Leading the Ethical Revolution in the Collision Repair Industry by Stacey Phillips
When Jeff Peevy was named chairman of the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) in 2019, he placed an empty chair on the stage at each meeting. The chair represented “the consumer,” those who are in accidents and have their cars repaired. During the last CIC meeting of 2019 in Las Vegas, Peevy filled that empty chair with special guests Marcia and Matthew Seebachan. The Seebachans were the owners of the Honda Fit that was in
Jeff Peevy, chairman of the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) and president of the Automotive Management Institute (AMi)
the accident resulting in a $42 million lawsuit. Peevy and his wife, Marie, interviewed the couple about their experience as well as the human impact of poor repair decisions. Following the impactful interview, Dave Luehr, owner of Elite Body Shop Solutions, invited Peevy to talk about the personal impact of the interview during an Elite Body Shop Academy webinar. Peevy’s presentation also included recommendations on how collision repair businesses can lead the ethical movement in the industry. “Listening to the discussions at CIC, I started to realize that more times than not, the consumer, the motoring public and their families are riding in vehicles our industry repaired and get very little consideration during our discussions,” said Peevy, who is also the president of the Automotive Management Institute (AMi). “I thought it would be important for us to keep the people riding in the vehicles that our industry repairs at the forefront of our decisions and discussions.” Peevy realized how a cross-section of the industry began to refer to the chair. “I’m really proud of attendees
at CIC for respecting what that chair represents,” he said. Many have read industry publications and heard presentations about the Seebachans’ experience and Peevy said the young couple was often looked at as people out of a storybook. “My goal with the empty chair was to make the people who have impacted our industry real,” he explained. What Peevy didn’t realize when he set up the interview was how it would impact him personally. He soon learned that his daughter and son-in-law are the same age as Marcia and Matthew, and had purchased a preowned Honda Fit vehicle around the same time as the Seebachans. Also, Peevy’s daughter is going to school to become a licensed clinical social worker—the same job held by Marcia. These parallels resulted in the experience becoming more personal to Peevy and he recognized that the accident could have happened to anyone. “I don’t think I was fully prepared for what it would do to me and I probably have become a little less compromising around doing the right thing and making sure we think about the vehicles we are repairing,” said Peevy. Leading the Ethical Revolution During the Elite webinar, Peevy asked attendees to consider whether they place the value of human life at the top of everything. “We’ll typically say ‘yes,’ but then follow up with a ‘but’ and blame some other segment of the industry,” observed Peevy. “We always need to put the value of human life above all else. I believe it’s unethical if we do anything that jeopardizes anyone in the cars we repair.” Peevy shared a quote from Marcia Seebachan that she said during the interview at CIC. “One of the things drilled into us from day one in any social work course is our code of ethics and part of that is only using evidence-based practices with our clients…” she said. “We are trained to look into practices and theories and methods that are supported by evidence and there has been research and proof showing why this intervention is effective with this
specific diagnosis or need with a client and I just can’t fathom practicing any other way.” Peevy said the same is true in many professions. “Somehow, in our industry, we’ve taken liberties and not always used evidence-based practices and OEM procedures,” said Peevy. “I think OEM procedures are probably the closest thing to evidence-based procedures that we have. We can all agree there is a lot of research and design that goes into the design of vehicles.” As a result, he recommended that collision repair businesses ready to help with the ethical revolution in the industry, start with OEM procedures. An essential part of this is educating consumers. “The law says consumers have the right to decide where to take their car … they often get help from family and friends,” said Peevy. However, he pointed out that the majority of those making the recommendations are unqualified and as a result, the consumer’s life can be put
in risk. “We need to do what we can to educate consumers because they are put in the position to make a decision and more than likely will be uninformed,” said Peevy. Then, after making that choice, consumers are asked if they are happy with the repair. Although cycle times and Customer Satisfaction Indexing (CSI) are important, Peevy said just because consumers say they are happy with the repair and received the car on time, the carpet is vacuumed and the paint is shiny, those are not assurances the vehicle was repaired correctly and safely. “We don’t really have any good measurements,” said Peevy. He encourages collision repairers to think about how to best address this in the future. During the interview, Peevy said Marcia shared a vital observation. “She said that getting hit by a car was an accident; the extent of the injuries were not but based on deciSee Ethical Revolution, Page 41
The Parts You Need When You Need Them
• Team of Dedicated Kia Parts Specialists • Competitive Discounts • Extensive Inventory • Free Daily Delivery
Parts
Parts
818-745-1103
714-274-6178
818-244-0017
714-847-4410
Fax
Fax
400 S. Brand Blvd Glendale, CA 91204
18835 Beach Blvd Huntington Beach, CA 92648
M-F 7am-7pm Sat 7am-5pm
M-F 7am-6pm Sat 8am-4pm
38 MARCH 2020 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com
West_Issue_0320.indd 38
2/18/2020 11:16:46 PM
