Southwest Edition Texas Oklahoma Louisiana New Mexico
30
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VOL. 29 ISSUE 9 SEPTEMBER 2011
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Ford Releases video showing differential performance between OE and A/M parts. Questions whether airbags would deploy correctly. See Ford and ABPA, Page 11
ABPA counters with their own video demonstration showing neglible differences in airbag deployment at low & high speed collisions. See Ford and ABPA, Page 11
Toby Chess clarifies the origin of the parts discussed in his CIC presentation this July. He says repairers should post images of parts, whether A/M or OE, that don’t fit correctly on a blog site. See Hey Toby Column, Page 44
Russell Thrall III
Greg Coccaro
Anthony J. Mamo
North State v. Progressive—What the NY Supreme Court’s Recent Decision Might Mean for Your Business by Anthony J. Mamo, Jr., Attorney
When I first met Greg Coccaro, the owner of North State Custom in Bedford Hills, New York, I was immediately struck by his passion for his business, his customers and his
industry. But it was his frustration with the inequities inherent in his chosen field that truly captured my attention. I listened as Greg explained to me what a DRP was, how his labor rate was determined by See North State v. Progressive, Page 18
Mike Condon
Autobody News Congratulates the Collision Industry’s Most Influential Women of 2011, Thanks to AkzoNobel Doug Craig
George Avery
The Debate about Industry Standards at CIC
See John Yoswick Column, Page 40
We were thrilled to have our own General Manager and co-owner of Autobody News, Barbara Davies, selected as one of the five most influential women in the collision industry in 2011. We know what she does and how hard she works. Pictured with Barbara (l to r, right photo) are Sharon Mazanec, Jennifer Justice-Hayley, Susanna Gotsch and Michelle Rolls.
With NACE and CARS in Orlando a little over a month away ... we wanted to know more about the keynote speaker, social media guru Chris Brogan... See NACE Crowds, Page 22
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COLUMNISTS Attanasio, GFS - Trial by Fire: Indianapolis Body Shop Turns a Potential Tragedy into a Win-Win with a State-of-the-Art GFS Paint Booth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Attanasio, Mattei - Brown Auto Body Values Mattei’s Rotary Vane Compressor . . . . 27 Attanasio - How to Fix Your Damaged Online Reputation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Evans - This Year’s Entry for the SEMA Pinewood Derby 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Franklin - Long or Short Ad—Which is Best? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Insurance Insider - Ridiculous DRP Requirements? Guess Why They’re Asking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Weaver - Is It ‘Change Is a Good Thing’ or ‘It’s Good That Things Change’? . . . . . 25 Yoswick - CIC, Consultant, Seeking Views on Industry Repair Standards . . . . . . . . . . 40 NATIONAL ASRW Expands its Town Hall Event to Include Health Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 BASF to Return to NACE Expo for First Time Since 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 BK Listings: Marketing Automotive Businesses Through Innovative Listings. 19 California Casualty Presents an Excellence Award to Gerber. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 CAPA Tracker Enables A/M Part Tracing Regardless of Source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Chevy Volt Sales Slow to Grow, Nissan Leaf Worse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Chrysler Recalls Up To 370,000 2008
Minivans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 CollisionLink Represents ‘Inevitable Change’ Says Major Parts Dealer . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Confusion over Certified Parts at CIC . . . . 44 CREF and CCC Name Five Student Scholarship Winners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Domestics More Popular Among Auto Thieves Now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Enterprise Rent-A-Car Makes $11,000 Donation to CREF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Ford Minivans Not Subject to Recall, Infrequent Issue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Ford Partners Azure on F-Series Plug in Hybrids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Ford Releases Another Crash Test Video Comparing OEM to Aftermarket Crash Parts, ABPA Responds with its own Crash Test Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Ford Will Recall 1.22 M Trucks, Fuel Tank Straps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 GM Has No Recall on its Tahoe and Yukon SUVs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 GM Recalls Over 16K Cars. . . . . . . . . . . . 24 GM Reduces Vehicle Platforms and Parts by Half by 2018. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 High Tech Devices Make Cars More Theft-Prone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Honda to Recall 1.5M CRVs, Elements, Accords. 24 How Shop Owners Can Take Advantage of Salvage Auctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 I-CAR Offers New Course on Electronics Damage Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Lincoln Electric Acquires Torchmate Parent. 24 LKQ Corporation Reports 23% Increased 2nd Qtr, Record Reveue . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Mercedes’ Internal Plan to Become World’s Top Premium Brand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Mitchell Releases Industry Trends Report for Q3 of 2011. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Mitsubishi Back to Profitability . . . . . . . . . 37 NACE/CARS Program Expected to Draw Larger Crowds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 NHTSA Investigates BMW for Potential Rollaways . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 North State v. Progressive—What the NY Supreme Court’s Recent Decision Might Mean for Your Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Paradox: Auto Boom while Economic Gloom Continues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Repairer-Driven Education at SEMA Gets Support from PPG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 SCRS Conducts Survey of 17 Insurers on Aftermarket Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Six of Ten Americans Say ‘Yes’ to More Teen Driving Restrictions . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Study Supports Notion that Green Technology Boosts Job Growth . . . . . . 39 Toyota-Tesla RAV4 Electric to be Built in Ontario, Canada. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Truck Driver Behavior Now Trackable with New Tech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Vehicle Safety Bill With Data Collection Relevant to Repairers Introduced in U.S. Senate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Will Auto Industry Be Dragged Down by Economic Turmoil? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Publisher & Editor: Jeremy Hayhurst General Manager: Barbara Davies Assistant Editor: Erica Schroeder Contributing Writers: Tom Franklin, John Yoswick, Lee Amaradio, Dan Espersen Janet Chaney, Toby Chess, Mike Causey, Tom McGee, David Brown, Rich Evans, Ed Attanasio, Chasidy Sisk Advertising Sales: Joe Momber, Sean Hartman (800) 699-8251 Sales Assistant: Kristy Navarro Art Director: Rodolfo Garcia
Southwest
REGIONAL 140 Wheels Stolen from Rockwall, TX, GMC Dealership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 20 in South Texas Plead Guilty to Insurance Fraud. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 ASRW Partners with Muscle Car Network of Florida at Expo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 CCAR Grows its GreenLink Shop Program to NM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Certificates of Insurance Bill Heads to Texas Governor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 DWI Youth Fatalities Highest in Texas . . . . 10 Houston City Council Considers New Body Shop Regulations to Increase Transparency with Consumers . . . . . . . . 8 Nearly 3,400 Tickets for Houston Red-light Runners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Next Texas Insurance Commissioner Appointed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 OK Insurance Agency License Revoked . . 10 Progressive Growing its Austin, TX, Contact Center. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Red-light Cameras Reducing Crashes in Texas, Study Says . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Service King Donates $35,000 to Local At-Risk Families. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Texas Auto Recyclers Association to Hold Expo and Tradeshow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Texas DMV Streamlines Vehicle Registrations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Indexof Advertisers
Contents
Serving Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico 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. ©2011 Adamantine Media LLC.
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Allen Samuels Katy Chrysler-JeepDodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Audi Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 40 Autoland Scientech. . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 BASF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 BK Listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 BMW Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 36 CARS Cooperative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 CertiFit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Chevyland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Chief Automotive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Classic BMW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Dallas Dodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 David McDavid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Equalizer Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Ford Wholesale Parts Dealers TX, OK, LA, NM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Fowler I-240 Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge. 13 Garmat USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Gene Messer Hyundai . . . . . . . . . . 30 Global Finishing Solutions . . . . . . . 14 Global PDR Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . 12 GM Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . 37 Honda/Acura Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Huffines Hyundai Plano . . . . . . . . . 28 Hyundai Wholesale Parts Dealers . 38
Kia Motors Wholesale Parts Dealers. 35 LKQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Mark’s Casa Mitsubishi. . . . . . . . . . 34 Mattei. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Mazda Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 43 Mercedes-Benz of Oklahoma . . . . . 40 Mike Calvert Toyota. . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Mitsubishi Wholesale Parts Dealers. 41 MOPAR Wholesale Parts Dealers . . 23 Nissan/Infiniti Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 NRD Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 PreFab Ads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Price LeBlanc Toyota . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Ray Huffines Chevrolet . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Replica Plastics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Russell & Smith Ford-Mazda . . . . . 33 Safety Regulations Strategies. . . . . 18 SATA Spray Equipment . . . . . . . . . 16 SEMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Scoggin-Dickey Buick . . . . . . . . . . 31 Suzuki Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 44 Toyota Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 45 VIM Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Volkswagen Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Volvo Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 46 Young Chevrolet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
www.autobodynews.com | SEPTEMBER 2011 AUTOBODY NEWS 3
Nearly 3,400 Tickets for Houston Red-light Runners
Houston police have issued nearly 3,400 citations to red-light runners since the cameras were turned back on July 24. The figures were released August 8 by the company that operates the intersection cameras, Arizonabased American Traffic Solutions. U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes on July 22 ruled that Houston may not appeal his June decision invalidating the 2010 election when voters said the cameras should be turned off. Hughes decided camera opponents waited too long to put the matter on the ballot and violated the city charter governing timing for repeal of an ordinance. A Texas Transportation Institute study, released Aug. 1, found that redlight accidents fell 25 percent at hundreds of the state’s intersections after traffic cameras were installed.
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Certificates of Insurance Bill Heads to Texas Governor
The Texas Legislature has passed a measure that requires regulatory approval of property and casualty certificate of insurance forms provided to insureds as proof of coverage, according to Insurance Journal. Certificates of insurance are widely used in commerial insurance, especially in the construction industry, and insurance agents traditionally have been asked to provide the certificates to insureds and interested parties. As a result agents are often brought into disputes over policy terms and coverages because of language contained in the certificates. Under Senate Bill 425 only approved certificate of insurance forms may be issued to an insured. It prohibits a property/casualty insurers and agents issuing certificates of insurance or other documents intended to be used as proof of coverage “if the certificate or document alters, amends, or extends the coverage or terms and conditions provided by the insurance policy referenced on the certificate or document.” Penalties may be assessed by the Texas Department of Insurance for noncompliance, and the department may collect a fee of up $100.
20 in South Texas Plead Guilty to Insurance Fraud
Federal authorities say 20 South Texas residents have been convicted for their roles in a scheme to defraud the American Family Life Insurance Co. In mid-June, 36 people were indicted on accusations they participated in the scheme designed to defraud Columbus, GA-based AFLAC millions of dollars by filing false claims, the Associated Press reported. According to the indictments, the defendants include a local police officer, county employees and school teachers. They purchased policies under the AFLAC Accident-Only Insurance Plan from several area insurance agents at various times beginning in July 2001 through April 2010. Under the plan, a policyholder could file a claim with AFLAC and obtain a cash benefit if he or she received treatment from a physician for a legitimate, accident-caused injury including lacerations, bruises, burns, fractures or dismemberment. The Justice Department says on behalf of the defendants two Reynosa, Mexico, doctors filed minor injury claims thought too small to draw suspicion. In return, the border-city doctors received small kickbacks. The physicians allegedly prepared an “accident report” for each fake injury in exchange for a cash kickback of approximately $15 per
accident report, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas. In each report, the indictment alleges the physicians falsely claimed they had provided treatment and prescribed medication for the purported injury. In addition, the physicians and defendants allegedly attempted to conceal their scheme in numerous ways including agreeing to use injuries such as lacerations and minor burns as opposed to more serious injuries that paid higher cash benefits and could potentially attract a greater level of scrutiny by AFLAC’s claims department. Over time, the defendants— many of whom allegedly recruited one another to purchase policies and join the alleged scheme—submitted approximately 21,600 allegedly false and fraudulent insurance claims, each accompanied by the physicians’ accident reports, to AFLAC’s claims department in Columbus, GA. Based on the claims, AFLAC disbursed a total of approximately $3 million in insurance proceeds to the defendants. So far, 20 defendants pleaded guilty to wire fraud. All 20 face a possible maximum of sentence of 20 years in federal prison without parole and a $250,000 fine.
4 SEPTEMBER 2011 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
140 Wheels Stolen from Rockwall, TX, GMC Dealership Theives made off with 140 wheels and tires after pilfering them from 35 GMC Sierras and Yukons sitting on the dealer lot at Heritage Buick GMC, located 100 yards off I-30 in the Dallas suburb of Rockwall, Texas, according to reports made by NBC Dallas-Fort Worth. Robert Bobo, owner of Heritage, said he learned of the theft the following morning, once police contacted him to report the crime. “When I pulled up to see how bad it really was, it was very shocking,” Bobo told NBC Dallas-Fort Worth. Bobo arrived at his dealership to find 35 trucks and SUVs sitting wheelless on small wooden blocks, with nothing but loose lug nuts hinting at what was missing. Bobo said that his estimated losses are around $150,000. The Rockwall P.D. believe four to six very experienced criminals were involved in Saturday night’s heist. For starters, the area of the lot chosen lacked camera coverage, and three light posts in the immediate area were apparently disabled. Electricians claim whomever cut the cables did so with proper tools and knowledge; had they not known what they were doing, there would have
been a significant risk of electrocution. Rumor has it the wheeljackers wasted no time with tire irons, but instead used cordless electric drills. Heritage employees estimate it took thieves only 2-10 minutes to jack up each side of a truck, take off the wheels (worth between $1895 and $3855 a set, respectively), and then lower and place the full size trucks on the blocks. That won’t earn anyone a full-time gig on a NASCAR pit crew, but it’s still an impressive feat. Even with his dealership staring down nearly $150,000 in losses, Bobo is thankful that the thieves took their time in removing the wheels. Had a vehicle tipped, Bobo would be staring down a much steeper damage bill. “I’m very thankful—actually grateful—that they took their time to remove them and not to damage anything else,” Bobo said. So far, the police have no leads on the crime.
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Next Texas Insurance Commissioner Appointed Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced the appointment of Eleanor Kitzman of Austin as Texas Insurance Commissioner, effective Aug. 15, 2011, for a term to expire Feb. 1, 2013, according to Insurance Journal. Kitzman will replace Mike Geeslin, who announced earlier this year that he was not interested in serving another term as commissioner. Kitzman is the outgoing executive director of the South Carolina Budget and Control Board, and is past director of the South Carolina Department of Insurance. She is also a former clerk for the Texas Supreme Court, and a past associate atAkin, Gump, Strauss and Feld. She is a member of the State Bar of Texas and South Carolina Bar Association. “I’m confident that Eleanor’s expertise in the insurance industry will make her a strong advocate for insurance customers in Texas, and I appreciate her willingness to serve the state in this capacity,” Gov. Perry said. “I’m thankful for Mike Geeslin’s service as insurance commissioner over the past several years, where he worked to protect Texans by ensuring that insurance is available and provided at fair rates, and look forward
to continuing this strong leadership at TDI with Eleanor’s appointment.” The American Insurance Association also congratulated in Kitzman on her nomination as commissioner. “Ms. Kitzman’s significant insurance background makes her well-qualified to be the next commissioner of the Texas Department of Insurance,” said Fred C. Bosse, AIA Southwest region vice president. “Texas is a large state with diverse insurance needs. Her tenure as South Carolina’s insurance commissioner coupled with her efforts to Eleanor Kitzman reform that state’s auto and coastal insurance systems uniquely position her to run TDI.” Prior to her appointment by Gov. Nikki Haley to run the South Carolina Budget and Control Board, Kitzman was employed by Goldman Sachs. She served as the director of the South Carolina Department of Insurance from 2005 to 2007. Kitzman is a graduate of the University of Houston and earned her law degree from the South Texas College of Law.
CCAR Grows its GreenLink Shop Program to NM
Progressive Growing its Austin, TX, Contact Center
The Coordinating Committee For Automotive Repair announced the expansion of its GreenLink Shop program to include shops in New Mexico and North Carolina on July 28. GreenLink Shop serves to promote consumer confidence in local auto shop environmental awareness and stewardship. It is an expansion of the CCAR-GreenLink Environmental Compliance Assistance Center and S/P2 Safety and Pollution Prevention e-learning program. The recently certified shops are: • Car Crafters, Albuquerque, NM • Darrell Allen Body Shop, Burlington, NC • F. Lofrano & Son Collision CenterHarbor Street, San Rafael, CA Repair facilities pursuing GreenLink shop recognition must maintain high standards of excellence in environmental, health and safety practices in four categories: employee training, safety compliance and environmental management. Separate criteria are established for auto service facilities and collision repair shops.
Progressive Insurance announced it is looking to fill 101 new positions in sales, service, and claims at its Austin contact center by the end of September. In May, Progressive announced it was hiring 65 phone representatives in Austin. New hires will sell policies, answer customer questions, and help customers file claims after car accidents. Many open positions call for bilingual reps fluent in both English and Spanish. Jobs require a minimum of two years’ post-secondary education or two years’ work experience in a customer-service environment. All positions offer paid training, which can be particularly appealing to candidates looking to begin new careers as licensed insurance representatives. Some positions offer flexible scheduling options, such as the opportunity to work four, 10-hour days with three days off instead of a typical five-day work week.
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www.autobodynews.com | SEPTEMBER 2011 AUTOBODY NEWS 7
Houston City Council Considers New Body Shop Regulations to Increase Transparency with Consumers
The Houston City Council will soon consider new auto repair industry regulations for the city amid complaints that some body shops are deceiving consumers. The changes would be aimed at increasing transparency within the industry, said Lt. Wendy Bainbridge with the Houston Police Department, according to KHOU 11 News Houston. The city is in the process of drafting an ordinance that would mainly require better record-keeping at body shops, cap repair work without consent at $100 and mandate a written estimate of any special fees. Industry representatives, including the Houston Auto Body Association (HABA), applaud some of the proposed mandates but are quick to say others may end up bogging down reputable businesses, slowing their ability to serve customers.
“We do think there’s a lot of good things in there”, said James Brown, the president of the HABA, to KHOU 11 News Houston. “But there are a lot of things that still need some work. There’s a lot of things in there that give the insurance companies the same authority as the consumer—the owner of the vehicle—which we would like to see taken out.” The ordinance comes after one Houston City Council member said she received complaints about body work done without customers’ consent. “They’d charge (customers) for the estimate. Sometimes up to $1,000. And if you wanted to get your car out, you had to pay the $1,000. We thought that wasn’t fair,” Council Member Sue Lovell said to KHOU 11 News Houston. The ordinance is expected to come up for a council vote within the next few weeks.
Red-light Cameras Reducing Crashes in Texas, Study Says
Red-light crashes fell 25 percent at hundreds of Texas intersections after traffic cameras were installed, researchers said in what was called the first statewide study of its kind, according to Insurance Journal. The Texas Transportation Institute suggested its findings again showed the effectiveness of installing cameras to deter red-light runners. Yet backlash toward the cameras remains high, including in Houston, where drivers voted to end the city’s red-light cameras in a November referendum. A federal judge later struck down the ballot measure, and Houston turned the cameras back on. According to crash data analyzed by the Texas Transportation Institute and released in the report, accidents fell by 28 percent at 31 intersections in Houston where the cameras had been up and running for two years. At least three dozen Texas cities use red-light cameras, according to the report. “I truly think these cameras are doing what they were intended to do,” said Troy Walden, who authored the study and is a former College Station police officer. Critics argue otherwise, calling red-light cameras unproven and a scheme to generate revenue from traffic tickets. In June, opponents referenced data showing a drop in accidents at red-light intersections in Houston after the city was forced to turn off the cameras following the November vote. The cameras, which Houston first installed in 2007, have brought in about $44 million in traffic fines for the city. In Dallas, the report released Aug. 1 found a 38 percent drop in red-
light crashes at intersections where cameras had been up and running for two years. Lufkin saw a 24 percent drop, and red-light accidents in El Paso fell 25 percent at intersections that had cameras installed for at least three years. But not all cities were down. In Corpus Christi, the study found there were eight more red-light crashes in the two years after the city installed traffic cameras at those intersections than the two years prior. The Texas Transportation Institute, a research arm of the Texas A&M University System, analyzed the crash figures at the request of lawmakers who asked state transportation leaders to compile the data. Researchers looked at crash data from about 275 intersections in Texas, both before and after red-light cameras were installed. The study identified more than 15,000 crashes through 2009 in a state transportation database. Walden called it the most comprehensive red-light camera study in Texas to date. Robert Stein, a political science professor at Rice University who has studied Houston’s red-light cameras, said fewer intersection crashes follows a general decline in accidents on U.S. roadways. He said more cars with anti-lock brakes, older cars gradually being taken off the road and the recession causing more out-of-work Americans to drive less may all factor into lower accident numbers, along with red-light cameras. Last month, a federal judge ruled that the results of the November redlight camera measure were invalid because it violated the city charter covering the timing for repeal of an ordinance.
8 SEPTEMBER 2011 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
Texas DMV Streamlines Vehicle Registrations Texas is streamlining its system for vehicle registration fees. Under the new plan, all car and light truck drivers will pay the same fee across the state. Right now Texas has 1,745 fee categories for vehicle registration. That’s right—nearly 2,000 different charges, depending on what kind of vehicle you drive, how much it weighs, how old it is and a plethora of other factors. Kim Sue Lia Perkes is a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. She says the department didn’t have a crazy master plan to create such a convoluted system. “It was just that as things got added on over the years, it began to develop into that. And it was time, and I believe the legislature looked at this as it was time to have a reassessment of this. It’s just applying some logic to the system for everybody.”
Under the new fee structure, there will be nine weight classifications, most of them apply to heavy vehicles like tractor trailers. Car and light truck drivers will all pay the same base fee of $50.75. “Now in your county, you may have some local fees. For instance, some counties can charge a $10 road and bridge fee and they may assess you that. So it may be more than $50.75, that’s the base fee. And on top of that would be any additional local fees that your county is going to be charging you.” Perkes says the new rate is about $8 cheaper for new car registrations than it used to be. People who own older cars will no longer get a discount for vehicle depreciation, so they’ll see an increase if their registration is currently less than $50.75. The new rates go into effect September 1st.
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www.davidmcdavid.com www.autobodynews.com | SEPTEMBER 2011 AUTOBODY NEWS 9
Stigler, OK, Insurance Agency License Revoked
Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak has revoked a Stigler woman’s license to sell insurance, and the agent and her husband have been charged with crimes including the embezzlement of more than $37,000 from insurance companies and $576 from policyholders. Amanda Jean Burgess operated the Burgess Insurance Agency in Stigler until her license was revoked by Commissioner Doak on July 15. Mrs. Burgess faces three felony counts of embezzlement, two felony counts of perjury and three misdemeanor counts of embezzlement, carrying a maximum penalty of 53 years in prison and a $53,000 fine. She was arrested week and jailed in Haskell County on a $20,000 bond. Her husband, Chris Burgess, is charged with one misdemeanor count of obtaining cash or merchandise by bogus check or false pretenses, and one misdemeanor count of issuing security verification without authority. He faces up to two years in jail and a $2,000 fine. Mr. Burgess is free from jail on $1,000 bond. “The case was developed by OID’s Anti-Fraud Unit investigators, and charges were filed in Stigler on befall of Haskell County District Attorney Farley Ward.
Texas Youth Highest in DWI Fatalities Nationwide
It’s no secret that young adults die at a much greater rate from injuries sustained in alcohol-related auto crashes than the rest of the population. According to the Texas DOT, there were 25,032 alcoholrelated crashes in Texas that resulted in 1,057 deaths in 2010, says Irene Webster, traffic safety specialist for the Department of Transportation. Those crashes resulted in 16,877 injuries. The 20- to 25-year-old group in Texas accounts for only about 9 percent of the state’s overall population, but, “in 2010, 24 percent of people killed in alcoholrelated crashes in Texas were between the ages of 20 and 25,” Webster said. The department is launching the annual Drink, Drive, Go To Jail campaign and enforcement period at an 11 a.m., Aug. 30 press event at Wiley College, she said. TxDOT is joining forces with the Texas Department of Public Safety, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and law enforcement agencies statewide to crack down on drunk driving as the summer winds down, Webster said. From Aug. 19 through Labor Day on Sept. 5, law enforcement officers around the state will be working overtime to get drunk drivers off the road.
10 SEPTEMBER 2011 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
Service King Donates $35,000 to Local At-Risk Families Service King Collision Repair Centers recently hosted its first annual Charity Golf Tournament in Houston, which raised $35,000 to benefit families assisted by Houston’s AVANCE Parent & Child education programs. The tournament was held at The Woodlands Country Club Tournament Course. Having hosted successful golf tournaments benefiting charities for more than 16 years in the company's hometown of Dallas, Service King decided to expand their giving project to Houston. “We were ready to extend our reach to the Houston community,” said Chris Abraham, vice president of Service King’s Houston market. “After touring an AVANCE center earlier this year and learning more about the organization’s early childhood and adult literacy services, we knew it was a perfect fit for our company.” Tournament dollars raised supported several local charities, but primarily the AVANCE Parent & Child education programs. Additional funds were raised form raffles and a live auction that included autographed sports collectables showcased by the Houston Texans Cheerleaders.
“In Houston, there’s a strong tradition of business corporations stepping up and getting involved with community organizations,” said Jose Villarreal, executive director for AVANCE. “And Service King has set the bar a little higher for Houston corporations to continue the tradition of getting involved.” AVANCE has been serving the needs of the hardest-to-reach families since 1973. Founded in Texas, AVANCE works with poor and marginalized families to promote better parenting, school readiness, literacy, health and personal development.
Texas Auto Recyclers Association to Hold Expo and Tradeshow
The Texas Auto Recyclers Association (TARA) will hold their annual expo and tradeshow September 29 throught October 1. The expo will be held at the St. Anthony Wyndham Historic Hotel in San Antonio, TX. The TARA General Meeting as well as several other informative sessions will also take place at this event. To register for the tradeshow and see more information visit www.texasara.com or call 800-710-8272.
Ford Releases Another Crash Test Video Comparing OEM to Aftermarket Crash Parts, ABPA Responds with its own Crash Test Video Ford released their second comparative tests of Genuine Ford structural steel collision parts versus aftermarket counterparts on their Youtube account on August 8. The video is described as showing a “parts comparison performance of genuine Ford parts vs. aftermaket collision parts using computer aided simulation tests, crash sled tests, and actual vehicle crash tests data. In all cases, genuine Ford parts perform as designed. Aftermarket parts performance leads to questions of doubt concerning proper air bag deployment.” The video is hosted by Ford Repairability Engineer Larry Coan. Coan also describes Ford’s own version of the “sawzall test,” which they recreated following its publicity since last year’s CIC meeting, where a Sawzall is used to cut into aftermarket and OEM bumper beams. The test has been duplicated numerous times and depicts the difference in difficulty between cutting through an OEM bumper beam versus an aftermarket bumper beam.
The test has been called into question by several aftermarket parts advocates, the groups call the test “unscientific” and question whether it provides a true measure of how a part will perform in a crash, however the intent is not to show whether cutting a support member more easily means it will fail, but rather that the materials are different. In the video Coan states that Ford’s saw test yielded similar results to others depicted over the past year. (See also Toby Chess’ column this issue.) Ford’s comparative tests were done with 05–09 Mustang and 08-09 Focus Bumper Beams, 06–08 F-150 bumper brackets and 04–07 F-150 radiator supports, and 05–09 Mustang bumper absorbers and isolators. Initial comparisons showed that part construction and weight were noticeably different between OEM and aftermarket parts. Crash simulations between parts also showed a large difference between impact reactions. Repair costs
following such crashes also revealed a difference between damage sustained from crashes where OEM and aftermarket parts were used.
ABPA Responds with Own Video The Automotive Body Parts Association (ABPA) responded to Ford’s video by releasing their own video and press release detailing some of their own crash test results. According to the group, the video of their crash tests illustrates the safety and quality of aftermarket auto parts. The video, which is available on the ABPA website at www.autobpa.com, showcases actual high- and low-speed crash tests. According to the ABPA, side-byside video taken during a high-speed crash test illustrates the simultaneous airbag deployment (down to the millisecond) for two 2006 Toyota Corollas, one outfitted with an aftermarket bumper reinforcement bar and the other a car company equivalent. The group uses this set of crash tests to claim that false assertions
were made “by some car companies that airbag timing is affected by using comparable aftermarket components.” The ABPA goes on to say that, “the high-speed crash data also shows the aftermarket- and the car companyequipped cars both delivering occupant safety well within the federal safety standards, with the car outfitted with non-branded car company parts actually delivering slightly better occupant protection as measured across 11 key injury criteria.” “In low-speed crash tests presented in the video, an aftermarket bumper reinforcement bar outperforms an equivalent car-company branded part, effectively absorbing impact without deployment of airbags while sustaining less damage that results in a $200 lower repair estimate.” “Time and again the aftermarket industry has demonstrated the safety and quality of its products, yet some See Ford ABPA, Page 12
www.autobodynews.com | SEPTEMBER 2011 AUTOBODY NEWS 11
Inside Insurance
The Insider is a corporate-level executive with a Top 10 auto insurer in the U.S.. Got a comment or question you’d like to see him address in a future column? Email him at Auto.Insurance.Insider@gmail.com
Ridiculous DRP Requirements? Guess Why They’re Asking with The Insurance Insider
In a previous column, I offered some of my thoughts on the decision of the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) to make the Farmers Insurance “Circle of Dependability” (COD) agreement public, and to question some of the requirements of that direct repair program agreement. In doing so, SCRS said that “the industry is often disadvantaged by restriction of communication from participants of these program.” I am little confused as to where the disadvantage lies? Okay, I am very confused. Explain to me the disadvantage. What would the advantage be if there were no restrictions? Shops should be deciding what is best for their individual business. That decision shouldn’t be predicated upon whether or not your competitor thinks it’s a good idea to participate. While SCRS makes a lot of good points in their press release, this is one it needs to reconsider. Go ahead and publish all of the major insurance carriers direct reContinued from Page 25
Ford ABPA
car companies seem determined to counter scientific facts with fearmongering,” said Co-Chair of the ABPA Legislation and Regulation Committee Eileen Sottile. “OEs cannot credibly argue that only their branded parts can provide safety, especially when it comes to components that play a very small role in crash energy management. If car company safety systems cannot handle a wide range of real world crash conditions and material differences in minor replacement parts then they are not robustly engineered and as such are a significant threat to the consumers.” “Rather than relentlessly smearing our industry in an attempt to gain a competitive business advantage on replacement parts, our biggest corporate critics would do well to focus on reducing their own recalls and delivering high-quality, robustly engineered products for the motoring public.” Ford’s crash test video can be viewed at www.autobodynews.com.
pair program agreements and see what it changes. Would it really improve the industry or help shops? That said, here are a few more of my thoughts—some of which may surprise you—from an insurer’s perspective on the COD agreement and SCRS’s concerns about it. The agreement states that Farmers has the right to inspect a shop’s books
to validate and audit files to ensure proper payment and compliance with the program requirements. Why insurers continue to infuse themselves into the body shop’s business in this way is beyond me. It’s wrong and they have no business inspecting your books. If SCRS wants to take a stand on an issue, this is an easy one. But association’s comments on this section of the agreement have me wondering, “Where’s the beef?” If you are going to call someone out, take a stand. Lead the way. Insurers will continue to ask and demand more until shops say ‘no.’ And here’s a news flash: If you aren’t following the guidelines, insurers don’t need to look at your books to find out. They have other ways of obtaining the same information. If you are committing fraud, they aren’t going to casually walk into your shop and ask to inspect the books. They will probably have their legal team subpoenaing your records. There’s no need for this clause, and it just
High Tech Devices Make Cars More Theft-Prone
Two researchers demonstrated at a hackers conference that they could not only unlock a Subaru Outback but start up its engine using only an Android smartphone and some creative programming. They used a technique called "war texting" to intercept the password used by the car they hijacked, although that is not supposed to be possible. The concern is that car thieves will trade up for keyboards and smartphones, gaining entry to the newest models that haven’t been properly programmed to prevent hackers from gaining access.
12 SEPTEMBER 2011 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
See DRP Requirements, Page 38
THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY IN PAINTLESS
DENT
REPAIR
Chevy Volt Sales Slow to Grow, Nissan Leaf Worse
Chevrolet has sold only about 3,200 Volt plug-in hybrids through the end of July. A survey of Volts on the market found 116 available nationwide. A new CNW marketing study suggests that potential Volt buyers are losing interest. Volt’s $41,000 sticker price is the big problem although it qualifies for $7500 tax credit. The 2012 price for Volt will drop to $39,995. GM officials remain convinced Volt will meet their sales expectations which are projected to grow to 40,000 in 2012. The Nissan Leaf trails behind with only 1,044 units sold.
shows they will continue to make demands until the industry says, “Enough.” The COD agreement also says participating shops will conduct background checks on all employees and not employ convicted felons. SCRS is dead-on with its assessment: This is the most ridiculous clause I’ve ever read. Doesn’t everyone know that statistics show that nine out of 10 convicted felons prefer to work for a body shop? Just joking! Please don’t send any (more) hate mail. But seriously, the audacity of Farmers to prohibit shops from having a convicted felon on staff is troubling from many perspectives. I’m not advocating the hiring of mass-murderers or anything of the sort, but the fact is in some states you could be a convicted felon simply as a result of a DUI judgment. This isn’t a valid reason to not be considered for a job at a professional collision repair facility.
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On Creative Marketing
Tom Franklin has been a sales and marketing consultant for fifty years. He has written numerous books and provides marketing solutions and services for many businesses. He can be reached at (323) 871-6862 or at tbfranklin@aol.com. See Tom’s columns at www.autobodynews.com under Columnists > Franklin
Long or Short Ad—Which is Best? with Thomas Franklin
If you’ve ever received a long sales letter, you may have wondered why it was four or more pages long—and who would expect you to read it all? In the days before the Internet, e-mail and Twitter, snail-mail marketing often included these long sales letters. At that time, statistics proved that recipients who read these long letters were often the ones who bought the product. My wife’s ex-husband was an ad copywriter who made a nice living from writing long ad copy, but no more. Today we’ve entered the era of the short message. Twitter is a prime example. Ad copy must be 140 characters or less. Most advertisers no longer believe people will read long copy. The assumption is most people have a very short attention span and a message must be fast, brief and dramatic to capture viewer interest and attention. Institutional advertising might lead a shop owner to think all an ad
has to do is have an attention grabbing image displaying the company name and product. Nothing could be farther from the truth. National corporate products have large advertising budgets and often simply try to keep the product name in front of the public eye. A gigantic billboard may have a huge photo of an attractive person drinking that company’s beverage and the company name might be so small you could miss it if you didn’t look closely. The thinking behind this is that repetitive viewings will encourage sales of the product. Unless you have very deep pockets, don’t even think about advertising like this. But one aspect of this kind of ad is very accurate: Repetitive viewing can result in a prospect trying or buying the product. The question is: what is the best media to use to convey that brief, repetitive message?
14 SEPTEMBER 2011 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
A good start is to think about where you can put a brief message so that it will be seen over and over. One obvious place is a lighted window sign if you have a window that can be seen from a street or road. If not, the entrance to your driveway may front on a road or street where you can put up a changeable sign. A hotel near me that has entertainment and a lounge has a high, lighted sign that can be seen from the freeway. The sign always has a joke or a humorous quote plus an invite to their lounge. When traffic backs up, it’s inevitable that most drivers will read the sign, out of boredom if nothing else. A changing message is the key to getting readership. If you have a website or Facebook page or even a Twitter account, these are obvious places to run a continuously changing message. Even a cheap, weeklychanging classified ad can be
effective. And of course, if you can afford it, radio and TV are ideal for this kind of advertising. Most ad sites are not very adaptable to a changing message. Bench ads, bus ads, print ads, flyers and business cards generally contain long-term messages. Nevertheless, the brief, easy to read and understand message is still a good choice. This often comes out in the form of a slogan. A good rule of thumb is to challenge the reader with an apparent contradiction: “Can cheap auto body repair also be high quality? Call us to find out!” “Can the dent or damage on your car be fixed while you wait? Call us to find out!” If someone is reading a short ad, time, speed and cost are sure to be high priorities for him or her. Your tougher job is selling them on coming in once they call. It’s also important to not forget See Long or Short, Page 22
Trial by Fire: Indianapolis Body Shop Turns a Potential Tragedy into a Win-Win with a State-of-the-Art GFS Paint Booth by Ed Attanasio
Sometimes a negative, even tragic, event can lead to a positive outcome. When a serious fire hit Collision Solutions in Indianapolis, IN, and destroyed its paint booth, management took the opportunity to make lemonade from lemons. The fire offered the owners a chance to rearrange the shop’s layout and take the leap into the world of waterborne. Instead of being paralyzed by the devastation, the shop bought a new cuttingedge ECO Expert paint booth from Global Finishing Solutions (GFS) and converted one of their locations to waterborne paint before any restrictions mandated it. As a result, Collision Solutions was soon turning out amazing paint jobs and their crew quickly became fully comfortable with waterborne and the numerous benefits offered by their new GFS paint booth. “We took a couple of the prep stations and replaced all of the old equipment with GFS equipment after looking at several companies. We went with GFS based on what people out there in the industry were telling us about the company and its track record. Owner Aaron Clark, 40, is a second generation body shop owner whose parents operated a shop more than three decades ago. “I started working in our family’s shop when I was 16 and worked my way up from porter to technician,” Clark told Autobody News. “In 1994, my partner and I opened our own shop in friendly competition with my parents’ company. It was a very successful operation that eventually grew into a two-location business in the Indianapolis area.” In 1998, Clark sold his interest in the two shops and returned to work at his parent’s shop. By working harder and smarter, Clark starting adding new locations. “We’ve grown and currently have five stores in Metro Indianapolis with 75 employees. We fix 500--600 vehicles every month.” Today, Collision Solutions is an $11-$12 million business maintaining several DRPs. Clark is the current Chairman of the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS), and has served the organization on its Board of Directors for the past five years. Clark’s relationship with GFS– which bills itself as “the world’s leading provider of technologically advanced capital equipment solutions for the finishing industry” — started almost immediately after the
SHOP & PRODUCT SHOWCASE Collision Solutions Corporate Headquarters Location: Indianapolis, IN
Telephone: 317-787-8366 www.collisionsolutions.com Company At A Glance... Type: Collision Repair
Facility Employees: 75
In Business Since: 1978 DRP Programs: 10
Number of Locations: Five
Combined Production Space: 88,000 square feet (combined) After a fire destroyed their old paint booth, Collision Solutions bought a new cutting-edge ECO Expert paint booth from Global Finishing Systems (GFS) and converted the location to waterborne paint before any restrictions mandated it
fire that nearly devastated the business. “We were in the process of changing over to waterborne anyway, so it was important for us to get a paint booth that was going to treat us well while using the waterborne finishes and that’s why we went with the GFS ECO Expert booth,” Clark said. “We put the four corner tower blowers in it and installed a double prep deck adjacent to the paint booth. We took the opportunity to move the booth to a better location and connect it to a mix room and installed additional overhead doors in the building to create a better flow through our paint department. Even though it was definitely a tragedy when our old paint booth caught fire, we have used it to get better equipment and improve our operation overall.” Clark says he wants to be able to buy a paint booth and then forget about it for a very long time. “we would like to enjoy 30 years of service out of this type of equipment and expect to see that from this GFS booth. We’re very excited to be working with GFS. This is our first GFS piece of equipment and by using it side-by- side with the other equipment we’re still using at our other locations, we can see that it performs better than the other equipment we’ve had. No question about it. We wanted a paint booth with all of the latest technology that’s currently available and the ECO Expert is exactly that. Everything is computerized and has all the features we were looking for.”
The process of installing the ECO Expert booth was painless and the power savings are considerable, Clark said. “Our rep, Don Putney of Indiana Booth Associates, installed it completely in October of 2009. Price-wise, GFS was very competitive, but we were more focused on all of the other things we were getting from the company. We were interested in the Variable Speed Drive (VSD) motors and the digital panel and the corner blowers we installed are totally controlled by the digital panel. Also, a big plus is that the booth pulls less electricity. We’ve seen an overall drop in our electrical bills, because the VSD motors pull less juice.” The GFS ECO Expert has been the real instrument in getting Collision Solutions up and running with waterborne. “We have never sprayed with solvent in that booth. We converted the first day we got the ECO Expert and we’re happy we did,” says Clark. “We’re not in an area where we have to use it by law, but we have five stores and since we were installing this new paint booth, we decided to spray waterborne to conduct my own internal testing. We’re still using solvent primarily at my other four stores, but by looking at the profitability and the performance, we will be converting another store at some point, definitely. It’s a better and safer product and if it’s being used at the OE level (for new vehicles), so it should be used by the collision industry.”
Collision Solutions has grown into a $11-12 million business with five stores in Metro Indianapolis that repair 500-600 vehicles every month
Aaron Clark is a second-generation shop owner and the Chairman of the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS)
Global Finishing Solutions Phone: (877) 658-7900 email: autorefinishsales@globalfinishing.com website: www.globalfinishing.com
www.autobodynews.com | SEPTEMBER 2011 AUTOBODY NEWS 15
SCRS Conducts Survey of 17 Insurers on Aftermarket Parts The Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) is conducting a survey of 13 major insurance companies to determine their use of aftermarket replacement parts. The survey was sent to Allstate, American Family, Farmers, GEICO, Liberty Mutual, Mercury Insurance, Met Life Auto and Home, Nationwide, Progressive, State Farm, The Hartford, Travelers and USAA, according to Aaron Schulenburg, executive director of SCRS. He said the survey was “an effort to bring further transparency to our understanding of carrier’s approaches to use of aftermarket replacement parts.” The survey was motivated by input from SCRS members and ongoing discussions stemming from aftermarket replacement parts, Schulenburg said. “We are finding that members in different parts of the country are submitting conflicting reports about the policies of some major national insurance companies. In other words, we are hearing that in some cases field level practices may vary from official corporate policy on parts use. In some cases, an insurer may have a policy for use of only certified parts, but when a certified part is unavail-
able, the shop is instructed to simply select a non-certified part by the field adjuster,” Schulenburg said. “It is also possible that, in those cases, some shops may assume that a non-certified part is what the carrier wants them to do, and may not realize that the insurer would prefer an OEM replacement part if the only available alternative is a non-certified part,” he continued. “Knowing what specific corporate policies exist, provides for a better, more transparent, understanding of the approach taken in settling a vehicle owners claim. “In the interest of transparency, and with an issue as important as aftermarket parts in structural repair, the SCRS board of directors felt that it would be worth our efforts to conduct this study, and share the results with the industry.” To see the insurer survey, search all or part of this heading at Autobodynews.com.
www.autobodynews.com CHECK IT OUT!
16 SEPTEMBER 2011 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
Repairer-Driven Education at SEMA Gets Support from PPG
For the second consecutive year, PPG Automotive Refinish has demonstrated support of collision industry education programs through their involvement with the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) hosted Repairer Driven Education (RDE) series during the SEMA Show in Las Vegas. PPG will contribute course content with a program led by Jim Berkey and Mark Mueller entitled Load Leveling - The hidden enabler for shop performance. “All of us at PPG are excited about helping promote education to the collision repair community with SCRS this fall,” said John Parran, director, marketing, PPG Automotive Refinish. “Education is a key part of the value-added services we deliver to our customer base, and it is an honor to be a part of the growing and unique opportunity SCRS has put together with RDE. Last year we saw great value for the industry from our involvement, and it was an easy decision to continue our support in 2011.” PPG will also co-host the much anticipated Afterburner evening event with SCRS on November 3rd. Visit www.semashow.com/specialevents.
ASRW Expands its Town Hall Event to Include Health Care For 2011, ASRW has expanded the Town Hall concept at the NACE/CARS show to look at the impact of health care reform included in the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (derisively referred to by some as “Obamacare.”) and an outlook for changes in health care laws in the future. Industry experts will review the new law’s impact on independent automotive repair businesses and possible changes in health care laws. Attendees will have an opportunity to ask pertinent questions of health care experts.
BASF to Return to NACE Expo for First Time Since 2008 ASRW announced that BASF has returned to the show floor at the upcoming 2011 event for the first time since 2008. “NACE is the premier event for the collision repair industry and we understand how important it is to represent the BASF brand among this core audience who uses BASF products,” said Chuck Soeder, VP, BASF Automotive Refinish. “We look forward to supporting the industry this October.” BASF will be at booth N1413.
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Continued from Cover
North State v. Progressive
someone other than himself and what the practice of “steering” had done to his and other businesses like his. Having spent nearly 20 years litigating for and against insurance companies, I was aware of the power an insurance company can exert. However as Greg explained to me the realities of the collision repair industry, I was admittedly shocked by what I heard.
The Case of North State v. Progressive Insurance In 2007, as attorney for North State Custom, I commenced a lawsuit against Progressive Insurance alleging that Progressive engaged in deceptive business practices and interference with North State’s business and customers. The case has survived two motions to dismiss, two appeals and a separate action brought by Progressive against North State resulting in two separate jury trials. (For a summary of the Progressive v. North State saga see autobodynews.com, Cocarro Case Takes a Wide Turn...). While the
case against Progressive has not yet been resolved and in fact we expect a jury trial to be held sometime next year, a recent court ruling in the matter has significant impact for the industry as a whole.
I. Backround: The State of the Law in New York In New York, as in most states, the insurance industry has been able to lobby state legislatures to enact “toothless” insurance laws that claim to regulate the insurance industry without actually doing so. As a result, most insurance companies believe, and rightfully so, that they can exploit the law with impunity and bully insured’s into having their cars repaired by captive and tightly controlled repair shops. Fortunately, most states including New York, also have little known but effective consumer protection laws designed to protect consumers from improper corporate behavior. New York’s “toothless” insurance statute is called Insurance Law Section 2610, known as the “anti-steering law.” It states that not only do consumers have an absolute right to select
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18 SEPTEMBER 2011 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
the repair shop of their choice, but that an insurance company may not recommend a repair shop without a consumer request to do so. Of course, nowhere does this “anti-steering law” provide for a remedy to a consumer when the statute is violated. Rather, the law gives the power to raise a violation only to the Attorney General or the Department of Insurance, and not the consumer or his chosen repair shop. New York’s Consumer Protection Law can be found within the state’s General Business Law and specifically at section 349. The law was originally enacted to protect consumers from unscrupulous business practices but has been expanded to include any consumer oriented conduct that is materially misleading which causes harm to a party. Thus, it is here, where the interests of large corporations overlaps with the interests of small businesses, that the legal battle between insurers and independent repair shops is taking shape.
II. Progressive’s motion to dismiss In our lawsuit we alleged that Progressive, as one of the largest automobile insurance companies in the
country, used intimidation, threats, disparaging statements and direct lies about North State in order to force North State’s customers and others similarly situated into using Progressive’s network of direct repair shops and that these actions caused harm to North State. In other words, that Progressive purposefully and improperly misled and deceived customers about both North State and its own repair shops for their economic gain and to North States economic detriment. At the close of the discovery phase in the case, Progressive moved the court for a dismissal. It did so by making two divergent but significant arguments. First, Progressive argued that its actions in connection with the way it “offered” its Direct Repair Program was not misleading or deceptive. Second, Progressive argued that even if the way it offered its direct repair program was misleading and deceptive, New York’s Insurance Law did not allow a consumer or a repair shop such as North State to bring such an action. See North State v. Progressive, Page 20
BK Listings: Marketing Automotive Businesses Through Innovative Listings BK Listings, an internet marketing company that provides industry-specific listings to businesses in the automotive industry, has expanded its services to include everything automotive. BK Listings was founded in early 2010 and is headquartered in Dearborn, MI. The company started with 3 employees; a web designer, a programmer, and Owner and Founder Bradley Brennan. Brennan started BK Listings to offer industry specific and content rich profiles to businesses in the automotive industry and to offer customers an easier way to find the best shops in their area. BK Listings foGavin Crawford, cuses exclusively Web Designer on the automotive service industry—their motto is “anything and everything automotive.” “You could never include the type of information you can with us on a Google or Yellow Page ad.
They’re too general and don’t let your customers see what they need to see,” said Brennan. BK Listings allows automotive businesses to list the industry-specific information customers searching for this type of business want to see, such as which insurance companies the shop has a Direct Repair relationship with and a complete list of Alyssa Koslowsky, services provided Marketer that distinguish the shop from the competition. All of this information is searchable by users on BK Listings, so if a shop offers a certain service that people in their area want, customers will be able to search for that service and find that shop with ease. Customers can create a free login with BK Listings that will allow them to upload information about what needs to be repaired on their vehicle. This information then becomes available to shops with advanced pro-
files and they can bid on these jobs, allowing the customer to make an informed decision when choosing a shop and allowing the shop to find additional work in their area. “This addition to the site is rela-
tively new but we are really excited about its potential,” said Brennan. Customers can also submit information about a job they had done at a shop as well as shop reviews. BK Listings has expanded since
A mock listing was created for Autobody News
Visit Our Website: www.bklistings.com
Email all inquiries to: admin@bklistings.com
We offer basic and advanced profiles • Include your shop in prospective customers’ search results Industry-specific advanced profiles that are fully customizable!
A Direct Comparison of How Much More a BK Listing Ad Offers
BK Listings-“Advanced” Profile • • • • • • • • •
Name Address Phone Number Website Up to 10 pictures and graphics 1 Slogan 1 Link to your website Priority Placement Direct Repair Statuses • $49
per month
• Additional services you provide such as loaners, detailing, alignments, part sales, etc. • Certifications • Average turnaround time • Promotions • Normal and special business hours • Extra space for unique features • Ability to view and bid on jobs (submitted by customers) in your area!!
$39 per month with code (BK50) Offer ends (12/31/11)
Yellow Pages - “Platinum” Status • • • • •
1 Graphic 1 Slogan 1 Link to your website Priority Placement Basic Shop Information o Name o Address o Phone number o Website • General information o Whatever information you can squeeze into a couple lines
$176 per month
www.bklistings.com • admin@bklistings.com www.autobodynews.com | SEPTEMBER 2011 AUTOBODY NEWS 19
their founding to include listings for automotive service businesses beyond just collision repair shops, like mechanical, customization, and wheel & tire. They have also increased their staff; expanding to include three programmers, a graphic designer, a writer, and a marketer. “We are currently building a section for buying and selling automobiles to help offer another marketing solution to our dealership friends, and we plan on facilitating automotive part sales in the future,” said Brennan. BK Listings offers two types of profiles, basic and advanced. They differ in the amount of information provided about the business and the way they are searched by users. BK Listings has over 30,000 body shops listed with basic profiles. Advanced profiles, once set up, will always come before basic profiles in search results and will always display more information, so shops fortunate enough to be one of few signed up with advanced profiles in their area will enjoy increased visibility in all searches by local users. “We have decades of experience in the collision industry and know ex-
actly what shops are looking for; we know what customers want and we know how to bring business in. Our goal is to provide a service that allows the best shops to find the customers
Continued from Page 18
violation of the Consumer Protection Law? In response to this question, North State submitted evidence obtained from its customers that Progressive used deceptive and misleading tactics in order to bully consumers into having their cars repaired at its DRP shops. This evidence included testimony from North State customers chronicling the lies and misrepresentations made by Progressive’s employees about North State. North State also relied upon similar cases where Insurance Companies had been found guilty of violating New York’s Consumer Protection Laws as well as on the decision in the matter entitled MVB Collision v. Allstate, where a Federal Court found that actions such as disparaging statements, intentionally declaring vehicles a total loss and “steering” were deceptive practices as contemplated by the Consumer Protection Statute. (Here a special thank you and expression of appreciation must go out to the owners of Mid-Island Collision in Long Island, New York, as well as to their Counsel, for obtaining this extremely important decision.)
North State v. Progressive
Thus the court was forced to make three separate but intertwined decisions: First, did Progressive act improperly? Second, if they did act improperly, were those actions of the kind contemplated by the Consumer Protection Law? And third, if Progressive acted improperly and those improper actions violated the consumer protection law, did the fact that those actions also violate the Insurance Law matter? As explained below, the court disagreed with each of Progressive’s arguments and denied Progressive’s motion to dismiss. (Dennis Artese, Esq., of the firm of Anderson, Kill & Olick, authored the legal papers submitted on behalf of North State and the decision issued by the court could not have been possible without the immense effort and dedication of Mr. Artese and the Anderson, Kill & Olick firm.) III. Did Progressive act improperly in
in mind, and we believe together we can improve the industry as a whole.” John Germain, owner of E & F Auto in Melvindale, Michigan, has had a listing on BK Listings for a short pe-
The request an estimate form available for potential customers to fill out and have shops bid on their job
they need to survive and succeed,” said Brennan, “The collision industry is just now beginning to aggressively pursue internet marketing; we want to be at the forefront of that movement. We have the best interests of the shops
See North State v. Progressive, Page 28
20 SEPTEMBER 2011 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
riod of time but has already seen a positive response from the listing. “It is easy to use and makes our company more visible. We already had a website in place but the additional traffic helps with our online
marketing,” said Germain. BK Listings is currently running a promotional deal for their members; if a member refers another shop to sign up, BK Listings will send the member a check for $100. All members have to do is tell a friend to sign their shop up, if they stay on for at least 3 months, BK Listings will send the check. There is no limit on the amount of shops members can refer for this deal. Shops should email BK Listings notifying them of the referral (see below). “We have done our best to pull in every shop in America, but through the process there is the chance we missed a couple,” said Brennan. “It is very easy to add your shop if you don’t already have a basic profile listed, you can submit a request on the website or email us directly and we will add it for you.” Questions can be directed to admin@bklistings.com or bradleybrennan1@gmail.com. “I want to develop a personal relationship with every shop that is interested; we can only succeed by working together,” said Brennan. Please visit www.bklistings.com for more information.
www.autobodynews.com | SEPTEMBER 2011 AUTOBODY NEWS 21
NACE/CARS Program Expected to Draw Larger Crowds The keynote speaker for NACE’s Opening General Session will be Social Media Guru Chris Brogan. Brogan will headline the Opening General Session at ASRW 2011, Thurs., Oct. 6, from 8:30 A.M.–10 A.M. Brogan is a noted author and journalist; he is the New York Times bestselling co-author of Trust Agents, and a featured monthly columnist at Entrepreneur Magazine. Brogan’s blog, chrisbrogan.com, is also in the Top 5 of the Advertising Age Power 150. Brogan is a marketing consultant and frequent speaker Chris Brogan about social media marketing who educates businesses and organizations on how social software aligns with their strategies. He is the president and CEO of Human Business Works, an education and community company. Brogan’s keynote presentation will focus on small business solutions, sales, lead generation and specific strategies—all as they relate to the use and implementation of social media. “We carefully selected Chris Brogan this year and feel his presentation will be a highlight of ASRW,” stated Ron Pyle, ASA president. “Attendees can expect an entertaining and engaging presentation and also to walk away with ideas and solutions they can easily implement as soon as they get home.” “Technology and the advent of social media in particular have changed the way we all do business, Continued from Page 14
Long or Short
that a picture is often worth a thousand words. But even if you have the space for a picture, choosing the right one can be a difficult task. It’s generally best to just illustrate the message in some way. An image suggesting speed, like a race track pit crew, could work. Or just an illustration of a clock with wings. Shop owners like to show a picture of their shop, but this is unlikely to motivate a prospect to come in for repairs. And this raises the most important aspect of the message. It absolutely has to motivate the
so we feel Chris Brogan is not only a timely choice for this year’s keynote presentation, but an extremely relevant one," said Harry Hall, DuPont North America Sales Manager—Refinish. “Brogan has become a leader in his field through his innate use of technology and connecting it to business, which parallels DuPont Performance Coatings’ philosophy of innovation as a leader in the collision repair industry.”
BASF Back as Exhibitor BASF has also committed to a presence at the NACE show for the first time since 2008. “NACE is the premier event for the collision repair industry and we understand how important it is to represent the BASF brand among this core audience who uses BASF products,” said Chuck Soeder, vice president, BASF Automotive Refinish. “We look forward to supporting the industry by exhibiting at ASRW this October.” BASF can be found in booth N1413 at the ASRW Expo. BASF’s Felicia Funchess will also be leading two sessions entitled, “Creating a Positive Work Environment” and “Leading Change,” throughout the week’s industry education sessions. The shows’ sessions will cover a broad range of subjects including management tips and tricks, technical information, legal and HR advice, and women’s professional development. Eric Schmitz prospect to respond. There MUST be a demand for action: “Call us to find out!” “Come in for a free estimate.” “Come find out how cheap we can be!” As good as repetitive short ads may be, there’s nothing like a great repetitive slogan. “You’re in good hands with Allstate,” has been around forever. Even if you totally disagree with the slogan, you know that most people recognize it. That’s the kind of recognition you want to build with a slogan about your shop. Brief but powerful may seem like a contradiction in terms, but if you can create it, it can do great things for your business.
22 SEPTEMBER 2011 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
Eric Schmitz with KPA, an expert compliance company on safety, environmental, and human resources (HR), will lead a session titled “What to Do When an Inspector Knocks on Your Door.” KPA’s environmental, health and safety services help to reduce accidents and associated costs while ensuring companies are in compliance with EPA and OSHA regulations. Autobody News columnist Tom McGee with ALLDATA will lead an information sesssion titled “Stop Guessing and Start Knowing.” Personal development speaker and lifestyle guru Richard Flint will Tom McGee also be speaking again this year. He will lead sessions entitled “The Power of Change” and “Wanted: Leaders That Lead!” His leadership session will touch on the Top 6 roadblocks that prevent leaders from being successful and how to remove them, how to interpret the redefinition of Leader, Leadership and
Company, how to break down the 6 Secret “must haves” for being an effective leader, examining the 5 support beams that connect Leaders to their people, and identifying the mindblowing insights into working with the 3 personality types leaders are confronted with daily. Cory King with the law firm of Fine, Boggs & Perkins LLP, who has spoken at several California Autobody Association meetings over the years, will lead legal advice sessions entitled “Survival Skills for Today’s Employer: HR Best Practices” and “Survival Skills for Today’s Employer: Compliance with Wage/Hour Laws.” The events, which have consistently tracked ahead of last year’s expos, are expected to draw in larger crowds than usual thanks to this year’s new east coast location. Tickets for the Opening General Session are included in the purchase of a Super Pass or may be purchased online for $35 after the early-bird deadline of Aug. 9. For more information about the expos please visit www.naceexpo.com.
www.autobodynews.com | SEPTEMBER 2011 AUTOBODY NEWS 23
Service, Service, Diagnostic Di Diagnostic gnostic and an d Mechanical M e chanical ch aniccal al NEWS nd Mec echanical Mech ech ec hanical ca
www.autobodynews.com
Autobody News
Ford Partners Azure on FSeries Plug in Hybrids
TEXAS • OKLAHOMA • LOUISIANA • NEW MEXICO
Ford Will Recall 1.22 M Trucks, Fuel Tank Straps
Ford and Canadian-based Azure Dynamics plan to convert the largest of its F-Series models into plug-in hybrids, starting with the F-550 and later adding the F-450 and F-350 models. The trucks would operate in electric-only mode at low speeds while also reducing fuel consumption at higher speeds in hybrid mode. Anticipated range on battery power, overall fuel efficiency and pricing details have not been released. Marketing is aimed at commercial fleet buyers sensitive to the rise in fuel prices.
Ford told the National Highway Traffic SafetyAdministration it will recall 1.22 million trucks to replace fuel tank straps subject to corrosion.The recall includes these units: —Ford F-150 from 1997 through 2004 —Ford F-250 with GVW of less than 8,500 pounds from 1997 through 1999 —Lincoln Blackwood from 2002 and 2003 model years. NHTSA said the trucks were manufactured from June 20, 1995 through Aug. 4, 2004. The flaw could cause dropped fuel tanks and fire hazards.
Lincoln Electric Acquires Torchmate Parent
GM Recalls Over 16K Cars
Lincoln Electric Holdings, announced Aug. 12 that it has acquired substantially all of the assets of Applied Robotics, Inc., a leading manufacturer of CNC cutting tables and accessories in North America. Applied Robotics, known in the welding industry by its brand name, Torchmate, has headquarters and manufacturing facilities based in Reno, NV. Torchmate (www.torchmate.com) offers a wide selection of CNC plasma and oxyfuel cutting tables to medium-sized fabricators.
Chrysler Recalls Up To 370,000 2008 Minivans
GM said Aug. 12 it is recalling 16,198 Chevrolet Impala and Buick LaCrosse cars in the United States and Canada to address sensor and power steering problems. There are 11,905 2012 Impalas recalled to check the power steering hose. The hose, if misrouted, could be damaged and spray fluid onto hot engine parts to create a potential for a fire. GM also said it is recalling 4,293 2012 LaCrosses to reprogram the electronic brake control module because an incorrect calibration may cause the electronic stability system to improperly detect a sensor malfunction and fail to illuminate a warning light.
NHTSA Investigates BMW for Potential Rollaways
Chrysler is recalling nearly 370,000 2008 Grand Voyager, Town and Country and Dodge Grand Caravan vehicles for a possible heating and air conditioning problem that could inadvertently trigger the air bag, the second related recall in nine months. NHTSA said condensation from the heating and air conditioner could leak onto a sensor module. This could lead to activation of a warning light and inadvertent deployment of the air bag. There was a recall last November to replace a heating and cooling drain tube in those model vehicles to eliminate potential condensation.
U.S. safety regulators have opened an investigation into about 120,000 BMW 7series cars regarding shifting into park not engaging, with roll away. NHTSA said it has opened a preliminary probe of the BMW cars from 2002–2008 after receiving a complaint that a 2006 model rolled away after the consumer parked and exited the vehicle. Reports involving similarly equipped cars also describing roll-away incidents were submitted by BMW. A BMW spokesman said the automaker is cooperating with the NHTSA and is not aware of any reports of accidents or injuries related to the issue.
American Honda is bringing back approximately 1.5 million vehicles to update the software that controls the automatic transmission. Included are 4-cylinder Accords from 2005 through 2010, the CR-V from
2007 through 2010, and the Element 2005 through 2008. Honda believes the automatic transmission secondary shaft bearing can be damaged if the transmission is quickly shifted.
Honda to Recall 1.5M CRVs, Elements, Accords
24 SEPTEMBER 2011 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
September 2011
I-CAR Offers New Course on Electronics Damage Analysis I-CAR has premiered several online training programs in 2011, including its newest course, Basic Electronics Damage Analysis (DAM13e). By taking this course, individuals will learn how to effectively communicate at every level of the damage analysis process, identify the basic requirements for a circuit and how circuit values are measured, as well as what other parts of a circuit are designed to do. This course provides an understanding of how electrical systems are designed to work and what can be done when these systems are damaged. Information on how to recognize collision damage to wiring, the possibilities for repair, and the tools and steps required when troubleshooting an electrical circuit problem are also covered in this course. Joyce Kasmer, I-CAR Director of Business Development said, “Understanding how to effectively communicate throughout the entire repair process lends to more accurate damage assessments, which can result in reduced cycle times and higher customer satisfaction. This online course will be beneficial to collision repair professionals who are interested in learning about specific procedures re-
lated to electronics damage analysis and how to effectively interact with vehicle owners, repair facilities, and insurance companies.” This course meets I-CAR® ProLevel™ or annual training requirements for the Estimator and Auto Physical Damage Appraiser roles and satisfies the Basic Electrical knowledge area within the I-CAR® Professional Development Program™. Once an online training course has begun, an individual has thirty days to complete the course and can re-access it an unlimited number of times until it has been completed. After completion of the course, the individual will have access to course materials for reference by logging in to their account. Information and registration for this course can be found on the ICAR website (www.i-car.com) or by contacting I-CAR Customer Care at 800-422-7872.
Advances in transportation research are increasing interest in putting cameras and sensors in and on work trucks. Scientists are using a strategy that combines tightly controlled simulator driving, closely monitored runs on closed tracks and scrutiny of working truckers on revenue runs to help researchers translate observations about driver behavior. With simulators, a computer vision system can tell where a driver is looking.Adriver’s eye position is one of the most readily quantifiable factors in truck-safety as a computer can now determine a driver’s level of fatigue.
A NTHSA team cleared GM from the need to bring back more than 266,000 2007 Chevy Tahoes and GMC Yukons. The concern was chrome plating on interior door handles that could peel or separate from the plastic base material. De-lamination could result in a sharp edge and pose a risk of laceration.“The resultant population group had a total of 746 complaint reports with 309 injury incidents and 43,619 unique VIN regular warranty claims over a combined 451,745 vehicle population,” NHTSA said in a report.
Truck Driver Behavior Now Trackable with New Tech
www.autobodynews.com CHECK IT OUT!
GM Has No Recall on its Tahoe and Yukon SUVs
Ford Minivans Not Subject to Recall, Infrequent Issue NHTSA previously said the Ford Freestar and Mercury Monterey from 2004 through 2007 might have defective automatic transmission control modules, but now says “below defect trend.” Tests found 200 potential prob-
lems out of population of 125,865, for a failure rate of 0.16 percent. The concern was water running down onto the cowling under the hood and dripping onto the PCM, causing a stall and the transmission to shift badly.
Gonzo’s Toolbox
This is a new story by Scott “Gonzo” Weaver as posted on his website, www.gonzostoolbox.com. See his book “Hey Look! I Found The Loose Nut”, which provides a Good Laugh for Mechanics of Any Age. The book is available at amazon.com. Contact Gonzo at Gonzosae@aol.com
Is It ‘Change Is a Good Thing’ or ‘It’s Good That Things Change’? with Gonzo Weaver
A body shop dropped off a 2005 Nissan Titan XE for a trailer light problem. It was hit in the rear and had folded the bumper under the body. This particular body shop I have known for years, and they pride themselves on doing a top notch repair on every vehicle that they are associated with. This truck was being a problem though. All the systems were working except for the trailer turn signal lights. To be thorough, they went back through each and every part that they had replaced or disturbed. They found nothing, not a thing—2 days of checking it out led to a dead end. That’s where I came into the picture. As always, the first thing I want to see is the wiring diagram. You know, I’ve always said change is a good thing, this time, I should rephrase that to—it’s a good thing that “things change”—and I hope this does real soon, because, this was
about the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s not the first time I have ran across trailer lights going through computer systems but it’s the first time I ran across only the trailer turn signals running thru the BCM (body control module) not the trailer park lights, not trailer brakes—nope, just the turn signals. Right there on the print, plain as day, R-trailer turn and L-trailer turn, oh please—what were you dudes thinking? (Referring to the engineers) What was the reasoning behind this? I checked the rear wiring and all the circuits involved along the underside of the truck, all of which were in impeccable condition. I couldn’t help but stare at that BCM on the wiring diagram. I said to myself, “You mean to tell me I’m going to have to change an expensive BCM just for trailer lights? Come on, guys.” (Engineers)
The BCM is attached to brackets just above the gas pedal. Once I managed to get into position to see the BCM, I moved the wire harness out of the way to get a better look at it. All of which looked great. Another glance at the print showed that pin 51 and 52 were the trailer turn signal wires, one yellow/black and the other green/black. Using a test light I checked the leads output signal directly at the BCM connector. I was so glad to see the test light flashing with the turn signals, what a relief! At least it’s not the BCM, it’s wiring in between the BCM and the rear connector. Another long stare at the print with my head under the dash, all wedged in between the driver’s seat and my feet dangling out the door, one hand holding the wiring harness out of the way, flash light by my right ear, the test light and the wiring diagram all getting cramped in what little space
that’s provided; but I still couldn’t see the problem. Since I already checked the wiring running into the truck and the signal was coming out of the BCM I had to be close, real close. I was starting to understand why the body shop spent two days looking for the problem and couldn’t find it. I knew what I had to do—start hand tracing the two leads again from start to finish—one-more-time. At this point anything would be better than spending another minute “sardined” in this truck. As I moved my arm out of the way and was about to slide out from under the dash I noticed right where I had my hand holding the harness out of the way were two small in line fuse holders, almost opaque in color right on the green/black and the yellow/black wires leading away from the BCM. See Change, Page 28
www.autobodynews.com | SEPTEMBER 2011 AUTOBODY NEWS 25
How Shop Owners Can Take Advantage of Salvage Auctions by Vinnie Mitz, President, Copart, Inc.
Although used car dealers and insurance companies are the types of corporations that seemingly benefit the most from the salvage auction industry, auto body shops are less obvious but equal beneficiaries. If properly utilized, salvage auctions can help body shops to supplement their existing business by increasing their repair volumes and facilitating access to parts.
Fixing the Fixed Costs Auto body shop owners have much of the same fixed-business costs as any other operation. The cost of land or rent, utilities, payroll and upkeep all add to an auto body shop’s overhead. That means that whether a shop repairs 10 cars or 50, the basic fixed cost of doing business will generally be the same. By utilizing salvage auctions, body shops have the opportunity to better utilize their fixed-cost base. One way to use the auctions is to buy repairable cars to fill in work slots. A lot of the cars that are written off as a total loss are actually repairable. Body shops can buy these damaged cars through a salvage auction, then repair and resell them for an added revenue stream. Or, if a shop needs multiple parts from a car, it can buy the car, strip it of the parts it needs, and then resell the remainder of the car.
Going Virtual Top tier salvage auctions utilize online technologies that allow bidders to participate in virtual salvage auctions from the convenience of their home or office. Vehicle searching, previewing and bidding can all be accessed via a click of the mouse. Since the Internet has a global reach, it can vastly increase the size of an auto body shop’s business universe.
Locating Hard-to-Find Parts Shops can also buy vehicles for parts. Shops often fit used or recycled parts when making repairs to automobiles. They usually source them from a local or regional dismantler, but if they need a large number of used parts, it may be prudent to acquire an entire vehicle, use the parts required and then resell the rest. This method is often helpful in non-insured repair jobs.
If a shop is working on a rare or exotic car with hard-to-find used parts, sourcing from a salvage pool is an option. If the shop can’t find a part on its own, a salvage pool can inform the shop about reVinnie Mitz, cent sales of the Copart President same rare car. The shop can then track down the dismantler who bought the car and buy the part directly. An advantage to using virtual salvage auctions for body shops is the increased reach it offers when acquiring cars or car parts. Because the auctions are online and available to anyone in the world, shop owners are not limited to the cars or parts in their general vicinity. Additionally, the auctions don’t require bidders to be physically present, which will save the shop owner countless hours of boredom and drudgery, as well as travel costs.
A Level Playing Field Virtual salvage auctions help mitigate the shadier aspects of auto auctions, such as collusion or intimidation. Collusion can occur when multiple bidders conspire to fix the auction. It cheats other bidders out of a fair auction, and keeps cars from being sold at their optimum price. However, with the virtual auction, buyers simply enter their bids into a computer, rather than go through an auctioneer or auction manager, who may handle multiple competing bids simultaneously. By eliminating the human element in this part of the process, virtual salvage auctions create a fair auction for all bidders. Going Once, Going Twice, Sold! To participate in an online salvage auction, here are the three steps:
Step 1: Search and Preview Bidders from around the world can quickly search through all current vehicle inventories online to find exactly what they want through a variety of online search tools. Each vehicle has digital images and detailed condition information, allowing the bidders to fully preview the vehicles before deciding whether to bid. Bidders can also search for vehicles
26 SEPTEMBER 2011 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
in their general vicinity and preview them onsite to evaluate the condition first hand.
Step 2: Preliminary Bidding Once a bidder has found the vehicle they are interested in pursuing, they can enter preliminary bids online or at bidding kiosks where vehicles are stored prior to the live sale. Preliminary bidding is where bidders enter the maximum price that they are willing to pay for a vehicle. The system will then bid incrementally for the bidder up to their maximum bid, even during the virtual auction.
Step 3: Live Sale After the auction organizer receives the vehicle seller’s transferable title, the car is slated for a virtual sale. Potential bidders continue to compete in the preliminary bidding process up to one hour before the start of the Internet-only virtual sale. When the virtual sale starts, digital images of the car or truck for sale are displayed along with the current
highest bid from the preliminary bidding period. When bidding on the vehicle stops, a countdown is initiated. If no one bids during the countdown, the vehicle is sold to the highest bidder. Now that you have the basics down for participating in a virtual salvage auction, use it to your business advantage. Happy bidding!
About Copart, Inc. Copart sells more than one million vehicles each year at more than 140 facilities throughout the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, through its two-stage VB2 internet technology. Copart sells vehicles for a variety of consignors including finance companies, banks, dealers, fleets, rental car companies and the insurance industry. Copart’s success has earned it a place on Forbes “200 Best Small Companies” list nine years in a row. Copart was also featured on the television show, World’s Best as “The World’s Best Remarketing Company.” For more information, see www.copart.com.
Brown Auto Body Values Mattei’s Rotary Vane Compressor by Ed Attanasio
Dana Cooper, the owner of Brown Auto Body, a busy, modest-size shop located in southwest Iowa, has been in the collision industry for more than three decades. Cooper knows the value of reliable equipment and he’s convinced there’s no more important need in a shop than having a reliable air compressor. Not only is it critical for his painting needs but he depends on it for air tools needed to maintain his cycle times. That’s why Cooper was so pleased when his Keystone rep introduced him to Mattei compressors for the first time late last year. “With a machine like an air compressor, I want to be able to buy it and never worry about it ever again. We’re fixing 30-40 cars per month here, and it’s just another thing I don’t want to have to think about. We’ve had this Mattei unit for about seven months now, and they’ve been very good about keeping us on the right maintenance schedule. I know this is important. If my air compressor goes down, we’re dead in the water. Almost everything from buffers to paint guns depends on air. It would be like trying to fix vehicles without paint or techs—that’s how important it is to have a good air compressor that won’t quit or need service all the time.” Darrin Cook, General Manager for Keystone Automotive Industries Inc. in Omaha, Nebraska has worked for Keystone for more than 22 years, so he’s seen (and heard) his share of air compressors of all brands, sizes and styles. It’s not just a lot of hot air when Cook enthusiastically lauds the quality and performance of Mattei’s rotary vane compressors. “We’ve been marketing the Mattei compressors for more than a year now and they’re super quiet, while using less energy and producing more air,” Cook said. “These Mattei units are smaller than the other brands we’ve sold before, so they also take up less space. Pricewise, they’re also in the ballpark. You’re getting a quality product, so you might be spending a little more with these Mattei compressors, but in the long run these machines will last you longer. In the past, the compressors I encountered worked hard but wore down pretty quickly. These rotary vane compressors from Mattei don’t work as hard, so they last longer, and they put out more air. They say ‘Get your last compressor, get a Mattei’ and after
SHOP & PRODUCT SHOWCASE Brown Body Shop Location: Atlantic, IA
Telephone: 712-243-4610 www.brownautobody.com Company At A Glance... Type: Collision Repair
Facility Employees: Three In Business Since: 1980 DRP Programs: Zero
Number of Locations: One
Combined Production Space: 4,000 square feet
It’s a small yet talented crew at Brown Auto Body, consisting of (from left) Owner Dana Cooper, Tech Doug Towne and Tech Dan Schriver
working with them for a while now, I believe it.” Mattei’s machines have been in use worldwide for industrial and automotive applications for almost a century. The company was founded by Enea Mattei, an Italian engineer, when he became fascinated by the then relatively minor compressed air industry in 1919. After 15 years of research and innovation, Mattei invented the world’s first portable air compressor and, after embracing a series of technological advances, Mattei became one of the leaders in compressed air worldwide. The company solidified their role as a pioneer in the industry. Mattei started manufacturing rotary vane compressors in 1958, and have gained popularity with body shops within the last decade because they’re efficient, durable and maybe most importantly—quiet. Cooper started out as a tech and later purchased Brown Auto Body after he had been working for 20 years, he explained. “The original owner, Pete Brown, wanted to get out, so I bought the shop and took it over in 2000. Owning and running a shop has been a ton of work, but we’ve been staying busy, even during the recession and average $2,000–$3,000 per repair without any DRPs. I’ve got two techs and an office manager working part-time, so it’s a lean operation. We serve Atlantic, Iowa (6,800 population) and some of surrounding areas, competing with about three other shops in this area.”
Cooper has been pleasantly surprised with his compressor, partially because of the fact that he wasn’t familiar with Mattei until Darrin Cook at Keystone introduced him to the company and its line of rotary vane compressors. “Darrin gave me Mattei’s literature and we researched them online to find out a little more. At around the same time, one of my friends purchased an Americanmade compressor, and I realized that it was a lot noisier and doesn’t put out quite as much cfm as my Mattei does.” After doing his homework, Cooper made the move to Mattei and he hasn’t had any regrets. “We bought Mattei’s 11 kilowatt unit,” he said. “We tested it by sandblasting a car and it performed really well. It gained psi the whole time and we didn’t have to stop to interrupt the job. And it’s so quiet! That’s a big plus. I can now stand right next to it while it’s running and still actually talk on the phone. Our old compressor was in our paint mixing room. It was so loud in there we had to scream to have a conversation—it was terrible. It was starting to leak oil and was beginning to worry about it, so we purchased it just in time. They come with a 10-year warranty and designed for 100,000 hours of use, although many go way past that, from what we’ve heard.” Cooper is looking forward to not hearing, or not hearing about, his Mattei compressor for a good long time.
Brown Auto Body in Atlantic, Iowa fixes 30–40 cars per month without any DRPs
The shop’s old air compressor was loud and starting to leak oil, so Owner Dana Copper researched Mattei and made the move to the company’s rotary vane compressors
Mattei Compressors, Inc. Phone: (410) 521-7020 email: info@matteicomp.com website: www.matteicomp.com
www.autobodynews.com | SEPTEMBER 2011 AUTOBODY NEWS 27
Continued from Page 20
North State v. Progressive
After viewing the evidence submitted by both sides, the court held: “North State has submitted evidence that Progressive employees made disparaging, untrue statements to its insured’s concerning North State, in connection with the DRP, that caused Plaintiff to lose customers and that such evidence of misrepresentations, made in connection with its DRP, an established program involving billions of dollars and thousands of consumerinsured’s was sufficient to violate the consumer protection statute”. Thus having dispensed with the question of whether Progressive’s acts could be deemed deceptive and misleading in violation of the Consumer Protection Law, and answering that question with a resounding ‘YES,’ the court turned to the question of whether North State had a right to make such a claim at all.
IV. Are North State’s claims barred by the Insurance Law? As stated above, Progressive predictably relied upon the argument that North State’s consumer protection action was simply a veiled “steering” claim which was barred by New York’s Insurance Law. This argument has been made by insurance companies in nearly every jurisdiction (see the California “Hughes v. Progressive” case at www.autobodynews. com) and in fact Progressive had been successful in making this same argument in New York in another matter Continued from Page 25
Change
AHA! THERE IT IS! Two in line 10 amp fuses to the trailer lights, Wowser!!! Fixed, done, works perfectly. The prints did not show any fuses in the circuits, it only showed the wiring leading from end to end. Unbelievable, no wonder the body shop couldn’t find the problem. I even missed it until I moved my hand out of the way and knew the
involving MVB Collision. (See MVB Collision v. Progressive, Nassau County, New York). After viewing all of the evidence submitted in this case however, the court disagreed with Progressive and held that because an insurer’s misrepresentations to its insured’s as part of a broad DRP is enough to violate the consumer protection laws, the fact that those misrepresentations also violate the Insurance Law does not stop the collision repairer from being allowed to bring an action against the insurance company. The court again looked to the MVB Collision v. Allstate case for guidance when it wrote: “With respect to the argument that the plaintiff’s cause of action was really a disguised steering claim, the Allstate Court held: Here, by contrast, there is evidence of a free-standing claim of deceptiveness’ that simply happens to overlap’ with a claim under the Insurance Law. The alleged scheme to dissuade Allstate insured’s from going to Mid Island involved not only steering but also, inter alia, alleged defamatory comments. Thus, because plaintiff’s § 349 claim merely happens to overlap’ with provisions of New York Insurance Law, it is not an improper attempt to circumvent the lack of a private right of action under the Insurance Law.” II. What does it all mean? So what does the North State case, MVB v. Allstate and Hughes v. Progressive mean for the collision repair industry today? First, the cases show that individual repair shops and the industry as a
correct wire colors. It’s not the sort of thing I’d expect to find—factory fuse holders in-line with the BCM— but there they were, you can be guaranteed that I made a note about this one. I won’t forget next time. It doesn’t help that the prints were wrong, and it doesn’t help that the manufacturer ran the trailer turn signals leads thru the BCM, so I guess I can officially change my status from “change is a good thing” to “good thing it changes” now do me a favor there engineers; Change it!
whole now have a means to combat the illegal steering practices so long a staple of the insurance industry. By asserting your rights as a consumer under your state’s consumer protection laws, you as a business now have the means to stop improper steering as soon as you become aware of the practice. While lawsuits can be expensive, the costs of a suit pale in comparison to the amount of business that a shop loses at the hands of illegal steering. Further, now that the precedents are being set, attorneys in your state will be much more willing to bring an action on your behalf which should bring litigation costs down as well. Second, but perhaps even more critical is the fact that as a result of these and other lawsuits, there are now a growing number of legal precedents that are establishing exactly what constitutes improper, deceptive and illegal steering activities in the insurer-collision repairer relationship. For example, the court in the North State case took great pains to define what it considered “improper conduct” to be and looked to the earlier MVB Collision case for help in crafting its definition. The practice is
called “setting and defining precedent” and it is the way in which our laws and our society develop over time. Thus, cases like North State v. Progressive and MVB Collision v. Allstate are actually helping to define what it is an insurance company can and cannot do when interacting with a collision repair business and the importance of these and other cases like them cannot be overstated. In the end, the conflict between the independent repairer and the insurance industry will of course continue. However, the legal precedents now set by North State v. Progressive and other matters are working toward establishing the legal and practical boundaries within which an insurance company may conduct itself. Anthony J. Mamo is an attorney practicing in Westchester County New York. He specializes in litigation on behalf of individuals and small businesses particularly in the collision repair industry. He has been involved with the representation of North State Custom since 2005. He may be contacted by email at Mamolawfirm.com or by phone at (914) 631-5050.
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Social Media for Shops
How to Fix Your Damaged Online Reputation with Ed Attanasio
In an article in July’s Autobody News I wrote about Yelp and how shops have objected to the way this review site seems to perpetuate negative reviews on shops unless they’re members of the premium (paid) user program. If you missed it see www.autobodynews.com and search: Yelp. The question for many shops in this situation is: what can I do about it? Okay, let’s assume your name and the reputation of your shop has been thrown under the bus and now you want to fight back. Maybe it’s a bad review on Yelp, or maybe a disgruntled former employee has trashed you on the Web and posted a collection of half-truths coupled with some outright lies. Or, maybe one of “those customers” that is never be happy is posting negative things online about you and they are beginning to get noticed and starting to affect your business.
Okay, it looks bad and it can be very frustrating, but don’t panic— there are some strategies you can use to defend yourself online and clean up your damaged reputation in the process. To get started, you can initially do some things on your own that can distance you from the snarky online comments or bad reviews about you and your business. If you have any even rudimentary computer skills, you can help yourself considerably by making the right moves. The basic rule here is always take the high road. Don’t’ respond directly to anything in a negative or combative fashion. If you jump in the mud with your online accusers, than all you’re really doing is adding credibility to their claims. Focus on disseminating positive information about your shop and get it on as many websites as you possibly can. Put them on your Facebook
Mitchell Releases Industry Trends Report for Q3 of 2011 Mitchell International released their third quarter Industry Trends Report this month; the report focused on gas prices and their affect on car-buying and car value trends. This issue also discusses how volatile and sustained high fuel prices are impacting insurance claims beyond a reduction in miles driven. Vice president of industry relations for Mitchell International Greg Horn talks about the role gas prices play in resale values of vehicles from fuel-efficient to so-called gas guzzlers. “Fuel efficient vehicles tend to rise more quickly and reliably in value during periods of high gas prices than gas guzzlers, which fall in value,” Horn said in the report. The insurance and collision repair industries need the accuracy of a true market survey method for valuing a total loss because constantly fluctuating fuel prices move too fast, with too great an impact, for slower traditional ‘book value’ valuations to accurately reflect the true actual cash value of total loss vehicles.”
Other valuable points of interest in the current issue of Mitchell’s ITR include: Mitchell’s Q2-2011 data reflect an initial average gross Collision appraisal value of $2,761-$90 less than this same period last year. However, applying the indicated development factor of 9% suggests a final Q22011 average gross collision appraisal value of $3,008. The average Actual Cash Value (ACV) of vehicles appraised for Collision losses during Q2-2011 was $13,705-an increase of $500 over the same period last year. In Q2-2011, the average gross appraisal value for Comprehensive coverage estimates processed through Mitchell servers was $2,854-compared to $2,625 in Q2-2010. Applying the prescribed development factor of 1% for this data set produces an increase in the adjusted value to $2,883reflecting the strong storm season with many hail claims. For more information about Mitchell, visit www.mitchell.com. To view the entire report please visit www.autobodynews.com.
30 SEPTEMBER 2011 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
Ed Attanasio is an automotive journalist based in San Francisco, California. He can be reached at era39@aol.com.
page and other social media sites, such as LinkedIn, MySpace, Bebo, Friendster, and Netlog, to name some of many. Join as many as you can and maintain them, inviting customers and friends to join. Eventually, your involvement in these sites will start appearing in search results, and pretty soon, you’ll notice that the bad reviews will begin to migrate down the list. If you really want to get proactive in defending your company online, you can take it a step further and start your own blog. Blogs are popular, because they’re simple and posting stories and photos on there is a snap, even for the cyber-challenged. You can link your blog to your website and it will also provide a wide range of SEO advantages over your haters. For example, BlogSpot (blogspot.com) is a very popular blogging site. It’s easy-to-use and ab-
solutely free. Posting stories on your blog doesn’t require a lot of time and even with just casual computer skills you can start and maintain a blog within a short time. Now, of course, you might be asking yourself—how do I find the time to do these things online? You’re probably already working 50 hours a week—fixing cars, dealing with customers, insurance companies, vendors and employees is your priority every week, so how can you do it all? Some body shops call upon a front office employee to assume the role of the company’s IT person. But, if you don’t have anybody currently on your staff like that, you’ll need to hire a company or an individual to assist you in salvaging your reputation online and defending you in the future. Some body shops have hired See Damaged Reputation, Page 32
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ASRW Partners with Muscle Car Network of Florida at Expo
ASRW announced a new partnership for 2011 with the Muscle Car Network of Florida. The Muscle Car Network plans to display approximately 80 vehicles on the ASRW show floor at ASRW, during the expo. The display includes rare, exotic and hot rod vehicles, which belong to members of the network. Additionally, the Muscle Car Network plans to make a donation to a local automotive charity Saturday, Oct. 8, to further education and training for the next generation of automotive service and repair professionals. “Our audience has a true passion for automobiles, and we know they’ll appreciate this collection of vehicles. We’re pleased to be partnered with this group, and to have something new and exciting to offer at the show this year,” said Ron Pyle, ASA president. “We’re grateful for the opportunity to give back to the local Orlando-area community, in appreciation of our time there.” “This is a win-win for everyone involved. We’re excited for the opportunity to show off our ‘pride and joy’ to the industry professionals who attend ASRW,” says J.R. Goodman, Muscle Car Network director.
CREF and CCC Name Five Student Scholarship Winners
The Collision Repair Education Foundation and CCC Information Services named five exceptional students as winners of the CCC Michael Salvatore Memorial Student Repair Technician Scholarship, renamed to honor the memory of longtime CCC team member Michael Salvatore. The CCC Michael Salvatore Memorial Student Repair Technician Scholarship awards scholarships to students currently enrolled at eligible technical schools throughout the country. The award recipients use the scholarship funds to reduce the balances on tuition loans or to reimburse tuition costs that accumulated during their education. Each student will receive a scholarship award in the amount of $5,000. The 2011 winners are: ● Manuel Aguilar, UTI (Sacramento, CA) ● Nabil Assad, Pennsylvania College of Technology (Williamsport, PA) ● Isaac Hostetter, Pennsylvania College of Technology (Williamsport, PA) ● Ian Hilner, Pennsylvania College of Technology (Williamsport, PA) ● Michael Releford, Sowela Technical Community College (Lake Charles, LA.)
Enterprise Rent-A-Car Makes $11,000 Donation to CREF
Enterprise Rent-A-Car is the first rental car brand to receive the Collision Repair Education Foundation’s Industry Leadership Circle donor designation through its $11,000 donation to the organization in 2011. This donation will support annual student scholarships, school grants, and the recently created Ultimate Collision Education Makeover grant. “Our partnership with the collision repair industry has been a key to our success over the years,” said Bruce Clifton, vice president-insurance replacement for Enterprise Rent-A-Car. “We are happy to assist the efforts of the Collision Repair Education Foundation to identify and develop the next generation of industry leaders.” Collision Repair Education Foundation Executive Director Scott Kruger added, “Thanks to Enterprise Rent-A-Car for supporting the Collision Repair Education Foundation and joining our efforts in supporting collision repair school programs and their students. “The Industry Leadership Circle includes a wide cross-section of the entire collision repair inter-industry and we are pleased to have Enterprise as the first rental car company in the Circle.”
Domestics More Popular Among Auto Thieves Now
For the first time since 2002, NICB discovered thieves preferred domestic nameplates over foreign brands, as indicated by the list of the 10 most stolen vehicles in the U.S. Among the top 10, Ford took three spots, Dodge held two and Chevrolet held one, while the remaining four were held by Honda, Toyota and Acura. However, the top three positions continue to be held by Honda and Toyota models, a trend that NICB said has been consistent since 2000. According to an examination of vehicle theft data submitted by law enforcement to the National Crime Information Center in 2010, the most stolen vehicles in the nation were— 1994 Honda Accord—1995 Honda Civic—1991 Toyota Camry—1999 Chevrolet Pickup (Full Size)—1997 Ford F150 Series/Pickup—2004 Dodge Ram—2000 Dodge Caravan— 1994 Acura Integra—2002 Ford Explorer—1999 Ford Taurus. NICB says certain older cars and trucks are popular with thieves because of the value of their parts — but many are not insured against theft. Whereas newer, more expensive and insured vehicles are often stolen to be resold intact with counterfeit VINs or shipped out of the country.
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Continued from Page 30
Damaged Reputation
public relations firms to perform these duties. If you can afford them, it’s a wise move. Bruce Miles is a public relations specialist who has worked for companies such as Cisco Systems, Apple Computer and a wide range of startups in Silicon Valley. He offered me some tips for how to position your shop in a good light and reap accolades that can offset any bad reviews or negative content about you and/or your business online. “Start a list of all the things you do well and leverage those items,” Miles said. “Collect testimonials from your satisfied customers and get their permission to use them. If you’re not currently helping the community that you’re doing business in, start getting involved. It’s a win-win, because it will help your business and attract more customers. Too many small companies don’t see the big picture and concentrate solely on profit, payroll and the bottom line. Those things are obviously crucial, but establishing a solid reputation especially in your
area is paramount.” Press releases distributed to the local media is one way to get the word out about all of the great things you’re doing, Miles explained. “Hire a PR person and have them generate one press release every couple months. Any positive news is good news and local community papers love to run upbeat stories, because most of the headline news out there is grim, as we know. Maybe you’re mentoring local students who want to get into collision repair? Maybe you fixed a rare, unique vehicle? Or maybe held a dinner for the local Little League team you’re sponsoring? Good public relations specialists will find the story ideas for you, and by using their contacts with the local media, you’ll start seeing your name in print and online in a positive vein.” If you have a really negative perception on the Web you may need to go further. For many body shops, a good solution is hiring a company called Reputation.com (formerly ReputationDefender.) Located in Redwood City, California, the company sells online reputation management (ORM) and Internet privacy to com-
panies and individuals worldwide. ReputationDefender was founded six years ago to help parents in shielding their children from damaging their reputations via embarrassing postings on social media websites, but Reputation.com has shifted its business model to defending adults online as well and continually monitoring web content about their clients. When damaging content is found, the company tries to get it removed from the offending websites through methods like contacting the site owners and requesting that they remove the content in question. In 2006, Susan Crawford, a cyberlaw specialist on the faculty of Cardozo Law School in NYC, says that when contacted in that fashion, “Most people will take materials down just to avoid the hassle of dealing with possible litigation.” Reputation.com also leverages the positive approach, by writing 200300 word articles praising their clients and posting them throughout the Web. By building a reservoir of positive feedback out there in cyberspace and continually acting as a watchdog, Reputation.com can help you to offset
bad press or disparaging reviews that you’ve received and keep the good word coming, so that you’re ready when and if it happens again. “Be prepared” is the Boy Scout motto, but we can’t all be Eagle Scouts all the time, so when disparaging things appear about you and/or your business online, the worst thing you can do is ignore the situation. If negatives are out there and you know it, you’ll never know who’s not coming to your shop because they’ve seen a bad review. Silence is deafening and people will readily form “guilty until found innocent” opinions unless you respond. But keep it positive, build good will by doing things that benefit your community and hire an expert or a company to defend you online if you’ve really been maligned. Had success in turning your online reputation around? Contact me at era39@aol.com and let me know how you did it. I’ll pass that along to shops who may find themselves in the same situation. In a future column I’ll feature more reputation defending web services and report on their success.
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CAPA Tracker Enables A/M Part Tracing Regardless of Source
The CAPA TRACKER provides collision repairers with the ability to trace any CAPA Certified part, regardless of who sold it to them. Developed over 7 years ago, the program was in direct response to collision repairer concern that if a potential safety-related problem was discovered with a CAPA Certified part that they’ve installed, how could they easily address it. This repairer driven program keeps the shops in control, protects the privacy of their own personal part usage, and most importantly, enables them to be totally responsive to their customers should a part problem be identified after the repair has been completed. The program tracks the unique number on every part used for a specific repair. In the event of a safety problem, CAPA can immediately notify the specific repairer who used the part and also provide the means to identify any irregularities with a number referenced by a repairer and prevent counterfeit CAPA Certified parts in the market. Currently, repairers can privately register their part usage by internet, fax or mail. CAPA is working with shops to identify the types of tracking tools that would best suit their individual needs, such as an automatic recording system which will involve ‘wanding’ the parts.
Vehicle Safety Bill With Data Collection Relevant to Repairers Introduced in U.S. Senate
U.S. Sen. John D. Rockefeller, DW.V., chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, and Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., have introduced a bill in the Senate titled the Motor Vehicle and Highway Safety Improvement Act of 2011. The bill touches on several issues relevant to the collision industry, including broadening the authority of the secretary of transportation to: ● Conduct motor vehicle safety research, development, and testing programs and activities, including new and emerging technologies that impact or may impact motor vehicle safety, ● Collect and analyze all types of motor vehicle and highway safety data and related information to determine the relationship between motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment performance characteristics. The legislation requires that the U.S. DOT conduct a study of crash data collection and report, after one year, to a Senate Committee and to the House Committee on the quality of data collected through the National Automotive Sampling System, including the Special Crash Investigations Program. The administrator of NHTSA will then conduct a comprehensive review of the data elements collected from each
crash to determine if additional data should be collected. This review will include input from interested parties, including suppliers, automakers, safety advocates, the medical community and research organizations. Another section, titled “NHTSA Electronics, Software and Engineering Expertise,” discusses efforts to further explore green methods, including a council to research the inclusion of emerging lightweight plastic and composite technologies in motor vehicles to increase fuel efficiency, lower emissions, meet fuel economy standards, and enhance passenger motor vehicle safety through continued use of the administration’s Plastic and Composite Intensive Vehicle Safety Roadmap. Finally, the bill requires that “Vehicle Event Data Recorders” include information regarding vehicle data recorders and privacy provisions specifications. Beginning with model year 2015, new passenger motor vehicles sold in the United States are to be equipped with a vehicle event data recorder. The language includes that any data in an event data recorder, regardless of when the passenger motor vehicle in which it is installed was manufactured, is the property of the
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CollisionLink Represents ‘Inevitable Change’ Says Major Parts Dealer Martin, Lotus and Spyker), Lemen values the time-saving aspect associBack when Galpin Motors’ Parts Manated with using CollisionLink. ager Butch Lemen was 12 years old, “CollisionLink makes us more he worked with his father in the aircraft efficient and can save time for the parts industry, some time before the adshops that participate,” Lemen exvent of personal computers. Computers plained. “It frees up the shops’ time, are now indispensible in parts departbecause they don’t have to make ments and body shops worldwide. But, phone calls searching for a part and/or although many body shops have emwaiting for a response. All of the corbraced the software and the Internet respondence through CollisionLink is methods, there are still a ton of shops handled via e-mails, and our parts out there that are reluctant to accept people will call once we receive the what Lemen calls, “the inevitable.” order. It’s a streamlined process and allows shops to go on with the other multiple tasks that happen every day in your average body shop.” Lemen says he has seen CollisionLink work time after time in helping him to get orders and assist shops in getting From left, Galpin Motors Sales Rep Joe Jotikasthira; Sales Rep GerOE parts on more ardo Sanchez; Warehouse Manager Tom Thompson; Ford Motor Co. Rep Anne Tran-Malone; Assistant Warehouse Manager Istvan Gerlei; repairs without payWholesale Parts Manager Butch Lemen and Sales Rep Javier Gonzalez ing more than the receive yet another award for hitting top numbers year after year aftermarket. “It’s a Lemen is a strong advocate for conduit for electronic parts ordering, but many body shops are still in the habit of CollisionLink, the Internet-based electronic parts ordering system designed ordering parts over the phone or via FAX. We can assist the body shops by by OEConnection for OEM parts dealerships and body shops. By using providing parts with better fit and finish the system, shops can save time and while delivering the parts quickly and money while including more original improving cycle times.” factory parts in their repairs. ColliLemen recognized the importance sionLink’s price comparison feature is of this system more than a year ago currently used by shops of all sizes, when Galpin starting offering it, but from little independent facilities all now he wants his shop customers to the way to large chains. see the light as well. “We’ve been an advocate for CollisionLink for awhile now and we do have customers who use it and like it and we’re trying to get more shops up and running with it on a daily basis, so that we can put some more OE parts into their hands. We have roughly 30 shops currently signed up with CollisionLink, and they tend to be shops that are computersavvy and already using the Internet as a tool to improve their business. The By utilizing CollisionLink, Galpin’s customers can incorporate more factory parts into their computer age isn’t the future anymore, estimates without paying more than the we’re right in the middle of it, and still, aftermarket many of my customers don’t even Lemen manages a multi-million have computers in their shops yet.” dollar wholesale parts operation at Once his shop customers take the leap of faith and embrace CollisionLink, Galpin Motors in North Hills, Calif. With 75 employees in his department it quickly becomes a daily part of their and selling parts for the 10 brands lives, Lemen reasons. But, getting them they represent (Ford, Lincoln, Subaru, to take that first step can be difficult. Mazda, Honda, Volvo, Jaguar, Aston“It’s getting people to accept a change, by Ed Attanasio
34 SEPTEMBER 2011 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
it’s just that simple. Change comes along no matter what, but the old days of going through catalogs and writing down part numbers is tedious and no longer efficient. Now, if you went into these forward-thinking shops and told them they had to go back to using those books, they might beat you up. They were reluctant a few years back, but now they can’t do business without the computers and systems like CollisionLink. It’s just a matter of accepting the change and seeing a new way of doing things, in order to make their shops more efficient and profitable.” Using CollisionLink is easy and most people can be proficient at it within just several days, Lemen said. “The majority of the body shop management systems out there right now contain all the parts pricing already. When the insurance company tells the shop ‘you need to use this aftermarket part to save money,’ that’s when CollisionLink steps in. Once their estimate is approved by the insurance company, they send it to us electronically and we call it the “1-2-3 Go,” because it’s just three steps, push a button and it’s done.
Getting good at using it is a matter of repetition, just like anything else. To make it easier, I’ll send one of our reps to the shop and he’ll go
Owner Maurice Starrantino (left) and Assistant Manager Jesse Elizondo at Autoworld Collision in Valencia are using CollisionLink with great success to identify and purchase OE parts and get them into more of their repairs
through the training, both on-site and over the phone, with CollisionLink’s staff. It normally takes 15–30 minutes to learn the system and how to use it.” Once his customer sends him the invoice, Lemen and his staff can go through it and identify the parts to make certain they are correct for the repair. “Once I get the order, I simply open the file, import the file and push See CollisionLink, Page 38
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Six of Ten Americans Say ‘Yes’ to More Teen Driving Restrictions Nearly six in 10 Americans favor a federal law to establish minimum requirements and driving restrictions for teen drivers. A recent national survey from Allstate Insurance shows that support for a national graduated driver licensing (GDL) law corresponds with low opinions about teen driving skills, which received the lowest ranking among all ages surveyed. Currently, the Safe Teen and Novice Driver Uniform Protection (STANDUP) Act is pending in Congress as part of a broader bill Mariah’s Law, named after an Arkansas teen killed in a crash involving texting. STANDUP calls for uniform standards that restrict nighttime driving, limits the number of passengers in a teen’s car, prohibits the use of cell phones while driving, and issues permits and licenses with specific age requirements and through a gradual, multi-phased process. When asked about the specific provisions included in the STANDUP Act, Americans said they favor the policies. Key findings include: ● 76% back a minimum age of 16 to receive a learner’s permit, and 69% favor requiring three stages of licensing.
● 7 in 10 Americans favor restricting unsupervised nighttime driving for those under age 18, and 65% support restricting the number of nonfamily passengers for drivers under 18. ● 81% are in favor of prohibition of cell phones or texting while driving for younger drivers. ● Support for STANDUP and its individual provisions crosses all age groups, geographic regions, and political affiliation. American drivers are highly critical of teenage drivers, giving them the lowest rating of all age groups. 81% rate teenagers as “average” or “poor” drivers. “Results from this survey show that Americans clearly understand that GDL laws can help save lives, and that a majority of them support a legislative solution that safely introduces teen drivers to the road,” said Bill Vainisi, senior vice president and deputy general counsel, Allstate. “What’s needed now is national leadership in the form of uniform standards for those GDL laws.” The survey of 1,000 American adults was conducted by Allstate Insurance July 13, 14, 16 and 17 via landline and cell phone and has a margin of error of +/- 3.1%.
Will Auto Industry Be Dragged Down by Economic Turmoil?
Auto body shops are aware that there’s a close correlation between new auto sales and the number of repairable vehicles on the road, but will auto sales be dragged down by recent market and economic gyrations? Writing in Auto Remarketing, Joe Overby has reported that dark economic clouds seem logical given the economic and fiscal fiascos of recent weeks—the U.S. credit downgrade and the stock market swooning, along with the debt-ceiling crisis. But the impact on auto sales might not be as bad as one might expect. According to Kelley Blue Book analyst Alec Gutierrez, it’s too early to tell how much consumer confidence will drop from the near-2,000-point stock-market decline, and it doesn’t seem there will be any prolonged or overwhelming impacts to auto buying. In the fourth quarter, KBB projects a lift in sales and production. “At Kelley Blue Book, we think the recent drop in the stock market (close to 2,000 points since July 21) will definitely influence consumer confidence, which is highly correlated to overall vehicle sales. However, exactly to what degree consumer confidence will drop remains uncertain,” he explained. “The plunge in the market is an emotional reaction to the S&P credit downgrade.Although the recent market drop has been a rather severe correction, the Dow
still remains higher than when it steeply dropped in 2008, so we do not think it will have a long-term or significant impact to consumer confidence as it relates to auto purchasing,” Gutierrez continued. Explaining the purchase delays in more detail, he went on to note that because of the inventory and incentive dearth in the auto industry, consumers are holding off on buying. These shoppers may just stick it out a bit longer. “In the short-term, this new decline in consumer confidence may cause even more shoppers to delay their purchases for the next several weeks/months, as they wait for the market to stabilize. Kelley Blue Book expects that auto sales and production will increase when Japanese automaker production increases in 4Q,” Gutierrez said. Likewise, over at TrueCar.com, analyst Jesse Toprak offered what may be some reassurance. He emphasized that conditions are ideal for consumers to make vehicle purchases. “We’re going through some fluctuations in the financial marketplace currently, but credit is obtainable for most consumers and inventory is there, making now just as good a time as any to purchase a new vehicle,” said Toprak, TrueCar’s vice president of industry trends and insights.
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Mercedes’ Internal Plan to Become World’s Top Premium Brand
Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche has said the company’s Mercedes-Benz brand will challenge rival German premium brands BMW and Audi for the position as the world’s best-selling and most profitable luxury carmaker. In a rallying call to employeees, Zetsche confessed that Mercedes is being outpaced by rivals, but said: “Our competitors’ success should provide us with additional motivation.” Zetsche issued the challenge in a letter to Daimler employees, writing: “Some of our competitors are now growing faster and more profitably than we are. Granted, those are just snapshots in time and should not be overestimated. After all, many of our best new products are yet to come.” Zetsche adds: “In the long run we can’t be content to be in a ‘solid
second’ or even ‘third’ place: We are Daimler – we should be far ahead of the pack! And if that requires something that we don’t currently have, then we’ll identify and develop it.” Zetsche ends the letter by saying: “Enjoy your summer and refill your tanks. Because in the second half of this year we’re going to continue to play some hard offense!”
LKQ Corporation reported a 23 percent increase in second quarter income to $46.7 million on record revenue of $759.7 million, a 29 percent increase over the second quarter 2010. “All of the operating groups performed well during the quarter,” stated
Robert Wagman, President and CoChief Executive Officer of LKQ Corporation. “Alternative parts usage continues to grow, our fill rates are at historical highs, and we continue to see strong insurance support,” Wagman said.
Mercedes lags rivals Luxury car makers are enjoying booming sales, fuelled by growing wealth in China and a rebound in the United States, but Mercedes’ growth is lagging its German rivals. In the first six months, Mercedes car brand global sales increased 9.7 percent to 610,531. BMW brand sales grew 17.8 percent to 689,861, while Audi saw sales rise by 17.7 percent to 652,970.
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Toyota-Tesla RAV4 Electric to be Built in Ontario, Canada
Toyota and Tesla Motors confirmed August 5 that their jointly-developed RAV4 electric vehicle will be built at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, Inc. in Woodstock, Ontario beginning in 2012. “The Tesla-Toyota joint development team has agreed that building the vehicle at the Woodstock plant on the same line as the gasoline-powered RAV4, will streamline and simplify the production process and guarantee the highest level of quality control,” said Ray Tanguay, TMMC Chairman, who hosted Canadian officials at the plant today and thanked them for their support. “This is a great example of Toyota’s determination to collaborate with companies with leading edge technology.” As previously announced, Toyota will pay Tesla approximately $100 million to supply the electric powertrain, which includes the battery, motor, gear box and power electronics for the RAV4 EV. Tesla will build the electric powertrains at its production facility in Palo Alto, California and then ship them to TMMC for final assembly into the vehicle. The RAV4 EV will be sold at U.S. Toyota dealers.
Mitsubishi Back to Profitability
Mitsubishi returns to profit with $55 million in quarterly net income. Mitsubishi Motors Corp. returned to profit in the three months ended June 30, aided by selling more vehicles in North America, Europe and Asia. The automaker posted net income of 4.3 billion yen ($55.5 million) in the three months ended June 30, compared with a loss of 11.8 billion yen a year earlier, it said in a statement. The maker of the i-MiEV electric car raised its half-year profit to break even, from a loss of 10 billion yen announced on June 13. The automaker expects its retail sales in the www.autobodynews.com six months to Sept. 30 to be at 518,000 units, up 8,000 units from its earlier CHECK IT OUT! forecast.
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Continued from Page 34
CollisionLink
one button and everything else happens automatically. Once we’ve determined that it’s accurate, we can call the body shop and discuss the pricing or other options, for example.” If Galpin can meet or beat the aftermarket, it can obviously benefit both his operation and the body shop involved, he said. “We can beat the aftermarket prices in many cases. We’re going up against the aftermarket and Continued from Page 12
DRP Requirements
Of course a shop should be concerned and do its due diligence before hiring anyone who has been convicted of a felony. But Farmers should remove this clause from the agreement unless of course they would like to subject their staff to the same scrutiny. In fact, how do you know it isn’t a convicted felon from Farmers inspecting your books? What if that person hap-
the used parts industry as well. For example, we received an estimate earlier today and within less than two hours, it was processed. We were able to meet or beat the aftermarket on 14 parts on the invoice and the shop bought them all. Our overall conversion rate for June was 71%, so, that’s significant.” One of Galpin’s customers using CollisionLink is Autoworld Collision in Valencia, California, a 14-year-old shop owned by Maurice Starrantino. “We’ve been using CollisionLink for at least a year, and it’s been a Godsend. By using it, we’re able to provide
our customers with OE parts where we couldn’t before. These manufacturers want to incorporate factory parts in our repairs, and this is the best way to do it. On some items such as hoods, fenders, bumpers and many sheet metal parts, Galpin can match or beat the aftermarket parts a majority of the time, depending on the brand and the repair. CollisionLink is easy-to-use and now a part of our daily operations, so we definitely rely on it and value it.” CollisionLink software operates on PCs from Windows XP on up and is completely free to body shops. It
can only be used to order OEM parts. It can be used with all of the leading systems already being used by most body shops, including Mitchell UltraMate Advanced Estimating System, CCC One Total Repair Platform, CCC Pathways Estimating Solution and Audatex. If a shop has another system, CollisionLink’s reps can help them to get it set up.
pens to be an unscrupulous individual who just hasn’t been caught yet? You could potentially have a convicted-butrehabilitated Farmers staff member remove you from the COD program because you have a similar ex-con on staff. How’s that for irony? I’ve seen just as many thieves wearing white-collar shirts as those wearing blue-collar shirts. Insurers have no business telling you who you can or can’t hire. Shops should be judged on the product and service they deliver, and not based on arbitrary and
unjustified requirements. All that said, I hope you aren’t missing the overarching theme of my view of Farmers’ (or any insurer’s) DRP requirements: Quit whining. Quit saying it’s not fair. It’s like raising kids. Even the best kids will continue to misbehave until there is a consequence for their actions. You can threaten to ground them, tell them it’s their last chance, or insinuate a good old-fashioned buttwhuppin’ is a-comin,’ but if you don’t follow through, the antics will continue. Until the insurers hear ‘no,’ they will
only continue to ask for more, whether that more is “reasonable” or not. To see the Farmers COD agreement referenced in the column, go to www.autobodynews.com and search “Farmers COD.” The SCRS press release about the agreement can also be found there. Search “SCRS Farmers agreement.” “The Insider” is is a corporatelevel insurance executive who wishes to remain anonymous. This column reflects solely the opinion of insider. Email him at Auto.Insurance.Insider@gmail.com.
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Study Supports Notion that Green Technology Boosts Job Growth More than 151,000 American auto workers already are making components for cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles, and that number could grow significantly as the United States continues to embrace new generations of fuel efficient cars and trucks, according to a new study produced by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the National Wildlife Federation and the UAW. While these groups clearly have a vested interest in environmental issues, the report, Supplying Ingenuity: U.S. Suppliers of Clean, Fuel-Efficient Vehicle Technologies, provides evidence of a strong link between fuel-efficient vehicles and economic vitality. “The reality is that cleaner vehicles have already led to more jobs,” said Peter Lehner, executive director of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Our report shows how strong fuel efficiency standards have employed people nationwide, so stronger standards will certainly mean even more job growth in the future.” According to the report, 43 states and the District of Columbia now are home to the 300-plus manufacturers that develop and supply key components for advanced internal combustion
engines and vehicles, hybrid powertrains and plug-in electric vehicles. “This report shows that most states have facilities that produce cleanvehicle technologies,” said UAW Vice President Cindy Estrada, who directs the union’s Competitive Shop/Independents, Parts and Suppliers Department. “The employment benefits flowing from increases to vehicle fuel efficiency will be widespread.” The report lists the top 15 states employing the highest number of autoworkers in clean, efficient technologies: Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, North Carolina, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Texas, Alabama, California, South Carolina, Tennessee, New York, Illinois, Virginia, and Arizona. “This report demonstrates how strong fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks sustain local jobs. They also safeguard wildlife, and protect America’s public health,” said Jim Lyon, the National Wildlife Federation. “It’s critical that Congress stops putting these gains at risk by grandstanding against the Clean Air Act and other landmark laws that Americans across the nation rely on.” For a copy of the report, see: www.nrdc.org/transportation/autosuppliers
GM Reduces Vehicle Platforms and Parts by Half by 2018
GMs says it will cut the number of vehicle platforms it uses globally by more than half over the next decade, in a bid to reduce complexity and save on product-development costs, according to Automotive News. “More of our components will be common, and more of our vehicles will be on global architectures,” GM CEO Dan Akerson told analysts Aug 9. Presentation slides online, prepared for by Mary Barra, GM’s senior vice president of global product development, showed that the automaker will reduce the number of vehicle architectures, or the platform of parts and subcomponents that underpin various cars and trucks, from 30 in 2010 to 14 in 2018. GM will vastly increase the number of cars and trucks that will be assembled on its “core” architectures, which GM defines as global platforms as well as high-volume regional platforms such as the T900 architecture used for its full-sized pickups. Core platforms will account for 90% of GM’s volume by 2018, up from 31% in 2010. With a more efficient productdevelopment process, GM hopes to reduce costly development snags, which GM calls “churn.”
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California Casualty Presents an Excellence Award to Gerber
California Casualty Management Company, based in San Mateo, California, has presented a Customer Service Excellence Award for 2010 to Gerber National Glass Services. “We are very excited to receive this award from California Casualty,” said Mark Flasch, General Manager of Gerber National Glass Services. “Our ongoing objective for all of our customers is to provide to them service excellence every opportunity that we get. We are very proud that our efforts have translated into the highest levels of customer satisfaction for California Casualty policyholders. “The Gerber National Glass Services Team provides excellence in customer service to our policyholders said Michael Lloyd, Assistant Vice President for California Casualty. “We recognize that is it critical to acknowledge these efforts. I was privileged to go to both of their call centers in Paducah KY and Ft Myers FL recently to demonstrate how essential their daily work product is for California Casualty. We wanted to show Gerber's Associates how important their work is to our company and it is sincerely appreciated.”
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Industry Insight
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.
CIC, Consultant, Seeking Views on Industry Repair Standards with John Yoswick
The skittishness among some in the the committee had raised $26,600 of industry about how formalized repair the $60,000 it needs in sponsorships for the consultant’s work and the destandards may be developed or implemented was evident during with Eddiscussion Attanasiovelopment of an industry forum on the at the most recent Collision Industry topic in November. More than 50 percent of the 21 sponsors to date are colConference (CIC). At the meeting, the CIC-formed lision repair businesses, 38 percent are Repair Standards Advisory Commit- suppliers and less than 5 percent are insurers. tee offered an update on its work, inMike Condon, whose consulting cluding the hiring of a consultant to firm has been hired by the committee, build a business with case forEd theAttanasio developsaid he has conducted about 10 of the ment and implementation of formal40 interviews—about half with reized standards. pairers and half with those in other Russ Thrall, publisher of CollisionWeek and a past CIC chairman segments of the industry—that he anticipates doing to prepare the report and who co-chairs the advisory comfor the committee. That report, he mittee, said the goal of the consultant’s work is to present a report by said, will examine if there is support November about what consensus ex- for the idea of a standard-setting body, and if so, how that body could be ists within the industry about stanstructured and funded. As part of the dards and a possible new organization research, Condon also will examine to oversee the development and imstandard-setting entities in other inplementation of standards. dustries and in the collision repair inThrall said that as of mid-July,
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dustry in other countries. He said he is also looking at what various segments of the industry view as “deal-breakers” in the concept. “We want to flesh those out so we don’t go down a path that ultimately will not work,” Condon said. Speaking for the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) and the Alliance of Automotive Service Providers (AASP), Aaron Schulenburg of SCRS said the two groups “believe standards are both necessary and a good thing,” but have concerns about the approach the CIC committee is taking. “Our members believe there are standards that exist today,” Schulenburg said. “They view the (automaker) recommendations and procedures as the standard. That standard is not followed every day because while that’s the overwhelming view of repairers, not every industry segment recognizes
that or agrees with that statement. And some of those other industry segments and participants who don’t necessarily support that as the standard are involved in this activity and committee, and that is cause for concern.” Thrall said those opinions are part of what Condon’s research is designed to capture, and that the associations’ volunteer leadership are among those slated for interviews. While some CIC participants at the July meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, raised questions or concerns about the consultant’s research process or the questions being asked in interviews, Rollie Benjamin, CEO of ABRA Auto Body & Glass, called that “micromanaging the process.” “I trust Russell, I trust Mike. I think they will do a good job,” Benjamin said. “I think they’ll come out with the information we need to make a good decision on whether we move
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forward or not. Let’s let these guys do their job.” Scott Biggs of Assured Performance Network, who also is part of the leadership of the committee, said he understands that the standards issue may be “threatening to so many different organizations because it is such an enormous issue.” But he said those with concerns should understand that opposing viewpoints are held and being voiced even among those leading the effort. “There isn’t even general consensus within the executive committee,” Biggs said. “I can tell you that’s what Mike’s charter is: to see what people’s opinions are.” Dale Delmege, another former CIC chairman who has been asked by the committee to raise the additional $33,000 needed for the project, urged repairers to donate $100 per facility (insurers and vendor sponsors are also being sought) for the effort. Delmege said he sees the consultant’s work has having no bias toward shops, insurers or automakers. He also said his research of the repair standards program in the United Kingdom indicates it has been positive for the industry.
“They transformed their industry—about an hour and 15 minutes before regulators ‘helped them’ do so,” Delmege said. “Those people over there are pretty happy about where they got to.”
State Farm, others offer updates In other news and discussion at CIC in Salt Lake City: ● George Avery of State Farm said the insurer is continuing to work on an electronic parts ordering system it will require its Select Service shops to use. “The repairer will continue to have a choice on who they buy parts from, and they will have control over which parts they buy, regardless of the price,” Avery said. “We are not interested in purchasing parts. What we’re interested in is helping the industry smooth out the process. We believe in quality, efficiency and competitive price. As you know, we have a scorecard that we use to evaluate performance across the board in those three categories. So that’s why we think the repairer is the best person to make the choice on parts.” ● Doug Craig, collision repair manager for Chrysler, said Chrysler,
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Ford and some other automakers are working to “commonize where we can” some of their “approaches to different repairs.” He said Chrysler also will be moving away from “recommendations” to instead offer much more specific “requirements on what process, procedure and/or components... should be used in a repair.” ● The National Auto Body Council said because 20 percent of all collision and mechanical repair technicians are Hispanic, it will soon be release a Spanish glossary of collision industry terms. The glossary, which will be downloadable and searchable, was funded in part by a grant from AASP. ● The CIC Insurer-Repairer Relations Committee released a draft of what the committee is compiling as elements of the “most beneficial and productive repairer-insurer relationships.” Those elements—11 of them in the current draft, some of which apply to non-direct repair program shops as well – include an explicit outline of the key performance indicators (KPIs) used to measure shop performance; consistency between corporate and field employees regard-
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ing the selection and retention of DRP shops; an unbiased dispute resolution process with a designated point of contact to resolve issues “free of the fear or reprisal’: communication to the consumer about the relationship between insurer and shop; and a streamlined electronic communication process between repairer and shop. ● I-CAR’s Jeff Peevy said 11 percent of shops in the United State have achieved the “Gold Class Professionals” designation, and another 20 percent are involved in some level of consistent technician training. But 69 percent of shops, he said, have no consistent training for technicians “yet they claim to do collision repairs.” He urged more insurers to require their DRP shops to maintain the Gold Class designation. “If you do not require training of those shops that are doing repairs for you, you need to consider the rapid changes (in vehicle design and materials),” Peevy said. “You cannot properly repair a new car accidentally any more. You just can’t do it.”
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Custom Corner
Rich Evans is the owner of Huntington Beach Bodyworks and an award winning painter and fabricator. He offers workshops in repair and customization at his facility to share his unique talents. For contacts and design samples visit www.huntingtonbeachbodyworks.com
This Year’s Entry for the SEMA Pinewood Derby 2011 with Rich Evans
On Creative Marketing with Thomas Franklin
Specially crafted, uniquely designed pinewood cars, built by a talented class of hot rodders, are featured in the HRIA Builders Challenge race held on July 29 in Long Beach, CA. These creations will be on display at the SEMA Show before being placed on eBay for auction.
for a Pinewood derby build, I want to capsule I’m going to take half of a going to go back to the 08115 3M stay traditional and use a hand tool to deep sea fishing weight cut in half. panel bond and I’m going to glue carve it out. To me that’s the fun of I sanded it down and used a those antennaes in. I run that panel building a pinewood derby car. 08115 body panel adhesive, which bond around the lead so it fills in some Last year I lost by like one inch, sticks to wood, plastic, metal, aluof the gaps. Then I sand it with 80 grit, Some readers will remember that last so I’ve got this crazy idea that I’m minum, lead, anything. It has a 24- and give it a good 3 or 4 coats of my year I built a Pinewood Derby model going to bring. I’m sure I’m going to hour dry period, but you can accelerate preferred PCL Primer. I let it dry, then raise a lot of commotion on “no, you it with a heat gun. For my headlights, guide coat it, sand it with some 150 car, raced it at SEMA, and took second place. I told myself last year that can’t do this, or can’t do that” but I I’m going to use a manual antennae grit, re-guide coat it, and hit it with that collapses (and extends). I found 400 grit dry. I don’t want any moisthis year I was going to really stay just read the rules and I don’t see anywithPinewood Dick Strom one with a nice little round knob on it ture to get into the wood. Then sealer within the traditional Derby thing about this. It says no rules (exand base. The PCL Primer I’m using build using a single block of wood. A cept the following), so I’ve got this that looks like a chrome headlight. idea where I’m going to have a pair of I’ve got everything carved out, is the 901 Poly Prime High Build and ‘Celebrity Pinewood Derby’ build is headlights that extend out. So the I’ve got my antennaes ready to go, I’m I’m shooting that with a SATA spray what they were calling it. It’s all about having fun and auctioning off the cars whole idea behind that is when I’m up behind the starting gate, the post is to benefit Childhelp and Victory Juncgoing to come up in the middle of the tion Gang Camp. I’m all about charities and fundraising and whatever I car and I’m already going to have a 6 inch lead. can do to give back. So I’m going to use the old This year I decided to get creative school way of building this, I’m going and came up with a pretty cool design. car alltotheContribute way up to 24 to this Southwest Edition? There are rules in Pinewood Derby to bring this matters affecting the industry. Want ounces, as it is laid out in the rules. So racing and building and so “maximum with Lee Amaradio Jr. weight limit of this car cannot exceed what I’m doing is carving out the basic silhouette of the body, and then 24 ounces, overall length shall not exsome lead ceed 8˝ , overall width of the car shall I’m going to buy myself autobodynews.com publisher@autobodynews.com weight, and with this car I’m going to not exceed 2.75˝ including wheels. The car must have approximately 3/8˝ make it more of a flat, roadster style. clearance underneath the body of the You know, kind of create my own Promote with Promote your business with with it, your utilizebusiness that car, the car must have 4 wheels, all body and have fun of exclusive wood. cars must display at least one HRIA complete piecean an exclusive article featuring article featuring Obviously the piece of woodor it-services. decal on the car.” your products or services. your products advertise The organizersTo provide a basic self doesn’t weigh 24 oz. so I’m going ly call Joe Momber at: ry pinewood car kit including a block of to add lead underneath the car. I carved wood, 4 wheels,800-699-8251 and two axles. “The it out and melt the lead into it and get with Sheila Loftus ! only required component is a piece of it to where I’m at about 23 ounces, e-mail: an ounce forMomber the paint,for details! the wood jmomber@autobodynews.com block which must be visible leaving about CALL: Joe Call for details! 51on the car. You are not required to use additional hardware, and wheels. I’m 800-699-8251 800-699-8251 going come as close to that 24 oz. as I or axles provided. Any E any wheelswww.autobodynews.com can. If I go over 24 ounces I can almaterials may be used for the body of n. ways drill some weight out. For the your car.” So that’s cool, but for me,
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gun with a 1.9 tip. I’m also using a 3M Respirator, I’m not putting on the full paint suit because I’m only painting an 8 inch by 2 inch piece of wood. So, what am I going to do for the wheels? I’ve located some .0937 x .1875
tle more time on the wheels, but right now I’ve got to finish and make sure I have a car to race. So after gluing all the washers together and the bearings in. I’m using a stainless steel rod cut up to make axles about the size of a
x .0937 stainless steel precision bearings. Now I’ve got to hunt down wheels and I’m running out of time because I’m going out of town. I find a washer that this bearing will fit into. I want a bigger wheel so it doesn’t have to turn as much to get moving. I’m using a washer so there’s less drag when the car’s going down the track. The less contact with the track, the less drag you’re going to have. (Think train wheel.) I use the 08115 Panel Bond and glue the bearing in, gluing two washers together. Next year I’ll spend a lit-
nail. I’m need spacers to keep the wheels away from the body so I’m going to use heat-shrink tubing. On the very end I use a Staples’ push pin for a hubcap because they’re chrome. I’m going to glue those in also with the 08115 3M panel bond, and let that dry. Then I’ll have the wheels ready to put on after I’ve completed my paint. After sealing it, I put a black base on it, I’ve got a my Rich Evans logo for brand awareness. It also gives the car a finished look. I’m just going with black, I’m not doing any two-tone or
any heavy graphics. Plain and simple, the car looks cool, it’s coming out the way I want it to. The best features on it are the headlights and the stainless steel washers, just like a poor boy build, but, we’ll see how it performs. The day of the race I’m going to be in Canada so I’m sending a buddy down there to race it. Now I know some people will say “oh, you can’t do that, (with the headlights)” but when there are “no rules, except...” You have to push the limits to come up with a new design for anything. So, this year the Rich Evans entry is going to do it. Next year it might be in the rule books that you can’t, but this year I’m going to innovate. I guarantee next year, if it’s not ruled out, other people will be doing it too. My design philosophy is to pay attention, learn something new, try to better yourself at what you do. Just have fun at what you’re doing. That’s what I do. It doesn’t matter if it’s a small or big project. I’m always taking on a design challenge. I honestly think I’ve never worked a day in my life. I’m just having fun. Mine and other design creations will be on display at the HRIA booth during the 2011 SEMA Show, No-
vember 1–4, in Las Vegas, before being placed on eBay for public auction. All of the proceeds from the auction will go to the Childhelp and Victory Junction Camp children’s charities. So what can be better? Guys look into this, bid on the cars, help these charities out, and we’ll have another article for you next year on this. Hopefully next year This year I was out of the country to go build a car in five days in Canada. So I was just glad to be able to get this in for a good cause and also take a little time away from real cars and have fun with the Pinewood Derby. Thanks to all my sponsors, I can’t build cars without you: 3M, SATA Guns, HRIA Pinewood builders, and every other builder out there that took time to take this challenge on, thank you. Visit me at Richevansdesigns. com also like my Facebook page Rich Evans Designs if you want to follow my week to week projects. Also visit HuntingtonBeachBodyWorks.com and watch for my new wheels coming out. UPDATE: Rich’s car took 2nd place in the HRIA Builder’s Challenge on July 29. First place went to Street Vizions.
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Hey Toby! with Toby Chess
Toby Chess is an I-CAR program instructor, Welding specialist, and former salvage yard operator. Toby is universally known in the collision industry for his charitable works, worthy causes, and magic tricks. He can be reached at tcspeedster@yahoo.com
Confusion over Certified Parts at CIC This July I did a presentation at the from a major insurance company calling for a certified front bumper Collision Industry Conference (CIC) reinforcement for a 2008 Hyundai in Salt Lake City on the need for OEM data prior to estimating and repairing Sonata. The shop had ordered from today’s cars. I also included some adthe A/M supplier a certified frontbumper reinforcement, but they reditional discussion and presented exceived a non certified front bumper amples of bumper reinforcements. I reinforcement. The shop’s tech did received a letter from a CAPA with David McClune the right thing—he compared the spokesperson stating that my demonstration “caused members of the colli- damaged OE part to the A/M part sion repair industry to believe, and showed it to the owner. The was mistakenly, that the part used in your a considerable weight difference bedemonstration was CAPA-certified.” tween the two parts. He ordered an I think that it is important that I give OE part and sent the A/M part to me. readers an accurate account of what I purchased a new part and comreally happened. I want to make this pared them. I found that A/M was not like, kind and quality. About the clear. I am not against the use of quality aftermarket parts in the collision same time, I received a bumper reinrepair process, with but I am very Yoswick much forcement made by Diamond StanJohn dard for a 2003 to 2008 Toyota against being told to use substandard parts and then assuming all of the Corolla that was certified by NSF. Again, I compared the two. This risks for their use. was an OE part and it was extremely A couple of months ago, a shop in the Midwest received an estimate difficult to distinguish between the
two parts. I thought that it was necessary to ship both sets of bumpers reinforcements to the CIC audience, so I sent all four parts to Salt Lake City. While I was boxing up the parts, I had an A/M reinforcement sitting outside for the past year (I live in LA and we do not get much rain) and I decided to throw it away. I cut it in half and what I saw turned my stomach. The entire inside of the reinforcement was filled with rust. I included this part in my demonstration. In my presentation, I never mentioned CAPA or NSF, but a member of the audience stated that the front bumper from Diamond Standard was certified and I corrected my statement. I also thanked the Automotive Body Parts Association (ABPA) for the effort in making sure that the parts they sell can be traced. I think that is important for you to see what I pre-
California Autobody Association
Year in Quotes
sented so you can understand why I made this subject matter part of my presentation. Let’s look at the Diamond Standard and OE front bumper reinforcements.
I proceeded to take a piece of metal out of both parts to check the metal strength with a metal analyzer from Europe (Bor-On).
The Diamond Standard part had a reading of 36.1 which translate to Ultra High Strength Steel.
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eral safety crash standards. Let’s look at the A/M reinforcement with the rust. The reading of the OE part was 48.1 which translates to Ultra High Strength Steel. Both parts were ultra high strength steel, but the OE part had a higher strength. Also the OE had a series of ribs stamped into back side whereas the A/M did not. I put both parts on a table at the CIC meeting and asked the audience to look at them and select the OE part. About half of the people misidentified the A/M part as the OE. A shop owner, who sits of the CAPA technical committee, told me that the OE part was not an original equipment part, but a replacement part and I should not be calling it an OE part (the only OE part comes on the car). The letter I received from CAPA states the “CAPA has yet to see any reinforcement bars or bumper parts that meet CAPA certification standards.” A representative from a OE manufacturer stated that the OE high strength was probably needed to pass the fed-
Let’s look at the A/M Hyundai Sonata Reinforcement.
The part had some sort of finish on the inside end of the rail, but bare steel on the rest of the inside of the rail. I asked a CIC participant “what does rust do to the part?” His response was that the part was weakened. You don’t have to be an engineer to understand that if the strength of the steel has deteriorted, it will perform in different way. The strength category of this steel was high strength-low alloy (slightly higher in strength than mild steel), where as the OE part was ultra high strength steel.
The OE part is on the top and A/M is on the bottom. I asked another CIC participant to feel the weight difference, which was considerable, and she picked the OE because it was heavier. I compared the thickness of both parts and you can see that there was a significant difference. My question to everyone is this— If the OEMs can make a part that will meet safety standards with a lesser
Aftermarket—.93MM / High Strength Steel
OE—1.42MM / Ultra High Strength Steel
Aftermarket—27.7 / High Strength Steel
See Certified Parts Confusion, Page 46
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www.autobodynews.com | SEPTEMBER 2011 AUTOBODY NEWS 45
Continued from Page 45
Certified Parts Confusion
OE—40.7 / Ultra High Strength Steel
strength material, don’t you think that they would? As the strength of the steel increases, so does the cost. You be the judge. I have a few more questions— Why do repairers have to be the beta testers for these substandard parts? Are the repairers being compensated
for their time and expense in testing these parts? Are repairers being penalized for greater cycle times for installing the parts, taking off the parts, sending the parts back and ordering different parts? I have been told by a number of shops that a particular national insurer will not allow a shop to substitute an OE part for the aftermarket part even though the OE has priced matched the aftermarket price. WHY? What can repairers do? Next month, you will be able to post on Facebook-type blog any aftermarket or OE parts that do not fit, have poor quality or are not of like, kind, and quality. You are probably already taking pictures of these parts, so it will be a snap to add them to the blog page. More to come in the next issue of Autobody News.
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Paradox: Auto Boom while Economic Gloom Continues The fallout from the federal budget crisis is unclear. The stock market tanked last week and commentators have resurrected the term “double dip recession.” Mortgage defaults, unemployment and low consumer spending have economists fretting. But the auto industry still sees things differently, Automotive News is reporting. Light-vehicle sales are up 11 percent through July, despite severe supply shortages caused by the earthquake in Japan.
“We’re hiring,” proclaims Michael Henekacq, president of seating and emissions system supplier Faurecia North America. “We’re running 24/7 at all of our North American plants. You’d never know there was any concern out there. I know there is, but we have to keep moving forward.” Heneka will add about 500 people to his staff of 10,000 by year end. He recently opened a plant in Louisville, KY, to supply interior parts to Ford.
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