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Continuing CIC’s 40th anniversary celebration, the first special presentation of the day provided “Industry and Safety Systems Highlights” and was presented by “the man with the second most amount of energy in the room,” according to Terlep as he introduced Mike Anderson (Collision Advice) to the CIC stage for only the second time ever.

Beginning by acknowledging that the “level of customer service required by today’s vehicle owners is off the charts,” Anderson observed that those expectations are liquid, meaning they change constantly. A decade ago, the average consumer compared a body shop to other automotive businesses, but these days, consumers compare shops to Amazon, Uber and similar businesses, requiring collision repairers to “deliver an exceptional customer service experience because that’s what the customer is demanding.”

Today’s consumers require “social proof that we can be trusted because they have a ‘trust, but verify’ mentality. We need to stop doing things the way we’ve always done them and open up our minds to create a more modern customer service experience,” which includes having a 24/7 digital presence that allows consumers to engage with the shop outside normal business hours. “They want instantaneous gratification and engagement,” Anderson stressed, adding that he didn’t want to “debate the merits of photo estimating, but we need to look at it as a marketing strategy!”

Redirecting his focus to internal customers, Anderson acknowledged that administrative staff in shops are completely overloaded. “And if we don’t fix this, we’re going to lose people. We’ve got to figure out how to eliminate disruption, and that means embracing technology as an industry to reverse this trend. We don’t have a recruitment problem, ladies and gentlemen; we have a ‘we-don’toffer-good-enough-pay-and-benefits’ problem. We’re competing with Amazon and burger joints that offer three weeks vacation, 100 percent paid medical insurance, retirement plans and flexible work hours. As an industry, we must develop a standard career path. These days, it’s not about who gets the car; it’s about who gets the people, and whoever has the best culture wins.”

Anderson identified one more arena in which the industry is failing. “We have a moral and ethical obligation to resolve an issue that is the single biggest friction point in our industry. We’ve got to quit sweeping it under the rug: safety inspections. Shops want to do the right things, but they are getting caught in the middle. Recognize that nearly every single manufacturer today requires some type of safety inspection after their vehicles have been in an accident.”

Providing an example of a 2018 Chevy Silverado that underwent a safety inspection, Anderson shared that the inspection revealed a cracked dash carrier that would have gone undiscovered if the shop had not followed the OEM recommendation. “Every time I don’t perform the safety inspection, I run the risk of missing something like this. We cannot make good decisions without being educated, and we also can’t just use our voice by showing up here at CIC,” he urged attendees to also participate in non-collision “industry events where people from the mechanical industry are showing up and trying to influence legislators that they have our best interests at heart. They don’t speak for me, but we have to be there to speak for ourselves.”

It’s also time for shops to stop letting insurers speak for them, and that begins by recognizing the difference between an estimate and a repair plan, according to the Estimating and Repair Planning and

BY CHASIDY RAE SISK

Industry Relations Committees’ presentation. Using an example of a Tesla with impact to its liftgate, Ron Reichen (Precision Body & Paint) explained that the shop had already inspected the vehicle and confirmed that the best option was to replace the liftgate.

After the consumer declined the insurer’s recommendation to take the car to a “network” facility multiple times, the adjuster provided a preliminary estimate of $1,000.99 – an estimate that took just 14 minutes to conduct. Having spent more than five hours capturing OEM procedures, researching parts and writing an actual repair plan, the shop established a much different price point of $10,161.96.

“That’s prior to disassembly, so it’s not even a complete repair estimate. Just look at the administrative time that’s gone into that initial repair plan, and think about how many vehicles someone can look at in an eight or 10 hour workday,” Reichen stressed, as a poll revealed that 53 percent of CIC attendees see time constraints as the biggest barrier to repair planning. “Time is something we can’t get back, so how do we manage those time constraints and efficiently use our time?

“We want to get away from estimating and start talking about repair consultations,” Reichen advised. “That starts with setting customer expectations at the first point of contact. We need to qualify the customer and help them understand that their vehicle is unique; no two accidents are the same, yet they possess similarities in the sense that there are many standard repair procedures and processes involved with today’s complex vehicles and their safety systems. We need to take time to explain the claims process and also how we triage the vehicle.”

Of course, some customers will have a preconceived idea of how your business operates no matter how hard you try to set proper expectations. “We don’t need every job…sometimes, we have to fire a customer,” Reichen admitted. “But engaging in that open communication upfront provides the opportunity to sell yourself and establish the differences between you and the competition.”

Most importantly, Reichen emphasized that “estimates are only a guess. Is there really any value to that first initial estimate? Because it doesn’t seem like it produces much other than additional delays.”

The materials that are used to comprise a vehicle structure often has implications related to how it is repaired, according to Parts and Materials Committee Chair Aaron Schulenburg, who moderated the panel on “The Role of Vehicle Materials in Process and Business

Decisions.” He also noted, “Those materials are going to inform our repair decisions, including how much time you spend and how you use the resources available to you to write proper and complete repair plans. By understanding the makeup of the vehicle, you’ll be better able to make informed decisions and educate the consumer.”

“Technology is advancing at a rate faster than we’ve ever seen,” acknowledged panelist John Strong (Mitchell). “Whether it’s about parts composition, manufacturing processes, telematics or advanced safety systems, vehicles are becoming more complex and requiring more considerations than ever before, and what a vehicle is comprised of affects how or if it can be repaired. For example, aluminum has very specific repair requirements. And I cannot talk about ADAS enough; it’s no longer if it needs to be calibrated but whether it requires a static or dynamic calibration. We also need to be paying attention to OEM parts recommendations since the use of certain non-OEM parts can possibly lead to adverse effects to the vehicle.”

Benito Cid (Mercedes Benz) agreed. “If there’s damage to the infrastructure, you need to understand what material it is and what’s involved in taking care of the repairs. There’s a lot of thought that goes into designing and building a vehicle to ensure we have this idea of integral safety. A lot of these systems talk to each other and make decisions in fractions of a second.”

“Those decisions are based on a matter of repeatability and predictability,” Jason Scharton (3M) added. “Hopefully, you’re starting to understand how interconnected everything really is. We go through a tremendous amount of testing to make sure we’re meeting all the specifications, and that we can produce consistent results.” continued on pg. 24

David Luehr (Elite Body Shop Solutions) addressed the ongoing tech shortage in a special presentation, “Becoming the Employer of Choice in Your Market.” The presentation offered those in attendance a preview of “Supercharge Your Business and Attract the Best Employees”, which Luehr will debut at the NORTHEAST® 2023 Automotive Services Show, taking place March 17-19 at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, NJ. As Luehr explained, although organizations like the Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF) are working to attract young people into the industry, the talent shortage is still creating a lot of stress for many shop owners.