Autobody News April 2014 Southeastern Edition

The second annual Southern Automo-tive Repair Conference will host a vari-ety of nationally-recognized industryspeakers, breakout training sessions, in-dustry reception, and industry productand vendor exhibition tailored to colli-sion repairers April 11–12, 2014, at theBeau Rivage Resort and Casino inBiloxi, MS.

Radio personality Patrick Porterfrom Porter’s Body Shop inBrookhaven, MS, will be the master ofceremonies. Some of the guest speak-ers and topics include:• Aaron Schulenburg, Society ofCollision Repair Specialists (SCRS)executive director, will provide a na-tional industry update.• Mike Thornton, CongressionalMedal of Honor recipient, will be a mo-tivational speaker.

• Aaron Clark from Assured Per-formance will discuss OEM certifica-tions.• Dave Posten, collision marketingmanager for American Honda, will dis-cuss Honda repair technologies.• Richard Perry, Chief’s Ford F-150 project manager, will discuss thenew repair requirements for aluminumF-150 vehicles.• Richard Valenzuela with Na-tional Auto Body Research will discussthe variable rate system, a system thatpromises to make a difference in estab-lishing equitable labor rates through abody shop survey system.• Body shop owners John Moselyand Ray Gunder, along with attorneyJohn Eaves, Jr. will discuss the detailsand status of lawsuits filed against in-

Georgia collision repair facilities canexpect increased levels of inspectionsby the Occupational Safety and HealthAdministration (OSHA) to continue in2014. OSHA issued its annual inspec-tion plan under the Site-Specific Tar-geting 2014 program as well as itscurrent list of National Emphasis Pro-grams to direct enforcement resourcesto workplaces where the highest ratesof injuries and illnesses occur.

The Georgia Collision IndustryAssociation (GCIA) has provided thefollowing OSHA inspection prepara-tion recommendations: • Have painters use supplied or

fresh/purifying air systems while in thebooth to reduce isocyanate exposureand avoid the dual-cartridge and half-mask respirators, which are the leasteffective means of protection againstisocyanates. If these are the respiratorsin use, the documentation should re-flect accurate change-out schedules.• Keep all Respiratory ProtectionProgram documentation, such as fittests and medical evaluations, in order.• Clean the shop regularly as the in-spector could swipe test shop areas.• Improve ventilation in the mixingrooms by keeping the pickup vents as

On February 24, 2014, a group ofFlorida auto body shops filed an an-titrust action against over forty prop-erty and casualty insurers in the U.S.District Court for the Middle Districtof Florida.

In the case, A&E Auto Body ver-sus 21st Century Centennial Insur-ance Co., d/b/a Farmers InsuranceGroup et al., the plaintiffs allege thatthe State Farm vendor agreement re-quires shops desiring to participate inthis preferred provider program to ac-cept the market rate for such services,and that State Farm calculates thoserates in an improper manner thatkeeps them artificially low and not

representative of the true market forsuch services.

The plaintiffs also allege that theremaining insurer defendants in thestate have advised plaintiffs that theywill pay no more than State Farmpays for labor at their shops, thus re-sulting in a stabilizing of rates at theseallegedly low levels.

In addition to a number of com-mon law counts, plaintiffs assert thatdefendants’ conduct constitutes pricefixing under Section 1 of the ShermanAct. In search of evidence of agree-ment amongst the defendants (a nec-essary element of a Section 1 claim),

Property and Casualty Insurers Hit With AntitrustSuit by Florida Auto Body Shops

GCIA Provides Preparation Tips for OSHA Iso-cyanates Inspections in Georgia Body Shops

See Southern Repair Conference, Page 34

See FL Antitrust Suit, Page 28

Southern Automotive Repair Conference WillBe in Biloxi, MS, April 11–12, 2014

See GCIA Recommends, Page 4

In a vote in the MD House EconomicMatters committee on March 14,Maryland House Bill 574 (HB574),sponsored by Delegate John A. Ol-szewski, Jr., received an unfavorablereport out of the committee. Intro-duced in January, HB574 and its com-panion, Senate Bill 487, sponsored bySenator John C. Astle, sought to pro-hibit insurance company personnelfrom specifying a specific vendor forparts or materials or part procurementprocess, and would have requiredOEM crash parts for a period of threeyears after the date of manufacture ofa vehicle.

In a 16 to 7 vote on March 14, theMD House Economic Matters com-mittee voted for an unfavorable reporton HB574. In Maryland, committeesreport to the legislature on the billsthat are assigned to them as favorable,with or without amendment, unfavor-able, or without recommendation.Having been voted out of committee,the bill now returns to the floor of its

chamber of origin accompanied by areport of committee action for consid-eration.

No action has yet been taken onSB487. The bills provided commonground for insurers and non-OEMparts suppliers in opposition. Severalinsurance and aftermarket partsgroups testified in opposition to thebill. Repair facility operators that sup-port the legislation believe it protectsconsumers and preserves a repair fa-cilities ability to manage its opera-tions. The Washington MetropolitanAuto Body Association, WMABA,supports the proposed legislation be-lieving it necessary to protect therights of repair facilities to operatetheir business independently and pro-tect consumers.

The Automotive Body Parts As-sociation (ABPA) publicly denouncedthe legislation prohibiting insurersfrom requiring the use of alternativecollision parts on vehicles less than

See Maryland Parts Bill, Page 20

Maryland Parts Bill Gets Unfavorable Vote in Cmte

Presorted StandardUS Postage

PAIDSan Bernardino, CA

Permit #2244

P.O. BOX 1516, CARLSBAD, CA 92018

Change Service Requested

Southeastern Edition

FloridaGeorgia

AlabamaMississippi

VirginiaTennessee

North CarolinaSouth Carolina www.autobodynews.com

YEARS3232

ww.autobodynews.comww

32VOL. 5 ISSUE 2APRIL 2014

2 APRIL 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

Southeast

Publisher & Editor: Jeremy HayhurstGeneral Manager: Barbara DaviesOnline Editor: Alicia BasteriContributing Writers: Tom Franklin, Stefan Gesterkamp, John Yoswick, Janet Chaney,Toby Chess, Ed Attanasio, Chasidy SiskAdvertising Sales: Joe Momber, Sean Hartman, Bill Doyle, David Petro (800) 699-8251Sales Assistant: Louise TedescoArt Director: Rodolfo Garcia

Serving Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina,South Carolina and adjacent metro areas, Autobody News is a monthly publication for theauto body industry. Permission to reproduce in any form the material published inAutobody News must be obtained in writing from the publisher. ©2014 Adamantine Media LLC.

Autobody NewsBox 1516, Carlsbad, CA 92018; (800) 699-8251 (760) 603-3229 Faxwww.autobodynews.com Email: [email protected]

BMW Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 37Cavalier Ford-Lincoln Greenbrier . . 17CCC Information Services . . . . . . . . 7Certified Automotive PartsAssociation (CAPA). . . . . . . . . . . 15

Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Coggin Deland Honda . . . . . . . . . . 20Creative Metal Manufacturing. . . . . . 4Crown Automotive Group . . . . . . . . 23DJS Fabrications, Inc . . . . . . . . . . . 48Don Reid Ford. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Equalizer Industries, Inc . . . . . . . . . 14Ford Wholesale Parts DealersFL, GA, AL, MS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Franklin Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram . 21GM Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . 41Gray-Daniels Auto Family . . . . . . . . . 5Gus Machado Ford. . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Hendrick BMW/MINI . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Honda-Acura Wholesale PartsDealers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25, 26-27

Hyundai Wholesale Parts Dealers . 38Jon Hall Chevrolet . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Kernersville Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Kia Motors Wholesale Parts Dealers . 35Landers Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge . . . . 16Malco. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Mercedes-Benz Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

MINI Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 37Mitsubishi Wholesale Parts Dealers . 40MOPAR Wholesale Parts Dealers . . 31Nalley BMW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Performance Automall . . . . . . . . . . 13Porsche Wholesale Parts Dealers . 45Priority Honda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Reliable Automotive Equipment, Inc. 6Stateline Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-FIAT. 11Subaru of Gwinnett . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Subaru Wholesale Parts Dealers . . 29Tameron Hyundai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Toyota of Easley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Toyota Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 43UniCure Spraybooths . . . . . . . . . . . 19Valspar Automotive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Inde

xofAdvertisers

ContentsREGIONALABRA Acquires 13 Repair Centers

in Charlotte, NC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6AutoFair at Charlotte Motor Speedway

will Feature More than 50 Car Clubsand 10,000 Vendor Spaces . . . . . . . . . 10

Birmingham Shop Fire Damages16 Vehicles Feb. 18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Body Shops in VA Extra Busy AfterWeather-Related Crashes . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Check Fraud Victimizes FL andGA Body Shops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

FL Man Charged in Felony CounterfeitGoods Trafficking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Freak Tire Accident Kills Gainesville Body Shop Employee, Injures Shop Owner,Driver Also Shop Worker . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

GCIA Holds March 20th Member Meeting . 17GCIA Provides Preparation Tips for OSHA

Isocyanates Inspections in GeorgiaBody Shops. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Industry Veteran Opens His Own GA Shop After 20 Years in Covington, GA, Brings Painting Expertise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

NAPA Collision Conference in Orlando, FL, April 15–17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

NC Shop Wins Nationwide Short-PayArbitration Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Property and Casualty Insurers Hit WithAntitrust Suit by Florida Auto Body Shops . 1

Russom’s CARSTAR Opens 2ndTennessee Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Sebring, FL, Boys and Girls Club GetsBox Truck Painted For Free byDuck’s Body Shop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Independent Auto Body AssociationRestructures in NC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

MSCRA Conducts Outreach to Industry . . 12Six SE Associations Prepare for Southern

Automotive Repair Conf. . . . . . . . . . . . 18Southern Automotive Repair Conference

Will Be in Biloxi, MS, April 11–12, 2014 . 1St. Augustine Family Struggles to RecoverFrom Complete Loss of Shop in Fire. . . . . . 4TN Bill Will Exempt Antique Vehicles from

Privelege Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

COLUMNISTSFranklin - A Missing Hat In Most Shops . . 38Sisk - ASA-AZ Meets to Discuss Survival

Skills for Service Advisors . . . . . . . . . . 32Sisk - LaCIA Meets to Talk Progress

and Future Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Yoswick - 20 Years Ago In The Collision

Repair Industry (April 1994). . . . . . . . . 34Yoswick - Helpful Documents, Tools,

Information Only a Click Away For Shops . 30

NATIONAL‘Kiss Bandits’ Vandalize Cars at Body Shop

in Saddle Brook, NJ, Doing $40K inDamage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

3D-Printed Concept Car at GenevaAuto Show. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

AAAS Busy Strengthening Industry in 2014 . 29ASA Announces Incentives for Select

I-CAR Qualified Shops to Attend NACE/CARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Attanasio - Louisiana Shop Owner UsesTwitter to Survey Other Shops inReal Time, Insurers Not Happy. . . . . . . 22

Auto Industry Champion, John Dingell (D),to Retire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Car-O-Liner Offers New Ford 2015F-150 Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

CARSTAR Extends Partnership toOffer AutoWatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

CARSTAR to Address Industry Trendsat Colorado Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

CIF is Now the Charitable Conscienceof the Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Collision Repair Education FoundationGolf Fundraiser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Education Foundation Doubled Downon Its Future in 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Ford Sued Over Patented Turn SignalTechnology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Get Ready for Earth Day with LKQGet Green Promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

I-CAR Has Implemented a New Initiativeto Close OEM Informational Gaps. . . . . 39

I-CAR Introduces Training Solution forFull-frame Partial Replacement Repairs,Replaces Two Other Courses . . . . . . . . 37

Is My Gas Can Safe? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Latest Edition of CIECA-TV: E-Commerce

Done Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Maryland Parts Bill Gets Unfavorable

Vote in Cmte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Michigan’s HB 5339 Seeks to Address

Steering, Non-OEM Parts, and PartsProcurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Mitchell Acquiring FAIRPAY . . . . . . . . . . . 36Mitchell Announces Liability Adjusters’

Software Release. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36NABC Accepting Nominations for

Industry Awards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37NACE/CARS and Industry Week 2014

Update: Show Expected to Double in Size . 41North Texas Student Says Two Mobile Dent

Repair Businesses Took Him for a Ride . 28NY-based MSO Collision Experts Drops

State Farm’s Select Service Due toParts Procurement Requirement. . . . . . 16

Power Up at the 2014 WIN EducationalConference in San Diego, CA,May 5–7, 2014 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

PPG Announces Distributor TrainingSchedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

SCRS and CIC are April 8–9, 2014,in Portland, OR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

SEMA Data Co-op Grows 300%. . . . . . . . 36SEMA Seeks Nominations for Hall of

Fame by March 21, 2014. . . . . . . . . . . 36Sustainability Challenge Grant Winners

Announced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Testimony on Maryland Parts Bill Involved

Representatives from WMABA, PCI,LKQ, CAPA and Shops, Some Repairers‘Cannot Afford to Refuse’ PartsTrader . . 43

Transtar Acquires ETX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Utah Offers Grants to Body Shops to

Convert to Waterborne, Not ManyApplicants So Far. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Zurich Insurance Cuts Jobs to BoostProfitabiltiy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

www.autobodynews.com | APRIL 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS 3

Vote For Your FavoriteRedneck Repair

www.facebook.com/autobodynews

on Facebook

Abe Chatila has opened a new tire andautomotive repair business, CompleteAutomotive and Tire, on U.S. 1, northof St. Augustine after his auto body re-pair business, Complete Collision, wasdestroyed in a fire in January. TheChatila family is used to making ad-justments in the business world, andthey might be dealing with their biggestone yet right now, according to PeterWillott, writing at StAustine.com.

Fixtures of the automotive busi-ness in St. Augustine, the Chatilas aretrying hard to recover from the loss oftheir collision repair center off StateRoad 207. The body shop was com-pletely destroyed by a fire that startedjust before midnight on Jan. 20.

“Everything that was there isgone,” said Abe Chatila, one of threebrothers who work at the family-ownedbusinesses Complete Collision andComplete Automotive and Tire.

“It was a super old building. Itwasn’t so much the building (that waslost) but what was inside.”

The building contained all thetools of the trade as well as several carsthat had been purchased in order to befixed up and resold. Many of items lostfrom inside the building were either notcovered by the insurance policy or un-dercovered so that they cannot all be re-placed.

Chatila said he got a text in themiddle of the night from his brotherthat there was a fire at the body shop.

He lives on Anastasia Island andrushed to the site. Driving over theState Road 312 bridge, Chatila couldalready grasp the seriousness of thedamage by looking in the direction ofthe shop.

“It was just a glow and smokeeverywhere,” Chatila said. “There wasnothing that was salvageable.”

After investigations by the firemarshal and insurance adjuster, Chatilasaid the cause of the fire was declaredofficially as undetermined. But becauseit started in an area where there were noflammable materials, there is suspicionthat it was arson—whether accidentalor intentional.

In the end, it doesn’t really matter.There were no injuries, which was thegood part. But the losses were above thelevel that insurance will cover, Chatilasaid, which is the bad part. Chatila saidhe isn’t sure if the family will ever re-open the collision repair side of thebusiness, but the site of the fire is alsothe location of the towing business,which operated as part of CompleteCollision. The towing service, whichwas purchased from Fulkerson Towing,remains a viable business. Neither of thetwo trucks were damaged by the fire.

Working with brothers Moham-mad and Abdul and father Riad, Chatilahelps run Complete Automotive andTire on U.S. 1 North. That property wasleased shortly before the fire destroyedthe body shop. In fact, it hadn’t evenopened its doors when the fire oc-curred.

“The idea was to have both busi-nesses running (together),” Chatila said.“The body shop is totally gone for now.”

What hasn’t ended is the ambitionof the family. While working to estab-lish a customer base at the tire/repairshop, Chatila and his family are readyto start a new venture.

The family was granted approvalfor used car sales by the city Planningand Zoning Board at the northern sectionof the property where the repair shop sits.

Moving from one aspect of the au-tomotive industry to the next is whatthey’ve always done. Chatila said he re-members working with his dad as achild when Riad owned Anastasia Mo-bile and Anastasia Towing.

“We’ve always been in the automo-tive business one way or another,” he said.

Despite the financial and emo-tional losses from the fire, the Chatilasare committed to remaining part of thelocal business scene.

“It hasn’t discouraged us,” Chatilasaid. “We’re moving forward.”

clear as possible. If ventilation is ques-tionable, have the painters wear respi-rators while mixing.• Have employees use personalprotective equipment (PPE) for eyesand skin as well as respiratory. Paintersshould be fully covered and some preparea employees should be wearinggloves and eye protection as well.• Change paint suits once a breech(tear or paint in the suit) has occurred.• Do not wear paint suits, etc. in thebreak area and keep food and drinks outof the prep and paint areas—you shouldkeep food and drink out of the entirebody shop and only in break rooms. Onlythose employees who need to be in prepand paint areas should be in those areas.• Make documentation available forall booths (closed systems), includingmaintenance records, filter change outs,etc.• Keep paint and other chemicalsthat may contain isocyanates closed atall times when not in use.

Contact Howard Batchelor [email protected] if your shop is in-spected.


Your shop will breathe easy with a Flowmaster portable clean-air, re-circulating unit. Ideal for sanding, priming, spot painting or overallwhole shop ventilation.

Your shop will breathe easy

Creative Metal Manufacturingwww.creativemetalmfg.com

(888) 631-6687 Toll Free

Flowmaster is priced right and Made in the USA

• No assembly required• Most powerful unit on the market• Easy mobility with pneumatic locking wheels• 50’ cord, folding hook and filter change indicator• 110V or 220V• Custom Sizes Available

A

th ng

ilable

No permits, fire suppression, plumbing or roof

penetration needed!

CLEAN AIR RECIRCULATORCLEAN AIR RECIRCULATORCLEAN AIR RECIRCULATOR

St. Augustine Family Struggles to Recover From Complete Loss of Shop in Fire, CauseOfficially Undetermined But Source of Fire Was Not Near Flammable Materials

Continued from Cover

GCIA Recommends

Sebring, FL, Boys and Girls Club Gets BoxTruck Painted For Free by Duck’s Body ShopThe Boys & Girls Club of HighlandsCounty, FL, has acquired a box truckfor use in picking up and deliveringlarge donations for its downtown Se-bring thrift store, The Emporium.

Board member Paul DuBrule,Elli-B Honey Company owner RobertElliott and volunteer Patty Bird ofAvon Park were instrumental in ob-taining the truck.

The Boys & Girls Club is an or-ganization that provides daily after-school programs for 300 localchildren, ages 6-18, who are eitherfrom single parent homes or homeswhere parents both work multiple,low-paying jobs and are not at homewhen the children arrive after school.

The Boys & Girls Club is a safeplace for children to go, where theyreceive a snack, help with their schoolwork, recreation activities, and guid-ance with socialization.

The “Five Core” program of theclub consists of guidance in characterand leadership development, educa-tion and career development, healthand life skills, the arts, and sports andfitness.

The donated truck is not new, butit is very serviceable and much appre-ciated by club staff members. The

Emporium manager Levon Stukes isthrilled to have the truck. “Man, whata help ... couches, easy chairs andlarge appliances are tough to load in avan or a small pickup. We can put a lotof items at once in the box truck andwe won’t have to keep running backand forth to the store after every de-livery or pick up like we had to be-fore,” he said.

Stukes and Boys & Girls Club di-rector Woodraun Wright plan to makethe truck a “rolling billboard” that willgenerate much-needed income for theclub by advertising local businesses.

The truck needs to be stripped ofits current graphics and painted, whichwill involve a lot of hard work. Wrightand DuBrule contacted BeverlyRagland, owner of Duck’s Body Shopat 1153 Hawthorne Dr, Sebring, FL,who will paint the truck at no charge.It should be ready by mid-April,DuBrule said.

The plan is to offer local busi-nesses the opportunity to purchase ad-vertising space on the truck.

A local sign company will pro-duce the vinyl signage for each busi-ness and it will be applied to the truck,which will also display the Boys &Girls Club logo.


GGGGGGGrrrrrrraaaaaaayyyyyyy--DDDDDDDaaaaaaannnnnnniiiiiiieeeeeeelllllllsssssss NNNNNNNiiiiiiissssssssssssssaaaaaaannnnnnn ooooofffffff JJJJJaaaaaccccckkkkksssssooooonnnnnfffffGray-Daniels Nissan of Jackson

• Trained Wholesale Crew• In State Next Day Shipping w/Quick Local Delivery• Great Discounts

Hours: Monday - Friday 7 am - 5:30 pmSaturday 8 am - 4 pm

Parts Manager: Steven Hill800-530-7522601-899-7462 [email protected] I-55 North Frontage Rd.,Jackson, MS 39211

GENUINE SERVICE & PARTS

GGGGGGGrrrrrrraaaaaaayyyyyyy--DDDDDDDaaaaaaannnnnnniiiiiiieeeeeeelllllllsssssss NNNNNNNiiiiiiissssssssssssssaaaaaaannnnnnn ooooofffffff BBBBBrrrrraaaaannnnndddddooooonnnnnfffffGray-Daniels Nissan of Brandon

• Collision Parts Price Matching• Dedicated Wholesale Sta!• Large Inventory

Hours: Monday - Friday 7 am - 6 pmSaturday 8 am - 4 pm

Parts Manager: Jack Willoughby800-530-7989601-985-3753 [email protected] Gray-Daniels Blvd.,Brandon, MS 39042


GGGGGGGrrrrrrraaaaaaayyyyyyy--DDDDDDDaaaaaaannnnnnniiiiiiieeeeeeelllllllsssssss CCCCCCChhhhhhheeeeeeevvvvvvvrrrrrrrooooooollllllleeeeeeetttttttGray-Daniels Chevrolet

• Prompt, Accurate and Free Local Delivery• Dedicated Wholesale Sta!• Large Inventory

Hours: Monday - Friday 7:30 am - 5:30 pmSaturday 8 am - 4 pm

Parts Manager:Eddie Williamson800-729-6160601-206-5894 local601-206-5899 [email protected] I-55 North,Jackson, MS 39211

GGGGGGGrrrrrrraaaaaaayyyyyyy--DDDDDDDaaaaaaannnnnnniiiiiiieeeeeeelllllllsssssss FFFFFFFooooooorrrrrrrdddddddGray-Daniels Ford• No Order Too Big or Too Small• Highly Experienced Parts Personnel• Great Discounts


Parts Manager:Bill Styrone800-898-1944601-591-2648 [email protected] Octavia Drive,Brandon, MS 39042

GGGGGGGrrrrrrraaaaaaayyyyyyy--DDDDDDDaaaaaaannnnnnniiiiiiieeeeeeelllllllsssssss LLLLLLLiiiiiiinnnnnnncccccccooooooolllllllnnnnnnnGray-Daniels Lincoln• Trained Wholesale Crew• In State Next Day Shipping w/Quick Local Delivery• Great Discounts


Parts Manager:Bill Styrone800-898-1944601-591-2648 [email protected] Octavia Drive,Brandon, MS 3904

Gray-Daniels ToyotaGray-Daniels Toyota

• Prompt, Accurate and Free Delivery• Dedicated Wholesale Sta!• Large Inventory

Hours: Mon. - Fri. 7am - 6 pmSaturday 8 am - 4 pm

Parts Manager: Steve Calhoun800-530-7955601-948-0576601-965-8458 [email protected] Gray-Daniels Blvd.,Brandon, MS 39042

GGGGGGGrrrrrrraaaaaaayyyyyyy--DDDDDDDaaaaaaannnnnnniiiiiiieeeeeeelllllllsssssss SSSSSSSccccccciiiiiiiooooooonnnnnnnGray-Daniels Scion• No Order Too Big or Too Small• Highly Experienced Parts Personnel• Great Discounts

Hours: Mon. - Fri. 7:30 am - 6 pmSaturday 8 am - 4 pm

Parts Manager: Steve Calhoun800-530-7955601-948-0576601-965-8458 [email protected] Gray-Daniels Blvd.,Brandon, MS 39042

For All YourCollisions Part Needs

WWW.GRAYDANIELS.COM

Visit our E-Store:www.graydanielsnissannorthparts.com

Participating in Collision Link




Ivan James Sandquist, age 33, waskilled in a freak accident on the morn-ing of March 3. The Williston PoliceDepartment (WPD) reported that theyreceived a report of two men being in-jured while working at Absolute Autobody, located at 104 NW 10th Ave.Upon investigation, it was discoveredthat Patrick Woodard of Gainesville,who repairs cars at an auto shop in theRaleigh area of Levy County, wasdriving a 1999 Toyota northbound onUS-41. As the vehicle approached Ab-solute Auto Body, the left front tirebroke free from the vehicle and trav-eled north on the west shoulder of thehighway. The tire struck a drivewayapron, sending it airborne. The tirejumped over a six-foot chain linkfence, where it then struck Sandquist,killing him instantly. After strikingSandquist, the tire struck the friend hewas standing and talking to, James E.Fender, 45, the owner of the AbsoluteAuto Body Shop. Fender sustained se-rious injuries and was airlifted toShands Hospital in Gainesville.

Williston Police Chief DennisStrow said the incident was being in-

vestigated, and that he asked for helpfrom the Florida Highway Patrol(FHP). An FHP homicide investigatorwill be assisting in trying to figure outwhat happened. “We asked for helpfrom FHP because they have so muchexperience in these kinds of things.”They hope to determine if the cause ofthe accident was a speed factor or amechanical problem.

Chief Strow added that the vehi-cle, which Woodard had been drivingat the time of the incident, had beentaken to Woodard (since he works atan auto body shop) to be checked out.He said that Woodard had not doneanything to the car, including thewheel, which came off of the vehicle,prior to taking it for a test drive.

Strow said the tire did not explodeand was intact on the wheel.

A memorial was held for JamesSandquist at Knoff Funeral Home inWilliston at 4 p.m., Thursday, March6.

His mother requested that in lieuof flowers, donations be made to theAmerican Diabetes or the AmericanHeart Association.


Start Fixing “The Right Way”

PH 732.495.7900Call Now!58 Leonardville Road • Belford NJ 07718

www.raeservice.com

Start Fixing “The Right Way”RAE is North America's premier supplier of Wielander+Schill equipment, the most globally recognized name in collision repair with the most OEM approvals.

OEM approved systems and products are the "preferred choice" for use in collision repair because the system or products have already been pre-screened by the car manufacturer.

most

RAE is your RAE is your rivet gun rivet gun source!source!

RAE is your rivet gun source!

Freak Tire Accident Kills Gainesville Body Shop Em-ployee, Injures Shop Owner, Driver Also Shop Worker

A Florida man has been chargedwith one count of trafficking incounterfeit goods—an offence thatcarries a maximum penalty of 10years in federal prison. The goods atissue are counterfeit electronic en-gine control devices produced andmarketed by Hondata for use inmodified Honda and Acura vehicles.

In a plea agreement filed with aU.S. District Court, the defendant ad-mitted that, beginning in 2009, hearranged for Hondata’s K-Pro andS300 devices to be reverse-engi-neered. The counterfeit devices boreHondata’s trademarked name, as wellas counterfeit serial numbers. The de-fendant also admitted creating coun-terfeit packaging, labels, instructionsand compact discs for the devices.

Hondata has said “CounterfeitK-Pros and K100s have been sold asnew and used in the US, Canada,Europe and Australia and Asia Thiscounterfeit circuit board is a poorquality copy of the version 2 K-Prowith on-board datalogging.

There are no known counterfeitsof the red circuit board KPro V3.”

The investigation in this matterwas conducted by the FBI. For moresee www.sema.org/ipr.

FL Man Charged in FelonyCounterfeit Goods Trafficking

On March 7, 2014, ABRA AutoBody & Glass announced the pur-chase of all 13 Wilburn Auto Bodyrepair centers in the Charlotte, NC,metro area.

ABRA now has 145 com-pany-owned locations and 48 inde-pendently-owned franchises for atotal of 193 collision repair centersin 17 states.

Don Wilburn, founder andCEO of Wilburn Auto Body, em-braces the acquisition. “This is asignificant milestone for me.Wilburn Auto Body has servedCharlotte since 1975. I have com-plete confidence ABRA will con-tinue the legacy of deliveringtop-notch customer service and re-pair solutions to our customers andthe community.”

Building on its increasing suc-cess, ABRA plans to continue ex-panding in the months and yearsahead as part of its aggressive na-tional growth strategy. It is activelyseeking new opportunities to ac-quire repair centers and integratethem into its industry-leading oper-ating system.

ABRA Acquires 13 RepairCenters in Charlotte, NC

[email protected] us!write us!

Start Your FREEMail Subscription.

CALL 800-699-8251

The source for timely information that every

body shop needs!e-mail:

[email protected]

800-699-8251

To advertisecall Joe Momber at:

www.autobodynews.com

Promote your business with an exclusive article featuring

your products or services.

800-699-8251CALL: Joe Momber for details!



800-699-8251Call for details!

[email protected]

Want to Contribute to this Southwest Edition?Give us your opinion on matters affecting the industry.

write us!write us!


Autobody News WebsiteAutobody News Websiteat www.autobodynews.com

Register Your Email for OurSee the NEW

Free Monthly NewsletterFree Monthly Newsletterat www.autobodynews.com

Register Your Email for Our

Free Twice Monthly NewsletterFree Twice Monthly Newsletter

www.autobodynews.comCHECK IT OUT!


e-mail:[email protected]

800-699-8251

To advertisecall Advertising Sales at:



800-699-8251

To advertisecall Sean Hartman at:



The Independent Auto Body Associa-tion (IABA, not to be confused withthe Indiana association with the sameacronym) is currently inactive as theyrestructure their leadership, but theyhave big plans for the future for whenthey’ve regrouped. Mike Causey,President of IABA, is excited aboutthese upcoming changes and sharessome information about the associa-tion.

The association was foundedaround the turn of the century, 1999-2000 that is, because a group of smallbody shop owners in Western NC“were fed up with insurance compa-nies steering customers away fromtheir shops in favor of large bodyshops willing and able to sign on theirinsurer’s Direct Repair Programs,”Causey recounts.

Taking the lead on resolving thisdilemma, Tommy Green, one of theowners of a collision repair facility,circulated a petition which was en-dorsed by 60 shop owners beforebeing forwarded to elected officials inWashington (DC) and Raleigh.

At the time, Causey was runningfor a statewide office, to be NC’s in-surance commissioner, but whenGreen contacted him to ask aboutstarting a collision repair associa-tion, Causey aided the involvedshops by drafting a Constitution andBy-laws for the new statewide asso-ciation which was to be called the In-dependent Auto Body Association.Causey notes, “the ironic part is onlya small handful of those petitionsigners had the will to join the asso-ciation. So the IABA started withonly five western NC body shopowners. The initial goal was to passlegislation in NC to stop steering, orat least slow it down.”

After losing the election for in-surance commissioner in November2000, Causey agreed to represent theIABA as a legislative lobbyist at theNC General Assembly. Causey andGreen immediately engaged in dis-cussions with key representativesabout drafting proposed legislation tohelp consumers by enforcing theirRight to Choose the body shop wheretheir vehicle would be repaired. In Oc-tober 2001, the IABA’s proposed

House Bill 13 – the Consumer MotorVehicle Repair Act – was signed intolaw by the state’s governor; this suc-cess launched Causey’s part-time ca-reer as a writer for various collisionrepair publications, including Auto-body News. Since the association’s in-ception in NC, they have expandedtheir service area to include VA andSC as well.

When invited to contributefeedback on IABA’s beginnings,Tom Green stated, “the only guy Iever met that was equally as per-sistent as myself had to be MikeCausey. Looking back 14 years ago,I believe that we both had a goodunderstanding of what we were upagainst at the time. House Bill 13was originally written by WilmaSherrill, State Representative forBuncombe County 116 District, andshe also deserves a tremendousamount of credit for passage of theBill through the State House ofRepresentatives. She is, withoutdoubt, one of the best Representa-tives to ever serve in North Car-olina’s House of Representatives. Istill to this day often wonder whatwe might have accomplished hadmore people got involved. Like Iused to tell those guys back in theday, ‘I’ve never seen a war won onyour knees or sitting on your ass.’”

Though the IABA is currentlyinactive as they work on reorganiz-ing the association with new offi-cers, they still anticipate the need toovercome a multitude of challengesonce this regrouping is completed.Causey notes that the biggest chal-lenges that the IABA faces in main-taining operations is “apathy frombody shop owners, opposition frominsurance companies and financialchallenges.”

The general disinterest and un-willingness to get involved that is per-vading the collision repair industrylends itself to the IABA’s goals which,according to Causey, are “to surviveas an association in the fact of suchapathy by shop owners and to getmore members by getting body shopsinvolved. Most shops show little in-terest in participating in associationsor meetings. Most are afraid of the in-

surance companies, it seems, anddon’t want to ‘rock the boat’ or makewaves.”

Although the IABA is not cur-rently working on any legislation,their mission as an association in-cludes getting legislation passed tohelp consumers and small businessowners, as well as “to educate thepublic (and elected officials) on theirrights, help consumers and help ‘levelthe playing field’ for shop owners,”Causey explains.

Of course, Causey recognizes thechallenges of these aspirations, espe-cially in regards to legislation – “themain challenge is getting enoughshop owners and managers behind theproposed legislation. Then, [we haveto rally] consumer groups and indi-viduals interested in consumer pro-tection. The next challenge is fundingto hire a professional lobbyist toguide the legislation through the leg-islative process, which sometimes can

take many months or years. Insurancecompanies always oppose consumer-oriented legislation that takes anycontrol away from insurers in the re-pair process.”

Discussing current legislative ini-tiatives related to the collision repairindustry, Causey notes, in regards tothe PARTS Act, that “IABA favorsfull disclosure legislation. Give con-sumers a choice, and make it clear thatthe consumer can choose OE parts orotherwise.”

The IABA is also against anymandated parts-procurement systems,such as State Farm’s PartsTrader, be-cause “it is a one-sided agreement infavor of the insurer. Plus, it harms thelocal economy by cutting local sup-pliers out of the loop.”

This view relates back to whatCausey sees as the biggest problemcurrently facing the industry today:“control of the repair process has been


Proudly Servicing Georgia, North & South CarolinaWe maintain a huge stock of manufactured and top quality brand parts for your vehicle.

TOYOTA of EASLEYTOYOTA of EASLEY

www.toyotaofeasley.com

PFREE Local DeliveryPCompetitive PricingPEstimating & Tech SupportPExperienced Professional Staff

Parts Hours:M-F 7:30am-6:30pmSat 7:30am-5:00pm

800.922.2307

TOYOTA of EASLEY

Independent Auto Body Association Restructures in NC

with David BrownShop Showcase

with Attorney Martin ZuradaBody Shop Law

with Domenico Nigro

The Community-Focused Body Shop

with Janet CheneyShop Showcase

with Frank SheroskyIndustry Business Beat

with Chasidy Rae SiskAssociations Assembling

with Chasidy Rae SiskWestern Associations

with Chasidy Rae SiskOld School Know How


with Chasidy Rae SiskSoutheast News

with Chasidy Rae SiskGreat Lakes Associations

with Chasidy Rae SiskNational Associations

with Chasidy Rae SiskSouthwest Associations

with Chasidy Rae SiskSoutheast Associations

with Chasidy Rae SiskNortheast Associations

with John YoswickHistorical Snapshot

with Ed AttanasioShop Showcase

with Ed AttanasioMedia Matters

with Ed AttanasioOld School Know How

with Ed AttanasioAdvertising Advantages

with Ed AttanasioAssociations Assembling

Association Meetingswith Thomas Franklin

Western Associationswith Thomas Franklin

Chasidy Rae Sisk is a freelance technical writer from Wilmington, Delaware,who writes on a variety of fields and subjects, and grew up in a family ofNASCAR fans. She can be contacted at [email protected].

See Independent ABA, Page 10


taken over by the insurance compa-nies. Insurers now dictate what shopgets the repair job, where the shopwill buy the parts, what price the shopwill pay for the parts, how muchmoney the shop gets paid – regardlessof whether the shop will take a loss.Insurers have near-total control of the

process.”Through their efforts, IABA

hopes to restore control of the colli-sion repair industry back to the repairprofessionals to whom it truly be-longs. The first step to change is get-ting involved!

Independent Auto BodyAssociation (IABA)PO Box 12502Raleigh, NC 27605


Hendrick BMW6950 E. Independence Blvd.Charlotte, NC 28227Mon-Fri: 7:30am-6:00pmSat: 9:00am-5:00pm

888.814.1938

Hendrick BMW Northlake10720 Northlake Auto Plaza Blvd.Charlotte, NC 28269Mon-Fri: 7:30am-6:00pmSat: 9:00am-5:00pm

888.286.2651

Hendrick MINI7036 E. Independence Blvd.Charlotte, NC 28227Mon-Fri: 7:30am-6:00pm Sat: 9:00am-5:00pm

866.952.7851

ORIGINAL BMW PARTS AND ACCESSORIES

Original BMW Parts

bmwusa.com

©2013 MINI, a division of BMW of North America, LLC. The MINI name, model names and logo are registered trademarks.

• OE Parts Express• Collision Link• OPSTRAX• Parts Trader

• Collision Link• OPSTRAX• Parts Trader

• OE Parts Express• Collision Link• OPSTRAX• Parts Trader

Industry Veteran Opens His Own GA Shop After 20 Years inCovington, GA, Brings Painting ExpertiseShane Steele, new owner of EliteAuto Collision, has worked in theindustry for more than 20 years, andopened his new body shop Feb. 20on Hazelbrand Road in Covington,GA. Steele spent many years work-ing with DuPont developing expert-

ise in automotive paint technology.Not only does Steele understand thescience behind automotive paintand the painting process; he alsohas taught hundreds of otherpainters how to perform their jobs.He has worked in shops as an em-ployee, as a trainer, as a adviser andas a business coach helping othershop owners. All the while, he keptas his goal to own a collision shopone day and create a business thatwould stand apart from all the oth-ers. He started with one shop in

Georgia and quickly added new lo-cations throughout northeast Geor-gia.

Steele said he chose Coving-ton because he saw a strong busi-ness climate in Newton County thatwill continue to grow with the ar-

rival of Baxter Internationaland the continued growth ofthe film and television in-dustries. He also cited thearea’s strong technical edu-cation resources, as well as“a huge need for our serv-ices.’’ Steele said Covingtonis the type and size of com-munity where a businessowner can build lasting rela-

tionships with customers while atthe same time making a differencein the community. He said Coving-ton has a small-town feel, but itsbusiness and government leaderswork together to foster positivegrowth in the community.

Elite Auto Collision has a com-bination of highly-trained techniciansand new, state-of-the-art equipment.The company started as a familyowned business in Bogart, beforeopening other locations throughoutthe area.

AutoFair at Charlotte Motor Speedway will Feature More than50 Car Clubs and 10,000 Vendor SpacesGet ready for one of the largest andmost prestigious car shows in thecountry, the April 3-6 AutoFair atCharlotte Motor Speedway.

The spring AutoFair featuresmore than 50 car club displays andmore than 10,000 vendor spaces thatoffer an array of automotive parts andmemorabilia.

More than 1,500 collectible vehi-cles of all makes and models make upthe car corral that rings the 1.5-milesuperspeedway. In addition, hundredsof unique automobiles will be auc-tioned by Dealer Auctions Inc. There’ssomething for the whole family as kidscan enjoy face-painting, bouncehouses and other games and entertain-

ment in the gigantic Play Zone.Charlotte Motor Speedway Auto-

Fair hosted by OldRide.com tickets are$10 for adults and free for children 13and under. A four-day pass is availablefor $30. The April 3-6 AutoFair will beopen from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.Sunday. For tickets and additional in-formation about the AutoFair or otherevents at Charlotte Motor Speedway,call 1-800-455-FANS (3267) or visitwww.charlottemotorspeedway.com.

Follow Charlotte Motor Speed-way on Facebook at:www.facebook.com/charlottemotor-speedway or on Twitter at www.twit-ter.com/cltmotorspdwy.

Continued from Page 8

Independent ABA

Recent wintry road conditions havesent cars slipping and sliding, leadingto several accidents across HamptonRoads. Now, drivers are taking theircars to local auto body shops to befixed and local media is there to sur-vey the damage.

Karena Gray showed WAVYNews 10 the damage to her SuzukiForenza. She said she was driving onan Interstate ramp in Chesapeake whenshe came upon traffic stopped for anaccident, and had got into one herself.

“It was pretty much unavoidable.Like, I didn’t want to press on the braketoo hard, so when I just tapped thebrake, I was sliding. I didn’t want toslide in the ditch so it just happened. Ihit the back of someone else,” said Gray.

That crash brought her intoCarstruction in Chesapeake for repairs.Owner Vince Dobbs checked out thecompact car, and pointed out the damage.

“You definitely see the fender, thebumper and the headlights are de-stroyed… The battery has been im-pacted, the metal’s been pushed into it.It will need a new battery,” Dobbs ex-plained.

Dobbs also showed WAVY News’Ava Hurdle a Toyota Tundra truck

with weather-related damage.“Basically we’ve got a vehicle spun

out on ice up here, which you can see thedamage to the bumper cover, but there’salso damage back behind it to the rein-forcement and the absorber,” he said.

The vehicle already has an esti-mated repair cost of between $3,000 to$4,000.

The expected repair time for thedamaged vehicles is about a week ormore, depending on the availability of re-placement parts and insurance adjusters.


A handful of body shops in Floridaand Georgia are falling victim tocheck fraud. Scammers are stealingthousands of dollars and they aretargeting auto body shops across thecountry. Toni Scroggins, the ownerof St. Johns Auto Body Shop inPalatka, says scammers stole$15,000 from the company’s bankaccount. Scroggins suspects thescammers take the routing andchecking account number of theshops’ checks, reprint them on newfake checks with a different name,address and bank name. The scamartists then spend money at Lowe’s,Home Depot and Walmart. Scrog-gins says she’s not as worried aboutbig shops like hers, but she saysmom and pop shops and their cus-tomers are the ones who could paythe ultimate price. Scroggins saysshe got her money back after twomonths with the help of her bank.“This could destroy them, closetheir doors, because you do not getthat money back the next day,” saidScroggins. “You have to wait forthe process of the bank to investi-gate it and that could take over amonth. So, if it’s a small businessthey are out.”

Check Fraud Victimizes FLand GA Body Shops

Body Shops in VA Extra Busy After Weather-Related Crashes

Legislation to allow counties to ex-empt owners of antique motor vehi-cles from the privilege tax wasapproved by the Tennessee Houseand Senate. Under the bill, thecounty may also only require a one-time-only payment of the tax. Ac-cording to the state, the averageamount of the one-time tax imposedwould be $43.10.

In Tennessee, an “antiquemotor vehicle” is a motor vehiclemore than 25 years old with a non-modified engine and body that isused for participation in, or trans-portation to and from, club activi-ties, exhibits, tours, parades andsimilar uses as a collector's item; onthe highways for the purpose of sell-ing, testing the operation of, or ob-taining repairs to or maintenance;and for general transportation onlyon Saturday and Sunday. The billwill now be sent to Governor BillHaslam for his signature and enact-ment into law.

For more information, visit theSEMA Action Network (SAN) web-site. For details, contact Steve Mc-Donald at [email protected].

TN Bill Will Exempt AntiqueVehicles from Privelege Tax

Russom’s CARSTAR Collision re-cently celebrated the grand open-ing of its second shop location inDyersburg, TN, during a localchamber of commerce event,CARSTAR Auto Body Repair Ex-perts announced. The shop is inde-pendently owned by Brad Russom,who joined the CARSTAR net-work in 2010 with his first shop lo-cation in Rutherford, TN. “Wecongratulate Brad Russom on hisexpansion to a second store andtheir continued commitment to ex-cellence,” said David Byers, CEOof CARSTAR.

Russom’s CARSTAR Opens2nd Tennessee Location



CALL 800-699-8251



[email protected]

800-699-8251









[email protected]


write us!write us!










800-699-8251




800-699-8251



The Mississippi Collision Repair As-sociation (MSCRA) has a busy sched-ule of meetings and conferencesplanned for the beginning of 2014.Currently, the association’s president,John Mosley, is engaged in a whirl-wind of traveling from state to state“educating and hopefully helping fel-low shop owners find the strength tomake business decisions based onsound business principles rather thanfear.”

Over the last two weeks of Feb-ruary, Mosley will be visiting eightcities, all the way from Seattle, WA toPalm Bay, FL, as part of his commit-ment to deliver information and assis-tance across the country. ThoughMSCRA’s primary service area is thestate of MS, the association is verysupportive of neighboring states, andthey strive to help industry membersin other states form associations forthe bettering of the industry as awhole. With 59 member shops,MSCRA routinely has at least 100people at their association meetings,representing their members’ interests.

MSCRA was established in 1999because a group of MS shop ownerswere concerned that using imitationparts did not serve to restore the vehi-cle to its pre-loss condition. As theyformed a group to educate themselves,the consumers and their legislators,they seemed to be making a lot ofprogress.

State Senator Richard White, amember of the Insurance Committee,agreed to meet with the group, claim-ing to be 100% on-board with theirmission to protect consumers. At Sen-ator White’s suggestion, the grouphired a lobbyist, attended meetingsand testified before the Senate’s In-surance Committee.

After helping the group draft abill to protect consumers, SenatorWhite instructed them to get thephones ringing at the Capitol to gar-ner support for this issue, so the in-volved shop owners called theircustomers who had voiced concernsover the use of imitation parts, askingthem to call their legislators to expresssupport for the proposed bill.

On the morning that the bill wasscheduled to be put to a vote before

the Insurance Committee, Mosley andDoug White, a fellow shop owner, metat the Capitol, prepared to answer anyquestions the committee membersmight ask about the bill; however,their anticipation quickly turned toshock and disappointment when Sen-ator White invited them to his privateoffice where he informed them that hewould not introduce the bill because“we had put him between a rock and ahard place with his fellow committeemembers,” Mosley recalls. “He saidthere had been so many people callingthem, pressing them to support thebill, that he feared they would belooked down on by the people theyrepresented, [but] if the committeevoted for the bill, they could forgetany campaign funding by the insur-ance industry.”

When Mosley questionedwhether the matter really came downto an issue of money instead of doingwhat he knew was right for the pub-lic, he was appalled at Senator White’sresponse: “I will never forget hisreply —‘whether you like it or not, themoney the insurance industry putsinto these campaigns is the grease thatmakes the wheels of this Capitol turn.’You can imagine how betrayed we feltas an association. We gradually quitmeeting regularly. It was back toevery shop for themselves.”

Thus matters with MSCRA stoodfor a decade until May 2012 whenMosley and his comrades learnedabout State Farm’s introduction ofPartsTrader. Many shops in MS begancalling one another as it quickly be-came obvious that they needed to re-unite with the objective of preservingtheir businesses. Mosley was “disap-pointed in the lack of respect this giantcorporation had for the small busi-nesses that make up this industry.”

MSCRA is opposed to Part-sTrader and any other parts procure-ment program forced on the industryinstead of being offered as a possiblesolution to be accepted or rejectedbased on its performance. “I havebeen in many states and talked tothousands of people, and the over-whelming response is that PartsTraderis a failure! State Farm recognizes thisbut pushes forward, destroying rela-

tionships and businesses with no re-gard to anything but the premise that itwill save them money,” Mosleyshares, continuing, “the quality of arepair is directly related to the partsused in the repair, and when the shoploses any part in the decision-makingprocess, quality could be sacrificed.This is not fair to the consumer or theshop who is ultimately responsible forthe repairs.”

Along with their campaignagainst PartsTrader, MSCRA has aplethora of short and long-term goalsthat they strive to achieve. In the pres-ent and immediate future, the associa-tion’s goals “are to promote growth inthe association, educate our members,educate the consumers we serve, andstrengthen our ability to work with theinsurance company on a united front,”Mosley explains.

Looking forward, MSCRA hopesto ensure that every member shop hasthe necessary information to acquire

training specific to the repair beingperformed, and they hope to do this bybecoming a resource for every mem-ber in their attempts to level the play-ing field. The association plans tosupply members with information onequipment and factory resources aswell as by securing I-CAR trainingopportunities in an effort to aid shopsin achieving I-CAR’s Gold Class sta-tus.

MSCRA is also dedicated tobuilding their reputation with MS con-sumers so customers will feel com-fortable putting their trust in any shopthat displays a MSCRA plaque. Inconjunction with this plan, the associ-ation hopes to build a warranty pro-gram among all association membersto ensure the customer is aware thattheir repair is covered by any membershop in MS. Mosley explains the ben-efits of this plan: “This serves to com-bat the steering efforts of someinsurance companies when they tell


Our dealerships specialize in Honda Genuine parts. When you purchase parts from our dealerships, you can rest assured that you are getting the highest quality parts from Honda Parts professionals that know your vehicle.

Mon-Fri 7:30am-6:00pmSat 8:00am-5:00pm

Priority Honda Chesapeake621 North Battlefield BlvdChesapeake, VA 23320

PH 757.213.5039

Priority Honda Hampton4115 W. Mercury Blvd.Hampton, VA 23666

PH 757.838.1672

MSCRA Conducts Outreach to Industry



with Domenico Nigro























the consumer ‘we don’t guaranteetheir work.’ We could see the DRPwould not be a viable option for shopsthat were not willing to allow the in-surance industry to run their busi-ness.”

MSCRA also intends to workwith state and national officials to pro-tect consumers by exposing bad legis-lation and promoting safe legislationdesigned to benefit both the repairersand the consumers.

Currently, MSCRA is gatheringsupport for legislation that will pro-tect the consumer when they havetheir vehicle repaired. In conjunctionwith federal officials, the associationis assessing the 1963 Consent De-cree in order to determine the degreeto which it can be enforced; manyagree that this federal consent isequally enforceable as it was half acentury ago.

Mosley explains, “the importanceof the 1963 Consent Decree is itplaces the body shop in control of therepair and the insurance company incontrol of the insurance. What couldbe more important or fairer for all?”

Like with other associations,MSCRA faces challenges when at-tempting to support legislation to im-

prove the collision repair industry.“The problem with any legislation isthe amount of money the insurance in-dustry will pour into campaigns vialobbyists and donations to buy deci-sions that tend to prioritize their profitsover the consumer’s safety,” Mosleylaments.

Still, Mosley is optimistic abouthis belief that MSCRA’S actions willpositively impact the future of thisever-changing industry. “The pressurecreated by the ever evolving greed ofthe DRP relationship and the Part-sTrader scheme is having a galvaniz-ing effect on the collision repairindustry. The industry is changing withrepairers realizing they are needednow more than ever. As repairers, weare also realizing there are fewer andfewer who are trained and equipped torepair the cars we are beginning to seeand will continue to see in our shops.The insurance industry is trying toreign in any control they can exert overour industry as it changes. They makedeals with MSOs in areas where therepairers are not bowing down and ac-cepting their cost-cutting measuresthat can lead to poor quality, unsafe re-pairs. They did not expect the resist-ance they are experiencing from the

repairers. I ask every shop owner tostart making business decisions basedon good business principles and stopgiving in to fear. I encourage them tomarket their business and their con-viction to serve the consumer over theinsurance industry. When the publicknows what a shop stands for, theywill pick the independent shop out ofthe maze of consolidators… By edu-cating our shops and consumers andmaking repairs that don’t sacrificequality for insurance profit, we willgrow strong businesses with loyal cus-tomer bases.”

MSCRA also faces many chal-lenges similar to those impactingother associations across the country.Mosley acknowledges these difficul-ties, even as he looks forward to abrighter future: “Probably the biggestchallenge is helping a shop ownerovercome the fear that he will be os-tracized by the insurance industry forcoming to the association meetings,much less being a paid member. Be-yond that, we are faced with keepingthe interest of the shop owners by pro-viding a tangible benefit for themoney they spend on their member-ship. This isn’t going to be a problemin the near future. With all the changes

our industry is facing relating to vehi-cle construction and repairability, theneed for knowledge will generate theinterest. We are committed to provid-ing the information to ensure ourmembers can succeed.”

At MSCRA’s last meeting, theyaddressed the need to secure servicesfrom a company to inspect membershops and identify any concerns thatcould result in problems with OSHA.MSCRA stresses the importance of asafe, healthy workplace, and identify-ing the cause for concern, Mosley ex-plains “OSHA is working to identifyisocyanate hazards, and we don’t wantany shops’ employees to suffer fromisocyanate sickness nor do we wantthe shop facing fines that could havebeen avoided with the proper training.

The association also recently fur-nished members with information onnew tool and equipment requirements,provided by Ford, pertaining to the in-troduction of the 2015 F-150 with itsaluminum body and high-strengthsteel frame. MSCRA has alreadybegun setting up I-CAR training forthe aluminum F-150 to have availablewhen the vehicle is released late thissummer.


PH 888.377.1664

Performance Subaru

Hours:M-TH 7am - 7pm

F - 7am - 6pm Sat 8am - 5pm

PH 888.377.1664

Performance Subaru


F - 7am - 6pm Sat 8am - 5p5pm

PH 888.628.3989

Performance BMW



• Well-Trained And Experienced Staff• Understands The Needs Of Your BMW Vehicle• 100% Committed To Your Satisfaction

Original BMW Parts

bmwusa.com

ORIGINAL BMW PARTS & ACCESSORIES

PH 888.628.3989

Performance BMW



• Well-Trained And Experienced Staff• Understands The Needs Of Your BMW Vehicle• 100% Committed To Your Satisfaction

Original BMW Parts

bmwusa.com

ORIGINAL BMW PARTS & ACCESSORIES

888.788.7301Call usToday!

1814 Durham-Chapel Hill Blvd.Chapel Hill, NC 27514

HOURS:Mon - Thu:7am - 7pmFri:7am - 6pmSat:8am - 5pm

• Dedicated Wholesale Staff

• Competitive Wholesale Prices

• High Quality Genuine OEM Parts and Accessories

PerformanceAcura

888.788.7301Call usToday!

1814 Durham-Chapel Hill Blvd.Chapel Hill, NC 27514

HOURS:Mon - Thu:7am - 7pmFri:7am - 6pmSat:8am - 5pm

• Dedicated Wholesale Staff

• Competitive Wholesale Prices

• High Quality Genuine OEM Parts and Accessories

PerformanceeAcura

A U T O M A L LA U T O M A L L

• Competitive Prices

• Huge Parts Inventory

• We O�er Auto Parts Specials & Discounts

• Comprehensive Selection Of Car Parts & Accessories

See MSCRA, Page 16

by Ed Attanasio

As the collision industry in Utah un-dergoes the transition to waterbornepaint and everything that comes alongwith it, many are embracing the newproducts, techniques and equipmentwhile others are not as enthusiastic.

The state deadline for waterborneis looming (July 1, 2014) and as wasthe case in other states with similarmandates, some shops arewaiting until the last mo-ment. But some valuablenews involving grants mightjust speed up the conversionprocess for body shops thatwere previously lagging.Any body shop that wantsthe state grant money willhave to match the grant dol-lar for dollar, so it’s more ofa hand up than a handout,according to the state’s Divi-sion of Air Quality and theUtah Clean Air Partnership(UCAIR), a statewide alliance thatwas created to make it easier for indi-viduals, businesses and communitiesto add equipment or processes thatwill improve the cleanliness andbreathability of Utah’s air.

The Utah’s Department of Work-force Services has earmarked $300,000now to help small businesses to im-prove the state’s air quality and an ad-ditional $1 million after June 30, 2014through the state Department of Work-force Services. The goal of the programis to help small businesses reduceemissions through improved equip-ment and the maximum amount is$15,000 and must be matched dollarfor dollar. In addition to auto bodyshops, dry cleaners, restaurants, printshops and other small businesses withfewer than 100 employees can apply.

The first collision repairer to takeadvantage of the grant money offeredby the state was ACS Precision Finishin Salt Lake City, a shop owned byCandido Gallegos and his son An-thony. Both father and son were a lit-tle reluctant to try something new afterhaving spent so much time masteringthe solvent-based paint techniques,but their paint jobber, Superior PaintSupply, made the transition easier forthem, while the grant money alsomade the decision a little more palat-able, Anthony Gallegos said.

“We’re getting $15,000 to changeover, and for us it was a no-brainer,

because all of the shops in Utah aregoing to have to switch to waterborneanyway,” Gallegos said. “We lookedat Superior Paint Supply’s water-based paint system (De Beer’s Water-base 90 by Valspar) because we heardvery good things about it. So, we ap-plied for the grant and then we werepretty shocked when the state con-tacted us and told us we were the firstshop to apply.

“I read an article about the grantsin the paper and told my son,” Can-dido Gallegos said. “We figured let’sget some financial help if it’s being of-fered. From what we’re hearing, bodyshops aren’t applying for these funds,which I find surprising. The money isright there on the table. They want togive us money! How often does thathappen?”

The local media flocked to ACSPrecision recently to cover the shop’sconversion to waterborne while lettingsmall businesses know that the grantmoney is available for them, as longas they’re willing to improve their airquality. “We were surprised when thelocal newspapers and news stationscalled us and wanted to interview usabout the grant money,” Gallegossaid. “It’s a big deal for Utah and a bigdeal for this industry and an eyeopener for everybody.”

According to the Division of AirQuality, if every paint tech in the stateused waterborne instead of solvent,daily emissions would drop by 572pounds per year. In fact, the industrywill be required to make this changeby June 1, 2014 to comply with newair quality regulations. The big chal-lenge for small businesses is, ofcourse, the cost to make the upgrades.

Gwen Springmeyer is the Assis-tant Executive Director for UCAIRwhich is administering the state grants.She wants body shop owners to know

that the grant application process iseasier than they might imagine andthat her organization is willing to helpshops with the application process.

“The grant application is easy forseveral reasons,” Springmeyer ex-plained. “There is no competition forthe grant, so if you qualify and there isstill money in the budget, you’ll get it.Secondly, we don’t ask for your finan-cials. The application is seven pagesand we’re more than willing to helpyou with it. The money is there, so wewant to encourage body shops andother small businesses to apply and getthese dollar for dollar grants. Andmaybe most importantly, the deadlineis June 30, 2014, but then we’re alsogoing to make another $1 million avail-able as part of the same program. So,essentially, the state is offering $1.3million in air quality matching grants.”

Jeff Brasier is a paint trainer forSuperior Paint Supply in Salt LakeCity. He has been working literallynon-stop for the last five months asshops rush into the waterborne gamebefore the deadline of July 1. “I’ve gotshops lining up and it’s been crazy,”Brasier said. “I’m training 2-3 shops

all the time, back to back and oncewe’ve got them covered, here come 3-4 more.”

While many shops in his regionare embracing the new paint andquickly learning how to apply it cor-rectly, some smaller shops are draggingtheir feet, Brasier explained. “If some-one is onboard, I can train them in threedays without issue. But, if they’re re-luctant for whatever reason, it can takemonths, because they have to unlearnso many old habits. The waterbornepaint goes on wetter and it stays wetlonger and you have to use it in a cleanenvironment without dust and dirt allaround. It’s not rocket science, so if agood painter is motivated, he or she canbe adept at using it rather quickly.”

For more information about get-ting a clean air grant, you can findmore information and the grant appli-cation at www.ucair.org.


Utah Offers Grants to Body Shops to Convert to Waterborne, Not Many Applicants So Far

Waterborne Paint Trainer Jeff Brasier (right) from Supe-rior Paint Supply demonstrates waterborne applicationtechniques for Corey Kaggie, a painter at ACS PrecisionFinish in Salt Lake City Follow us on Twitter:

@autobodynewsAccept no Substitutes!


This year will also see the contin-uation of the association’s activitiesagainst insurer-mandated parts pro-curement programs as Mosley and“many members of our associationfeel the PartsTrader scheme and the di-rect repair programs are illegal and area tortious interference in our businessrelationships which leads to a direct vi-olation of our fiduciary responsibilityto our customers.

“Because of that, we are dedi-cated to taking the fight on for theconsumer and for our right to do busi-ness to the highest courts in the land.We are working tirelessly to expandthis effort from coast to coast, and thereception from our industry has been ahumbling experience for all. Manybrave men and women are paving theway for all who stay in the repair busi-ness and those who come after we aregone.”

Mississippi Collision RepairAssociation(601) 924-2159www.mscra.net

Collision Experts, a New York-basedMSO with two locations, said it willno longer be included in State Farm’sSelect Service Program because thecollision repair shop wants to have theright to decide where to purchase itsparts. State Farm’s customers can stillchoose to have their vehicles repairedat Collision Experts’ shops in Sch-enectady or Clifton Park, but the na-tional office may no longer refercustomers to Collision Experts.

Collision Experts CEO andowner Maryann Bowman said it wasmore important for Collision Expertsto have the freedom to buy parts fromtrusted vendors that the company hasbuilt relationships with over the yearsrather than be included in State Farm’sSelect Service Program, which re-quires collision repair shops to pur-chase parts from PartsTrader.

Richard Bowman said “Manyof my parts vendors signed up withPartsTrader so we couldn’t use them.”

“Sometimes you have to partways in a partnership,” said MaryannBowman. “In this case, I believe that

the national changes don’t work formy business model. We do not wantto sever the relationships we’ve builtwith our vendors over the years.”

State Farm has been rolling outthe changes incrementally and just re-cently implemented the mandate inNew York. Collision Experts is theonly local body shop to publicly optout of the program as a result of thechanges.

“Although we value the businessthat State Farm has referred to us overthe years, the new Select Service Pro-gram does not fit our business model,”said Bowman. “This is strictly a busi-ness decision based on changes to theSelect Service Program that would re-quire us to change parts vendors. Wehave great relationships with our partsvendors, and we feel that this helps usprovide an exceptional product. If atany time State Farm decides to changeor adjust their Select Service Program,we will be more than happy to revisitthis in the future.”

However, State Farm customersare still free to choose Collision Ex-

perts for their body repairs.“We still welcome all State Farm

customers and look forward to con-tinuing to work with local State Farmagents to provide the best repair forour mutual clients,” said Bowman.

Collision Experts’ parting withState Farm is amicable, Bowman said.However, some body shops have filedlawsuits or traveled across the coun-try to heighten awareness of StateFarm’s changes.

“We will continue to have a goodworking relationship with StateFarm,” said Bowman. “It’s disap-pointing that they may refer cus-tomers to different shops despite ourhigh rating because of a difference ofopinion. We are willing to work to-gether so we can give our customersthe best service at a time when theyneed it most.”


Nalley BMW

www.nalleybmw.com(800) 622-2021

Large original BMW parts inventoryBMW trained techniciansService when you need it

Open 7 days a week:M-F 7:30am - 7pmSat 7am - 5pm

Free express delivery serviceto the southeast region.

1606 Church St., Decatur, GA 30033www.nalleybmw.com

(800) 622.2021(404) 297.9134 Fax(800) 622.2021(404) 297.9134 Fax

Toll Free:Toll Free:

Nalley BMW

Parts Manager: Gary Lazenby

NEED PARTS?Our parts department is always ready to help you outwith our original BMW parts & accessories.

NY-based MSO Collision Experts Drops State Farm’s SelectService Due to Parts Procurement Requirement


MSCRA

Search:Autobody Newson Facebook


757.282.0021 fax

COLLISIONLINK SPECIALISTS

Cavalier Ford LincolnGreenbrier

1515 S. Military Hwy. • Chesapeake, VA 23320

Parts Department Hours:Mon-Fri: 8:00am - 5:30pm; Sat: 8:00am - 1:00pm

• 6 Delivery trucks available for quick delivery• We go above and beyond the competition• 9 countermen ready to take your order via - fax, phone &• Mention promo code: CFABN to receive 5% off your first order

Pack Brothers Collision Center ofBelmont, NC, has won a short-payarbitration case in a Lincoln CountyNorth Carolina court against Nation-wide Mutual Insurance Company.

On February 3, 2014, a judgeawarded a customer of Pack Brothersa little more than $3,000, which wasowed to Pack Brothers for collisionrepairs that Nationwide refused topay upon completion of their in-sured’s car.

The lawsuit was filed on behalfof the customer with a Power of At-torney assigned by the customer incooperation with Pack Brothers. Thecustomer was insured by Nationwide,which refused to pay for repairs for afirst-party claim. According to PackBrothers, Nationwide did not honortheir policy and refused to pay themfor the repairs. A judge found thatunder the policy language, Nation-wide did owe their policyholder so hecould satisfy his collision repair bill.The judge entered a judgment againstNationwide finding in favor of thecustomer so that he could pay PackBrothers.

“Insurance companies are soused to saying that they will not payfor correct repairs, and they know thatvery few shops will push it into liti-gation,” said Ronnie and Larry Pack.“Therefore, they continue to denypayment to the shops because theyknow it’s time consuming and expen-sive for the shop owners to pursue.

“What we are seeing is that in-surance companies are shortcuttingrepairs, and so the repairs to the carare now compromised because of theinsurance company refusal to pay forthe correct repairs needed. Therefore,some of the shops are shortcuttingthe repairs to make up for that loss—which ultimately makes the customerthe loser.

“Our victory means nothing un-less the whole industry gets involvedand demands to be paid for correctrepairs.”

NC Shop Wins Nationwide Short-Pay Arbitration Case

GCIA Holds March 20th Member MeetingGCIA Holds March Member MeetingThe Georgia Collision Industry Asso-ciation (GCIA) will be holding theirMarch member meeting on Thursday,March 20th from 6:30–9 PM at theDoubletree Hotel located at 2055South Park Place in Atlanta, GA. Themeeting will begin with a catered din-ner, followed by presentations by thetwo speakers that GCIA has sched-uled for the event.

First, Reid Heiser from Mitchellwill be present to discuss Mitchell’sRMC Paint and Material Calculator.This portion of the meeting will serveto educate GCIA members about thisinvoicing program since many insur-ers are now accepting Paint and Mate-rial invoices, according to HowardBatchelor, Executive Director ofGCIA.

Next, Bob Winn and Frank LaVi-ola from Enterprise will give a presenta-tion on the ARMS reports which shopsshould be reviewing on a daily basis.

Batchelor explains, “many insurancecompanies use these reports to scorehow the shops are doing, and I wantedto educate them on what they need to re-view in order to improve their scores.”

Batchelor hopes this meetingwill benefit GCIA members “by edu-cating them on how to be compen-sated properly for paint and materialsand how to improve their efficienciesand drive more business to the door.”

Attending this informative meet-ing will cost GCIA members only $10with non-members paying $20. Reser-vations can be made by contactingBatchelor at [email protected] or770-367-9816.

In April, GCIA will begin work-ing on their eighth annual labor andmaterial rate survey.

Email Howard Batchelor, GCIAexecutive director, with any questionsabout the meeting or becoming aGCIA sponsor. Go to:gcia.org/about/link-to-gcia/

Birmingham Fire and Rescue unitsbattled a two-alarm fire on Feb. 18 insouthwest Birmingham which wasbelieved to have started in a bodyshop. The structure fire was reportedat 2:30 p.m. at 15th Street Southwestand Lomb Avenue. The cause of thefire is still under investiation, but ap-pears to be accidental and may have

involved welding. Jefferson CountyEMA and ADEM were contacted dur-ing the fire, as there were hazardousmaterials inside the building. Propanecylinders, diesel fuel, oil drums andapproximately 16 cars were presentinside the shop.

Everyone working there got outsafely.

Birmingham Shop Fire Damages 16 Vehicles Feb. [email protected] us!write us!


CALL 800-699-8251



[email protected]

800-699-8251









[email protected]


write us!write us!










800-699-8251




800-699-8251




The second annual Southern Automo-tive Repair Conference (SARC) isquickly approaching, creating plentyof work for the six associations thatwill be taking part in the event onApril 11 and 12, 2014 at the Beau Ri-vage Resort and Casino in Biloxi, MS.If this 300% increase in conferencecollaborators is any indication, thisyear’s SARC will be quite successfulwith an influx of attendees!

Steve Plier, Executive Director ofthe Alabama Automotive Repair Soci-ety of Excellence (ALARISE) came upwith the idea for the first conferencewhich was held in February 2012 withover 95% of attendees coming fromAL, and this conference actually led tothe founding of ALARISE. Plier states“the intent of the 2012 conference, justlike the focus of this year’s conference,was on education, business principles,consumer focus, and the fact that a col-lision repairer must be compensated forall labor procedures and materials usedin properly repairing a vehicle to thelevel of quality required to meet manu-facturers’ standards so reinvestmentscan be continually made to purchasenew equipment and to provide the con-tinual training required to keep up withthe ever-changing technologies oftoday’s vehicles and vehicles of the fu-ture. Moving forward on each of thesesubjects is of the utmost importance foreach and every vehicle owner and forall consumers (you, me, our familiesand friends, children and grandchildren)because improperly repaired vehiclescan result in severe injuries even to themost innocent and unknowing parties.”

The next year, Plier’s groupjoined with John Mosley, Presidentof the Mississippi Collision RepairAssociation (MSCRA), and acting ascoordinators of the 2013 event, Plierand Mosley collaborated to organizethe SARC; their efforts proved effec-tive with 28 exhibitors/sponsors par-ticipating in the conference as well asover 220 attendees representing fivesoutheastern states. Anticipated atten-dance for the 2014 SARC has in-creased to over 500 participants.

SARC 2014 has expanded to in-clude the collaboration of four moreassociations; in addition to MSCRAand ALARISE, associations partici-

pating in the conference will includethe Florida Autobody Collision Asso-ciation (FACA), the Georgia CollisionIndustry Association (GCIA), theLouisiana Collision Industry Associa-tion (LaCIA), and the Tennessee Col-lision Repairers Association (TCRA).

Howard Batchelor, ExecutiveDirector of GCIA, believes that in-volvement with the SARC is importantbecause “the more information we canprovide to collision centers, the betterthey will be prepared for the changingindustry. There are several issues cur-rently affecting shops, and we want tobe able to provide information theycan use to better run their shop andmake better business decisions.” Hehopes that attendees will acquire use-ful information that can be used to im-prove their businesses, and he ispersonally looking forward to talkingwith the various shops about how theydo business and what challenges theyface so that GCIA can create an agendato address these issues in the future.

The conference will begin the af-ternoon of Friday, April 11, and con-tinue on Saturday from 8 AM untilaround 5:30 PM. The event’s agenda in-cludes a reception, trade show, re-freshments, and “breakout sessions”which include training, I-CAR classes,sponsor demos and association sym-posiums. Additionally, the conferenceboasts an array of speakers represent-ing various segments of the industry.

The presentations given by thespeakers will be moderated by Masterof Ceremonies Patrick Porter, radiopersonality and owner of Porter’s BodyShop in Brookhaven, MS. Scheduledspeakers include the following industryprofessionals: Congressional Medal ofHonor recipient Mike Thornton;Aaron Schulenburg, Executive Direc-tor of SCRS; Aaron Clark of AssuredPerformance; Richard Perry, Chief’sFord F-150 Project Manager; DavePoston, Collision Marketing Managerfor American Honda; Richard Valen-zuela of Variable Rates Systems; JohnMosley, President of MSCRA andowner of Clinton Body Shop; and RayGunder of Gunder’s Auto Center.

On Saturday, the main speakerswill each be allotted approximately 45minutes to present, beginning with

Schulenburg who will provide a na-tional industry update. Noting that thisis the third time he will be attendingSARC, Schulenburg shares his feel-ings on the conference and his plansfor his presentation: “conferencessuch as these present a terrific oppor-tunity for shops to open their thoughtsto alternative solutions and mindsetsthat can help drive their business for-ward. My talk is going to be focusedon discussing new market trends anddevelopments in the collision repairindustry that are going to impact col-lision repair professionals, and a quickdive into some unique out-of-the-boxperspectives that depart from themasses, and instead rely on develop-ing strategy based on results, ratherthan on the expected.”

Schulenburg looks forward to at-tending SARC again since it gets big-ger and better with more content eachyear, and he believes “Steve and hisgroup have done a tremendous job ofpulling together this southern marketand giving them an exciting forum tolook forward to, and I have no doubtthis year will continue to surpass thoseprevious events.”

The presentations will concludewith Mosley and Gunder, joined by at-torney John Eaves, discussing the de-tails and status of lawsuits filed againstinsurers, ending with a Q&A session.Though the order of the other speakershas not yet been finalized, the topicsthey will speak on are as follows:Thornton will deliver a motivationalspeech, Poston is presenting on Hondarepair technologies, Perry plans to dis-cuss the new repair requirements foraluminum F-150 vehicles, and Valen-zuela is scheduled to cover the Vari-able Rate System which promises tomake a difference in establishing equi-table labor rates through a body shopsurvey system.

Clark’s presentation will focus onthe explaining Ford National BodyShop Program as Assured Perform-ance is facilitating Ford dealershipcertification and recognition for inde-pendent body shops. Noting this is hisfirst opportunity to attend such anevent in the southeast, Clark is “look-ing forward to meeting some new peo-ple and being able to answer any

questions that they may have.”Excitement and anticipation sur-

rounding the SARC 2014 can be foundin abundance amongst those involvedwith planning and speaking at the event.Plier is eager to hear Thornton speak: “Ihope attendees will think about all thesacrifices that Mike and all the men andwomen in our military services for thiscountry have made for each of us toenjoy the freedoms that we do. I hopethis will lead attendees to be determinedto stand for what is right and understandthat standing for what is right usually isnot the easy path, but it is the only paththat will bring about change that isright, needed and focused on qualityand service for each and every vehicleowner and their families.”

Schulenburg is “most looking for-ward to the exchange of ideas that fos-ters unique, independent thought forattendees. It is refreshing for repairbusiness owners to step out of their fourwalls for a moment and take in otherperspectives and information. I get ex-cited about the idea of these repairersbreaking the mold and really findingunique ways to bolster their businessesas they tackle the ever-changing land-scape of collision repair.”

For Georgia Thorson, Adminis-trative Coordinator of the SARC, it’sall about “seeing all of the planningcome to fruition. Having so many col-lision industry professionals join acommon cause to improve problemareas for their industry, their businessand their customers promises to be ex-citing. The conference lineup and thevenue are spectacular, so I know Iwon’t be disappointed in the results!”

Attendees can register for theSARC at a cost of $30 per person, butfor individual business that want tohave more than five employees attendat the same time, the registration fee iscapped at $150. Businesses interestedin exhibiting can reserve space for$1000, $3000 or $5000, dependent ontheir booth requirements and presenta-tion time slots. Though limited spaceis still available, the deadline for ex-hibitors to register if March 25, sohurry and reserve your space today!Current exhibitors include manufac-turers, marketing representatives, PBE

Six SE Associations Prepare for Southern Automotive Repair Conf.



with Domenico Nigro























See Six SE Associations, Page 21


five years old.“Senate Bill 487 will severely

limit the choices that the consumerhas in getting their vehicle repaired,”said ABPA Executive Director Ed-ward Salamy. “These types of anti-consumer bills not only eliminatecompetition, a foundation of theAmerican free enterprise system, theyalso increase the potential for higherinsurance costs.”

ABPA claims that a representa-tive of the Washington MetropolitanAuto Body Association (WMABA)made a series of false claims, includ-ing:

● OE radiators have a better war-ranty than alternative supplier radia-tors.

● Consumers will be required topay additional rental car fees causedby delays due to alternative parts.

“The ABPA is not only monitor-ing the legislation in Maryland, but ithas also come to our attention there issimilar anti-consumer legislationbeing introduced in Rhode Island andMichigan,” said Salamy.

“Having your vehicle involved ina collision is already a very stressfulexperience for the consumer. Havinga repair association such as WMABAusing scare tactics to achieve theirown agenda is not in the best interestof the consumer.”

Maryland Senate Bill 487 wouldprohibit “…a specified adjuster, ap-praiser, insurance producer, or em-ployee of an insurer from requiring amotor vehicle repair facility to use aspecific vendor or process for the pro-curement of parts or other materialsnecessary for the repair of a motor ve-hicle; requiring an insurer that issuesor delivers in the State a policy of motorvehicle liability insurance that providescoverage for the repair of physicaldamage to the insured motor vehicle toauthorize specified repairs to be madeusing genuine crash parts; etc.”

The Property Casualty InsurersAssociation of America (PCI) testifiedin opposition to the legislation.Oyango Snell, State Government Re-lations Counsel said, “PCI and ourmembers encourage lawmakers toclosely examine the possible negativeramifications for consumers that couldresult if Senate Bill 487 passes. Thislegislation not only imposes severe re-strictions on how insurers manage the

auto body repair process and deliver aquality repair experience, but it alsocould hurt consumers by increasingthe costs associated with getting vehi-cles repaired and increasing the costof insurance premiums. CurrentlyMaryland’s average collision pre-mium ranks 13th highest in the nationand that ranking could rise by forcingmore repairs to always be made with

original equipment parts, which canbe as much as 60 percent more thanaftermarket parts.”

Snell continued, “We believelawmakers will see that this bill limitsconsumer choice and stands in theway of insurers providing high qual-ity repairs at reasonable costs for theirconstituents. We are urging lawmak-ers to table this legislation and con-tinue to fight against higher costs forconsumers.”

The Coalition for Auto RepairEquality (CARE) that represents com-panies in the automotive aftermarketincluding NAPA, AutoZone, AdvanceAuto Parts, O’Reilly Auto Parts andBridgestone-Firestone Retail Opera-tions, raised concerns about the pro-posed legislation’s impact uponlow-income consumers and that it stig-matizes non-OEM parts by requiringthe consumer to consent to their use.

“If passed, House Bill 574 andSenate Bill 487 would require mo-torists who need vehicle replacementparts to specifically sign for the use ofaftermarket parts in their vehicles be-fore accepting them. This is unfair be-cause these same vehicle owners do nothave to sign for the more expensive carcompany-labeled parts. In addition,this plants a seed of doubt in a con-sumer’s mind that the aftermarket partsare somehow of inferior quality, fright-ening them into spending extra moneythat they may not have,” andy Bass-Cors, executive director of CARE.

Addressing the issue of the threeyear requirement for OEM parts, ananalysis prepared on the bills by theMaryland Department of Legislativeservices noted that the Maryland Auto-mobile Insurance Fund (MAIF), an in-dependent state agency created by theMaryland State Legislature in 1972 toprovide insurance to residents who

could not secure it on the private mar-ket, already has a policy to pay forOEM parts for two years after the dateof manufacture. While adding a year tothe current policy would raise costs, theanalysis states, “However, despite theprevalence of motor vehicle accidentsand collisions in society at large, anyexpenditure increase due to covering anadditional year is likely to be minimal.”

The MAIF reported that in 2013 itwrote a total of 460 estimates on 2011model vehicles (three year old vehiclesthat would be covered by the expandedOEM-only waiting period) and that theaverage difference between estimatesusing OEM parts versus aftermarketparts was $117.32, for a total estimatedincreased cost of $53,967. If that costwas passed on to consumers in pre-mium, the two percent tax on insurancepremiums paid to the state would resultin $1079 tax collected.

The Washington Metropolitan

Auto Body Association, (WMABA)supported the proposed legislation be-lieving it necessary to protect therights of repair facilities to operatetheir business independently and pro-tect consumers.

WMABA also believes that theimpact on costs from the OEM-partsonly requirement would be minimaland that there is no correlation be-tween this type of provision and thecost of insurance. According toWMABA, while Rhode Island with a30-month prohibition, and West Vir-ginia, with a 3-year prohibition, havehistorically higher premiums thanMaryland, Indiana, with a 5-yr prohi-bition, and Minnesota with a completeaftermarket prohibition have lowerpremiums than Maryland.

WMABA also drew attention tothe fact that consumer choice is pre-served in the legislation because con-sumers would still have the ability toconsent to the use of aftermarket partsif they choose to do so.

For more detailed discussion ofthe testimony see p. 43.


aCompetitive PricingaFree and fast deliveryaKnowledgeable Wholesale Parts Staff

Mon-Fri 7:30am-6:00pmSat 8:00am-5:00pm

PH 800.758.0007FX 386.917.1403

Coggin Deland Honda2677 N. Volusia AvenueOrange City, FL 32763

aaaCompetitive PricingaFree and fast delivery

Start something special.


Maryland Parts Bill

“[This legislation] imposes severe restrictions onhow insurers manage the auto repair process anddeliver a quality repair experience...”

—Oyango Snell, PCI Govt. Relations Counsel



CALL 800-699-8251



[email protected]

800-699-8251









[email protected]


write us!write us!










800-699-8251




800-699-8251



distributors and industry associations.With the steady increases in atten-

dance and the value brought by theSARC, Plier hopes the event will con-tinue to grow in the future as attendeestell others of the information and bene-fits gained from attending the confer-ence. Furthermore, he would like to“challenge every individual in the colli-sion repair industry to look in the mirrorand ask ‘do I agree with the direction ofthis industry?’ If you do not agree, thendo something to change the direction;complaining will not bring aboutchange – change will only occur whenwe fight for our principles and what isright. What principles do you stand for?I hope everyone will consider this chal-lenge. I do not want to see this industrybecome another medical industry withfew, if any, choices. America was builton the values of freedom and freedomof choice. Where do you stand?”

For additional information aboutthe Southern Automotive Repair Con-ference, visit their website at:www.southernautomotiverepaircon-ference.com or call 731-736-3165.


Nashville FIAT 615.790.4616 | 800.498.50001124 Murfreesboro Rd., Franklin, TN 37064

Your Premiere Dealership for GenuineSubaru Parts and Accessories

Your Premiere Dealership f foror G Genuine

We are the #1 PartsWe are the #1 PartsWholesale Dealer in Georgia!!Wholesale Dealer in Georgia!!

We are the #1 PartsWholesale Dealer in Georgia!!

2920 Satellite Blvd. è Duluth, GA 300962920 Satel te Blvd.2920 atellite Blvd. èè 09uth, GA 3009uth, Dul Dulut

SubaruSubaruof Gwinnettof Gwinnett

Subaruof Gwinnett

678-584-7246678-584-7246Parts Fax:

678-584-7245678-584-7245Parts Direct Line:

678-584-7246678-584-7246678-584-7246678-584-7246Fax:x:

800-584-8727800-584-8727800-584-8727Toll Free:

è Order Using Collision Linkè Most Comprehensive Parts Collection in Atlanta!è Visit our Subaru Parts eStore!è Wholesale Specialist On Call!

www.subaruofgwinnett.comè HOURS: Monday - Friday 8:00 am—6:00 pm Saturday 8:00 am—4:00 pm


Six SE AssociationsThe Automotive Service Association(ASA) is preparing for NACE/CARS2014 which will be held at the CoboCenter in Detroit, MI, during the lastweek of July. It will be held in conjunc-tion with other core industry events, in-cluding I-CAR, CIC, and CREF’sannual golf outing. ASA Executive Di-rector Dan Risley stresses the impor-tance of NACE and CARS as “the onlyevents solely dedicated to those whoservice and repair cars.”

One of ASA’s goals in 2014 is toattract the “best of the best industryleaders,” so they are offering a specialincentive for shops or repairers that areI-CAR Gold or Platinum certified orwho have received ASE’s Blue Shieldor Master Technician certifications—toreward their investment in training andas an acknowledgement of their com-mitment to the industry, these shops/in-dividuals will be able to purchase thesuper pass (allowing them full accessfor the entirety of Industry Week) at a50% discount.

Risley is excited about the num-ber of changes to this year’s programand the responses received thus far.“The concept is to bring people to-gether and provide a place where peo-ple can get the technical informationthey need to repair today’s cars.”

Industry Week will begin on Tues-day, July 29 with CIC’s meeting, fol-lowed by I-CAR meetings on July 30.On Wednesday afternoon, the CanadianCollision Industry Forum (CCIF) willhold a four to six hour event. The weekwill conclude with NACE/CARS onThursday, July 31, and Friday, August 1.

Other important changes includemoving the date of NACE/CARS 2014from October to July, as well as holdingthe event in Detroit instead of a “desti-nation location,” such as Las Vegas, asthey normally do. Risley explains thatthis choice was intentional for severalreasons– “Detroit isn’t a destination tripso attendees will be more inclined tospend time on the floor and in trainingclasses. There are around 5000 shopswithin a three hours driving radius of thecity who we want to reach. We want togive attendees a new experience cou-pled with class A training and informa-tion; we plan the show to be for andabout people who work on cars.”

Some of these experiences thatASA hopes to provide take the form ofvarious tours. As yet, the tour plans arestill unconfirmed, but Risley hopes tooffer tours to “some pretty unique ven-ues”, including the Henry Ford Mu-seum, the BASF facility (hosted byBASF), the Chrysler plant, the Ford F-

150 plant, and the Dodge Viper plant,if their line is running at that point.Also unconfirmed as yet are ASA’shopes to hold their annual graduationceremony at the GM Heritage Center.

The hype surrounding this year’sNACE/CARS is also reflected in thefact that exhibitors have already con-tracted several thousand square feetmore than the show floor space lastyear. Risley believes that they are inposition to sell out the 50,000 squarefoot floor, and this doesn’t even in-clude the 30,000 square foot dedicatedto specialty vehicles, show cars and anew demonstration area. Exhibitorsare also supporting NACE/CARS bypromoting the event to local shops.

Of course there is a full schedule oftraining. “We are bolstering the trainingoffered. You will see a distinct differ-ence with a LOT of technical training,”Risley promises, which is in keepingwith this year’s theme of Repairability.

This year’s schedule is heavilyladen with technical training on boththe collision and mechanical sides ofthe business. ASA is also collaboratingwith I-CAR to provide a full slate of I-CAR training for the collision repair-ers in attendance. One of their mosthighly anticipated courses will involvealuminum-specific training sessions.

ASA Announces Incentives for Select I-CAR Qualified Shops to Attend NACE/CARS


A Louisiana body shop owner saw hisdaughter using Twitter to survey herfriends on an important social matter,and a light bulb went off in his head.He was fuming about repeatedly hav-ing to wrestle with insurance compa-nies over what they will and won’tpay for. But, rather than getting mad,he’s now using the social media site toquery other shops about what is andisn’t being paid for elsewhere.

Abel Cantrelle, 49, is the owner ofAdvantage Collision Center in Houma,LA. He recently purchased a 40-inchsmart television and hung it on the wallit in his reception area in his shop whereboth customers and insurance adjusters

can see it. But, they’re not watching TheView or Dr. Phil. What they’re seeing isa real-time feed of Cantrelle’s Twitteraccount, so that when insurers deny any-thing for any reason, he can tweet thedetails to shop owners and companieslike CCC and Mitchell to get their im-mediate feedback.

The story begins late last year,when Cantrelle got wind of a new tradeassociation that was in its infancy, heexplained. “Back in December, mypaint rep walked into our shop andasked me if I was going to be attendinga meeting of the new Louisiana Colli-sion Industry Association (LaCIA) andI told him I hadn’t heard about it. So,on December 5, I walked into theirmeeting in Baton Rouge and I was sur-prised to see over 200 people there. Inmy experience, people in this industrytend to work against each other, but

when I walked into that room and lis-tened to what everyone said, a lightbulb went on in my head. Hey, a lot ofus are in the same boat, I thought!”

After the LaCIA’s January meet-ing, there was a question and answersession and that’s when Cantrelleshared his brilliant idea with themembership in attendance. “Afterseeing my 14-year-old daughter (Ash-ley) on her cell phone texting herfriends, I realized that we can use thissocial media to help the organizationand each other,” he said. “All thesekids now are on Facebook, Instagramand Twitter every day communicatingwith [their peer group], so why can’t

body shops do the samething?”

Cantrelle is not a techieand surely not a socialmedia expert, but he knowsthat communication andnetworking can be powerfulif used properly, he said.“It’s all about communicat-ing with the tools we’vegot. I remember way backwhen they started telling usabout personal computersand programs like CCC andMitchell. Lots of us didn’tknow anything about com-puters and now they’re infront of us every day. Wecan go to Twitter and com-

municate back and forth and get an-swers right away—at our fingertips.”

Cantrelle is using Twitter to callout insurance adjusters that want todeny when it comes to repair processesthey don’t want to reimburse. “If an in-surance company comes in here nowand says we don’t pay for this or that,all I have to do is say let’s stop righthere and ask these shops in Americaabout whether they ask for this sup-plement or not,” Cantrelle said.

“It freaks them out, to be honest.Mitchell and CCC are also on Twitter,so they can answer the question too, ifthey want to. I want them on there, be-cause that way they’re accountable aswell. The repair procedures are rightthere listed on CCC and Mitchell, so ifit’s there, it should be paid for.”

Cantrelle used to have severalDRPs, but no more, he explained. “I’m

done with it and now they’re steeringus away to other shops,” he said. “Idon’t think they’re happy with theTwitter thing and I’m certain that theydo not love the idea of it all being dis-played on a TV in my front office. It’salso gaining momentum, because wenow have more than 100 followers onTwitter and body shops are joiningevery day. There are now folks fromthe United Kingdom and allover the country that havejoined us and I’m astonishedby all the people that aregoing through the same thingand really care.”

Alysia Hanks is the ex-ecutive director at LaCIA andan administrator at LakewayCollision Center in Mandev-ille, LA. She strongly be-lieves that Cantrelle’s use ofTwitter is an ingenious and perfectlytimed idea, for many reasons. “I’m allfor using social media, because it’s agreat way to keep connected to ourmembers, other body shops through-out the country and other state associ-ations,” she said. “We always want tobe networking, so that we knowwhat’s out there and be ready for thenext thing. We talked to other state as-sociations and one of the main prob-lems they encountered was a lack ofcommunication, so things like Face-book and Twitter can keep us in theloop.”

Hanks appreciates the trans-parency and accountability of the wayCantrelle is using Twitter. “We’re tak-ing to it the insurance companies, be-cause it’s been too long,” she said.“We’re not doing this to start a fightand we’re not intending to start a law-suit. We just want the body shops inthis state to know that we’re here, towork together and make a better busi-ness environment for all of us.”

A man on a mission, Cantrellewants body shops at a national levelto get involved in what he calls, “thisTwitter thing.”

“If we could get, say, 800 to 1,000shops on this thing,” Cantrelle said,“Well, now, we would have somethingreally special. Since I don’t have anyDRPs, I’m not afraid of telling thetruth. One of my first tweets was

‘Enough is enough—I’m tired ofworking for free,’ and everybodyloved it.”

“Last week, we did a car and theypaid me for the seam sealer and everysingle process I had to do. I tell any in-surer if there is a process I’m not doingon a vehicle, I will pay you back. I willprove everything I’m doing. We’re tak-ing pictures of every single thing now.”

“One big insurer told me some ofthese shops in the backyard willcharge for this and this, and I say doyour job and go catch them and findthem not doing those things and makethem pay you back. I recently wrote acar for $5,040 and State Farm wrotean estimate for $2,800, threw it on mydesk and ran. I made them come backout, rewrite it and go over it with meand they ended up writing the sameestimate as me.”

By telling the collision worldabout his new communication tool andprocess, Cantrelle hopes other shopswill join Twitter and realize it’s a greatway to know what other shops in otherparts of the country are dealing with.

“If everyone [joined Twitter], thescreen would be popping and jumping,”Cantrelle says. But when you’re in Mis-sissippi and I can tweet, ‘I have a Pro-gressive guy [for example] here and he’stelling me shops aren’t charging for thisor that,’ and then ask, ‘Are you chargingfor this?’ and they say, ‘Yes,’ I can lookat the Progressive guy and say, ‘Well,there’s your answer.’

“United we stand, divided we fall.If people don’t start joining hands, it’sgoing to get bad,” said Cantrelle.

To join Cantrelle’s Twitter feedgo to #advantageccinc. “Hop onboardand ask me a question,” he said. “If Ican’t answer it, somebody will be ableto and that’s the beauty of it!”

Louisiana Shop Owner Uses Twitter to Survey Other Shops in Real Time, Insurers Not Happy

Abel Cantrelle saw his 14-year-old daughter Ashleytweeting one day and came up with the idea of usingTwitter to survey other shops on repair compensationin real time

with Ed Attanasio

Shop and Product Showcase

with Ed Attanasio

Shop Showcase

with Ed Attanasio

Social Media for Shops

with Ed Attanasio

SEMA Show Goes On

with Erica SchroederShop Showcase

The Right Causewith Mike Causey

Industry Insightwith John Yoswick

Ed Attanasio is an automotive journalist based inSan Francisco, California. He can be reached [email protected].

The whole shop is on Twitter


Automotive | Group


| Group parts

Original BMW Parts

bmwusa.com

BMW of Charlottesville1295 Richmond RdCharlottesville, VA 22911Parts: (434) 245-4111

Crown BMW3902 W. Wendover Ave. Greensboro, NC 27407Parts: (877) 403-0828

Richmond BMW8710 Broad St.Richmond, VA 23294Parts: (800) 237-0130

Richmond BMW Midlothian12100 Midlothian TpkMidlothian, VA 23113Parts: (804) 897-2211

Crown Nissan3900 W. Wendover Ave.Greensboro, NC 27407Parts: (888) 456-0747

VOLVO GENUINE PARTS

Crown Volvo3604 West Wendover

Greensboro, NC 27407Parts: (877) 403-0828

Crown Honda of Southpoint1001 Southpoint Auto Park Blvd.Durham, NC 27713Parts: (877) 326-8767

Crown Honda of Greensboro

3633 W. Wendover AveGreensboro, NC 27407

Parts: (877) 403-0828

Crown Acura Richmond8704 W. Broad St.Richmond, VA 23294Parts: (800) 523-4411

Crown Acura3908 W. Wendover Ave.Greensboro, NC 27407

Parts: (877) 403-0828

Crown Ford of Fayetteville256 Swain St.

Fayetteville, NC 28303Parts: (800) 682-5092

Crown MINI ofRichmond8710 Broad St.Richmond, VA 23294Parts: (800) 237-0130

©2013 MINI, a division of BMW of North America, LLC. The MINI name, model names and logo are registered trademarks.

PARTS THAT REFLECT ANORIGINAL BMW WORK

• Using Original BMW Parts & Accesories

• Original MINI Parts

The newly-formed Louisiana Colli-sion Industry Association (LaCIA) hasbeen busy setting up their organizationand is working toward their goals.They held a meeting on January 21 todiscuss their progress thus far as wellas their future plans. Over 180 peopleattended this meeting, which DerekStubbs, Vice Chairman of LaCIA, at-tributes to the fact that “we are all herebecause we care about this business,and we care about what happens to it.”

Chairman Lynn Lejeune calledthe meeting to order, welcomed atten-dees and led a prayer before the asso-ciation’s general counsel LanceKinchen, of Breazeale, Sachse andWilson LLP, read the anti-trust state-

ment. Next, Executive Director AlysiaHanks touched base on a few thingslike the upcoming Southern Automo-tive Repair Conference in Biloxi andtold the group what she hopes to ac-complish with the association.

Each member of the association’sBoard of Directors then provided somebackground on their experiences andspoke about their plans for LaCIA.Lejeune stressed that it is about “com-ing together and agreeing to make adifference.”

Stubbs emphasized the impor-tance of focusing on the present andthe future instead of the past. “Lastyear is over, and we still have battlesto fight everyday this year, but weneed to face these problems togetherto make a difference. We have nationalissues that we have to handle first on astate level.”

Chris Medine from Medine’sCollision said he believes LaCIA haspotential to be and do many goodthings through having so many indus-try professionals working together.

His son is the third generation of hisfamily to enter this industry, and Me-dine wants to effect change so that hisson can have the same long and suc-cessful career.

Randy Mclachan of Perform-ance Finish & Collision feels thatLaCIA is taking the correct profes-sional approach to their development,and he believes the association can beuseful in providing training and edu-cation to its member. He said he hopesthat they will be “an association of ed-ucation.” He is confident that by work-ing together LaCIA members canmake meaningful change that will ben-efit LA’s collision repair industry.

Reid Heiser of Mitchell Interna-tional spoke about three things that as-sociations such as LaCIA can do, suchas providing a sense of community,offering training and changing per-spectives. In regards to these benefits,Hanks said, “it’s a great thing to walkinto a room of neighbors and not aroom of competitors. Mitchell has alot of training they can send in to helpour group. They benefit when our in-dustry benefits. The industry is rapidlychanging, and if you don’t keep upwith it, you will not succeed. We needto embrace those changes and plan forwhat is coming down the line. [In re-gards to perspective], unless you getout and see what others are doing,nothing will ever change—‘you can’twork on your business if you’re work-ing in your business.’”

The day after the meeting, Hanksemailed notes to participants, alongwith some additional information aboutthe association’s progress. Their web-site is now finally operational, though itis still being improved, and can befound at www.la-cia.com.

In response to questions at themeeting about social networking,Hanks provided the address of the as-sociation’s Facebook page, agreeingthat social networking is “an avenuewe will explore.” Since the meeting,Hanks has established a Twitter ac-count @LouisianaCIA and a Facebookpage (www.facebook.com/SeLaCRA).

Hanks has drafted a formal re-quest to the LA’s commissioner’s of-fice, requesting that they look into thelegality of PartsTrader in their state,

similar to what ASA has initiated, andshe is currently awaiting commentfrom the association’s attorneys. Ad-ditionally, the email provided a link to

the website for the Southern Automo-tive Repair Conference and a link toMike Watson’s article on partial refin-ish.

Also attached were LaCIA’s gen-eral membership application and an ap-plication to a GM training course thatwas held on February 25th at the Holi-

day Inn in Baton Rouge. Many mem-bers for LaCIA attended the eventwhere topics included aluminum in newvehicles and price matching as it per-tains to CollisionLink and GM’s Bumpthe Competition Program which allowsprice matching on select parts when aninsurer estimate calls for aftermarketparts to be used. GM’s course also dis-cussed 2013/2014 cores on fascias andheadlights, how to recognize counter-feit airbags and warranty information.More information on technology andtheir service bulletins can be found atwww.genuinegmparts.com.

LaCIA supports and will be at-tending the Southern Automotive Re-pair Conference in Biloxi, MS, onApril 11–12, 2014 where they have re-served a booth. LaCIA’s next meetingis scheduled for Tuesday, May 20th inMonroe, LA. As LaCIA continues todevelop and becomes increasingly in-volved with industry issues, stay tunedfor updates.


Tameron... One Way, the Right Way

Tameron, your trusted automotive wholesale parts supplier, is now Tameron, your trusted automotive wholesale parts supplier, is now delivering Genuine Hyundai replacement parts to your area.delivering Genuine Hyundai replacement parts to your area.

Tameron, your trusted automotive wholesale parts supplier, is now delivering Genuine Hyundai replacement parts to your area.

Please call your salesman for details!Please call your salesman for details!Please call your salesman for details!

1595 Montgomery Highway • Birmingham, AL 35216

www.tameronhyundai.com

Parts Department:1-800-467-0699

205-443-7651 Direct205-443-7656 Fax

Equus

LaCIA Meets to Talk Progress and Future Plans

LaCIA Chairman Lynn Lejeune speaks tothe group

Lance Kinchen, General Counsel for LaCIA,addresses the meeting



with Domenico Nigro
























Great News!...Honda and Acura Genuine OE Radiatorsand AC Condensers.

Great Price!...On Select Popular Units.

Contact your local Honda or Acura dealer for details.

Honda

CivicCRVAccord

2012-13-142012-13-142013-14

$166.65$166.65$166.65

$133.33$133.33$133.33

Model Year RadiatorMSRP

ACCondenser

MSRPAcura

RDXILXILX HybridMDX

2013-142013-142013-142014

$166.65$166.65$166.65$166.65

$133.33$133.33$133.33$133.33

Model Year RadiatorMSRP

ACCondenser

MSRP


Jerry Damson HondaHuntsv i l le

800-264-1739256-382-3759

Dept. Hours: M-F 7-5:30; Sat [email protected]

Serra HondaBirmingham

800-987-0819205-949-5460

Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-5; Sat [email protected]

AutoNation HondaClearwaterClearwater

888-205-2564727-530-1173

Dept. Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat 8-5; Sun [email protected]

AutoNation HondaHollywoodHol lywood

800-542-8121954-964-8300


Braman Hondaof Palm Beach

Greenacres888-479-0695561-966-5185

Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-6; Sat 8-4:[email protected]

Classic HondaOr lando

888-893-4984407-521-1115

Dept. Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat [email protected]

Coggin Deland HondaDeland

800-758-0007386-626-1811


Ed Morse HondaRiv iera Beach800-232-1098561-844-8089

Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-6; Sat 7:[email protected]

Headquarter HondaClermont

800-497-2294407-395-7374


Hendrick Honda BradentonBradenton

877-706-2021941-752-2123


Hendrick Honda DaytonaDaytona Beach800-953-4402386-252-2301


Rick Case HondaDavie

877-544-2249Dept. Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat 7:30-4

[email protected]

South Motors HondaMiami

888-418-3513305-256-2240Dept. Hours: M-F 8-7

[email protected]

Carey Paul HondaSnel lv i l le

770-985-1444Dept. Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat [email protected]

Ed Voyles HondaMariet ta

800-334-3719770-933-5870 DirectDept. Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat [email protected]

Gerald Jones HondaAugusta

800-733-2210706-228-7040


Gwinnett Place HondaDuluth

800-277-8836678-957-5151


Honda Mall of GeorgiaBuford/Gwinnet t678-318-3155


Milton Martin HondaGainesv i l le

770-534-0086678-989-5473

Dept. Hours: M-F 7:[email protected]

Nalley HondaUnion C i ty

866-362-8034770-306-4646


Southern Motors HondaSavannah

888-785-8387912-925-1444


Patty Peck HondaRidgeland

800-748-8676601-957-3400


Apple Tree HondaAshevi l le

800-476-9411828-684-4400


Burlington HondaBur l ington

800-822-5108336-584-3431

Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-6:00; Sat [email protected]

Crown Honda SouthpointDurham

855-893-8866919-425-4711

Dept. Hours: M-Thu 7-11; Fri 7-6Sat 7-5; Sun 11-5

www.southpointhonda.com

Hendrick HondaChar lo t te

800-277-7271704-552-1149


Leith HondaRale igh

800-868-6970919-790-8228

Dept. Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat 7:[email protected]

McKenney-Salinas HondaGastonia

888-703-7109704-824-8844 x 624Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-5:30

[email protected]

Metro HondaInd ian Tra i l

866-882-9542704-220-1522

Dept. Hours: M-F 6:30-6:30; Sat 7-4www.copytk.com

Vann York AutomallHigh Po int

336-841-6200Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-6; Sat 8-3

Breakaway HondaGreenvi l le

800-849-5056864-234-6481


Dick Brooks HondaGreer

800-936-9090864-877-1772


Midlands HondaColumbia

877-273-4442803-691-8585

Dept. Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat 7-4www.copytk.com

Piedmont HondaAnderson

800-849-5057864-375-2082


Airport HondaAlcoa

800-264-4721865-970-7792

Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-6:30; Sat 7:[email protected]

AutoNation HondaWest Knoxville

Knoxv i l le800-824-1301865-218-5461


Bill Gatton HondaBr is to l

800-868-4118423-652-9545


Wolfchase HondaBart le t t

800-982-7290901-255-3780Dept. Hours: M-F 7-7

[email protected]

Duncan’s Hokie HondaChr is t ianburg800-979-9110540-381-3200

Dept. Hours: Mon-Fri 7:30-5:30Sat 8:00-5:00

[email protected]

Hall HondaVi rg in ia Beach800-482-9606757-431-4329


Hendrick HondaWoodbridgeWoodbr idge

703-690-7777Dept. Hours: M-Fri 7-6Sat 8-5; Sun 10-4

Priority HondaChesapeake

757-213-0539Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-6; Sat [email protected]

Priority HondaHampton


Valley HondaStaunton

800-277-0598540-213-9016


West Broad HondaRichmond

800-446-0160804-672-8811

Dept. Hours: M-Thu 7:30-6:30;Fri 7:30-6; Sat 8-3; Sun 11-3

[email protected]

ALABAMA FLORIDA FLORIDA GEORGIA

FLORIDA

MISSISSIPPI

HONDA

ALABAMA FLORIDA GEORGIA GEORGIA

ACURA

Jerry Damson AcuraHuntsv i l le

800-264-1739256-533-1345


Acura of Orange ParkJacksonvi l le

888-941-7278904-777-1008


Duval AcuraJacksonvi l le

800-352-2872904-725-1149


Rick Case AcuraFort Lauderdale800-876-1150954-377-7688


Jackson AcuraRoswel l

877-622-2871678-259-9500


Nalley AcuraMariet ta

800-899-7278770-422-3138


Southern Motors AcuraSavannah

800-347-0596912-232-3222


Flow AcuraWinston-Salem800-489-3534336-761-3682

Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-6; Sat 8-1www.flowacura.com

Hendrick AcuraChar lo t te

800-768-6824704-566-2288


Leith AcuraCary

800-868-0082919-657-0460

Dept. Hours: M-F 8-6; Sat 8-4:[email protected]

Performance AcuraChapel H i l l

888-788-7301919-942-3191

Dept. Hours: M-Th 7-7; Fri 7-6; Sat [email protected]

Crown Acura of RichmondRichmond

800-523-4411804-527-6865


Karen Radley AcuraWoodbr idge

800-355-2818703-550-0205


Radley AcuraFal ls Church800-550-5035703-824-5785

Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-6:00;Sat 8-6; Sun 10-5

[email protected]. CAROLINAFLORIDA

GEORGIA

NO. CAROLINA

The Honda and Acura Dealers Listed Here are Subscribers:


Jerry Damson HondaHuntsv i l le

800-264-1739256-382-3759


Serra HondaBirmingham

800-987-0819205-949-5460


AutoNation HondaClearwaterClearwater

888-205-2564727-530-1173


AutoNation HondaHollywoodHol lywood

800-542-8121954-964-8300


Braman Hondaof Palm Beach

Greenacres888-479-0695561-966-5185

Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-6; Sat 8-4:[email protected]

Classic HondaOr lando

888-893-4984407-521-1115


Coggin Deland HondaDeland

800-758-0007386-626-1811


Ed Morse HondaRiv iera Beach800-232-1098561-844-8089

Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-6; Sat 7:[email protected]

Headquarter HondaClermont

800-497-2294407-395-7374


Hendrick Honda BradentonBradenton

877-706-2021941-752-2123


Hendrick Honda DaytonaDaytona Beach800-953-4402386-252-2301


Rick Case HondaDavie

877-544-2249Dept. Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat 7:30-4

[email protected]

South Motors HondaMiami

888-418-3513305-256-2240Dept. Hours: M-F 8-7

[email protected]

Carey Paul HondaSnel lv i l le

770-985-1444Dept. Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat [email protected]

Ed Voyles HondaMariet ta

800-334-3719770-933-5870 DirectDept. Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat [email protected]

Gerald Jones HondaAugusta

800-733-2210706-228-7040


Gwinnett Place HondaDuluth

800-277-8836678-957-5151


Honda Mall of GeorgiaBuford/Gwinnet t678-318-3155


Milton Martin HondaGainesv i l le

770-534-0086678-989-5473


Nalley HondaUnion C i ty

866-362-8034770-306-4646


Southern Motors HondaSavannah

888-785-8387912-925-1444


Patty Peck HondaRidgeland

800-748-8676601-957-3400


Apple Tree HondaAshevi l le

800-476-9411828-684-4400


Burlington HondaBur l ington

800-822-5108336-584-3431


Crown Honda SouthpointDurham

855-893-8866919-425-4711

Dept. Hours: M-Thu 7-11; Fri 7-6Sat 7-5; Sun 11-5

www.southpointhonda.com

Hendrick HondaChar lo t te

800-277-7271704-552-1149


Leith HondaRale igh

800-868-6970919-790-8228


McKenney-Salinas HondaGastonia

888-703-7109704-824-8844 x 624Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-5:30

[email protected]

Metro HondaInd ian Tra i l

866-882-9542704-220-1522

Dept. Hours: M-F 6:30-6:30; Sat 7-4www.copytk.com

Vann York AutomallHigh Po int

336-841-6200Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-6; Sat 8-3

Breakaway HondaGreenvi l le

800-849-5056864-234-6481


Dick Brooks HondaGreer

800-936-9090864-877-1772


Midlands HondaColumbia

877-273-4442803-691-8585

Dept. Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat 7-4www.copytk.com

Piedmont HondaAnderson

800-849-5057864-375-2082


Airport HondaAlcoa

800-264-4721865-970-7792

Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-6:30; Sat 7:[email protected]

AutoNation HondaWest Knoxville

Knoxv i l le800-824-1301865-218-5461


Bill Gatton HondaBr is to l

800-868-4118423-652-9545


Wolfchase HondaBart le t t

800-982-7290901-255-3780Dept. Hours: M-F 7-7

[email protected]

Duncan’s Hokie HondaChr is t ianburg800-979-9110540-381-3200

Dept. Hours: Mon-Fri 7:30-5:30Sat 8:00-5:00

[email protected]

Hall HondaVi rg in ia Beach800-482-9606757-431-4329


Hendrick HondaWoodbridgeWoodbr idge

703-690-7777Dept. Hours: M-Fri 7-6Sat 8-5; Sun 10-4

Priority HondaChesapeake


Priority HondaHampton


Valley HondaStaunton

800-277-0598540-213-9016


West Broad HondaRichmond

800-446-0160804-672-8811

Dept. Hours: M-Thu 7:30-6:30;Fri 7:30-6; Sat 8-3; Sun 11-3

[email protected]

NO. CAROLINA NO. CAROLINA

SO. CAROLINA

TENNESSEE

TENNESSEE

VIRGINIA

VIRGINIA

Jerry Damson AcuraHuntsv i l le

800-264-1739256-533-1345


Acura of Orange ParkJacksonvi l le

888-941-7278904-777-1008


Duval AcuraJacksonvi l le

800-352-2872904-725-1149


Rick Case AcuraFort Lauderdale800-876-1150954-377-7688


Jackson AcuraRoswel l

877-622-2871678-259-9500


Nalley AcuraMariet ta

800-899-7278770-422-3138


Southern Motors AcuraSavannah

800-347-0596912-232-3222


Flow AcuraWinston-Salem800-489-3534336-761-3682

Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-6; Sat 8-1www.flowacura.com

Hendrick AcuraChar lo t te

800-768-6824704-566-2288


Leith AcuraCary

800-868-0082919-657-0460

Dept. Hours: M-F 8-6; Sat 8-4:[email protected]

Performance AcuraChapel H i l l

888-788-7301919-942-3191

Dept. Hours: M-Th 7-7; Fri 7-6; Sat [email protected]

Crown Acura of RichmondRichmond

800-523-4411804-527-6865


Karen Radley AcuraWoodbr idge

800-355-2818703-550-0205


Radley AcuraFal ls Church800-550-5035703-824-5785

Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-6:00;Sat 8-6; Sun 10-5

[email protected]

NO. CAROLINA NO. CAROLINA VIRGINIA VIRGINIA

For more collisioninfo, go to:collision.honda.comairbagaware.honda.comcrashrepairinfo.com

Driver claims mobile dent repairbusinesses did $3,700 in damage

When cameras from the NBC 5 Investi-gates Consumer Unit started rolling,two so-called repairmen went running,according to Deanna Dewberry, of theNBC 5 Investigates Consumer Unit.

A North Texas student told thenews team that after his bad experi-ences with two different mobile dentrepair businesses he wanted to warnothers to steer clear of drive-up, fix-itauto repairmen whose promises andprices seem too good to be true.

Joshua Bissonette is a cash-strapped college student trying to fin-ish up school after serving in the U.S.Army. With his car in need of repair,Bissonette turned to Craigslist andfound an ad for “mobile auto body”repair men who fix dents and damageat a person’s “work or home” for “lessthan a traditional” body shop. He de-cided to give them a try.

“They got to work right away,”said Bissonette. “They started pryingthe dent out. It seemed like they knewwhat they were doing.” But he soonlearned otherwise.

“The dents look gone, but it does-n’t look good,” he said. Bissonette saidthey didn’t finish the job either.

“They said due to the coldweather they couldn’t apply paint,”Bissonette said. They left with the re-pairs incomplete and his wallet $250lighter.

“I just wanted them to go away,so I paid them their money,” he said.

But with the work unfinished,Bissonette went back to Craigslistagain where he found another adfor a different mobile auto body re-pair business. This ad had picturesand promises. So he called and setup a meeting in an Arlington park-ing lot.

“They said it was going to looklike new,” Bissonette said. He paidthem $250 cash for the job.

Bissonette said these guys cov-ered their shoddy work with greengoop saying it would protect the paint.When he got home and washed it offhe was horrified. He saw a scratchedsandpaper surface and spray paintspattered on his windshield, mirror,and tire.

“It looks horrible,” he explained.Bissonette then called NBC 5 In-

vestigates Consumer Unit and theycalled the numbers from both ads toset up meetings. We showed up at thefirst location in our station ChevroletTahoe, which had a dent. Their cam-eras were in tow.

We told a guy, who said his namewas Tony, that some of his past cus-tomers were unhappy with his work.

“No comment at this point. I haveto get in touch with my lawyer,” hesaid. When Investigates pressed fur-ther he got in his car and sped away.Investigates then called the number inthe second ad and set up a time andplace to meet.

When they identified themselves,the repairman immediately coveredhis face, never got out of his car andleft faster than the first guy.

“The Worst I’ve Ever Seen”Brian Johnson, a certified collisionrepairman for Service King in Irving,evaluated Bissonette’s car.

“It is the worst I’ve ever seen forsomeone to call that a finished prod-uct,” he said. “It looks like they usedspray paint out of a can.”

Johnson said he sees fly-by-nightauto dent repairmen come out of thewoodwork in the DFW area, espe-cially after weather events like storms,hail and ice.

“Just since the beginning of this

year, I have seen three cars personallywith the same situation,” said Johnson.Johnson said the looks of Bissonette’scar are the least of his worries.

“There is probably no structuralintegrity left in that panel,” Johnsonsaid. In his opinion, because of howthe work was done, the panel mightnot perform as it should in a wreck,potentially putting Bissonette’s safetyat risk. He recommended replacingthat panel. In total, the repairs wouldnow cost $3,700.

Texas has no state agency thatregulates collision repair, so it’s upconsumers to do their homework.

The News Team reported thatconsumers should ask repairers if theyhave certification from an organiza-tion like I-CAR, or ASE, the NationalInstitute for Automotive Service Ex-cellence. They should also ask aboutwarranties. If a repairman doesn’toffer one, experts suggest findingsomeone else.

“You want to make sure the com-pany is standing behind their work,”said Steve Sikes, Service King’s as-sociate vice president of business de-velopment.

Experts also said any paint workneeds to be done in a controlled envi-ronment, so if someone offers to paintoutside, that’s likely a red flag too.

In the end, Bissonette’s plightstruck a chord with Richardson-basedService King.

“It’s certainly unfortunate whatyou’ve had to deal with, with the sub-par repairs,” Sikes said to Bissonette.

In a gesture of goodwill, thecompany, a supporter of U.S. service-men and servicewomen, said it wouldfix his car for free, leaving Bissonetteastounded and smiling from ear toear.

The Enterprise Rent-A-Car loca-tion attached to this particular ServiceKing location said it would also pickup the tab for his rental car while therepairs are done.

Bisonette said he learned his les-son and he’ll be less trusting next timeand that he hopes his story helps oth-ers avoid being taken by rogue mobiledent repair businesses.

“I decided to call NBC 5 Investi-gates because I don’t want this to hap-pen, you know, to anybody else,” hesaid.


Largest PartsInventory in Central Florida!

Parts Hours: Mon-Fri 7:30-5:30 Sat. 8am-4pm

Ph: 407.644.5111Fax: 407.645.4971

pmpmpmpmpmpmpmpmpmpmpmpmpmParts Hours: Mon-Fri 7:30-5:30 Sat. 8am-4pmpm

www.donreidford.com www.fordparts.com/donreidford1875 South Orlando Ave., Maitland, FL 32751

North Texas Student Says Two Mobile Dent Repair Businesses Took Him for a Ride

plaintiffs allege that the insurersagreed to control and suppress auto-mobile damage repair costs at meet-ings amongst themselves that theyrefused to allow members of the autocollision repair industry to attend.

Plaintiffs also contend that de-fendants’ alleged conduct constitutesunlawful boycott activity. In support

of that assertion, plaintiffs maintainthat the defendants’ alleged acts ofsteering customers away from plain-tiffs, through allegations and intimi-dations of poor work quality placesdefendants’ conduct beyond the lim-ited antitrust exemption that the in-surance industry enjoys under theMcCarran Ferguson Act.

The action is only in its very ear-liest stages, and the insurers have notyet responded to plaintiffs’ allega-tions.


FL Antitrust Suit

by Chasidy Rae Sisk

Despite the harsh and unusual weatherin the southeast portion of the country,the Automotive Aftermarket Associa-tion Southeast (AAAS) has been hardat work in their efforts to strengthenthe industry—they aren’t going to leta little snow and ice slow them down!Currently, their main focus is on twoupcoming lobbying events, but theyare also preparing to award scholar-ships as their scholarship deadlinedraws near and planning for their an-nual conference in June.

AAAS held their second AnnualCapitol Day at the GA State Capitol inAtlanta on Wednesday, February 19th.GA members of AAAS were invitedto join the association for a full day oflegislative sessions and visits withelected officials as AAAS seeks topersonally advocate for the industry’spriorities.

On March 18th and 19th, AAASmembers from the Sunshine State areencouraged to attend their AnnualCapitol Day event in Tallahassee, FL,again attending legislative sessionsand visiting with legislators as they at-

tempt to strengthen the industry. Re-garding these two events, President ofAAAS Randal Ward explains, “mem-bers join us for a day or two of walk-ing the halls of the legislature andvisiting representatives.” Ward be-lieves this is a proactive networkingopportunity that allows them to gainadvocates for future legislative con-cerns they may encounter.

AAAS is also preparing to awardscholarships in the near future. Thedeadline for the AAAS EducationalFoundation Scholarship is March 31,2014. The AAASEF Scholarship Fundwas established in 2005 to encourageand financially support individualswishing to continue their education ina technical training school or college.Applicants must be sponsored by anAAAS member to be eligible, but alleligible candidates will be considered,regardless of their chosen field ofstudy. Applications can be submittedat:www.automotivescholarships.com/AAAS.

Additionally, AAAS is makingarrangements for their upcoming An-nual Conference and Trade Show, to

be held at the Baytowne Warf ofSandestin on June 5-8, 2014. They areexcited to present keynote speakerJohn Washbish, President and CEO ofthe Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance,Inc.

With over four decades of expe-rience in the automotive industry,Washbash’s leadership skills havebeen recognized with numerousawards, including the AutomotiveWarehouse Distributors AssociationLeader of the Year Award and North-wood’s Automotive Aftermarket Man-agement Education Award. AAASChairman Mike Morgan feels “veryfortunate to have John joining us forour annual conference. We look for-ward to his visit and him sharing hisviews and insight on the industry andthe economy… We are honored towelcome an impressive list of guestspeakers who will deliver very timelyeducational and informative presenta-tions on some of the most importanttopics facing the aftermarket industrytoday.”

On Saturday morning, the con-ference will begin with Washbish dis-cussing changes and trends that

impact aftermarket businesses. Next,Scott Luckett, Chief Information Of-ficer of the Automotive AftermarketIndustry Association (AAIA) willpresent “The Connected Car: The Im-pact of Vehicles Telematics in theAuto Care Industry,” and this will befollowed by a presentation on “Af-termarket Access to OEM VehicleRepair Information,” given by SkipPotter, Executive Director of the Na-tional Automotive Service TaskForce (NASTF). The program willconclude with Wayne Bowling, Sen-ior Vice President of Employee Ben-efits at Willis Group, who willdiscuss Obamacare’s effects on at-tendees, their businesses and theiremployees.

In addition to the educational as-pect of the event, AAAS promises net-working opportunities and plenty offun with a full schedule that includesa deep fishing charter, a reception atBaytowne Marina, a Saturday nightdinner cruise on the Solaris, and theBell/Hines Memorial ScholarshipFundraiser Golf Tournament. AAASwill continue providing updates onthis event at www.aaas.us.


The following dealerships are eager to serve your needs.Call your local Subaru collision parts specialist today!

Parkway SubaruWilmington

(800) 424-9434(910) 793-8710 Fax

Mon.-Fri. 7-6; Sat. 8-2

Flow SubaruWinston-Salem(800) 489-3534

(336) 725-3554 FaxMon.-Fri. 8-5; Sat. 8-1

[email protected]

Performance SubaruChapel Hill

(888) 377-1664(919) 942-3191

(919) 932-2574 FaxMon.-Thu. 7-7; Fri. 7-6; Sat. 8-5

[email protected]

NO. CAROLINA

Subaru of GwinnettDuluth

(678) 584-7245(678) 584-7246 Fax

Mon.-Fri. 8-6; Sat. 8-4www.subaruofgwinnett.com

GEORGIA

Kelly SubaruChattanooga

(423) 490-0181(423) 385-7269 FaxMon.-Fri. 7:30-5:30; Sat. 8-2

[email protected]

TENNESSEE

AAAS Busy Strengthening Industry in 2014


Looking for tips, tools and resourcesto help your business, defend your po-sitions or do your part for the indus-try? Here’s a collection of links tosites, documents and information youmay find interesting and useful.

— More and more state legisla-tures are considering bills that wouldplace new limits on insurer mandates,such as State Farm’s mandated use ofPartsTrader. Meanwhile the Automo-tive Service Association (ASA) is ex-pected to issue a preliminary reportsoon on the response it has receivedfrom state attorneys general and insur-ance regulations regarding the legalityof State Farm’s PartsTrader mandate.

“ASA has had discussions with anumber of these states that have sub-mitted inquiries for additional sup-porting information,” the associationstates in its press release. “It’s impor-tant to note that subsequent to our an-nouncement relative to sending lettersto each state, State Farm sent states aletter arguing the legitimacy of suchmandates.”

Want to see what State Farm istelling some state regulators? Clickhere (http://tinyurl.com/StateFarm-Letter) to see one such letter.

“Our goal was to resolve this issuewithout government oversight, inter-ference or legislation,” Dan Risley, ex-ecutive director of ASA, said. “Assuch, we have persisted in our effortsto work with State Farm to change thecurrent PartsTrader mandate policy.This has included multiple meetingsand other discussions that continuedthroughout 2013. ASA believes thatthere are potential solutions (if) StateFarm is willing to work toward an am-icable resolution that benefits StateFarm, collision repairers and the con-sumer.”

— Looking for another way to re-cruit new technicians? Shops shouldnote that use of the TopTechFinder.com(www.toptechfinder.com) recruitingsite is still free for both shops and thoselooking for work.

Since launching in early 2012,TopTechFinder.com has connected withover 1,350 candidates and 350 repair-ers in the collision repair business. Ithas since expanded to help mechanicalrepair shops find qualified employees.

“It’s hard to find qualified techni-cians on general job boards,” Jeff Her-man, CEO of TopTech Finder, said.“They aren’t designed for the mechan-ical repair industry and don’t drawmany technicians. In contrast, TopTechFinder allows candidates to show offindustry-specific qualifications, mak-ing it a natural place for techs to findjobs.”

TopTech Finder is free for job-seekers and will remain free for em-ployers for a limited time.

— It’s a common belief in the in-dustry that in markets with lowerlabor rates, estimates have more lineitems to make the bottom line aboutthe same as it would be in a marketwith a higher labor rate. Some analy-sis from Mitchell International indi-cates that may not be the case.

Download Mitchell’s most re-cent “Industry Trends Report,”(http://tinyurl.com/cpbt9ks) to readhow the company analyzed estimatesin states with the highest labor ratesto compare them to those with thelowest labor rates. The states with thelowest average body labor rates –Massachusetts ($37.07), Tennessee($41.14), Florida ($41.29), Georgia($42.04) and Maryland ($42.12) – didnot tend to have more repair (versusreplace) operations, more refinishhours or more overall estimate linesthan the states with the highest aver-age body labor rates – Montana($63.05), Alaska ($61.35), California($60.46), North Dakota (59.52) andWyoming ($57.45).

“Only 1.2 hours of total laborseparates the average of the bottomfive labor rate states from the top fivelabor rate states,” the report found, forexample.

— Which states are doing themost to improve highway safety? The11th annual report card from Advo-cates for Highway and Auto Safetymeasuring state progress in passinghighway safety laws gives Illinois,Oregon and the District of Columbiathe top grades for having enacted 12of 15 laws the organization supports.Another six states, including Indiana,have passed 11 of the laws.

States receiving the lowest grades,having enacted five or fewer of the

laws, are South Dakota, Mississippi,Arizona, Iowa, Montana and Nebraska.

Download the report at:http://tinyurl.com/lctnvv9

— Here’s a link that has nothingto do with collision repair directly, butcould save a life. Joe Arnold, vicepresident of Arnold’s Body Shop inDavenport, Iowa, is urging people tolearn the symptoms of a stroke afterhis wife suffered a stroke on the dayafter Christmas.

“She is only 39 years old andhealthy,” Arnold posted on Facebook.“It can happen to anyone at any age.At the start we thought it was just a mi-graine. As it progressed, it becameclear that it was a stroke. I only knewbecause of my past training as an EMT(14 years ago) what it really could be.She will make a full recovery becausewe recognized the signs and symptomsand took immediate action based uponthem.”

The three key symptoms are out-lined at: http://tinyurl.com/ltg3q63

“The more you know, the saferyou and your loved ones will be,”Arnold wrote.

— Another anti-DRP website,StopDRP.com, has launched; its con-tent includes an animated video cau-tioning consumers about the use ofnon-OEM parts (comparing them tohaving a diamond replaced with cubiczirconium) and one fictionalizing aconversation between a shop and aninsurer about what the shop must doto become part of the insurer’s DRP.

The site includes a link to anothersuch site, StopSteering.com, whichlaunched in 2008.

— Looking for help explainingtheir automaker’s position on non-OEM parts or reconditioned wheels?The OEM Roundtable this yearlaunched a new consumer website,www.CrashRepairInfo.com. The siteincludes: information for vehicle-owners on how to choose a body shop;definitions of common terms used incollision repair and auto insuranceclaims; automaker position statementson vehicle safety systems, counterfeitor salvage airbags, etc.; and videossuch as Honda’s demonstration of amistimed airbag’s impact on a water-melon.

— Ten insurers (including Farm-ers, USAA, Chubb and MetLife)are offering a branded app(http://tinyurl.com/Snapsheet) throughSnapsheet (www.Snapsheet.com) thatenable “self-service” claims for cus-tomers. Snapsheet CEO Brad Weis-berg said when an insured calls toreport a loss, the insurer can offer themthe option of using the app to uploadsix to 15 photos of the damage. Esti-mators at Snapsheet’s offices then pre-pare an estimate based on the photosand sends it back to the customerwithin three business hours.

The customer has the option of adirect-deposit cash-out, or can use theapp to schedule an appointment withone of the insurer’s DRP shops. Sup-plements are handled through Snap-sheet. Insurers pay a flat fee perestimate for the service, Weisbergsaid. He emphasizes that his companyproduces “visual estimates” only.

How do Snapsheet estimators en-sure their estimates comply with vari-ous state laws regarding use ofnon-OEM parts, etc.?

“There are some states where weabsolutely cannot write in,” Weisbergsaid. “But what we pride ourselves onis writing accurate estimates. Notonly accurate to fix the car but alsoaccording to a carrier’s guidelines. Sowe spend a lot of time with the carri-ers calibrating with their claims or-ganization how they want us to writethe estimates. They review a lot of ourestimates to make sure we’re writingaccording to plan.”

Prior to Snapsheet, Weisberg wasthe founder in 2011 of BodyShopBids,which enabled consumers to uploadphotos of their damaged vehicle andreceive quotes from nearby bodyshops within 24 hours.

“BodyShopBids was a great ideaand a great way to start, but it wasn’t areal business,” Weisberg said. “This isneeded in the industry and this is wantedby consumers, so it’s a perfect fit.”

Helpful Documents, Tools, Information Only a Click Away For Shops

with Ed Attanasio

Shop and Product Showcase

with Ed Attanasio

Shop Showcase

with Ed Attanasio

Social Media for Shops

with Ed Attanasio

SEMA Show Goes On

with Erica SchroederShop Showcase

The Right Causewith Mike Causey


—John Yoswick is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon, who has a body shop in thefamily and has been writing about the automotive industry since 1988. He is the editor of theweekly CRASH Network (for a free 4-week trial subscription, visit www.CrashNetwork.com).Contact him by email at [email protected].



CALL 800-699-8251



[email protected]

800-699-8251









[email protected]


write us!write us!










800-699-8251




800-699-8251




On Saturday, February 22nd, the Au-tomotive Service Association of Ari-zona (ASA-AZ) hosted a courseentitled Survival Skills for Service Ad-visors at the Phoenix Airport Hilton.Luz A. Rubio, Executive Director of

ASA-AZ, says it was a “great class!We had 30 Service Advisors in atten-dance, representing shops around Ari-

zona. Most attended to learn betterways on how to communicate withcustomers, others [came for] a re-fresher course.”

The focus of the event was on theimportance of developing good commu-

nication skills, andthe group discussedvarious scenariosand examples, ex-amining the bestway to handle eachunique situation.

“Being able to lis-ten to the customerand addressing thereason they cameinto the shop shouldbe the primaryfocus. Being able toeducate and informthe customer on the

importance of maintaining their vehiclein order to prevent costly repairs wasalso an area of focus,” Rubio told us.

Attendees’ expectations were ex-ceeded, Rubio believes. “Several ex-perienced service advisorswho have been in their posi-tion for more than ten yearsenjoyed the class and walkedaway with at least one ideathat they can implement toimprove how they have beendoing their job.”

In 2014, the ASA-AZ’sgoal is to provide their mem-bers with education andtraining by attracting indus-

try speakers who will share fresh con-tent that members can relate to andlearn from. “The benefit of being amember is the opportunity to ex-change ideas with peers and learnfrom each other. We promote that weare not an association of competitors,but an association of peers where weidentify challenges and come up withideas that will maximize the successand longevity their businesses.”

ASA-AZ is very excited to offer afull calendar of meetings, events and


Saturday 8 - 1

Parts Phone: Fax:800-741-4444 386-236-47541 4444 386 2

• Exceptional Customer Service• Prompt & Dependable Delivery• Dedicated Wholesale Staff

LargestLargestInventoryInventoryin Centralin CentralFloridaFlorida

LargestInventoryin CentralFlorida



with Domenico Nigro























ASA-AZ Meets to Discuss Survival Skills for Service Advisors

The Society of Collision Repair Spe-cialists (SCRS) Industry Awards andCorporate Member RecognitionLuncheon will be held on Wednes-day, April 9, 2014, from 11:45 a.m.to 12:45 p.m., just prior to the Colli-sion Industry Conference (CIC) atthe Red Lion Hotel on the RiverJantzen Beach in Portland, OR.

In additon, the SCRS OpenBoard Meeting will be on Tuesday,April 8, 2014, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.Following the board meeting at 5:15p.m., current SCRS members canvote for four board members.

Collision repair shop ownersand managers are further invited to at-tend a special Collision RepairerRoundtable meeting on Wednesday,April 9, 2014, from 8:30 to 11:00 a.m.

RSVP by March 26, 2014, [email protected] or 1-877-841-0660.

Contact the Red Lion Hotel onthe River Jantzen Beach at 1-800-733-5466 to make hotel reservations andmention CIC to get the group rate.

SCRS and CIC are April 8–9,2014, in Portland, OR

The first National Automotive PartsAssociation (NAPA) CollisionConference for collision repair fa-cility owners and managers andNAPA and Martin Senour paint cus-tomers will be held April 15–17,2014, at the Gaylord Palms Resortand Convention Center in Orlando,FL.

“This conference will help col-lision repair shop management runtheir business better in so manyways: how to improve cycle time;how to hire and retain the best tech-nicians and staff; how to developeffective business marketing tech-niques; and how to increase pro-ductivity and profitability in allprocesses,” says Chris Nichols,NAPA director of PBE, U.S. Auto-motive Parts Group. The confer-ence will include multipleeducation sessions and speakers,two evening receptions, and a col-lision industry trade show. The reg-istration fee is US$495 for twonights at the Gaylord Palms Resortand all meetings and receptions, orUS$95 for just the conference andreceptions (airfare and travel ex-penses are not included). Registeroline at www.registernapa.com.

NAPA Collision Conferencein Orlando, FL, April 15–17



CALL 800-699-8251



[email protected]

800-699-8251









[email protected]


write us!write us!










800-699-8251




800-699-8251



roundtables this year as they continueto strive to provide a forum for mem-bers to share valuable information thatwill help elevate the standard in the in-

dustry. Rubio poses a question: “Whereelse can you go to exchange informa-tion with your peers, people that havefound what works or what does not?We urge shop owners to attend theseevents and network with their fellowpeers; the return on their membershipinvestment will be more than just fi-nancial.”

ASA-AZPO Box 81517Phoenix, AZ 85069602-544-2600www.asaaz.org


You’re miles ahead of the packwith Genuine Ford Parts.

FORD Parts FORD Parts

Use Genuine FORD Parts for your Power Stroke Dieseline FORD Parts for your Power Stroke DieselCall your local Authorized Ford Wholesaler today!

FLORIDA

Bartow Ford Co.BARTOW

863-533-0425863-533-7758 Fax

www.fordparts.com/bartowford

Don Reid FordMAITLAND/ORLANDO407-644-5111

407-645-4971 FaxM-F 7:30-5:30; Sat 8-4www.donreidford.com

www.fordparts.com/donreidford

Gus Machado FordKENDALL/HIALEAH305-328-0400

305-234-2657 [email protected]@gusmachadoford.com

Sam GallowayFord LincolnFORT MYERS888-578-8883

239-274-2420 [email protected]

www.fordparts.com/samgallowayparts

Cavalier Ford LincolnGreenbrierCHESAPEAKE757-424-6255

757-282-0021 Faxwww.cavalierfordgreenbrier.com

VIRGINIA

Make us your one-stop shop today!



CALL 800-699-8251



[email protected]

800-699-8251









[email protected]


write us!write us!










800-699-8251




800-699-8251



The Collision Repair EducationFoundation and AkzoNobel Auto-motive and Aerospace Coatings areproud to announce the winners of thenew Sustainability Challenge Grant:

► Applied Technology Center(Rock Hill, SC)►Cerritos College(Norwalk, CA)►Gaithersburg High School(Gaithersburg, MD)►Manhattan Area Tech College(Manhattan, KS)►Northern Maine CommunityCollege (Presque Isle, ME)

Winners were selected based on theirsubmitted proposals for applyingcontinuous improvement and sus-tainability principles that improvethe school body shop process or howthe shop interacts and impacts thecommunity. Each winner will re-ceive funding to introduce their pro-posed idea into their school andreport on the success of their project.

The program also provided asustainability video series and othertools that served as a way to educatecollision students about sustainabil-ity, its principles, and how to im-prove and make a positive impact onthe environment.

Sustainability ChallengeGrant Winners Announced

PPG Automotive Refinish unveiledits 2014 distributor training schedule.Consisting of more than 30 classesacross 12 critical business areas, thetraining is for owners, managers,sales staff, and other key personnelinvolved in the operation of a PPGdistributor business.

Classes cover general opera-tions, finance, business developmentand management, conflict resolu-tion, selling skills, commercial busi-ness development, and more.

“We’re always enhancing ourdistributor training offerings, mak-ing sure they’re relevant and re-warding,” said Bob Wenzinger, PPGdistributor programs director. “Wesee PPG distributors at all levelslearning and improving from ourcourses.”

Training will be held from Marchto December in PPG business devel-opment centers and conference facili-ties throughout the U.S. and Canada.Courses are led by PPG leaders andprominent consultants in the automo-tive refinish industry.

View the complete 2014 train-ing schedule at http://us.ppgrefin-ish.com/PPG-Refinish/Training/Training-Courses.

PPG Announces DistributorTraining Schedule

Car-O-Liner® has expanded theirequipment offering included in the2015 F-150 Collision Repair Pro-gram. New equipment includesthree new welders, frame alignmentsolutions, and a mobile aluminumworkstation.

“This equipment will greatlyenhance the technician’s potential tohave the exact tools they need forhigh quality, quick, and accurate re-pairs. With this expanded productoffering, Car-O-Liner is excited toprovide the total repair solution,giving technicians the right equip-ment to complete each repair orderefficiently,” said Peter Richardson,key accounts manager for Car-O-Liner.

Visit www.car-o-liner.com formore information.

Car-O-Liner Offers NewFord 2015 F-150 Equipment

surers.The 2014 conference will include

six state associations—Alabama Auto-motive Repair Society of Excellence

(ALARISE), Florida Autobody Colli-sion Alliance (FACA), Georgia Colli-sion Industry Association (GCIA),Louisiana Collision Industry Associa-tion (LaCIA), Mississippi Collision Re-pair Association (MSCRA), andTennessee Collision Repairers Associa-

tion (TCRA)—and anticipates morethan the approximately 300 attendeesand 28 exhibitors/sponsors that partici-pated in 2013. Anyone connected to theautomotive collision repair industry—including shop owners, technicians,painters, estimators, managers, vendors,

suppliers, and insurance-related work-ers—from Alabama, Florida, Georgia,Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennesseeare invited to attend.

Registration is $30 per person. Seewww.southernautomotiverepairconfer-ence.com.


(Retired Automotive Service Associa-tion lobbyist Don) Randall told thegroup that current antitrust laws arestrangling collision repairers by givinginsurers an unfair advantage to meetand to set policy language and contractdefinitions. In essence, he said, insur-ers have the ability to set market priceswhile collision repairers do not.

“Our system is control losses –which sounds like a pretty good idea,”Randall said. “But that system is de-stroying the free enterprise system inthis state.”

Insurance policies, he said, areladen with loopholes that give insurersthe opportunity to change a $100 de-ductible into one costing much more.

“In the event of a loss, ‘We willmake you whole,’ but who decideswhat is whole,” Randall said. “Youhave a variable. If you take the car tothe shop of your choice, and it isn’t onethey choose, they may say to you, ‘Youjust pay the difference between the oneyou picked and the one we picked.’They may also say, ‘We don’t payfor…’ or “It is not customary…” or ‘Itis not usual and ordinary.’ They arenow engaging in ‘dancing around thecontract.’”

Randall railed against the currentdirect repair programs, saying theybreed corruption and cheating.

“It’s wrong and it ought to bestopped,” he said. “But it will not stopuntil this industry gets organized.”

– from coverage of a forum inPortland, Ore., sponsored by Fairnessin Auto Insurance Regulations (FAIR)

15 years ago in the collision repairindustry (April 1999)Could the computerized estimatingsystems be improved to improve theease and accuracy of estimating? ThreeCollision Industry Conference (CIC)committees continued exploring thisissue at the CIC meeting in Denver inApril.

Bob Matejzel of the CIC Estimat-ing Committee said his group has iden-tified an initial list of about a dozenprocedures that it believes the estimat-ing systems should automatically re-mind users about. As an example,Matejzel said that if replacement of alower control arm or other front-endsuspension part is entered on an esti-mate, the system should in some wayprompt the estimator to also include analignment on the estimate.

Matejzel said the industry infor-mation providersare focusing muchof their efforts thisyear on Y2K com-pliance issues. Buthe said his com-mittee – which in-cludes insurers andshops – will con-

tinue to meet with the estimating sys-tem providers to discuss these changesthroughout the year.

“If you’d been at one of this com-mittee’s meetings, you’d have actuallyseen a group of repairers and insurersstand up and face the informationproviders and say with one voice, ‘Thisis what we want,’” said CIC ChairmanDale Delmege of the committee’smeetings earlier this year. “That was amagic moment in this industry.”

Linda Holcomb said the CICWrite It Right Committee’s discussionswith the estimating system providershas also focused on the need to makethe systems easier to use.

“Our estimators are really spend-ing a lot of time writing estimates andwe’d like to see that done quicker,” shesaid.

– as reported in Autobody News

10 years ago in the collision repairindustry (April 2004)A videotape of an interview with onevehicle owner about his experiencewith an auto claim generated some dis-

cussion when shown at the CollisionIndustry Conference (CIC) inNashville largely because of who thevehicle owner is: Joe Maxwell, thelieutenant governor of Missouri.

“The thing I was most amazed bywas how quickly I was contacted by[the other driver’s] insurance company,which almost immediately called meand said they already had the check inthe mail to pay for my automobile,”Maxwell said. “I asked ‘How did youeven know how much damage wasdone?’ They said, ‘Well, from the re-port.’ So I was offered a settlement be-fore anybody even viewed the damageto the vehicle.”

Maxwell said that while the insur-ance company representatives werepleasant and that he never felt harassed,they did refer him to a shop in Colum-bia, Missouri, 45 miles away. When hetold the insurer the first check they sentwould not cover the cost of repairs,they made an appointment to sendsomeone out to look at the vehicle athis office. Maxwell doesn’t know ifthat happened. The shop received a re-vised estimate – still insufficient tocover the cost of repairs – but Maxwellsaid the adjuster never contacted him.

“They claim the guy came andviewed the car, but he never came intothe building, never jacked the vehicleup,” Maxwell said. “The car was par-allel parked on the street and the dam-age was on the driver’s door side so theguy would have had to lay down on thestreet to look under the car, whichwouldn’t have been safe. And clearlywithout opening the door, which waslocked, they could not have seen all thedamage. So that troubled me some.”

Maxwell said he’s concerned thatmany people in his situation wouldhave accepted that first check and “indoing so accept settlement on the claimand then discover it wasn’t enough tohave a professional, quality job done.”

He said he’s also concerned about

insurers steering work or owningshops.

“The idea of having an insurancecompany that would control where I re-paired my car is kind of like having afox watch the chicken house,” he said.“You may wind up with less chickens.”

– as reported in Autobody News

5 years ago in the collision repairindustry (April 2009)Under a settlement agreement reachedlast week, LKQ Corp. will be the onlycompany allowed to sell certain non-OEM collision parts for Ford vehicles.The non-OEM parts involved are thosedesigned to replace parts for whichFord owns design patents.

As part of the agreement, LKQwill pay Ford a royalty fee for each partsold, and has agreed not to challengethe validity of Ford’s design patentsduring the term of the agreement(which extends until October 2011 butmay be renewed). Other details of theagreement were not disclosed.

Ford said the settlement “does notendorse the quality or use of non-OEMreplacement parts sold by LKQ Corp.”

The agreement ends two legal bat-tles Ford has waged to protect its de-sign patents on collision parts for itsF-150 pickup and Mustang. It also islikely to split the non-OEM parts in-dustry which has been working as the“Quality Parts Coalition” to limit au-tomakers’ rights to hold design patentson collision parts.

– As reported in CRASH Network(www.CrashNetwork.com), April,2009. LKQ currently faces a lawsuitfrom Chrysler over the sale of parts thatthe automaker claims violate its designpatents. The Quality Parts Coalitioncontinues to back proposed federal leg-islation that would slash (from 14 yearsto just 30 months) the time that au-tomakers can use design patents to pre-vent other companies from producingreplacement crash parts.

20 Years Ago In The Collision Repair Industry (April 1994)



with Domenico Nigro






















—John Yoswick is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon, who has a bodyshop in the family and has been writing about the automotive industry since 1988.He is the editor of the weekly CRASH Network (for a free 4-week trial subscription,visit www.CrashNetwork.com). Contact him by email at [email protected].

Bob Matejzel


Southern Repair Conference


FLORIDACentury Kia

Tampa800-250-8864(813) 873-8319 Fax

FREE DeliveryParts delivered by Autoway

Coral Springs KiaCoral Springs

954-344-8706(954) 753-5424 Fax

M-Sat 7-7www.coralspringskia.com

Courtesy Kia877-646-8080www.brandonkia.com

State-wide FREE deliveryAdd’l 5% off 1st in-house orderor 7% off 1st internet order

M-F 8-6, Sat 8-5

Deland KiaDeland

386-734-7800(386) 822-9278 [email protected] Local Delivery

Fuccillo Kia ofCape Coral

Cape Coral239-829-1956(239) 242-7002 FaxM-F 8-5:30, Sat [email protected]

Kia of Orange ParkJacksonville

877-674-0211(904) 674-0221 Fax

M-F 7-7, Sat [email protected]

MISSISSIPPIWilson Auto Group

Flowood866-944-1114(601) 914-4291 [email protected]

www.wilsonautogroup.com

SO. CAROLINABest Kia

Easley864-312-6000(864) 312-4061 [email protected]

TENNESSEECumberland Kia

Cookeville931-526-5600(931) 520-4194 Fax

[email protected] 7-8

Kia vehicles are at the forefront of

today’s automotive design. Unique

details in our Kia vehicles demand precise

engineering and fit. Kia customers

deserve Genuine Kia

collision replacement parts

to keep them satisfied for

years to come. Our brand’s

popularity continues to

grow meaning more Kia

customers for your shop.

Always specify Genuine Kia Parts for the

highest level of fit, finish and quality.

Contact your local Kia dealer today for

assistance and delivery of

your parts.


THE LARGEST INVENTORY OF FORD • LINCOLNMERCURY PARTS IN MIAMI-DADE COUNTY

• OE COLLISION PARTS, MECHANICAL REPAIRS AND HEAVY REPAIRS PARTS

• SPECIAL PRICING FOR COMPETITIVE COLLISION AND MOTORCRAFT PARTS

• EXPERT COUNTER LOOK-UP WITH MASTER CERTIFIED COUNTERMAN

HOURS: MONDAY - FRIDAY 8 A.M. - 7 P.M., SATURDAY 8 A.M. - 4 P.M.

NORTH MIAMI-DADEHIALEAH LOCATION:1200 W. 49 STREET,HIALEAH, FL 33012

DIRECT: 305-822-8338FAX: 305-825-3018

[email protected]

SOUTH MIAMI-DADEKENDALL LOCATION:15551 S. DIXIE HWY.,

MIAMI, FL 33157DIRECT: 305-234-2668

FAX: [email protected]

Leading up to Earth Day on April17, 2014, the 2014 LKQ GetGreen promotion is encourages allLKQ customers in environmen-tally-friendly practices, while of-fering a chance to win valuableprizes, including solar backpacks,LKQ gift cards, Raleigh ALYSAFT0 bicycles, and a 2014 HondaAccord.

For more information and theofficial rules on the 2014 LKQ GetGreen promotion, visit:www.LKQGetGreen.com.

The Specialty Equipment MarketAssociation (SEMA) is acceptingnominations for its Hall of Fame.

Created in 1969, the SEMAHall of Fame is designed to honoroutstanding people in the indus-try who have enhanced the statureof, or significantly contributed to,the industry and/or association’sgrowth.

Submit a nomination beforeMarch 21, 2014, at http://fs17.form-site.com/ginalsemaorg/form2/index.html.

The Collision Industry Electronic Com-merce Association (CIECA) announcedthe newest edition of CIECA-TV:CIECA, E-Commerce Done Right.

To meet the needs for safe and se-cure e-commerce, the industry neededstandards that enable us to exchangethe right data with the right player atthe right time. To accomplish that,CIECA created the Business MessageSpecification (BMS). View a videoabout the CIECA BMS at:h t t p : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m /watch?v=bxvxtesVx7I.

Mitchell announced on February 25,2014, that the commercial release ofDecision Point 8, a completely auto-mated medical bill review and work-flow solution for first- and third-partyliability adjusters.

Decision Point 8 is an end-to-end medical bill review platform en-abling adjusters in the auto casualtyindustry to make informed decisionsaround medical bills related to liabil-ity claims.

For more information, visitwww.mitchell.com.

Mitchell Acquiring FAIRPAYMitchell has agreed to acquireFAIRPAY Solutions, a workers’compensation, liability, and autocost containment and payment in-tegrity services provider. Mitchellplans to offer FAIRPAY Solutionsspecialty bill review to auto andworkers’ compensation marketsand out-of-network negotiationservices. Mitchell will maintainrelationships with other bill re-view and negotiation serviceproviders.

For more information, visitwww.mitchell.com.

Collision Repair EducationFoundation Golf Fundraiser

Transtar Acquires ETXTranstar Industries, Inc., owner ofautomotive aftermarket brands in-cluding Transtar, Transtar AutobodyTechnologies, King-O-Matic, Axiom,and Nickels Performance, has ac-quired ETX, Inc. from Chicago-based, privately-held JordanIndustries and private equity firmThe Edgewater Funds. ETX ownsDACCO, Inc., Alma Products, andATCO Products, Inc.

With this acquisition, TranstarIndustries expands to approximately2,300 employees and over 130 loca-tions throughout North America.

SEMA Data Co-op Grows 300%The Specialty Equipment Manufac-turers Association (SEMA) Data Co-op (SDC) is now helping more than600 automotive specialty equipmentSuppliers and re-sellers around theworld standardize and manage theirparts data to improve efficiency andincrease sales, a 300 percent increasefrom August 2013. The SDC has seenunprecedented growth following avery strong formal launch of its Prod-uct Information Management System(PIMS) in May 2013 and the an-nouncement of free product data ex-ports to SEMA members.

Get Ready for Earth Day withLKQ Get Green Promotion

SEMA Seeks Nominations forHall of Fame by March 21, 2014

Latest Edition of CIECA-TV: E-Commerce Done Right

Mitchell Announces LiabilityAdjusters’ Software Release

The Collision Repair Education Foun-dation annual summer golf fundraiserwill be on Thursday, July 31, 2014, atthe Arnold Palmer-designed NorthvilleHills Golf Club in Detroit, MI, in con-junction with CIC, I-CAR, NACE, andother Industry Week meetings beingheld. that week. Funds raised assist theCollision Repair Education Founda-tion in providing support to collisionrepair students and school collisionprograms. Contact [email protected] or at 847-463-5244.

Attendees will “Power Up” to be thebest they can be at the annual Women’sIndustry Network (WIN) EducationalConference May 5–7, 2014, at the Par-adise Point Resort and Spa in SanDiego, CA.

The conference will featurekeynote speakers Colette Carlson andDr. Verna Cornelia Price, and covereverything from sustainability, a trend-ing issue in the collision industry, tohoning your negotiation and interper-sonal skills.

“We are thrilled to have the op-portunity for Dr. Price and Ms. Carl-son to address the WIN members atthis year’s Educational Conference,”said Jessica Rob, co-chair of the con-ference planning committee. “Theirmessages are in alignment with WIN’smission; their presentations focus onpersonal power, masterful communi-cation, change and positivity in theworkplace.”

In the inaugural year of WIN’spresentation of the Most InfluentialWomen awards, the gala dinner willfocus on recognizing women whohave been nominated by their peers

as outstanding business and civicleaders. 2014 will also usher in anew era of scholarships for WIN.For the first time, WIN will awardtuition scholarships to applicantsfrom both secondary and post-sec-ondary schools as the winners pur-sue their education in technicalcolleges across the country. Some ofthose winners will be in attendanceat the conference.

Additional special events will in-clude welcome luau dinner on thebeach and the annual scholarship walk.

In addition, WIN is focusing onreducing their carbon footprint for theconference to foster a more sustainablefuture by reducing printed materials(invitations, brochures, and programmaterials), shifting in-session practicesto reduce waste, and shifting resourcesfrom purchasing giveaways”to thescholarship fund.

Registration opens in March2014. Learn more about the confer-ence at http://thewomensindustrynet-work.ning.com/page/2014-conference.

Power Up at the 2014 WIN Educational Conferencein San Diego, CA, May 5–7, 2014



CALL 800-699-8251



[email protected]

800-699-8251









[email protected]


write us!write us!










800-699-8251




800-699-8251




Choose Original MINI Parts.Because you can’t repairyour reputation.

YOU ONLY GET ONE CHANCE AT THE FIRST REPAIR.

These Dealers Below Are Original MINI Parts Distributors:

Hendrick MINICharlotte866-952-7851(704) 566-6571 FaxM-F 7:30-6; Sat 9-5www.HENDRICKMINI.com

North Carolina

©2014 MINI, a division of BMW of North America, LLC. The MINI name,model names and logo are registered trademarks.

North County BMW

www.ncountybmw.com(800) 564-8222

North County BMW


North County BMW


North County BMW


Original BMW Parts

bmwusa.com

Original BMW Parts

bmwusa.com

Original BMW Parts

bmwusa.com

Original BMW Parts

bmwusa.com

YOU ONLY GET ONE CHANCE ATTHE FIRST REPAIR.

Original Thought #78

No. Carolina

Hendrick BMWCharlotte(888) 814-1938(704) 531-3323 FaxM-F 7:30-6; Sat 9-5www.hendrickbmw.com

Hendrick BMWNorthlakeCharlotte(888) 286-2651(704) 379-3101 FaxM-F 7:30-6; Sat 9-5www.hendrickbmwnorthlake.com

Performance BMWChapel Hill(888) 626-3989(919) 942-3191(919) 932-2580 FaxM-Thu 7-7; Fri 7-6; Sat [email protected]

• Original BMW Parts & Accessories

I-CAR Introduces Training Solution for Full-frame PartialReplacement Repairs, Replaces Two Other CoursesI-CAR® has added a new live, in-structor-led course to its catalog: Full-Frame Partial Replacement (FFR01).This course provides information onOEM repair procedures and weldingrequirements for full-frame vehiclesand covers several important collisionrepair topics that are critical to com-plete, safe, and quality repairs for theultimate benefit of the consumer.

“Properly repairing today’s full-frame vehicles requires a command ofan array of considerations. The contentin this course can be applied on the jobimmediately following completion, re-sulting in increased savings for the shopand the vehicle owner alike,” explainedJosh McFarlin, I-CAR director of cur-riculum and product development.

Technicians will learn how toidentify full-frame designs, partial re-placement options and repair consid-erations for full-frame attachmentsduring the course. They will also haveaccess to HD-quality videos on full-frame partial replacement proceduresfor some of today’s most popular full-frame vehicles, including Ford F-150,General Motors 1500 frames, RAM1500, and Jeep Wrangler.

This three-credit hour coursemeets training requirements for steel

structural technicians, auto physicaldamage appraisers, and estimators inthe I-CAR Professional DevelopmentProgram™ (PDP).

FFR01 will replace Steel Full-Frame Sectioning (SPS03) and SteelFull-Frame Technologies and Repair(SPS08), resulting in three less credithours of training for certain repairprofessionals. Anyone who has previ-ously taken either SPS03 or SPS08will not lose training credit that hasbeen earned.

To register for FFR01, visit theI-CAR website at www.i-car.com orcontact I-CAR customer care at 1-800-I-CAR-USA (422-7872).

NABC Accepting Nominations for Industry AwardsThe National Auto Body Council(NABC) is now accepting nomina-tions for its two industry awards thatrecognize shops for making a posi-tive impact on their local communi-ties and the collision repair industry,the Award of Distinction and theBody Shop Image Award.

The Award of Distinction rec-ognizes bravery, philanthropy, char-ity, and selfless acts of kindness byindividuals or groups in the collisionindustry who selflessly give of them-selves for the benefit of others, whilehelping further the NABC mission topromote a positive image of the col-lision industry.

The Body Shop Image Awardcalls attention to the beneficial impactan attractive, well-designed facilityhas on its surrounding community.This award embodies the spirit andmission of the NABC to promote theimage of the collision repair industryand become a vital asset to the neigh-borhood. Any body shop that com-pletes a remodeling project during the2014 calendar year can be nominated.One winner and three runners up willbe recognized.

As part of its 2014 recognitionprogram, the NABC plans to call at-tention throughout the year to out-

standing individuals and body shopswhose extraordinary efforts make apositive impact in their communitiesand the collision industry.

In addition to selecting overallAward of Distinction and Body ShopImage Award winners, the NABCplans to recognize and share nomi-nations throughout the year.

“Any time someone in the in-dustry does something worthy, we’dlike to encourage folks to go theNABC website and fill out a nomi-nation form for either award,” saidKent Seavey, NABC awards pro-gram chair. “The individuals andbody shops that are recognized willbe featured in our member newslet-ter and automatically become nomi-nees for both the Award ofDistinction and the Body Shop ImageAward.”

Winners of both awards will beannounced in November 2014, at theCollision Industry Conference (CIC)during the Specialty EquipmentMarket Association (SEMA) showin Las Vegas, NV. Each finalist willalso be featured and recognized onthe NABC website and in other pub-licity efforts.

Nomination forms are availableat NationalAutoBodyCouncil.org.



CALL 800-699-8251



[email protected]

800-699-8251









[email protected]


write us!write us!









800-699-8251





800-699-8251



By now most shop owners know thecollision repair world is changing rap-idly. Last month I wrote about the Sci-Fi Shop of the Future. New materialsand new smart cars require new skillsand new technology. But what ischanging even faster is the way peo-ple communicate with one another.Facebook’s recent purchase of What-sApp for 19 billion dollars to enhancethe mobile segment of its 1.2 billionusers says that mobile communicationbetween users may become the pre-dominant way people communicate inthe future. But how many shops em-ploy someone solely for the purposeof connecting with this segment of thepopulation? And is there any goodreason to do so at this time?

My answer would be that it alldepends on how much a shop’s busi-ness depends on connecting with rela-tively young vehicle owners anddrivers. Older customers are usuallymore affluent and drive higher end ve-hicles. If a shop maintains a databaseof at least ten years of past customers,the odds are good that more than halfof those customers is older and possi-bly less tech-savvy. More importantly,these prior customers and theirfriends, families and contacts maymake up the biggest part of your fu-ture customer base outside of insur-ance and dealership referrals. As thenew market becomes more and moretied to websites, Facebook, Twitterand other media, the general game de-pends on who can come up with themost captivating message and imageson the new media. But you have an

advantage most new media peoplelack. Your ten years or more of accu-mulated customer contacts are a solid,experienced crowd. Now the time hascome to maximize that resource.

It’s time to take a new look atyour professional image. Unlike serv-ice stations and mechanical shops,your customers don’t come in for reg-ular maintenance or simple batteryand tire purchases. In a sense they’resomewhat like the family doctorwhose patients come in for annualcheckups and exams. But the collisionshop owner is more like a surgeonwho only sees a patient when a majoroperation is needed. And so much ofyour marketing must be similar to thatof the surgeon or other professionalswho only see clients in extreme timesof need. How do they build a reliableclient base?

Many professionals must relyheavily on client referrals and con-tacts. To build on these, most seek tojoin clubs, associations and charita-ble organizations that their clientsfrequent or belong to. If they belongto a particular religion or philosoph-ical group, they will participate inthat group to have an opportunity tomeet with various members and be-come known as a specialist in theirspecific field. High-priced profes-sionals like CPAs, lawyers and sur-geons can afford to invest serioustime in developing a deeply personalrelationship with a potential client. Atypical body shop owner can’t affordto dedicate substantial time to anyone potential collision repair cus-

tomer. So how can a shop owner dothe kind of depth marketing that willgain the loyalty of this kind of reli-able referral source?

One shop owner in the CaliforniaSan Fernando Valley had a wall full ofcontacts. He belonged to the Knightsof Columbus, the Sheriff’s SupportersLeague, and the American Legion. Hesponsored a Boy Scout Troop, aLadies Auxiliary and several schoolsports teams. It sounded like this guywas everywhere and his volume ofbusiness attested to the effectivenessof his efforts. How did he do it? Ob-viously not alone. Later I learned thathis sister had started a woman’s busi-ness referral service. His son was ac-tive in the business at a young age. Ingeneral I don’t think he had paid P.R.people doing any of this work, but it’snot much of a stretch to consider thatpossibility. Family is great if you haveit, but if not can it be cost-effective toemploy a real public relations person

to handle this in-depth membershipand schmoozing activity?

Many businesses calculate thelifetime value of a customer. Figuringone collision repair every 3-to-5 yearsgenerates an approximate number. Butthis ignores the people in that cus-tomer’s surrounding universe. The op-portunity to specifically refer a repairfacility just when an accident happensis quite rare. That’s why the P.R. per-son is needed to amplify the praise ofa satisfied customer in a group. Thismarketing person must have the abil-ity to speak for the shop at groups,community events, company meetingsand more. He or she should be of acomparable age to the prospectivecustomers, with a background in salesand public speaking but with enoughfamiliarity of the collision repair shopto present a credible story and reasonto patronize the shop. As the crowdturns to social media, personal contactstill has the advantage.


QUALITY IS ALL WE THINK ABOUT. THAT

AND QUALITY.

See these Hyundai dealers below for all your collision parts needs!

SO. CAROLINAMISSISSIPPI

TENNESSEE

Wilson HyundaiJACKSON

800-486-6871601-914-4200

601-914-4292 FaxMon-Fri 7am - 6pm

[email protected]

Downtown NashvilleHyundaiNASHVILLE

888-707-0658615-341-3176 FaxMon-Fri 7:30am - 5:30pm

partsmanager@downtownnashvillemotors.comwww.downtownnashvillemotors.com

Dick Smith HyundaiGREENVILLE

864-284-7772864-284-7749 Fax

Mon-Fri 7am - 6pmSat 7:30am - 1pm

www.dicksmithhyundai.com

A Missing Hat In Most Shops

Custom Cornerwith Rich Evans

On Creative Marketingwith Thomas Franklin

Action Countswith Lee Amaradio Jr.

with Sheila LoftusYour Turn

Opinions Countwith Dick Strom

Shop Showcasewith Janet Chaney

Industry Overviewwith Janet Chaney

Industry Interviewwith Janet Chaney


Tom Franklin has been a sales and marketing consultant for fifty years. He has writtennumerous books and provides marketing solutions and services for many businesses.He can be reached at (323) 871-6862 or at [email protected]. See Tom’s columns at www.autobodynews.com under Columnists > Franklin

Zurich Insurance Group will cut about800 jobs globally to save around $250million per year by the end of 2015 tohelp reduce costs and improve prof-itability.

The job cuts, which are equiva-lent to 1.4 percent of its total head-count, will remove management layersbetween the group and its businessunits. Customer-facing activities willnot be affected.

“We continue to make significantprogress towards our strategic goal tomake Zurich a focused and more prof-itable business,” said chief executive,Martin Senn.

Senn said that Zurich would in-vest in global corporate and mid-mar-ket business and its high-margin retailinsurance lines, while turning aroundor exiting non-core, underperforminginsurance businesses.

Zurich also pledged to grow op-erating earnings through 2016 by re-ducing complexity, as it lowered itstarget for return on equity from 16 to12–14 percent through 2016.

Senn stressed that Zurich is striv-ing to be at the upper end of that goaland that he would be disappointed ifthe company was still at 12 percent inthree years.

Zurich Insurance Cuts Jobs to Boost Profitabiltiy

OEM repair information today is good,but not perfect, says Jason Bartanen,director of industry technical relationsfor I-CAR. It needs to be better andmore readily accessible for shops.

Bartanen says the OEM informa-tion available today still isn’t compre-hensive. Several gaping holes exist, aproblem causing shops and insurers tomake procedural guesses on jobs withno way to verify their judgments. Someshops have a hard time obtaining theinformation at all, Bartanen adds. Ve-hicle manufacturers have strong distri-bution methods for their affiliateddealerships, but don’t have an efficienttactic to deliver that same informationto independent facilities, which repair amajority of collision-damaged vehi-cles.

I-CAR last summer launched anew Repairability Technical Support(RTS) initiative to tackle the prob-lem—a four-member team dedicatedto communicate with auto manufac-

turers to fill the informational gaps anddistribute the information to the indus-try at large. The initiative—which willbe a continual, ongoing effort movingforward—is expected to improve workquality and productivity for independ-ent shops by providing centralized ac-cess to more consistent, detailed andstandardized repair information.

A new website has been created,rts.i-car.com, which is designed as a“centralized, comprehensive distribu-tion mechanism” for OEM information,Bartanen says.

All technical-based informationfrom every auto manufacturer—paint,materials, parts and processes—islisted on the website and stored in thedatabase. Rather than linking users toan auto manufacturer’s website, the in-formation is housed directly on theRTS website in an easy-to-read format.

The website also includes all ofI-CAR’s latest technical briefs anddaily articles.

Bartanen says there is significantinconsistency between auto manufac-turers regarding the type and amountof information they distribute. Somemanufacturers have a wealth of infor-

mation available, while others don’thave any collision repair informationavailable in the U.S. market.

I-CAR held a series of discussionswith a group of 50 auto manufacturers,shop professionals and insurers to out-line 13 standard pieces of informationthat repairers need access to from everyOEM. The list includes items such asmaterial identification, material re-pairability guidelines, sectioning pro-cedures, seam sealer identification andlocation, and corrosion protection re-quirements.

The broader impact of the matrix,though, is development of more com-prehensive OEM repair manuals, Bar-tanen says. Members of the RTSinitiative have communicated the gapsto every OEM to help release more in-formation, many of which are nowworking on producing those standarditems for the industry.The RTS createdan OEM technical information matrixthat outlines which manufacturersprovide which pieces of information.That document is a major benefit torepairers, Bartanen says, because it’sa single resource to identify whetherthe information they need exists, andwhere they can find it. The informa-tion matrix will be updated and ex-panded as new information becomesavailable, and is viewable for free atrts.i-car.com.

Doug Craig, collision repair man-ager of the Chrysler Group, for exam-ple, says he is working with Chrysler’svehicle design and materials engineersto update and distribute new technicalrepair bulletins to reflect the identifiedinformational gaps. Many other OEMsare doing the same.

Another notable improvementcame from Kia—a company that his-torically hasn’t released collision infor-mation in the U.S. market. Bartanensays the company now has a “highlycomprehensive” collision manual avail-able online for its Soul model.

OEM information sometimesfails to provide specific necessarysteps to perform a recommended re-pair procedure, Bartanen says. OEMinformation provides shops with high-level processes to make a repair, but

lacks detailed information to makethem correctly. For example, an OEMprocedure might recommend “makingand dressing a GMA MIG plug weld.”But it may not specify how far togrind the weld, how to dress it, or thegrit of sandpaper to use.

The RTS website includes an on-line informational communication por-tal for shops. It’s a technical inquirysubmission process that provides theindustry with a strategy to communi-cate and resolve repair gaps they en-counter, Bartanen says.

Shops can submit technical in-quiries, and the RTS team initiates com-munication with auto manufacturers toanswer questions and share informa-tion. All technical inquiries and findingsare sorted and searchable by vehiclemanufacturer and subject matter.

OEM StandardizationBartanen says OEMs use different for-mats, phrases and terminologies in theirrepair manuals, which makes them dif-ficult to read and causes shops to mis-interpret directions. All OEMs havebeen solicited to develop more stan-dardized communication processes.

Craig says auto manufacturersunderstand the confusing—and some-times contradictory—information theyproduce, and most companies are infavor of working together to simplifyand unify their procedures.

The RTS initiative is not necessar-ily meant to address the industry’s repairstandards issue, but it’s one direct im-provement that has resulted from thosediscussions, says Bob Keith, treasurer ofI-CAR’s international board of directorsand multi-store director for CARSTARAuto Body Repair Experts.

And it will prove to be a majorbenefit for shops, he says. Repairerswill have access to more robust infor-mation and a more efficient strategy toclarify technical questions to improveperformance on the shop floor.

In addition, Keith says the RTSinitiative has opened better lines ofcommunication between the industryand auto manufacturers to boost re-sponsiveness surrounding informa-tional needs.


Finish it like a Masterpiece

THESE DEALERS ARE

MERCEDES-BENZ

GENUINE PARTS

SPECIALISTS.

USE GENUINE MERCEDES-BENZ PARTS.è< SL 63 AMG

AL A BA M A

Crown AutomobileMercedes-Benz

Hoover800-476-4669

205-402-2243 FaxM-F 7:30am - 5:00pm [email protected]@crownautomobile.com

[email protected]

F LO RI DA

Brumos Motor CarsJacksonville

800-726-9150904-725-2923 FaxM-F 7:00am - 7:[email protected]

NO RT H C ARO L IN A

Mercedes-Benz ofWinston-SalemWinston-Salem800-489-6537

336-659-6004 FaxM-F 7:30am - 5:30pm

www.mbwinstonsalem.com

I-CAR Has Implemented a New Initiative to Close OEM Informational Gaps



CALL 800-699-8251



[email protected]

800-699-8251









[email protected]


write us!write us!






Free Twice Monthly NewsletterFree Twice Monthly NewsletterFree Twice Monthly Newsletter



800-699-8251




800-699-8251



by Sam Celly, MS JD CSP

The maintenance and operation ofgasoline tanks, both aboveground andunderground, has become expensive,highly regulated, and burdensome. Au-tomobile dealers have resorted to gasdolly equipment where a small amountof gasoline can be added to each newautomobile delivered to the dealership.We note that automobiles delivered todealerships from manufacturers havevery small amounts of gasoline; thisbeing a result of U.S. Department ofTransportation (DOT) regulations,which dictate that minimal amounts ofgasoline be retained in gas tanks of ve-hicles in transport. We write this memoto discuss DOT, OSHA, and CARBregulations applicable to gasoline beingtransported from a public gasoline sta-tion to dealerships for a later fill in au-tomobiles on the lot.

Federal DOT Regulations:Gasoline transport is discussed in Sec-tion 173.6 of the DOT regulationsunder “material of transport excep-tions.” The regulations require that acontainer being used to transportgasoline must be less than 8 gallons

per container and a maximum of 72total gallons (440 pounds). The con-tainers must be secured in the pickuptruck and properly labeled. The drivershould be trained in DOT regulations.We recommend that the containers areUL certified. Beyond that, there aremany other regulatory agencies withenforcement in the hazmat arena.http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2011-title49-vol2/pdf/CFR-2011-title49-vol2-sec173-6.pdf

Safety: Safety concerns for gaso-line containers are as follows:* Properly labeled container withhazard warnings and employee train-ing in Hazard Communication Pro-gram (OSHA Regulation 29 CFR §1910.1200).* 29 CFR § 1926.152(a)(1) states that“Only approved containers and portabletanks shall be used for storage and han-dling of flammable liquids. Approvedsafety cans or DOT approved contain-ers shall be used for the handling anduse of flammable liquids in quantitiesof 5 gallons or less...”* Bonding of containers to eliminatestatic electricity be followed both atthe time of filling up the containers

and when transferring from containerto container. Keep containers on theground when filling and not on the bedof the truck. Use grounding wire whennecessary. Keep nozzle in contact withcan during filling. Do not fill contain-ers over 95% to allow for expansion.Spilled gasoline must evaporate beforecontainers are put on the truck.* Containers must be closed so as tominimize the risk of spill and creatinga fire hazard.* Spill proof spouts also lock in va-pors so as to avoid vapor release whilein storage. Don’t overfill gas tanks onautomobiles. Keep fire extinguisherclose by!* Transport truck must have a spill kitavailable with a trained operator oncontaining, cleaning, and proper dis-posal of spill absorbent.* Studies at Worcester Polytechnic In-stitute’s Department of Fire ProtectionEngineering, as reported by NBCNews in late 2013, have indicated thatunder certain conditions, plastic cansare vulnerable to fires with an explo-sive force. The conditions that pres-ent the higher risk include having avery small amount of gasoline (a few

teaspoons) inside the gas can, cooltemperatures, tilting the can at 42 de-grees (typical pour angle) and ofcourse a spark! The employeesshould be trained to avoid these riskyconditions and maybe even buy metalcans in the future. http://www.nbc-news.com/news/investigations/watch-gas-can-explode-lab-test-v21744014

CA Air Resources Board(CARB): As of July 1, 2007, allPortable Fuel Containers (PFC) soldin California must be certified by theAir Resources Board as meeting low-emission standards and regulatory re-quirements. This regulation isapplicable to manufacturers and re-tailers who place the gas cans in thestream of commerce. Only containersof 10 gallons or less are covered bythis regulation, so the sale of a 25 gal-lon gas caddy for shop use is exemptfrom CARB regulations. The follow-ing table provides a listing of thoseCARB approved containers certifiedfor sale. http://www.arb.ca.gov/con-sprod/fuel-containers/pfc/eo/eo.htm

Summary: CA based businesseshave only CARB approved containersavailable. Other states may use these


Genuine Mitsubishi Replacement Crash Parts are closeat hand through the following quality dealerships.

Parts You Need.People You Trust.

Kelly MitsubishiCHATTANOOGA

423-490-0181(423) 385-7269 Fax

M-F 7:30 am - 5:30 pmSat 8:00 am - 2:00 [email protected] www.kellycars.com

TENNESSEE

Is My Gas Can Safe?

CARSTAR to Address Industry Trendsat Colorado EventsCARSTAR Auto Body Repair Ex-perts will host two collision industryevents in Colorado that will allowbody shop owners to learn about thecritical business issues and trendsimpacting their businesses.

CARSTAR said the events,called Collision Industry Night, willbe lead by a group of the industry’stop professionals. The events willfeature the following speakers andtopics of discussion:

■ Kurtis Keala of Mitchell Interna-tional—Mobile Estimating Technol-ogy■ Ryan Cassella of Hertz—CarRental Technology■ Steve Witt of BASF—Repair Plan-ning■ Robert Foster of 3M—The Impactof Technology for Future Vehicles■ Chris Johns of FinishMaster—Collision Industry Overview■ David Byers of CARSTAR—In-surance Industry Trends

“When you’re an independentbody shop owner, it’s hard to take thetime to step away from your businessto look at longer-range changes anddevelopments in the industry,” said

Mark Algie, business developmentmanager for 3M Automotive After-market. “This Collision IndustryNight provides a great way to under-stand how the changing marketplacewill impact your business, and plannow for those changes.”

The first event will take placeMarch 4 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. atthe Embassy Suites Denver-TechCenter in Centennial, CO. The sec-ond event will take place March 5from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the SkySox Security Service Field in Col-orado Springs, CO.

“For any body shop owner whois looking to grow their business, ex-pand to an additional location, ortransition their ownership to the nextgeneration, this is an excellentevent,” said David Byers, CEO ofCARSTAR. “We’re joining with thetop professionals in the collision in-dustry to bring these events to localmarkets so owners have the opportu-nity to explore the major issues,trends and solutions in our changingindustry.”

Body shop owners interested inparticipating can contact MikeDavids at [email protected].

CARB approved containers withvapor locks that are spill proof andemit negligible flammable vapors andhence, are safer. Training in hazardousmaterials, including information onrisks associated with plastic cans,should be provided to employees. Fol-lowing safety and operation instruc-tions on the PFC is also mandatory.

Sam Celly has trained auto deal-ers regarding EPA/OSHA compliancein 9 western states since 1987. Cellywas the first staff engineer at KPAafter earning his Bachelor’s of Engi-neering degree and later, his MS de-gree in Chemical Engineering (Schoolof Mines & Technology). In 1997, hereceived his Doctorate of Jurispru-dence from Southwestern Universityin Los Angeles with emphasis onLabor & Environmental Law. Sam isa Certified Safety Professional andhas served as the Chair of the LawCommittee and Environmental IssuesCommittee of the American IndustrialHygiene Association (AIHA). Addi-tionally, he is a member of AmericanInstitute of Chemical Engineers(1985) and the AIHA, where he is thePresident of the Southern CaliforniaSection. Send your comments [email protected].


NACE/CARS and Industry Week 2014 Update:Show Expected to Double in SizeThe first round of exhibit space drawfor the International Autobody Con-gress and Exposition (NACE) andthe Congress of Automotive Repairand Service (CARS) 2014 show iscomplete, and more than half the ex-hibit floor is sold out. “This repre-sents a significant change in eventsand a strong commitment on behalfof the automotive market to supportthe only national show solely dedi-cated to both the collision and serv-ice repair industries,” said DanRisley, ASA President. “Last year,we sold approximately 24,000square feet. We’ve already surpassedthat by 20 percent in the initial spacedraw and are on pace to sell out. Theshow will feature more than 50,000square feet of exhibit space and an-other 30,000 dedicated to livedemonstrations and show cars.”

Companies that booked spacecome from all segments of the colli-sion and mechanical repair markets,including OEMs, parts suppliers, es-timating system and informationproviders, insurance companies, andtraining companies.

NACE/CARS will take placeMonday-Saturday, July 28-August 2,2014, at the Cobo Center in Detroit,

MI, and will be held in conjunctionwith Industry Week 2014, a series ofautomotive repair industry eventsand co-located meetings, includingboard and other private meetings,Collision Repair Education Founda-tion annual golf fundraiser, CollisionIndustry Conference (CIC) quarterlymeeting, Inter-Industry Conferenceon Auto Collision Repair (I-CAR),gala 35th anniversary networking re-ception, Canadian Collision IndustryForum (CCIF) meeting,NACE/CARS expo, business andtechnical sessions, MSO Sympo-sium, Mechanical Symposium, on-site I-CAR training, and technicalpresentations.

In addition, the ASA and Al-liance of Automobile Manufacturers(AAM) jointly announced on March7, 2014, that the inaugral OEMTechnology and Innovation Expowill be held on August 1, 2014, aspart of Industry Week.

The OEM Expo will includepanel discussions with OEM experts,product and application demonstra-tions, and connected vehicles to giveattendees a hands-on experience.

For additional information, visitnaceexpo.com.

CARSTAR Auto Body Repair Ex-perts and AudaExplore announcedthat they have extended their agree-ment to offer AutoWatch to allCARSTAR locations in the U.S.under the CARSTAR Vision brand.

AutoWatch allows customersto see the progress of their vehiclerepair by clicking on the CARSTARVision icon on the store website.Each day, digital photos are up-loaded and posted to the repair fa-cility web site along with the latestvehicle repair status.

“CARSTAR is always lookingfor ways to improve customer satis-faction and AutoWatch is an excellenttool for our collision repair facilitiesto keep customers informed regardingthe progress of their vehicle repairs,”said David James, vice president ofmarketing for CARSTAR Auto BodyRepair Experts. “We are pleased to ex-tend our relationship with AudaEx-plore and plan on equipping evenmore of our facilities with the Au-toWatch tool to deliver the industry’shighest customer satisfaction scores.”

CARSTAR Extends Partner-ship to Offer AutoWatch

At the Geneva Auto Show, Germanautomotive and aerospace engineer-ing company, EDAG, unveiled theGenesis, a visionary concept for thefuture of automotive design.

Built using 3D printing, theGenesis is a complete auto body thatcould be produced by high-resolu-tion fuse deposition modeling(FDM) machines in a single printrun. According to EDAG, “Unlikeother technologies, FDM makes itpossible for components of almostany size to be produced, as there areno pre-determined space require-ments to pose any restrictions. In-stead, the structures are generated byhaving robots apply thermoplasticmaterials... By introducing endlesscarbon fibers during the productionprocess, it is also possible to achievethe required strength and stiffnessvalues.”

Although the EDAG vision forautomotive design is likely a decadeor more away from realization, its in-troduction at the manufacturer-cen-tric Geneva Motor Show representsanother milestone for additive man-ufacturing and a clear vision for thefuture of safer, more economical au-tomotive production.

3D-Printed Concept Car atGeneva Auto Show

Ford Motor Co. is being sued overclaims that it infringed a patent ontechnology for an automatic turnsignal.

Ford’s three-blink lane changetechnology infringes a 2008 patentheld by Richard Ponziani, a for-mer automotive design engineer forcompanies including General Mo-tors and Valeo SA, according to acomplaint made public today in fed-eral court in Wilmington, DE.

Ford pitched the turn signal asthe solution to one of the top 10driving pet peeves when it an-nounced the technology in 2009.

The turn indicator is designedto blink three times and automati-cally shut off.

The technology is used inFord’s F Series truck, Taurus, Edge,and Fusion models, according to thecomplaint, which seeks unspecifieddamages.

Ford spokeswoman, KristinaAdamski, declined to comment onthe complaint.

Ford Sued Over PatentedTurn Signal Technology

ORIGINAL GM PARTS FOR APPPPPPPPPRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOFFFFFFFFFFFFEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSIIIIIIIIIOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL

ORIGINAL GM PARTS FOR APROFESSIONAL

RTS FOR A FINISH

Call Any of These Wholesale Parts Dealers.

Florida No. Carolina

Jon Hall ChevroletDAYTONA BEACH

800-741-4444386-236-4509

386-236-4754 FaxM-F 7:30 am - 5:30 pm

Sat 8 am - [email protected]

Hendrick WholesaleParts Division

MONROE

704-220-1486800-882-4389

704-226-9503 FaxM-F 8 am - 6 pmSat 8 am - 5pm

[email protected]



CALL 800-699-8251



[email protected]

800-699-8251









[email protected]


write us!write us!









800-699-8251




800-699-8251





CALL 800-699-8251



[email protected]

800-699-8251









[email protected]


write us!write us!










800-699-8251




800-699-8251




by Chasidy Rae Sisk

On January 16th,the Collision In-dustry Foundation(CIF) held theirfourth annual galafundraiser in PalmSprings, CA. Thiswas the first timethe event was not

held in Las Vegas in conjunction withCIC’s fourth quarter planning meeting,but according to CIF PresidentWilliam Shaw, the gala was very suc-cessful and exceeded CIF’s expecta-tions.

Nearly 100 people attended thetwo-hour cocktail reception at Lulu’sBistro, and this year’s event saw an in-crease in the number of underwritingsponsors showcased. CIF began byselling raffle tickets at the door, a ven-ture that raised $820. They also held asilent auction for eight items, includ-ing electronics and even an Indy CarRace Package. The auction generatedover $4000.

CIF’s goal was to raise $25,000,but they exceeded this goal by raising$32,000. The proceeds fromthe event will be added to theorganization’s Disaster ReliefFund which is used to supportindustry participants who areimpacted by natural disasters.This annual event is a vitalpart of their efforts to collectdonations, and Shaw sees it asa “great opportunity to createawareness and let the indus-try know how to participateand that CIF exists to helpwhen disaster strikes… we are reallycreating good momentum moving for-ward.”

On March 12, the Board ofTrustees met in Chicago to discusscurrent disaster needs and fund alloca-tions. In addition, the Trustees estab-lished its goals and plans for the next12 months.

CIF is also pleased to announcethat two new Trustees were just elected.

Casey Steffen with Saint-Gobain Abra-sives and David Henderson with Au-taExplore/Autowatch will join theBoard and work with the Foundation tocarry on its initiatives.

CIF was created in 2001 by theNational Auto Body Counsel (NABC)as a national non-profit organization tocollect and distribute charitable funds.The first campaign they supported wasMontana’s Camp Mak-A-Dream, aprogram dedicated to helping childrenand teens suffering from cancer, andthey collected over $500,000 for thiscause in their first years of operation.The funds were used towards buildingan on-site health care facility for thecamp, and in 2005, CIF supportedCamp Mak-A-Dream yet again by do-nating funds to help purchase a bus forthe program.

Since beginning, CIF has sup-ported a number of campaigns, plan-ning and implementing variousprojects. They supported a three-yearcampaign called “Crash Hunger” thatfocused on raising funds to feed Amer-icans. Another project, in 2008, was“Blanket the City: Detroit,” a fundrais-ing effort to support the city that was

so disproportionately impacted by eco-nomic turmoil. In their attempt to helpa broad base of organizations provid-ing vital services to the city, CIF madedonations to the Children’s Home ofDetroit, Clean Downtown Detroit Part-nership and Gleaner’s Food Bank.

In addition to providing donationsto Recycled Rides, CIF partnered withSkills USA and the World Skills Com-petition to sponsor the US Collision

Team, sending two competitors to theWorld Skills Competition in Helsinki,Finland. CIF also participates in“Leave Something Behind” initiativesthroughout the year; while attendingCIC meetings around the nation; thisprogram serves as a gesture of grati-tude to the host city. Over the years,this effort has yielded book donationsto a Portland library and monetary do-nations to Children’s Hospitals inPhoenix, AZ, and Washington DC, aswell as Toys for Tots in Las Vegas andthe Utah Food Bank in Salt Lake City.

Though these programs are morethan sufficient to illustrate that CIF is“the charitable conscience of the col-lision repair industry,” when HurricaneKatrina struck LA and MS in 2005,CIF’s Board of Directors created theDisaster Relief Fund to aid victims ofnatural disasters. Their fundraising ef-forts allowed them to aid over 100 col-lision industry professionals impactedby Katrina. This project was so suc-cessful that CIF decided to make it anongoing program and through their ef-forts, they’ve supported victims ofmany natural disasters, including Hur-ricane Irene, the tsunami in Japan and,most recently, Superstorm Sandywhich devastated the entire east coastof the US in the fall of 2012.

All of these programs supportCIF’s mission “to collect funds fromall facets of the collision repair indus-try to be distributed to repair profes-sionals chosen by the Foundation’sselection committee.” CIF’s assistanceis limited to individuals and not pro-vided to businesses or organizations.A committee reviews all requests anddistributes funds based on individualneeds. Those interested in helping areencouraged to make donations, joinCIF’s volunteer committee or aid withVictim Location/Assistance.

Currently, CIF’s short-term goalsinclude creating awareness about whoCIF is, as well as their mission and vi-sion – to bring awareness and emergencyrelief to collision repair professionals.Their primary focus remains helpingthose in need.

Further down the road, Shawhopes CIF will establish a sustainablefund with “enough money in reserve tohelp those in need and help subsidize thecosts not covered by insurance in theevent of a natural disaster. In the mean-time, we will continue to support vari-

ous campaigns in our efforts to reach outand engage the collision repair industryso they can give something back.”

Regarding challenges that CIFfaces in order to maintain operations,Shaw mentions the number of thosewho need assistance, but he feels thatthe resolution to this dilemma is “toarticulate our message and informcontributors how their donations willbe used to support the industry.”

CIF is run by a Board of Trustees,comprised of 12 leaders from all seg-ments of the industry. This group is stillin the planning stages of their 2014agenda, but Shaw hopes to be able todefine this year’s goals by the end ofthe first quarter.

Shaw succinctly wraps up CIF’smission and goals as follows: “Wewant the collision repair industry to beaware that there are people in need andto encourage them to get involved andgive back. We are trying to create aculture that gives back because thebenefits are tremendous for both sides.The message we want to share isthis—whether you’re directly involvedwith CIF or not, it’s very important toget involved with local organizationsand to support charities.”

Collision Industry Foundation (CIF)PO Box 3007Mechanicsville, VA 23116855-4CIFAID (855-424-3243)http://collisionindustryfoundation.org

CIF is Now the Charitable Conscience of the Industry

Bill Shaw

Michigan Democrat, John Dingell, anardent advocate of the auto industrywho has held his seat in Congress since1955—longer than any other person inhistory—said that he will retire from theHouse of Representatives, a seniorHouse Democratic aide said.

Dingell first entered Congress tofinish his late father’s term and wenton to serve nearly six decades.

“I’m not going to be carried out feetfirst,” Dingell, 87, told The Detroit News. “Idon’t want people to say I stayed too long.”

Dingell said that he will not seek

re-election in November 2014.In his heyday, Dingell wielded power

as chairman of the House Energy andCommerce Committee and has shapedmajor laws for cleaner air and water, pro-tecting endangered species, and providinghealth care for poor children.

Dingell also expressed disappoint-ment with Congress.

“I find serving in the House to beobnoxious,” he told The Detroit News.“It’s become very hard because of theacrimony and bitterness, both in Con-gress and in the streets.”

Auto Industry Champion, John Dingell (D), to Retire

by Chasidy Rae Sisk

The MD House Economic Matterscommittee, on March 14, voted 16 to7 for an unfavorable report on HB574.No action has yet been taken onSB487. See cover story this issue.

This article provides some back-ground on the testimony pro and conin front of the committee.

On February 21, the WashingtonMetropolitan Auto Body Association(WMABA) testified at the MD HouseHearing on Economic Matters in sup-port of House Bill 574 (companion toSenate Bill 487), entitled Motor Vehi-cle Liability Insurance – ReplacementParts for Damaged Motor Vehicles. Seerelated story on the cover of this issue.

During the hour-and-a-half thatthis bill was discussed in committee,House delegates heard from severalpanels representing various segmentsof the collision repair industry.

The first panel consisted of Jor-dan Hendler, Executive Director ofWMABA, Mark Schaech of Mark’sBody Shop, and Joe Tucker of JQRestorations. Hendler began by ex-

pressing her belief that HB574 wouldprovide collision repair shops with theability to service vehicles with whatthey deem to be the highest qualityparts, stressing the need to trust thecollision repair professionals to knowwhat’s best for their customers. “As anindustry, collision repairers are thefirst line of defense and considered theprofessional when it comes to fixingyour car and doing what’s right foryou,” she said. Support of this bill isimportant, Hendler continued, be-cause use of aftermarket parts can im-pair warranties on newer vehicles,especially those that are less than threeyears old. Before a collision, a con-sumer’s warranty is 100% intact, butif their vehicle is repaired with after-market parts, the warranty is no longer100% intact; portions of the warrantywill not be valid because OEM partswere replaced with parts not recom-mended by the factory warranty.

Additionally, even when the partsvendor or insurer offers a warranty onaftermarket parts, it is non-transferableshould the car be sold to another con-sumer. “Aftermarket parts, in our in-

dustry’s perspective, are inferior to gen-uine parts. We have fit, finish and func-tionality issues, even just for cosmeticpurposes,” Hendler reiterated. Anotherproblem Hendler cited with the use ofaftermarket parts is that they aren’t fullvehicle crash-tested, and according toIIHS 2010 Chief Research Officer,there is a lot of engineering that goesinto making a crash protection system,so changing parts may result in the sys-tem being unable to function as in-tended by the manufacturer.

MD code requires shops to in-form the consumer when aftermarketparts are used, and most insurers per-mit customers to opt for using OEMparts instead; however, the customermust pay the difference in price be-tween the parts options.

Speaking to claims that HB574will lead to higher insurance premiums,Hendler pointed out that though RI andWV have a three-year prohibition onaftermarket parts and historicallyhigher rates, IN has a five-year prohi-bition and MN has a complete prohibi-tion on aftermarket parts, and both ofthese states enjoy lower premiums thanMD. Furthermore, insurers admit thatpremiums are mostly predicated on theindividual driver, their driving recordand where the live, in addition to statebodily injury laws. A report by theProperty Casualty Insurers Association(PCI) indicates that a complete ban onaftermarket parts would affect premi-ums by 2.6%, or $24 per year on aver-age. Thus, Hendler concluded, there isno evidence of a correlation betweenusing OEM parts and increased insur-ance premiums.

Schaech provided an example ofinstalling an aftermarket radiatorwhich fails and ruins the vehicle’s en-gine. The engine will not be coveredunder the manufacturer’s warranty be-cause the failure was caused by the af-termarket part.

Tucker addressed the parts pro-curement portion of the bill, explaininghow DRPs work and comparing insurer-mandated parts procurement to steering,an activity prohibited by MD law.

When asked who is responsiblefor faulty parts, Schaech noted theshop is liable, and though a shop canask the consumer to sign a “HoldHarmless” letter if they know they aregoing against OEM recommenda-tions, he believes it’s not right forshops to be put in this position at all.

While MD law requires shops to dis-close use of aftermarket parts, givingthe consumer the option of spendingmore money to repair their vehiclewith OEM parts, many DRP shops arerated on how often they use aftermar-ket parts in their repairs.

The next panel called to testifyconsisted of insurer representatives.Noel Patterson began by arguing thathalf the cost of insurance premiums isdictated by the cost of coverage; if thecost of repairs increases, so will theprice of the premiums. She also be-lieves that the use of aftermarket partspromoted competition in the market-place while allowing insurers to con-trol costs even as they strive to restorethe vehicle to its pre-accident condi-tion.

On behalf of USAA and the MDInsurers Alliance trade association,Kimberly Robinson said she op-posed HB574 because many insurersoffer consumers the choice to pay forOEM parts in their repair, allowing forcompetition between insurance com-panies in MD, but this law would shiftthe cost of parts, increasing insurers’expenses and translating into higherpremiums “despite other states’ expe-riences.”

A representative from LibertyMutual also objected, arguing that cus-tomers can get an extended warrantyon aftermarket parts by going to DRPshops. This led to a delegate question-ing how the insurers can claim thatthey are restoring a vehicle to its pre-loss condition when they’ve alreadyacknowledged that using aftermarketparts may lead to diminished value, towhich the insurer replied that theirgoal is to restore the vehicle to its pre-vious condition, not its pre-accidentvalue.

Several representatives fromLKQ-Keystone were called to testifynext, and Bruce Barriano argued thataftermarket parts are the same asOEM parts essentially; the term “af-termarket” simply means the part wasmade after the vehicle was manufac-tured. He insisted that the term is nota connotation of inferior quality as af-termarket parts are built brand newand to specifications. Barriano saidthat aftermarket parts are only cheaperin price, not in quality or safety, andusing these parts benefits consumersby keeping insurance costs down.


THESE DEALERS are GENUINE WHOLESALE PARTS SPECIALISTS.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Toyota of EasleyEASLEY

800-922-2307864-343-0085 Fax

Mon. - Fri. 7:30am - 6:30pm;Sat. 7:30am - 5pm

[email protected]

See Maryland Parts Bill, Page 45

Testimony on Maryland Parts Bill Involved Representatives from WMABA, PCI, LKQ,CAPA and Shops, Some Repairers ‘Cannot Afford to Refuse’ PartsTrader


by Chasidy Rae Sisk

The Collision Repair EducationFoundation (CREF) is always busyworking on ways to improve theprospects of the industry, and the firstquarter of 2014 is no exception asthey calculate 2013 donations, collectapplications for their Student Schol-arship and School Makeover pro-grams, and prepare for their 2014

Summer Golf Fundraiser. BrandonEckenrode, Director of Developmentfor CREF, eagerly shares some infor-mation about their recent tallies andfuture plans.

As 2013 drew to a close, dona-tions to CREF for the year totaled $9.4million, nearly double the amount ofdonations as they received in 2012. Ofthose contributions, 10% was receivedin monetary contributions with the re-mainder being received via in-kindproduct donations, such as tools,equipment, supplies, parts and otherdonations to assist instructors in theircollision repair programs.

When questioned about the rea-sons behind this increase in contribu-tions to CREF, Eckenrode states “yearafter year, we are able to reach moreand more industry businesses and helpcommunicate to them about how weare looking to support high school andcollege collision school programs, in-structors and students. Knowing thatthese students are the future profes-sionals of the industry, our supportersunderstand how their technical educa-tion is vital, and with school instructorsworking with limited/reduced budgets,the industry has really stepped up tosupport them through our organiza-tion.”

The monetary donations receivedin 2013 will be used to fund CREF’sprojects, such as their scholarships forstudents and school grants, as well as

to keep the organization running. The2013 tallies help Eckenrode remain op-timistic about CREF’s fundraising ef-forts for 2014: “we anticipate anothergreat year with both monetary and in-kind product donations. I would inviteand challenge repair facilities, espe-cially the independent owners, to con-sider an annual tax-deductible donationof $500, $750 or $1000 to the Founda-tion. Through strength in numbers, if

even a quarter of thetotal number of re-pair facilities wereable to make this do-nation, we would beable to completelytransform collisionschool programsacross the countryand work towardsthe graduating stu-dents being properlytrained and ready forentry-level work.Owners across the

country have expressed their desire forproductive, efficient and ‘ready towork’ entry-level staff, and we canmake this possible by all working to-gether.”

Next up for CREF will be award-ing their student scholarships and an-nual school makeover grants. Thedeadline for scholarship applicationsended in the middle of February, sothe applications are now being re-viewed by the Board of Trustees Se-lection Committee, and CREF plansto announce the winners later thisspring. The scholarships are availableto high school seniors and college-

level students who have studied colli-sion repair for at least one semester.CREF has over $200,000 reserved tobe awarded as various scholarships

and tool grant opportunities for stu-dents looking to enter the collision re-pair industry.

The deadline for CREF’s SchoolMakeover Grant falls on June 6th,but Eckenrode encourages applicantsto begin the process well ahead oftime since a great deal of informa-tion is requested. He enumerates,“the Makeover application requiresmany different pieces of informa-tion; however, it provides our Boardof Trustees Selection Committee agreat overview of the program andthe budget that they are workingwith to provide the best technical ed-ucation possible for the students. OurMakeover Grant is available to non-profit high school and college colli-sion school programs, and the grantis meant to help those collision pro-grams who are facing a reducedbudget and need additional tools,equipment and supplies for their pro-gram.”

Since 2008, when the CREFbegan its philanthropic focus, the col-lision industry has provided over $20million in various types of donations,and though CREFanticipates that thisnumber will con-tinue to increaseover the years, Eck-enrode believes “it’simportant for the in-dustry to know that,in addition to thesupport we are pro-viding to schools,we are also gettingactively involved inhelping to bridgethe gap betweengraduating and em-ployment. We want to ensure that stu-dents graduate with the entry-levelskill sets that employers are lookingfor and make these students aware ofthe various employment opportunitiesthere are in all segments of the indus-try. By CREF providing such tools asa donor ‘entry-level employment jobboard’, we can not only showcasethese opportunities to students butalso to parents, guidance counselorsand school administration to show thatthese collision programs are worth-while to support and invest in.”

As such, Eckenrode is pleasedthat CREF will be presenting and ex-hibiting at the American School (Guid-ance) Counselor Association’s annual

conference this summer where guid-ance counselors from around the coun-try will gather. During the conference,CREF plans to explain the “worth-while career opportunities collisionstudents have within this industry andwhy guidance counselors shouldn’tthink badly about a technical educationfor students.”

This summer, CREF will also bebusy with their 13th Annual SummerGolf Fundraiser, to be held the after-noon of July 31st in conjunction withIndustry Week in Detroit. The eventwill take place at the Northville HillsGolf Club outside the city, and CREFanticipates “another sold out crowdwith funds being raised going towardsassisting us in supporting high schooland college collision school pro-grams, students and instructors. Theevent has gone from raising $19,000in 2009 to averaging $75,000 the pasttwo years. The Education Foundationhas tried raising the quality of theevent year after year; however, thisincrease in funds raised has beenmade possible by our sponsors and at-tendees.”

The funds raised at the golfingevent will aid CREF in providingstudent scholarships and SchoolMakeover Grants in the future. In ad-dition to offering a nice afternoon ofgolfing fun and networking, CREFsees the events as a chance to “com-municate to industry leaders abouthow we are making a different incollision school programs.”

Eckenrode encourages anyoneinterested in participating in the golffundraiser as a player or sponsor tocontact him as soon as possible as theevent has historically sold out monthsin advance. Those who are unable toattend can still participate by purchas-ing golf balls for CREF’s helicopter

Education Foundation Doubled Down on Its Future in 2013

Brandon Eckenrode (l) of CREF and Mark Algieof 3M

In contrast, HB574 creates a three-year monopoly which is anti-competi-tive, allows OEMs to charge whateverthey want for these parts, and willclearly lead to increasing rates—“thisbill is not without financial implica-tions,” Barriano insisted. Additionally,consumers receive a warranty on thelife of LKQ aftermarket parts, plus theshop that repairs the vehicle receives in-demnification from LKQ who will de-fend the collision repair facility if alawsuit is filed.

Two General Managers of LKQ-Keystone facilities in MD, Jim Lohanand Marcel Hoover, spoke about howthe businesses they run contribute tothe state’s economy, and they claimedthat many customers call them seekingan alternative to high-priced OEMparts.

Jack Gillis, Executive Directorof CAPA and on behalf of the Centerfor Auto Safety, opposes the bill be-cause it limits consumer choice, pro-tects an unfair monopoly, restrictscompetition, and will increase crashrepair costs for MD consumers.

In addition to arguing that com-petition lowers prices, Gillis pointsout that using OEM parts doesn’t nec-essarily mean restoring the vehicle toits pre-loss condition, and becauseOEM parts are frequently recalled, hedoesn’t think they should be the onlyoption. Arguing that “there’s nothingwrong with generic products,” heasked why aftermarket parts aren’tbanned altogether if they’re substan-dard and suggests a middle-groundoption of requiring aftermarket partsto be functionally equivalent to OEMparts.

The final portion of testimonybegan with Laura Marta Harding ofState Farm who focused on the partsprocurement portion of HB574, not-ing that PartsTrader has only been ineffect in MD for two weeks. She ar-gued that the collision repair shopscontrol the inputs in PartsTrader, spec-ifying the type of parts they use, andindicated that shops who object to in-terference in this business are wel-come to opt out of State Farm’s SelectService Program.

Testifying on behalf of the oppo-sition was Laura Gay, owner of FortWashington Auto Body and Sullivan’sAuto Body. Gay discussed the de-

crease in the collision repair businessdue to advancing technology, admit-ting she cannot afford to refuse Part-sTrader because she needs thebusiness generated by being on StateFarm’s DRP.

Lawrence Christiansen of Na-tionwide estimated that HB574 wouldincrease Nationwide’s premiums by$12 million over the next six months,and as this insurer only writes around10% of MD’s insurance, the billwould seriously impact MD’s econ-omy.

Oyango Snell, Counsel for PCI,concluded the testimony by pointingout that the bill’s advocates haven’tprovided proof of consumer com-plaints, thus aftermarket parts usageposes no threat to the consumer in hisopinion. Aftermarket parts only repre-sent 10% of the parts market, so hefeels the goal of HB574 seems to becreating even more of a monopoly. Hefinishes his testimony with the dou-ble-edged reminder that “insurancecompanies don’t sell parts.”

If you’re interested in viewingthe hearing, you can access it from thelink on the www.autobodynews.comwebsite. Search for the online storywith the same title as this article.

golf ball drop. Up to 1200 numberedballs can be purchased to be droppedonto a course green via helicopterduring the event. Whoever purchasesthe ball that lands in the hole will win23% of the proceeds from the balldrop, an astounding $7000 gift card ifall of the balls are sold! Winners donot have to be present, and this pro-vides yet another creative method forCREF to raise additional funds dur-ing the event.

Eckenrode is grateful to the col-lision repair industry for makingCREF’s efforts possible: “I wouldlike to thank the collision industryfor making over $20 million in do-nations possible in such a short pe-riod of time. I am not aware of anyother technical trade having a ‘Foun-dation’ type organization that sup-ports their programs like ours does.Collision school programs are be-coming the envy of other school pro-grams as they see what type ofsupport the schools are receivingthrough us, and we look forward toworking together to take this organ-ization to another level.”

www.collisioneducationfoundation.org847-463-5244


Genuine Porsche Parts... Only The Best.

These Select Dealers Have The Parts You Need.

918 RSR

FLORIDA

Brumos PorscheJacksonville

800-726-9155904-725-0358 FaxM-F 7:30am - 5:30pm

[email protected]


Maryland Parts Bill

On March 8, 2014, a group of fourvandals wearing masks resemblingthose of the band Kiss did an esti-mated $40,000 worth of damage toabout two dozen vehicles parked theMaaco Auto Body Shop in SaddleBrook, NJ.

The group can be seen on surveil-lance video jumping on hoods, spray-ing graffiti, and smashing in windows.Police said that the suspects appear tobe men in their teens or early 20s. Asurveillance camera sitting above aMercedes caught the men as they set towork, destroying it using metal pipes,shovels, spray paint, and a fire extin-guisher. The Mercedes is now in policecustody as they process it for prints.

Shop owner, Walter Karol, saidthat he had to tell many of his cus-tomers that their vehicles were now in

worse shape than when they droppedthem off for repairs. Karol said that hehas filed an insurance claim and is re-pairing the cars that were damaged.

So far, there is no motive in thecase and police are asking for help inidentifying the masked men, hopingto make this performance their last.Call the Saddle Brook Police Detec-tive Bureau at 1-201-587-2940 withany information.

‘Kiss Bandits’ Vandalize Cars at Body Shop inSaddle Brook, NJ, Doing $40K in Damage



CALL 800-699-8251



[email protected]

800-699-8251









[email protected]


write us!write us!






Free Twice Monthly NewsletterFree Twice Monthly NewsletterFree Twice Monthly Newsletter



800-699-8251




800-699-8251



Michigan House Bill 5339, introducedon February 19, seeks to amend theMichigan Insurance Code of 1956 torestrict insurance companies from nu-merous actions that irk collision repairfacility operators. The broadly wordedbill has not yet been scheduled forhearings.

The bill, as sponsored by Repre-sentatives Dale W. Zorn ,Greg Mac-Master, Anthony G. Forlini, PeterPettalia, Michael D. McCready, wouldban insurance companies from com-pelling the use of specific collision re-pair or claim centers, restrict non-OEMparts usage, and prohibit an insurerfrom specifying specific vendors forparts or other materials.

Specifically the bill would pro-hibit insurance personnel from the fol-lowing:● Compel or coerce the insured orclaimant to choose a particular repairfacility, claim center, or other similarfacility regardless of whether the re-pair facility, claim center, or other sim-ilar facility is under the insurer's directcontrol.

This subdivision would not pro-hibit an insurer from requesting the in-

sured or claimant to take the a particularrepair facility, claim center, or other sim-ilar facility after informing the insuredor claimant that the insured or claimantis not under an obligation to do so.● Must not fail to inform the insured orclaimant that the insured or claimanthas the freedom to use a repair facilityof the insured's or claimant's choosing,or fail to inform the insured or claimantof the insurer's ownership interest in, oragreement with, a repair facility, claimcenter, or other similar facility

Communicate the need to delaythe commencement of repair to allowthe insurer to inspect the automobilefor more than 1 full business day fromwhen the insured or claimant presentedthe claim or automobile for loss ad-justment or inspection.

Dispute coverage of the losswithout performing a physical inspec-tion of the automobile.

Specify a non-original equipmentmanufacturer aftermarket crash part toreplace a structural component of anautomobile, including, but not limitedto, a bumper reinforcement, radiator orcore support, or any other part that af-fects the structural integrity or airbag

timing of the automobile.Specify a non-original equipment

manufacturer aftermarket crash part inthe repair of the damaged automobileif the part is not certified by a nationaltesting board to guarantee quality, fit,and crashability.

Specify the use of a particular ven-dor to procure a part or other materialnecessary for the satisfactory repair ofthe automobile. This subdivision doesnot require an insurer to pay more thana reasonable market price for parts.

Unilaterally or arbitrarily disre-gard a repair operation or cost identi-fied by an estimating system that theinsurer and repair facility have agreedto use in determining the cost of repair.

Place a limit on the maximum costof paint or other materials required torepair the damaged automobile. Thissubdivision does not require an insurerto pay more than a reasonable marketprice for paint and materials.

Disregard a repair facility's postedlabor rate without proof of the range ofposted door rates available to the pub-lic in the market.

The bill also would provide an in-sured, claimant, repair facility owner,

potential repair facility owner, or per-son aggrieved by this act the ability tobring a civil action against an insurerfor a violation of this section. A plain-tiff who prevails could receive Dam-ages in the amount of 3 times the actualloss or $500.00, whichever is greater aswell as attorney fees and costs.

Ray Fisher, executive director ofthe Automotive Service Association(ASA) of Michigan, explained “ASAMichigan did not author or introducethis bill but we are glad that Represen-tative Zorn along with the other co-au-thors, has taken a key role in trying toresolve some of the issues that haveplagued our collision shops here inMichigan. I have passed this on to ourleadership for their review and we arelooking forward to working with Rep-resentative Zorn as this moves forward.Obviously he is trying to cure many ofthe burdens that our collision repairershave faced for quite some time.”

“In conversation, we understandthat currently no hearings have beenscheduled as yet but ASA Michiganwill encourage these issues to be dis-cussed in the committee as soon as pos-sible,” concluded Fisher.


AUTOBODY MARKETPLACE

Looking for Good Collision Personnel? •1,262 Collision Techs resumes online •1,295 Painters resumes online •1,177 Estimators & Mgs resumes online •11,256 Mechanical Tech resumes online

ACTautostaffing.com or 727-733-5600

Call or e-mail now for rates: 800-699-8251 or [email protected]



CALL 800-699-8251



[email protected]

800-699-8251









[email protected]


write us!write us!









800-699-8251





800-699-8251



800-524-1504 www.red-viper.com

SAVES YOU TIME AND MONEY> EASY TO USE <

Go to www.forkliftwrecker.comand watch our video.877.593.6959

When all you need to dois move a vehicle, use:



CALL 800-699-8251



[email protected]

800-699-8251









[email protected]


write us!write us!









800-699-8251




800-699-8251



• Easy to navigate online catalog• Same or next day priority shipping• Check out our monthly specials• Use promo code TFW at check out to receive an additional 5% savings

TheFastenerWarehouse.com

Save 40-60%

[email protected]

FREECatalog!FR

CaCaCaCaCaCaCatae-clips334.444.8811

We beat anybody’s prices on clips and fasteners. PERIOD! No excuses, better pricing always!

33We beaeat ph:

Search:Autobody News

on Facebook

Michigan’s HB 5339 Seeks to Address Steering, Non-OEM Parts, and Parts Procurement


• All brands delivered in one convenient daily delivery • Fast and Free delivery Monday thru Friday• Same Day delivery of in-stock parts ordered by 9am • Hot Shot deliveries • Collision Link

Flow Lexus of GreensboroPh: 888-Flow-Lex

Direct: 336.217.5402Fax: 336.232.0810

Carolina KiaPh: 336.884.8800Fax: 336.884.7075

Green FordPh: 800.334.8405

Direct: 336.294.4133Fax: 336.294.5774

Carolina Hyundai2431 N. Main St.,

High Point, NC 27262Ph: 336.884.8800Fax: 336.884.7075

• All brandds delivered in one convenient daily delivery • Fast and Free delivery Monday thru FridaySo. Virginia, Central & Western North Carolina OE PARTS LEADERS DDDDDEEEELLLIIVVEERRIINNGG DDDD

CCOOMMMPPPPPPPEEEEEEETTTTTTTIIIIIITTTTTIIVVEE PPRRRRRIIICCIINNGGG CCOOMMMMPPPPPPPEEEEEANNDD EEXXXCCCCCCCCEEEEEEEPPPPPPPTTTTTTIIIIIIIOOOOOONNAALL SSEERRVVIICCCEEE!!!

Flow General Motors

Ph: 800-GM-BuiltDirect: 336.760.7038

Fax: 336.245.1423

Kernersville Chrsyler Dodge Jeep RamPh: 888.314.7278 Direct: 336.564.0259 Fax: 336.996.0742

Flow LotusPh: 800-GM-Built Fax: 336.245 .1423

Direct: 336.760.7038 Flow SAABPh: 800-GM-Built Fax: 336.245.1423

Direct: 336.760.7038


DJS Fabrications, Inc. If you missed us at SEMA, go to our website

and watch our videos. You’ll be impressed!

Autobody News April 2014 Southeastern Edition

Documents

national auto body research

abody shop survey system

thenew repair requirements

test shop areas

cuss honda repair technologies

ae auto body versus

system thatpromises

market rate