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Spring 2019
PLUS: • WACTAL Spring Conference Wrap-Up • Drama, a DRP and a Re-Repair Disaster
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2019 WACTAL BOARD of DIRECTORS President Larry Terrien, MJ Collision Center larry@mjcollisioncenter.com Vice President Mark Williams, Williams Auto Body mark@williamsautobody.com Secretary Ronnie Goss, Goss Auto Body, Inc. ronnie@gossautobody.com Treasurer Sue Black, Dean’s Auto Body suzieq@deansautobody.com Directors Eileen Haberman, Glen's Auto Body, Inc. Mike Miyagawa, M & M Auto Body Inc. Michael Taylor, Zimbrick ChevroletSun Prairie Tracy Black, Dean’s Auto Body, Inc. Association Administration Sue Peterson info@wactal.com (800) 366-9472 Lobbyist Jolene Plautz jplautz@aol.com
CELEBRATING 30 YEARS PUBLISHED BY: Thomas Greco Publishing, Inc. 244 Chestnut St., Suite 202 Nutley, NJ 07110 PHONE: 973-667-6922 • FAX: 973-235-1963 ADVERTISING: 973-667-6922 • alicia@grecopublishing.com PUBLISHER Thomas Greco (thomas@grecopublishing.com) SALES DIRECTOR Alicia Figurelli (alicia@grecopublishing.com) CREATIVE DIRECTOR Lea Velocci (lea@grecopublishing.com) EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Joel Gausten (joel@grecopublishing.com) EDITORIAL / CREATIVE COORDINATOR Alana Bonillo (alana@grecopublishing.com) OFFICE MANAGER Donna Greco (donna@grecopublishing.com) www.grecopublishing.com
Spring 2019
Vol. 6, Number 3
CONTENTS PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE................................................................4 Take Advantage of Your Membership by Larry Terrien LOCAL NEWS..................................................................................6 Collision Advice’s Mike Anderson Helps Drive Local Association Members Towards the Future by Alana Bonillo WACTAL Community Mourns Loss of Founding Member Edmund Blair ............8 by Alana Bonillo BUSINESS INSURANCE SAVINGS FOR WACTAL MEMBERS ..........................9 WACTAL MEMBER PROFILE ............................................................10 One Way Collision Center, LLC - Merrill, WI by Alana Bonillo WACTAL SPRING CONFERENCE WRAP-UP ..............................................12 WACTAL’s Annual Spring Conference Delivers with Business Building Techniques and More by Alana Bonillo FEATURE ................................................................................15 Drama, a DRP and a Re-Repair Disaster by Joel Gausten WACTAL MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION ................................................18
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Zorn Compressor & Equipment ..............14
Morrison’s Auto Parts ..............................11
Wisconsin Automotive News is published quarterly by Thomas Greco Publishing, Inc., 244 Chestnut Street, Suite 202 Nutley, NJ 07110. Distributed free to qualified recipients; $48 to all others. Additional copies of Wisconsin Automotive News are available at $5 per copy. Reproduction of any portions of this publication is specifically prohibited without written permission of the publisher. The opinions and ideas appearing in this magazine are not necessarily representations of Thomas Greco Publishing, Inc. or of WACTAL. Copyright © 2019 by Thomas Greco Publishing, Inc. Cover image © www.istockphoto.com.
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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Take Advantage of Your Membership Another WACTAL Conference has come and gone with some valuable information imparted by the speakers. Learning and gaining knowledge from the speakers is only part of what the conference offered. The reception at The Automobile Gallery provided an opportunity to network, discuss industry issues and concerns and socialize while enjoying hors d’oeuvres and viewing the many classic vehicles on display. It’s unfortunate more members don’t take advantage of the opportunities and benefits WACTAL has to offer. Yes, attending an event on a Friday means taking off from work. We get it. It’s not always easy to step away from the shop. However, if you come away from a seminar with an idea, a solution or something you learn that can make you run a more profitable, efficient business, wouldn’t it be worth the time to attend? Even though the conference is still fresh in everyone’s mind, the WACTAL board is already planning next year’s event. As soon as the date and place are announced, mark it on your calendar. Make
2020 the year you attend the WACTAL Conference. Besides the conference, WACTAL offers many other benefits – discounts on business insurance through Auto Owners, discounts on office supplies through Office Depot/OfficeMax, special pricing on environmental compliance with KPA and much more. Visit wactal.com to view the benefits or download an application for membership. I look forward to seeing you at next year’s conference. Larry Terrien WACTAL President
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LOCAL NEWS by Alana Bonillo
Collision Advice’s Mike Anderson Helps Drive Local Association Members Towards the Future In early March, members of the Indianhead Auto Body Association and the Chippewa Valley Auto Body Association gathered at the Elks Lodge in Rice Lake to hear from famed industry speaker Mike Anderson of Collision Advice. Anderson, the former owner of two body shops in Virginia, actively travels the country as a consultant and presenter. He spoke to a packed house of 86 members from both associations who came to learn where the collision industry is headed. Noted for his engaging and interactive presentations, Anderson spent four hours with the association members covering various topics that pertain to the industry from the importance of OEM parts and certification to telematics and what is to come next as a result of these advanced technological systems. “Mike Anderson is remarkable. He is an incredible presenter. He holds
[their] attention like nobody’s business,” commented Mike Sperry (Diamond Collision, Webster), a member of the Indianhead Auto Body Association board of directors. “[Mike] just keeps everyone engaged. He makes it fun and incredibly interesting.” Sperry pointed out how impressed he was with the amount of information Anderson shared – much of which was specifically geared towards the Wisconsin auto body collision industry. Shop owners walked away with a new found knowledge on the industry around them, including eye-opening information on the state’s Labor Rate. Anderson pointed out that Wisconsin typically charges the lowest mechanical Labor Rate in the country. “He has these numbers almost memorized. It’s just amazing to see what he knows. He doesn’t even look at the screen,” added Sperry, who was impressed by Anderson’s personal attention to their audience.
Anderson shed light on timely issues such as what can be expected from the ABBA/Caliber merger – the biggest MSOs in the country – and what telematics will mean for body shops. According to Anderson, the year 2022 is expected to bring a shift between OEMs and insurers as the OEMs will take the lead in directing where vehicles go for service as a result. “Now in a lot of cases, the insurers direct consumers to one of their preferred shops. In the next two to three years, the OEMs will be able to do that through the smart car and its electronics. When one has an accident, the car will alert a nearby shop, and not go through an insurer,” explained Sperry. “The information he shared was just so helpful to everyone.”
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LOCAL NEWS by Alana Bonillo
WACTAL Community Mourns Loss of Founding Member Edmund Blair WACTAL founding member and automotive professional Edmund Blair passed away on February 4, 2019, at the age of 85. Blair was responsible for the start of WACTAL, along with Jack Slack and Peter Dottl, who worked together to get the association off the ground. Later, Blair and Slack became the founders of the association’s magazine, which is now known as Wisconsin Automotive News. “We worked together for 25-30 years and never once was there a cross word or a disagreement. We always got along great. He was a great guy,” shares Slack, who met Blair when WACTAL was first formed in the early 1970s.
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Slack, who served as president at the time, saw a need for a magazine to help the association get their name out to the Wisconsin body shops. Blair handled all the advertising and billing for the publication. Blair and his wife Louise served as secretary and treasurer of the association during those early years. The team worked at putting together two major events for the association members each year – an annual convention and the Spring conference. Slack looks back fondly on his friendship with Blair, recalling the days where they would go trout fishing with their families.
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Blair retired in the early 2000s selling his share of the magazine; Slack took the same path just a few years later. “He was a great guy. A good friend. A great person.” “Ed always had a smile and a joke to share. Often times the joke was the same, but Ed still made you laugh,” recalls WACTAL Administrator Susan Peterson. “He had a strong belief in supporting vendors who supported WACTAL and the magazine. He once told me that if a vendor approached him to get him to buy from them, they were told to advertise in the magazine.” WAN
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WACTAL MEMBER PROFILE by Alana Bonillo
One Way Collision Center, LLC Merrill, WI Like the name suggests, One Way Collision Center, LLC of Merrill can only go in one direction: Up. The collision center - which will celebrate 15 years in business this June recently underwent a huge expansion, doubling the size of the facility since moving to its new location at 2602 East Main Street. “It’s everything we wanted and it’s working out perfectly,” shares Robert Dehnel, owner, adding that they outgrew their original location at 424 East First Street. The business is now housed in an impressive new building that has been built from the ground up. Dehnel says he designed the building himself based on features he and his team saw at other facilities that they believed would be of great benefit to their own clientele. The new space brings many benefits to One Way Collision Center, including a spacious parking lot – a big change from their former location with limited parking – and a drive-through estimating bay conveniently located right outside Dehnel’s office for ease of greeting customers as they drive up. Other additions include a waiting room for customers, a breakroom for the staff and separate bathrooms for customers and employees. Another benefit of the move is that the shop is now located on what Dehnel says is the “busy side of town.” “We have four lanes in front of our shop. A lot of traffic goes by here and we were fortunate to get this property on this side of town to build what we did.” The expansion has also allowed for One Way Collision Center to expand as well. They’ve recently partnered with the nearby Brickner’s Park City dealership, making One Way a one-stop shop for everything.
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“We do all [of the dealership’s body] work. They send a lot of cars over here. If their customers don’t know where to get their body work done, they send them to us.” The additional space also allowed One Way Collision Center to grow its team. They hired three new employees since they moved to the new location last August. Dehnel opened the business in 2004 at their original location leading a small crew of just two workers. A family-run business, the crew expanded over the years to a team of 10 members. His wife Jane handles all the bookkeeping and both their sons are principle members of the operation. Their son Brad is employed as their estimator, and their son Jon is a full-time painter. Dehnel’s love for the automotive world began at an early age. “I always had a passion for cars and always wanted to do something with them. Even as a kid. It’s what I wanted to do, and it was going to happen.” Originally, he was interested in the mechanical side but when an opportunity to work in a body shop came along, he went for it. The rest just kind of fell into place. He spent a number of years working at a body shop, and later became manager at another body shop business. He says having management experience was especially helpful to him early on when he first opened the shop. As the industry continues to evolve, Dehnel recognizes the need to keep up with training - at the shop level, that commitment includes participation in ICAR classes. Most importantly, the shop takes OEM procedures very seriously. “Cars are changing every day. Everything is getting so high-tech…We have to scan every single car that comes
Spring 2019
The new and improved One Way Collision Center on East Main Street in Merrill, WI.
Jane and Robert Dehnel
From left to right, David McDonough, Brad Dehnel, Todd Pester, Khang Xiong, Kong Yang, Jon Dehnel, Taylor Krause and Gunnar Kressel.
in here now. Pre- and post-scanning used to not exist. Now it has to be done just about every time. You have to go back to the manufacturer and get their proper procedures [for fixing these vehicles].” Changes like this are why Dehnel finds it so important to be a member of WACTAL. The company has been an association member since 2004, when they first opened. WACTAL allows him to stay on top of the goings-on in the industry, see what other shops are doing and get the latest information available. As for the future, Dehnel looks forward to enjoying more success as the business continues to grow at its brand new location. WAN
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Delivers
WACTAL SPRING CONFERENCE WRAP-UP by Alana Bonillo
WACTAL’s Annual Spring Conference with Business Building Techniques and More
It was a weekend to remember. One filled with excellent education, networking and entertainment. Automotive professionals from all over the state travelled to Green Bay to attend WACTAL’s 2019 Annual Spring Conference. The two-day program held March 15 and March 16 at the Best Western Green Bay Inn was designed to equip attendees with the latest information and tools critical to staying ahead in today’s everchanging industry. In line with the theme “Building a More Profitable Business,” this year’s conference kicked off Friday with a presentation by Bill Kinnard, president of Grandy & Associates, who focused on the financial avenues that must be taken towards running a profitable business while also making shops aware of poor practices which could ultimately lead them to go out of business. Are wages a fixed or variable overhead? Attendees learned that wages can be both. Overhead, cash flow versus profit and loss, billable and non-billable hours and more were all covered during Kinnard’s engaging presentation. “I always struggled with what looks great on paper but doesn’t always feel right with cash flow. To have those differences explained to me was a huge takeaway,” shared Sue Black, who serves as the certified accountant for Dean’s Auto Body in Sheboygan. A regular attendee at WACTAL conferences, Black
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appreciates the opportunity to meet with other repair professionals in the industry, share experiences and learn the latest happenings in the industry which she is says is so crucial nowadays. Friday’s itinerary also included an I-CAR update from Senior Vice President Nick Notte, who gave a thorough overview of the latest changes to programming and Gold Class changes, as well as insights into the new pricing structure. That evening, attendees were in for a real treat at the conference reception at The Automobile Gallery. Guests had the opportunity to network while viewing an outstanding collection of classic cars including a vintage VW Bus, 1919 Dort Speedster, 1972 Chevelle, 1932 Cadillac Coupe and others. “It was so nice to get away from the business side of it. And what a beautiful building! Looking at the vehicles was just fabulous,” relayed Black. Another highlight of the two-day event was the Hands-On Scanning class conducted by Ken Kempfer, a communicator, educator, I-CAR instructor and former radio host and technician. The interactive class, held at Williams Auto Body, provided attendees with the opportunity to scan vehicles, look up and discuss various codes and determine how to
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Clockwise from top left: Ken Kempfer led the Hands-on Scanning class held at Williams Auto Body; Attendees of the Hands-on Scanning class; I-CAR Senior Vice President Nick Notte addressed attendees on recent program changes; A 1919 Dort Speedster and other classic vehicles at The Automobile Gallery; This 1972 Chevelle was among the many classic vehicles on display at The Automobile Gallery.
proceed with repairs. Kempfer started off by explaining what P, C, B and U codes relate to, the difference between current, history and pending codes and how and where to look up information. “It was well attended by so many shops from around the state. Everyone learned how to pull codes out of cars and what they mean and what has to be done to repair [the vehicles] or at least give a good overview of what has to be done,” said WACTAL Vice President Mark Williams, who hosted the event at his body shop. Attendees were broken up into small groups taking turns scanning each of the six vehicles that were set up for this program. “It was very informative. We learned a lot. It was fun because they had a lot of different systems to use which you don’t usually get to see which ones work the best and which are a little more challenging to use.” Joe Terrien, owner/manager of MJ Collision Center in Green Bay, walked away with plenty of knowledge by attending the hands-on course.
“It was neat to hear what other shops are doing, and what procedures [they are using], which is kind of new to our industry,” he commented. Terrien attends WACTAL’s conferences annually. One of the things that keeps him coming back year after year is the variety of locations, as the conference is held in a different part of the state. This year, the conference happened to be local to his Green Bay neighborhood. WACTAL is grateful to all the businesses that took part in making this year’s Spring conference a success; Mark Williams of Williams Auto Body for the use of his shop for the “Hands On Scanning” class; Broadway Automotive and LeMieux Toyota for providing some vehicles for the program. WACTAL gives a special thank you to all the conference sponsors: Acuity Insurance, BASF, Broadway Automotive, Finishmaster, Gandrud Chevrolet, Keystone Automotive, LeMieux Toyota and PPG Industries. WAN
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FEATURE by Joel Gausten
Drama, a DRP and a Re-Repair Disaster It’s one thing to write about collision repair, but it’s another thing entirely to experience the process firsthand. Well, I did exactly that not too long ago. And it was a complete nightmare. Last October, I was inside my parked car checking messages on my phone when a driver attempting to park in the adjacent space grossly misjudged the distance and plowed into me. Although I was physically unharmed in this minor collision, my car suffered a dented-up driver’s side fender and front bumper. A repair was imminent. Thus began one of the most frustrating and ridiculous experiences of my life. In all my years of covering the industry, I’ve never once heard of the company listed on the at-fault driver’s insurance card. That raised a red flag in my mind, so I immediately decided to bite the bullet and file a claim with my insurer, GEICO, instead of trying to deal with a company I’ve heard absolutely nothing about. After the police officer arrived at the scene and took our information, I went home and called GEICO to get things started. Right off the bat, I knew I wanted my vehicle repaired at a GEICO Auto Repair Xpress shop. To be frank, the vast majority of “shops” I’ve seen where I live in New Hampshire (that is, when I’m able to actually see through their filthy windows) haven’t filled me with tremendous consumer confidence. Life up here can often feel a good 20 years behind the times, so I wasn’t about to allow myself to feel that same way as my car entered a bay. I figured that going with the closest GEICO shop – even when it was a good 35 minutes away from my home – would at least provide some level of checks and balances during my repair. After all, insurers track their shops’ KPIs, repair quality and customer feedback, don’t they? To GEICO’s credit, the claims representative I got on the phone stressed that I did not have to use one of the company’s program shops. This message was immediately repeated to me the moment I met up with the GEICO appraiser at the Auto Repair Xpress location. Let’s talk about the shop. It is a very large repair facility that services a prominent dealership in the area. As soon as I entered the reception area, I spotted a display with brochures touting the benefits of I-CAR Gold Class and a sign extolling the virtues of vehicle scanning. The place was also quite clean, and the staff members I encountered were polite and professional. Things were off to a great start. To be fair, I didn’t expect my insurer to supply me with fresh and shiny OEM parts for a 2008 Toyota Yaris with 170,000-plus miles, and I went into the repair process expecting to receive high-quality used parts for the damaged fender and bumper. Aftermarket parts were not an option in my mind.
Of course, aftermarket is exactly what the GEICO estimator wanted to put on my car. He explained that since I had filed the claim through them, they would only pay for repair work up to the limits of my policy and pursue the most cost-effective way to do so. First of all, I was not the at-fault driver; shouldn’t this (at least in principle) be a blank check since GEICO would later handle this through subrogation anyway? Second, shouldn’t the word “safest” replace “costeffective” when an insurer lays out its plans for a repair? Why would an estimator actually tell a policyholder that they’re going for the cheapest option – especially with policy renewal time right around the corner? In any event, I told the GEICO estimator that I would not accept any aftermarket parts on my vehicle unless he could provide me with the crash test data for those products. He responded by saying that the parts were certified. I still refused to accept them and told him I would gladly pay the difference for high-quality used parts. Ultimately, he wrote to repair the bumper and replace the fender with a used part (but only if that part was “insurer quality.”) The estimate came to $990.05 for a three-day repair. Naturally, it wasn’t a three-day job. In addition to the usual supplement, the shop was unable to source a decent used fender in the area and eventually went with the new OEM option (which my insurer paid for, thus earning them a check in my plus column.) I finally got the call to pick up the car on the ninth business day – Black Friday. After running errands all day, I got to the shop as the sun was beginning to set. I walked in the office, signed the necessary paperwork, paid the bill (via the money I had already received from GEICO – another positive checkmark)…and was then told to go find my car in the parking lot. No walk-around with a customer service rep? No attempt to see if I had any follow-up questions once I got to my car? Very odd – and more than a little concerning. Even with the limited outside light, I could see there were issues with my car as I approached it. For one thing, the edge guard above the front driver’s side tire was crooked, while the rubber fender trim wasn’t fully attached to the car and sticking out more than it should. Exhausted and cranky after a very busy afternoon (and with the shop minutes away from closing), I decided to let it slide for the time being and just get home for the evening. Turning my key in the driver’s side lock, I felt much stronger mechanical resistance than usual. I got in the car, started it, backed up about six inches and thought, “No! I’m going to get them to address these things now.” I drove the car back into the parking space, got out and locked the driver’s side door out of habit. Hmm…the resistance from the lock was still pretty strong. I then went to unlock it and…the door Spring 2019
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FEATURE wouldn’t open. At all. Something was definitely wrong. After going back to the reception area and waiting several minutes, the technician who washed the car – thinking that the lock might have frozen after it was brought outside – walked me out to my car to have a look at the door. The door still didn’t budge. “I’m not sure what’s going on,” the tech said, shaking his head. “I’ve only been here a week.” After later explaining the situation to the shop’s estimator (who presumably had a little more than five days’ experience at the shop), it was determined that the door had been put on incorrectly after being removed during the repair. The car was brought back in the bay (after a tech crawled in through the passenger side), and the issue was fixed just as the shop closed for the weekend. Unfortunately, I was informed that I would have to come back the following week – and make a special 70-minute roundtrip – for them to fix the
other issues I brought to their attention. This annoyed me, but I was tired and just wanted to get home to my evening commitments by that point. I agreed to come back in a few days. I returned to the shop the following Wednesday; within an hour, the edge guard and fender trim looked better than before. As I got in my car, I joked to the shop’s estimator, “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I hope I never have to see you again.” That evening, the power in my neighborhood went out for several hours. As I drove down the road to run a quick errand, I couldn’t help but notice that my headlights seemed dimmer than usual. I chalked it up to my pitch-black surroundings and forgot about it. Two nights later, I was back on the road at night – this time driving a long distance for something I couldn’t cancel. Again, the lights looked strange. I pulled into the nearest rest area…and stared in disbelief at a completely dead driver’s side headlight – which of course had
been removed and reinstalled by the shop during the repair. “Furious” is the G-rated description of how I felt. I spent the rest of the evening driving to and from my destination with my brights on whenever there wasn’t a passing car. Inevitably, I got pulled over by a policeman – who quickly got perhaps the most surreal excuse ever from anyone driving with a bad light. I showed him the invoice from the shop, which thankfully was still sitting on my passenger seat, and explained that the malfunctioning headlight appeared to be the result of the shop’s negligence. Thankfully, he bought it. The following day was a Sunday, and I made it a point to leave a message with the GEICO estimator to call me at 8am Monday morning. I gave him a brief summary of the unreal experience I had with the shop and that I couldn’t be unhappier with how I had been treated as a policyholder. After not receiving a call back by 9am the following morning,
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I called up the guy’s supervisor and left a similar message. Within minutes, the supervisor called me back. I started the conversation by saying, “This is the part of the job where you deal with an irate customer.” First, I told him that I found it odd that I never received a single followup call from GEICO in the six business days following the completion of the initial repair. I then told him I could give GEICO one last chance to get their shop in line or I could take up the matter directly with the New Hampshire Insurance Department. He assured me that a call to the Department was unnecessary and that GEICO would address the matter promptly. I scheduled another appointment with the shop for 8am the following morning. I later received a very apologetic call from my original GEICO appraiser, who said that his delay in calling me back was due to an unexpected family emergency. I accepted his apology and advised him to make sure his company did whatever would be necessary to make things right. Once I arrived at the shop for yet another re-repair, I was greeted by a new GEICO rep who had no clue why I was there. Wonderful. After filling him in, the shop’s estimator came out. “This is the third time I’ve gone back and forth with you on this car,” I said. “Take six months to get this right if you need to; I don’t care. I don’t want to be bothered until this car is perfect. If I have to come back here a fourth time, it will be in connection with a consumer fraud case.” After I received the requisite showering of “yes, sir,” I drove off in another rental car. Two days later, I picked up my car after an out-of-state work trip. The shop estimator explained that the light appeared to have failed due to age and corrosion. (What an odd coincidence that it also happened to be the light that was touched by the shop’s techs during the original repair!) While I initially assumed the shop was saying this to back out of eating the cost of the new items and the associated labor, I wasn’t charged a dime. As of this writing, I haven’t had a reason to return to the shop. I’m currently considering my future as a GEICO customer very carefully.
What began as a $990.05/three-day repair turned into $1,596.14, 11 days and three re-repairs. What a joke. If this shop – a GEICO DRP – could mangle a straightforward repair on a Yaris, how are they handling $20,000 repair orders? Here are some additional questions to consider: Why do insurers think it’s reasonable to go for the cheapest repair option when some customers – like yours truly – select a policy based on coverage and not just price? The cute little character in GEICO’s commercials that talks about how much I can “save” on insurance didn’t encourage my purchasing decision – the quality of coverage I thought I was paying for did. I deserved more than the “most cost-effective” repair method possible from my insurer. Shame on them. Where is I-CAR in all of this? This was a Gold Class shop. Embarrassing. Talk about a stain on the I-CAR brand. Those nice Gold Class brochures should always be worth
more than the paper they’re printed on, and I-CAR should always mean more than just a logo on the wall. Why is this shop allowed to stay on GEICO’s program and continue to perform dealership work? Why did I receive more calls and followups from Enterprise Rent-A-Car than I ever did from GEICO and the DRP during this ordeal? What’s the real priority here? Why was this whole situation allowed to take place when it was known from the beginning that I was a journalist who covered the collision repair industry?
Well, at least GEICO was right about one thing during this mess: I do have the right to take my car anywhere I choose. So, thanks for the friendly reminder, Mr. Gecko. I’ll be sure never to take it to one of your shops ever again.
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