Ask Almost Everything Autobody How to Get a 5% Energy Cost Reduction in Your Shop Since 2007, Almost Everything Auto Body has set an annual “Green Goal” in order to make a significant, positive impact on the environment. According to a December report from Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), Almost Everything Autobody exceeded its 5 percent energy reduction target, achieving 6 percent reduction from 2012 to 2013. Almost Everything Autobody’s “Green Program” has earned praise from customers and experts from PG&E. The “Green Program” helps to fight global warming and reduce energy costs, which in turn lowers
consumer prices. Almost Everything Autobody is not trying to do anything outrageous, just plenty of small, ongoing improvements that will lead to big results. Almost Everything Autobody believes it’s important to do things right for consumers and the environment. The Dec. 13, 2013 report from PG&E states: “Congratulations! You saved money by saving energy. We looked at your summer 2012 electric use as compared to summer 2013 and found that one or more of your business accounts had lower peak period See Almost Everything, Page 46
Autobody News Welcomes Readers in Utah
OEM Collision Repair Roundtable Launches Consumer-Oriented Site: Crashrepairinfo.com
See Crashrepairinfo.com, Page 14
P.O. BOX 1516, CARLSBAD, CA 92018
OEM Collision Repair Roundtable Chairman Gary Ledoux worked on the development team that created crashrepairinfo.com
Representatives from 10 of the world’s largest carmakers got together to create, design and launch a web site to get a message out there and provide useful information on an ongoing basis to consumers nationwide. The main
message at crashrepairinfo.com, a site recently launched by the OEM Collision Repair Roundtable earlier this year at January’s Collision Industry Conference (CIC) planning meeting in Palm Springs, CA, is simple—Consumer awareness is paramount and knowledge is crucial to the collision repair process. OEM Collision Repair Roundtable Chairman Gary Ledoux, who is also the assistant national manager of wholesale parts marketing at Honda, said that crashrepairinfo.com is meant
Change Service Requested
by Ed Attanasio
VOL. 32 ISSUE 3 MARCH 2014
I-CAR and Ford Plan Huge Training Campaign for F-150 Repairs, Expect 200 Instructors By the time the 2015 aluminum-body Ford F-150 hits dealerships in the fourth quarter this year, thousands of collision repair technicians, insurance estimators, Ford field staffers and others will have gone to school in one of the biggest industry training programs ever. The F-150 is the biggest-selling vehicle in the United States, and Ford wants to be sure there are collision repair specialists who know what they’re doing the first time a wrecked one rolls into a shop. When aluminum is bent or broken, it behaves differently than steel. Repair
shops need to have different tools to perform some aluminum structural repairs, and Ford strongly recommends they set up separate areas for working on aluminum because of steel-aluminum contamination issues. I-CAR will administer the training in conjunction with Ford. The automaker will cover the cost of training for one technician per dealership. Dealerships that want to have more than one trained technician will pay the additional training expense. I-CAR is mobilizing a staff of at least 200 instructors, who went through See I-CAR and Ford, Page 46
Polar Vortex Continues to Plague Southeast in Late January and Early February by Chasidy Rae Sisk
As predicted, the polar vortex that wrought havoc at the beginning of the year strengthened and continued moving southward in late January, resulting in more unusually low temperatures and icy winds. This winter storm system impacted most of the country with 34 states being under some sort of winter weather warning or advisory during the last week of the month. While residents in the northern states are more accustomed to harsh winter precipitation, areas in the south were left floundering at the unusual phenomenon of snow and ice that poured down in states that generally enjoy much milder winters. This abnormal weather system raised a lot of concern and caused significant damage in many southern metropolitan areas, particularly in Atlanta, GA, and Birmingham, AL, where the combination of weather and traffic congestion contributed to a surge of accidents. Beginning on Tuesday, January 28 and continuing well into the next
day, snow and ice accumulating in the southeast brought Atlanta to a screeching halt. While the city normally averages a low temperature of 28 degrees and a high of 49 degrees in January, temperatures plummeted into the teens during the last week of January with up to three inches of snow in some places. Slick conditions created by ice and sleet led to accidents which, in turn, caused an in-
crease in traffic delays. Many cars were left abandoned on the roads and highways after running out of gas due to sitting in the long-standing traffic, while other vehicles were parked in lots as their owners attempted to wait out the storm—in fact, many people are comparing the dismal images to scenes from the first season of TV’s See Polar Vortex Continues, Page 26