NATIONAL NEWS AASP-MN Shares Updates at National Board Meeting During the AASP National Board virtual meeting on November 8, state affiliate representatives were joined by other industry experts to discuss a multitude of issues impacting member shops and the automotive and collision repair industries as a whole. Affiliate leaders also provided updates on what’s happening in their specific market areas. In light of the imminent retirement of AASP-MN Executive Director Judell Anderson, Will Latuff (Latuff Brothers Auto Body, St. Paul) recommended that other affiliates review their succession plans to ensure they’re up-to-date, and he announced that the association has named a replacement: Linden Wicklund. “We’re also introducing legislation related to the timeliness of insurer communications,” Latuff added. “Basically, we’ll be introducing a bill that will make it an unfair claims practice if insurers ‘fail to review and approve or deny a repair supplement for a vehicle repair within three business days of its submission by a repair shop engaged to repair the insured’s vehicle.’” Dan Sjolseth (Superior Service Center, Eagan) provided an update on Minnesota Careers in Auto Repair and Service (MNCARS), informing meeting participants that the website attracts over 2,500 unique visits each month, and traffic continues to grow with new visitors in 2021 already 55 percent higher than at this point in 2020. The MNCARS campaign includes social media activity on Facebook and Instagram, as well as video ads on YouTube, while the website (carcareers.org) offers the MotorMouth toolbox, a comprehensive source of promotional materials and talking points for industry professionals to use when delivering high school and trade school presentations. AASP-MN has recently introduced a new fundraising campaign in an attempt to raise $200,000 to fund MNCARS’ activities over the next three years. “We’re consistently ranking on the first page in Google results for searches related to car careers in Minnesota, ensuring we’re top of mind for someone looking for auto career options,” Sjolseth said. “We want to help industry members get involved in the local community and start having conversations with customers, community members and students about the career potential in the automotive industry.” AASP’s National Board also addressed additional business during the meeting, beginning with an update from Pat Kane of United Fire Group (UFG). Although 2020 and 2021 have not been profitable for the insurance industry due to high catastrophe losses and commercial auto claims, Kane assured Board members that “UFG’s commitment to AASP is unwavering. Insuring automotive repair businesses is one of our top priorities, and this is going to be a bigger focus for us moving forward.” Danny Gredinberg, administrator of the Database Enhancement Gateway (DEG), announced that the DEG has received nearly 18,000 inquiries. “That’s a huge number right there, and it’s a testament to why the DEG
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is so important to the industry. It demonstrates the kind of impact we can make when it comes to helping the industry.” “The OEMs have even recognized the DEG as a valuable resource and given us access to their information free of charge because they realize that validating the inquiry with the OEM repair information is the only way we’re going to achieve a positive outcome,” he continued. “At the end of the day, we all just want accurate databases – nothing more, nothing less.” AASP National Board President Tom Elder proposed that the organization provide a recommendation for Condition Now, a program that attempts to moderate the negative impact CARFAX reports have on customers’ vehicles. “If a CARFAX report is pulled after an accident, it does not take into consideration whether you wrote an estimate and repaired the vehicle, but now, there’s a way to abate that by inspecting the car and attaching your shop’s report to the CARFAX to show that the vehicle was repaired by a certified collision facility and is now in better condition than that negative CARFAX report indicates.” With a Condition Now report, Elder acknowledged, “The car will likely be valued at a number somewhere between the diminished and full values, but this is something we didn’t have before. Being able to show who repaired the vehicle and the quality of the workmanship demonstrates what transpired and can help our customers.” Lastly, Joe Amato, Jr. from the Amato Insurance Agency (a division of World Insurance) shared details on the possibility of expanding their New Jersey Health Insurance plan nationally to make it available to all AASP members. For more information on AASP National, visit autoserviceproviders.com.
www.langmarketing.com Internal Combustion Engine Vehicle Aftermarket Will Grow to 2030 and Beyond “Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles will achieve significant U.S. automotive aftermarket product growth to 2030 and beyond, contrary to the widely held expectations that Electric Vehicles (EV) will rapidly eliminate ICE aftermarket product sales,” said Jim Lang, President of Lang Marketing Resources, a leading automotive market intelligence firm headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana with over 25 years in the vehicle product industry. “Peak ICE aftermarket, the year when Internal Combustion Engine vehicles reach their maximum automotive aftermarket product volume, will not arrive until after 2030,” predicted Lang. “This is significant to the more than 400,000 business locations across the
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