November 2019 West Edition by Autobody News

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Vol. 37 / Issue 11 / November 2019

Montana CRA Supports Collision Repair Training Program, Urges Other Associations to Get Involved

Speakers Discuss Need to Know, Follow OEM Calibration Steps for ADAS

by Chasidy Rae Sisk

by John Yoswick

This fall, the Montana Collision Repair Association (MCRA) announced its partnership with the Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF) to

support the state’s only collision repair training program at Montana State University (MSU) – Billings

City College. MCRA President Paul Flores stated, “The MSU-Billings Collision Program is the only postsecondary automobile collision repair and refinishing program available in the state of Montana. The collision repair industry is in a unique era of growth, consolidation, and advancement in technology. At the same time, the industries talent pool lacks the volume to support the extensive personnel needs of collision repair facilities.” MCRA offers its support of MSU-Billings’ auto collision repair See MCRA Supports, Page 12

Will California Establish Ratings Systems for Body Shops? by Ed Attanasio

The numbers are staggering—The Bureau of Automotive Repair’s (BAR) backlog has tripled within the last three years, with 436 cases in 2016, 561 in 2017 and 1,314 from last year. And what’s even more shocking is that all of those shops cited in 2017 for significant violations are still up and running like business as usual. These figures concern a lot of people, including the folks in Sacramento and that’s why California Assemblyman Evan Low, D-San Jose,

CA, is taking the high road by looking for a solution to a stalled system. He chairs California’s Assembly Committee that oversees the BAR. They’re considering legislation that would devise a ratings system for all automotive repair shops, including collision shops. Low wants transparency and full accountability as well as a way to speed up the process. “I do think we can do a better job at publicizing whether or not a particular repair shop might be above reproach,” Low told NBC Bay Area. “One violation

George Lesniak, Autel’s director of sales and training, said one of the biggest challenges for shops working to follow OEM collision repair procedures – in particular, the steps necessary for calibration of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) – is the variation among automakers. “There’s a complete lack of consistency across the different OEMs when it comes to their service information: where that information is located, where you find the procedures and specifications,” Lesniak said during the recent Collision Industry Electronic Commerce Association (CIECA) “Connex” conference. But some of the challenges shops encounter in following OEM proce-

dures, he said, has little to do with that inconsistency in how the information is organized. “The one thing that I’ve found to be very consistent is technicians’ ability to skip steps,” Lesniak said. “The key skill set required to do calibrations is the ability to read, interpret and follow complex instructions and make detailed measurements. Knowing how to use a metric tape measure is absolutely foreign to most technicians. We’ve found that 50 percent of calibration failures come down to missing or skipping steps in those preliminary instructions.” Those steps, he said, include having the required space with the right environmental conditions, such as proper lighting, and ensuring that nothing is interfering with the field See Speakers Discuss, Page 20

Collision Repair Shops Learn How to Attract, Retain Military Veterans by John Yoswick

Collision repair businesses of all sizes have a potential talent pool of new employees, including those conclud-

See Ratings Systems, Page 32

Roxann Griffith of the Department of Labor said military veterans can be a good source of new employees for collision repair businesses of all sizes.

ing their service in the U.S. military, according to a speaker at this past summer’s Collision Industry Conference in Indianapolis.

Roxann Griffith, with the U.S. Department of Labor’s employment and training services, said Texasbased Service King, which operates more than 340 shops in 24 states, has hired hundreds of veterans over four years. Griffith encourages body shops to hire those who have served our country in any capacity by sharing tips and resources with collision repair businesses on how to hire and retain those who have exited the military. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s “Hiring Our Heroes” program, for example, offers free hiring fairs on military bases and at other locations around the country, she said. Those looking to hire veterans should check out the advice and resources included in the free 22-page See Military Veterans, Page 40

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NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

NICB Combats Tow Truck Scams With New PSA

CONTENTS AAPEX Mobility Garage Training in Las Vegas to Focus on Electric Cars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 CA Attorney General Becerra Sues “Paul Blanco’s Good Car Company” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 California Bill to Amend 2018 Exhaust Noise Law Passes Legislature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 California Vows to Fight Trump Plan to Gut Emissions Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Carson City, NV’s, VIPS for Vets Receives Generous Donation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 CARSTAR’s 700th Collision Repair Facility Opens in CA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 CAWA Annual Meeting During AAPEX and

AMi Announces 2019-2020 Board of Trustee Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 ASA, AAM Host Forum Focused on New Tech, Data Access and Cybersecurity . . . . . . . . . . 67 Boyd Autobody & Glass President to Retire . . . 76 CARSTAR Opens Location in Minnesota. . . . . . 76 CCC Enables Repairers to Reach Customer Engagement Milestone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

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, Bill Doyle, Norman Morano, Kelly Hall (800) 699-8251 Office Manager: Louise Tedesco Digital Marketing Manager: Bill Pierce Art Director: Rodolfo Garcia Graphic Designer: Vicki Sitarz Online and Web Content Editor: Alexis Wilson Accounting Manager: Heather Priddy Editorial/Sales Assistant: 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. ©2019 Adamantine Media LLC.

Accuvision-3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Hyundai of Seattle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

AkzoNobel Coatings, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Hyundai Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . . . . . . 76

Alloy Wheel Repair Specialists, LLC . . . . . . . . 51

Industrial Finishes and Systems . . . . . . . . . 7, 84

American Innovative Manufacturing-AIM . . . . 41

Kearny Mesa Subaru-Hyundai . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Anchorage Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram. . . . . . 34

Kia Downtown Los Angeles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Audi Wholesale Parts Dealers. . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Kia Motors Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . 68-69

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

Kia of Carson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Axalta Coating Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5, 22

Kia of Irvine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Blowtherm USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Larry H. Miller Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram . . . 14

BMW Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Launch Tech USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Car-Part.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Malco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Car Pros Kia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Matrix Automotive Finishes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Car Pros Kia Renton. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Mazda Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . . . . . . . 78

CCC Information Services, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Mercedes-Benz Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 78

Certified Automotive Parts Association . . . . . . 30

MINI Wholesale Parts Dealers. . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram of Seattle. . . . . . . 63

Mirka USA, Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Montipower Americas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Ranken Instructor to Receive I-CAR Award . . . 76

Colortone Automotive Paints . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

MOPAR Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . . . . . . 45

Repairify Welcomes New CFO . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Courtesy Chevrolet San Diego . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Moss Bros. Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge. . . . . . . . . . 31

RI, OK, and WV Top the Nation for Worst

Cutter Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram . . . . . . . . . 24

Motor Guard Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Road Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Cyber Garage, LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Nicolosi Distributing, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

SCRS Offers Members Personal Benefits. . . . . 18

Dave Smith Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Nissan/Infiniti Wholesale Parts Dealers. . . . . . 73

Sovereign Joins CIECA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

DCH Auto Group Temecula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

O’Reilly Auto Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Study Finds Costs to Own a New Car are

Dent Fix Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Podium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Diamond Standard Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Porsche Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . . . . . . 74

Dominion Sure Seal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

PPG Refinish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Downtown Motors of LA (Audi, VW) . . . . . . . . 66

Puente Hills Subaru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Eckler’s Automotive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

SATA Dan-Am Company. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15, 29

ECS Automotive Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Sierra Chevrolet-Honda-Subaru . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Enterprise Rent-A-Car . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Sorbothane Soft-Blow Mallet . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Equalizer Industries, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Spanesi Americas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

First Auto Group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Steamericas-Optima Steamer . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Ford of Kirkland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Subaru Wholesale Parts Dealers. . . . . . . . . . . 81

Ford Wholesale Parts Dealers. . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Symach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Frank Subaru. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Tacoma Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep-Ram . . . . . . . . 37

Galpin Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

The Bay Area Automotive Group . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Garden Grove Kia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Tonkin Parts Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26-27

Glenn E. Thomas Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep . . . . . 17

USI of North America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Production of Lithium-Ion Batteries . . . . . . . 70

GM Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Vintage Flatz/Cumberland Products . . . . . . . . 38

WD-40 Partners With SEMA Cares. . . . . . . . . . 14

Honda-Acura Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 42-43

Volkswagen Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . . . 72

YANG Meetup Held in Conjunction With

HyStik Adhesive Tapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Volvo Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Hyundai of Kirkland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Wedge Clamp Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Winner of Logo Refresh Contest . . . . . . . . . 80 Collision Repair Shops Learn How to Attract, Retain Military Veterans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Collision Works Acquires DeShields. . . . . . . . . 81 CREF Names Sulkala Family Scholarship

SEMA Supports Scholarship Program . . . . . . 6

Recipient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

CIF 10th Annual Gala to be Held in CA . . . . . . . 41

Custom Impala Built for Charity. . . . . . . . . . . . 70

CREF to Host Annual Reception During

Does Automatic Emergency Braking With

SEMA 2019 in Las Vegas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Fix Auto Poway in CA and GEICO Donate Two Vehicles to Two Families. . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Gerber Collision & Glass Expands Into WA . . . . 10 Kevin Hart’s Plymouth ‘Cuda Fate Not Pretty . . 34 Mercury Paying $41M in Long Court Battle With California Insurance Department . . . . . 28 Montana CRA Supports Collision Repair Training Program, Urges Other Associations to Get Involved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 NorCal Autobody to Move to New Location in Fortuna, CA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 SCADA’s West Coast Auto Dismantlers Convention Provides Training . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Tesla Invites UFOs to Supercharge Amid Day of Area 51 Raid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Tesla Owners Weather PG&E’s Power Outage as Gas Stations Across CA Shut Down. . . . . 33 Truck Trailer Carrying Five Tesla Cars Burns in NV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Western Association Event Announcements: November 2019 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 White Center, WA, Body Shop Damaged as Nearby Building Goes up in Flames . . . . . . . 22 Will California Establish Ratings Systems for Body Shops? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Pedestrian Detection Work? . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Driven Brands Acquires ABRA Franchised Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Effective Repair Planning Utilizing PCE (Process-Centered Environment) . . . . . . . . . 59 Millennials Will Keep the Car Alive, Says Report . 4 MNCARS Expands Efforts to Promote Careers . 74 National Association Event Announcements: November 2019 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 NE Resident Wins Hood Decorating Contest. . . 23 NICB Combats Tow Truck Scams With New PSA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Omaha, NE, Training Facility Underway . . . . . . 26 Painters Supply & Equipment Expands Into Ohio . 31 PennDOT Receives Grant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Post Repair Calibration – A Growing Crisis. . . . 56 Ram Truck Celebrates Ten-Year Anniversary of Becoming Stand-Alone Brand . . . . . . . . . 75

up 24% in 2019 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Technology to Improve Customer Service,

COLUMNISTS Anderson - Skate to Where the Puck Is Going, Not Where It Has Been . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Attanasio - Do You Know Anyone Who Needs to “Digitally Diet?” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Ledoux - The 1980s – “A Time of Awakening” . 44 Phillips - The Growth of “Emerging Technologies” in Collision Repair Shops. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Sisk - ASA’s September Webinar Emphasizes Importance of Cybersecurity . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Reduce Cycle Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Tesla Autopilot Protects Nature: It Saved Momma Bear and Cubs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Tesla Pickup Truck Still on Track for November Unveiling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Tesla’s ‘Holographic Glass’ Patent Makes Way for Better Vehicle Displays . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Tesla’s Charging Connector Patent Paves Way for the Semi’s Megachargers . . . . . . . . 62 Volkswagen CEO Claims That the Shift to Electric Cars Won’t Hurt Margins. . . . . . . . . . 4

NATIONAL “Who Pays for What?” Survey Finds Shops Billing, Being Paid a Processing Fee . . . . . . 36 Amazon Buys 100,000 Rivian Electric Trucks in Pursuit of Carbon Neutrality. . . . . . . . . . . 72

an immediate solution to moving your vehicle from the scene. “There have been some instances around the country where tow operators have become belligerent with auto accident victims who challenge or question their intentions. A legitimate tow operator will satisfy your concerns; an illegitimate one will not,” said NICB Chief Operating Officer Jim Schweitzer. Obtained via PR Newswire.

CIECA Unveils New Logo & Announces

Volkswagen to Begin Development and

ACA Leadership Days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

INDEX OF ADVERTISERS

REGIONAL

The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) is warning consumers about the dangers of tow truck scams by issuing a new PSA. If you’re involved in an auto accident, you will likely have a towing company move your vehicle to a repair facility or other location. However, in some cases, we are seeing tow truck drivers arrive, unsolicited, at the scene of an accident and present themselves as

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

autobodynews.com / NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS

Tesla’s ‘Holographic Glass’ Patent Makes Way for Better Vehicle Displays Screen Color Matching,” outlines a way for the electric car maker to imThe user experience of Tesla’s electric prove the viewing angles of its vehicars is centered mostly on the vehicles’ displays. In the patent, Tesla cles’ large, high-resolution displays. notes that “because display screens Coupled with custom software that typically have a periodic micro-strucprovides a quick, smartphone-like ex- ture (e.g., a pixelated structure), the perience, Tesla’s screens in its vehi- color of the display screen may be cles are already among the best in the dependent on the angle at which a auto industry. But in the spirit of the viewer is looking at the display company’s habit of constant innova- screen.” This results in viewing antion, it appears that Tesla is looking gles that have significant room for to improve the quality of its dis- improvement, even among highquality screens. plays even more. “The non-displaying portions of the device may be unable to match this angular color dependence of the display screen, resulting in a readily visible boundary between the display screen and the non-displaying portions of the device. Accordingly, there is a need for better color integration between the displaying portions of a device and the Tesla model 3 vehicle display. Credit: Andres GE, non-displaying portions of Teslarati.com the device,” Tesla wrote. To address this, Tesla opted to A recently published patent from the electric car maker, titled utilize a pigmented frame and index “Holographic Decorated Glass for match glue to coat its vehicles’ by Simon Alvarez, Teslarati.com

Millennials Will Keep the Car Alive, Says Report by Gavin Braithwaite-Smith, Motoring Research

Millennials hold the key to reversing the slump in the automotive industry, according to the Millennials and Auto Trends Report. Market uncertainty, anti-diesel legislation, low emission zones and the popularity of ride-hailing apps such as Uber paint a gloomy picture for the industry. But the survey of 2,150 millennials (aged 23 to 28) from across the world presents a brighter outlook. In Europe, 79% of millennials already own a vehicle, while half of the respondents who do not own a car expect to buy one within the next five years.

Interestingly, despite the common perception of millennials as an environmentally conscious generation, petrol and diesel are the engines of choice for 53%. On the flip side, that would suggest 47% of the respondents drive an alternative fuel vehicle (AFV). Perhaps surprisingly, 82% of the respondents have never used a ride-hailing app or use them less than once a week. Those who thought the rise of Uber, carsharing schemes and short term rentals would kill the car could be mistaken. What Do Millennials Look for in a Car? What’s important to young car buyers? The infotainment system? Smartphone

ference in user experience. A car that boasts some of the most advanced automotive tech available in the auto segment today, after all, deserves a screen that is on par with some of the best mobile devices on the market. Tesla’s display design outlined in its recently published patent can come in handy as well, particularly as the electric car maker introduces more updates to its fleet of vehicles. Among these is a “Fade Mode,” which Elon Musk has hinted at in the past. While responding to a Twitter follower last year, Musk responded positively to the suggestion of adding an option that allows drivers to dim their vehicles’ display while a car is in motion. This, together with An illustration depicting a system where a display is features like V10’s Joe surrounded by a holographic glass panel. Credit: US Mode, could help make Patent Office long trips in Tesla’s electric A color-matched display with vehicles much more convenient for optimal viewing angles might be a passengers. rather minor aspect of a vehicle, but for connected cars such as Tesla’s, it We thank Teslarati.com for reprint is these little things that make a dif- permission. screens, as well as a holographic glass panel. By adopting these techniques, Tesla expects to provide its vehicles with a screen that can offer optimal viewing angles for all passengers. This is especially useful when paired with the company’s entertainment features such as Tesla Theater or Tesla Arcade.

connectivity? The color? Not necessarily. More than half of the respondents said price is an important consideration, which suggests competitive PCP deals could be around for a little while longer. Other factors include fuel economy (59%), style (34%) and safety (30%). Paul Teuten, managing director at Duff & Phelps, the company behind the survey, said: “Our Millennials and Auto Trends Report challenges conventional wisdom that millennials prefer alternatives to car ownership and provides encouraging evidence that millennials will drive the automotive industry forward. “The European findings, in partic-

Volkswagen CEO Claims That the Shift to Electric Cars Won’t Hurt Margins by Chris Young, Interesting Engineering

Volkswagen doesn’t expect its new focus on electric cars—in order to avoid heavy EU regulatory sanctions —to hurt its profit margins, Chief Executive Herbert Diess reported in a newspaper. Diess claimed the car manufacturer expects to sell nearly 20,000 Audi e-Tron in 2019, and also highlighted the fact that the electric Porsche Taycan was already sold out, in its first year of production. 4

Strong Sales in Electric As Reuters reports, Diess said, “we do not expect a deterioration in margins,” in an interview with daily la Repubblica’s supplement A&F. “Our advantage is that all our brands have the same platform for electric products and the same batteries that we buy in China,” Diess claimed. In his reports, Diess also said that orders for the VW ID.3, the group’s recently revealed compact electric model, are already covering the production planned until mid-2020.

NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

A Drop in Chinese Sales Rather than the shift to electric, Diess claimed he is concerned about the trade war between the U.S. and China, which has caused a drop in Volkswagen’s Chinese sales — though the company’s market share in the country has grown over the past six months, to 19%. Despite this, Diess emphasizes that Volkswagen is not planning to reduce its efforts and cut exposure in the Chinese market. In a 2017 press conference, the

ular with over 80% of millennials never or rarely using ride-hailing and car-sharing services, underscores this and casts doubt on the presumed notion that ride-hailing services are increasingly used by this population. The automotive industry should take note and adapt to this by continuing to make the right technological investments to satisfy millennial preferences.” With 77% of the respondents saying car ownership is a necessity for independence, it’s going to take a major shift in culture and legislation to release the automobile’s grip on our lives. We thank Motoring Research for reprint permission. company said it would invest $40 billion into electric vehicles. Since then, it has stuck to its word by investing in the Audi e-Tron, Porsche Taycan, electric Beetle, and other electric vehicles. It has done so, in large part, to avoid billions of euros in European pollution fines. We thank Interesting Engineering for reprint permission. We thank Motoring Research for reprint permission.

autobodynews.com / NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS

CAWA Annual Meeting During AAPEX and SEMA Supports Scholarship Program by Chasidy Rae Sisk

On the evening of Sunday, Nov. 3, the California Automotive Wholesalers Association (CAWA) will host its Annual Meeting at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas during AAPEX and SEMA. Instead of having a keynote speaker, this year’s event will feature a comedian as a light-hearted start to the intensity of Industry Week. CAWA President and CEO Rodney Pierini said, “Since the week will be full of speeches, meetings and lecturers, we felt that a comedian would be a change of pace and provide laughter and fun to begin the week.” The highlight of the year for the association, CAWA’s Annual Meeting serves as a fundraiser for the association’s scholarship program. All proceeds from the event benefit the CAWA Memorial Scholarship Fund which promotes quality and high standards in the auto care industry through education. Scholarships are awarded to students pursuing an automotive industry degree or certificate from an accredited college, university or technical institute and

to high school instructors of automotive repair programs to ensure their programs are providing the necessary education for modern repairers. The exclusive sponsor for the event is Motorcar Parts of America. Selwyn Joffe, chairman, president and CEO of Motorcar Parts of America, stated, “We are honored to support our industry through the CAWA scholarship programs. These programs complement MPA’s core values and highlight the importance we place on educating future generations of leaders in the automotive aftermarket industry.” Dan Hanson, Jr., chair of CAWA’s Board of Directors, added, “We are pleased that Motorcar Parts of America will sponsor this year’s gala. I appreciate their support over the past several years. Their gracious support allows the Association to garner the financial support necessary to continue granting scholarships to future associates in the auto care industry and to support automotive teachers at the high school level.” For more information about CAWA and its events, visit cawa.org.

Western Association Event Announcements: November 2019 by Chasidy Rae Sisk

ASA Northwest’s November Meetings and Events ASA Northwest’s eight chapters will meet in November to discuss industry issues.

• Nov. 7 at 6 p.m. - Pierce Chapter Meeting at LaQuinta in Tacoma, WA. • Nov. 12 at 6:30 p.m. – Whatcom/Skagit Chapter Meeting at Park Bowl Restaurant in Bellingham, WA. • Nov. 13 at 6 p.m. – Eugene Chapter Meeting at Lane Community College, Automotive Technology Building #9 in Eugene, OR. • Nov. 14 at 6:30 p.m. – North SnoKing Chapter Meeting at Bob’s Burger & Brew in Everett, WA. • Nov. 19 at 6 p.m. – Olympic Peninsula Chapter Meeting at Kitsap Golf & Country Club in Bremerton, WA. • Nov. 21 at 6:30 p.m. – Spokane Chapter Meeting at Mirabeau Park Hotel & Convention Center, Lilac Room, in Spokane Valley, WA. • Nov. 21 at 6:30 p.m. – South Sno-King Chapter Meeting at 6

Bellevue Brewing Company in Bellevue, WA. • Nov. 25 at 6 p.m. – Southwest Washington Chapter Meeting at South Puget Sound Community College, Building 27, Percival Room in Olympia, WA. For more information, visit: www.asanorthwest.com. ASA-CO: Fifth Class in Series Focuses on Structural Capital On Nov. 12, ASA-CO will host a seminar entitled “How to Create Competitive Advantage & Company Value Through Structural Capital” at Napa DC in Denver. The fifth in the association’s series of classes taught by Michael Herzberg Smith, this session will demonstrate the connection between the previous four classes, beginning with a review of the keuiy elements from the previous sessions. Attendees will discuss the elements of value that private equity investors are seeking as well as how to begin building those elements into their businesses immediately. For more information on ASACO, visit: www.asacolorado.org.

NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

California Bill to Amend 2018 Exhaust Noise Law Passes Legislature Thanks to the efforts of Assembly Members Tim Grayson, Tasha Boerner-Horvath, Phil Ting, Phil Chen, Senator Holly Mitchell, and enthusiasts throughout California, state lawmakers have approved SEMA-supported legislation (SB 112) that restores “fix-it” tickets for cars suspected of violating the state’s exhaust noise limit. Once signed into law by California Governor Gavin Newsom, SB 112 will take effect immediately.

SB 112, a budget implementation (trailer) bill, includes text drawn from SEMA-sponsored AB 390, which was authored by Assembly Members Grayson and Jim Frazier in early 2019. Under normal legislative procedure, AB 390

would not have been implemented until January 2020. “SEMA thanks Assembly Members Grayson, Boerner-Horvath, Ting, and Chen, and Senator Mitchell for their tireless work on behalf of the over 1,700 member companies based in the Golden State,” said Daniel Ingber, SEMA’s vice president for legal and government affairs. “Thanks to their efforts, enthusiasts in California will continue to be afforded due process under the law.” SB 112 removes cars from the impact of AB 1824, which was signed into in June of 2018. AB 1824 amended how California law enforcement officials issued citations for suspected exhaust noise violations by eliminating the ability to issue fix-it tickets, which allowed for 30-days to correct a violation. Instead, motorists received an immediate fine. Once signed into law by Gov. Newsom, SB 112 will again allow law enforcement to issue fix-it tickets. Obtained via semasan.com.

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Fix Auto Poway in CA and GEICO Donate Two Vehicles to Two Families child. Kenny, who is currently enlisted in the Navy, will be medically discharged and will require this ve-

Fix Auto Poway and GEICO Insurance have teamed up to provide two deserving families with new vehicles. The gifted vehicles include a 2016 Toyota Prius and a 2016 Toyota Corolla, which were both fully refurbished at Fix Auto Poway, which is locally owned and operated by long-time San Diego resident Gary Leger.

Kenny H., Letticia J., and their families receiving their vehicles. Credit: Fix Auto Poway

The presentation took place at a recent San Diego Padres game and was broadcasted in-stadium and on Fox Sports. Kenny H., nominated by STEP (Support the Enlisted Project), received the 2016 Toyota Prius, and his wife will soon welcome their second

GEICO executives and managers, Fix Auto Poway Franchise Partner Gary Leger, and the team at Fix Auto Poway immediately following the gifting ceremony. Credit: Fix Auto Poway

hicle to help plan the family’s next steps. Letticia J., also nominated by STEP, is also currently enlisted in

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the Navy and has recently assumed financial responsibilities for a close friend and the father of her three children which has placed her in a difficult financial situation. Letticia received the 2016 Toyota Corolla, which will alleviate the burden of her current vehicle’s lease allowing her additional financial freedom.

Fix Auto Poway Franchise Partner Gary Leger (center) welcoming attendees during the gifting ceremony. Credit: Fix Auto Poway

“I’ve always felt that we owe those who selflessly serve our country a debt of gratitude,” said Leger. “On behalf of my entire organization and those who graciously contributed, it was an absolute honor to provide these two local families with safe and reliable transportation.”

Gerber Collision & Glass Expands Into WA

The Boyd Group Inc. announced the acquisition of two collision repair centers in the Seattle/Tacoma, WA, area. These locations previously operated as Rainier Collision and have served the communities of Gig Harbor and Port Orchard for 12 years. These repair centers are located

within the fast-growing Kitsap Peninsula, with a population of approximately 270,000 people located across the Puget Sound west of Seattle and Tacoma. “Acquiring these two repair centers enhances our brand in this region,” said Tim O’Day, president and COO of the Boyd Group. “We are eager to build on the high-quality service delivered by these locations to customers and insurance partners in this market.” For more information, please contact Stephen Boyd, vice president, corporate development, at stephen.boyd@boydgroup.com or at (204) 594-1776.

autobodynews.com / NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS

Continued from Cover

MCRA Supports

and refinishing program through an endowment program that grants scholarships to students pursuing a career in the collision repair industry. “MCRA believes it is important to find diverse ways to provide support for industry programs like the one provided by MSU-Billings,” Flores explained. “Support is provided through the endowment, but also through efforts to bring attention to the multitude of career opportunities that exist in the collision repair industry. By attending job/career fairs and working with Montana high schools, we can bring positive attention to the automobile collision repair and refinishing program at MSU-Billings.” The association has also hosted fundraisers in support of the school’s collision repair training program in addition to participating in and donating to fundraising events held by the administrators of the program. At a Board meeting earlier this year, MCRA Vice President Matthew Mc-

Donnell pointed out all of CREF’s great efforts around the country, and the Board voted to team up with CREF to grow resources and financial support for the MSU-Billings program. “CREF has provided tremendous support through its outreach abilities and by bringing corporate sponsorships to the MSU-Billings Program to provide much-needed facility improvements and financial contributions,” Flores said.

MSU-Billings collision instructor Steven Wodrich said in the statement. “It has been a struggle to get all the tools I have needed to make my program current. I have worked very hard at finding donations and grants and have been able to update many of our tools but still have a long way to go to be completely current.” Through their partnership, MCRA and CREF hope to raise funds to provide the school and its students with hand tools, aluminum repair tools

In the September release announcing the partnership, Brandon Eckenrode, director of development for CREF, said, “Through the generous support of sponsors and the local collision industry we hope to help MSU-Billings students receive the education they need to succeed in the collision industry.” “When I took over the program, most of the tools were in need of repair, replacement, or were obsolete,”

and equipment, a new frame rack, epoxied program floors, student work uniforms, and student scholarships. The collision repair industry is constantly seeking qualified talent to meet business needs, and CREF’s mission aligns with that of many industry associations by striving to help provide “qualified, properly trained, and immediately productive entrylevel employees to meet current and future industry needs,” an endeavor

“The hesitance of the collision repair industry is what has placed us in the situation we are in today.” — Paul Flores

NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

that benefits all collision repair industry professionals across the country. “MCRA is proud to team with the Collision Repair Education Foundation to enhance the future of collision repairers in the state of Montana. Programs such as this are a lifeline to the repairers, schools, trainers, and students supporting the collision repair industry,” Flores said in the September statement. Moving forward, Flores anticipates that the MCRA Endowment “will continue to grow and be a selfsustaining resource to provide continued support to students seeking opportunities in the collision repair industry through MSU-Billings. MCRA will continue to support the efforts of the automobile collision repair and refinishing program at MSUBillings by collaborating with them and organizations such as CREF to provide resources, outreach and financial support. Our hope is that more programs open up, especially at the high school level, and when they do, MCRA will be there to partner with those programs in a support role.” Flores expressed concern that “there is still a stigma about the col-

lision repair industry and a lack of awareness about the opportunities that exist within the industry. When people think about collision repair, many still envision a dark dirty facility with people ‘slinging mud’ to repair damaged sheet metal. We need to make the public aware of the technical precision it takes to properly restore today’s automobiles and the advanced technologies required to carry out those repairs. There is also an advanced support system in most repair facilities that is required to keep a repair facility running at optimum performance. This support system has numerous career opportunities as well.” CREF is always seeking monetary and tool donations, and as a nonprofit 501(c)3, donations to CREF are tax-deductible. Reluctance to get involved is one of the most prevalent shortcomings for many collision repair professionals, but Flores believes that the time to ignore the problem is long gone. “Stop thinking about supporting local collision repair training programs, and do it - get involved!” he urged. “The hesitance of the collision

repair industry is what has placed us in the situation we are in today.” Flores continued, “Take the time to get to know the people running these programs (while they still exist), and help them in any way possible. We often have the resources and connections that they greatly need to keep their programs afloat. Repairers can also get involved by attending their community’s local career fairs and working with high school guidance counselors to share the vast opportunities provided within the collision repair industry. Positive awareness is key to increasing interest for our industry and preserving its future!” Anyone interested in supporting MCRA and CREF’s efforts to benefit the MSU-Billings collision repair training program can contact Eckenrode at 312-231-0258 or Brandon .Eckenrode@ed-foundation.org. For more information about CREF, visit collisioneducationfoundation.org. For more information about MCRA, visit mcramt.com.

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CREF to Host Annual Reception During SEMA 2019 in Las Vegas Collision industry members are invited to join the Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF) during their annual reception the evening of Tuesday, Nov. 5 from

8:30 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. (PDT) in the Renaissance 1 Room at the Renaissance Las Vegas Hotel during the 2019 SEMA Show. During the reception, attendees will hear about the organization’s efforts to support high school and post-secondary collision students, 2019 donors/supporters will be highlighted, and winners of the annual 2019 CREF Benchmark Grants

will be announced. CREF Director of Development Brandon Eckenrode said, “We welcome the industry to join us during this reception to recognize our current industry partners and participating schools to showcase the opportunities for others to get involved with us to fuel the future of the industry.” Industry members are asked to RSVP online (https://conta.cc/2lfL85v) for the reception. Questions regarding the reception and/or the Education Foundation’s efforts to support the future of the collision

industry can be directed Eckenrode at Brandon.Eckenrode@ed-foundation.org or 312-231-0258.

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California Vows to Fight Trump Plan to Gut Emissions Rule by Matthew Renda, Courthouse News Service

California Gov. Gavin Newsom hit back Tuesday, Sept. 17, against reported plans by the Donald Trump administration to formally revoke a Clean Air Act waiver that allows the Golden State to set emissions rules that are stricter than the federal government. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce a rollback of the plan at a private event at its headquarters, a move seen as a direct attack against the Democratic stronghold in the West. The decision comes almost two weeks after the Justice Department launched an antitrust probe into a deal struck by California and four automakers to boost fuel efficiency. “The president could learn from California. Instead, reports today suggest that his administration will act on a political vendetta by announcing they intend to end aspects of our clean car waiver,” Newsom said in a statement. “It’s a move that could have devastating consequences for our kids’ health and the air we breathe, if California were to roll over. But we will not – we will fight this latest at-

Trump administration will attempt to revoke that decades-old independent authority, but legal experts question whether it has the authority to do so. “There is nothing under the Clean Air Act that allows the EPA to revoke a waiver that was given to the state,” said Margo Oge, director of the EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality from 1994 to 2012. “They cannot do that, in my view, based on 20 years managing the program.” California earned Trump’s ire in July with its deal with Ford, Honda, BMW and Volkswagen to meet stricter fuel efficiency California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Credit: AP Photo, Jeff Chiu standards – an end-run ised to roll back the Barack Obama- around the Trump administration’s era rule requiring auto manufacturers efforts to relax standards developed to increase fuel efficiency by 5% in during the Obama administration. Trump lashed out at Ford in a all models by 2025. California then announced its series of tweets. The Trump administration mainintention to establish its own rulemaking authority, granted by the tains fuel efficiency mandates make Clean Air Act to establish its own cars more expensive and harm the fuel efficiency standards, and automotive industry, its workers and flexed that muscle by making the consumers. Environmentalists say the mileage deal with the four automakers. The tempt and defend our clean car standards. California, global markets, and Mother Nature will prevail.” The political dispute between California and the Trump administration began almost the day Trump was inaugurated, as the president prom-

WD-40 Partners With SEMA Cares

It’s the “Year of the Bronco” at the 2019 SEMA Show and WD-40 Company and SEMA Cares have partnered to rebuild an iconic cult classic, the 1966 Ford Bronco, to be featured before being auctioned off to raise money for ChildHelp, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the prevention of child abuse. SEMA Show attendees can see the WD-40 X SEMA Cares 1966 Boosted Bronco and learn how WD-40 Brand products can help them on the job in every day and extreme, cannot fail situations. The Boosted Bronco will be on display at the WD-40 Brand booth (#62129 located outside by South Hall) from Nov. 5-9, 2019. “It’s great to be able to modify an iconic vehicle like the Ford Bronco using WD-40 Brand products, particularly as the 2021 release approaches,” said Mike Spagnola, SEMA vice president of OEM and product development.

NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

standards are necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and will benefit consumers by saving money on gasoline expenditures. California is the only state with a waiver to create its own fuel efficiency standards, largely because of the state’s unique air quality problems and its intimate involvement with the crafting and passage of the Clean Air Act during the Richard Nixon administration. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has already pledged to fight the revocation in court if and when it occurs. “California will continue its advance toward a cleaner future,” the attorney general said. We’re prepared to defend the standards that make that promise a reality.” We thank Courthouse News Service for reprint permission.

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Tesla Invites UFOs to Supercharge Amid Day of Area 51 Raid by Joey Klender, Teslarati.com

Humans and extraterrestrials in the vicinity of the top-secret government facility Area 51 will have access to a special Tesla Supercharger in Nevada today, the company stated in a Twitter announcement.

After a social media movement over the past few months suggested that a raid would take place at Area 51 on Sept. 20, Tesla has made its Beatty, NV, Supercharger closest to the secretive government facility available to any alien whose flying saucer needs a quick charge in order to evade Nevada. The Supercharger is located about 100 miles from Area 51, also referred to as Groom Lake. The raid is scheduled to happen on Sept. 20. The Supercharger, of course, will still be available for any Tesla user who needs to charge their vehi-

cle. However, owners are advised that some wait times might be involved, as it is not known how long UFOs will take to be fully charged, or if they are equipped with the electric car maker’s secretive “Plaid Powertrain.” The Area 51 Raid, known as “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us,” was started as a Facebook event on June 27 by user Matty Roberts. The event has had over 2 million people mark themselves as “Going” and another 1.5 million say they are interested in the event. While some have made it clear that they will attempt to gain access into the top-secret, highly-mysterious facility, Roberts was quick to clarify that it was a joke and claimed he was not responsible for anyone who would actually try to raid Area 51. As Sept. 20 dawned, it became evident that there are some people who actually showed up in the area. A participant amusingly stole the show from a news anchor reporting on the event, running across the screen in classic Naruto style. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is very vocal about his love for internet memes, has shared a few parody

NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

Area 51 photos over the past few days, including one showing Area 51 in a three-dimensional form, known as “Volume 51.”

Credit: Tesla/Twitter

While Musk has clearly become a figure of comedy on social media, it is clear that he takes Tesla being a “fun” car to drive very seriously. In the past, Tesla has included Easter Eggs to its vehicles. Everything from Monty Python songs to the highly-regarded “Toilet Humor,” where a series of different whoopie cushion noises play, have been added to Tesla vehicles and labeled as Easter Eggs. We thank Teslarati.com for reprint permission.

CREF Names Sulkala Family Scholarship Recipient

The Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF) announced the recipient of the Sulkala Family Scholarship. The Sulkala Family scholarship program honors Chuck Sulkala, NABC founder and executive director, who retired last year. Sulkala is also a Trustee Emeriti of the Foundation. The 2019 Sulkala Family Scholarship recipient, Joseph Silbaugh, Dunwoody College of Technology, Minneapolis, will receive a $2,000 scholarship to fund his education in the collision industry. “The Sulkala family has given so much to this industry, it’s an honor to keep that influence going and support the next generation of collision industry professionals,” said Stacy Bartnik, who is both a past chair of the Foundation Board of Trustees and of the NABC. “Chuck’s dedication to the future of the industry through his longstanding support of the Foundation since it was founded 28 years ago makes this scholarship a natural way to ensure that the Sulkala Family continues to help our industry into the future.”

autobodynews.com / NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS

Truck Trailer Carrying Five Tesla Cars Burns in NV by Gustavo Henrique Ruffo, InsideEVs

A truck trailer carrying five Tesla cars went up in flames on Sept. 24, at about 9:10 p.m., in Nevada, close to Carlin, NV, at the Interstate 80. The Elko Daily first reported the fire and said a Tesla spokesperson has denied it started because of its cars. It would have been a problem with the carrier truck. We are having a hard time understanding how that is possible.

Credit: InsideEVs

A tractor-trailer had two trailers full of vehicles. According to the local newspaper, the rear one started to present fire, and the truck driver managed to get it disconnected. Carlin firefighters were the first ones to attend the call.

Unfortunately, all the six cars that were on the trailer were destroyed. The blaze also damaged the

Tesla has on saying it was the carrier, so I cannot help you there.” “I can tell you that the truck it-

nearby guard rail posts that were close to the trailer, and the flames almost caused a forest fire.

self was detached from the auto trailer that was involved in the fire,” Bingaman added. “Upon seeing

Credit: InsideEVs

“The extreme heat generated by the fire has made it very difficult to determine the cause” — Linda Bingaman

“The cause of the fire is undetermined at this point,” said Linda Bingaman, from the Elko County Fire Protection District. “The extreme heat generated by the fire has made it very difficult to determine the cause. I am not sure what basis

NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

smoke, the driver disconnected from the auto trailer and moved the truck away from the trailer so that the truck was not involved in the fire.” We thank InsideEVs for reprint permission.

SCRS Offers Members Personal Benefits

The Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) announces a new benefits program offering SCRS members, and their employees, the opportunity to save on personal rental vehicles. The Alamo Rent-A-Car, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and National Car Rental brands have partnered with the SCRS to offer an official member benefit for all employees within a member business. “We’ve had a lot of conversation surrounding ways that SCRS can enrich the lives of employees in our industry, not just the member businesses they work for,” added SCRS Chairman, Brett Bailey. “There are countless ways that this benefit can be used by our members, and we are appreciative that we have corporate partners like Enterprise who seek out ways to help extend unique experiences and offers to our other members.” For more information about SCRS, or to join as a member, please visit www.scrs.com, call 1-877-841-0660 or email info@ scrs.com.

autobodynews.com / NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS

Continued from Cover

Speakers Discuss

of “view” of any sensors. “I actually got called out by a customer who couldn’t get this vehicle calibrated. He had tried multiple times,” Lesniak said. “They sent me out to trouble-shoot, and there was what looked like a grasshopper splattered right in the middle of the camera on the windshield. Step number one in the instructions was to make sure the windshield is clean, especially in front of the camera. They skipped the basic steps.” Lesniak was just one of several speakers discussing OEM procedures and ADAS calibrations during the CIECA conference, held in Charlottesville, VA. Sean Guthrie, director of operations for the seven Car Crafters Collision Centers in Albuquerque, N.M., said one thing he thinks may slow the expected reduction in claims count based on ADAS is whether consumers are buying vehicles equipped with such systems. He said he and his wife were recently in the market for a new

with that technology. They said, ‘It’s simple, Sean: We don’t sell them. And if we do sell them, the customer wants us to turn it all off. So why would we have a car on the lot that’s $6,000 more for something that someone is just going to turn off?’” Guthrie thinks it may just be that consumers aren’t seeking out ADAS because it’s not something that is being marketed to them. Regardless, Guthrie said his company is working to do more of ADAS calibrations inhouse, in part because dealerships often aren’t prepared to do so. He believes that even shops subletting the work should still research the calibration procedures to know George Lesniak (right) of Autel said technicians often skip important steps in the calibration process. Other speakers what needs to be done. on the panel included (from left) Mark Allen of Audi, Sean “It’s disappointing how Guthrie of Car Crafters Collision Centers, and Darrell often when you tell dealerAmberson of LaMettry’s Collision. Credit: Sheri LaFlamme ships, ‘We removed and remodel to the top tier, there wasn’t one installed all these things, and replaced available with the full ADAS suite. I these things, so this is what we need asked the dealer why is it that your calibrated,’ they look at you and say, cars are among the safest out there, ‘But it drives fine and there are no with the most available technology, codes or dash lights,’” Guthrie said. yet you don’t have one on the lot “This is from a dealership that sells

car and found no dealer in their region with the model vehicle they wanted that included all the ADAS features the automaker makes available for that vehicle. “It wasn’t just a matter of finding one in the trim model we wanted,” Guthrie said. “From the base of that

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and services that vehicle. Unfortunately, more than once we’ve had an argument with a dealership about what needs to be done. We couldn’t have that argument unless we knew the OEM repair procedures.” He said subletting the work also doesn’t relieve a shop from the liability that ADAS calibrations were done fully and properly. The only way to ensure that has happened is to road-test the vehicles, something his company does even if a dealer did the calibration work on a sublet basis and should have done its own road test. “We’ve picked up many cars after they get done at the dealership and had to turn right back around and take it back because they’re not calibrated right,” Guthrie said. “You have to test drive the car to know that. And you need to test every system, not just the ones you affected [during repairs] because they all talk, they all work together. If you affect one, you may have affected five.” Guthrie said although it varies by make and model, dynamic system calibrations and post-calibration road tests often require two people. See Speakers Discuss, Page 24

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CARSTAR’s 700th Collision Repair Facility Opens in CA CARSTAR continues to expand across North America, and achieves a significant accomplishment by opening its 700th location with CARSTAR Montrose, located 2604 Honolulu Ave. Montrose, CA, 91020.

Credit: CARSTAR

“Becoming known for our premier collision repair quality and service is only made possible because of our growing franchise family of local owners and operators who care about the communities they serve,” says Dean Fisher, president, CARSTAR. “We are truly a family of family businesses and our commitment to providing

our customers with best-in-class services remains paramount and it is because of this commitment to performance that we have reached these levels of accelerated growth.” The highest-quality collision repair performance remains a key area of focus CARSTAR, as original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners continue to innovate vehicle designs with remarkable capabilities to enhance both driver experience and safety. “We believe the insurance and OEM relationships that CARSTAR fosters are a game-changer for any independent collision repair operator that’s looking to succeed in today’s competitive and complex environment,” says Daniel Panduro, owner, CARSTAR Montrose. “This is one of the many reasons why we decided to join CARSTAR.” For more information on CARSTAR, visit www.CARSTAR.com and www.CARSTAR.ca.

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NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

White Center, WA, Body Shop Damaged as Nearby Building Goes up in Flames by Kara Kostanich, KOMO News

Fire investigators are trying to pinpoint what caused a vacant building to go up in flames on Sunday, Oct. 6. The two-alarm fire happened along 17th Avenue SW in White Center, WA, just before 4 p.m. “I smelled the smoke but I didn’t see anything,” said Martin Buenez, who is a technician at Gerber Collison, which is located next to the building. Buenez was working a rare Sunday when the odor concerned him enough to look out the window. He could see two good Samaritans on the sidewalk that made sure he got out. “They were like, ‘Hey, your building is on fire!’ So I called 911,” said Buenez. Smoke was coming from the vacant building only inches from the collision shop. “I didn’t know if I was going to need to get all the cars out of the shop or what, but the fire department told me to step aside and

that’s when the whole thing went up in flames,” he said. Flames did eventually spread to his shop’s roof, and damaged their paint shop. The vacant building, according to area businesses, has been a hotbed to squatters for years. “A lot of homeless people go in and out,” said Zaro Sea, an employee at Gerber Collison. Investigators say they don’t know what caused the fire, but the damage to Gerber has employees worried about business. “No cars, no paycheck, and no paycheck means I can’t pay bills to support my family,” said Sea. Employees say they hope the collision shop will be business as usual despite the damage caused by the blaze. “I guess I’ve got to look at it on the bright side, now that it’s burned down, maybe they’ll take it down and the homeless will stop showing up,” said Sea. We thank KOMO News for reprint permission.

SCADA’s West Coast Auto Dismantlers Convention Provides Training by Chasidy Rae Sisk

The State of California Auto Dismantlers Association (SCADA) hosted the 2019 West Coast Auto Dismantlers Convention on Sept. 67 at the Hyatt Palm Springs in Palm Springs, CA. According to SCADA Executive Director Tammy Pirnik,

Lifetime SCADA member Herb Lieberman was honored for his contributions to the industry during the award ceremony on Saturday, Sept. 7. (l to r) SCADA President Gary Umphenour, Herb Lieberman. Credit: SCADA

“The convention went really well. We had around 100 attendees and 30 vendors at the trade show. Each year, we choose something different to focus on, and this year, we really focused on the training aspect. All I’ve

heard is positive feedback. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it, and they got a lot out of the training.” Pirnik added, “Training is expensive, and SCADA offering it in this form is a huge cost savings for our members, plus the trade show allows them to talk face-to-face with reps from 30 industry vendors in one location and find out about the latest products and services they offer. During the convention, the California lobbyist who works on the industry’s behalf updated us all on the bills coming down in support of and against auto dismantlers, and SCADA discussed what we’re doing as an association to support those legislative efforts.” The agenda on Friday, Sept. 6 featured roundtable discussions and a presentation on “Illegal Dismantling in California.” The evening concluded with a welcome reception. Saturday, Sept. 7 began with a presentation by Paul D’Adamo who discussed “How to Eliminate Risks and Maximize Rewards With Takata Airbags.” In addition to a general membership meeting, lunch featured an awards ceremony where Christine Phillips was honored as the 2019 Dis-

mantler of the Year, an award voted on by her industry peers. During the ceremony, SCADA also honored lifetime member Herb Lieberman for his contributions to the industry. The day also included training seminars with Car-Part, Hollander and Pinnacle. The evening included a trade show and buffet dinner.

Christine Phillips was honored as SCADA’s 2019 Dismantler of the Year, an award voted on by her industry peers. Credit: SCADA

In 2020, SCADA’s West Coast Auto Dismantlers Convention will be held in conjunction with the Automotive Recyclers Association’s annual convention in Reno, NV. For more information about SCADA and its events, visit scada1.com.

NE Resident Wins Hood Decorating Contest

Kyle Van Pelt, of McCook, NE, is the winner of the annual hood decorating contest put on by the Auto Body Technology program at North Platte Community College. Auto body students repair and repaint a damaged vehicle hood every year as part of a class project intended to teach them basic collision repair skills. Students in other applied technology programs at the college judge the hoods and vote on a winner. This year, the prizes were sponsored by Keystone Automotive Industries, a subsidiary of the LKQ Corporation. They included a spray gun kit, a cordless color match light and a sanding block package. “This was the closest competition I’ve seen in years,” said Mark Harwood, auto body instructor. “All the winning entries were within one point of each other. The students did an excellent job.”

www.autobodynews.com

autobodynews.com / NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS

Continued from Page 20

Speakers Discuss

“You’ve got somebody who needs to be manning the scan tool, while the other person is safely driving,” he said. “There are some cars that you can put into [test] modes and then drive and confirm that it worked. But for the most part, two people make it much safer.” Guthrie was asked what happens to a vehicle his company has repaired if neither his shop nor a local dealer is equipped and prepared to calibrate the ADAS. “The car sits,” Guthrie said, comparing it to a car not being released if an airbag hasn’t been installed. “We had a Subaru for which we didn’t have the calibration equipment. The dealership had the equipment but had never set it up or used it. So that car wasn’t safe to be back on the road. It took almost two months. We ended up helping the dealer getting the equipment set up and getting it done.” Another speaker at the conference concurred. Darrell Amberson

of LaMettry’s Collision, which operates nine collision shops and two stand-alone mechanical shops in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota, has developed ADAS calibration stations at two of its locations. He said companies such as his can be another source of calibration help for other shops if dealers in a market are not set-up to do so. He said that like Guthrie, his company won’t release a car until calibrations are completed; in one case, that even meant not taking on a particular job. “It was a Toyota van that was a handicap conversion,” Amberson said. “They had put in heavy-duty springs in the back of the vehicle. There was no data from Toyota in terms of how we should calibrate it. We reached out to the conversion company, and they admitted they just performed the conversion and didn’t do anything about the ADAS. We found that situation scary and just stepped aside and didn’t perform the repairs because there was no way we could know how to properly calibrate that vehicle. It was probably fixed by someone who probably didn’t do anything with the ADAS systems.”

NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

AAPEX Mobility Garage Training in Las Vegas to Focus on Electric Cars AAPEX 2019 Mobility Garage: Products and Training for Tomorrow will feature hands-on training and demos to prepare technicians

To show that a Toyota Prius can run as a propane-electric hybrid, the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium (NAFTC) and ICOM North America adapted a vehicle to run in this manner. In this photo, NAFTC’s Mark Kemp shows the propane fuel rail on the modified Prius to attendees of last year’s Mobility Garage. Credit: AAPEX

and shop owners for the next generation of electric cars and alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs). This training will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 5 through Thursday, Nov. 7, at the Sands Expo in Las Vegas. Training sessions will include electric vehicle technology and the new skills technicians need, steering and chassis technology, scan tools and lab scopes, Chrysler reprogramming and networking, and battery technology on hybrids, electric cars and AFVs. Sessions also will address security technology, inspection guidelines for natural gas vehicles, electrical training, and ASE exams for compressed natural gas topics and hybrid electric vehicles. For more information, visit https:// www.aapexshow.com/or e-mail info @aapexshow.com.

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NorCal Autobody to Move to New Location in Fortuna, CA by Mary Bullwinkel, Times-Standard

A new building that is more than 8,000-square-feet is being constructed at 1325 Riverwalk Drive in Fortuna, CA, and moving day will happen in the next three to four months. “We have been going through this process for the last two years,” said NorCal Autobody Office Manager and Project Coordinator Leah Overson. “It’s been a long time coming, but with the help of the community, especially the city of Fortuna, our customers, and current owner of the new location property Harry Hardin, it’s really happening.” She expressed gratitude to those who have worked on the project. “Everyone has helped the project stay on course, including the contractors and the city,” she said. “They want to see the doors open as bad as we want to be in the building.” The steel building was erected by Darin Thomsen Construction of Loleta, CA. “It will have a huge storefront office, floor to ceiling windows, and a showroom big enough to park a car in. It will ultimately allow us to speed up the (repair) process, take

more customers, and expand our team,” Overson said. She said in the coming months, NorCal Autobody hopes to add one to three new employees. The business will be looking for new employees with automotive painting, autobody repair, and frame and me-

NorCal Autobody Office and Relocation Project Manager Leah Overson is coordinating the moving process. Credit: Mary Bullwinkel, Times-Standard

chanical experience. Currently, all technicians at NorCal Autobody are ASE certified and have taken I-Car Gold Class training. Overson has been working at NorCal Autobody since May of this year. She was hired when former Of-

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fice Manager Crystal Atkisson passed away unexpectedly. “Crystal was the one who started the search for a new home two years ago,” Overson said. “She was coordinating the process and getting permits to move the project forward.” NorCal Autobody was established in 2011 by current owners Mike Weekly and Kevin Brett, who have a combined 60 years of auto body experience. The current location at 687 K St. in Fortuna was the previous location for Bob Aldrich’s Body Shop. Aldrich retired in 2011, leading Weekly and Brett to establish their own business at that same location. NorCal Autobody has outgrown its current location, according to Overson. “These last three months have been the busiest in the last several years, which is amping us up to get into the new building,” she said. Once construction is complete, the business will host a barbecue so everyone can mingle and see the new building. We thank the Times-Standard for reprint permission.

Omaha, NE, Training Facility Underway

Metropolitan Community College announced the expansion of its South Omaha, NE, Campus on Wednesday, Sept. 25. A ceremony for the Automotive Training Center was held in the campus’s west parking lot, where the new two-story, $32 million dollar academic facility will change the outlook for the auto industry in Omaha and the region. “The Automotive Training Center and Center for Advanced Manufacturing were created with regional area economic needs in mind, giving students high-demand job opportunities in the automotive industry,” said Randy Schmailzl, MCC president. The 100,000 square-foot Automotive Training Center will bring together the Automotive Technology and Auto Collision Technology programs, currently housed at two different College locations. The facility will have more than 30 automotive bays, giving students an increased number of workspaces, including an area dedicated to a new Toyota T-TEN master mechanic training program, with room for other specialized training options.

autobodynews.com / NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS

Mercury Paying $41M in Long Court Battle With California Insurance Department by Staff, Insurance Journal

Mercury Insurance Co. has agreed to pay more than $41 million to end a two-decade-long battle with the California Department of Insurance battle over the Los Angeles-based carrier improperly tacking fees onto auto insurance policies and over false advertising claims. The payment resulted from a record $27.6 million penalty plus $8.1 million interest, making it reportedly the largest property/casualty payment in CDI history. The battle between Mercury and the CDI was fought up to the California Supreme Court, which in August rejected Mercury’s request for review of the case. According to the CDI, Mercury agreed this week to pay the penalty, plus interest, and to settle a second phase that had not yet been tried in the courts. The second phase involved false advertising claims the department was preparing to prosecute under the Unfair Insurance Practices Act.

“This historic settlement shows the Department of Insurance is steadfast in its fight to protect consumers, defend Proposition 103 and make sure insurers play by the rules,” Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said in a statement. “When something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Mercury made profits by ignoring the rules, and in California, no insurance company gets a free pass.”

A Mercury spokesman provided the following statement: “The Superior Court of California resoundingly ruled in Mercury’s favor on three different grounds. This ruling was later inappropriately reversed by the appellate court, but we have decided to settle this case so that we can move forward to focus on providing California consumers

NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

the tremendous value they’ve come to expect for the past 58-plus years from Mercury.” The Mercury spokesman in defense of the carrier also provided a number of bullet points: • The Court of Appeal, in an unprecedented and poorly-reasoned opinion, reversed the Superior Court’s decision, allegedly because the Superior Court did not give proper deference to the Commissioner, even though the Superior Court expressly acknowledged its requirement to give a “strong presumption of correctness” to the Commissioner’s findings. • In spite of that presumption, the Superior Court found that the Commissioner’s allegations were not supported by the evidence and ruled in Mercury’s favor. • Without justification, the Court of Appeal disregarded the trial court’s findings and reversed the judgment. • Although appellate courts are required to uphold a trial court’s factual determinations if they are supported by substantial evidence, the Court of Appeal here ignored that

standard of review: Instead of remanding the case back to the Superior Court to confirm that proper deference was given to the Commissioner, the Court of Appeal simply stepped into the trial judge’s shoes and substituted its own factual conclusions. • Although Mercury and the California Superior Court agree that Mercury did nothing wrong, Mercury has decided to put an end to this 20-year-old plus dispute in the best interests of its customers, employees and other stakeholders. • The fees were disclosed upfront and customers agreed to pay those fees, and no portion of these fees was ever collected by Mercury. In spite of that presumption, the Superior Court found that the Commissioner’s allegations were not supported by the evidence and ruled in Mercury’s favor. Without justification, the Court of Appeal disregarded the trial court’s findings and reversed the judgment. Although appellate courts are required to uphold a trial court’s factual

autobodynews.com / NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS

determinations if they are supported by substantial evidence, the Court of Appeal here ignored that standard of review: Instead of remanding the case back to the Superior Court to confirm that proper deference was given to the Commissioner, the Court of Appeal simply stepped into the trial judge’s shoes and substituted its own factual conclusions. Although Mercury and the California Superior Court agree that Mercury did nothing wrong, Mercury has decided to put an end to this 20-year-old plus dispute in the best interests of its customers, employees and other stakeholders. Of the $41 million settlement, $36.2 million in penalties and interest will be paid to the California General Fund. Nearly $5 million of the settlement amount will repay the Proposition 103 Fund, which benefits all ratepayers. The department’s Proposition 103 enforcement fund comes from a surcharge on insurance companies that they may pass through to consumers. We thank the Insurance Journal for reprint permission.

CA Attorney General Becerra Sues “Paul Blanco’s Good Car Company”

California Attorney General Xavier their communities,” said Attorney Becerra filed a lawsuit in the General Becerra. “Far from a good Alameda County Superior Court car company, Paul Blanco’s abhoragainst Paul Blanco’s Good Car rent conduct put vulnerable families Company, a network of motor ve- at risk, through deceitful advertishicle dealerships, and it’s Chief Ex- ing and illegal sales and lending practices. It’s disgraceful ecutive Paul Blanco and it’s unlawful.” alleging that the company The lawsuit charges engaged in a variety of Blanco with making false unlawful business pracstatements on credit aptices. These practices inplications, including by clude false advertising deceiving lenders about regarding credit and disthe value of vehicles and count programs, making the consumer’s ability to false statements on credit California Attorney repay the loans. This alapplications, and deceivGeneral Xavier lowed the company to ing customers regarding Becerra boost their profits through add-on products and addiimproperly financed sales and intional charges. “A car is one of the largest, creased the risk that the consumers and most important purchases for would be saddled with loans that many families, allowing people to they could not afford. Obtained via oag.ca.gov. get to work, school, and connect to

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Painters Supply & Equipment Expands Into Ohio Painters Supply & Equipment Co. (PSE) announced it has completed the acquisition of D&S Color Supply (D&S). The acquisition adds two locations in the greater Cleveland market. “We are extremely excited to have the D&S organization join forces with Painters Supply, as we continue to strengthen our presence in the State of Ohio,” said Patrick Mayette, president & CEO of PSE. Ben Ihde, owner of D&S, will join PSE as part of the regional leadership team. He will continue to ensure that his team delivers industry-leading service to their customers while driving continued growth in the region. “This acquisition marks another important expansion of PSE’s business in the Midwest,” continued Mayette. “We will remain an active acquirer of strategic distributors in the Midwest, Southeast and nationally, to support our aggressive growth goals.” For more information about Painters Supply & Equipment Co., visit www.painterssupply.com.

autobodynews.com / NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS

Continued from Cover

Ratings Systems

is too many, so we need to be as proactive as possible to ensure as much customer protection as possible, and that’s something we’ll be doing this year.” Low has worked closely with the automotive repair industry in California on improving the industry and earlier this year, he received the Legislator of the Year award from several automotive repair groups, including the Automotive Service Councils of California, the California Automotive Business Coalition and the California Autobody Association for his work on AB 3141 (Bureau of Automotive Repair: Automotive Repair Dealers: Maintenance and Services) in 2018. CAA’s Lobbyist Jack Molodanof isn’t a big fan of a rating system for several reasons. “Consumers already have access to rating systems and they’re called Yelp and Google,” he said. “Body shops are not restaurants where the measurables are objective (e.g. measuring hot water, or

refrigerator temperatures), so comparing the two industries is apples and oranges.” Another big question that hasn’t been answered is who will pay for this rating system? It will obviously have to come from more taxes or fees. But, would that really even solve the problem, we asked Molodanof. “We need the state to give BAR the tools and the resources necessary to expedite fraud cases and respond within a reasonable amount of time,” he said. “Currently, it takes almost three years to discipline a bad actor in the industry. If a shop is perpetrating fraud upon consumers, it shouldn’t take three years to discipline, it should take three months. If a doctor committed repeated or multiple acts of gross negligence, do you think it would take three years to be resolved? Not Likely.” The focus needs to be on expediting BAR’s enforcement case processing while preserving the auto repair dealer’s due process rights, Molodanof said. “Everyone’s goal is to protect consumers from bad shops and we believe timely enforcement (which provides earlier public noti-

NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

fication) will do that better than a ratings system,” he added. “Assemblyman Low wants to work with all parties involved for the best results, but we would oppose any legislation involving a ratings system for automotive repair shops.” Here is a prime example of a poorly handled BAR complaint that took three years to resolve. Back in 2015, a woman from Napa, CA, took her car to a shop for a simple oil change that ended up costing her $16,000 later. As reported by NBC Bay Area, the expensive oil change was performed by a Midas that had been previously accused of fraud by state investigators but allowed to keep its doors open. Consumer Investigator Chris Chmura from NBC Bay Area reported that a simple oil change turned out to be a nightmare that eventually led to the purchase and installation of a new engine. While the catastrophe unfolded, the Midas location in question was being investigated by BAR, but the car’s owner had no resources for finding out that they were possibly a shady business. As part of an investigation, NBC Bay Area took a long

look at the shop that was on the hot seat. The customer brought her car in for simple maintenance and when the shop changed her oil, the tech forgot to properly install an oil filter. When her vehicle started acting strangely, she took it to a local dealership for a second opinion and the news nearly floored her. She needed an entirely new engine and then she also found out that the Midas location had been under investigation since 2015, according to NBC Bay Area. According to BAR, their enforcement team performed drop-in visits at the shop and assembled evidence against them for misleading customers after receiving multiple complaints. “We brought them seven undercover cars, and we found 26 serious violations,” a spokesperson from BAR told NBC Bay Area. “They committed fraud and in one case, committed gross negligence.” If the car owner would have known that the shop was under investigation, it’s likely that the car’s owner would have taken her vehicle elsewhere. But, the information that could have saved her isn’t easily

available. To find out, she would have had to look up the car’s license number, search the docket, and decipher the legalese involved. During the entire investigation and the resulting disciplinary action, BAR let the Midas shop stay open for business, attracting new victims without any warning. The case currently sits with a huge backlog in the offices of the California State Attorney General’s, according to NBC Bay Area. Midas made a confidential settlement with the customer, but she is still a little troubled about the fact that the shop stayed in business while being cited for numerous violations. “It is frustrating that they (BAR) know what they know and are still out there doing it.” As a follow-up, NBC Bay Area contacted the Midas shop, and the owner said he sold the business a year ago, yet every time they called, he answered the phone. He also said he never was informed by BAR about his violations and that the entire affair is a sham, although he declined to give us his name. His case will finally be heard later this year, four years after the initial complaint.

Tesla Owners Weather PG&E’s Power Outage as Gas Stations Across CA Shut Down by Simon Alvarez, Teslarati.com

Tensions are rising in up to 34 counties in California as residents begin feeling the effects of Pacific Gas and Electric Co’s (PG&E) decision to cut power to around 800,000 customers as a way to avoid potential wildfires in the area. Amidst the chaos, Tesla owners who have installed rooftop solar and Powerwall 2 batteries are reporting that they are weathering the widespread power outage with no problems. PG&E’s shutdown has received widespread criticism among California residents and officials alike. In a statement to The San Francisco Chronicle, Rep. Jared Huffman described the power provider’s strategy as a “lousy set of choices.” Michael Wara, director of the climate and energy policy program at Stanford University, added that the widespread outage shows that the company cannot operate their system safely during challenging times. Amidst the chaos surrounding the state, Tesla owners who purchased a Powerwall 2 battery with rooftop solar systems have reported that they are barely feeling the ef-

fects of the ongoing outage. Mark Flocco, a homeowner who acquired two Powerwalls for his home, noted in a Twitter post that his battery units have been powering his house with no issues since the outages started.

Credit: Sumfollower and Yung_Ashleyy, Twittter

Considering that there seems to be enough sun in California these days, Flocco noted in a follow-up post that his two Powerwalls haven’t dipped below 68% before the next day begins and they can start getting power from the sun again. Thus, for now, the Powerwall 2 owner’s home could remain powered indefinitely, or at least until the days start getting shorter. While Tesla owners with residential battery systems and solar panels are practically immune to

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the effects of PG&E’s widespread shutdown, CEO Elon Musk has pledged to improve the company’s Supercharger Network by installing Powerpack batteries. Musk also mentioned that solar panels will be added to its Superchargers as fast as possible, in order to acquire clean, 24/7 power. Tesla’s electric car and energy storage business is designed to promote an ecosystem that allows customers to achieve energy independence from the grid. By using the company’s electric cars together with its solar panels and home batteries, owners could essentially power their vehicles and houses with the sun. This, ultimately, is Tesla’s endgame, and if the performance of Powerwall 2 batteries and solar panels in PG&E’s current outage is any indication, a good number of homeowners might very well end up purchasing batteries and solar systems for their houses after this incident. We thank Teslarati.com for reprint permissio

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Kevin Hart’s Plymouth ‘Cuda Fate Not Pretty As comedian Kevin Hart goes through the process of physical rehabilitation after wrecking out in his 1970 Plymouth ‘Cuda named Menace, the car is set to be taken apart.

possibility the restomod will be kept in its disassembled state once the investigation is done. Making matters worse, TMZ claims CHP is pushing for changes in California laws regarding restored cars. More specifically, shops would

Another issue on the table is salvaged cars that are subsequently restored. CHP is pushing for government regulation requiring such vehicles to be inspected by officials before they can be licensed in the state. Needless to say, many car restoration shops and enthu-

a car for drivers inexperienced with high-powered rear-wheel-drive models to drive hard. Hart’s friend and the fiancé of his wife’s trainer, Jared S. Black, was driving Menace on Mulholland Highway when he lost control, crashed

Credit: Motorious

by Steven Symes, Motorious

California Highway Patrol will continue its investigation by performing an autopsy on Menace, taking the car apart to determine if anything malfunctioned. Alcohol has already been ruled out as a factor in the crash. This won’t be a quick teardown of the car, but instead, forensic investigators anticipate the process will take about three weeks. There’s a

have to install safety harnesses, even if the original design didn’t include them. The 1970 Plymouth ‘Cuda had no such restraints, a factor CHP believes contributed to the serious nature of Hart and the driver’s injuries. However, the other passenger who sustained only minor injuries also wasn’t wearing any safety restraints at the time of the crash.

NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

siasts won’t like this push one bit since it means the government alters the original look of their vehicles by force. Menace is a 1970 Plymouth ‘Cuda restomod created by SpeedKore for the 2016 SEMA show. It comes with a Hellcat engine, multiple carbon-fiber body panels, a reinforced chassis, and other performance enhancements. Needless to say, it’s not

through a fence, and the car rolled multiple times down an embankment. Black had to be airlifted to a hospital, while Hart was able to transport himself for care. Rebecca Broxterman, the trainer, was in the backseat but only sustained minor injuries. We thank Motorious for reprint permission.

autobodynews.com / NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS

Carson City, NV’s, VIPS for Vets Receives Generous Donation by Carson Now Reader, CarsonNOW.org

Rupert’s Auto Body donated a 2014 Chevrolet Cruze to the sheriff’s Office VIPS for Vets program to support the growing need for transportation services for local veterans. The VIPS for Vets program has grown tremendously over the past two years as it serves to accommodate day-to-day

ees that pitched in, all the work that was done on this was done on their spare time,” said Ted Rupert, business owner of Rupert’s Auto Body. “Every single panel on this vehicle had scratches on it, it’s been vandalized, all the windows were busted out, and all the tires were slashed. We did all the paint work and body work here at Rupert’s Auto Body. I want to thank Les Schwab for donating and replacing all the tires and Fast Glass for replacing all the windows. And everyone volunteered and donated parts without hesitation.”

Credit: Motorious

errands for homebound veterans. Carson City’s veterans will continue to have the reassurance in knowing they can rely on VIPS for Vets transport if needed. With the addition of the new reliable vehicle, this service can help more veterans travel greater distances. “I want to thank everybody for what they did, especially my employ-

Credit: Motorious

“I’m glad that we can be a part of our community and give back, this donation helps us at Les Schwab give back and support our community, and we appreciate being able to do

this, thank you,” commented Royce Buckley, manager at Les Schwab.

Credit: Motorious

“Homebound veterans are not getting the services they need, often because they require individualized transport, whether to a specific location or at a certain time,” said Sheriff Ken Furlong. “As a result of being homebound, people don’t know that our veterans are isolated. So far this year we serviced over 200 veterans, getting them to and from their needs. The challenge that we faced was getting reliable vehicles, vehicles that can transport someone over 100 miles to their appointment. I’ve tried the federal government and nothing, I’ve tried the state government and they had us purchase it. This donation

is at the core of our community values and what our community is about, our community steps up to those challenges to ensure no veteran will be left behind in this town. I want to thank all of our volunteers, Ken Smith, and everyone at Rupert’s Auto Body, Fast Glass, and Les Schwab, who collaborated and freely gave their time to help our homebound veterans.” VIP Program has proven to be a great success and continues to expand, offering many services to our community. Citizens age 18 or older with an interest in helping law enforcement and community service are encouraged to volunteer as VIPs. For additional information, contact Smith, volunteer coordinator at (775) 887-2020, ext. 41932 or email him at KSmith@carson.org. We thank CarsonNOW.org for reprint permission.

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“Who Pays for What?” Survey Finds Shops Billing, Being Paid a Processing Fee An increasing number of shops over the past several years have begun charging and being paid for the administrative tasks involved in processing total losses, according to the findings of a recent “Who Pays for What?” survey.

“Certainly shops may agree to waive any such fees as part of a direct repair agreement,” said Mike Anderson of Collision Advice, who conducts the quarterly “Who Pays for What?” surveys in conjunction with CRASH Network. “But the process has continued to become

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more complex. It can involve more tear-down, more research of OEM procedures, unloading or loading the vehicle to and from a tow truck, etc., and more and more shops cannot afford to perform all these tasks for free.” Data from the “Who Pays for What?” survey this past summer shows that the percentage of shops that say they “never” charge to process total losses has steadily declined from 30% in 2015 to just 19% this year. The percentage of shops negotiating to be paid a fee to process these vehicles surpassed 80% for the first time this year, up from just under 70% in 2015. Of those negotiating to be paid, 63% report being paid “always” or “most of the time” by the nation’s eighth largest insurers.

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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.

‘Skate to Where the Puck Is Going, Not Where It Has Been’ Each year, I apply various presentation themes, and this year, I based my theme on something Wayne Gretzky, the legendary hockey player, once said. He was asked what he learned that made him such a great player, and he said, “Skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.” In other words, he looked ahead, anticipating where the puck would be. As this year begins to wind down, we all need to think about not where the “puck” is in our industry right now, but where it is going to be—where you’ll want to be and how you’ll get there. Here are four examples of how, like Gretsky on the ice rink, you may want to be looking ahead rather than looking at things as they are now. 1. Scanning has become the norm in the industry, which is good, but where the “puck” is going is a related

process—calibrations. Shops need to be investigating the time, money and, most importantly, investing in shop space to be able to perform more ADAS calibrations in-house. Understand what types of vehicles you most commonly work on that require calibrations. Research those procedures, understand what targets or tools are needed, and look for the potential space to do them. The space can be a hurdle; the average body repair stall is 300 to 400 square feet, but some of these calibrations can require 1,200 to 1,800 square feet. This is where the “puck” is going, and starting to head there now will help you succeed.

2. We need to start thinking about artificial intelligence (AI). While it remains to be seen whether AI can be used to write estimates, I believe it is or soon will be used to identify total

NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

losses. What does that mean for shops working to anticipate where the “puck” will be? Think about the nonDRP work you do, and how much total losses contribute to your revenue in terms of tear-down costs, storage fees or administrative fees. Storage is generally 100% gross profit, right? All that shop revenue may start to decline as AI is introduced. The consumer will send in some photos, and if the AI system identifies their vehicle as a total loss, that vehicle is going straight to the auction yard, not a shop. That’s something you need to start preparing for in terms of “skating to where the puck is going.” 3. The estimating system providers say claim counts have declined somewhat, albeit not a lot. That slow decline seems likely to continue, if not accelerate, as more vehicles on the road have ADAS features. It’s not

likely to be a dramatic shift, but even a 5% or 10% decline will have an impact on your business. In this case, skating to where the puck will be means working on your capture rate. For those on DRP programs, for example, you need best practices in place to ensure you follow-up on any assignments in a timelier manner. It’s easy when we get busy to not be as quick to jump on those; however, as claim counts decline, you need a designated person or a well-defined process to follow-up on those assignments quickly. For work outside of DRP programs, shops should prioritize responding to potential customers seeking estimates or appointments, to capture that work rather than lose it to competitors. 4. A fourth way you can “skate to See Where the “Puck” Is Going, Page 46

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Continued from Cover

Military Veterans

“Employer Guide to Hire Veterans” prepared by the Department of Labor, Griffith suggested. The department also offers a webpage addressing frequently-asked questions about hiring and retaining veterans. Griffith said many veterans transition jobs several times after leaving the military before finding their niche, but tend to stay in organizations that provide training opportunities, and that showcase “a military-friendly” attitude or a “veteran culture.” When a tornado hit near Service King’s headquarters in the DallasFort Worth area in 2016, Service King touted the role that more than 100 members of it staff – including veterans – played in serving hot meals to those in the affected area. That year, it also aired a 30-second ad highlighting Jeremiah Kuehl, one of 100 veterans the company had already hired. “He talked about feeling like he had transitioned from one family – the military – to another family,” Griffith said of the ad.

He said that Service King welcomed him, understood he had posttraumatic stress and worked around it. “‘They found a job that was perfect for me,’” Griffith said Kuehl communicated in the ad. “Because of that one ad, I think Service King had about 400 or 500 applications immediately, all veterans,” Griffith commented. Griffith said one other key to successfully hiring and retaining veterans for your business is providing something that most young employees want: a clear career path. “At the end of the day, most veterans want to help take your organization to another level,” Griffith said. “So if you tell them where they fit in, if you tell them why their job is important to your mission, they tend to want to stick with it. That’s one of the things that employers don’t do all the time; they don’t show them a growth potential in the organization, they don’t show them that pathway. In the military, we do that. We give them a career path, and employers tend to fail to do that.” One way businesses of any size can offer such a path, Griffith said, is

though a Department of Labor (DOL) Registered Apprenticeship Program. “If you take a chance on people through an apprentice program, they tend to want to stick with you,” she said. Creating such a program doesn’t have to be complicated for the employer, Griffith said. Another entity, like a community college or for-profit

Aaron Schulenburg of the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) said the association is seeing ‘test estimates’ showing up on vehicle history reports.

program like Universal Technical Institute, can do the actual training. The program just has to have a structured system that involves both the training and paid on-the-job experience. If the program is DOL-registered, any veteran completing it receives a nation-

ally-accredited certification, which should entice veterans, Griffith said. A DOL website includes information to help employers with the process, and Griffith said there are also state-level consultants that can assist. Last year alone, she helped build 168 registered apprenticeship programs, at businesses of all sizes, and said she can be a contact for shops seeking to get started. Please email Griffith with any questions at griffith.roxann.s@dol.gov Data Privacy Concerns Discussed During a discussion at CIC about new consumer data privacy laws being enacted by states around the country, Aaron Schulenburg of the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) said he thinks many shop owners may be unaware of how much data they are actually sharing with other entities. “Most of them don’t think about it as a sharing of data,” Schulenburg said. “What they think is: I’m ordering a part, or I’m extending a rental vehicle agreement for a customer, or using a CSI service. But in all of those interactions, if they are allowing

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pumps or programs on their computers from those companies to access [estimate data] files, all of those are in fact an exchange of data.” While the state data privacy laws tend to apply only to larger companies than most collision repair businesses, Schulenburg pointed out that shops are likely sharing customer data with those larger businesses that come under the new requirements of the law. As an example of how shops may be unaware of what data is being pumped from their servers or desktop computers, Schulenburg said the association has seen an increase in members reporting that estimates they have written – in some cases just ‘test estimates’ on undamaged cars have resulted in incidents showing up on vehicle history reports, such as CARFAX. “We’ve talked about this before at CIC, but it’s always been kind of cast aside as a one-off situation, or something that could be explained away,” Schulenburg said, citing publicly-available police accident reports as one potential source. “I can tell you that the volume of inquiries that we

as an association have fielded in the last 18 months to two years cannot be explained away by circumstance.” He said SCRS is continuing to look into the issue. “I’m disappointed that I can’t come up here and say, ‘This is how the information is getting there. This is what’s happening,’” Schulenburg said. “That is the intent of the research.” Couple Who Sued Shop to Speak at Next CIC During CIC meetings this year, chairman Jeff Peevy has left an empty chair on the stage as a reminder to attendees of an important industry constituent not generally represented at the meetings: the consumer. “Those families who ride in the cars that our industry repairs should be at the forefront of our thoughts,” Peevy said at CIC in Indianapolis in July. He’s taking that message to the next level at the upcoming CIC in Las Vegas on Nov. 5 by inviting two such consumers to speak: Marcia and Matthew Seebachan. The Texas couple in 2017 won a $42 million

judgment against a Texas dealership body shop after a jury found the shop’s failure to follow OEM repair procedures for a 2010 Honda Fit contributed to the severe injuries the Seebachans sustained in that vehicle in a subsequent accident. “Here is a young couple who had their whole life ahead of them when this happened to them,” Peevy said. “The Seebachans really want the industry to know some things.” Peevy said he was particularly compelled to invite the Seebachans to speak at CIC after realizing the couple had many similarities to his daughter and son-in-law, who also live in Texas, who are about the same age as the Seebachans, and who also bought a used Honda Fit from a dealership at about the same time the Seebachans did.

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Sovereign Joins CIECA

Sovereign recently joined CIECA as a corporate member. Established in 2005, Sovereign is an information technology (IT) consulting firm located in Arlington Heights, IL. The company provides IT services to its clients and has extensive experience in the collision repair business, working with single-shop and multi-shop operators. Dave Solak, president of Sovereign, said the company’s development team addresses a variety of technology challenges, including the development and support of custom shop management systems, mobile applications, websites, e-commerce systems, wireless networking and system infrastructure. “We are excited to be part of CIECA and thankful for the structure that it provides to the collision industry,” said Solak. “CIECA standards have provided a framework for us to develop programs that move information from estimating systems to our management systems using the CIECA legacy format.”

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In Reverse with Gary Ledoux

Gary Ledoux is an industry veteran with 50 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 1980s – “A Time of Awakening” Those who have been in the collision industry for a long time remember the 1980s as the advent of automotive unibody construction. New equipment purchases would reach a frenzied pitch and industry shows would blossom to accommodate the equipment purchases, but it was a lot more than that. Industry veteran Tony Passwater called the 1980s, “A Time of Awakening” for the collision industry.

Enter the Computer Today, computers come second-nature to us. Everyone has a laptop or a tablet or some portable device. We

“Glossary of Computer Terms” which included now-quaint terms such as: backup, cathode ray tube, central processing unit, cursor, hard disc, kilobyte, megabyte, menu, menu-driven, and modem. In a trade magazine article, industry veteran Chuck Sulkala notes that it is important to know your own market in terms of customer demographics. This would include male/female, type of car driven, insurance carrier, etc. He also notes that keeping track of all that information is a lot easier if tallied and maintained by … you guess it … a computer.

“Getting involved in a trade association is probably the first thing a new shop owner should do after he puts his sign over the door.” ” — Bill Wicklund

use them for everything; but, in the early 1980s, computers were a new “unknown” to most of us. Computerization affected the lives of practically everyone on the planet—the collision industry included. More specifically, 1982 will be marked as the beginning of the collision industry’s “information age” with the advent of electronic estimating systems, shop data management systems and trade publications. In a 1998 industry trade magazine, Passwater noted that the mid1980s was a “… time of awakening for our industry. Shop owners wanted to not only learn the computer program in and of itself, but how to be better business people. As such, some shop owners began to rise to the top of the industry, others struggled, and some just could not keep up and fell by the wayside.” A couple of trade magazine articles appearing in early 1984 discussed the pros and cons of computerizing a body shop and what to look for in a small business computer. One of the shop owners interviewed for the articles noted, “A good manager runs a shop by the seat of his pants. The manager in the future will manage numbers rather than manage people.” At the end of the piece was a handy 44

And with the advent of computers came a concept that would drive the business management side of the collision business into the future – the Auto Repair Management System (ARMS). It was the dawn of business management for shops.

Cleaning House As far back as 1910 when horse stalls were being “mucked-out” by livery stable owners to accommodate the parking and servicing of cars, a call has gone out from the earliest of “motoring magazines” to clean up the new “parking garages” and service areas so that “women may enter them.” Eventually, the “horse droppings” and attendant smells were replaced with bondo dust, lead filings, crumpled masking paper and all sorts of waste products strewn on the floor. In many shops, a customer could not sit down to discuss a repair job without getting covered with dust. Again, with the advent of collision-specific magazines in the early 1960s, trade magazine editors and industry pundits had been asking shop owners to physically clean up their shops—get rid of the bondo dust, dirt, overspray and nasty smells and make the shop more pleasing and presentable to the average person. It was said that

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neat, clean, and professional-looking places of business would attract walk-in customers. One magazine editor lamented, “Many shop owners say that they have the best body men in town, the best painters, and the latest equipment and years of training and experience so it shouldn’t matter what the shop looks like.” To which she also offered her favorite retort, “That’s all very commendable, but how do your potential customers know all this?” Industry veteran Tony Lombardozzi who managed the body shop at MacMulkin Chevrolet in Nashua, NH, during the late 1960s and early 1970s noted, “On Fridays, we stopped work at noon and everyone cleaned their own work bays. We hosed down the walls and got rid of as much dust as possible. We tried to make the place look neat and clean.” Another industry veteran who worked in a body shop at

a neighboring Lincoln-Mercury dealership noted, “Our shop was a like a coal mine. The dust was terrible.” Public Perception Since the 1940s, the public had a dismal view of the collision repair industry … and rightfully so. The shop owner was perceived as an unkempt, cigar-chomping Neanderthal in dirty, dusty clothes working in a dirty, dusty shop with a bunch of dirty, dusty guys. But by the mid-1980s, that was changing. One industry pundit noted that because shops had to buy lots of new, expensive equipment, and were starting to do things on a computer, there was a newfound pride among shop owners. They wanted to be seen, and be perceived as more professional—because they were more professional. A trade magazine editor wrote in 1985, “The man running the collision shop has

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changed. He is now a business owner, a business executive, and he looks and acts the part.” Another editor wrote, “To match their new physical image, many shop owners still needed some phone-answering and basic people skills.” It would all come eventually. Training Training became crucial, but shops had not yet bought into the concept of “continuing education.” This would change. Equipment companies would continue to provide training for their own products. In 1984, the Car-O-Liner company announced the opening of a training facility at its headquarters in Livonia, MI. The company offered a three-day, generic course open to anyone. The course covered automobile construction, wheel alignment, analyzing structural damage, repairing metal, MIG welding, and bench procedures. Formed in 1979, I-CAR was continuing to grow. In 1986, I-CAR was looking for more trainers to teach a growing number of students and class material. Classes included about a 50/50 mix of shop people

and insurance people. Despite their growth, in 1986, I-CAR was still searching for credibility and wider acceptance with the insurance industry, repair industry, and consumers. Their goal was to have insurance companies specify that cars be repaired at a shop that had I-CAR trained technicians. Banding Together The ‘80s was certainly a time for new organizations to spring-up, many becoming mainstays well into the 21st century. The ‘80s gave the industry the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS), the Collision Industry Conference (CIC), ASE and the NACE show. During the early 1980s, from New Mexico to New Jersey, it seemed every month a new local or regional collision industry organization was popping up. In a February, 1983 trade magazine article, Bill Wicklund of Wicklund Body Shop in Liberty, MO, noted, “In order to operate a business and know how to handle it, the shop owner has to get involved with trade associations to keep up with what’s going on in the real world. Getting in-

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volved in a trade association is probably the first thing a new shop owner should do after he puts his sign over the door.” Despite the proliferation of associations by forward-thinking individuals, not every shop owner was joining. An open letter appearing in a trade magazine to all body shop owners asked, “… if there were 58,000 body shops in the U.S., and only 2,500 were members of the Automotive Service Councils, 1,400 were members of the Independent Automotive Service Association, and in its first 120 days, 225 were members of the Society of Collision Repair Specialists, then where were the rest of the shops and had they not joined any industry association?” The letter was written and signed by John Loftus, then president of the SCRS. Today, there is still a call for more people to get involved in trade associations and take an active role in their own industry. Human nature says we will never get everyone involved; but, look how far we’ve come with the people who have donated their time and expertise.

Continued from Page 38

Where the “Puck” Is Going

where the puck is going” is by reviewing your staffing. Do you have technicians, estimators or managers who are likely to retire in the next three-five years? Have you thought about what you are going to do to replace them? Start working on that strategy now rather than later. Get a game plan in place. Start building your “bench” or “farm team” of talent, so that when those people retire, you are prepared with someone who you can move into those positions. It’s not always easy to know exactly where the “puck” is going. Being able to do that is part of what set Gretsky apart from so many other hockey players. I believe the same will be true for the shops that keep looking for where the industry is headed and taking steps to be there.

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Industry Training with Stacey Phillips

Stacey Phillips is a 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.

The Growth of “Emerging Technologies” in Collision Repair Shops Blockchain, artificial intelligence, systems and this is something that 5G and edge computing. These are we as an industry need to come to just some of the emerging technolo- grips with.” gies collision repairers will likely encounter in the future, said Fred Iantorno, vice president of Internet of Things (IoT) for VeriFacts Automotive. Iantorno, former executive director of the Collision Industry Electronic Commerce Association (CIECA), offered insight during a Guild 21 webinar in September about a variety of technologies that are becoming more Fig. 1 5G commonplace in the industry. “People refer to these as emergIantorno highlighted eight emerging technologies,” said Iantorno. ing technologies collision repairers “Well, they are not emerging any- should be aware of— more. They are here today, and they are all around us.” Iantorno: 5G is faster than 4G. It Although many of them may not does have greater speed, but it is also be found in a typical repair shop, lower latency; in other words, it’s Iantorno said it’s important to be more responsive. A message goes aware of what’s coming and currently through more rapidly and responses being used by other industries. can come back faster. There is also “Technology has grown faster an ability to connect to more ‘smart’ and has become more perdevices. Every piece of elecvasive in the last five years tronics can now be conthan it has in the previous nected: lights, sensors, your 50 years,” said Iantorno. washer, dryer, garage door, George Avery, host of even the oven! And the cost the Guild 21 webinar, is coming down tremenasked Iantorno to share his dously. thoughts about the current Fred Iantorno, vice The number of connected state of the industry as it re- president of Internet devices to the Internet alof Things (IoT) for lates to technology. ready exceeds the number of VeriFacts Automotive “Two of the biggest humans on the planet. There challenges are vehicle structure and are predictions that in time, there will safety systems,” said Iantorno. be 1,000 connected devices for every In regard to vehicle structure, he man, woman and child. talked about the high-strength steels, With 5G and the use of cloudcomposites and other new materials based apps, collision repair facilities that are increasingly being used in are going to need good, reliable Wivehicles. Fi. Without it, it’s going to be a chalIn addition, he said safety sys- lenge to connect to or print a repair tems all come down to one word: Ad- procedure and will lead to inefficienvanced Driver-Assistance Systems cies in shops. (ADAS). “These systems are not only Iantorno: AI is creeping into almost being used in high-end vehicles, like every facet of our lives—through our Mercedes-Benz and BMW, but they smartphones, cars, and home auare also starting to show up in stan- tomation. In fact, a form of AI is sitdard vehicles such as the Toyota ting in the thermostat of my house. It Corolla, Buick Encore and Volkswa- knows when I like to lower the temgen Jetta,” said Iantorno. “There’s a perature and it has learned my habits. lot of technology embedded in these This is part of machine learning

NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

Fig. 2 Artificial Intelligence (AI)

(ML)—which is based on the idea that systems can learn from data. You may have also heard of deep learning—a subset of ML. AI will accompany every technology implemented moving forward and is already impacting our industry. For example, AI is the engine that drives photo estimates. Intelligent First Notice of Loss (FNOL) is another AI function that can originate from a vehicle or a smartphone.

Iantorno: Most of us have heard about blockchain in terms of bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Those are just some of its applications. Blockchain is the underlying technology in which you have distributed digital ledgers. It’s used in today’s manufacturing companies to improve their supply chain. It’s also used in health care, electronic companies and in the financial sector. With this technology, every

Fig. 3 Blockchain

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party has a copy of the entire ledger and access to all the data. If somebody changes the data, everyone will be informed. This provides full transparency.

Iantorno: IoT is not a technology. It’s more like an umbrella for everything to be connected and perform various functions. An example is when your phone communicates with your doorbell or TV.

edge computing, that device talks directly to other devices and to/from a local processing device. You may be wondering why this is important technology. Earlier, I mentioned that billions of de-

“The number of connected devices to the Internet already exceeds the number of humans on the planet,” — Fred Iantorno

Fig. 4 Internet of Things (IoT)

However, like anything else, there are parts of the transaction that you as a supplier, for example, don’t have a need to know, so that is hidden. Within our industry, think about blockchain as the documentation that covers every step of the repair cycle from the initial FNOL to the estimate to the repair order to the parts order until final settlement. All of this information is sitting in a block, which is chained together. There are already implementations being used in our industry; for example, in subrogation.

The latest versions of the tools and equipment found in a collision repair facility either contain a computer or some sort of “edge-computing” device. Therefore, if a shop has any of the latest model tools or equipment, you are already on your way to being a connected shop.

Iantorno: Edge computing relates to 5G, Wi-Fi, mesh networking and IoT. 5G lowers the latency and the networks, meaning data can travel faster between servers and devices; whereas, edge computing takes care of the processing needs. For example, with cloud-based technologies, your data goes into the cloud; it is processed, and then comes back. With

NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

vices are going to be connected. As a result, it’s essential to get computing down to a lower level, so things happen quicker. Otherwise, think about how much computing power you will need in the cloud. Even though it looks and sounds limitless, if you start to move some of

that down lower, you’ll get better results and AI will operate faster. With greater speed, lower latency and being able to connect more devices, edge computing is going to be necessary. (Fig. 6)

Iantorno: With virtual reality, you wear specialized glasses and the object you see through the glasses is

Fig. 6 Virtual vs. Augmented Reality

Fig. 5 Edge Computing

not there, hence the word “virtual.” It appears to be right in front of you, but it isn’t. This is useful when it is costly to train multiple technicians on how to use a piece of equipment. Augmented reality, on the other hand, uses several devices. You can still wear glasses; however, a tablet

or phone may be used instead. The object you are seeing is physically in front of you, but the technology overlays a two- or three-dimensional graphic or video in a way that aids a person to perform a task. For example, if you want to bolt something on a vehicle, augmented reality will walk you through the steps. Repairers should be prepared for this technology to be used in in the future.

Iantorno: 3D printing has the potential to turn every enterprise, even if it’s a small business or home workshop, into a factory. Not only does it

Fig. 7 3D Printing

have the ability to print small parts, but it also has the potential to print larger parts such as bumper skins or passenger seats. For example, there are European companies building driver seats in a couple of days using 3D printing. Some MSOs are dabbling in printing small clips and other things of that nature. Almost anything can be made with a 3D printer. With a $3,000 printer, you have the ability to print a wide variety of items. The “ink” that is used for the printing, such as silver or aluminum, is what can become costly; however, the price points are starting to come down. Iantorno: The use of robotics is an interesting topic that I predict we will see more of in collision repair shops over the next couple of years. The International Federation of Robotics said there will be 2.1 million industrial robots installed in factories around the world by 2021. Robots manufacture today’s phones, vehicles, appliances, and can paint almost everything. For example, there is a plant outside Chicago that runs 24/7 and robots do all of the paint

Repairify Welcomes New CFO

Fig. 8 Robotics

production. If you can paint a car in a factory, why not be able to paint it in a repair facility? Maybe not with today’s paint booth or physical layout, but why not? In summary, I believe there are a lot of technologies we should be learning about as we plan our collision repair businesses. This isn’t something you have to have an absolute working knowledge of in order to appreciate it. We need to know what’s taking place and what is driving the changes within the industry. We also need to be openminded and learn about them even if we don’t want to. If you embrace the change, it can be fun.

Repairify, Inc., a leading cloudbased automotive technology and diagnostic services provider, announced the appointment of Teresa Covington as its chief financial officer. Covington will join the organization’s senior leadership team and lead the company’s global finance operations. Covington is a strategic financial executive with more than 20 years of C-level experience with publicly-held and privately-owned companies. Most recently, Covington was heading the global Finance organization at AeroVironment, a publicly-traded technology company in aerospace and defense that designs, manufactures, and distributes unmanned aerial vehicles. “I am very excited and eager to join asTech and to work with an extraordinary group of professionals. My aspiration is to apply my passion and experience in technology and operations to build and lead a strong finance team for a company with a global mission to make the world a safer place,” Covington said.

autobodynews.com / NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS

National News with Chasidy Rae Sisk

Chasidy Rae Sisk is a freelance technical writer from Wilmington, Delaware, who writes on a variety of fields and subjects, and grew up in a family of NASCAR fans. She can be contacted at crsisk@chasidyraesisk.com.

ASA’s September Webinar Emphasizes Importance of Cybersecurity On Sept.18, ASA hosted the newest installment of the association’s monthly Webinar Wednesday series featuring Tekmetric CEO Sunil Patel who presented “Cybersecurity 101 for Shop Owners.” Attendees were welcomed by ASA Vice President Tony Molla who introduced the webinar’s presenter and explained that the webinar was designed to teach the basics of shop’s internet security, firewalls and how to protect data, as well as to explore best practices involved in securing your network and the differences between cloud-based and locally-installed shop management systems. Attendees also learned about the most common security holes that currently exist in collision repair and automotive shops and what can be done to protect against them. Molla introduced Patel who began by explaining, “Cybersecurity is a newer buzzword, and one of the hardest things for people to grasp is that cybersecurity is not tangible; it’s security that you can’t see or feel or touch. It’s a matter of protecting yourself against the criminal or unauthorized use of electronic data or the measures taken to achieve this. Security is one of the utmost things we’ve created in our software.” Some people argue that the threat to cybersecurity has been somewhat inflated, and Patel concurred that most individual single shop operators probably have little to worry about because they don’t have enough data that is marketable on the black market. He said, “We’re not a major target for these hackers, but we still need to be careful with the changes in technology.” Patel began his presentation by defining some technological terms. He compared the IP address to a shop’s physical address and ports to a shop’s windows, noting this is where information is transferred. He also explained that firewalls are used to protect the user’s internet and devices, defining it as “the guardian or gatekeeper that allows traffic between your network and the internet.” After briefly describing some

notable security attacks in 2019, including Lake City, FL’s, payment of $460,000 after a ransomware attack and the attack against 30,000 computers in the Atlanta Police Department, Patel answered the most pressing cybersecurity question: why? The reasons for cybersecurity attacks are various. A victim may have valuable data that is worth something on the dark web, though Patel said that’s rare in the automotive industry. Some hackers just attempt attacks for fun or practice, while the most common reason is to earn money through ransomware attacks since victims are usually willing to pay to unlock their data. Cybersecurity attacks can be crippling to a business, and though competitors can initiate such an attack, Patel said that’s uncommon and not generally expected. The biggest threats for the automotive industry in 2019 are phishing, ransomware and vehicle jacking. Phishing is a means of attempting to fish for valuable information and becomes increasingly sophisticated with machine learning. Ransomware is the most common attack and usually occurs as a result of a simple click on an incorrect link which locks the computer down and encrypts the data, preventing the user from unlocking it unless they pay the ransom, most commonly in the form of a wire transfer. In vehicle jacking, hackers take control of the victim’s vehicle. In 2014, DARPA funded a hacking attempt to prove how easy it was by inserting a line of code in a GM Impala and completely taking the vehicle over via WLAN. Patel noted, “As vehicles get more and more complex, technologies that were manual are now electronic and can be accessed remotely through the network. It’s easier to take over vehicles that are all electronic.” The biggest issues for independent repair facilities are employee theft of shop information, credit card skimming, outdated firewalls and security protocols being used, and too many holes in the infrastructure. Patel also discussed the increasing

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prevalence of Personally Identifiable Information (PII), which involves hackers piecing together data that enable them to steal someone’s identity. “If you’re storing information on premises which includes customer’s vehicle, address, date of birth, this is information you can use to identify a person, and you can’t store this information. If someone was to steal this data, they can identify a person, and this can lead to identity thefts,” Patel stated. “Be careful with the ‘customer notes’ section of your shop management system - we’ve noticed some information being written here, such as credit card numbers, and this is not a secure space for confidential information.” Providing basic precautions that shops can take to protect their information from cybersecurity risks, Patel advised, “Keep your router and firewall secure. Change your default

password – you should always change that. Update your router and firewall regularly with the latest firmware. Create a separate guest; your customer should not be on your private network. It shouldn’t even be open to employees unless they’re using a shop tool. Ensure all your computers are up-to-date. It’s annoying, but it’s very important to ensure it’s on the latest version. Updates usually come out because vulnerabilities were found.” Patel then explored the differences between cloud-based and onpremise shop management systems. An on-premise system relies on the security of the shop’s hardware which may be damaged, plus it requires manual updates, constant infrastructure updates, and manual backups. In contrast, cloud-based systems are secure in the cloud with See Cybersecurity Webinar, Page 58

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Social Media for Shops

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

with Ed Attanasio

Do You Know Anyone Who Needs to “Digitally Diet?” Many of us have been on diets over the years. Anything in excess is bad, which was precisely what my aunt told me after she saw me eat an entire large pizza on a dare at age 12. Her advice resonated with me a few hours later when I got a Babe Ruth size stomachache and had to live on Pepto-Bismol for the next 48 hours. The valuable lesson I learned back then is that anything pleasurable is addicting and, evidently, spending time on our personal devices fits neatly into that category. It’s become a big problem that’s affecting both men and women, young and old equally, it seems. It’s easy to get addicted to our personal devices that can change our lives in many ways—both good and bad. As a busy collision repair professional, you’re balancing half a dozen things simultaneously, and much of it involves your cellphone.

You need to text an insurance agent; call your paint jobber; send several emails to employees, customers and vendors, etc. Digital overload is affecting people so much that many are doing a “digital detox,” where they go cold turkey over a period of time. To me, that sounds a little daunting and I fear I might lose my mind from digital withdrawal. Everyone has their own reason to digitally diet. The other day, I was out with some people who represented three age groups—I was the senior (61); there was a Millennial (32), and we were accompanied by a Gen Xer (23). We didn’t have much in common, except for the fact that we all admittedly spend too much time on our personal devices. The Gen Xer is a huge music fan and has more than 800 songs on his phone. If he’s awake, it means

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he’s connected to his earplugs which seals him away from the real world, which he likes. The Millennial is now a hardcore app addict with more than 100 on his phone (the national average is 30, how many do you have?) And as the senior in the room, I’m not tech-savvy enough to get addicted, but that doesn’t mean I’ll ever stop trying. The other day, it took me more than 20 minutes just to change my fantasy football lineup via my new iPhone! Digital addictions are not limited to smartphones either. Video game addiction is a serious issue worldwide with kids (and adults) playing games for 15-plus hours daily and have detached from society completely as a result. My friends had to recently send their 17-yearold son to a video game rehab boot camp to the tune of $15,000—and it did not work.

My niece sent more than 1,200 texts one month, many of which were pictures of food. I can see if you’re eating a fancy dinner, but McDonald’s? In this always-on and connected world, it’s just too easy to find ourselves repetitively staring at screens and mindlessly swiping through pablum online for countless hours while the real world quickly passes us by. In a study conducted this year by KDA Engineering, most Americans (92%) believe that smartphone addiction is a real issue. Although 60% of Americans believe they touch their cellphone 100 times or less daily, the reality is that a typical user taps, touches, glances at or swipes their phone a shocking 2,617 times per day, according to Dscout Research. Going to sleep at night doesn’t See “Digitally Diet?”, Page 75

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Post Repair Calibration – A Growing Crisis by Gary Ledoux

Have you, as a body shop owner or manager, ever taken a vehicle to an OE car dealer for a post-repair recalibration on an Advanced Driver Assist System (ADAS) vehicle only to get the “deer in the headlights” look from the dealership service manager, or simply be told the car does not require recalibration … even though you know it is required? If you have, welcome to the club. ADAS systems, once used only on high-line cars, are now seen in almost every vehicle. Even the ubiquitous “every-man car,” the Honda Civic has had ADAS components for several years. Mark Olson of Vehicle Collision Experts LLC (VECO Experts) of Seattle, a noted industry leader and consultant wants to reverse this trend by bringing it to the attention of the OE’s through as much anecdotal evidence as can be mustered before the industry week at this year’s SEMA show. His message to the OE’s will be to encourage them to properly train dealership personnel on the need for, and how to perform postcollision repair recalibration for those vehicles with ADAS systems. Anecdotal Evidence Mounts On Sept. 3, Olson sent out a call to the industry at large via social media asking for particular instances including names, types of vehicles involved, etc. Some of the early responses revealed the following: • A general manager for an independent body shop located in upstate New York noted, “GM, Toyota and Chrysler dealers have all said to me ‘… is the light on? No? Then it is fine.’ I have literally begged them to do diagnostic and calibration with little to no success. • A manager for a Fix Auto shop in Canada wrote, “What I am seeing is position statements from the car makers about how something has to be done. Recalibrate a mirror that has been R&I only, and then take the vehicle to the dealer for them to turn around and say it didn’t need it. Dealers going against what their companies’ position statements are. How are we supposed to keep up if local dealers get to change the rules?” 56

• An independent body shop in the upper mid-west wrote about work his shop had done on a 2018 Nissan Murano. “We had the vehicle towed to the [Nissan] dealership. Shortly after it was dropped off, they called and said it didn’t need a calibration on the front radar. I told them it did. They called back a while later and said they talked to their “A” mechanic at their other store and it did not need a calibration. I told them I was going to go on the Nissan tech site, print the exact procedure for the calibration, they were to perform it and bill me for it accordingly.” • Another upper mid-west body shop owner experienced a problem with a Subaru, similar to the Fix Auto shop in Canada. He wrote, “We will provide adjusters with the repair procedures for recalibration and they will call the dealer and the dealer will tell them the opposite of the Subaru procedures. We don’t have the backing from the dealership.” • The same shop owner had some issues with a GM dealer when he brought a collision-repaired car to that dealership for recalibration. Thinking ahead, the shop owner went into the vehicle’s shop manual, found the documentation regarding recalibration and brought them to the dealership. The shop manager continues, “When I handed them the documents, they said they never saw those documents and asked where I got them. The service department spoke with their own body shop about the inspections and since their body shop wasn’t doing them … it wasn’t needed.” In another instance with a Honda vehicle, the shop owner received a call from the Honda dealer service manager asking how a particular calibration was supposed to be performed. The shop owner printed the procedure right out of the Honda repair manual and sent it to the dealer.

Wake Up and Smell the Liability Asked about this situation, veteran collision repair and consumer advocate Erica Eversman, J.D. founder and principal of the Automotive Education & Policy Institute, noted, “If a body shop brings a car to an OE dealership, the recognized authority and representative of the OE, and the dealer service manager tells the shop

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that the car in question does not need to be recalibrated, or if they accept the car for recalibration, do a cursory or otherwise incomplete job and hand the car back to the body shop, it could be argued in court that the body shop should reasonably expect that the dealer knew what they were doing, accept the job as-is and move on. In this case, the body shop could have a legitimate defense – assuming the jury bought it; however, you would have to go through the entire mess and cost of a trial to discover this. Or the jury could simply say that as a collision repair facility, ‘you should have known better’ and still find you at fault.” Some industry people feel that improperly repaired ADAS systems, or failing to recalibrate them properly could be a ticking time bomb for the industry. It could be a replay of the John Eagle case. An “Invisible” Problem One of the major problems with the issue of recalibration … or lack thereof, is that it is difficult to “see.”

Consumers, the ones most directly affected by having a post-collision car properly recalibrated don’t know enough about it to ask the right questions. And even if they did know what questions to ask, they should be asking the OE, and there really is no direct contact between consumers and the OE. Independent body shops don’t have a direct line to the OE for twoway communication. All that exists is electronic access to that OE’s repair materials …. which many fail to read. Every OE has field representatives to call on dealers which allow a back and forth exchange. And they all have similar areas of responsibility. But rarely does the topic of proper post-repair recalibration come up. First … only about 38% of dealerships have their own body shops. Second, when the OE rep walks into a dealership, they usually have their own agenda for the day – objectives to be met and people to see. These may include dealing with warranty customers, technician training, intro-

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duction of new programs, etc., but rarely does it include topics germane to collision repair. What is the Answer? When asked what body shops should do to protect themselves, Eversman replied, “Shops should do their own homework and know what needs to be done relative to scanning and recalibration. If they can do it themselves in-house, all the better. If they have to sublet it to a dealer, know what needs to be done, and present the dealer with that documentation. When the car is retrieved, demand signed documentation that the car has been properly recalibrated based on the OE protocols.” Eversman continued, “Knowing what needs to be done to which car regarding scanning and recalibration should be on the shoulders of the shop’s estimator. And to help them, the onus of supplying that information should rest with the estimating systems so they are truly helping shops make a safe and complete repair. In that same vein, the OE’s could do more to make their respective dealers aware of this situation and how

to address it. A body shop representative should not get a ‘deer in the headlights look’ from dealer personnel when the subject of recalibration is brought up.” Jerry Dalton, president of Dalton Collision with two locations in Tennessee said in a social media posting, “We ALWAYS look up and print OEM calibration procedures, discuss with service if they have necessary equipment, hand them instructions, and then make them document that the calibration has been performed. Then, we test drive the car to ensure the system functions properly.” Chuck Olsen, senior VP of Operations & Automotive Technology for AirPro Diagnostics said, “I recommend when a collision shop identifies the need for a calibration to bring documentation with them including parts replaced and repair procedures performed. Include the calibration needed and the service information that calls for it based on what was done.” Olsen continued, “After going to the dealer, or any other sublet provider, save your dealer documentation on what they did, perform a

NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

road test and validate functionality. Make sure to ask for scan results showing all systems are clear or post-scan it yourself to document. In defense of dealership techs and advisors, most have not been exposed to this until a body shop comes in and asks for it.” A Wider Scope Ideally, body shops should be able to conduct recalibrations in-house. This could improve cycle time and the shop would know it was completed. However, given the complexity of recalibrating some systems on some cars, the time needed, and the cost of equipment, some body shops are going to continue to bring the repaired vehicle back to the dealer. So at minimum, the dealer should be able to know what is needed to scan and recalibrate the brand and models of cars their dealership handles. If you are a body shop that has had trouble getting an OE dealer to recalibrate a post-repaired vehicle, please send your story to Mark Olson of VECO Experts to mark@ vecoexperts.com or call Olson at 888-362-2511.

Continued from Page 52

Cybersecurity Webinar

state-of-the-art technology trusted by banks. They are automatically updated and backed up and can be accessed from anywhere in the event of a disaster that prevents access to the repair facility. Patel stressed, “A locally installed system can never be as secure as a cloud-based system.” Once Patel’s presentation concluded, Molla presented attendees’ concerns for the question-and-answer portion of the webinar event. Patel pointed out, “It’s just another type of crime that’s going to continue to happen.” ASA’s October Webinar Wednesday on Oct. 16 will feature Brian Farrington, ASA’s Wage & Hour attorney, who will discuss “Countering the Dealership Overtime Exemption.” On Oct. 30, the association will also offer a Bonus Webinar entitled “Let’s Get Technical on Coolants” with Robert Bassett of the Gates Corporation. For more information on ASA, its events and future webinars, visit asashop.org.

Effective Repair Planning Utilizing PCE (Process-Centered Environment) lision industry-specific PCE principles, according to Tim Ronak, senior Many collision repairers are famil- services consultant at AkzoNobel. iar with the process improvement “A body shop might be clean and methodologies such as Lean, The- tidy, but that doesn’t necessarily mean ory of Constraints and Six Sigma. that the best processes are in place to AkzoNobel has taken components of support repair planning,” said Ronak, during a presentation to a group of body shops in Honolulu, Hawaii, which was sponsored by Island Concepts. “Once a facility has assessed the effectiveness of its current repair planning process, the next step is to identify the best practices that drive improvement and standardization.” In part two of a two-part Tim Ronak from AkzoNobel talked about having the best series, Ronak talked about processes in place to support repair planning the building blocks of Akeach of these disciplines specific to zoNobel’s PCE principles, which the collision repair industry and la- include 5S, standardization, waste beled them as a Process-Centered reduction, visual management, Environment (PCE). Those who have continuous flow, in-process quality implemented repair planning in their and continuous improvement. businesses, but are still experiencing How would you describe 5S? supplements and other delays, have found success after incorporating colby Autobody News Contributor

SIERRACHEVROLET

5S is a systematic approach to creating and maintaining a manageable work area where everything has its place. The facility is specifically organized to create a visual environment that “talks to you” through visual guides that support the repair planning process, which makes it conducive for employees to do their jobs in a consistent, repeatable way. The objective is to build a strong foundation for a PCE transformation, establish discipline and produce quick and visible results. The 5S process was first defined in the 1960s by Hiroyuki Hirano from Toyota Motor Company. The English version of 5S is based on five Japanese words:

Sort (seiri): Remove what is not needed, add what is missing and store or discard unnecessary items.

Set in order (seiton): Arrange items for ease of use and employ visual tools to identify where everything belongs.

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Sweep/shine (seiso): Clean the workplace.

Standardize (seiketsu): Establish standards and schedules to maintain the first three.

Sustain (shitsuke): Adopt 5S into corporate culture by continued application and auditing.

How does standardization promote conformity within the repair process?

Standardization is an agreedupon set of work procedures established to maintain quality, efficiency, safety and predictability in a shop. It maximizes performance and minimizes waste. The key is to do the same things the same way each time. There are three important components of this: standard operating procedures (SOPs), standard work and standards. SOPs are the instructions that explain the operations in detail. This

See Repair Planning, Page 64

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Technology to Improve Customer Service, Reduce Cycle Times by Susanna Gotsch, Property Casualty 360

Our industry is using technology like never before to reimagine the consumer claim and repair experience. Digital capabilities are informing, improving and most importantly, helping

Digital technology plays an increasingly important role as vehicle repairs become more complex and repair costs and cycle time increase. Credit: Shutterstock via Property Casualty 360.

reduce the overall time from when a loss occurs to when a vehicle is repaired and ready for pickup, which is becoming ever more critical as vehicle complexity, repair costs and cycle time grow. Improving Consumer Satisfaction

Amid Rising Repair Costs According to the J.D. Power 2018 Auto Insurance Study, better access to online self-service tools through insurer websites and mobile apps has helped drive auto insurance customer satisfaction to its highest level since CY 2000. CCC Information Services, Inc. is seeing strong evidence of the shift toward digital in claims, as many carriers are supporting the capability for consumers to take photos of their damaged vehicle and use those to generate the estimate of record. This removes the need to schedule an appointment at a drive-in, or for an adjuster to come to the vehicle owner’s home or work for the inspection. The Sweet Spot Over the last 15 years, repair costs for the industry have steadily shifted into higher dollar ranges with fewer coming in below $1,000, and roughly 40% now falling between $1,000 and $4,000. Repairs between $3,000 and $4,000, for example, grew from 6.6% of the volume in CY2004 to 8.3% by CY2018. These are historically the claims where we have seen the highest productivity and customer satis-

Tesla Autopilot Protects Nature: It Saved Momma Bear and Cubs by Gustavo Henrique Ruffo, InsideEVs

Tesla Autopilot is still in beta testing, but it now has reached a point in which it saves lives. Despite being blamed for accidents, it performs really well. Mother Nature can now say the same. Better saying, a mother bear and its two cubs can, according to a video shot by Andrew Whittle’s TeslaCam.

Performance had made most of the journey on Autopilot. When momma bear and her cubs crossed the road, Autopilot immediately braked.

claims. We found customers with the telematics-enabled claims also chose photo estimating as the initial method of vehicle inspection more often, resulting in an added reduction in the number of days from assignment sent to estimate upload. As vehicle complexity continues to increase, repair costs and repair cycle times are expected to rise further. Our industry will need to continue to evaluate and evolve its use of technology to make positive strides on Credit: CCC Information Services Inc. via Property delivering a consumer exCasualty 360. perience that can counter help lift overall shop productivity and the impact of vehicle dynamics. CSI for both the repairer and insurer. Reprinted with permission from the September 2019 issue of Claims MagTechnology is Making a Difference For drivable and non-drivable vehi- azine. cles, the number of days from loss to loss report was dramatically lower by We thank Property Casualty 360 for nearly 90% for telematics-enabled reprint permission. faction index (CSI). By improving cycle time for these losses, both could see even better scores, and ultimately

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He was near the Glacier National Park in Montana. We don’t know when or precisely where. It was dark, and his Tesla Model 3 60

Would a focused driver have done the same? Most certainly. But what if he was distracted? What if he did not see the bears? In any of these possibilities, it is excellent to know how well Autopilot works in such situations. Whittle backed up the car a bit to avoid an attack by an apparently defiant mother bear. That was enough for her to leave peacefully. We thank InsideEVs for reprint permission.

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Tesla’s Charging Connector Patent Paves Way for the Semi’s Megachargers by Simon Alvarez, Teslarati.com

A published patent application from Tesla suggests that the electric car maker is continuing in its efforts to improve its already-stellar Supercharger Network. The design, which features a liquid-cooled charging connector, can potentially pave the way for a more ambitious charging infrastructure, perhaps one that can specifically cater to the all-electric Semi’s Megacharger Network.

The Tesla Semi visits Yandell Truckaway. Credit: Arash Malek

During the all-electric truck’s unveiling, CEO Elon Musk mentioned that the Semi will be able to

replenish as much as 400 miles of range in as little as 30 minutes thanks to a network of Megachargers. Neither Musk nor Tesla provided the specs of the Megacharger during the vehicle’s unveiling, though speculations were high that network might provide a power output that is several times more powerful than the company’s Supercharger V2 Network, which had an output of around 120 kW then (Supercharger V2 stations have since been improved to 150 kW). Being a large vehicle, the Semi requires a lot of power for its charging needs, involving the rapid transfer of mass amounts of electricity in a very short period of time without encountering any heating issues. Tesla notes that its liquidcooled supercharger connector does not only allow faster charging; it also makes the routing of wires in a charging connector much more efficient. This means that Tesla’s Supercharger connectors could eventu-

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An illustration of Tesla’s liquid-cooled Supercharger design. Credit: US Patent Office

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ally be smaller and more compact despite being capable of greater output. Tesla’s Superchargers are among the fastest and most expansive electric vehicle charging infrastructures in the auto industry. In keeping with its spirit, the company has made it a point to never stop innovating, as exhibited by the company’s debut and ongoing ramp of its Supercharger V3 Network. Such innovations appear to be required of the company, especially with the rollout of ambitious EVs such as the Semi, a vehicle with a different charging infrastructure compared to Tesla’s existing lineup of electric cars. That being said, Tesla nevertheless deserves credit for pushing the envelope and staying on top of its innovations. We thank Teslarati.com for reprint permission.

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Continued from Page 59

Repair Planning

may involve regulations, standards and specifications. Standard work is the sequence of job tasks that must be performed to complete a job effectively. They are designed to be repeatable, eliminate waste, increase productivity and ultimately become the framework to build on continuous improvement. Standards are rules that provide clear expectations. For example, there might be a shop poster displaying the process for edging parts or spot welding. A standard can help build consistency in your business, so employees know what is expected of them, there are fewer errors, and everything operates more efficiently. If you don’t have a strong foundation, eventually the process can disappear; then, you are forced to reinvent it or backfill it with an alternative.

• Ensure DRP guidelines are followed if applicable; • Ensure the repair is completed within the customer and insurance guidelines; and

• Ensure the established triage and methodology are followed and involve all stakeholders including mechanical, body, refinish and parts.

Q: A:

What is important to know about waste reduction?

Understanding waste is critical to a process-centered environment. Waste is anything that doesn’t add value to the customer or process. In states like Hawaii, there is a lot of vehicle movement due to space limitations. This means every time there is a work stoppage or a change in production direction, it wreaks havoc on throughput for facilities that don’t have room to move cars. It’s imperative to come up with an easy way to standardize throughput so vehicles can move freely through the facility. Different types of waste include: • Transportation – the ability to move vehicles;

(l to r) Camille Phillips, Island Fender; Todd Stogdell, Island Concepts; and Gary Higa, Island Fender

The SCRS Complete Guide to Repair Planning is an excellent, free resource available to shops that I highly recommend downloading from the www.SCRS.com website.

Q: A:

What are the components of a good repair plan? A good repair plan should:

• Identify all damage, including frame and sublet;

• Identify all necessary parts and labor;

• Identify the repair methodology that is going to be used including refinish; • Identify the correct color variant;

ties that don’t alter the fit, form or function and the customer isn’t willing to pay for, such as moving the car and equipment maintenance. Finally, there is non-value adding waste that the customer also isn’t willing to pay for, like the excessive movement of cars and the extra time it takes for repair due to supplements.

Q: A:

What are the ways a shop can reduce waste?

There are multiple ways to do this in a shop. Having a repair planner sit at a mobile workstation near the vehicle while it is being disassembled can be effective. Shops can also track how the business is doing in terms of sales and if repair planning is actively being done each day. Shops can monitor when cars come in and if the technicians are notified quickly during disassembly. Other ways include verifying the color at the repair planning stage and having a lot plan where vehicles are parked. How can a shop control its workspace through visual management?

Visual displays provide information to everyone on the shop floor, so they understand the process at a glance. This ensures the safe and proper execution of operations. Some examples of how shops can implement visual management tools include displaying a standardized ‘map’ of how to store parts on a parts cart, where that cart should sit and even delineating a box on the floor in the stall where the vehicle is to be parked for repair planning. Overall, it is important for a shop to be consistent to be successful.

Q: A:

What is the role of continuous flow?

In a continuous flow environment, cars flow through the shop without any backflows, unnecessary idle time, rework, excess inventory or delays. It is the sequence of repair process steps that are practical to implement in a highly variable environment. In the last article, I talked about Shop A being the repair planning department and Shop B being production. The goal is when a vehicle leaves Shop

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• Inventory – balancing the amount of work;

• Motion – the movement of people; • Downtime;

• Overproduction;

K n o w l e d g e a b l e S t a ff

• Overprocessing;

• Defects – which include errors, redos and comebacks; and or

• Underutilizing human potential so employees aren’t used to their fullest capacity.

Waste can be categorized in three different ways. There are value-added activities that the customer is willing to pay for and change the fit, form or function of the vehicle to pre-accident condition. Second, there are necessary, non-value adding activi-

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A, it can continuously flow through Shop B. I recommend setting your internal production date in a way that makes sense for your operation. Know your cycle time and how much you can produce and then balance your production input. This will start to improve your operations, cycle time and the number of days cars are onsite. It is important to limit the number of cars in production on-site to just the amount that maximizes the process time of each repair. We refer to this as your Optimal Work in Production (WIP). For continuous flow to be successful, you need all the parts, tools and equipment at the facility; good organization; skilled, trained employees; and standards so there are clear expectations. By doing repair planning without the other procedures in place, you will merely be creating a process where you are writing the best estimate without the profitable gains of increasing throughput.

The goal is to do everything one time effectively and accurately. This includes numerous inprocess quality checks (QCs), where the work is assessed against predetermined standards before advancing to the next step. The goal is to have clear quality standard checkpoints to ensure that the desired quality is achieved. Implementing standardization within repair planning creates in-process quality. There are two types of inspection. Self-inspection is when a technician inspects the work he or she does after it is complete and fixes any defects before sending it to the next area. Successive inspection is when the next technician performs a quality inspection when receiving the vehicle. If there is a problem, both techs decide who will fix it and how to prevent it from occurring again.

What is important to know in terms of continuous improve-

The idea is to continually look at the process of repair plan-

How can a shop ensure inprocess quality?

ment?

ning and determine ways to improve it, so we’re evolving. By seeking the involvement of employees and giving them the “why” behind the decision, you’ll gain their confidence and trust.

Q: A:

What are the critical audit points of repair planning?

Creating an audit process is the optimal way to sustain repair planning. It takes about 15 minutes per car once you have it established. The critical points of an audit include: • Triage: Did someone QC the checkin process and prioritize the vehicles for repair planning? In triage, always repair plan the smallest job first. You can’t afford an extra day on a one-day job; that’s 50 percent longer than it should take. However, on a ten-day job, one day longer is only 10 percent.

• Complete disassembly: Are all the damaged and R & I parts exposed and laid out to tell the story of the repair plan? • Writing the repair plan: Are all the

necessary repair processes included?

• Communication: Are all stakeholders involved in the repair plan?

• Parts organization: Does the process allow you to find and visually identify the status of the parts to all stakeholders? • Administrative process: Have you gone through the repair plan and checked if there are any missed administrative tasks? • Scorecard: Have you measured and tracked the results each day?

Before you begin repair planning, certain elements need to be built. You must have those pieces in place for it to be sustainable for the future. By organizing your work environment and then being able to sustain it, your shop will thrive. This is part two in a two-part series.

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ASA, AAM Host Forum Focused on New Tech, Data Access and Cybersecurity by Chasidy Rae Sisk

On Sept. 12, ASA and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (AAM) partnered to host the 6th Annual Technology and Telematics Forum at the Hilton Garden Ballroom in Troy, MI. The first half of the day featured five panels with topics intended to prepare collision repair professionals for the imminent technological advances in the industry’s future. Bob Redding, ASA Washington, D.C., representative, described the event: “It’s an opportunity for independent repairers to hear first-hand the latest vehicle technology advances, discussions about data access, and dialogue with colleagues.” ASA Executive Director Ray Fisher felt the program was very successful, and he stated, “I want to thank the Alliance for not only their sponsorship of the program, but more importantly, sharing our vision of a productive dialogue with our professionals within the automotive repair industry.” Segmented discussions focused on new vehicle technology, data access and cybersecurity with subject matter experts from the automotive

and collision repair industries teaching attendees how these topics will impact their businesses. A panel discussion on “What’s at Stake for Me With These New Technologies” included Frank Leutz of Desert Car Care in AZ, Jason (Buck) Zeise from LaMettry’s in MN, Airpro

Diagnostics’ Vice President of Strategic Business Operations Josh McFarlin, and Robert C. Passmore, CPCU, assistant vice president, Personal Lines Policy, American Property Casualty Insurance Association. Exploring factors revolving around vehicle data access, Leutz and Zeise emphasized the importance of educating consumers about their vehicles, data that is collected, and how that data is utilized by the repairer. Chuck Olsen, senior vice president of Operations and Automotive

Technology for Airpro Diagnostics, participated in a panel discussion alongside Ford’s Dave Johnson and Ethan Wilson, senior government relations manager & legal counsel, Turo, as they covered “What’s New?” Fisher recalled, “Data access is necessary to diagnose and repair vehicles but must ensure that consumers’ privacy rights are protected.” A third panel discussion, focused on “Data Access and Cybersecurity Solutions,” included Mobile Auto Solutions’ President Kevin DiVito, Mitchell1’s Ben Johnson, and John Ohly, director of Federal Affairs for AAM. Debra Bezzina, managing director of the Center for Connected and Automated Transportation for the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, delivered a question-and-answer style presentation on “What’s Now, New and Next.” During “Think About This on Your Way Home,” GM Vice President of Global Security Jeff Massimilla emphasized the importance of cybersecurity for modern vehicles and shared information on the steps GM is taking to strengthen digital security as technology continues to advance exponentially.

Fisher said, “The panels covered a lot of information and a great number of ideas were shared. It is what ASA is here for. One of the assets that our members have is our Washington, D.C., representative, Bob Redding, who did a great job bringing this together for ASA. I say this because when we often talk about Bob’s advocacy work in Washington, D.C., oftentimes, it is assumed we are talking about legislation. The reality is, and though that truly is a segment of what he does for us, Bob is also there at the table with anyone that needs to be involved to make sure these discussions are had, much like what we saw at this event. I believe that we also heard a clear message today that car manufacturers must make cybersecurity a priority for the safety and well-being of consumers and they will protect that investment. That is where the discussion ensues about ‘data access,’ and from what I could tell, the concern is more about establishing qualification and equipment for access, not denying anyone access. In other words, you want a cardiologist taking care of your heart condition, not the orderly!” For more information about ASA, visit asashop.org.

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Volkswagen to Begin Development and Production of Lithium-Ion Batteries by Joey Klender, Teslarati.com

German automaker Volkswagen has announced that it has taken steps to begin the development and production of lithium-ion battery cells to use in future vehicles. The company has currently staffed 300 employees to the preliminary battery project, but it has its sights set on potential battery mass production activities in the future. Volkswagen plans to invest 900 million euros into the development of vehicle batteries. “We can now produce cells that we develop ourselves on an industrial scale. In other words, the processes are very similar to mass production and, in the end, the products are ultimately representative of tests on our test stands or in our cars,” said Frank Blome, head of Volkswagen’s Center of Excellence in Salzgitter, Germany. Volkswagen has stated that it has plans to open a 16 GWh factory alongside the Center of Excellence in Salzgitter in 2023 or 2024. And while Blome admits that the company has a lot to learn regarding batteries, VW plans to utilize

plant to the new lithium-ion battery production plant. The German automaker will also open a recycling plant for its lithium-ion batteries that will dispense and reuse materials. “Yes, that’s pretty long-term, with recycling already working today. The market does not yet provide the quantities of old batteries. But the procedures are likely to be earlier than the batteries actually do,” Blome said. They plan to open the Volkswagen e-Golf electric car. Credit: Teslarati.com battery recycling plant by 2020. Volkswagen’s Dieselgate scan“Of course, we want to bring everything we do here to our sup- dal seems to be moving behind pliers, and we also recommend them, and with the company’s incertain technologies to our suppli- tentions to develop and produce its ers, both in the manufacturing own batteries it seems that they are process and in the design of the looking to expedite the process. A cell, and thus have opportunities move in the right direction, perhaps to improve our cars by using the Volkswagen will begin to regain the bringing innovations first,” Blome respect of those who look at vehicle corporations to combat the global added. The new plant will create 700 climate crisis. new jobs for Volkswagen and they also plan to move “specially-quali- We thank Teslarati.com for reprint fied” employees from the existing permission. information from industry leaders, like Swedish company Northvolt, in order to create the most cost-effective, high-quality product possible.

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Lowrider and Quaker State announced plans to build a custom, one-of-a-kind 1968 Chevrolet Impala, with intentions to auction the popular and classic vehicle to support a charity. The restored lowrider will be unveiled at the 2019 SEMA Show in Las Vegas at the Shell “Pioneering Performance” experience on Tuesday, Nov. 5 at 12:30 p.m. PST. “Working with Quaker State on this build provides us a great opportunity to give back,” said Joe Ray, Lowrider editor-inchief. “With a community that is often misrepresented, it is important to us to raise awareness and make our Impala unique in the same way our community members are.” The vehicle will go through several customizations as it evolves from a half-century-old vehicle to a modern-day cruiser. “We can’t wait to get to work with Lowrider and create such a special build,” said Jaclyn Chastain, Quaker State Marketing Manager.

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Amazon Buys 100,000 Rivian Electric Trucks in Pursuit of Carbon Neutrality by Nick Lavars, New Atlas

Electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian has landed itself a new customer, and a monumental one at that. The world’s largest retailer, Amazon, has signed on to buy 100,000 of Rivian’s zero-emission trucks as part of a wider push to clean up its business operations, which includes a commitment to be completely carbon neutral by 2040.

These early glimpses of its engineering chops were enough to attract $700 million of investment in February this year, with Amazon itself leading the charge.

The e-commerce giant is now doubling down on its relationship with the automotive startup, announcing an order of no less than 100,000 Rivian electric delivery trucks. This, according to Amazon, is the largest order of electric vehicles in history. And considering that is around how many total vehiJeff Bezos launched The Climate Pledge on Thursday, cles Tesla was able to deliver Sept. 19, which commits Amazon to being completely carbon neutral by 2040. Credit: Amazon in an entire record-setting quarter after a tumultuous Rivian has made quite a splash time getting its manufacturing processes since rolling into 2018’s LA Auto up to speed, that will be no small underShow to debut a pair of electrified ve- taking for an electric vehicle maker, hicles, its R1T pickup and R1S SUV. much less one that is just getting started.

In any case, having Amazon onside certainly won’t do these efforts any harm. The retailer expects these electric vans to begin delivering packages for customers as early as 2021, and to have all 100,000 of them on the road by 2030. This forms part of a new environmental initiative launched by CEO Jeff Bezos on Thursday, Sept. 19, called The Climate Pledge, which commits the company to being completely carbon neutral by 2040, im-

come a part of the pledge. “We’re done being in the middle of the herd on this issue – we’ve decided to use our size and scale to make a difference,” says Bezos. “If

Amazon expects Rivian’s electric vans to being delivering packages for customers as early as 2021. Credit: Amazon

Electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian has landed itself a new customer, and a monumental one at that in Amazon. Credit: Amazon

plement decarbonization strategies in line with the Paris Agreement and measure and report its greenhouse gas emissions along the way. It hopes other companies will sign on to be-

a company with as much physical infrastructure as Amazon – which delivers more than 10 billion items a year – can meet the Paris Agreement ten years early, then any company can.” We think New Atlas for reprint permission.

AMi Announces 2019-2020 Board of Trustee Changes The Automotive Management Institute (AMi) is pleased to announce the addition of three new members to the AMi Board of Trustees: Michael Brewster, AAM, Gil’s Garage, Inc., Burnt Hills, NY; Jim Silverman, Automotive Training Institute, Linthicum, MD, and Mary Steele, ASA Florida, Punta Gorda, FL.

AMi’s current Board of Trustees members are Darrell Amberson, AMAM, LaMettry’s Collision Inc., Eden Prairie, MN; Scott Brown, Diagnostic Network, Claremont, CA; Roy Schnepper, AAM,

Butler’s Collision, Roseville, MI; Mike Schoonover, Schnoonver Body Works Inc., Shoreview, MN, and Ray Fisher, AMAM, president, Automotive Service Association (ASA), North Richland Hills, Texas. Newly appointed Board of Trustee members will include Amberson, chair; Silverman, vice chair; Schnepper, treasurer and Mary Steele, secretary. “I look forward to working with this group of trustees, who represent such a diverse range of industry experience and backgrounds. This will be important as we continue our work to ensure Automotive Management Institute’s future success,” stated AMI President Jeff Peevy.

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(562) 334-1195 Fax Ask for Nick or Carlos

(661) 835-0389 Fax

888-444-1355 M-F 7-6, Sat. 7-5

wholesaleparts@downeynissan.com www.downeynissan.com

METRO NISSAN INFINITI OF MONTCLAIR MONTCLAIR

800-243-5575 (909) 625-4087 Fax Ask for Rita or Steve Large inventory available

MOSSY NISSAN OF ESCONDIDO ESCONDIDO

888-292-0402 (760) 746-4300 (760) 739-5794 Fax M-F 7-5

escnissanparts@mossy.com

BAKERSFIELD

888-402-6915 M-F 7-6, Sat. 8-5

www.nissanofbakersfield.com

NISSAN OF VAN NUYS

The following dealers proudly stock genuine parts for your Nissan or Infiniti repairs.

N. CALIFORNIA

FUTURE NISSAN

NISSAN SERRAMONTE

(916) 786-0743 Fax

(650) 994-2459 Fax

ROSEVILLE

916-677-5251 M-Sat. 7:30-6

COLMA

650-488-2877 M-F 7-6

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800-870-7779 (559) 436-6040 (559) 436-0743 Fax

SUNNYVALE

866-632-5673 M-F 8-5:30

sunnyvalenissanparts@dgdg.com

M-F 7-6, Sat. 8-4

etaylor@lithia.com

VAN NUYS

818-374-4421 (818) 787-8400 (818) 908-9520 Fax M-F 7-7, Sat. 7-6

www.nissanofvannuysparts.com

SELMA NISSAN SELMA

559-891-2702 (559) 891-1656 Fax M-F 7-5:30

edgar.vaca@selmaautomall.com

TEMECULA NISSAN TEMECULA

951-972-8430 (951) 972-8396 Fax

M-F 7-6, Sat. 7-6, Sun. 8-5

wholesaleparts@temeculanissan.com

INFINITI

S. CALIFORNIA

INFINITI OF BAKERSFIELD BAKERSFIELD

661-617-2033 (661) 617-2034 Fax M-F 7:30-6, Sat. 9-1

parts@infinitiofbakersfield.com

INFINITI OF VAN NUYS VAN NUYS

818-374-4493 (818) 787-8400 (818) 809-2727 Fax M-F 7-7, Sat. 7-6

www.infinitiofvannuys.com

autobodynews.com / NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS

National Association Event Announcements: November 2019 by Chasidy Rae Sisk

ASA’s November Webinar Wednesday Focuses on the New Smartphone Consumer On Nov. 20, the Automotive Service Association (ASA) will host its monthly Webinar Wednesday at 1 p.m. EST. The November edition of

the series will be “The New Smartphone Consumer,” taught by Jason Soto of MobileSoft Technology. Soto will educate participants on key mobile app features shop owners can use to increase car count and how facilities can benefit from a mobile app, plus he’ll share success stories from shop owners who have launched their own app. For more information or to register, visit asashop.org. WIN to Host Drop-In Lunch During SEMA

On Wednesday, Nov. 6, the Women’s Industry Network (WIN) invites members, sponsors and designated guests to join the association for a quick networking lunch along with an update about WIN. The lunch will take place from 11 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. in Room N221 of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Those interested in attending must RSVP by visiting WIN’s website: womensindustry network.com. YANG Happy Hour During AAPEX19 The Young Auto Care Network Group (YANG) will host a Networking Happy Hour at the Yardbird Southern Table & Bar inside the Ve-

netian Hotel in Las Vegas on Nov. 6. The largest networking meet-up of the year, this event is held in con-

junction with AAPEX and is open to all current and new YANG members. Refreshments will be provided, but those interested in attending must RSVP by Friday, Nov. 1. For more information, visit autocare.org/yang/. DRIVE Debuts New Workshop: The Power of Trust On Nov. 18 and 19, DRIVE will debut a brand new workshop entitled “The Power of Trust” at DRIVE headquarters in Monrovia, CA. The workshop will focus on the crucial issue of trust and how it is vital for business owners to know how to earn someone’s trust and to know who to trust. The workshop will explore what trust is, how to earn trust and how to get it back once it’s lost. According to Robert Spitz, senior vice president of Curriculum for DRIVE, “DRIVE is continually striving to bring the most advanced business practices and information to our clients,” he said. “[This workshop] speak[s] directly to the newest business systems and methods our clients want to know about.” For more information about DRIVE and its workshops, visit driveshops.com.

Confidence through the corners, because we never cut them. Porsche Genuine Parts and Service, only at your local authorized Porsche dealer. Porsche of Boise Boise, ID 800-621-1775 208-672-3494 Fax

Rusnak Pasadena Porsche Pasadena, CA 844-241-2392 626-229-2885 Fax

Porsche Burlingame Burlingame, CA 888.737.5738 650.348.0137 Fax

Circle Porsche Long Beach, CA 562-494-1911 562-343-5385 Fax

partspc@lylepearson.com

parts@rectormotors.com

porscheparts@rusnakautogroup.com

parts@circleporsche.com

NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

MNCARS Expands Efforts to Promote Careers Minnesota Careers in Auto Repair and Service (MNCARS) is proud to announce the release of new video resources to expand its outreach and raise awareness of career opportunities in the automotive service and collision repair industry. The new videos feature students who are currently enrolled in automotive programs telling their stories about how they got there and what they love about the industry. These students are the future of the industry and they share their passion and excitement about the opportunities in front of them. The videos and other updated materials support the 2019 campaign message of “Turn Your Passion Into a Career.” In addition to refreshing the campaign’s look and feel and adding text message/SMS marketing capabilities, MNCARS will be advertising on the YouTube platform to reach students with automotive interests. To see a few of the studentfocused videos, head to the MNCARS YouTube channel.

Continued from Page 54

Ram Truck Celebrates Ten-Year Anniversary of Becoming Stand-Alone Brand

book, Instagram and Twitter, as well as new content featured on the Ram brand’s social series #RamDoesThat. “Power of Innovation marks the ten-year anniversary of Ram as a stand-alone truck brand, created with a distinct DNA and a commitment to building the best trucks for our customers,” said Marissa Hunter, head of marketing, FCA – North America. “This campaign brings to life the innovations that Ram has made in those ten short years and honors the brand values that we share with our fans. As we look to the future, hard work, integrity, innovation and dedication to service will continue to guide our decisions and sit at the core of our marketing efforts.”

A decade strong, Ram Truck is celebrating the ten-year anniversary of becoming a stand-alone brand with the launch of the “Power of Innovation,” a multimedia campaign that showcases the brand’s decade-long and ongoing commitment to building the industry’s most innovative and award-winning trucks.

The campaign includes three new broadcast videos, all-new digital content that can be viewed on the Ram brand’s digital and social media channels, including RamTrucks.com, YouTube, Face-

Obtained via PR Newswire.

Call or Email Now for Rates: AUTOBODY

800-699-8251

ltedesco@autobodynews.com

KEARNY MESA

PARTS DEPT. HOURS:

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MON-FRI 7-6 / SAT 8-5

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“Digitally Diet?”

release you from a cellphone addiction. It’s the last thing most people look at before going to bed at night, according to the study. Of the respondents, 44% had been woken up by the noise, and 41% by the light from a mobile phone in the bedroom. 74% of the respondents used mobile technology in the shared bed at least once a week. However, only 18% reported using a shared smartphone or tablet together in bed. Americans claim that they “somewhat or strongly agree that periodically ‘unplugging’ or taking a ‘digital detox’ is important for their mental health. So, how does all of this digital dieting impact your business as a body shop owner or manager? The owner of Advertising Business Consultants, Inc. in San Jose, CA, Roger Henson is a 40-year advertising/marketing veteran, so he was there before the Internet and smartphones began impacting our lives. The evolution is a good thing, but many people can’t handle it,

Henson said. “I tell my kids to control the amount of time they spend on their smartphones because extreme use can cause problems like Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI), ‘text neck’ and eye strain. If you need to be connected, try to use your laptop, ideally at a proper workstation. People are now designating no-device times; stepping away from incessant buzzing notifications for incoming calls, emails, texts, etc. and giving social media a timeout.” As a marketing guru, what does Henson tell his body shop clients about their presence online and how digital dieting might affect them? “In today’s collision repair industry, there are plenty of great apps out there that are convenient for consumers and make the industry more efficient altogether,” he said. “I never blame technology when people complain about using it too much or having other issues with it. Technology makes our lives easier both personally and professionally, but the impulse to overdo it will always be there. If you’re using a photo app or aggressively pursuing social media for your shop, continue doing it.”

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autobodynews.com / NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS

Boyd Autobody & Glass President to Retire

After 22 years of dedicated service, Eric Danberg, president of Boyd Autobody & Glass, has announced his retirement, which will be effective March 31, 2020. “Eric will be greatly missed not only for his tremendous business acumen, industry knowledge, leadership and significant contributions to Boyd Autobody & Glass, but also for his sense of humor, integrity and overall quality as a person. We wish Eric the very best in this next chapter of his life,” said Tim O’Day, president & COO of the Boyd Group. We are very pleased to announce Tony Canade, president of Assured Automotive, will be appointed to the role of Chief Operating Officer, Canadian Operations, for the Boyd Group Inc., effective Jan. 1, 2020. In this expanded role, Canade will assume responsibility for Boyd Autobody & Glass in addition to the Assured business. He will continue reporting to O’Day. Obtained via boydgroup.com.

CARSTAR Opens Location in Minnesota

CARSTAR announced the opening of its first Minnesota location, CARSTAR Bighley Auto Body, located at 2409 Margaret Street N., North St. Paul, MN, 55109. A three-generation business for this family of repairers, Mike Bighley, owner of CARSTAR Bighley Auto Body, has grown up in the industry. “It felt like we were on the outside looking in, where I saw the market undergo significant change, but our business was not able to take advantage of those growth opportunities,” says Bighley. Bighley’s grandfather opened the business in 1957 with his father taking it over in 1977. This 7,600 square foot facility is equipped to provide premier repairs to all makes and models. “The CARSTAR family is comprised of several independently owned family businesses, like the Bighley’s, and our model is built to specifically help them thrive,” says Michael Macaluso, president, CARSTAR.

Driven Brands Acquires ABRA Franchised Locations Driven Brands, North America’s leading group of automotive aftermarket brands, announced its acquisition of ABRA Automotive Systems LP, the franchising subsidiary of ABRA Auto Body Repair of America (ABRA). The move adds 55 premier franchised collision repair facilities to the collision

portfolio of Driven Brands. It excludes corporately-owned ABRA facilities that were purchased by Caliber earlier this year. The acquisition of ABRA is part of Driven Brands’ continued growth in the heavy collision repair space, beginning with the acquisition of CARSTAR, which has doubled in size since its initial acquisition in 2015. “We are happy to welcome the ABRA franchisees and team into the Driven Brands family,” said 76

Jonathan Fitzpatrick, CEO of Driven Brands. “With over 700 franchised heavy-collision shops in the Driven Brands portfolio, we believe Driven is a perfect home for the ABRA franchise system.” Michael Macaluso will oversee both CARSTAR and ABRA as the president of Driven’s newlycreated collision vertical. Dean Fisher will take on Macaluso’s previous role as president of CARSTAR. “From the first day we entered the industry back in 1984, our approach to this business has focused on providing quality repairs and superior customer service,” said Tim Adelmann, chief business development officer, ABRA Auto Body Repair of America. “We are confident in the benefits Driven Brands will bring to both our owners and customers.” Obtained via PRWeb.

www.autobodynews.com

NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

PennDOT Receives Grant

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) was awarded an $8,409,444 Automated Driving System Demonstration Grant by the U.S. Department of Transportation, to test the integration of automated driving systems within work zones. In May of 2019, Rep. Glenn Thompson was joined by nine members of the Pennsylvania Congressional Delegation in expressing their support of PennDOT’s grant application to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao. “As driving technologies advance, safety must be at the forefront of these innovations,” said Thompson. Eric Donnell, Ph.D. and director of the Thomas D. Larson Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, elaborated on the University’s research plans. “Penn State scientists will deploy a van to collect data and map work zone configurations,” said Donnell. “Solutions developed by our team will be tested at the Thomas D. Larson Pennsylvania Transportation Institute’s closed-loop test track, and ultimately applied in work zones across the Commonwealth.

Ranken Instructor to Receive I-CAR Award

I-CAR, the Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair, has announced that Walt Rundell, an instructor at Ranken Technical College in St. Louis, will receive the 2019 I-CAR Platinum/Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) Master Collision Repair & Refinish Technician of the Year award. Rundell was cited by I-CAR for his career spanning nearly four decades, his robust and diverse skill set and his hands-on approach that has benefitted the next generation of collision repairers. “Among your peers, you are known for your broad, in-depth knowledge, and many look up to you as a mentor,” said John Van Alstyne, I-CAR president and CEO. “At I-CAR, we value your many contributions over the years as an instructor, volunteer committee member and all-around ambassador advancing our mission.” The award will be presented in November during the fall 2019 ASE Board of Governors meeting and annual Technician Recognition Awards banquet.

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800-469-9731

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San Diego 4797 Convoy St.

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Mon-Fri 7am - 6pm; Sat 8am - 5pm cguth@hyundaisubaru.com www.kearnymesahyundai.com

Colma 1500 Serramonte Blvd.

650-994-2459 Fax Mon-Fri 7am - 6pm

LITHIA HYUNDAI OF FRESNO

Fresno 5596 N. Blackstone Ave.

800-462-2231 559-436-6041 559-436-0743 Fax

Mon-Fri 7am - 6pm; Sat 8am - 4pm etaylor@lithia.com

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Burlingame 888.737.5738 650.348.0883 650.348.0137 Fax M-F 7:00am-5:00pm parts@rectormotors.com

Rocklin 866.948.0048 916.836.1286 916.836.1293 Fax M-F 7:30am-6pm Sat 8am-5pm parts@audirocklin.com

Sacramento 800.590.8611 916.480.2851 916.483.1963 Fax M-F 8am-6pm audi.parts@niello.com

Seattle 206.634.8200 206.547.1581 Fax M-F 7am-6pm parts@uvwaudi.com www.audiseattle.com

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Audi Concord Concord 888.475.1648 925.771.2850 925.771.2822 Fax M-F 7:30am-6pm Sat 8am-4pm parts@audi.concord.com

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Los Angeles 213.747.7248 213.222.1261 Fax Ask for Carlos or Fausto

Van Nuys 818.907.4482 818.907.4405 Fax M-F 7:30am-5:30pm wholesale@keyesaudi.com

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Santa Monica 877.842.9692 310.481.8216 310.393.6982 Fax M-F 7:30am-6:30pm Sat 8am-4pm wholesale@santamonicaaudi.com

autobodynews.com / NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS

RI, OK, and WV Top the Nation for Worst Road Infrastructure On top of taxpayer dollars, it’s estimated that driving on roads in need of repair costs motorists $120 billion in vehicle repairs and operating costs – $533 per driver, according to a recent report by QuoteWizard.

QuoteWizard found a correlation between states that use funds to maintain roads and states that rank well overall for road infrastructure. States with poor road infrastructure had higher costs per driver and typically poor road conditions across the board. Key Findings:

• Rhode Island, Oklahoma and West Virginia top in the nation for worst road infrastructure.

QuoteWizard, a LendingTree company, and one of the nation’s leading online insurance marketplaces released its report on states with the worst road infrastructure finding that 61% of highways nationwide are in fair to poor condition. Transportation for America estimates a cost of $231 billion a year to keep our existing road network in acceptable repair. While analyzing FHA data,

• Tennessee, Georgia and Florida best in the nation for road infrastructure. • Top ten states with the worst infrastructure cost drivers an annual average of $752 from poor road conditions.

• Top five states with the worst infrastructure spend below the national average of 30% on-road repairs. Obtained via PR Newswire.

CCC Enables Repairers to Reach Customer Engagement Milestone CCC Information Services Inc. (CCC) announced that a new customer engagement milestone was reached through its CCC ONE Platform. In the third quarter, CCC ONE powered nearly three million unique digital connections – one million in a single month – and enabled collision repair facilities to exchange more than 13 million individual messages with the customers they serve. “We have used UpdatePlus for a long time and have seen marked improvements in our customer satisfaction scores,” said Ryan Cropper, Able Body Shop. “By keeping customers informed of the status of their vehicle we remove concerns and questions about whether their car will be returned on time.” The CCC ONE Platform powers mobile and digital experi-

ences for shops to connect and engage with their customers at every point in the repair process, from booking appointments, to check-in

by Shawn Goggins, iFIBER ONE News

The costs to own and maintain a new vehicle are going up according to an AAA study. The study says finance costs on new cars have jumped 24% in 2019, pushing the average annual cost of vehicle ownership to $9,282, or $773.50 a month. That’s the highest cost associated with new vehicle ownership since AAA began tracking expenses in 1950. “Finance costs accounted for more than 40% of the total increase in average vehicle ownership costs,” said John Nielsen, AAA’s managing director for Automotive Engineering & Repair. “AAA found finance charges rose more sharply in the last 12 months than any major expense associated with owning a vehicle.” The big bump in finance charges comes from rising federal interest rates and higher vehicle prices. The new figures come from Your Driving Costs, which reviews nine categories of vehicles-consisting of 45 models – to determine the average annual operating and ownerships costs of each. AAA focuses

on top-selling, mid-priced models and compares them across six expense categories: fuel prices, maintenance/repair/tire costs; insurance rates; license/registration/taxes; depreciation; and finance charges. Annual average costs increased in each category. Of all costs, depreciation, a measure of how quickly a car loses value, remains the single biggest cost of ownership, accounting for more than a third (36%) of the average annual cost. Average fuel costs rose to 11.6 cents per mile, 5% higher than last year. Electricity prices for EV charging also rose 0.1 cent per kilowatthour (0.08%). Average maintenance and repair costs climbed marginally to 8.94 cents per mile, up 8.9% over last year. The increase was fueled by the growing complexity of vehicle systems and an updated methodology for calculating repair costs. The cost of licenses, registration fees and taxes rose $14 to $753 per year, an increase of 1.9%. We thank iFIBER ONE News for reprint permission.

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at the shop, staying in touch throughout the repair, and measuring customer satisfaction once repairs are complete. “CCC is constantly investing in the success of our clients, equipping repair facilities with a modern, mobile means to deliver best-inclass customer service,” said Mark Fincher, vice president, Market Solutions for CCC. Obtained via PR Newswire.

FREE 4x Monthly E-Newsletter. Subscribe Today! AUTOBODY

Study Finds Costs to Own a New Car are up 24% in 2019

www.autobodynews.com

NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

Order Genuine Mazda Parts from these Parts Specialists in your area

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Galpin Mazda Van Nuys

888-840-8416 Fax 818-778-2090 www.galpin.com

Mercedes-Benz of Valencia Valencia

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autobodynews.com / NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS

Tesla Pickup Truck Still on Track for November Unveiling by Simon Alvarez, Teslarati.com

It appears that Tesla’s highly-anticipated Pickup Truck is still poised to be unveiled sometime this coming November. The update was shared on Twitter by CEO Elon Musk while responding to an inquiry about the upcoming vehicle’s official reveal date. While Musk did not specify a date in his recent tweet, a previous announcement from the CEO last month estimated a November unveiling event for the Tesla Pickup Truck. Prior to this, Musk noted in late July that while the vehicle was “close,” the truck’s reveal was “maybe two to three months” away. This coming November is just a bit over this estimate. Interestingly, a November reveal for the Tesla Pickup Truck would mark around two years since the unveiling event of the company’s Semi, which could only be described as the company’s most exciting reveal event to date. Tesla surprised both its enthusiasts and the auto industry as a whole during

CIECA Unveils New Logo & Announces Winner of Logo Refresh Contest

the Semi event by unveiling its next-generation Roadster, a successor to the car that started it all for the company that boasts an insane 0-60 mph time of 1.9 seconds and range of 620 miles per charge. Musk has teased several notable aspects of Tesla’s upcoming pickup truck, with the CEO stating during the 2019 Annual Shareholder Meeting that the vehicle will feature performance that’s comparable to a base Porsche 911 while boasting a towing capacity that can match industry leaders like the Ford F-150. “If the (Ford) F150 can tow it, the Tesla truck can do it,” Musk said. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the Tesla Pickup Truck would be its starting price. Musk has stated that the vehicle will be priced at “well under” $50,000. The CEO also added that at most, the vehicle should have a starting price of around $49,000. “You should be able to buy a really great truck for $49k or less,” Musk said. We thank Teslarati.com for reprint permission.

CIECA announced the winner of the organization’s logo refresh contest on Sept. 18 during the annual CIECA CONNEX conference in Charlottesville, VA. Lauren Stefanov, a graphic designer at Safelite Autoglass, created the winning design and received a $500 Amazon gift card. “As part of CIECA’s 25th-anniversary celebration this year, we wanted to refresh the CIECA logo,” said Steve Betley, chairman of CIECA. “We greatly appreciate the unique design Lauren created for the new CIECA logo.” Stefanov has been employed with Safelite for the past two and a half years and works in the company’s marketing department. “I was shocked and excited when I learned that my logo was the winning design and am honored that my logo was chosen,” said Stefanov, who also received the second-place prize—a $100 Amazon gift card—for an additional logo she created. Dina Magon, a visual designer at CCC Information Services, was the thirdplace winner and received a $50

YANG Meetup Held in Conjunction With ACA Leadership Days ways extremely appreciative of its sponsors and any opportunity to netOn Sept. 18, the Young Auto Care work, and the feedback from this event Network Group (YANG) hosted a was very positive. It was everything I Regional Meetup in conjunction with thought it would be: good food, great the Auto Care Association’s 2019 people.” YANG members also had the Fall Leadership Days and Legislative Summit, held at the Hyatt Regency opportunity to attend the ACA’s 2019 Washington on Capitol Hill in Wash- Fall Leadership Days and Legislative ington, D.C. The event was spon- summit. This three-day event served as an opportunity for the association’s most engaged members to discuss industry issues and association initiatives, while the Legislative Summit offered a forum for addressing industry issues and sharing them on Capitol Hill. “The YANG Luncheon was very nicely put together by the venue. The food spread was incredible and it Young Auto Care Network Group members gathered for was great to have a nice sitnetworking during ACA’s Leadership Days in Washington, down meal and network D.C. Credit: YANG with fellow YANG memsored by Sensata Technologies and bers,” Lutz stated. “Sensata TechnoloSchrader TPMS Sensors. Jacki Lutz, gies and Schrader TPMS Sensors head of Global Marketing Communi- were very proud to sponsor this event. cations and Intelligence of Aftermar- Sensata is a huge promoter of buildket Business for Sensata Technologies, ing and retaining young talent, and said, “The YANG membership is al- Schrader is fortunate to be a part of by Chasidy Rae Sisk

NOVEMBER 2019 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

the Sensata family and help encourage meetings like this in the industry.” “YANG’s main purpose is to network, and that is really what the luncheon was all about. It was simply providing a scheduled event for the members to get together, connect and continue building those careerlong relationships that are so important in the automotive aftermarket,”

YANG members enjoyed a delicious spread during their Sept. 18th luncheon. Credit: YANG

Lutz explained. “Having official meet-ups like these really make a world of difference on how the industry works together. Bringing people together in a neutral setting from all different channels is crucial to building a strong industry that continues to find success.” For more information about YANG and its events, visit autocare.org/ yang.

Amazon gift card. Stefanov said the inspiration for the new logo came from the words connectivity, translating and simplification.

As part of CIECA’s 25th anniversary celebration this year, a refresh of the CIECA logo was created. Credit: CIECA

“I wanted to tie in elements from the previous logo to the design and used a single circle rather than the multiple circles in the original logo,” she said. “The three half circles radiating out from the main circle symbolize technology, translating and connectivity.” The finalists’ designs are featured on the CIECA website: https: //www.cieca.com/info.php?pnum= 85bc7d3febc918&preview=1.

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Does Automatic Emergency Braking With Pedestrian Detection Work? by David A. Wood, CarComplaints.com

Automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection is marketed as safety technology, but research from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found the systems didn’t do much at all. And at night the technology did nothing to prevent crashes with pedestrians, a bad sign considering 75% of pedestrian deaths occur at night. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: “A pedestrian automatic emergency braking (PAEB) system is an emerging safety technology that provides automatic braking for vehicles when pedestrians are in the forward path of the vehicle’s travel and the driver has taken insufficient action to avoid an imminent crash.” About 6,000 pedestrians are killed each year in the U.S., so the prospect of technology to reduce those fatalities is seen as promising. AAA researchers used four midsize sedans equipped with automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection (2019 Chevy

Malibu, 2019 Honda Accord, 2019 Tesla Model 3 and 2019 Toyota Camry) and put them on a closed course using simulated pedestrians. The best results involved a car doing 20 mph during the day with an adult crossing the road, but even then, the braking/pedestrian

time with the car traveling 20 mph when a child ran out from between two vehicles.

• All of the test vehicles collided with the adult pedestrian after the car made a right-hand turn.

• When approaching two adults standing alongside the road and with the vehicle traveling 20 mph, a collision occurred 80% of the time. • The systems were generally ineffective in all situations where the vehicle was traveling 30 mph.

systems avoided collisions only 40% of the time. By taking the speed of the car to 30 mph, most systems completely failed to avoid the pedestrian target. That may sound bad, but other driving scenarios were even more challenging for the braking systems. AAA provided the following depressing results. • A collision occurred 89% of the

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• At night, none of the systems detected or reacted to the adult pedestrian.

According to researchers at the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, automakers have the right intentions in creating automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection systems, but the technology has a long way to go before drivers and pedestrians can feel safe. We thank CarComplaints.com for reprint permission.

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Collision Works Acquires DeShields

Collision Works acquired DeShields Truck Services Inc. in Oklahoma City on Sept. 13, 2019. Collision Works, an auto body collision and paint repair company, is locally owned and operated now with 21 locations across Oklahoma and Kansas. The acquired company, DeShields Truck Services Inc., provides full collision repair including frame repair, painting and bodywork services for heavy-duty vehicles including semi tractor-trailers and RVs. DeShields is one of the only facilities in Oklahoma City to provide heavy-duty vehicle repair, which dovetails into the Collision Works existing business model. “We are proud to announce DeShields Truck Services Inc. is now part of the Collision Works family,” said Barry Hadlock, president of Collision Works. “Our top-notch customer service standards combined with the new heavy-duty repair technology and equipment will allow us to serve an expanded audience.” For more information about Collision Works, visit CollisionWorks.com.

SO. CALIFORNIA

Subaru of San Bernardino San Bernardino (909) 888-8686 (909) 571-5483 Fax Mon.-Fri. 7:30-7; Sat 7:30-5 parts@subarusb.com www.sbsubaru.com

NO. CALIFORNIA

Elk Grove Subaru Elk Grove (877) 475-0659 (916) 509-8559 Fax Mon.-Fri. 8-6 shawnh@elkgrovesubaru.com www.elkgrovesubaru.com

Santa Cruz Subaru Santa Cruz (888) 844-7131 (831) 420-1402 (831) 420-1923 Fax Mon.-Fri. 7:30-6; Sat. 8-5 parts@santacruzsubaru.com www.santacruzsubaru.com

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