VIRTUAL BARRIERS:” A WMABA PANEL DISCUSSION

LOCAL NEWS

“VIRTUAL BARRIERS:” A WMABA PANEL DISCUSSION ON ISSUES FACED IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

On May 20, the WMABA community will meet at Topgolf in Ashburn, VA for its Annual Meeting – the first in-person event the association will hold in well over a year.

In addition to introducing the new WMABA Board of Directors, the event will feature a panel discussion with several Board members who will be discussing “Virtual Barriers,” including the added hurdles in insurance relationships and other complications brought about during the pandemic.

“This is an ever-evolving and hypersensitive area of collision repairers’ lives right now,” WMABA Executive Director Jordan Hendler says. “There’s been a steady increase in volatility around repair negotiations between insurers and repairers, and the customer is trapped in the middle. Many want to improve relations and don’t know how. Just in our recent Board meeting, our directors were discussing the difficulties they’ve been facing, knowing everyone else is feeling the same. We’d like to have a candid conversation with our membership community to look at the situation in-depth – what’s working and what’s not. The pandemic is different for our industry in that we’ve been working all along but with even more pressures and chaos than before, including a downturn in accident frequency. Vehicle technology is changing at a pace none of us are ready for – even the most learned and equipped shops are struggling to keep up. Also, the wave of electric vehicles headed our way will separate the wheat from the chaff, as they say, leading to yet another revolution in our industry.

“It has been frustrating even today dealing with ADAS, performing routine vehicle scans and post-repair diagnostics or calibrations,” Hendler adds. “With that continuing to change, there’s still a crazy amount of pushback by the third-party payers to reimburse for costs. There’s a lot of additional research time, and calibrations take much longer. It’s very frustrating that insurers charge premiums to insure these high-tech vehicles, but when it comes time to get them back to pre-accident condition, they want to cut costs – and even corners. But the repairer is responsible for that vehicle’s systems working properly and also for a subsequent accident. They really just have no choice here. There’s just so much to talk about on all fronts, and having candid conversations on these topics at our upcoming meeting is so needed.”

2021 WMABA Annual Meeting & “Virtual Barriers” Panel Discussion

MAY 20, 2021 - 6:30pm START

TOPGOLF 20356 Commonwealth Center Dr. Ashburn, VA 20147

Contact (804) 789-9649 or jordanhendler@wmaba.com for info

Above all, WMABA hopes that members will make it a point to attend this gathering to have a long-overdue chance to finally connect with their fellow industry members in one place – and without Zoom calls.

“With the pandemic, and us not being able to meet as members in person, it’s been hard to keep that feeling of community in a virtual format. We hope to have an informative and refreshing gettogether where we can talk about all the current issues over a meal. Conversation is so much more conducive face to face – or mask to mask – and we could not be more encouraged by the fortitude our members show. This is a huge opportunity for all those repairers who want to broaden their circles of influence to network with peers. You can’t quite put your finger on it, but everyone always leaves feeling part of something bigger than themselves. It gives hope.”

For more information on the May 20 Annual Meeting, please visit wmaba.com or contact Executive Director Jordan Hendler at (804) 789-9649 or jordanhendler@wmaba.com. H&D

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