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ASA and the Auto Alliance Host Third Technology and Telematics Forum at NACE | CARS
Wayne Weikel, left, senior director of State Government Affairs for The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, and Donny Seyfer, AAM, right, welcomed approximately 200 attendees to the Technology and Telematics Forum
On August 12, the Automotive Service Association (ASA) and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (The Alliance) hosted the third Technology and Telematics Forum (TTF) as part of the NACE | CARS Expo in Anaheim, CA. Telematics refers to the connected car and, eventually, the autonomous vehicle that’s not far away. From the software used in instrumentation, backup sensors, adaptive cruise control, cameras and sophisticated wireless communications systems to tomorrow’s driverless vehicles, telem-
See Post-Repair Inspections, Page 36
P.O. BOX 1516, CARLSBAD, CA 92018
Leaders in the collision repair industry met to discuss the merits of post-repair inspections (PRI) in a June Verifacts Guild 21 Webinar that exposed troubling evidence for the industry. Kristen Felder, founder and CEO of Collision Hub, shared the findings of a year-long study involving 30 reinspections that took a closer look at quality control practices. Although she acknowledged the study was far from “scientific,” she stated that she found numerous flaws in repairs within this small sample of
vehicles. “I didn’t see what I was expecting to see,” Felder said. The former technician stated she assumed minor damage or relatively inconsequential faults would be found during the postrepair inspections, but was unprepared for the seriousness of the results. These ranged from poor welding to completely neglected repairs, she said. “The problems we found were significant and severe,” she said. “They were things that needed to be addressed immediately and the customers removed from the vehicles.” Speaking from a position of favor-
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by Autobody News Staff and Contributing Writers
AGRR Companies Assess Damage from Louisiana Floods, State Farm Comments on Flooding by Jenna Reed, glassBYTES.com
Eleven are dead and more than 40,000 homes have been affected by the heavy deluge of rain and floods in Baton Rouge, LA, that began August 12. Some AGRR companies are just now
See Telematics Forum, Page 22
What is the Role of Post-Repair Inspections in Your Shop?
VOL. 34 ISSUE 9 SEPTEMBER 2016
getting back up and running while others were luckily enough to escape the water’s wrath. “We’ve been closed since Friday [August 12],” says Kristen Miles,
owner of a Clear View Auto Glass in Baton Rouge, La. “We’re all right, but our home office got flooded. We probably won’t be able to get back into the house until Monday [August 15].” Janet Mosley of Baker, La.-based Baker Glass Works was putting in an application to FEMA on the morning of August 17. “We’re basically hanging on by a thread,” she says. Baker Glass Works is open, but many of the company’s employees are stuck at home due to the floods. Mosley also believes her area glass suppliers have been significantly affected by warehouse flooding. “I haven’t been able to get in contact with them in the last two days,” she says. “We haven’t been able to get glass coming in. Anything we have orSee Louisiana Floods, Page 18
FL Judge Dismisses All Utah Shops’ Claims Against Insurance Companies Except for “Steering” Claim by Stacey Phillips
The majority of claims filed by nine Utah body shops against a group of 20 insurance companies have been dismissed. In the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Judge Gregory Presnell ruled in July that only one of the “steering” claims can be refiled. The Utah body shops filed the original claim in the United States District Court of Utah on April 10, 2014. In Alpine Straightening Systems Inc. et al v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. et al, they alleged that: “…defendants have engaged in an ongoing, concerted and combined intentional course of action and conduct to improperly and illegally control and depress automotive damage repair costs to the detriment of the plaintiffs and the substantial profit of
the defendants.” They further stated in court documents that these actions by the defendants “have eradicated competi- tion within the body shop industry.” In August 2014, the lawsuit was consolidated with several others by the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. It was decided that all cases would be heard in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. In the plantiffs’ second amended complaint, filed in May 2015, they alleged: “The defendants have successfully created a ‘market’ system that rewards the body shops that will cut comers so they can increase profits and punishes body shops who are unwilling to compromise the quality or safety of the American consumers’ See Judge Dismisses, Page 22
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