

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AkzoNobel Introduces New Color Software

With its recently released MIXIT web application, AkzoNobel became the first vehicle refinishes paint supplier to provide real-time updates for color software as well as the first to support searching in Chinese.

AkzoNobel now offers a new color web application, MIXIT, a tool for bodyshops to find the color they want using a search function that fits all possible keywords in any language and includes suggestions. According to AkzoNobel, it is the ideal tool for customers using any of their leading vehicle refinishes brands, including Sikkens, Lesonal, Wanda, Sikkens Autocoat BT and U-TECH. “MIXIT is the first software of its kind to provide data updates in

real-time, with a simple, fast and intelligent search, making it the most accurate color retrieval tool available,” said Remco Maassen van den Brink, AkzoNobel’s Vehicle Refinishes marketing director. “It is also the first to support searching for car makes and model names in the Chinese language.”

As a responsive web application, MIXIT has been designed to work on smartphones, tablets and PCs. Since its December launch, approximately 50% of users have accessed the application from a mobile device or tablet. The application analyzes user behavior to understand how customers can retrieve and match colors more efficiently. Every three weeks, AkzoNobel will use this information to release an updated version of the application in which functionality is added and improved.

“With so many advantages for users globally, we are confident MIXIT will become the color retrieval tool of choice for all of our customers,” said Remco Maassen van den Brink.

The application can be accessed at www.MIXITcloud.com.

PPG Introduces EC550 En-V® Ultra Gloss Clearcoat

The Automotive Refinish business unit of PPG has launched EC550 En-V® Ultra Gloss Clearcoat, a new clearcoat formulated specifically for use with ENVIROBASE® High Performance waterborne basecoat. According to PPG, the new clearcoat is designed for outstanding gloss and ease of use. It is intended for overalls and multi-panel applications and is the latest addition to the Envirobase High Performance clearcoat lineup.

EC550 incorporates PPG’s advanced En-V resin technology that is used in EC530 En-V Performance

Clearcoat. “The technology contributes to a superior appearance thanks to exceptional gloss retention and excellent flow and leveling qualities—properties that are critical for delivering premium OEM-level finishes,” states PPG. EC550 utilizes the same hardener/reducer combination as EC530 En-V Performance Clearcoat with a simple 3:1:1 mix ratio. EC550 can be sprayed in all application conditions, including extreme temperatures and humidity, and no polishing is required. Additionally, EC550 En-V Ultra Gloss is compliant for all refinish markets in North America.

“We’ve given EC550 En-V Ultra Gloss all the attributes PPG customers have asked for,” said Tim Jones, Automotive Refinish segment manager.

“It’s production-friendly, easy to apply and yields an unmatched luxurious gloss. It’s exactly what a premium Envirobase High Performance clearcoat should be.”

To learn more about the Envirobase High Performance brand and other Automotive Refinish products, call (800) 647-6050 or visit www.ppg refinish.com.

60 JULY 2016 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

CREF Launches Successful Pilot of Collision Student Resume Database To continue and enhance their efforts to help connect high school and college collision students with industry employers, the Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF) has announced the

successful launch of their high school and college online collision student resume database.

According to CREF, as many collision students across the country do not have the ability to attend the foundation's physical career fair events, the collision student resume database was built and piloted to reach high school and college collision students who are seeking full-time, part-time, or internship industry positions. More than 200 students from around the country submitted their contact and resume information. The database will be provided to CREF's donors for follow-up and employment consideration.

CREF director of development Brandon Eckenrode said, “We are very pleased with our initial pilot of

the collision student resume database and this will be an ongoing effort at the end of each school semester to gather the contact information for those students seeking industry employment. We will then be sharing this information with our donors as a thank you for their continued support as we work towards assisting collision school programs and their ability to graduate quality, productive, and efficient entry-level staff ready for employment.”

At the end of each fall and spring semester, students seeking industry employment will have the opportunity to submit their information to the database. CREF will work towards tracking the number of students who are hired by the industry and anticipates greater student participation with the database in the future.

Companies looking to gain access to the collision student resume database and join CREF in supporting high school and college collision school programs should contact Brandon Eckenrode at (847) 463-5244 or Brandon.Eckenrode@ed-foundation .org.

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PPG Foundation Awards Student Scholarships

The PPG Foundation, working with the Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF), recently awarded scholarships to four students who have demonstrated a career interest in automotive repair and refinish. The scholarships, worth $5,000 each, are awarded annually to full-time students attending a post-secondary school with a focus or degree program in collision repair. The funds may be used to assist the students with educational expenses such as tuition, books, tools and equipment.

The winners of the 2016 PPG Foundation Scholarships are: Richard Arnold (Utah Valley University, Orem, UT), Julie Brain (College of Lake County, Grayslake, IL), BreaAnna Miller (Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID), and David Morales Brain (College of Lake County, Grayslake, IL).

In addition, money was raised for the PPG MVP Industry Student Scholarship Fund during PPG’s 2015 Fall MVP Business Solutions Conference in Nashville, TN. The fund was able to award a $1,000 scholarship to Amanda Barefoot (Fayetteville Technical Community College, Fayetteville, NC).

“PPG’s automotive refinish

business and the PPG Foundation continue to work closely with the Collision Repair Education Foundation to support future professionals and develop the educational facilities the collision industry requires,” said Domenic Brusco, PPG senior manager, industry relations, automotive refinish. “By taking an active role in the education of collision repair and refinish students across the country, we help grow a skilled workforce to meet the demand for highly competent technicians amid ever-evolving technology. We congratulate our 2016 scholarship recipients.”

Industry members interested in working with CREF to support secondary and post-secondary collision repair students, instructors and school programs should contact Brandon Eckenrode, director of development, at (847) 463-5244 or Brandon.Eckenrode@ed-foundation .org. For information on how to donate to programs supported by CREF, visit www.CollisionEducationFoundation .org.

To learn more about PPG, visit www.ppg.com. To learn more about the PPG Foundation, visit www.ppg communities.com.

Greg Coccaro Sr. Passes Away at 66 Greg Coccaro Sr., a much admired and well-respected member of the collision community, succumbed to cancer on Memorial Day. In 1970, Coccaro founded North State Custom, a Mercedes, BMW and Tesla certified shop in Bedford Hills, NY. North State was known for quality and integrity, and also for a protracted lawsuit waged against Progressive Insurance. Many saw it as a selfless fight for the industry and independent repairers. Search “Coccaro” on Autobody News for more on the Progressive suit.

Coccaro’s Facebook page contains tributes from his many friends and colleagues, including the following statement posted by North State: “The Automotive Industry has lost a great friend, mentor, and ally. Gregory Coccaro Sr. was a beloved father, grandfather, husband and friend who did what he could to help others. His courage, inspiration, and dedication has forever changed the Collision Industry. You will be dearly missed. RIP Gregory Coccaro. You will forever be in our Hearts!”

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Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes has announced a newly expanded partnership with Driven Brands as an approved automotive coatings vendor to the U.S. segment of CARSTAR North America’s network in the United States.

“We deeply value our relationship with Sherwin-Williams,” said Michael Macaluso, president of CARSTAR North America. “Sherwin-Williams is well known as a world leader in the coatings industry, and we look forward to leveraging its products, infrastructure, operational expertise, and local support for our hundreds of franchises.”

Rob Lynch, senior vice president of Sherwin-Williams Automotive added, “We are proud to expand upon our long standing strategic partnership with Driven Brands, and to partner with the U.S. team at CARSTAR. Our direct service model provides the perfect venue to support franchisees in delivering consistent, predictable outcomes that their customers expect.

CARSTAR is a powerful force in the collision industry and we are pleased to be one of its preferred partners.”

For more information, visit www.sherwin-automotive.com.

ABRA Auto Body & Glass Donates $81,000 to CREF

Finish it like a Masterpiece

Mercedes-Benz of Houston Greenway

Sherwin-Williams Announces Partnership with CARSTAR

Approximately $40,000 of the contribution will go to the Fayetteville Technical Community College in Fayetteville, NC to support efforts assisting military veterans and civilians transitioning into the collision repair industry. Approximately $11,000 of the contribution funded an ABRA-named student scholarship earlier this spring as well as ABRA’s participation in the Foundation’s career fairs around the country throughout the year.

According to the company, for more than two decades, ABRA has supported CREF to help build awareness of collision repair industry career opportunities within local schools and communities.

ABRA’s chief people officer, David Kuhl, says the company is proud to support the foundation and committed to ensuring that students have the opportunity to create a rewarding career in an ever-growing industry.

“It’s a great feeling knowing this donation will help play a part in the development and growth of our industry as well as support the advancement of students interested in a career in collision repair,” Kuhl said.

Brandon Eckenrode, director of development for CREF, said, “We are truly grateful for the long-standing and significant support that ABRA has shown us over the years. Many of these activities would not be possible without the generosity of partners like ABRA Auto Body & Glass.”

For more information about ABRA, visit www.abraauto.com/.

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