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Shops Taking Action to Boost Business, Help Employees and Community by John Yoswick
Collision repairers around the country aren’t sitting still as business conditions continued to evolve as summer began. Here’s a cross-country tour of what’s happening as shops around the U.S. respond to the pandemic and its economic fallout. Helping employees and the community Shops continue to be generous in their efforts to help out their employees, their customers and their community.
Zach DeGroot, manager of Riverbend Body Shop in Grand Rapids, MI, said the shop covered some of the costs for police vehicle repairs after about a dozen such vehicles were damaged during rioting that followed a protest to denounce the death of George Floyd. DeGroot said the shop has always tried to do something extra on customers’ vehicles in for repairs, but is also trying to step that up, offering free detailing or “repairing unrelated damage on adjacent panels for customers so they do not have to pay out of pocket.” See Taking Action, Page 20
ABAT Cancels 2020 Texas Auto Body Trade Show Due to Vendor Discomfort Over COVID-19 by Chasidy Rae Sisk
The Auto Body Association of Texas (ABAT) recently announced the cancellation of its 2020 Texas Auto Body Trade Show, as a result of travel restrictions and general unease related to COVID-19. “The decision to cancel this year’s trade show was mostly based on travel restrictions, since many of our exhibitors come from out of state and are unable to travel right now,” said Jill Tuggle, executive director of ABAT. “Texas has also had a rise in COVID cases, so this made things
even more difficult. In consideration of those difficulties, we did not feel that we could host a successful trade show.” “This was a difficult decision to make,” ABAT President Burl Richards added. “We waited it out until the bitter end, holding onto hope that we could make it work, but with all factors considered, this is what’s best for everyone.” The 2020 Texas Auto Body Trade Show was scheduled for Sept. 18-19 in Irving, TX, but due to an increase in reported cases of See ABAT Cancels, Page 19
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AUTOBODYNEWS.COM Vol. 38 / Issue 8 / August 2020
Some Positive Trends for Collision Repairers Amid Pandemic Fallout by John Yoswick
Although the tough times shops are experiencing in some markets aren’t over, the summer has brought some sunnier trends for the industry. Here is a collection of some potential good news for collision repairers. Rebound in used vehicle values means fewer totals Given the link between used vehicle pricing and the percentage of collision-damaged vehicles declared total losses rather than repairable, collision repairers tracking the fluctuation in
second-hand vehicle values this year have to feel like they’ve been on a wild roller coaster ride. Vehicles are generally declared total losses when the cost of repairs exceeds some percentage of the vehicle’s value prior to the accident. When used vehicle prices drop, it takes less damage for repair costs to hit that total loss threshold. And drop they did this spring. Wholesale used vehicle prices in the first 15 days of April decreased 11.8% compared to a month earlier, according to Manheim. The used veSee Positive Trends, Page 32
Auto Dealer Parts Departments Continue to Serve Through Pandemic by Gary Ledoux
In the last few months, much has been written and discussed within the trade press about how body shops, insurance companies and car rental companies are faring with the business slowdown caused by the corona virus pandemic. Autobody News wanted to know how the auto dealer parts departments were faring. Between June 11 and June 15, Autobody News conducted a survey of car dealership parts departments. This included dealers of all makes from Ford, GM and FCA to Mini, Mitsubishi and Tesla, and everything in between. All responding dealers said they were involved in the wholesale collision business. All except one said they were involved in the wholesale mechanical business. Responding dealers leaned toward being either General Motors or Honda/Acura dealers. We asked the following questions and received the respective responses.
In March, April and May, was your wholesale collision business (primarily body parts sold to collision repair shops) up or down, and by what percentage? All except three dealers noted their wholesale collision business was down, some by as little as 15% and some by as much as 80%. The average was a decrease of 45% and consistent with the business losses experienced by collision shops. Of those that experienced an increase in wholesale collision sales, one dealer could not be reached for comment. Another, a GM dealer in Missouri, noted that a large hailstorm was the cause of the increase. The third dealer, Richmond Ford Lincoln of Richmond, VA, took a very aggressive and innovative approach to increase sales. “We took our outside salespeople off the road and had them working the phones five or six hours a day contacting customers to see who was open and who was not and if there was anything we could do to help them out,” said Parts Director See Serve Through Pandemic, Page 28
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