January 2021 West Edition by Autobody News

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AUTOBODYNEWS.COM Vol. 39 / Issue 1 / January 2021

After Historic Turnaround in Q3, U.S. Auto Dealer Current Market Sentiment Fades in Q4

Gerber Collision & Glass Acquires 11 Locations in California

U.S. automobile dealer sentiment dropped in Q4 returning to its pre pandemic levels, according to the latest ox utomotive ealer Sentiment ndex S. The overall current market index dropped below into negative territory with a score of 4 , a statistically significant 7 point decrease from last quarter s . ear over year, the current market index was up by points. The Q4 S research was undertaken from ov. 4 to ov. , immediately after lection ay and at a time when cases were surging in the U.S. onversely, Q3

The oyd roup nc. announced the acquisition of locations in alifornia. ncluded in the acquisition are repair centers and one intake center in the counties of iverside and San ernardino in southern alifornia, east of os ngeles. riginating with two repair centers in 4, these new locations were commonly branded as st ertified ollision enters in . iverside ounty is the th most populous county in the U.S., home to approximately . million people, and includes locations in

research was conducted in late uly and early ugust, when vehicle sales were improving and dealerships were open for business, with some restrictions. ealer sentiment declined in the fourth quarter as cases increased and market conditions became less than perfect compared to the third quarter, said Cox A ut omot iv e hief conomist J onathan S mok e. t is not all bad news, though. s Smoke notes, elative to a year ago, sentiment remains marginalSee Sentiment Fades, Page 14

Collision Repair Industry Associations Make 2021 New Year’s Resolutions by Chasidy Rae Sisk

n ew ear s ve, people typically en oy reflecting on the ending year, but has been a little chaotic, to say the least.

While no one seems particularly sad to say goodbye to , there s still excitement and hope for the incoming year, expressed by making

ew ear s resolutions. ollision repair industry associations are optimistic about the upcoming year and graciously agreed to share their ew ear s resolutions with utobody ews.

ecause has contained so many unprecedented events and situations, many associations resolutions See New Year’s Resolutions, Page 18

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anning, emet, enifee and two in iverside. The other six repair centers, located in rand Terrace, esperia, ighland, edlands, San ernardino and ictorville, are in San ernardino ounty, the 4th most populated county in merica with a population of . million people. San ernardino ounty is the largest in the U.S. and about the si e of the state of West irginia. We welcome these high performing teams to erber and are excited to provide best in quality See Gerber Collision, Page 11

Distracted Driving Skyrocketing During the Pandemic by Kea Wilson, StreetsBlog USA

A new study of COVID-era car crashes finds that a shocking 7% of all drivers were using their cell phones within seconds of impact—and transaportation safety leaders are doing almost nothing to stop it, despite a preponderance of proven strategies that can compel us to put down our devices when we re behind the wheel. n an analysis of 8 , collisions that took place on U.S. roads in , mobility analysis firm endrive found our country s record setting crash rates in the lockdown months usually involved dangerous distracted driving behaviors like texting behind the wheel, which is illegal in 4 states. larmingly, .8% of drivers the company studied were using their cell phones in the five seconds immediately prior to impact—and the problem got increasingly worse as the year wore on, and more and more cars returned to the road and rates of other dangerous behaviors,

like speeding, dropped. endrive s technology works in the background of a wide range of cell phone apps, from e taxi software to navigation services countless mericans use every day, so the dangerous phenomenon cuts across both commercial and civilian driving. Those early days of , of course, were an exceptional time for U.S. transportation. ut experts reiterated that distracted driving long predates the pandemic, and the recent upheaval in travel patterns only underscores a long standing problem. istracted driving is a needless crisis, and now as we navigate increased health risks in our day to day, we need to prioriti e safety on the road, said J onathan Matus, endrive and co founder. We hope that sharing this data demonstrates the urgency here, and sheds light on a key to keeping our communities safer. f course, we know exactly how to stop drivers from scrollSee Distracted Driving, Page 16

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CONTENTS

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REGIONAL

NATIONAL

Another Injured Veteran Receives Retrofitted

10 Cities with the Most Expensive Driver

CARSTAR Chilton Auto Body Pleasanton Earns BMW Certification .........................................12 Crash Champions Completes Rebrand of Pacific Elite ...................................................14 Custom Rebuild Done in Hermiston, OR, Gets National Attention..................................10 Focus Advisors Represents Pride Auto Body in Sale to Classic Collision ............................11 Gerber Collision & Glass Acquires 11 Locations in California.....................................1 GM Dumps Trump in His Attempt to Bar California from Setting Emissions..................12 Wesco Group Acquires Cook’s Automotive PBE Business................................................14

Anderson - It’s Time to Address the Other ‘Pandemic’ in Our Industry ............................24 Attanasio - Metal and Creativity Collide at CRASH Jewelry .........................................36 Ledoux - The ‘80s—Foreign Cars and Other Changes ..............................................26 Phillips - Cracking the Code to Recruiting and Hiring Collision Repair Technicians .........29 Yoswick - Driving Has Largely Rebounded,

section of Autobody News.

Commutes ....................................................43

800-699-8251

2021 ASA X50 Automotive Conference & Expo ....40

ltedesco@autobodynews.com

3M Introduces Lightweight Performance Spray Publisher & Editor: Jeremy Hayhurst General Manager: Barbara Davies Contributing Writers: John Yoswick, Janet Chaney, Toby Chess, Ed Attanasio, Chasidy Sisk, David Luehr, Stacey Phillips, Victoria Antonelli, Gary Ledoux Advertising Sales: Joe Momber, Griffin Reinhard, Norman Morano (800) 699-8251 Office Manager: Louise Tedesco Digital Marketing Manager: Bryan Malinski Art Director: Rodolfo Garcia Graphic Designer: Vicki Sitarz Online and Web Content Editor: Abby Andrews Accounting Manager: Heather Priddy Permissions Editor: Randi Scholtes Office Assistant: Dianne Pray

Serving Alaska, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming. Autobody News is a monthly publication for the collision industry. Permission to reproduce in any form the material published in Autobody News must be obtained in writing from the publisher. ©2021 Adamantine Media LLC.

Audi Wholesale Parts Dealers .......................... 37

Kia Downtown Los Angeles ............................. 32

AutoNation Infiniti Tustin ................................. 26

Kia Motors Wholesale Parts Dealers ...........30-31

AutoNation Roseville ......................................8-9

Kia of Carson .................................................. 28

BMW Wholesale Parts Dealers ........................ 40

Kia of Irvine .................................................... 10

Car Pros Kia .................................................... 24

Killer Tools & Equipment Corp. ........................ 11

Car Pros Kia Renton ........................................ 34

Larry H. Miller Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram ....... 20

Certified Automotive Parts Association ............ 14

Mazda Wholesale Parts Dealers ...................... 38

Classifieds ...................................................... 42

Mercedes-Benz Wholesale Parts Dealers ........ 38

Colortone Automotive Paints ........................... 24

Michael Hohl Motor Company ......................... 32

Courtesy Chevrolet San Diego ......................... 16

MINI Wholesale Parts Dealers.......................... 40

Cutter Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram ................... 12

MOPAR Wholesale Parts Dealers ..................... 27

DCH Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram-Fiat............... 18

Nissan/Infiniti Wholesale Parts Dealers............ 39

Equalizer Industries, Inc .................................... 6

Porsche Wholesale Parts Dealers .................... 41

FH Dailey Chevrolet........................................... 6

Reno Buick-GMC ............................................ 20

Ford Wholesale Parts Dealers .......................... 35

Sandberg Volvo Cars ......................................... 6

Future Nissan of Roseville ............................... 28

SATA Dan-Am Company .................................... 5

Galpin Motors ................................................. 19

Shop-Pro Equipment ......................................... 2

Garden Grove Kia ............................................ 10

Sierra Chevrolet-Honda-Subaru ...................... 25

Glenn E. Thomas Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep ........... 15

Spanesi Americas ........................................... 13

Kia’s Kurcz Named to Leadership List ...............28

GM Wholesale Parts Dealers ........................... 29

Subaru Wholesale Parts Dealers...................... 33

Private’s Equity’s Influence on Consolidation

Honda-Acura Wholesale Parts Dealers .......22-23

The Bay Area Automotive Group ...................... 21

Hyundai Wholesale Parts Dealers .................... 36

Volkswagen Wholesale Parts Dealers .............. 36

Industrial Finishes and Systems .................. 7, 44

Volvo Wholesale Parts Dealers ........................ 32

Gun Using Revolutionary Technology .............42 After Historic Turnaround in Q3, U.S. Auto Dealer Current Market Sentiment Fades in Q4 ..............................................................1 AirPro Diagnostics Partners with adasThink ......38 ASE Expands Spanish- Language Test Options ..10 Biden Says He Won’t Immediately Remove U.S. Tariffs on China ......................................41 Caliber Announces Internal Promotions .............43 Collision Repair Industry Associations

Autobody News P.O. Box 1516 Carlsbad, CA 92018 (800) 699-8251 (760) 603-3229 Fax www.autobodynews.com editor@autobodynews.com

Make 2021 New Year’s Resolutions.................1 Distracted Driving Skyrocketing During the Pandemic..................................................1

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Vehicle Through DrivenToDrive ........................6

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Experts: Classic Car Owners Should Beware Second Lockdown ........................................41 Ford Has a Controversial Message for Every Automaker...........................................40 Hyundai, Kia Fires Cost Automakers Another $137 Million.....................................43 Investment Banker Tells MSOs the Industry Will be ‘Alive and Well’ Seven Years from Now .....38

but Traffic Congestion, Resulting Claims

Predicted to Continue Amidst COVID-19

Have Not.......................................................34

Disruption, Structural Change .........................4

Kearny Mesa Subaru-Hyundai ......................... 17

autobodynews.com / JANUARY 2021 AUTOBODY NEWS 3

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Private’s Equity’s Influence on Consolidation Predictions Amidst COVID-19 Disruption, Structural Change, Part 1, See Entire Article at AutobodyNews.com by Vincent Romans, as told to Stacey Phillips

During the MSO Symposium in November, V inc ent R omans, managing partner of The Romans G roup, presented a macro-level view of the evolving U .S. collision repair industry. Following the virtual show, Romans shared further insight from The Romans G roup industry research with A ut ob od y N ew s contributor S tac ey P hillip s, following trends on consol-

uncertainty. These include COVID 19’s uncertain impact; a slow, hobbling, uneven healing economy; social unrest in the U .S.; presidential election results; and tensions between the U .S., China and Russia. The recent disruption caused by the pandemic will accelerate change in ways that make it difficult to pre dict what the e ects will be through out the broader auto physical damage ecosystem.

that seem to be at the top of the more influential and impactful near term confluence of prevailing industry con ditions during and post-pandemic: • Drastic decrease in miles driven, accidents and claims processed compared to the same period in 2019 • A reduction in the collision repair addressable market, Total Available Market ( TAM) , in 2020, yet to be determined • Increased vehicle repair complexity due to growing penetration of embedded ADAS technology and calibration requirements • Continued acceptance and adoption of certification programs • Technician shortage mitigated in the short-term due to furloughed and terminated technicians, but sourcing, recruitment and retention continues.

Fig. 1

idation, private equity ( PE) and the auto physical damage landscape. In the following article, Romans discusses the impact of COVID-19 on the collision repair industry and examines how continues to influ ence structural change with consolidation. 2020 will forever be seen and remembered as a generational foundation year of significant disruption and structural change for the world with far-reaching economic, social and political implications. At the Romans G roup, we have discussed and profiled the ongoing disruption taking place during the last five decades as part of our study of the longitudinal evolution within the collision repair industry, and its auto physical damage ecosystem’s multi-segment structural transformation. W e entered 2020 with one of the best business and economic environments ever by all comparative standards. W e were then unexpectedly hit by a confluence of external events impacting near and longer term visibility overshadowed by continued

There are many industry constructs laying the foundation for change, opportunity and uncertainty as we transition to 2021. H owever, we expect to emerge from 2020 with stronger nascent and legacy-leading businesses that were well-capitaliz ed with strong balance sheets pre-COVID, as well as emerging disrupters who were at the right place and time with new norm solutions that became opportunities for success and competitive advantages. W e have seen many repair organiz ations able to not only maintain their operational and financial well being, but also to be profitable during the pandemic. A combination of the Federal Reserve’s periodic economic intervention, the collision repair industry’s designation as an essential business, available PPP loans and early reductions in labor force actions initiated by repairers all helped contribute to many repairer’s positively navigating the pandemic. Since February, we have seen a number of market dynamic changes

•

Technicians and collision repair owners are now even more selective regarding hiring and retaining the best • Evolution of business segmentation strategies with the largest consolidators marketing to insurers their unique “one national shop model/ platform.” This is further segmented with collision repair locations providing specific capabilities including glass installation, express-, same- or next-day service, non-drive/ total loss processing and disposition, OEM certification, advanced material and or mechanical repair, and diagnostic services including pre- and post-repair scanning and calibration

•

rtificial intelligence, machine learning and computer vision geared to the development and adoption of collision repair estimating eventually impacting shorter claims processing and estimate accuracy Accelerated digital transformation including acceptance of virtual claims photo processing and finan

cial payments • Private equity’s continued interest and activity in actively seeking out investments throughout the auto physical damage ecosystem and collision repair consolidation Impact of Private Equity on Industry Consolidation It’s no secret the collision repair industry has experienced and will continue to reflect significant consoli dation, both in terms of the number of repair locations acquired and the transfer of ownership. The number of repair organiz ations has decreased considerably since 2000, while consolidator and larger multi-shop operators ( MSOs) have created multi-location, multi-regional and national MSOs that now represent 42% of the collision repair industry’s TAM. W ith ever-increasing PE funds and record levels of “dry powder”— unallocated capital on hand—it is anticipated that transactions within the collision repair industry and broader auto physical damage landscape will continue at a constant pace. PE organiz ations continue to be attracted to collision repair for several reasons: the healthy and growing industry TAM, strong positive cash flow, the view that collision repair is somewhat recession resistant as reflected in the 7 8 recession downturn economic cycle and the government’s current designation that collision repair is an essential business. Most repairers remain open even though business was slashed by 50% to 60% in the early COVID-19 days, when repairers took actions to cut costs, accepted PPP money from the government, furloughed personnel and, in some cases, shuttered their doors for some of the early days of the health crisis. Overall, U .S. PE deal-making activity registered another healthy showing in 2019, though fell shy of the record setting pace of 8. ( See F ig . 1 )

Read complete story online at autobodynews.com

4 JANUARY 2021 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

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Another Injured Veteran Receives Retrofitted Vehicle Through DrivenToDrive by Auto Remarketing Staff

The rivenTo rive program helps in ured veterans, like retired U.S. ir orce Sr K arah Behrend, regain their independence and get back be hind the wheel of a retrofitted vehicle. o one can see my disability when m behind the wheel of a car, ehrend said in a news release. True ar, uto ation and is abled merican eterans, or , recently awarded a retrofitted hevrolet olorado to ehrend, who oined the ir orce in as a signals intelligence analyst. n con unction with eteran s ay on ov. , the presentation to ehrend took place in a surprise virtual ceremony. True ar ilitary s brand ambassador, J esse I w uj i, pre sented the vehicle. ehrend spent approximately six and a half years in the military before medically re tiring. iagnosed with S S eflex Sympathetic ystrophy omplex egional ain Syndrome , she was left in a wheelchair. riving gives me a sense of freedom and the confidence that m not limited by my disability, eh

rend said. Whether it s running er rands or letting my adrenaline flow with o road racing, feel like have my independence back when m driving, she continued. m proud of serving my country and so appre ciative to be True ar s riven To rive recipient. cannot wait to drive my brand new hevy olora do. U.S. rmy anger and riven To rive ambassador ory emsburg influenced True ar s connection to the disabled veterans community. This marks the fourth year and fifth vehicle donation through True ar s rivenTo rive, a program built in partnership with and uto ation. With a virtual ceremony on eteran s ay, The rivenTo rive program took place remotely this year. This year, wu i participated as a special guest in the riven To rive program, surprising eh rend at her home in hoenix with the hevrolet olorado. ehrend, 7, is an adaptive ath lete who participates in basketball and rugby Warrior ames. She is also passionate about o road rac ing and competes as an amateur rally racer, recently placing second in the

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ebelle ally, a women s o road navigation rally raid. ehrend plans to use the hev rolet olorado to train other disabled individuals how to drive o road with hand controls, in case they find them selves in a vulnerable situation or stuck o road. She also hopes to cre ate her own hand controls for manual transmission vehicles to help adaptive drivers drive stick shift cars. etired ir orce Senior ir man arah ehrend has broken down many barriers at such a young age, showing us that with resiliency and optimism, anything is possible, said True ar resident and Mik e D arrow . She continues to show strength by overcoming obsta cles in her daily life, he continued. t makes us proud to support veter ans like arah, who have made great sacrifices for our country, through our rivenTo rive program. We are honored to work again with our great partners, uto ation and , to empower our veterans to get behind the wheel. uto ation is proud to partner with True ar on the rivenTo rive program again this year and we are

honored to award retired ir orce Senior irman arah ehrend with a brand new vehicle for all of the sacrifices she made for our country, said Marc C annon, executive vice president and chief customer expe rience officer at uto ation. We are proud to recogni e and support military members on eterans ay through rivenTo rive. True ar understands the im pact merica s veterans have had on keeping our nation safe, and is honored to continue partnering with True ar on rivenTo rive, said ational d utant and Marc Burg ess. The fact that ar ah, a member, has pledged to use her new vehicle to help her fel low veterans perfectly illustrates her selflessness and commitment to her brothers and sisters in arms. n addition to Sr ehrend, oth er attendees of the rivenTo rive virtual vehicle reveal event on et eran s ay included R emsburg , arrow, annon, urgess, wu i and rivenTo rive recipient C entra “ C e- C e” Mazyc k . We t hank A ut o R emark et ing f or reprint permission.

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Custom Rebuild Done in Hermiston, OR, Gets National Attention by Jade McDowell, East Oregonian

At age 13, A ustin P hip p s wasn’t old enough for a driver’s license, but he bought his first car anyway. The car was literally a bucket of bolts, he said. t was put together with wood and screws. t wasn t even a complete car. The 1968 Chevrolet Camaro ally Sport had potential though, and his father, Bob P hip p s, who owns P hipps Chev ron in H ermiston, , promised to teach him how to rebuild it. ver more than seven years, ustin hipps rebuilt every part of the car other than the exterior body and paint, which was done by Col umb ia A ut o B od y and P aint . e designed custom pieces for specialists to build and made his own parts from scratch, working through complications to create a sleek silver and red head-turner that has now been featured in H ot Rod and other maga ines. uilding a car is how express myself, he said. hipps has shown the amaro at car building competitions over

the past few years, and this month placed second in the nation in the young guns category—age 27 and younger—at the annual S attle of the uilders. e said a show detailing this year s competition will be shown on the istory hannel in anuary. S , which stands for Specialty quipment arket ssociation, holds an annual trade show that draws tens of thousands of automobile aftermarket professionals to as egas each year. The show includes a national competition. This year, hipps said, the main event was canceled but the competition moved forward in a di erent format, with competitors first going over every part of their car in a video interview before udges brought the top cars and builders, including hipps, to a site in os ngeles for in person udging. ob hipps said he s incredibly proud of his son and the recognition he has received in the automotive industry in the past three years. t s been super cool, he said. e s had a lot of doors opened to him and got to see a side of the in-

dustry most people never will. ob s father started hipps Chevron, a H ermiston gas station and automotive repair shop, in 8, and ob took over in . e said ustin will take the shop over from him when he s ready to retire. ustin is working on a rebuild of a second car, a 1966 Chevrolet Nova, and Bob said he believes that rebuild will push his son to new heights. Austin said the Nova will be a top notch car when complete. e said he en oys the challenge of solving problems as he works through rebuilds, and the satisfaction of being able to point to parts and say, made this. ou can t find this anywhere else. ve definitely learned a lot about the business, learned a lot about myself, learned a lot about people in general, he said. t s opened a lot of doors in the automotive industry and ve made a lot of contacts. We t hank t he E ast O reg onian f or reprint permission.

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ASE Expands SpanishLanguage Test Options To better serve the increasing number of Spanish speaking professional service providers, the ational nstitute for utomotive Service xcellence S has added Spanish translations to select S certification tests with the help of industry experts who participated in workshops hosted by S . Luis A rboleda of Superior Automotive Training, R af ael de Leon of utomotive Service nstitute, G uillermo Martinez of Automotive Technical Center and F ranc isc o Moreno of Z F Services, worked with S to develop a comprehensive plan for implementing Spanish translations into the S test taking process. o special registration procedure is needed to access the Spanish translations because they are built into the S test delivery screen. ll S tests will continue to have the searchable nglish to Spanish glossary of technical terms. Source: A SE

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Continued from Cover

Focus Advisors Represents Pride Auto Body in Sale to Classic Collision US dvisors is proud to an nounce the sale of its client, P rid e A ut o B od y , to Cl assic Col l ision of A t l ant a, . ride operates seven shops in Southern alifornia along the corridor between an uys and Santa larita. stablished 37 years ago by co-founders R andy S tabler and R obert Turc han, ride was one of the original S s in the mar ket. t earned a reputation as a pre mier operation known for strong dealer relationships, high end cer tifications and multiple s. ocus dvisors anaging irector D av id R oberts acknowl edged the strong interest in the market. We knew going in that ride would be very attractive to a large number of strategic and private equity buyers, oberts said. n the end, the owners decided that lassic had the best system and process fit with their own, and was well aligned with their dealer strategies. We re happy we helped them find the right partner to carry on their legacy.

This acquisition marked las sic ollision s entry into the South ern alifornia market. lassic now operates 4 shops in lorida, eor gia, South arolina, labama and alifornia. n early , the company partnered with ew ountain ap ital to recapitali e lassic and cre ate a national growth strategy.

ours were so consistent integrity in the quality of work, relationships and the way we treat our employees and partners. We were named ride be cause we believed that quality and a focus on the customer was the recipe for a successful business, and we were happy to see that rewarded, Turchan said. The pro

“We were named ‘Pride’ because we believed that quality and a focus on the customer was the recipe for a successful business, and we were happy to see that rewarded, ” — Robert Turchan, When we decided to expand into alifornia, we quickly iden tified ride as one of the premier operators in the market, said Toan N g uyen. We expect to con tinue our rapid market growth built on their robust platform. We were honored to have so many quality organi ations show interest in our business, Stabler said. We chose to partner with lassic because their values and

cess of selling our business was hard. t s easy to get tripped up and go o course without profes sional guidance. US provid ed the professional advice that set us up for success, kept our deal moving and continually advocat ed on our behalf. There s no way we could have done this by our selves. Source: F O CU S A d v isors

Gerber Collision repairs and outstanding service that customers and insurance partners have come to expect in this region, said K ev in Burnett, of er ber ollision lass. We remain focused on building our brand and these acquisitions demonstrate our commitment to grow throughout orth merica. The oyd roup is contin uously looking to add new colli sion repair locations to its existing network in anada and the U.S. nterested collision repair center owners are asked to contact J ason Hop e, vice president of business development and strategic pro ects at 3 774 3887 or ason.hope boydgroup.com Source: T he B oy d Group

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GM Dumps Trump in His Attempt to Bar California from Setting Emissions by Jamie L. LaReau, Detroit Free Press

eneral otors is changing course and will no longer back resident onald Trump s e ort to stop ali fornia from setting its own emissions rules in an ongoing court fight. Mary Barra said is withdrawing from the preemp tion litigation between alifornia, the Trump dministration and other non government groups. The move comes days after said it is increasing the number of electric vehicles it will bring to market. will o er 3 new s by , up from its previous goal to o er by 3. arra said s goals align with resident lect J oe Biden’ s endorsement of s. n a letter from arra to en vironmental leaders, she wrote, We are confident that the iden dmin istration, alifornia and the U.S. auto industry, which supports .3 million obs, can collaboratively find the pathway that will deliver an all elec tric future. To better foster the nec essary dialogue, we are immediately withdrawing from the preemption lit

igation and inviting other automakers to oin us. arra said is inspired by iden s uild ack etter plan, which looks to expand adop tion, create million obs, install , charging stations and po

The need for one national program for fuel economy, which increases targets year over year and delivers on the twin goals of giving the industry certainty while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, remains as urgent as ever.

“We need all stakeholders to come to the table and work on a path forward, ” — Debbie Dingell sition merican autoworkers and manufacturers to win the race for electrification. iden, alifornia and are aligned to address climate change by reducing emissions, arra also wrote. U.S. ep. D ebbie D ing ell, earborn, said did the right thing by dropping out of this mis guided lawsuit. ingell said oth er automakers should follow s lead. We need all stakeholders to come to the table and work on a path forward, ingell said in a statement.

The White ouse did not imme diately respond to a request for com ment. unveiled its ambitious plan last week for Wall Street. f the 3 new s brings to market by , two thirds of them will be sold in the U.S. also said it will invest 7 billion in electric vehicle and self driving car development, which exceeds s combined gas and die sel planned investments for the first time in its history. also moved up the launch dates for the all electric adillac yr iq SU and the ummer pick

CARSTAR Chilton Auto Body Pleasanton Earns BMW Certification ST , orth merica s largest multi store network of independent ly owned collision repair facilities, celebrates CA R ST A R Chil t on A ut o B od y leasanton in alifornia earn ing its original equipment manu facturer certification from W. The team at ST hilton uto ody leasanton is expertly trained in W s latest re pair methods and understands how to use original W parts. ow, as a W ertified ollision epair entre W , W own ers in leasanton, , can trust their vehicle to their local ST facility. Undergoing the proper training and adhering to all manu facturer guidelines are crucial for all collision repairs, and our team has always been committed to this, said Mik e C hilton, owner, ST hilton uto ody roup. To be officially certified by a manufacturer like W validates our abilities to ensure a swift and expert restoration of a W vehicle to its original fac tory safety specifications. To become a W , facilities must meet numerous re

quirements, including sta training, ensuring the right equipment is in place, having the correct repair pro cesses implemented and much more. ST hilton uto ody leasanton has always demonstrat ed a level of professionalism and service with not only its collision repairs, but also with its attention to the customer experience, said D ean F isher, collision group pres ident, riven rands. We re proud of all of the hard work ST hilton uto ody leasanton has put into this certification process and it s exciting to see them official ly recogni ed for their dedication. ST hilton uto ody leasanton is old certified, a designation for collision repair fa cilities that have trained their techni cians with the knowledge and skills to complete premier repairs. The fa cility is also certified in other brands including , yundai, issan, nfiniti and ia. lease oin us in congratulating ST hilton uto ody leas anton on their newest certification. Source: CA R ST A R

up. t is hiring 3, people to help it speed up its electric vehicle produc tion. iat hrysler utomobiles, along with Toyota otor orp., also backed the Trump administration s e ort to bar alifornia from setting its own fuel efficiency rules or e ro emission requirements. did not respond to a request for a com ment. alifornia, other states and environmental groups had challenged the Trump administration s claim that federal law forbids alifornia from setting harsh emission standards and ero emission mandates. n September, alifornia said all new passenger cars sold in the state must be all electric by 3 , and no new internal combustion engine ve hicles will be permitted to be sold there. ord otor o., onda o tor o. and olkswagen did not back the administration s side. olk swagen announced a voluntary deal with alifornia in on emissions rules. We t hank t he D et roit F ree P ress f or reprint permission.

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Continued from Cover

Sentiment Fades ly better, and dealers describe both new and used sales as strong.” The key drivers of sentiment saw marginal shifts in Q4. The three-month market outlook index saw a 2-point decrease from the prior quarter to 48, indicating more than half of dealers are expecting the market in the next three months to be weak as opposed to strong. Independent dealers were more pessimistic about the future, falling below the threshold to 44 in Q4, which means most independent dealers expect the market to be weak. Franchised dealers remain optimistic about the next three months with an index rating of 58, a drop from Q3 but above Q4 . erived from a quarterly sur vey ox utomotive issues to a representative sample of franchised and independent auto dealers from around the country, the S mea sures dealer perceptions of current retail auto sales and sales expecta-

Crash Champions Completes Rebrand of Pacific Elite Crash Champions, LLC, one of the nation’s largest independent collision repair MSOs with a leading presence in the greater Midwest and Southern California markets, announced Dec. 8 its successful rebrand of acific lite, formerly the largest family owned operator of collision repair shops in California. Crash Champions acquired acific lite earlier this year and began transitioning its 23 collision repair centers to its nationally rec ogni ed brand in early ovember, with the final location changing its banner Dec. 1. “Since being united with Crash Champions’ winning platform, Pacific lite has benefited from en hanced resources and capabilities for customers, as well as increased growth and future expansion opportunities,” said Tim Mullahey, president of Crash Champions and the former of acific lite. ow with the transition to the Crash Champions brand, these 23 locations will finally take on the full identity of one of fastest grow ing MSOs in the collision repair industry, which will help cement

ership team. t is reflective of rash s long term strategy, which includes leveraging the recogni ed power of the Crash Champions brand—a proven asset with a strong reputa tion among consumers, carriers and the broader U .S. collision repair industry. s we close out , m excited to officially bring our brand to the W est Coast and look forward to growing our presence in the Southern California market and beyond for years to come. Crash Champions’ merger with acific lite created the fifth largest independent collision repair MSO in merica. Today, the company s footprint includes 52 locations employing more than 77 team mem bers across six states, including 15 locations in the greater Chicago area; six locations in Missouri; four locations in Ohio; one location in Milwaukee, W I; one location in avenport, and locations in Southern California. To learn more about Crash hampions, visit www.crashcham pions.com. Source: Crash Champions

the company s positioning in the Southern California market.” As part of the rebrand, all Pacific lite logo placements, brand ing and color schemes have been transitioned to Crash Champions. This includes employee uniforms, building signage and all marketing and administrative materials.

dditionally, as of ec. 3 , the acific lite website, www. pacificelite.com, will begin auto for warding to the Crash Champions website, www.crashchampions.com. “Following the merger and integration process, this rebrand represents the final step in forging two of the leading names in the collision repair industry into one, said Matt Ebert, founder and of Crash Champions. “The decision to rebrand acific lite was the result of a careful strategic review process conducted by the company s lead

See Sentiment Fades, Page 17

Wesco Group Acquires Cook’s Automotive PBE Business W esco G roup, a leading paint, body and equipment distributor in the western U .S. and Canada, is pleased to announce it has acquired ook s utomotive business.

ook s utomotive has been serving customers in the San ose, , area for more than years. The owner, Heinz Bartels, will continue to operate his parts business and will be retiring in the future. The team at ook s

will be j oining the W esco team in the ay rea. “W e welcome Cook’s Automotive to the team, said Lloyd White, of Wesco roup. We will service custom ers out of our existing San J ose location. Customers will continue to receive best in class service with resources across an expanded organiz ation. W e look forward to continuing our many growth initia tives in alifornia. The combined W esco G roup of companies now sells and services from more than 7 stores, 13 distribution centers and 11 equipment divisions in the west ern U .S. and Canada. This makes W esco G roup one of the largest privately held distributors in orth merica. Source: Wesco Group

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Distracted Driving ing Twitter when they re piloting multi ton killing machines. We ust don t do it. ederal safety agencies could require all cars or cell phones be outfitted with technology that renders most functions unusable when the vehicle is in motion—and accept the inconvenience of stopping a passenger from sending a text as a small price to pay for saving thousands of lives every year. We could also take the not at all radical step of banning all cell phone use behind the wheel nationwide—something every single uropean country has done—while enhancing automated enforcement of the laws we ve already got and increasing fines and license penalties, as ermuda, the hillipines, Qatar, and many others have already done, too. nd in the long term, we could stop allowing automakers to manufacture cars that explicitly encourage cell phone use by inte-

grating bluetooth into on board control centers, especially if they have touch screens—something for which top safety experts have advocated since the technology became widespread. nd no, hands free cell phone tech isn t much safer. ut in a country that all but requires a private vehicle and a cell phone for participation in society, enforcement and technology based solutions may never completely quash our distracted driving problem—and increased fines, especially, risk creating unacceptable inequities for communities of color that already dangerously over policed. oreover, some experts think we wouldn t need to rely on fines at all if we ust redesigned our roads to encourage drivers to pay more attention to their surroundings. f you think of an interstate, everything about it is designed to minimi e the need for drivers to think, said Bill S c hultheiss, vice president and director for sustainable safety at Toole esign. t all starts there people think they can look at their phones because everything around them is pretty predict-

able, and designed for them to go fast. nd transportation engineers , as a profession, have taken a lot of those highway design principles to city streets. s people get more and more comfortable being distracted, it s going to be harder and harder to fix it. ndeed, endrive s own data may suggest that cities that took quick action to calm roads during the pandemic saw their e orts pay o behind the wheel. f the top five cities with the highest rates of cell phone use, only ustin, T , had a significant Slow Streets program, while hicago, San ntonio and allas hosted extremely modest street closure events in a handful of neighborhoods. oston, etroit and Seattle, by contrast, all won plaudits for their car limiting initiatives, and landed on the list of the top five cities whose drivers reached for their phones the least. ut even larger scale temporary street closures can only do so much—and experts say we need

foundational change, both for now and for the future beyond the coronavirus. There s still a pandemic, and there will continue to be one or at least another for six months before everyone is vaccinated, said Schultheiss. ut in the road safety world, what we re still seeing is a ton of conversation about automated vehicles, which is a much longer range solution. There needs to be a seriousness about developing that technology, but we also have to be realistic about when it will be ready. f people, right now, are distracted 7% of the time they crash their cars, that s not going to get any lower anytime soon. We ust need systemic change to our roadways. We t hank St reet sB l og U SA print permission.

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Sentiment Fades tions for the next three months as “strong,” “average” or “weak.” The survey also asks dealers to rate new-car sales and used-car sales separately along with a variety of key drivers, including consumer traffic. Responses are used to calculate an index by which any number over 50 indicates that more dealers view conditions as strong rather than weak. Profitability Remains Strong The overall profit index was at an all-time high in Q3 of this year and grew further in Q4 to 48. This indicates nearly half of all dealers in the U.S. describe their profits as strong in Q4. For franchised dealers, the profit index grew to 70, up from 66 in Q3 and significantly higher than the index score of 51 in Q4 last year. While the profit index increased, the cost index also saw an increase compared to Q3, reflecting that deal-

ers feel expenses are growing in Q4. The index score of 61, however, remains historically low. The price pressure index is also historically low in Q4, although the score did show a statistically significant increase from Q3, meaning more dealers are feeling pressure to lower prices. Inventory Levels Improve The new-vehicle inventory index of 48 significantly increased overall in Q4, up by 19 points compared to last quarter. The view from franchised dealers represents improving new-vehicle inventory conditions despite an index below the positive threshold of 50. For comparison, the new-vehicle inventory index was 59 in Q4 of last year. The used-vehicle inventory index was also significantly higher from Q3 to Q4, moving from 21 to 41. The gap between the franchised and independent dealer perception of used-vehicle inventory stayed the same in Q2, at 9 points. The used-vehicle inventory mix index increased significantly compared to last quarter, reflecting an

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improving inventory mix. The reading of 52 means most dealers consider used inventory mix to be good. The 20-point improvement in the used-vehicle inventory index— moving from 21 to 41—was the largest positive increase in the Q4 study. The new-vehicle inventory index saw the second-largest increase, up 19 points from Q3, as franchised dealers’ perception of inventory improved significantly. COVID-19, Limited Inventory Continue to Dampen Business The top five factors holding back the business across all dealers shifted modestly in Q4 from Q3, with Business Impacts From COVID-19 reclaiming the top spot with 47% of dealers citing it, moving up from second. Limited Inventory moved down to second from first last quarter, with 45% of dealers citing it. Political Climate rose to the third spot from fifth in Q3. Economy stayed in the fourth spot, and Market Conditions dropped from third to fifth, with 37% of dealers citing it as a top factor holding

their business back. For franchises, Political Climate saw a statistically significant increase, rising to the top concern with 48% of franchised dealers citing it as a factor holding back their business. Limited Inventory fell to the No. 2 position at 44%, beating Business Impacts From COVID-19 at 39%. The Economy dropped in factor ranking for franchises and was No. 4 at 33%. Market Conditions remained within the top factors, dropping to fifth place for franchises and rounding out the top five. For independents, Business Impacts From COVID-19 was cited marginally less quarter over quarter at 49%, but remained the top factor holding back business. The second factor for independent dealers was Limited Inventory, with a statistically significant decline from the top spot in Q3. The Economy rose to the No. 3 spot at 40%, switching positions quarter over quarter with Market Conditions at 39%. Political Climate stayed in the fifth ranking for independents at 37%. Source: Cox Automotive

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New Year’s Resolutions for the new year are centered around anticipating and addressing mem bers imminent needs. Bob A mendola, president of the , is looking forward to mak ing more headway on the challenges we face within our industry. brought a tremendous amount of change to the market place, S S xecutive irector A aron S c hulenburg observed, de tailing that changes impacted how members interact with customers, vendors and carriers, as well as how they connect within the industry. ooking to , the associ ation is tremendously focused on what those interactions look like, Schulenburg said. Since arch, the S S has formed coalitions with a variety of trade groups to improve support for the small businesses we represent, including two that are seeking forgiveness reform and supporting e orts to streamline for giveness. The new year, and new admin istration, will bring new opportuni ties for the association to serve as a voice of the industry, seeking solu tions that improve business condi tions for those in our trade. ach and every year, the alli ance resolves to advance its mission to improve the state s automotive service industry and the success of its members, said S x ecutive irector J udell A nderson. n , anticipate that work will revolve around helping members rebound from what has been a chal lenging . We stand ready to be of service, based on the needs of our members. For J erry Mc N ee, president of S , the most important thing he hopes to see in is unity. There is strength in numbers, and to create change, it s crucial that we have the ability to share informa tion, such as success or losses where we can all learn something to help improve our industry, c ee said. rom the claims process to vehicle technology, all our businesses have changed due to , and we can no longer sit back and operate our businesses the same old way— owners and employees need to get

involved. Things will not fix them selves. n area of the industry needing particular attention continues to be attracting new talent to the industry. We plan to continue to be cre ative and innovative when it comes to attracting students to local colli sion school programs, providing the support needed by instructors and students while in schools, and con tinuing to help connect students with local and national employers, said Brandon Ec k enrode, director of de velopment for . nderson also emphasi ed the importance of S remaining focused on the next generation of col lision repairers. espite the pandemic, the availability of a future workforce re mains a high priority for the indus try, so expect that the work of S innesota areers in uto epair Service will continue, she siad. ur ouTube advertising cam paign has been extremely successful, as has been our work to support local high school auto programs. or , T s goal and desire are to work closer with all the schools in regon that o er auto motive programs for our students, said T xecutive irector C athi Webb. T members o. com plaint is the lack of new employees, and believe that the automotive programs need T s help to keep their programs going and encourage our youth to consider our trades as a career option. “Marg aret R ag an in our office has done an excellent ob in staying in touch with teachers and connecting T industries with the school s needs. T hopes to expand on that course in . W resident S usan R ok osz has a similar goal ur ew ear s resolution is to continue working to wards greater diversity in the auto motive industry, she said. reater diversity benefits both the talent en tering the industry and the companies hiring that talent. roviding continuing education and networking opportunities for association members is also vital to industry leaders. Share successes with other body shops across the state urged T resident Burl R ic hards. We want to let other industry shops

know that there is power in knowl edge and education, and that we need to work together in order to make a positive change for our industry. ur resolution will be to look at virtual conferences and training in a new way, noted D iana D eLeon, ex ecutive director of S . eing able to o er shop owners and their employees top quality training and networking in this new environment is our goal, along with showing the benefits of saving on costs by elim inating travel and time away, which can allow more people to attend. The virtual platform also al lows training classes to be recorded, then viewed at a later date for those not able to oin live classes or those who would like to take another look. ur virtual event coming this spring will be one not to miss. W is eager to bring our leadership and members back togeth er in face to face settings to continue the networking and exchange of in formation and knowledge among the industry s finest representatives, said resident and R odney P ierini. We are hopeful that we ll be able to safely bring members togeth

er for S s nnual eeting and eadership onference on ay and deliver the education, net working and camaraderie that every one is so hungry for right now, said nderson. ering ongoing training is also important to S orthwest. S orthwest would like to bring the automotive industry to gether, and we feel we have a good start with the first rofessional u tomotive irtual ducation Training on an. 8 , , said Jeﬀ Lovell, president and executive director. We have partnered with other automotive trade associations from all over the U.S. to form this partnership. S orthwest is look ing forward to serving our members with education, adding value to them and their business in . S S demonstrated its dedi cation to continuing education by converting the association s epair er riven ducation and other pro grams to a virtual environment. While virtual delivery clearly has its advantages, it is no replace ment for the face to face interaction See New Year’s Resolutions, Page 20

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New Year’s Resolutions and onsite engagement that occurs during an event, Schulenburg said. We are determined to work with our partners to find ways to safely de velop and promote in person oppor tunities for learning and information exchange. n , W plans to bring W to our members, said W hair C heryl Bosw ell. etworking is important, and we reali e our in dustry is craving these opportunities, considering the changes in the world. Stay tuned for exciting educational and networking opportunities S xecutive irector R ay F isher agreed training is vital. The one word that will dom inate as a resolution would be adaptable, isher said. We ve all seen the rapid changes the collision industry had to make quickly in first quarter when the pandemic hit, and how it a ected the marketplace for collision repairers, both short and long term. S already had numerous digital resources in place so we ex panded our frequencies and delivered information quickly and often we will continue to do that in with our utomotive onference xpo on pril 3 and ay , . J osh K ent, who serves as ex ecutive director for both and T , hopes to see both associa tions continue to provide more train ing to shops in their coverage areas, while also increasing membership. Watching the changes that take place as shops learn more about proper repairs that s rewarding in itself ent said. rowth also continues to be an important goal for associations as the calendar flips to . xecutive irector Luc k y P ap ag eorg hopes to see S steadily grow our association s membership numbers. n doing so, we will strengthen the voice of every shop, large or small, and provide the

information and educational tools to assist them in being successful in the future. The sky is the limit in said J ames R odis, vice chair of . We hope to grow the associ ation and get some legislation passed, as well as help provide members with easy access to education and continue to push for safe and proper repairs. The other part of adaptable for S is responding to the rapid changes happening with the manu facturers and the information we are receiving in Washington, . ., as the administration changes, isher said. We know that the new administra tion is intent on stimulating sales and delivering alternative fueled ve hicles. We have a representative that is involved in many coalition part nerships to ensure we are at the fore front, take part in the discussions, and that we help the industry with those changes through these relationships. ssociations also plan to contin ue progressing the initiatives previ ously undertaken. s ew ear s esolu tion for is to continue develop ing and promoting data integration standards that will be relevant in the future, xecutive irector P aul Barry said. Through our vol unteer committees, members and the industry work together to en sure the organi ation remains a neu tral forum where uniform electronic standards and guidelines are created that allow all segments of the colli sion industry to be more efficient. part from maintaining our ac tive response, the association will focus on growing public and in dustry recognition of its trademarked ecycled riginal quipment as a way to accurately identify the parts that our members sell, said S andy Blaloc k , executive director of . parts are originally from the manufacturer, and is work ing on several public awareness and branding campaigns—including a re ality T show, Totaled Treasures — to showcase the truly positive impact that this industry has around the

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world. eferencing members anec dotes about increased difficulties with insurance carriers, Schulen burg noted, ow, more than ever, it is critical to have the venue and the voice to address the very real chal lenges taking place on the collision repair center floor. s an association, brings an opportunity to help draw those challenges out, shine light onto some of the darker areas of the process that impact the consumer and find mecha nisms to help improve understanding amongst all parties regarding what is necessary to properly repair these increasingly advanced vehicles that find their way into our facilities, Schulenburg said. may hold many things in store for us and our industry, but the challenges only help to focus the resolve we have in our mission of S S, Schulenburg continued. There has never been a time where education, information and a voice of advocacy have been more necessary, and we remain steadfast in our intent to deliver on that for our members and non members alike.

presents an opportunity to demonstrate the true educated profes sionals that we are and take control of being the experts accordingly, isher noted. ur pro ect to identify the proper service procedures for pre post scanning of vehicles and ve hicle calibration for S systems has been a great start, and S is grateful to our ollision perations ommittee volunteers and past board member D arrell A mberson for their devotion to the endeavor. ur responsibility is to return vehicles to their pre loss conditions with the integrity of all safety sys tems as they were designed origi nally the lives of families across the U.S. rely on us to do that espite the challenges that held for all of us, it s reassuring to know these industry leaders are lead ing the charge to ensure sees growth, progress and success for col lision repairers across the country. m hopeful will allow us all to see each other face to face again, and welcome feedback and suggestions so we can bring you the best information available in . appy ew ear, everyone

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Please contact these dealers for your Honda or Acura Genuine parts needs. HONDA CALIFORNIA

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autobodynews.com / JANUARY 2021 AUTOBODY NEWS 23

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with Stacey Phillips

From the Desk of Mike Anderson with Mike Anderson

Mike Anderson is the president and owner of Collision Advice, a consulting company for the auto body/collision repair industry. For nearly 25 years, he was the owner of Wagonwork Collision Center, an OEM-certified, full-service auto body repair facility in Alexandria, VA.

It’s Time to Address the Other ‘Pandemic’ in Our Industry s it possible to yell at people through an article like this Those of you who have participated in training or seminars or groups that did years ago no doubt remember how would sometimes ump down someone s throat. There were times you d see me chew em up and spit em out. ve tried over the years to become a kinder, gentler ike. ut m getting back to a point where m genuinely angry. ctually, m not sure if angry is a strong enough word. We have a pandemic in our industry, ladies and gentlemen, and m not talking about . We have a pandemic of people who don t understand or quite honestly don t care what it takes to repair a vehicle properly. nd this pandemic is going to end up killing people if we don t get it together S . ou may think m being overly

dramatic. ut can show you data that proves what m talking about. very year, my company conducts estimating training for hundreds and in some years, thousands of people. Some of this training is done on behalf of automakers, some is for associations, and some is for our individual clients. f you have attended one of the virtual ollision dvice estimate training sessions since began, you are aware that a week prior to the class, we send out work for you to complete ahead of the training. We send you photos of a collision damaged vehicle that needs a quarter panel replaced, and the assignment is to prepare an estimate for that vehicle. veryone uses the same rates for labor and materials. ow understand the limitations of photo estimating. ut what m looking for here is each person s

level of understanding of knowing what procedures need to be researched, and their ability to do so, and each person s understanding of what s included and not included in the estimating systems. We then build a table showing how many total labor hours were included by each anonymi ed estimator, broken down by body, paint, frame and mechanical, and how many total line items were on each estimate. We prepare an estimate using each of the three estimating systems, so no matter which one the people in the class use, we can do an apples to apples comparison. f you don t think there s a pandemic of people not knowing how to properly fix a car, send me an email and will send you one of these tables so you can see what a dramatic di erence there is among those who

know and those who don t. ne person will have hours of body labor. nother will have 87. We wrote a , estimate when other estimators, before the training, were turning in estimates totaling 4, or , . What the heck When we re all looking at the same vehicle. What s the di erence We find their estimates are incomplete because They didn t take the assignment seriously. • They are uneducated or untrained. They do not know how to properly research that specific automaker s procedures as to what it takes to perform a proper and safe repair. They didn t have or spend the time necessary. know this isn t easy.

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wrote quarter panel replacement estimates for four di erent automakers vehicles. or one of those automakers, it required researching and reviewing 4 pages of documentation. or another, it was 3 pages. The headlight replacement alone on one vehicle was 3 pages. oes this take time es. Some in my classes will tell me what we ve written is not realistic. eally re you kidding me Those who know me know that have Tourette syndrome, and a comment like that absolutely sets my tics and twitches in motion ow ve been getting a ton of calls recently from shops saying this insurer won t pay for or , or they re getting kicked o this program or that program. get that. m not saying the insurance companies make it easy to do the right thing. They don t. Some are better than others. m not saying insurance companies will pay for all 38 lines of the estimate wrote. ut at the end of the day, we are our own worst enemy because we are so uneducated about what it takes to properly fix that vehicle. We

don t take the time to research the repair procedures. nd that makes it hard for the shop that is trying to do the right thing. magine if all those shops in one of my classes were all in the same town. ou ve got this person, who is trying to get paid 8 . legitimate labor hours, and the guy down the street is only charging for 43. nd frankly don t care if you leave o some paint procedure on your estimate, or charge three fewer labor hours for a dent. That isn t going to kill anybody. ut see shops not knowing they need to conduct seat belt inspections, or they need to measure steering columns, or they need to set up and perform destructive test welds. r they are leaving o needed calibrations and initiali ations all because they didn t research what was needed. on t tell me those safety items are left o because some insurance company won t pay you. That s a bunch of crap. s my friend D ean Hanc oc k says, That dog don t hunt Quite honestly, it doesn t mat-

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ter what the insurance carrier will or will not pay. What matters is knowing what it takes to repair the vehicle safely and properly. When a vehicle owner brings a vehicle to your facility, they are saying, trust you to look out for me and my family. What are you doing with their trust re you doing right by the consumer et me put it this way m proud to have served in the U.S. military, and see those helping preserve the freedoms we have as heroes. see firefighters and police officers and Ts saving lives as heroes as well. ut here s what m also going to tell you The shop owner, technician and estimator who make the e ort to research repair procedures, who make sure they know what is needed as part of a safe and proper repair, and who make sure it happens they re heroes too. They are saving lives. We ll never know how many lives were saved when a pedestrian or a kid on a bike is suddenly directly behind or ahead one of the vehicles they repaired, and the vehicle systems worked properly to stop that

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vehicle in time. or those doing all those things, salute you. ut frankly, far too many in this industry don t fall into that category. That makes me angry. see people who are trying to do the right thing really struggling and being penali ed because of those of you who aren t. y hope and prayer is those dedicated to doing the right thing will hang on, and the rest of you will start to do your part to end this pandemic in our industry of people who are uneducated, who are untrained, or who frankly ust don t care. ust as before became a kinder, gentler ike, this isn t intended to be mean spirited or disrespectful. ust want to talk straight to an industry that means more to me than anything. m declaring war on this pandemic. Which side are you on t starts with taking personal responsibility.

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with Victoria Antonelli

In Reverse with Gary Ledoux

Gary Ledoux is an industry veteran with 48 years’ experience in the automotive and OEM collision parts industry. His column appears exclusively in Autobody News. He can be reached at YesterWreck@yahoo.com

The ‘80s—Foreign Cars and Other Changes s the 8 s dawned, the collision The empirical approach of advancing repair industry began to see some into the collision repair business profound changes, and some shops moving from technician to shop man tried their darndest to keep things ager to owner, or passing the business Garybeen. Ledouxfrom father to son or daughter was the same as theywith had always changing to the emerging concept of Say No to Foreign investing and franchising. Some ideas die hard, like saying trade maga ine, in the fall of no to working on foreign cars. 87, announced the launch of the y the early 8 s, foreign cars US utobody etwork, the latest had been pouring into the U.S. for concept in franchising body shops. more than years, yet some shops The article noted there had been still did not wantwith to work on themPhillips many attempts in the past to franchise Stacey despite the fact that some foreign shops, but this was the first to attempt nameplates were now made in the the concept on a nationwide scale. U.S. US utobody etwork was a concept developed and ad ministered by hief uto motive Systems, makers of hief iner equip with Ed Attanasio ment. The article noted there would be no com pany owned shops, nor would the franchise agree ment call for the homogeni ation of shops. ll shops would contin They complained about thin ue to be locally owned and run, but Bruce Roistacher ner sheet metal,with difficulty matching would have to meet certain criteria to paint, parts that were hard to get and qualify for the network, not the least volatile parts prices. of which would be the ability to re owever, so called foreign pair unibody vehicles, something the cars were becoming a larger part of industry still struggled with. the repair landscape, and the global long with equipment require automotive landscape was growing ments which oddly did not require more homogeni ed. oreover, do hief products each shop would with Gary Ledoux mestic cars were becoming more like be responsible for having properly foreign cars inasmuch as the thick trained technicians and managers. ness of sheet metal, difficul ty matching colors and the fact that, like foreign cars, most domestics were using unibody construction. ccording to Ward s utomotive eports, import car sales were 4% of total U.S. cars sales in 7 . y 8 , that umped to more with Stacey Phillips than 7%. Some shops tried to ignore the foreign market, but they The US utobody etwork fran could not do it forever and survive. chising group opened its first four shops, all in ebraska, in the fall of Investing and Franchising 88. ll were established shops that The 8 s saw the traditional body had been in business for between five shop business model begin to change. and 4 years.

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ments and ongoing improvements and consistency on a large scale. Some shops tried to ignore the franchising concept, hoping it would ust go away. t didn t.

t is unknown what caused the demise of this initiative however, the US utobody etwork trade mark was cancelled eb. , . n 8 , the ST fran chise was founded by Lirel Holt and proved to be much more successful. olt had been a shop owner and an expert in collision management for the 3 company. e shared his knowledge with thousands of shop owners and man agers as director of the much heralded S workshops. There, he devel oped a belief that a network of quality collision repair facilities across orth merica would be a benefit for con sumers and welcomed by the insur ance industry. olt used his knowledge and contacts and dedicated his e orts to building the ST franchise system. e was the first to apply cus tomer satisfaction, financial measure

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Waste is a Terrible Thing to Mind The early 8 s also put the industry on the cusp of later and S regulations. 83 trade maga ine article dealing with body shop toxic waste noted it was only a matter of time before a number of local or federal agencies reali ed that body shops generate a lot of nasty waste and have no good way to get rid of it, many do ing so illegally. hanges were proposed in 83 that would require most body shops and auto repair places to register with the and to properly store and dis pose of ha ardous waste. y 8 , those proposals had

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become a reality. usinesses generating a minimum of lbs. of ha ardous waste per month would come under regulation. This meant most body shops would need to track their waste from the time it left their shop through certified carriers to its final resting place. The mergency lanning and ommunity ight To now ct of 8 , also known as Title of the Superfund mendments and eauthori ation ct, brought a harsh re-

ality to the doorsteps of every body shop in merica. t required those employers dealing with ha ardous materials to provide aterial Safety ata Sheets for every ha ardous chemical used in the business by employees. The shop would

SOUTHE

also have to make this information available to local authorities and first responders, such as fire departments, so they would be aware of what they are dealing with in the event of a fire, chemical spill or other emergency. This meant collision shop owners would be responsible for training employees about their rights under the legislation, the nature of the ha ardous chemicals in the workplace and the information contained in S S sheets labeling information about potentially ha ardous chemicals and record keeping. n the summer of 88, Southern alifornia shops owners found they were targeted for some special environmental rules. Shops in southern alifornia that fell under the auspices of the South oast ir Quality anagement istrict SQ Q basically the os ngeles area were faced with a dire issue concerning compliance with the S Q s recent interpretation of the 77 lean ir ct. t said if larger shops, spraying

more than lbs. of volatile organic compounds s , wanted to expand their business, they would need to buy very expensive equipment to capture the s, rather than expel them into the environment, use low paints, or both. Smaller shops would be able to get away with low coatings. This caused permits to build new paint booths to take four to six months. The industry was reali ing it could no longer ignore its state and federal lawmakers, because lawmakers were no longer ignoring collision shop owners. t was all the more reason to belong to a local or state auto body association. n September 88, the alifornia utobody ssociation met for its annual expo and convention at the isneyland otel in naheim, . mong the various speakers was red Simonelli, legislative advocate for the State of alifornia. is message was, Whether you like it or not, you have a partner the government. e encouraged shop owners to get involved with government to help drive legislative decisions that would a ect their future business.

Kia’s Kurcz Named to Leadership List J ulie K urc z, executive director of product quality for ia otors merica, has been named to the utomotive ews eading Women in the orth merican uto ndustry for . The list, compiled every five years since by a team of utomotive ews editors and reporters, is comprised of talented and influential women of various disciplines who make a significant impact on the automotive industry. urc is being recogni ed for the second time. urc s fascination for the automobile sparked at a very early age, when she would spend time working with her engineer father in the garage. fter college, she shifted smoothly into the auto industry as a manufacturing engineer, and in , she oined ia with the hopes to help transform the brand into an industry leader in quality and craftsmanship. ore than up to the task, urc has been a key contributor to ia s meteoric rise and its world class model line here in the U.S. Source: K ia

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oll ager tech have busi

the k cord the Wol

disc to te inno max tion pres Soci ists Seri

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with Stacey Phillips

Techs of the Future

Stacey Phillips is an award-winning freelance writer and editor for the automotive industry. She has 20 years of experience writing for a variety of publications, and is co-author of “The Secrets of America’s Greatest Body Shops.” She can be reached at sphillips.autobodynews@gmail.com.

with Stacey Phillips

Cracking the Code to Recruiting and Hiring Collision Repair Technicians ollision repair owners and managers across the country say hiring technicians and high turnover rates have become critical issues in their businesses. mployee engagement may be the key to solving these problems, according to D ustin P eug eot, owner of the atrix Trade nstitute, and K ev in Wolf e, owner of eadersWay. eugeot and Wolfe recently discussed how to rack the ode to technician recruiting, and o ered innovative solutions for shops to maximi e the efficiency and retention of current employees. Their presentation was held as part of the Society of ollision epair Specialists S S epairer riven ews Series during S 3 . Wolfe cited a allup poll conducted in une that addressed the engagement and well being of the workforce. ccording to the poll,

pair shops, owners often complain about employee retention. n response, he tells them, ou already have the talent your ob is to develop it. ur time is valuable hiring and firing take away our ability to make money, added eugeot. f we can focus more on retaining and growing our employees, they will do the recruiting for us, and then we can do Dustin Peugeot, left, owner of the Matrix Trade Institute, what we are really good and Kevin Wolfe, right, owner of LeadersWay at making money in the n almost years, we ve done collision industry. almost nothing to better the work eugeot said nearly % of peoconditions for the people who are ple who complete a collision repair showing up every single day, said training program defect from the inWolfe. et, organi ations continue dustry in months. We have a retention problem to move away or shy away from leadership, coaching, training and work- in our industry, not a recruiting problem, he said. We have to find ways ing at all levels to develop people. When Wolfe visits collision re- to make this industry more palatable nearly 7 % of U.S. workers said they were either actively disengaged or not engaged at all at their obs.

and exciting for them and not ust get frustrated when they act exactly the way we assume they would during the interview process. Wolfe said upgrading organi ations and moving into a st century economy are crucial for survival, especially now during the pandemic. ou can t sit back anymore and pretend that you can continue to go on this way, he said. ou can t achieve great results with the wrong people eugeot and Wolfe o ered seven steps to cracking the code to talent and developing the potential of the people who show up to work every day. . ight Sourcing The first step is sourcing people. lthough internet ob sites, such as ndeed.com, and vocational technical

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schools are good options, Wolfe also advises thinking more broadly. We have to start looking ev erywhere, he said. Talent doesn t ust exist in somebody s backyard with a young person who likes to be under the hood. eugeot said employees care about working at a business where they can grow and there is a clear ca reer path to follow. We should constantly be re cruiting those from all angles of life who want to work hard and make money and feel great about a skill, he said. etworking with the local ham ber of ommerce, a otary club or T meetings can also be helpful when looking for employees. Ulti mately, the goal is to become a talent magnet. ecoming a talent magnet means being a leader who is devel oping people every day not ust when they have time, said Wolfe. . ight Selection n important part of cracking the code is how owners and managers

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approach the interview process. Typ ically, when bringing in new people to an organi ation, interviewers will ask basic questions such as ou work ed for ollision o you have tools re you certified Will you work for our company When can you start nstead, Wolfe advocates fo cusing on three critical steps. irst, he recommends screening potential candidates.

“It often surprises me how many organizations lack clear expectations,” — Kevin Wolfe don t want to bring in some one for an hour if know right away that m not going to continue with them, he said. Second is conducting what he referred to as a top grading interview, going through the person s resume and references. eugeot said this demonstrates to potential employees that you care and are going to look into their background. f you let them know you are disciplined enough to make a cou

bringing the person in to work with the team and determining how ev eryone gets along. 3. ight osition rior to hiring someone for a cer tain position, Wolfe suggests deter mining what that ob will entail, the duties the person will have and the results needed to be successful. t often surprises me how many organi ations lack clear expectations,

he said. Wolfe often asks organi ations if they are playing checkers or chess. verage leaders play check ers they think everyone can move the same way, he said. We force people into roles that aren t good for them and then blame them because they don t perform. reat leaders play chess. nce those expectations are set and the business owner has de termined the candidate will be a good fit, eugeot advises selecting the person based on fit and comfort o they define success the way we want them to and are they going to be comfortable doing it because we want them to 4. ight evelopment nce an employee is hired, develop ment becomes paramount, both per sonally and professionally. The o. reason that will keep a person in an organi ation, according to Wolfe, is a shop s investment in development. t s not ust enough to develop the professional talents of people, but also invest in the personal side as well and help them become better

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ions hess. ecke the ople and don t

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humans, said Wolfe. n terms of personal development, Wolfe said to focus on skills that will enable individuals to learn to communicate more e ectively to the people they will be working with. istorically, great teams are those who care for each other and help one another, he said. When it comes to professional development, eugeot recommends building their pride through education. Without pride in what you are doing, development, growth and efficiency don t occur, he said. When employees demonstrate pride in their work, eugeot said to then focus on proficiency, teaching them how to do it right every time, while ensuring they understand what they are doing. Ultimately, their confidence will grow through hands on learning and they will become more efficient. . ight Support s a business owner or manager, Wolfe said it s essential to guide employees. racking the code is all about

becoming a better guide, he said. This doesn t mean doing the work for them, but demonstrating how to do it correctly and supporting their development. eugeot said this takes discipline and commitment. n day one, he recommends providing employees with the tools and resources they need to do their ob e ectively. lthough it requires time and money, he said it builds proficiency and confidence. n additional way to show support is having constant communication with employees. eople need to know what s going on, said Wolfe. ne of the biggest deficits in an organi ation is not communicating with employees or thinking they can t handle the information. eugeot suggests appointing someone in the organi ation, other than the owner, who can deliver consistent positive and negative information to employees. . ight ccountability Wolfe said accountability is often a misunderstood concept, and many

business owners believe that caring for employees and taking actions that help them get better is the soft side of business. uilding a culture around leadership and putting people first implies that we shouldn t hold people accountable, said Wolfe. t s ust the opposite. f we re not holding people accountable, they are never going to feel better about themselves. eugeot agreed. The easiest thing to do as a manager is to walk by a problem and commit that you will deal with it next time because you are busy now, he said. eing a good leader is knowing that it s your ob to take time and stop and have what can be perceived as a hard conversation. ather than being a negative meeting, eugeot said it can be a positive coaching session, where leaders share clear expectations, o er consistent feedback and remember there is no negotiating on results. 7. ight nvironment ven if business leaders follow all the steps involved in hiring and developing employees, Wolfe said the

or more information, contact ustin eugeot at dustin matrix tradeinstitute.com or visit www. matrixtradeinstitute.com, or evin Wolfe at kevinw leadersway.com or visit www.leadersway.com. To watch this presentation and other S S epairer riven ducation sessions through ugust , enrollment information can be found online at https rde.scrs.com. www.autobodynews.com

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with Erica Schroeder

Industry Insight with John Yoswick

—John Yoswick is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon who 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.

Driving Has Largely Rebounded, but Traffic Congestion, Resulting Claims Have Not

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S usanna G otsc h says drivers are have % of students in classrooms back out on the roads, but changes in some or all school days, nearly two driving patterns are still more adverse- in five students nationally still with Ed Attanasio ly impacting the number of claims and attend schools o ering only a virtual shop repair orders. option. otsch, data analyst for These changes cut morning and nformation Services and the lead afternoon commute traffic signifio speaker at the virtual S Sym- cantly, otsch said, noting those are posium held in ovember, said ve- the times of day in which federal data hicle miles traveled withhas Edrebounded Attanasio indicates about one third of all accinationally to within % of normal, dents occur. but that traffic congestion and the The rebound in vehicle travel claims that result has not. is happening with less congestion in part because of travel during non peak time online shopping deliveries occur across a broad swath of with Ed Attanasio the day, for example and in part because of longer trips by those avoiding air travel. The end result, otsch said, is claims remained with Ed Attanasio down about 4%, year to date, in early ovember. ut there is a broad range of market variation in that statistic. otsch s data shows the hoenix market, for examwith Stacey Phillips ple, was down ust 8%, year to date, as of ovember tlanta, harlotte and the iverside San ernardino area in alifornia all had claims counts down less with Stacey Phillips than 3%. CCC Information Services reports claims being down At the other end of the nationally almost 22% year-to-date this fall, but individual spectrum, hardest hit among states’ results range from a 31% decline in North Dakota large markets are Washingto an 8% uptick in Louisiana ton, . ., San rancisco, She cited a number of statis- Seattle and oston, where claims with Stacey Phillips tics a ecting congestion. study of are down between 3 % and 33%. 3, office buildings showed, for The good news for shops is their example, that occupancy rates that volume of repair orders is not that far were near % in many metro areas below normal, otsch said. are now below 3 %. n the middle week of arch, While many businesses are still shops in states with minor restricoperational, they continue to keep tions saw repair order volume dip by with Stacey Phillips their employees working remotely, 7. % compared to the same week in otsch said, noting automakers and , followed by a week with a % high tech firms are among the com- decline from the preceding year. The panies already announcing they will stats were even worse for shops in keep their employees working from states with ma or related rehome at least through next une. strictions, where repair order volume Similarly, although 4 states was down by 4% and 3 % in those

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total cost of repairs was 3, 7, up same weeks in arch. , ust shy of %, compared to y late ctober, however, repair order volume had rebounded to being the same period a year earlier, and up 487 more than 7% for down about % compared the same month period to the same period last year. ending in . With overall volumes That s based in part on continuing to be down slighta more than % rise in ly, we do expect that in , non drivable vehicles after claims counts and repair orhigher speed crashes made der counts will be much better than they were in , Susanna Gotsch of possible by less vehicle trafotsch said. ut we do ex- CCC Information Ser- fic, she said, along with inpect overall volume will be vices said congestion creases in the cost of parts less in than it was in during morning and and higher costs in the misafternoon commute cellaneous sublet category, . times hasn’t which is where a lot of the otsch shared a vari- rebounded from the ety of other statistics during plummet in March fees associated with scanher presentation during the as much as driving ning and calibrations are apduring other parts of pearing. S Symposium. the day has line item for scanning ost of repairs, she said, has been up year over year in was included on 4 % of appraisals every month this year through Sep- in the first quarter of this year, she tember. or the months ending the said, compared to ust 3.3% in the third quarter of this year, the average See Traffic Congestion, Page 38

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New Product Showcase with Ed Attanasio

Day Job/Night Job

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

with Ed Attanasio

Metal and Creativity Collide at CRASH Jewelry When your average metal technician Schimpke makes sustainable e looks at a damaged bumper, hood, welry from the metal of luxury auto door or quarter panel, their first in mobiles for men and women. with stinct is to try and fix it.Gary Wickert er husband, an, is the co ut, when C hristi S c himp k e, owner of B ev erl y CoachCraf t , a founder of S ewelry in wes 4 year old shop speciali ing in re tern os ngeles, , sees any of pairing late model ercedes en , W, udi, entley, orsche, these automotive parts, her perspec olls oyce, aserati and other high end vehicles. t s a perfect source for with Stacey Phillips parts from high end cars, after anything from fender benders all the way to com plete totals. n 3, Schimpke de cided to set up her studio at with Stacey Phillips oach raft and that s when the magic began. Christi Schimpke created CRASH Jewelry in 2013, building While was in my stu it into a successful business that has produced 3,000 pieces in seven years dio, making more traditio nal ewelry from silver and tive is dramatically di erent, fueled gold, noticed these beautiful cars that were coming into the shop every by her creativity and an artistic eye.

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paint how they can be manipulated. f have any questions, have an in house consultant right here to provi de answers and he has been such a plus. When Schimpke came up with the initial concept for S ewelry, she knew it was doable, but wasn t sure how to proceed. made a few mistakes at the beginning, but as developed techniques for taking metal o cars and Schimpke uses her jewelry to raise money for her pet creating polished ewel charities, such as animal rescue, free legal aid, education ry from it, got better and and hospice organizations better, she said. ver the se fenders and doors and give them past few years, ve refined my pro cess to the point where many people a second life. Schimpke s husband, a former can t initially believe that those ear rings or that cu actually started as technician, has helped with her busi part of a vehicle. ness every step of the way, she said. When Schimpke started recei e began as a technician, so he knows a lot about the metals and the ving accolades and great reviews for day, she said. The paint reminded me of enamel, so began wondering if could create something with tho

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36 JANUARY 2021 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

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ated. n in ovi been

e up t for new asn t

akes as for and wel and r the pro ople ear d as

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her first few pieces, from parts o a errari 3 hallenge Stradale, she was obviously thrilled. love the fact that people are continually surprised when they rea li e that a cu or a necklace is made from a hood, door or quarter panel of a car, she said. When they find out that it s from a vehicle, they are shocked and want to learn more ab out the process. y experimenting, we have developed methods to ma nually manipulate steel and alumi num, without a ecting the car s ori ginal paint. Since its inception, the sales at S ewelry have increased by 4 %, and today its inventory has grown from 3 to plus items. The company has been featured in numerous publications, radio and television programs. guest on the fifth season of ay eno s arage was wearing one of my cu s, and models on the runway during . . s ashion Week wore some of my ewelry as well, Schimpke said. The clientele at S ewel ry spans a diverse demographic, in cluding car enthusiasts, fashionistas,

artisanal crafters and those who sim ply en oy a good story about somet hing handmade, Schimpke said. We take pride in our collection, and often embellish our creations with quality gemstones and cabo chons, she said. n this age of mass production, handmade craftsmanship

CRASH Jewelry is best known for its cuffs, like this one made from a hood from an Aston Martin DBS Superleggera

seems to be a thing of the past, which is what makes S ewelry so special. racelets aka cu s are Schimpke s best sellers, making up almost 8 % of her total sales. They range in price from to , ,

but average between and . Three years ago, the business became viable and started making a profit, she said. ve created ap proximately 3, pieces overall since day one. get a ton of return customers and many people buy items from us for corporate gifts or will purchase gift cards, so that peo ple can pick the ewelry they prefer. S ewelry is commit ted to being all in when it comes to being a green business by repurpo sing discarded metal. We also donate a portion of every sale to multiple charities, and love to participate in fundraising events such as animal rescue, free legal aid, education and hospice throughout the year, she said. f an artist can use their art to help non profit organi ations and causes be lieve in, that s so satisfying. very once in a while, Schimp ke s day gets a little brighter when she finds out about some prime am borghini, errari or unusual parts, for example. The most unique and special items that ve ever made have to be from a amborghini allardo

Superleggera, she said. That one stands out, including the five cu s did for an ustralian race driver with parts from a 44 orsche. e crashed it, so got a ton of metal from that one vehicle. n , Schimpke found out about S usan P urk hiser, a stuntwo man who lost her beloved W in the 8 Woolsey ire that hit os ngeles and entura counties. er friends sent me a piece of fire damaged metal from the vehicle, and made a cu with it, Schimp ke said. She was moved when she received it, and, of course, we were delighted as well. s the media continues to em brace S ewelry and more and more high profile celebrities buy her pieces, Schimpke sees a great future for her company. love doing this, and as long as luxury car owners will get into ac cidents, will never run out of parts to turn into ewelry. rowse S ewelry s web site at www.crash ewelry.com.

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autobodynews.com / JANUARY 2021 AUTOBODY NEWS 37

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Investment Banker Tells MSOs the Industry Will be â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Alive and Wellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Seven Years from Now

AirPro Diagnostics Partners with adasThink

When investment banker R ex G reen spoke seven years ago at the 3 S Symposium, he accu rately predicted that at least one col lision repair chain would have , locations within five years.

ir ro iagnostics announced ec. 7 a strategic partnership to deliver adasThink technology on required S calibrations to its customers at no additional cost. ir ro iagnostics is proud to be the first to market to o er the adasThink technology inte grated into its cloud based di agnostic platform, to elevate the ease of access for shops to identi fy vehicles requiring S cal ibrations for repairers across the U.S. and anada. adasThink provides tech nology that allows an estimate to be analy ed against correlat ing procedures, and assess as to which S features a vehicle has, which services and calibrations are required to be performed, and access to the in formation to perform a complete and safe repair. ir ro iagnostics pro vides remote scanning, diagnos tics, programming and calibration services to shops across orth merica. Source: A irP ro D iag nost ics

During the online MSO Symposium, investment banker Rex Green said he foresees the largest collision repair companies continue to grow, but the ability of smaller MSOs to also grow has surprised him

So reen, who has been in volved in acquisitions involving many of the largest collision repair chains in orth merica, was asked at this year s symposium, held virtu ally in ovember, what he pro ects he might be speaking about at the event seven years from now, in 7.

Continued from Page 34

Traffic Congestion same period in 7. The average fee for scans across appraisals that include them is , she said. ooking at claims only, shops in the second quarter of this year averaged 3. labor hours per day on drivable vehicles and . hours on non drivable vehicles that was up from 3.3 labor hours on drivable vehicles and .8 hours for non driv able for the same period in , but down slightly from 3. labor hours for drivable and 3 hours for non driv able in 8. ewer repairs in shops in the sec ond quarter also led to improved cy cle time, otsch said from vehicle in to vehicle out, cycle time fell to an average of . days, down nearly a half day from the previous quarter, and down from .7 days in the second quarter of . or the months ending with the third quarter of this year, . % of claims had supplements, up from .8% a year earlier and up from . % for the month period end

The collision industry will be alive and well in seven years. t will be thriving, said reen, now global co head for the utomotive ftermar ket roup at e eries, . think the large chains will have a meaning fully larger share of the market. e said the growth of large auto auctions, information provider nformation Services and large alternative parts suppliers like Q orp. are evidence that insurance companies are not troubled by large providers. e said the increasing need to invest in the ability to perform ve hicle diagnostics and calibrations is ust the latest example of where higher cashflow and economies of scale gives larger collision repair organi ations advantages. That said, he admitted he would not have predicted seven years ago the growth he s seen in smaller S s as well. ne of the things that s most surprised me is the ability of two , three or four store chains to get to or 4 or or 8 stores, reen said. The beauty of this economy

ing in 8, and those supplements accounted for 8.7% of the total cost of repairs, up from 8. % and . % in the two prior years. The percentage of vehicles de clared total losses has continued to increase, despite a rise in used vehi cle pricing this year. We re now at a point where roughly % of all non comprehen sive appraisals are being flagged as total loss, which is a substantial in crease considering that even years ago, only about % of all vehicles were flagged as total loss, otsch said. That is likely to rise even higher next year, she said, given the expect ed % decline in new vehicle sales this year. The vehicle fleet will contin ue to shift older for the next several years, otsch said. any fewer vehicles were purchased this year by fleets, which ultimately supplies the used vehicle market, and that will help keep used vehicle prices ele vated, but as repair costs continue to rise and may outpace that, that will continue to push up the total loss fre quency.

and this society is that it constantly surprises me with its entrepreneur ialism and creativity. nother surprise to him t the 3 S Symposium, he said, there was little discussion of the au tomakers role within the collision repair industry. Somewhere in the last seven years, the s have come piling into this industry, and they want their piece of the profit pie back, reen said. There is also a desire on their part to have their cars fixed properly. There is, for them, a big branding importance to that. ighly impacting the industry by 7, reen pro ected, will be the ability of the vehicle to transmit telematics data indicating when a crash has occurred, giving automak ers and insurers this information with the driver needing to provide first notice of loss to their insurer. That first notice of loss is never going to be a phone call anymore, and it s not going to be first, it s going to be instantaneous, he said, which may well change the dynamics between in surers, automakers and shops.

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38 JANUARY 2021 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

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autobodynews.com / JANUARY 2021 AUTOBODY NEWS 39

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2021 ASA X50 Automotive Conference & Expo

Ford Has a Controversial Message for Every Automaker by Jay Traugott, CARBUZZ

The utomotive Service ssocia tion, a national training leader for the automotive service and colli sion repair industries with its net work of S affiliates across the U.S., will host its first multi day virtual conference and expo, pril 3 ay , . S Uniting ur oice, Uniting our ndustry will create a diverse training lineup of courses and instructors that will provide S members and at tendees with a high tech learning experience and virtual expo that promises to be a unique experi ence for shop owners, technicians, service writers and managers in the automotive repair and colli sion sectors.The virtual training will take place pril 3 and ay . ontent will remain online and accessible on demand to regis trants for 3 days following the event. n addition, students can revisit technical and management sessions for maximum value and learning impact. egistration for attendees will open eb. , . Source: A SA

The state of alifornia made a bold political and environmental decision in September. n executive order was signed by ov. G av in N ew som on the hood of a ord ustang ach declaring the state s plan to ban sales of new passenger ve hicles with internal combustion engines beyond 3 . This gives automakers barely years to electrify their entire lineup if they wish to continue doing business in merica s most populated state. ord couldn t be happier with this decision and wants rival auto makers to back it as well. euters reports the earborn, based company is now urging automakers to support alifor nia s new ero emissions stan dards as part of an industry wide bid to reach a consensus on the matter before resident elect oe iden takes office an. , . ord s crosstown rival, en eral otors, announced it no longer supports the Trump ad

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ministration s continued e orts to prevent alifornia from deciding its own emissions laws. riginal ly, oined with Toyota and in support of Trump.

eanwhile, W, on da and olkswagen agreed with ord s position regarding the olden State. Several ma or auto makers were set to have a virtual meeting to discuss their next steps and ord s message is loud and clear. ord mericas resident K umar G alhorta recently wrote the following The iden dmin istration will not let the Trump standards stand, and either by way of litigation and or a regulatory reboot, the new team will move in

a di erent, more stringent direc tion. n other words, it d be point less to resist alifornia s new rules because the incoming ad ministration is expected to support them. ight as well start preparing for the inevitable. alifor nia ir esources oard hair Mary N ic hols also believes the state s emis sions rules could serve as the basis for new federal standards. t is in the automakers short and long term interest to form a consensus on this matter because the switch to electrifica tion takes time, money and se rious planning. The sooner they start the better. n addition to s about face, Mary Barra revealed a plan to launch at least 3 s globally over the next five years with an investment of 7 billion. ver two thirds of those new s will be for the U.S. We t hank CA R B U Z Z f or reprint permission.

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40 JANUARY 2021 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

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Biden Says He Won’t Immediately Remove U.S. Tariffs on China

Experts: Classic Car Owners Should Beware Second Lockdown

resident D onald Trump ’ s % tari s imposed on hina under the phase one trade deal will remain in place at the start of the new administration, resident elect J oe Biden said in an interview with the ew ork Times published early ec. .

With di erent governments threatening or even beginning a second wave of lockdowns, ostensibly to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, experts are warning classic car owners of the risks. We all know firsthand that lockdowns are devastating to economies, particularly small businesses. They ve also caused a spike in mental health problems, substance abuse, suicides and domestic violence. wave of divorce filings after might threaten a myriad of social and economic problems. ut these lockdowns also carry a risk for your classic car. ut of ritain, classic car expert Eric C ollins recently spread the message that lockdowns might cause a classic car to deteriorate. s the cars sit for long periods of time, di erent parts can wear out, sei e up, etc. f you already knew that, then congratulations, because apparently not everyone is aware of the risks. n some areas, going for a leisurely drive in your classic car is considered criminal. That means your

President-elect Joe Biden during an event in Wilmington, DE. Credit: Alex Wong, Getty Images

m not going to make any immediate moves, and the same applies to the tari s, iden said. e plans to conduct a full review of the current U.S. policy on hina and speak with key allies in sia and urope to develop a coherent strategy, he said. The best hina strategy, think, is one which gets every one

of our—or at least what used to be our—allies on the same page. t s going to be a ma or priority for me in the opening weeks of my presidency to try to get us back on the same page with our allies. iden told T columnist Thomas F riedman he didn t think the U.S. yet had the leverage in dealing with hina. etting bipartisan consensus in merica on government led investments in merican research and development, infrastructure and education would achieve this. want to make sure we re going to fight like hell by investing in merica first, he said. iden said he stood by comments he made in a Sept. 3 op ed in which he wrote if ran returns to strict compliance with the nuclear deal, the United States would re oin the agreement as a starting point for follow on negotiations, acknowledging to riedman t s going to be hard. We t hank A x ios f or reprint permission.

by Steven Symes, Motorious

beloved ride has to ust sit in the garage or you could face a big fine and maybe even ail time. ot driving your classic at all can lead to all kinds of problems, ust like with those barn finds we cover regularly. ust how many problems your car gives you once you take it out of storage depends on many factors. bviously, moisture is a bad thing for a car, so putting a dehumidifier in your garage is a wise move. ven better is a temperature controlled garage, but not everyone can swing that. ou might consider pulling your classic out to do essential activities like going to the grocery store. es, there s a risk with leaving it in a parking lot, especially with car thefts rampant these days, but you also run a risk by never using it. Ultimately, you have the lockdowns to thank for being put in this precarious position. owever, if you live where a second lockdown isn t being instituted, you re lucky indeed. We t hank M ot orious f or reprint permission.

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autobodynews.com / JANUARY 2021 AUTOBODY NEWS 41

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3M Introduces Lightweight Performance Spray Gun Using Revolutionary Technology plication Solutions. ered in six di erent si es, from . to . , each fter years in development and atomi ing head is optimi ed for feedback from customers worldwide, consistent atomi ation and superior 3 introduced the 3 erformance transfer efficiency, which adds up to faster cycle times for repair shops. Spray un. ecause paint never passes Using revolutionary technolo erfor gy, the 3 erformance Spray un through the body of the 3 was developed by 3 engineers to mance Spray un and only through the disposable cup and no le, the deliver top of the line performance, said J onnie Bloemers, global product cleanup and changeover processes marketer, 3 erformance Spray are streamlined. That means there is no un. ollision repairers more paint gunking up in will experience faster clean ternal components, no more up, changeovers and cycle breaking down your spray time with this lightweight gun or soaking in solvent, product. and no more cross contam onstructed from an ination putting your ob at impact resistant composite risk, said aislet. material, the 3 erfor With the quick change re mance Spray un was de Jonnie Bloemers placeable atomi ing heads, signed to o er a full range of aislet said cleanup is a snap. high performance automotive coat very time you swap out the ings, including paints, stains, prim ers, basecoats, topcoats, clearcoats, replaceable no le for a fresh one, you can expect like new spray per epoxies and adhesives using replace formance, he added. able atomi ing heads. n today s collision repair The secret lives inside our advanced interchangeable no le shops, it s important for painters to technology, said Brady Haislet, have dependable tools so they can spend less time worrying about their application engineer, 3 aint p by Stacey Phillips

spray gun and focus on perfecting their art to deliver consistent, quali ty results, said loemers. The gun

with. There s nothing that it won t do. t s hard to get a system that all really works well together and feel like the 3 spray gun really nails it, said D ustin Z eisk a, head painter at L aM et t ry ’ s Col l ision. t ust really does everything great. The 3 is a great gun it sprays unbelievable, said R uss C rambuilt, a painter at uerkle yundai. think it s the wave of the future no doubt about that.

was designed to be low maintenance and easy to use so painters have con sistent performance. N ate J ohnson, a painter at F airw ay Col l ision, said he was skep tical at first about how well the plas tic gun would hold up working in a high production shop. e found that he liked the pattern on the 3 spray gun. The metallic control by far is superior to some of the other guns on the market, said ohnson. t works for every car that have sprayed

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10 Cities with the Most Expensive Driver Commutes by Heather A. Turner, PropertyCasualty360

ommuters have been on a much needed reprieve these past couple of months as many businesses remain on a work from home schedule to curb the spread of . ut with the possibility of vaccines circulating in the near future, workers may want to prepare for the return of the daily commute sometime in . The average merican worker spends 4 minutes a day on their daily drive to work, according to the U.S. ensus. When factoring in fuel and toll costs and vehicle wear and tear, drivers could spend hundreds to thousands of dollars a year j ust on their commute. ippia recently evaluated U.S. cities with populations over , to determine the cities where people are spending the most money ust getting to work. or its analysis, the career search website multiplied the median hourly wage by the average commute time to determine the lost financial opportunity cost in each city. ippia also calculated the estimated

wear and tear fuel costs by assuming an average of mile for every two minutes spent driving two ways and the standard mileage rate of 7 cents per mile from the S.

A v erag e c ommute leng th: 6 9 D aily c ommute c ost: $ 1 9 . 6 9 7 . N ew ark , N J Hourly w ag e: $ 1 4 A v erag e c ommute leng th: 6 7 D aily c ommute c ost: $ 1 9 . 2 1 6 . P omona, C A Hourly w ag e: $ 1 2 A v erag e c ommute leng th: 6 3 D aily c ommute c ost: $ 1 8 . 0 1

Credit: Jamesb01/Wikimedia

1 0 . S an Bernadino, C A Hourly w ag e: $ 1 3 A v erag e c ommute leng th ( minutes) : 6 0 D aily c ommute c ost: $ 1 7 . 1 0 9 . S anta C larita, C A Hourly w ag e: $ 2 0 A v erag e c ommute leng th: 7 7 D aily c ommute c ost: $ 2 1 . 8 9 8 . P hiladelp hia Hourly w ag e: $ 1 6

5 . S toc k ton, C A Hourly w ag e: $ 1 5 A v erag e c ommute leng th: 6 9 D aily c ommute c ost: $ 1 9 . 7 8 4 . Hialeah, F L Hourly w ag e: $ 1 2 A v erag e c ommute leng th: 6 4 D aily c ommute c ost: $ 1 8 . 2 4 3 . Moreno V alley, C A Hourly w ag e: $ 1 4 A v erag e c ommute leng th: 7 2 D aily c ommute c ost: $ 2 0 . 4 1 2 . N ew Y ork C ity Hourly w ag e: $ 2 0 A v erag e c ommute leng th: 8 4

Hyundai, Kia Fires Cost Automakers Another $137 Million yundai and ia will pay at least 37 million to the ational ighway Traffic Safety dministration TS related to recalls of . million vehicles equipped with Theta engines.

the consent order are not satisfied. The two year ia consent order includes an upfront payment of 7 million along with an obligation to spend million on specified safety performance measures. ia may also pay 7 million if it violates conditions of the consent order.

The Theta engines can cause fires due to metallic debris remaining from when the engines were manufactured. The debris can enter the engine oil, damage the connecting rods and other engine components and cause engine failures and fires. ased on the three year yundai consent order, the automaker will make an upfront payment of 4 million and eventually pay an additional 4 million on safety improvements. yundai may also be required to pay another 4 million if conditions of

The enter for uto Safety petitioned TS in 8 to investigate yundai and ia engine fires following hundreds of complaints about the vehicles. Safety regulators granted the petition and launched an investigation which still remains open. ccording to the enter, these popular models are the problem 2 0 1 1 - 2 0 1 4 Hyundai S anta F e 2 0 1 3 - 2 0 1 4 Hyundai S anta F e S p ort 2 0 1 1 - 2 0 1 4 Hyundai S onata 2 0 1 1 - 2 0 1 4 Hyundai S onata Hybrid 2 0 1 1 - 2 0 1 4 K ia O p tima

by David A. Wood, CarComplaints.com

2 0 1 1 - 2 0 1 4 K ia O p tima Hybrid 2 0 1 1 - 2 0 1 4 K ia S orento Today s announcement validates the concerns of millions of consumers about a persistent safety ha ard and should remind manufacturers there are costs beyond recalls for failing to report dangerous defects, as required by law, said J ason Lev ine, executive director of the enter for uto Safety. The consent orders claim yundai and ia waited too long to issue recalls of more than . million vehicles as fire complaints continued to pile up. TS also says yundai and ia didn t report accurate information regarding the Theta recalls. n addition to the monetary agreements, ia will create a new safety office in the U.S., and yundai will build a facility in the U.S. dedicated to safety investigations. yundai and ia also agreed to create new programs to detect possible safety problems and each automaker will hire an independent third party auditor who reports directly to the government. We t hank CarCompl aint s. com f or reprint permission.

D aily c ommute c ost: $ 2 3 . 9 4 1 . P almdale, C A Hourly w ag e: $ 1 5 A v erag e c ommute leng th: 8 6 D aily c ommute c ost: $ 2 4 . 9 5 ccording to the car insurance comparison website The ebra, commuter car insurance policies cost an average of more per year than pleasure use auto coverage. The average policy costs between ,43 and ,44 annually. f you re a low mileage driver, a commuter policy might not be your most cost efficient option, writes A v a Lync h for The ebra. While relatively new to the world of auto insurance, usage based insurance policies can be a great solution if you drive infrequently. acked by telematics, usage based insurance policies use how you drive and how much you drive to calculate your insurance policy. n theory, the less you drive, the more you can save. We t hank P ropert y Casual t y 3 6 0 f or reprint permission.

Caliber Announces Internal Promotions aliber is pleased to announce Mark S anders, current president and , will succeed longtime S tev e G rimshaw , e ective an. , at which time rimshaw will move to full time executive chairman. Sanders has spent his entire career in the automotive industry, and oined aliber ollision in 7 as it expanded its operations into Texas. s president and , Sanders led the growth strategy which expanded aliber ollision s footprint throughout the U.S., while also positioning aliber for the future through the strategic acquisition of other lines of business. e also led the consolidation and alignment of all brandsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; aliber ollision, aliber uto are and aliber uto lassâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;under the aliber umbrella, priming aliber for its next phase of growth. uring rimshaw s tenure, the organi ation grew from 8 to more than , locations. aliber s revenue also increased from 84 million to 4 billion. Source: Cal ib er

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