autobody news may 2014 northeastern edition

by Chasidy Rae Sisk

The 37th annual Northeast Automo-tive Services Show presented by theAlliance of Automotive Serv-ice Providers of New Jersey(AASP/NJ) was held at theMeadowlands ExpositionCenter in Secaucus, NJ,March 21–23, 2014. Filledwith useful and informativeseminars, demonstrations onthe showroom floor, and over100 exhibitors from all seg-ments of the industry, the2014 show was well-attendedand successful!

PartsTrader Panel DiscussionThe seminars kicked off with “PartsTrader Comes to the Northeast: NOW

WHAT?” a panel discussion that in-cluded Barry Dorn of the Washing-ton Metropolitan Auto BodyAssociation (WMABA); Ed Kizen-

berger of the Long Island Auto BodyRepairmen’s Association (LIABRA);Tom Elder of Auto Body Distribut-ing; Mitch Portnoi, Esq. of Post,

See Northeast Trade Show, 8

Thousands Attend Record Breaking Northeast™Trade Show, Positive Reaction from Many Attendees

by John Yoswick

Ford Motor Company representativesat the Collision Industry Conference(CIC) held in Portland, Ore., in Aprilprovided more information not onlyabout the automaker’s 2015 F-150pick-up, but also about the “Ford Na-tional Body Shop Network,” throughwhich Ford hopes to promote bothdealership and independent shops toowners of Ford vehicles needing col-lision repair.

Paul Massie, collision productmarketing manager for Ford, acknowl-edged that his company may have

fallen behind other automakers in de-veloping a certification or recognitionprogram for independent shops. But it

also is clearly thenew F-150, an alu-minum-intensivevehicle expected tohit showrooms inNovember, that isbehind Ford’s pushto increase thenumber of body

shops equipped and trained to work onaluminum. The F-150 has been thebest-selling vehicle in the country for

At CIC, Ford Outlines its Strategy to Help RepairersPrepare for the New F-150, Focus on Repairability

See Ford’s Plan, Page 22

Paul Massie

LIABRA’s Ed Kizenberger responds to questions about pos-sible litigation of PartsTrader

Attorneys for repair shops that filedsuit against State Farm and more thana dozen other insurers recently re-sponded to the insurer’s request forthe U.S. Middle District of FloridaCourt, Orlando division, to dismisstheir antitrust and steering lawsuit,saying that there is “more than suffi-cient facts asserted to satisfy thepleading requirements.”

The Florida repair shops suedState Farm and dozens of other insur-ers. See this issue and Autobody NewsApril issue for more on the lawsuit, orsearch online at Autobodynews.com.

“Plaintiffs allege that Defendantsimposed maximum price limitations

for automobile parts and services,adopted similar reimbursement poli-cies and practices, and attempted tosteer customers away from shops thatrefused to adhere to Defendants’ pricelimitations. The ‘crucial question,’however, is ‘whether the challengedanticompetitive conduct stem[s] fromindependent decision or from anagreement, tacit or express,’’ StateFarm’s attorneys write in their re-sponse.

“As a general rule, businesses arefree to choose the parties with whomthey will deal, as well as the prices,terms and conditions of that dealing,”

Attorneys for Collision Repairers Respond to StateFarm’s Request for Dismissal of Antitrust Case

See State Farm Requests, Page 34

The Indiana Autobody Association(IABA) along with fourteen IndianaCollision Repair Shops filed legal ac-tion against twelve Property and Casu-alty Insurance Companies and theirsubsidiaries on April 2, 2014.

The suit seeks unspecified finan-cial damages and names 27 insurers in-cluding Illinois-based State Farm,which has the largest market share inthe state at about 25 percent. Otherswith large market share include Ohio-

based ProgressiveInsurance and lo-cally based IndianaFarmers Mutual In-surance Co.

The suit accusesthe insurers of “en-gaging in an ongo-

ing, concerted and intentional course ofaction and conduct with State Farm act-ing as the spearhead to improperly andillegally control and depress the auto-mobile damage repair costs.”

In addition, “The insurance com-

panies (“Insurers”) are improperly in-truding upon the relationship betweenthe Shops and consumers, and placingthe driving public at harm by their prac-tices.”

As it pertains to DRP shops, thesuit also accuses the insurers of “en-gaging in an ongoing pattern and prac-tice of coercion and implied threats tothe pecuniary health of the individualplaintiff businesses in order to forcecompliance with unreasonable andonerous concessions.”

Tony Passwater, IABA ExecutiveDirector, states, “There’s going to be abattle. For decades the insurers have in-terfered with the collision repair pro-fessional’s obligation to restore thevehicle back to pre-accident conditionas humanly possible. It has been welldocumented with the 1963 Consent De-cree. Since then, over the last twodecades, the pressure to compromisethe repair quality and safety has in-creased with many insurer mandates

Indiana Autobody Association and Indiana ShopOwners File Suit to Block Tortious Interference

See Tortious Interference?, Page 35

Tony Passwater

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VOL. 4 ISSUE 2MAY 2014

2 MAY 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com

Acura of Westchester . . . . . . . . . . 44Amato Agency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Audi Wholesale Parts Dealers. . . . 42Axalta Coating Systems . . . . . . . . . 5B & R Associates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Baystate Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

BMW Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 53Central Avenue Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Certified Automotive PartsAssociation (CAPA) . . . . . . . . . . 31

Chief Automotive. . . . . . . . . . . 20, 21Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Clay Auto Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Colours, Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Continental Auto Parts . . . . . . . . . 16Creative Metal Manufacturing . . . . 22Ditschman/Flemington Auto Group. 23Empire Auto Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Fairfield Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram. 27Fitzgerald’s Lakeforest Hyundai-Subaru. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Ford Wholesale Parts Dealers. . . . 57Fred Beans Parts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Future Cure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Glanzmann Subaru . . . . . . . . . . . . 47GlasWeld Systems, Inc . . . . . . . . . . 6GM Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 46Goyette’s, Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Hackettstown Honda. . . . . . . . . . . 36Honda-Acura Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32-33

Hyundai Wholesale Parts Dealers. 55Jaguar Wholesale Parts Dealers. . 60

Kia Motors Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Koeppel VW-Mazda. . . . . . . . . . . . 34Lexus Wholesale Parts Dealers. . . 61Malco. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Martech Services Company . . . . . 14Maxon Hyundai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Maxon Mazda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Mazda Wholesale Parts Dealers . . 54Mercedes-Benz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25MINI Wholesale Parts Dealers. . . . 52MOPAR Wholesale Parts Dealers . 37NACE/CARS Expo & Conference . 19Nissan/Infiniti Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Porsche Wholesale Parts Dealers . 59PPG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2PreFab Ads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Providence Lacquer & SupplyCentre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Safety Regulation Strategies. . . . . 28SATA Spray Equipment . . . . . . . . 12Security Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep-Ram . 7Subaru Wholesale Parts Dealers . 49Sussman Auto Group . . . . . . . . . . 51TechZone Airbag Service . . . . . . . 30Thompson Organization . . . . . . . . 41Toyota Wholesale Parts Dealers . . 58Valspar Automotive . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Volkswagen Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Volvo Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 50Wagner Auto Group . . . . . . . . . . . 63Yonkers Kia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24York Kia of Medford. . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Inde

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Contents

Publisher & Editor: Jeremy HayhurstGeneral Manager: Barbara DaviesOnline Editor: Alicia BasteriContributing Writers: Tom Franklin, David Brown,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 New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware,Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusettsand adjacent metro areas, Autobody News is a monthlypublication for the autobody industry. Permission toreproduce in any form the material published in AutobodyNews must be obtained in writing from the publisher.©2014 Adamantine Media LLC.

Autobody NewsP.O. Box 1516, Carlsbad, CA 92018(800) 699-8251 (760) 603-3229 Faxwww.autobodynews.comEmail: [email protected] N

ortheast

REGIONALArmy Veteran Wins CollisionMax ‘Metal of

Honor’ in Northeast Philadelphia . . . . . . . . . . 4Body Shop Said Involved in NH Insurance

Fraud Scheme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Dover, DE, Paint Room Fire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Fire Destroys Body Shop in Northern

Lancaster County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Five Towns, NY, Body Shop Burglar Arrested . . . 9Indictment Upgrades Murder Counts in

Body Shop Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Inwood, NY, Man Charged in Auto Body Shop

Burglary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13K&C Auto Body in Syracuse Destroyed

in March 22 Fire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Leetsdale, PA, May be Cracking Down on

Unregistered Vehicles, Source Said tobe Body Shops Parking Repairs . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Lou Altobelli of Rio Auto Body Named MiddleTownship, NJ, Business Person of the Year . . 6

Man Crashes into Rochester, NY, Body ShopBuilding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Monty Tech Collision Students Win PedalCar Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

NJ KISS Bandits Arrested After $40,000in Damages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

NY Body Shop Owners Face Tax Fraud Charges . 14NY Post Says ‘Cry Baby’ Lawyer Sues Body

Shop Over 2 Week Delay in Repairs . . . . . . . . 6PPG and Pennsylvania College of Technology

Extend Longtime Collision-Repair Partnership . 14Rhode Island Man Moves from Sheltered

Workshop to Job at Auto Body Shop . . . . . . 48Robbers Tie Up Auto Body Shop Employees

and Steal Catalytic Converters in NJ . . . . . . 26Scarsdale, NY’s Armand J. Pomponio, 87,

is Deceased . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Shop Apprentice, Johnathan Crupi, 21,

of Great Kills, Dies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Shop VP, Lou Berman, Backs Autism Awareness . 8Shults Auto Body Shop Relocation in Foster

Township, PA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Sisk - ABAC Hosts Larry Montanez of P&L

Consulting at March 18 Meeting . . . . . . . . . 16Sisk - Reactions from Attendees at Northeast™

2014 Automotive Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Sisk - Resolution Forum & Leadership

Meeting at Northeast™ 2014. . . . . . . . . . . . 10The New York Times Argues Tesla Should Be

Able to Sell Its Electric Cars in New York . . . . 4Thousands Attend Record Breaking Northeast™

Trade Show, Positive Reaction from ManyAttendees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

William D. Stevenson Jr., 68, of GeorgetownPasses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

COLUMNISTSAttanasio - Automotive Marketing Company

Garners Huge Kudos for its Website Clients . 54Attanasio - WaterCar Has Body Shop Owner

Swimming in Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Attanasio - What Ever Happened to

the Return Phone Call? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Chaney - Buses of Yellowstone—How About

These for Barn Finds? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Franklin - Gender Marketing Power is a

Trend Already in Evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Sisk - 2014 VISION Hi-Tech Training and

Expo Hosted by ASA-Midwest . . . . . . . . . . . 48Sisk - Arkansas Collision Repair Association

Seeks New Members for the Industry’sFuture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Sisk - Automotive Recyclers Association CEOUrges OEMs to Supply Crucial Parts Data atInternational Automobile Recycling Congress . 36

NATIONAL3M Continues Funding Scholarships For 2nd Year

in Collision Repair for Returning Veterans. . . 61AASP-MN Anti-Mandate Bill Hits Roadblock . . . 55ALLDATA’s VIN Decoder Has Been Enhanced . . 24American Honda Announces Two Body Repair

Bulletins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Are Aluminum Cars Really Better for the

Environment? Study Says ‘Yes’ . . . . . . . . . . 61At CIC, Ford Outlines its Strategy to Help

Repairers Prepare for the New F-150,Focus on Repairability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Attanasio - Interview with Dave Jones . . . . . . . 14Attorneys for Collision Repairers Respond

to State Farm’s Request for Dismissal . . . . . . 1AudaExplore Enhances MAACO’s Operational

Efficiency with Repair Platforms . . . . . . . . . 59AutoBody-Review.com Improves Geo-Targeted

SEO, Authority for Shops by Adding “Articles:to Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Body Found Behind TX Shop is that of TeenMissing Since Feb. 13. No Foul Play Suspected . 47

CCC Updates: Carwise Shop Finder Solution,Contact Center Solution, TRUE Parts Network Suppliers, and Crash Course 2014 Report . . 39

Chief Opens New Specification Center inMalaysia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

CNN Recognizes NABC for Donating 200+Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Collision Industry Foundation AnnouncesNew Trustees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Collision Repair Instructor Leaves GenerousLegacy for Coldwater, MI, Career Center . . . 34

Colorado Springs Duo Develop‘Ding Stinger’ App . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Covington, KY’s Samaritan Car Care Clinic,A Church Group, Provides for NeedyEvery Quarter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Fatal Shooting At Colleton, SC, Auto Body Shop . 24GCIA’s Members Hosted Two Speakers

at March Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24IBIS to be Held in Barcelona on May 19-21 . . . 44I-CAR News: New Board of Directors, Collision

Repair Training for 2015 Ford F-150, IndustrySupport, Limited-Time Promo, and Revamped

Steering/Suspension Course . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Indiana Autobody Association and Indiana Shop

Owners File Suit to Block Tortious Interference . 1Industry Week Fundraiser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62KS Body Shop Temporarily Closed for Tax

Non-Payment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Limited-Time Promo on 2 New I-CAR

Training Bundles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Matrix System 2015 Finishes Calendar Contest . 62MB Approves Elektron Spot Welders for HSS . . 38MI Collision Repair Student Sierra Lantz is

Learning Repair but toward a Racing Career . 24Missouri Shop Owner and Consultant Favors

Common-Sense Solutions for CommonProblems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

NACE/CARS 2014 Website Live, HotelReservations Open for Detroit . . . . . . . . . . . 60

One-day ‘Future is Now’ Midwest Auto BodyTrade Show Gets 400 Attendees, 65 Exhibitors . 56

PartsTrader Completes National Rollout,Now Available in All States. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Premier Services Donates $2.5K to theCRE Foundation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

SCRS 2014-2015 Board Elected in April 2014. . 58SEMA Board of Directors Candidates Announced . 59Service King Acquiring MSO Sterling

Collision Ctrs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Sherwin-Williams Supports NASCAR Green

Initiative, Applies Low VOC Paint to No. 51 . . 60Society of Collision Repair Specialists

Open Board Mtg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58WIN Announces 2014 Conference Brochure,

Most Influential Women and ScholarshipWinners, Corporate Sponsors, and NewBoard of Directors Members . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

www.autobodynews.com | MAY 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS 3

Happy Easterfrom ALL of Us at AUTOBODY NEWS!

Now that Spring has finally sprung, we hopeall shops see a return to normalcy in weather

and business.

We wish you all a prosperous andsuccessful rest of 2014.

Where to?


Branch Location - MA142 Chandler St.

Worcester, MA508.752.9700

Main Store - RI1155 Park Ave.

Cranston, RI401.943.1700

Branch Location - CT485 N. Main St.

Norwich, CT860.885.0700

www.ProvidenceLacquer.com

PROVIDENCE LACQUERSupply CentreSupply Centre

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Edward Ehnow, a 24-year-old U.S. Armyveteran who patrolled the armed borderbetween North and South Korea, hasbeen selected as the latest winner of the

CollisionMax Metal of Honor Projectaward (www.metalofhonorproject.com).As a result, CollisionMax of NortheastPhiladelphia, PA, will repair his 2007Honda Civic coupe free of charge.

“My car was hit on the bumper inan accident at a nearby intersection sixmonths ago,” he said. “The police said itwas nobody’s fault and I don’t have col-

lision insurance, so I was going to have topay for the repairs myself.” He said thatin addition to needing a new bumper, thecar’s unibody was damaged, and he wastold it would cost thousands of dollars tofix. “I don’t make a lot of money, so thisaward is really going to help me out.”

Through its Metal of Honor Proj-ect, CollisionMax has now given awayauto body repairs to 11 U.S. militaryveterans, one per month for each of itslocations in the Delaware Valley. Colli-sionMax chose the winners from nom-inations it received from the public.

“The Metal of Honor Project is ourway of saying thank you and honoringthe men and women of our armedforces who put their lives on the line forall of us,” said Jim Tornetta, Collision-Max president and CEO.

In New Jersey, CollisionMax op-erates shops in Blackwood, Cinnamin-son, Glassboro, Marlton, Pennsauken,Sicklerville, and Westmont. In Penn-sylvania, it has repair centers in OxfordValley, Warminster, and two in North-east Philadelphia. For more informa-tion about CollisionMax, visit:www.collisionmax.com.

Army Veteran Wins CollisionMax ‘Metal ofHonor’ in Northeast Philadelphia

The New York Times Argues Tesla Should Be Ableto Sell Its Electric Cars in New YorkCar dealers in New York, New Jer-sey, and several other states are wag-ing legal, legislative, and regulatorycampaigns to stop Tesla, the fast-growing electric-car company, fromselling its vehicles directly to con-sumers. These moves are little morethan attempts to protect an old retailmodel by limiting consumer choices.

In Ohio, dealers are suing Tesla,arguing that it is violating state autofranchise laws. In New Jersey, thestate Coalition of Automotive Re-tailers has successfully pressed theMotor Vehicle Commission to forbidsales at two Tesla-owned retailstores. And, in New York, dealers’associations are lobbying legislatorsto prohibit car manufacturers frombypassing dealerships and selling di-rectly to consumers.

The auto sales industry grew updecades ago when carmakers con-tracted with independently-owneddealerships to sell and service theircars. Many state laws regulating carsales came out of that model. Some,like lemon laws, clearly protect con-sumers. Others, like restrictions on re-tail sales by automakers, were meantto protect dealers from having to

compete with their suppliers. Somestates, like Texas, prohibit direct sales,while others, like New York, have al-lowed direct sales by companies likeTesla that never contracted with fran-chised dealers.

The dealers’ associations saythe laws against direct sales encour-age price competition among dealersfor a particular brand of car. Whiledealers do compete with each other,consumers can end up paying morewhen they buy through middlementhan directly from producers.

The fight with Tesla is not reallyabout this niche company, which ex-pects to sell just 35,000 cars this year.The dealers are afraid that if Tesla isallowed to sell directly to consumers,General Motors, Ford, and other car-makers might be emboldened to doso as well.

Lawmakers should not be tellingTesla how it should sell its cars, espe-cially since the company is not dis-placing existing dealers. There’s noreason to believe that independentdealerships would be better able to sellor service Tesla cars than the maker it-self. Instead of fighting Tesla, dealersshould be improving customer service.

Students in the collision repair tech-nology and machine technology pro-grams at the Montachusett RegionalVocational Technical School (MontyTech) in Fitchburg, MA, pooled theirskills and talents to take first place in

the Genuine Hotrod Hardware PedalCar Challenge. The event was spon-sored by the Summit Racing ShowCar Series at the 40th annual TownFair Tire World of Wheels held at theWorld Trade Center in Boston, MA,March 28–30, 2014.

Students from six schools par-ticipated in the challenge. Accordingto Dana LeCuyer, collision repairtechnology teacher, this is the firstyear the event was held in Boston. Hesaid more than 70 students in both

programs who worked on the projecttraveled to Boston to view the showand see their car win the blue ribbon.

“It was a wonderful experience.This is the showcase for some of themost unique vehicles in the world.It’s the first time our students got togo to a show of this caliber. They gotto go into the show early and seeeverything on display. They hadlunch and were given wristbands sothey could go back during the week-end with their families. For some ofour kids, it’s the first time they havebeen to Boston,” he said.

Working from a kit containing ageneric pedal car, the auto body stu-dents built a 1937 coupe convertible,measuring about four feet in length.Students in grades 9 through 12 did thebody work, painted, and assembled thecar, including the interior work. Theypainted it black and candy-apple red.The work took six weeks.

Auto teacher Dave Lelievrecalled it “an exceptional effort on thepart of all the students. The kids are re-ally proud of what they did,” he said.

Machine technology juniors fab-ricated the rims, steering wheel, ped-als, and license plate. “It was a realteam effort, and it came out great,”said Jay Blauser, machine technologyteacher.

Monty Tech Collision Students Win Pedal Car Challenge

Students in the Collision Repair Technologyprogram at Monty Tech pose with the 1937pedal car they built that placed first in thePedal Car Challenge held in Boston

(Top) Edward Ehnow, right, with Rich Tornettaof CollisionMax. (Below) The damage to Mr.Ehnow’s 2007 Honda Civic


The Middle Township Chamber ofCommerce honored Lou Altobelli ofRio Auto Body as the 2014 BusinessPerson of the Year on April 4, 2014.The recognition dinner was held at theStone Harbor Country Club in MiddleTownship, NJ. Lou Altobelli was rec-

ognized for his commitment to com-munity service and business.

Owner and operator of Rio AutoBody since 1993, Lou Altobelli is theowner of eight additional businessesthat service Cape May and AtlanticCounties, employing over 100 people.

He is an active Board Member on theMiddle Township Chamber since2001, and he also serves as a boardmember of Atlantic Cape CommunityCollege,Volunteers in Medicine, CapeAssist, and the Middle Township Eco-nomic Development Committee, andhas served in the past on the MiddleTownship Emergency Medical Serv-ices Blue Ribbon Panel.

Middle Township Mayor Timo-thy Donohue honored Lou Altobelliwith the Mayor’s Certificate of Honorfor being named as the Middle Town-ship Chamber of Commerce 2014Business Person of the Year.

Kristine Gabor from the CapeMay County Board of Chosen Free-holders presented Lou Altobelli withan honor from the Cape May CountyBoard of Chosen Freeholders for hiscontributions and true dedication toCape May County.

Senator Jeff Van Drew and As-semblyman Sam Fiocchi recognizedLou Altobelli with the Joint Legisla-tive Commendation signed by theNew Jersey Senate and General As-sembly for his continued accomplish-ments through hard work, dedication,and many contributions to our com-munity.

Lou Altobelli of Rio Auto Body Named Middle Township, NJ,Business Person of the Year

NY Post Says ‘Cry Baby’ Lawyer Sues Body Shop Over2 Week Delay in Repairs, Alleges Other Damage A personal injury attorney is taking arepair job on his $215,000 Bentleypersonally. He filed a lawsuit becausethe work prevented him from drivingthe car over two weeks this winter,according to Julia Marsh, writing inthe New York Post. Manhattan lawyerMichael Lamonsoff said in court pa-pers that extensive repairs made tothe 2013 convertible at Sports &Classics Auto Repair on East 73rdStreet were “of poor workmanshipand poor quality.”

But shop owner John Steo de-fended the work and said the attorneyhas refused to explain why he is un-happy with the job. “We’re trying tofind out what’s wrong and he’s givenus no information,” Steo said. “Hewas a big, giant crybaby from the be-ginning. He’s a very difficult per-son,” Steo added. Steo said hiscompany has an unblemished record.He has never been sued or received acomplaint from the DMV, he toldThe Post.

The shop calls itself “the pre-eminent authority on luxury im-ports,” Lamonsoff notes in hisManhattan civil suit. The $21,000overhaul to the Bentley includedwork to the front bumper, front

fender, rocker panel, rear plate, mir-ror, tail lamp and other parts.

The Continental convertible hadbeen in an accident and Lamonsoffhad to return it to the shop becausethe airbag light went on after the firstround of repairs, Steo said. Thedrawn-out job meant that Lamonsoffcouldn’t drive his vehicle from Feb.19 to March 7, the suit says. The at-torney is a plaintiff in approximately21 suits filed in Manhattan SupremeCourt since 1999. Lamonsoff appar-ently has a history of problems withBentleys. In 2011, he was sued afterhis 2008 Bentley convertible was in acollision with a Nissan. At the time,the car was piloted by an employeewho was allegedly talking on a cell-phone. The suit was dismissed afterthe driver of the Nissan failed to ap-pear in court. Lamonsoff told ThePost the driver’s insurance companyadmitted fault in the accident andpaid 100 percent of the costs. Lam-onsoff said the Bentley dealer toldhim that “the repair job was so badthat it destroyed the resale value ofthe vehicle and had to be completelyredone.”

“I just want to get my car prop-erly fixed,” Lamonsoff said.

Property owners who place cars onother private land or keep abandonedvehicles on their property are warnedthat Leetsdale could soon be crack-ing down, according to BobbyCherry’s article at Triblive.com.Complaints say property owners, in-cluding some auto repair shops in theborough are creating unsightly con-ditions, taking away public parkingspots for others and are illegally park-ing cars on vacant private property.“We have a number of places in townwhere vehicles have stayed in placefor a year or two at a time and theysit there and they’re not worked onand they’re not moved,” councilmanJoe McGurk said. “What it does ismake the town look ugly. It looks badwhether you can see it from BeaverStreet or down on (Route 65).”McGurk said he has observed vehi-cles parked on sites where homes hadbeen knocked down. In some cases,those vehicles are from an auto repairshop, McGurk and other councilmembers said.

“It would be different if wefound out that somebody was work-ing on the cars over the course offive days,” McGurk said. “But that’snot the case.

He and other council memberswant to see laws enforced that banunregistered cars from being parkedwithin the borough and tougher sanc-tions considered for people who parkcars on property owned by others.

Police Chief James Santuccisaid the borough could enforce statelaws that prohibit unregistered carsthrough an abandoned cars law. Thatcould eliminate cars parked on pri-vate property as a code enforcementofficer could cite property owners orvehicle owners.

Santucci said police could enforcelaws pertaining to on-street parking.

Council Vice President WesJames said he has seen similar is-sues along Brookline Boulevard inPittsburgh, where he said auto bodyshop owners and employees usepublic spaces and private areas topark cars.

“If you don’t put anything in writ-ing, it’s kind of a free for all,” he said.

Leetsdale, PA, May be Cracking Down on UnregisteredVehicles, Source Said to be Body Shops Parking Repairs

Senator Van Drew and New JerseyAssembly Sam Fiocchi recognize LouAltobelli for his accomplishments

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Johnathan Charles Crupi, 21, ofGreat Kills, NY, a sports enthusiast,promising auto body apprentice andnurturing caretaker of his nieces,nephews and cousins, died Saturdayat home. The cause of his death wasa heroin overdose, his family said.Mr. Crupi lived his entire life in GreatKills. He attended DeVry TechnicalSchool, Woodbridge, NJ, and workedfor his family’s auto body shop,Barry’s Auto Body, in his home com-munity. He was learning to do bodywork and paint preparation. “He wasvery good at it,’’ his family said. Herson had a personality that was im-possible to miss, his mother said.“When he walked into a room, thewhole room lit up,’’ she said. “Whenhe was younger, we called him ‘themayor.’ He commanded attention. Hehad such a smile, you just couldn’thelp but smile, too.’’ Mrs. Crupi saidher family had fought a long battlewith addiction, right alongside herson, and she wants others to knowthat his death was caused by addic-tion. “We’ve been battling this foryears; it’s been a long, long fight,’’she said. “Everybody hides fromtelling the truth and I don’t think it’shealthy. Addiction is a disease.”

Shop Apprentice, JohnathanCrupi, 21, of Great Kills, Dies

Armand J. Pomponio, a longtimeresident of Eastchester, died March23. He was 87. Pomponio was bornSept. 2, 1926, in Bronxville, to An-drew and Maria (Marrone) Pom-ponio. He was the owner ofCharlie’s Auto Body in Scarsdaleuntil his retirement. He served in theUnited States Army and was dis-charged in 1946.

Pomponio is survived by hiswife, Ruth A. Pomponio; andbrother, John Pomponio. He waspredeceased by his parents; firstwife, Elizabeth “Betty” Pomponio;brothers, Angelo and Charles Pom-ponio; and sisters, Nora Giannottiand Fay Seney.

In lieu of flowers, memorialdonations in Pomponio’s name maybe made to Food Bank For Westch-ester, 200 Clearbrook Road, Elms-ford, NY 10523.

Scarsdale, NY’s Armand J.Pomponio, 87, is Deceased

Lou Berman, vice president of salesfor Collision Care Auto Body Cen-ters in the greater Philadelphia area,has announced the MSO’s “Light ItUp Blue” campaign for Louie’sVoice, an autism awareness organi-zation. Louie’s Voice is a registered501c3 non-profit created to benefitand improve the lives of those af-fected by and living with autism. Allsix Collision Care Auto Body Cen-ters will have their exterior lightschanged to blue for the month ofApril, and various car dealerships,parts partners and the famed PenroseDiner also will be taking part.Berman established Louie’s Voice in2011 in honor of his son, who is theorganization’s namesake. As a singlefather, he got off of welfare, foughthis way back into the working worldand advocated for his son in the ed-ucation and medical fields. Louie’sVoice, with the help of main sponsorCollision Care Auto Body Centers,has raised and given away thousandsof dollars over the past few years todeserving families struggling withthe day-to-day challenges of autism.

More information is availableat www.louiesvoice.com, and alsowww.collisioncareabc.com.

Shop VP, Lou Berman,Backs Autism Awareness Volunteer firefighters with the Dover

Fire Department were called to a fireinside a local automobile repairshop. The fire department began re-ceiving calls at 3:02 p.m. April 19,said spokesman Mike O’Connor.Crews arrived at the East Coast AutoBody shop, located at 216 South St.,to find flames coming from the roofof the two-story building. Three en-gines and two ladder trucks arrivedon scene, while the crew of one fireengine stretched hoses inside thebuilding in an effort to keep the firecontained to a paint room and theroof area above, O’Connor said. Oneof the ladder truck’s crew worked tosuppress the fire on the roof, whileothers checked to ensure the fire hadnot spread to surrounding rooms orspaces between walls. Another crewsoaked down the paint room to en-sure the fire did not flare up agin, hesaid. Three vehicles were damagedin the blaze, but personnel on thescene were able to get a tow truckand two other vehicles out of thebuilding before fire crews arrived,O’Connor said. A crew from the De-partment of Natural Resources andEnvironmental Control took over tosecure chemicals in the shop,O’Connor said.

Dover, DE, Paint Room Fire

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Police are accusing the owners andemployees of an auto repair shop ofbeing involved in an insurance fraudscheme in relation to a truck thatburned more than two years ago. JayCoppo, 49, of Troy, NH, and JodiChampney, 44, of Winchester, ownJ & J Auto Body & Repair on SouthStreet in Troy. They were arrestedApril 11 along with employeeChristopher Pratt, 32, of Gilsumand former employee Craig Fields,31, of Swanzey, according to a newsrelease from N.H. State Police. Po-lice say the four were involved in in-tentionally burning a commercialwrecker at the auto shop in January2012 for the purpose of collecting in-surance money. The charges arearson, conspiracy to commit arson,insurance fraud and accomplice toinsurance fraud, according to thenews release. The release doesn’tspecify which of those charges eachperson faces, and the state police ser-geant overseeing the case wasn’tavailable Friday for comment. NHState Police troopers and officerswith the Cheshire County Sherriff’sOffice and Troy Police Departmentworked on the investigation, accord-ing to the news release.

Body Shop Said Involved inNH Insurance Fraud Scheme

A Bridgehampton man pleaded notguilty March 18 to a four-count in-dictment that upgraded charges in theChristmas Day slaying at a Medfordauto body shop. Brandon Davis, 19,was indicted on charges of first-de-gree murder and two counts of sec-ond-degree murder in the death ofTaleik Bristel, 19, at Whitestar MTR,Suffolk District Attorney ThomasSpota said in a news release. A grandjury also indicted him on first-degreeassault charges against one of threeother victims who were shot and sur-vived. Authorities said Davis had ahandgun when he and co-defendantsCesar Figueroa, 19, and TasheemCarter, 19, both of Mastic, held upfour people at the auto body shopabout 3:20 a.m. Dec. 25. They are ac-cused of demanding drugs andmoney, but the robbery turned fatal,with Bristel, of Patchogue, shot in theback of the head, two men in the backand a woman in the abdomen, policesaid. Davis' attorney, Paul Barahal ofSmithtown, said it was "absolutelynot accurate" that his client had a gun,because Davis was not there at thetime. Davis, arrested March 7, washeld on $1 million bond or $500,000cash bail.

Indictment Upgrades MurderCounts in Body Shop Case

A man was caught burglarizing a FiveTowns auto body shop, according toNassau County Police. A sargeant wasnear Ojay's Auto Body in NorthLawrence Sunday night when he sawa shattered glass door and man leavingthe building, cops reported. TimothyMcCullough, 45, of Inwood, report-edly kicked in the front door and re-moved multiple envelopes from deskdrawers. McCullough was arrested bythe sergeant at the scene. The incidenthappened April 6, at 11:45 p.m. He ischarged with third-degree burglary.

Five Towns, NY, Body ShopBurglar Arrested

Fire destroyed an auto body shop andfour vehicles inside it the morning ofMarch 25 in Rapho Township, PA.Damage was estimated at $345,000.The 4:30 a.m. blaze caused an esti-mated $345,000 damage to the Ken’sRestoration business at 2385Meadow View Road, MastersonvilleFire Chief Jeff Martin said. The 78-by-40-foot tin pole barn housing thebody shop was fully involved whenfirefighters arrived. “Fire was com-ing out everywhere, all sides,” thechief said. There were no other build-ings nearby, as the house is about 100feet away. Firefighters attacked theblaze, bringing it under control at5:27 a.m., Martin said. The roofcaved in, so they spent a few morehours putting out hot spots with thehelp of a trackhoe. Tankers suppliedwater to fight the fire, and a townshiprepresentative salted Meadow ViewRoad to prevent it from turning to ice,Martin said. No firefighters were in-jured but a Mastersonville Fire Com-pany firefighter was taken to thehospital for a medical evaluation. Theauto body shop had operated for 17years. “He lost everything,” Martinsaid of the owner of the business,Kenneth Youngeberg.

Fire Destroys Body Shop inNorthern Lancaster County

The Syracuse Fire Department wasdispatched to the fire just after 9 a.m.Syracuse police and Rural Metro Am-bulance were also on scene. K&CAuto Body Center is located at 1207Willis Ave. in Syracuse, near the in-tersection of Milton Avenue. Smokewas reported to be billowing from thebody shop, according to the 911 Dis-patch Center. 911 reported that every-one who had been in the building wasoutside and accounted for by the timefirefighters arrived.

K&C Auto Body in SyracuseDestroyed in March 22 Fire

The Alliance of Automotive ServiceProviders of New Jersey (AASP/NJ)and the Society of Collision RepairSpecialists (SCRS) co-sponsored theannual East Coast Resolution Forumand Leadership Meeting at the North-east Automotive Services Show in Se-caucus, NJ, on March 21, 2014. Seecover story this issue. Unlike previousyears when associations simply pre-sented their current news and eventsto the audience, the 2014 meeting wasset up in a roundtable format to allowfor more discussion amongst the ap-proximately 60 participants.

Jeff McDowell, President ofAASP/NJ, started the meeting by wel-coming everyone, and Aaron Schu-lenburg, executive director of SCRS,explained the goal of the new formatof the meeting was to “inspire goodconversation amongst participants.”Event moderator Ed Kizenberger,executive director of New York StateAuto Collision Technician (NYS-

ACT) and the Long Island Auto BodyRepairmen's Association (LIABRA),led the group in the Pledge of the Al-legiance before reading an Anti-TrustStatement.

Tony Ferraiolo, President of theAuto Body Association of Connecti-cut (ABAC) started the discussion byposing the question of whether OEMtraining is more valuable than I-CARGold Class status and whether I-CARcertification should be a part of themanufacturers’ required training. Thediscussion navigated a variety of per-spectives with common thoughts thatI-CAR fills some of the void beyondOEM training, and that there can bevalue to I-CAR’s Gold Class designa-tion, especially if I-CAR were recep-tive to addressing redundancies in

some of the requirements.Ferraiolo pointed out that some

manufacturers require I-CAR courseseven though shops and techniciansmay already have the training, and,because training is expensive and dif-ficult to obtain, he feels that it shouldbe a business decision each shopowner makes on his own as the I-CARtraining that is required often has noimpact on a shop’s day-to-day busi-ness. He suggests that shops should beable to pick and choose what isneeded for their facilities instead ofhaving the required courses dictated tothem. The issue presents itself morespecifically when certain OEMs re-quire that the Gold Class designationbe achieved to be recognized on theirprograms.

Also noting that some of the re-quired courses are redundant for ex-perienced technicians, Ferraioloobjects to what feels like a lack of op-tions, and he feels that shops need to

have choices about wherethey acquire training. Sev-eral attendees mentioned thatmore options may be avail-able in the near future,though more informationwas not explicitly elaboratedon about this possibility.Gene Lopez of I-CAR inter-jected that some courses maybe redundant to tenured em-ployees, but he noted that I-CAR has answered this

complaint in some cases with anequivalency test to measure core com-petency, adding “we have a form oftribal learning in this industry wherepeople learn from other people, andthat’s a good thing until the informa-tion being passed along is incorrect.”

As an example illustrating thetopic of discourse, Kizenbergerbrought up how everyone is beingconfronted by the new aluminum FordF-150, but though the aluminum de-sign has been in progress for quitesome time, it was only recently an-nounced to the collision repair indus-try. Kizenberger believes that bodyshops would be better prepared towork on the new aluminum body ifthe announcement had been made ear-lier to allow them time to acquire the

necessary training and equipment. AFord representative shared that themanufacturer has answers comingabout the process to deal with alu-minum and about how to get certifiedthrough Ford.

Calming the group in an unchar-acteristic manner, Tony Lombardozzi,president of Coalition for CollisionRepair Excellence (CCRE), pointedout that “this industry will adapt toFord and their aluminum vehicles inthe same way we have dealt with

every other crisis that has created apanic within the industry. Most shopshave always been able to do what’snecessary to live up to the challenge.”

Michael Bradshaw of K&M Col-lision in Hickory, NC, expressed his

adamant belief that shopsshould not allow insurers todictate the repair process.His shop sends a Notice ofDeficiency to insurers whodo not pay the full bill, andhe guesses that the bill getspaid 80–85 percent of thetime. For those who don’tpay him, he uses an Assign-ment of Proceeds to pursuethe remainder of the bill in

court.Larry Montanez of P&L Consult-

ants discussed his personal experi-ences with similar results asBradshaw’s process, but he warnedthat, from his experience, these shopsdidn’t really win money in their first


Resolution Forum & Leadership Meeting at Northeast™ 2014

Aaron Schulenberg of SCRS welcomed everyone to theResolution Forum & Leadership Meeting at Northeast 2014

Resolution Forum & Leadership Meeting featured a round-table format and filled up quickly

with Chasidy Rae SiskNortheast News

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].

case(s) because of fees, although itbenefited them in future cases. He alsoshared that the use of an Assignmentof Proceeds led to various investiga-tions, so it’s imperative to do a superbjob of keeping records if a shop optsto go this route.

Next, the question arose ofwhether these practices are becomingthe new normal, or if that is likely inthe future. Some felt it is definitelypossible with independent shops asmore and more people are lookinginto alternate options for getting prop-erly compensated. Lombardozziadded, “those shops who use the as-signment to litigate short pays willforce insurers to rethink their policyon that practice. The more shops thatwin in court, the more it will begin tochange insurers’ behavior.”

One attendee recounted how aConnecticut shop owner informed thejudge that pursuing litigation for shortpays is how he always does it, helpinghis shop prevail in the lawsuit by es-tablishing a standard for his businesspractices. This anecdote reinforced thebelief that consistency in dealing withthese issues is imperative if things aregoing to change. Charles Bryant, ex-ecutive director of AASP/NJ, noted

that shops have always buckled in thepast, but they cannot afford to do thatanymore: “it’s time to stand up!”

Connecticut attorney John Pareseemphasized the importance of em-powering attorneys with necessary in-

formation, explaining that though theshops are often right legally, they arefacing an opponent that’s smart andwell-funded. “Ultimately, you’re onthe right side; you just need to articu-late it well in court.” Another shopowner mentioned that it’s difficult forshops to change overnight, and themajority of shops do what they needto survive because they don’t reallycare, or don’t know where to start,

while the quality shops are trying todo the right thing for the consumerand also to get paid fairly.

After a short break, Kizenbergerintroduced the question of whether theindustry should institute a grading sys-tem for shops and, if so, who would dothe grading. Lombardozzi believesthere is a better way to solve this prob-lem than through legislation: “let thebad shops weed themselves out. Allowthe free market to dictate what we willdo.” Schulenburg contributed his fearthat in relation to state licensing pro-grams, such a system of regulating li-censed shops will become a simplemeans of revenue for the state, ratherthan doing what it’s intended to do toregulate non-licensed businesses.

Further commentary referencedthe uphill battle in helping the legisla-tors and consumers understand thevarying levels of repair businesses, es-pecially when the insurance industrytrivializes the level of investment andacumen necessary to work on today’svehicles.

One attendee referenced a senti-ment from Frank O’Brien, vice presi-dent of state governmental relationswith the Property Casualty InsurersAssociation of America, regarding the

pending legislation in Rhode Islandthat addresses shop grading; his com-ment was that “the legislation wouldessentially charge more for the ClassA shop with all the ‘fancy’ gear, eventhough the Class B shop could do thejob just as well for less money. Itwould be like requiring people to pay$10 more for a sirloin at one butchershop based on how the shop looks.”

When Kizenberger questionedwhether the industry should do some-thing to put them on a level with I-CAR Platinum recipients in light of thenew vehicles being released that mustbe repaired in a certain way, Lombar-dozzi argued that it’s impossible toreach a level playing field because allcars differ, and, furthermore, manu-facturer recommendations only matterso much because the vehicle owner isthe only one with the right to make de-cisions about the repair. Instead, he feltthat the group should be asking whatneeds to be done to change the indus-try for the better, indicating that the in-dustry itself needs to “address theproblems we have and realize that as-sociations have a place in this indus-try, but they can only go so far—it’s upto the repair people in the industry todetermine what we need, to look at the


CT attorney John Parese emphasizes theimportance of educating your attorneyson the collision repair industry

industry, and come up with solutionsto our problems. We have to investtime, money, and effort, but we cansolve this industry’s problems!”

Peter Abdelmaseh of SuperareAdvertising and Marketing Agency,Inc. in Belmont, MA, believes the in-dustry is “putting too much pressureon associations to solve these prob-lems” when the associations should befocused on bringing information tothe industry. Instead, he suggests thata possible solution may be found bylooking at the body of law and ques-tioning why each law pertaining to thecollision repair industry exists.

As an association leader, Kizen-berger feels that his duty is to act inthe best interest of the consumerwhich, in turn, allows him to betterrepresent the entire industry. Still, hebelieves each state should have a rep-resentative who understands thatstate’s laws because legislative aware-ness is vital. Furthermore, he pointsout that most people don’t even readtheir insurance policy, so it’s neces-sary to raise the level of awarenessand create understanding of what con-sumers should know.

Referencing the recently-defeatedMaryland Parts Bill, Barry Dorn of the

Washington Metropolitan Auto BodyAssociation (WMABA) asked if thereis any advantage to introducing well-crafted legislation. Discussion sur-rounding the merits of legislativeinitiatives bounced back and forth.Lombardozzi interjected with the re-minder specific to that piece of legis-lation that no one can dictate the useof aftermarket parts because the shopassumes liability for the repair, and,similarly, insurance companies cannotforce shops to use specific vendors un-less the shop allows it.

Schulenburg noted that con-sumers need laws to protect themfrom their insurance policies, andLombardozzi agreed that the collisionrepair industry is fighting the con-sumers’ battle, which is difficult be-cause the shop is not a named insuredon the policy and the insurance indus-try is much better-funded. Bradshawagreed that it’s imperative to focus onthe consumer safety issue because,until then, complaints fall on deaf earswith legislators.

Another conversation ensuedabout the fact that recalls on aftermar-ket parts aren’t as closely monitoredas OEM recalls, creating a safety issuewhen shops are unable to locate vehi-

cles that have been fitted with recalledaftermarket parts. Ferraiolo circledback to the importance of educatingconsumers so they can fight their ownbattles, mentioning the current ABACcampaign to educate consumers.

Wrapping up the meeting, Bryantnoted that he has seen a recent in-crease in steering by insurers refusingto inspect vehicles in a timely mannerif they aren’t taken to a DRP shop, orby refusing to respond to an inde-pendent shop’s supplement forms.The general consensus amongst thegroup was that this issue has been oc-curring in other states as well. Bryantbelieves these types of issues shouldbe addressed when they first occur be-cause “it’s up to us to change the prob-lems that are out there!”


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An Inwood man was arrested lateApril 6 for breaking into a NorthLawrence auto body shop, after po-lice saw him leaving the building,Nassau police said. According to po-lice, Timothy McCullough, 45, of86 St. George Place, kicked in thefront door of Ojay's Auto Body, lo-cated at 259 Burnside Ave., at about11:45 p.m. Police said while McCul-lough was inside, he went throughseveral desk drawers and removedseveral envelopes. Police said the pa-pers inside the envelopes did not haveany monetary value. A NassauCounty police sergeant saw the shop'sshattered door and saw McCulloughleaving the building, and placed Mc-Cullough under arrest without inci-dent, police said. The defendant isbeing charged with Burglary 3rd De-gree and was arraigned on April 7,2014 at First District Court, Hemp-stead.

Inwood, NY, Man Charged inAuto Body Shop Burglary




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PPG and Pennsylvania College of Technology ExtendLongtime Collision-Repair PartnershipPPG Industries Inc., a generous sup-porter of the Pennsylvania College ofTechnology Collision Repair Programwell before it moved into new instruc-tional space in 2003, has renewed itsdecades-long commitment to studentsand faculty alike.

Corporate and college representa-tives recently signed a five-year extensionof an agreement that predates the reloca-tion to College Avenue Labs, for whichPPG provided a paint-mixing booth andsubstantial equipment to ensure that stu-dents working toward an associate degreein collision repair—and those in the two-year automotive restoration technologymajor that has since been added—havethe latest tools with which to work.

“PPG has been a longtime sup-porter of Penn College and an industryleader in its support of education,” saidColin W. Williamson, dean of trans-portation and natural resources tech-nologies. “We are proud to continue thetradition.”

Highlights of the renewed agree-ment include providing products forinstructional use, assisting with cur-riculum development, training colli-sion repair faculty, and providing PPGTraining instructor guidance basedupon availability. Penn College willoffer access to the paint booth andmixing room for PPG corporate train-

ing purposes when available.In addition to providing equipment,

supplies, and hands-on expertise to PennCollege for nearly 30 years, PPG has part-nered with faculty and students for astudy-abroad initiative in Italy.

“We’re very grateful to PPG forcontinuing its long-standing relation-ship with Penn College,” said Debra M.Miller, director of corporate relations.“Its generosity in providing materialsand expertise, along with training andtravel opportunities, helps ensure thatour students and faculty keep up withthe newest developments in the auto-re-finishing industry.”

For more information, visit:www.pct.edu/schools/tnrt/collision andwww.ppg.com.

California’s InsuranceCommissioner Dave Jonestalks to Autobody News aboutthe State of the Industry andthe future

by Ed Attanasio

California’s Insurance Commissioner David Jones was elected on November 2,2010 with 4.7 million votes. He leads the California Department of Insurance (CDI),the largest consumer protection agency in the state, which regulates the state’s$123 billion insurance industry. We recently sat down with Jones to find out what’she’s achieved in the collision industry and what’s he’s learned since getting elected.

You can read the full article online at Autobodynews.com, by searching DaveJones.

Autobody News endorses Jones for re-election. He has been one of the mosteffective and reliable Insurance Commissioner’s in the country’s largest market.Collision repairers nationwide would do well to support a local candidate like Jones.

NY Body Shop Owners Face Tax Fraud ChargesThe current and former owners of aNew Hyde Park auto body shop werecharged Tuesday with underreportinggross salaries to avoid taxes, accord-ing to Dan O’Regan reporting in the-islandnow.com.

Nassau County District AttorneyKathleen Rice said GerardLosquadro of Garden City, the formerowner of New Hyde Park Auto BodyWorks, and current owner CharlesDiMarino of East Norwich were ar-rested and arraigned on charges thatthey failed to remit sales tax collectedfrom customers to the New YorkState Department of Taxation and Fi-nance.

The alleged frauds took placebetween Sept. 1, 2009, and May 31,2013, and resulted in the auto bodyshop owners pocketing roughly$150,000 that should have gone to the

state, according to Rice. The two menwere “significantly underreportinggross sales,” Rice said in a statement.

Losquadro, the former owner,was the responsible party for NewHyde Park Auto Body Works fromSeptember 2009 to December 2010,Rice said. During that time, he al-legedly failed to remit $27,588.39 ofcollected sales tax.

DiMarino, the current owner, al-legedly failed to remit $122,348.26 incollected sales tax since January2011.

Both defendants face multiplecounts of grand larceny, offering afalse instrument for filing and crimi-nal tax fraud. After arraignment, theywere released on their own recogni-zance and are due back in court laterthis month, according to Rice’s of-fice.

Man Crashes into Rochester, NY, Body Shop BuildingPolice say a 22-year-old man is beingtreated for injuries suffered when hewas shot outside a Rochester bar andthe minivan he was in crashed into anauto repair business while fleeing thescene on March 28. Officials tell localmedia that officers were called to theCaptain's Attic Bar around 2 a.m. forreports of shots fired. Police say a vanand a car were spotted speeding away

from the scene. The van was foundnearby after it had crashed into abuilding housing Alliance Collision,an auto body repair shop. Thewounded man in the van was taken toRochester General Hospital, wherehe's being treated for non- life-threat-ening injuries. Police say they have aperson in custody, but the investiga-tion is continuing.

William D. Stevenson Jr., 68, of Georgetown PassesWilliam D. “Bill” Stevenson Jr., 68,of Georgetown, passed awayWednesday, April 9, 2014, at home.Bill was the owner and operator ofBill Stevenson Auto Body in George-town for over 20 years. He enjoyedsports, especially baseball, which hegrew up playing in Georgetown andenjoyed watching over the years. Healso enjoyed watching Westerns,

restoring and collecting old Chevypick-up trucks. He had also served inthe National Guard. Bill was pre-ceded in death by his parents,William D. Sr. and Sara (Short)Stevenson; and two brothers, Richardand Tom Stevenson. In lieu of flow-ers, contributions can be made toDelaware Hospice, 100 Patriots Way,Milford, DE 19963.

Colin W. Williamson (left), dean of Penn CollegeSchool of Transportation & Natural ResourcesTechnologies, and Todd Warren, PPG territorymanager, affirm their ongoing partnership out-side a College Avenue Labs paint-mixing room

The Auto Body Association of Con-necticut (ABAC) quarterly meetingwas held on March 18, 2014, at theCountry House Restaurant in NewHaven, CT. Encouragingly, the meet-ing was well-attended with a packedhouse of ABAC members, shop own-ers, and managers gathered for an ed-ucational evening.

After calling the meeting to order,ABAC president Tony Ferraiolo ex-

pressed gratitude tothe sponsors whomade the eveningpossible, which in-cluded the AlbertKemperle Organi-zation, RichardChevrolet, Bishop’sAuto Parts, and En-

vironmental Risk Services. CreditingDave Fogarty for the recent ConsumerAlert Bulletin that was distributed to at-tendees and will be provided in theABAC newsletter, Ferraiolo reinforced

the importance of using the bulletin toaid and educate consumers.

The first presenter at the meetingwas Rob Rainwater, general manager

at Bishop’s UsedAuto Parts, whodiscussed the ex-clusive ABAC dis-count that allowsABAC membersto receive 10 per-cent off all in-voices at the time

of delivery. Rainwater also detailedthe other benefits of purchasing partsfrom his company, a member of thePremium Recycled Parts Network, in-cluding reduced cycle time, no sup-plements, rental car services, quoteguarantees, and no-hassle return pol-icy. Bishop’s Used Auto Parts also of-fers a 24-hour turnaround on theirre-manufactured products.

Ferraiolo next provided updateson some current ABAC projects, dis-

cussing initiatives on the Hartford,CT, lawsuit, the Progressive lawsuit,and the LKQ wheel recall, before in-troducing the evening’s main speakerLarry Montanez, education and train-ing advisor for P&L Consultants.

Montanez’s presentation coveredthe following topics: Materials, Mate-rial Sciences, and the Future; Non-In-cluded Forgettable Procedures alongwith Advanced Estimating Proce-dures; Estimating Case Studies; and

How to ProveWhy It Is What ItIs. He delved intothe differences be-tween standard,high-strength, andultra-high-strengthsteels, as well asthe necessary pre-

cautions when working with steel andAdvanced Compatibility Engineering(ACE) Crash Management.

Speaking on “Understanding In-

dustry Training,” Montanez identifiedvo-tech schools as where a collision re-pair education begins, while third-partytraining programs provide ongoingtraining. Specific information can beacquired through OEM training, andthe OEM Welding Certification can beseen as “the ultimate test of skill.”

Because of time constraints andthe tremendous amount of useful in-formation that had been prepared,Montanez was unable to conclude hispresentation, but ABAC has invitedhim to resume the remaining portionof this vital information at their nextmeetingon Tuesday, May 20, 2014.

For more information aboutABAC, visit www.abaconn.com.


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ABAC Hosts Larry Montanez of P&L Consulting at March 18 Meeting

Rob Rainwater

Larry MontanezTony Ferraiolo





PartsTrader has announced the com-pletion of the national deployment ofits parts procurement platform whichbegan in August 2013, according to apress release dated April 23.

As of April 17, 2014 collision re-pairers and parts suppliers are activeon the system in all 48 continentalstates and the District of Columbia.Throughout the initial pilot and sub-sequent rollout stage of the program,full adoption and use of the systemhas continued to grow each month.There are currently over 7,500 repair-ers and 8,500 suppliers active on thePartsTrader system. Of the active sup-pliers, over 75 percent are OEM deal-ers.

“A dedicated field presence ineach new market by knowledgeablePartsTrader staff has been a big help inassisting our customers adapt to a newparts purchasing process,” said DaleSailer, PartsTrader’s Vice President ofBusiness Development. “Our fieldstaff has focused most of their effort ontraining users and listening - bringingsuggestions for new functionality andintegration back to the product teamthat have increased our value to users

with each new release.” Since launch-ing its initial pilot product 25 monthsago, PartsTrader has processed over750,000 quote requests, with an aver-age response time from suppliers ofless than 15 minutes. These quote re-quests have generated over 1,000,000confirmed parts orders.

PartsTrader says it has remainedcommitted to its primary objective: toprovide a platform that positions re-pairers at the center of the parts pro-curement process.

Repairers choose which OEMdealers they invite to quote. Repairerschoose who to order from after consid-ering quality, service, delivery time,part types, the reputation of the suppli-ers, and price. Repairers choose whento order (the need may be so urgent thatthere is not enough time to seek com-petitive quotes.) All suppliers are giventhe same equal opportunity to competefor a repairer’s business.

Insurers do not have access to arepairer’s buy prices, other than for re-cycled parts, as they do today.

“Our core application is now verydifferent from when we started overtwo years ago,” said Rob Cooper,

PartsTrader CEO. “We are committedto giving repairers and suppliers aproduct of choice by continuing toadapt it to their changing needs. Ear-lier this year we introduced the indus-try’s first system for tracking two-wayrepairer and supplier performancefeedback. For example, repairers nowhave the ability to rate suppliers basedon service and quality of the parts de-livered. This ensures that each partycan make a fully informed businessdecision before placing or respondingto an order. Most recently, we’ve en-hanced vehicle mapping capabilitiesand improved integration with the es-timating systems, and have manymore exciting features on the nearterm horizon.”

Driven by customer feedback andthe increasing industry adoption rate,PartsTrader is available to all repairersand suppliers across the country, re-gardless of any Direct Repair Program(DRP) affiliation. Everyone can nowbenefit from robust and customizableparts procurement system. Repairersinterested in utilizing PartsTrader forefficient procurement can register theirinterest on the PartsTrader website and

be up-and-running in the same busi-ness day, if desired.

Suppliers who are interested inreaching parts buyers through thePartsTrader marketplace must benominated by a participating collisionrepairer within the application. Oncenominated, these suppliers can be upand running on a same day basis aswell.

“We’re excited about transitioninginto the next phase of service for ourcurrent and future customers,” saidSailer. “One of the things we’ve beenpleased to see is the growing numberof repairers who have achieved processimprovements and are now using oursystem for all their parts procurementneeds, not just those related to a spe-cific insurance company.”

To learn more about PartsTrader,or to register for an informational we-binar, visit www.partstrader.us.com.


PartsTrader Completes National Rollout, Now Available in All States

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Polak, Goodsell, MacNeill, andStrauchler, PA (PPGMS); and JoshuaS. Bauchner of Ansell, Grimm, andAaron, PC.

After AASP/NJ president JeffMcDowell welcomed attendees andKizenberger read the “Anti-TrustStatement,” Dorn began the discus-sion by noting that PartsTrader has

been in effect in his market for ap-proximately two months and has had asignificant impact on shops and ven-dors, especially on the administrativeaspect of their work. He explained thatafter writing the estimate, the shopsubmits a list of needed parts to theirvendors and waits for the estimate,which should be received within anhour. The response may involve or-dering four parts from four differentvendors, and it’s causing quite a bit ofconfusion since shops cannot order allof the parts from their normal vendors.

Because many local vendorssigned up for PartsTrader, Dorn has-n’t experienced frequent delays orproblems with returns. When an at-tendee asked if the shop mustaccept the least expensivebid—implying that the in-surer only implemented theprogram to exert more con-trol over the repair process—Dorn deflected the debateregarding the program’s meritby explaining that the shopchooses the aftermarket partbased on quality and SLAtime.

Noting that he hasn’t heard of asingle shop that thinks PartsTrader is agood thing, Kizenberger pointed outthat the problem with any parts pro-curement system is its mandated use,indicating that State Farm shouldallow PartsTrader to stand on its owntwo feet, rather than requiring Select

Service shops to use it and extortingparts vendors with the threat of losingbusiness if they don’t sign up for theprogram.

One attendee pointed out thatthough the mandate is currently spe-cific only to Select Service shops,State Farm has only begun withintheir network because that’s wherethey can exert the most coercion andinfluence, and he believes the trendwill expand to other carriers in thenear future. Those attendees withshops where PartsTrader has been im-plemented disagreed with the StateFarm claim that it improves effi-ciency, estimating that the administra-tive duties associated with theprogram take twice as much time asbefore. Shop owners also object tobeing unable to use the same vendorsthey’ve developed relationships withover many years.

Additionally, Elder mentionedthat he has heard complaints from sev-eral non-DRP shops that have experi-enced delays from vendors that are toobusy dealing with PartsTrader to serv-ice their normal customers. Though noshops have come forward claimingthat PartsTrader is good for their busi-ness, the State Farm free trial periodlures shops and vendors in, and thisbehavior of using the system becomesstandard practice. A shop owner fromMississippi proudly announced that hewithdrew from the State Farm DRPbecause he owes it to his customers touse the best available parts.

The group proceeded to discussways to alleviate the mandated use ofthe PartsTrader program, such as in-junctive relief and other legislative ac-tions. Attendees expressed particularconcern with the fact that the 1963

Consent Decree is not being enforced.The overall consensus was that thecollision repair industry needs to showhow the mandated use of PartsTraderimpacts consumer safety to get thefederal government involved, andBauchner noted that “we have to starta fire to get the government’s atten-

tion,” suggesting that the best methodfor doing so is to get consumer groupsinvolved.

Because DRPs are voluntary, themain response to those objecting tomandated parts procurement is to re-move themselves from the program.This led to a conversation aboutwhether the lack of work resultingfrom leaving the DRP proves steeringand how this is connected to anti-com-petition laws. The group discussed theinflux of MSOs and what that meansfor independent shops as well, but, asthe seminar concluded, the mostprevalent attitude among attendeesseemed to be “the longer you stay onthis program, the faster you’re goingto kill your future.”

Ford 2015 F-150 Collision RepairSupport Plan DemonstrationsOver the course of the weekend, Fordheld several demonstrations and meet-ings regarding their 2015 F-150 Colli-sion Repair Support Plan. The demofocused on the ease of repairability forthe new design, which is intended tobe tougher, smarter, and more capablewith its military-grade aluminumbody and high-strength steel frame.The aluminum body reduces the

truck’s weight by up to 700 pounds,which, in conjunction with increasingthe use of high-strength steel by 77percent, creates a lighter but strongervehicle. The demonstration alsoserved to highlight the new class-ex-clusive technology that has been usedand the gains in fuel economy throughthe introduction of smaller displace-ment engines.

Ford representatives also dis-cussed the manufacturer’s supportplan, which includes an enhancedworkshop manual, instruction sheets,training courses, and a list of the spe-cific tools and equipment necessary torepair the new F-150. Aluminum issimilar to steel and will require mostof the same tools, but Ford recom-mends a second set of tools and equip-ment that can be dedicated toaluminum repairs to avoid steel con-tamination. The Ford representativesemphasized that repairing these vehi-cles will be different, but not more dif-ficult. They also lauded the variety ofrepairability options that will savemany vehicles from being declaredtotal losses.

Throughout the designingprocess, Ford has been working withseveral insurers to ensure they are


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Barry Dorn details how PartsTrader hasimpacted his business

Douglas Sherman and Mitch Portnoi share some advice onbuying and selling businesses

Continued from Cover

Northeast Trade Show

being trained on the proper repairtechniques and that they have the cor-rect cost information to keep repaircosts down and standards high. In ad-dition to developing instructionsheets, Ford ias developed an onlinetraining course and is also collaborat-ing with I-CAR to offer trainingcourses specific to repairing these alu-minum F-150s. Ford plans to attendtrade shows throughout the country—including the Collision Industry Con-ference (CIC) in April 2014,International Autobody Congress andExposition (NACE) in July 2014, andthe Specialty Equipment Market As-sociation (SEMA) Show in November2014—to disseminate this informationthroughout the industry.

Tactically Lean: Connecting the DotsBetween High-Minded Concepts andReal-World ResultsLee V. Rush, manager of businessconsulting services for Sherwin-Williams, presented “Tactically Lean:Connecting the Dots Between High-Minded Concepts and Real-World Re-sults,” a seminar intended to alter theway the industry views the term‘lean.’ Rush’s approach was devel-oped with collision repairers for colli-

sion repairers, and one of the myster-ies of the lean concept is that thoughmany shops attempt to go lean, fewsucceed. While the industry has ex-plored this idea for decades, not muchhas changed in the industry becausethere is frequently a disconnect be-tween the architects of lean programsand the shop floor. Rush stressed that“lean is a way of thinking about howyou operate!”

Though Rush did not explorespecific strategies in depth, he ex-plained that lean is a set of concepts,principles, and tools used to create themost value for customers while con-suming the fewest overall resources,and it is effective for any business that

supplies a product or service. The leanstrategy is all about changing theprocess to consistently deliver theright results.

To make the lean concept workfor them, shops must standardize theirwork and stabilize their process, but ashop can’t just flip a switch and golean—they have to be strategic aboutimplementing the process. “It’s a jour-ney,” Rush explains. “By connectingthe dots, we improve operational per-formance through the use of lean toolswith the longer term goal of becominga lean shop.”

Because shop owners are alreadyrunning successful businesses, there isa stigma about how the lean conceptis viewed, so it’s imperative to changethe way you think to reach the desiredoutcome of increased productivity andprofitability. Rush insists there are twokillers of the lean process: inaccuraterepair orders and not having the cor-rect parts.

The process begins with a 100percent accurate repair order in the be-ginning stages of the repair as this willreduce the amount of supplementsneeded and the overall repair time. Hebelieves this is best achieved by dedi-cating one specific employee and area

to the damage analysis piece of the re-pair, and completing this process in itsentirety upfront allows for shortercycle times. Shops are already disas-sembling the vehicles, but doing it atthe beginning of the process, ratherthan over the course of several days,allows for an accurate repair order thefirst time around.

The other process that shopsshould implement is checking all partsfor correctness to ensure you’re readyfor the repair, and Rush recommendsmirror matching to ensure you havethe right parts and to allow you to dis-cover problems in advance. In closing,he encouraged attendees to standard-ize their processes by finding the onebest way to perform a task and makingthat the standard upon which to im-prove.

Business Continuation Planning:Inside Buying or Selling a BusinessMitchell Portnoi, Esq. and Douglas J.Sherman, Esq., from PPGMS pre-sented “Business Continuation Plan-ning: Inside Buying or Selling aBusiness.” Portnoi, a litigation attor-ney, gets involved when there areproblems with a contract or agree-ment, but because litigation is such a


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John Niechowiadowicz talks about “UnleashingYour Secret Power” by tracking the 5 mostimportant KPIs

huge expense for small businesses,business owners want to avoid poten-tial litigation (“an ounce of preventionis worth a pound of cure”), and this iswhere Sherman, a specialist in trans-actions, comes in. Even the best con-tracts can result in parties disagreeingon key terms, so using a transactionattorney is imperative, according toPortnoi.

Sherman works with those buy-ing and selling businesses, and he pro-vided advice on the process. The mostimportant step is to get your team to-gether at the very beginning, includ-ing your attorney and your accountantas you need to know how much thebusiness is worth. Begin by having anattorney draft a letter of intent to ne-gotiate the key business terms of thedeal (this letter is non-binding so ei-ther party can still walk away at thispoint if they are not satisfied). Forfamily transfers, each individualshould hire separate attorneys to avoida conflict of interest and to ensure thatboth sides are adequately representedand protected.

Portnoi and Sherman also dis-cussed the benefits of buying thebusiness under a company name toprotect the owner’s personal assets

and interests; establishing a companythat owns the assets shields the busi-ness owner from liability so that ifthey are sued, their other assets can-not be lost. Sherman recommends aLimited Liability Company (LLC) toavoid double taxation, though a trans-fer tax does apply. If the business andland are both being purchased, eachshould be placed in separate LLCs toprovide the best protection from lia-bility issues.

After acquiring the letter of in-tent, the next step is to obtain a signedcontract. There are two ways to sell abusiness: an asset purchase agreementor a stock transfer. Sherman recom-mends the former as it includes the ac-quisition of clients, permits/licenses,and equipment as well as the businessname and brand because you’re buy-ing the business in its entirety. Oncethe business is transferred, the assetpurchase agreement provides a firmseparation between the buyer andseller.

In contrast, with a stock trans-fer, the buyer takes on the businessas is, and though it sounds easier, it’snot the best idea from a liabilitystandpoint because the buyer is nowstepping into the seller’s shoes and

assuming any issues that may arise.Regardless of the route you choose,Sherman stresses the importance ofincluding indemnities and other pro-visions in the contract to ensure thatthe buyer continues to run the busi-ness in the same manner as prior tothe sale, which will contribute to asmooth transition.

The contract should also includeconfidentiality provisions, a non-com-petition clause, and a due diligenceperiod to allow the buyer at least onemonth to ensure that they are gettingwhat they expect. Be sure to researchthe business and property to be certainthat you are not acquiring any liens,and, if there are any environmental is-sues, make sure the seller handlesthose problems before you assume re-sponsibility for the business; theseconditions can also be included inyour contract.

Unleashing Your Secret Power:Key Performance IndicatorsJohn Niechowiadowicz of QLC, Inc.and Jerry McNee of Ultimate Colli-sion in Edison, NJ, presented “Un-leashing Your Secret Power.” For shopowners interested in improving theirbusinesses, the powerful information

at their disposal that’s not being fullyused is key performance indicators(KPIs), which allow shops to tracktheir performance and compare it toindustry benchmarks.

Niechwiadowicz believes thattracking your KPIs is the first step toidentifying the biggest areas of oppor-tunity and creating action plans to im-prove your business. In addition toimproving your negotiating position,tracking KPIs is motivational for youand your employees! The best way toimprove something is to measure it,while not tracking your KPIs can limityour success; Niechwiadowicz insists“you owe it to yourself, your team,your families, and the industry to trackyour KPIs and be as successful as youcan be!”

Niechwiadowicz advised atten-dees to review how each KPI is calcu-lated, where the information can beobtained, and what the top performersachieve. Next, you must transformthat KPI from a number into an oper-ational action plan and, most impor-tantly, get motivated to improve yourbusiness by tracking and acting onyour KPIs. He focused on the top fiveKPIs that should be tracked:


See Northeast Trade Show, Page 22

more than three decades; Ford soldmore than 700,000 F-150 pick-ups lastyear alone.

“The goal is to have enough ca-pacity to be able to handle the F-150,”Massie said. “We know that roughly80 percent of our customers are goingto independent body shops. Less than50 percent of our dealerships evenhave a body shops. Of those that havebody shops, probably about 800 arereally in really in the collision busi-ness. We realize we cannot have amainstream repair process (for the F-150) if we were to direct all our cus-tomers only to our dealers.”

Massie reiterated that Ford will notbe limiting sale of replacement parts forthe new F-150 only to network shops.

“You can’t mainstream some-thing if you’re restricting the partssales,” he said.

Network requirementsBut to qualify for the network and list-ing on Ford’s shop locator, Massiesaid, an independent shop must benominated by a Ford dealer. Ford deal-

ers without a body shop will likelynominate the shop(s) to which it referscollision repair work, Massie said, andother shops may be nominated by thedealer from which they buy wholesaleparts. Although the automaker is plac-ing few limits on the number of shopsa dealer may nominate nor the distancefrom a dealer an independent shopmust be to participate, Massie ac-knowledged getting the right numberof shops in the right locations is the“tricky” or “touchy piece of the wholeidea of recognizing independents.”

“It’s really difficult for us to bringin independent body shops but say wedon’t want you within 5 or 10 or 50miles of a dealership,” Massie said.“This is more about being consumer-centric.”

Massie said as the program growsover time, there may be issues the au-tomaker needs to address in some mar-kets if, for example, a dealer is resistingbringing enough independent shopsinto the program. But Massie said thosewho sell the vehicle know it’s not intheir best interest to tell a customer theywill have to wait long or go far to get itfixed.

“To the top of the house at FordMotor Company, they recognize that

we need to have independents in-volved,” Massie said.

The initial requirements to join arefocused on more general repair, Massiesaid, but to remain in the program in2015, a shop must be “aluminum capa-ble,” including having an area sepa-rated off (by curtains or walls) foraluminum work. A specific self-pierc-ing rivet gun is currently required(though Ford representatives said asecond brand may soon be approved)but otherwise the required equipmentlist allows for multiple brands or mod-els as long as they meet the requiredspecifications. The list includes an alu-minum MIG welding system, a set ofhand and power tools dedicated to alu-minum work, and aluminum dent anddust extraction systems.

One online Ford training courseand two specific I-CAR training coursesand welding certification are required.Shops are only required to have onetechnician trained, Massie said, but thegoal is to train anyone repairing the F-150.

In addition to about 800 Forddealership shops, the automaker wantsto add about 750 independent shopsthis year and each of the next twoyears for a total of about 3,000 shops

in the program by the end of 2016.The program is being adminis-

tered by Assured Performance, whichsaid the $2,950 annual fee can enablequalifying shops to participate inChrysler and Nissan’s shop certifica-tion programs as well. There is an an-nual audit process to ensure a shop inthe program still qualifies.

Massie said independent shopswith a Ford dealer sponsor can getmore information about the programby calling (949) 221-0010 or visitingwww.fordcertifiedshop.com.

Is Ford planning for more use ofaluminum in its vehicles that will helpimprove the return on investment for ashop becoming aluminum-capable?

“Ford doesn’t speak about fu-ture vehicle programs, but you cansee where the fuel economy has to beby 2025, so I think it’s fair to assumethere will be more in the future,”Massie said.

Repairability addressedFord representatives at CIC continuedthe automaker’s efforts to ensure dealers,collision repairers and insurers that F-150 design engineers kept repairabilityin mind when developing the vehicle.


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● Average repair order (RO): Youcan impact your average RO by tak-ing estimating classes and using avail-able information, but the best way isto ensure an accurate, complete ROby performing a complete tear-downand writing a thorough blueprint at thebeginning of the repair process.● Total sales: Improve total sales bytracking them accurately and settinggoals to ensure your employees un-derstand the importance of sales.● Labor efficiency: Track labor effi-ciency as it is beneficial for everyonewhen efficiency increases.● Total gross profit: Of course, it’sdifficult to improve your businesswithout discussing your bottom line,and focusing on the following cate-gories will aid in impacting your total

gross profit: labor, parts, paint andmaterials, and sublet. Monitoringthese factors will help you maintainfocus on the significant and beneficialimpact it can have on your entireteam’s lives.● Touch time: Improve touch timeby eliminating inefficiencies in therepair process and focusing on any-thing that causes repairs to start andstop. Improving touch time will pos-itively impact sales, profitability, pro-ductivity, customer satisfaction, yourworking environment, and even thepersonal lives of your employees andyourself!

Niechwiadowicz concluded with thereminder that “the first step towardimprovement is to track your num-bers.”

Learn more about the AASP/NJ2014 Northeast Automotive ServicesShow at www.aaspnjnortheast.com.

Continued from Page 21

Northeast Trade Show

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MI Collision Repair Student Sierra Lantz is Learning Repair but toward a Racing CareerWhat started with racing her go kartsand snowmobiles has turned into a fulltime dream come true for SierraLantz, a student in the Auto CollisionRepair program at the Tech Center.The recent class project: her own 1989Mustang which she’ll race at the Kala-mazoo Speedway for the summer sea-son.

“I want to go as far as I can,” saidLantz about her future. “I like Indi carsbut I will race anything.”

Sierra’s upgrade to full sized carsbegan with racing a four cylinderHonda Civic for a year and a half at theBerlin Raceway. “We run a tightbudget so we race what we can,” shesaid. Sierra is excited to be switchingcars, and raceways this year. “I likeFords and have always wanted a Mus-tang. Now I have one.”

“No one else in my family actuallyraces,” said Sierra, who completelyowns her passion for speeding throughfinish lines. She explained that her father

had been workingwith her to fix upcars and other ve-hicles for years, butracing was heridea.

Sierra wasappreciative thatthe Tech Centerhas helped hercontinue to learnabout cars. Notonly was it funto bring her owncar into class to

work on, but the facilities at the TechCenter made the final touches to thecar much easier, she said.

Now her Mustang, referred to ashe or she, depending on Sierra’smood, is a stunning black, pink andsilver. Not many high school studentscan boast having a vehicle similar totheir dream car before graduation.Sierra is close, admitting “Someday Iwant an all pink Mustang with blackracing stripes.”

The Tech Center provides reallife experiences in 24 different pro-grams, helping students explore ca-

reers, define career paths and realizetheir true passions. Along the way,they develop skills they can use in col-lege courses and when starting theircareers.

Sierra Lantz is excited to race hernew Mustang this summer (cr. Chris-tine Vanermeer)Sierra Lantz is excitedto race her new Mustang this summer(cr. Christine Vanermeer)

“The Auto Collision class givesgood fundamentals,” said Ken Vander-warf, a career specialist at KCTC. “Ithelps students determine if they wantto continue into an auto-related career.”

Sierra’s ambition goes far. “Weonly have one or two girls in class, andSierra can outdo most of the boys,”said Vanderwarf.

Sierra Lantz has had a racing passion for years

KCTC Sierra Lantz is planning some excitingracing for her Mustang this summer

Sierra Lantz withAuto Collision

program instructorCharles Heinz

(Credit: ChristineVanermeer)

ALLDATA LLC has enhanced itscore products, ALLDATA RepairS3000 and ALLDATA CollisionS3500 with a VIN Decoder. SaidALLDATA President, Jeff Lagges,“Anything we can do to help techni-cians save time and move vehiclesthrough faster will help shops in-crease revenue. So many of us atALLDATA have worked in the baysturning wrenches, so we understandwhat can make a positive differenceto a shop on a daily basis.” Enteringthe VIN into the system will auto-matically pull up the year, make,model and engine for the specific ve-hicle being worked on. This can helpsave time and frustration and helpensure the technician is working onthe correct vehicle-engine combina-tion. Further enhancements to ALL-DATA Repair S3000 and ALLDATACollision S3500 include easier scrollbar navigation and greater controlwhen displaying saved articles.These enhancements are in responseto direct feedback ALLDATA re-ceived from its customers. “Whilewe never stop researching and de-veloping new products, we are al-ways very aware of the product thatput us on the map,” said Lagges.

ALLDATA’s VIN Decoder HasBeen Enhanced

A shooting at a Colleton Countyauto body shop on March 14 leftone man dead and another seri-ously injured, officials said. Sev-eral people and multiple weaponswere involved, said Sheriff’s Of-fice spokeswoman Amye Stiven-der.

No shooting-related arrestshave been made, but Edward andJason Russell have been arrestedand charged with obstructing justicein Sheriff R.A. Strickland’s investi-gation, she said.

Sheriff’s deputies responded tothe scene in the 200 block of GodwinStreet where they found a man al-ready dead from his wounds, Stiven-der said.

Another man who was stillalive had gunshot wounds to theface. He was transferred by helicop-ter from Colleton Regional MedicalCenter to the Trauma Unit of theMedical University of South Car-olina, Stivender said.

Colleton County CoronerRichard Harvey identified the de-ceased as Daquawn Lawton, 22, ofSharon Drive. Harvey said Lawtondied of multiple gunshot wounds tothe upper torso.

Fatal Shooting At Colleton,SC, Auto Body Shop

The Georgia Collision Industry As-sociation (GCIA) March membermeeting was held at the DoubletreeHotel in Atlanta, GA, on March 20.After a catered dinner, attendees re-ceived valuable information fromthe two speakers. Reid Heiser ofMitchell International began by dis-cussing their RMC Paint and Mate-rial calculator. GCIA executivedirector Howard Batchelor re-counts, “he mentioned that this typeof invoicing can help overcomepaint and material thresholds, and itcan also help you get paid on spe-cial colors that the typical refinishhour times material rates don’t ac-count for.” Bob Winn from Enter-prise Rent-A-Car discussed severalARMs reports that should be re-viewed on a daily basis. In particu-lar, Batchelor notes, “the LOR(Length of Rental) report is veryimportant in tracking your cycletime.” According to Batchelor, themeeting “went very well. I believeattendees found value in the presen-tations. These meetings help shopsbe better prepared to address issuesthat affect their businesses.”

For more information aboutGCIA, visit www.gcia.org.

GCIA’s Members Hosted TwoSpeakers at March Meeting

Larry Coan, Ford’s damageabil-ity product concern engineer, said thenew F-150’s high-strength steel framewill be sectionable.

“You’ll have the very front stub,the front third, and the rear third avail-able sections for service,” Coan said.“But we will also offer separatelyserviceable front lower control armmounting brackets. So if those aredamaged, they can be replaced sepa-rately from the frame.”

The inner and outer rocker panelsare sectionable (although the outerrocker on the crewcab model cannotbe sectioned). The mounting tab forthe B-pillar stops short of the roof,eliminating the need to remove or cutaccess in the roof. Two repair meth-ods —welding, or a rivet-bond proce-dure—are acceptable for floorpansectioning, Coan said. And every sheetmetal replacement part for the vehiclewill include an instruction sheet.

“It will detail all the procedures toR&R that part, or where to section thatpart, for parts that are sectionable,”Coan said. “It will detail the rivet pat-

terns, the glue, all the steps you need todo in order to service that part.”

Several repairers at CIC expressedconcern that Ford is not limiting struc-tural pulls on the vehicle as some Euro-

pean automakers doon aluminum-in-tensive vehicles.

“Is there a fearthat if we make apull on that bodystructure it willbreak the bondingagent on the other

side of the car,” Dusty Womble ofRoger Beasley Collision Center inAustin, Texas, asked.

Kye Yeung of European Motor CarWorks in Santa Ana, Calif., expressedsimilar concerns, noting that insurersmay presume shops can make structuralpulls on other aluminum vehicles.

“Is it because your aluminum ve-hicle is mounted on a steel frame,”Yeung asked.

“It is a big benefit to have thissteel frame underneath the truck,” TomGreen, Ford body and chassis com-modity manager, responded. “We’refinding with pulling that we’ll actuallytear or rip out the rivets before thebonding comes loose. So (pulling is al-

lowed) most likely because we havemore mechanical fasteners. But I re-ally can’t speak for the other OEMs.All we know is we’re able to pull it.We’ve tested it out and we know it’snot compromised.”

Massie agreed that shops nor in-surers should not presume that one au-tomaker’s guidelines apply to anotherautomaker’s vehicles.

“We all do things a little bit differ-ently,” Massie said. “Follow the proce-dures you are given and you should beokay.”

Ford will have a cut-away of thenew F-150 and more information avail-able for collision repairers at both NACE

in July in Detroit,and at SEMA in LasVegas in November.

John Yoswick, afreelance writerbased in Portland,Oregon, who hasbeen writing aboutthe automotive in-

dustry since 1988, is also the editor ofthe weekly CRASH Network (for afree 4-week trial subscription, visitwww.CrashNetwork.com). He can becontacted by email at:[email protected].


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Ford’s Plan

Larry Coan

Kye Yeung

Five robbers tied up the employeesof an auto body shop on Amboy Av-enue in Elizabeth, NJ, and stoleabout $250,000 worth of catalyticconverters on April 18, 2014. Offi-cials said they have arrested four sus-pects, but are looking for one more,who is considered heavily armed.

The suspects fled the scene atBayway Scrap Metals in two vehi-cles, a white U-Haul truck and ablack 2001 Ford F-150 pickup truck.

At least one of the suspects inthe U-Haul was caught after ditchingthe vehicle and fleeing on foot nearroutes 1 and 9. The Ford was foundabandoned on Clarkson Avenue.

Robbers Tie Up Auto BodyShop Employees and StealCatalytic Converters in NJ




p


Call for details!


by Krista Ramsey at Cincinnati.com

Tammy Grigsby of Covington is ec-static to be receiving free auto repairfrom skilled technicians. “This placeis like angels in heaven to me,” shesays.

After losing her job as a pastrychef in 2011, losing everything sheowned in an apartment fire the next yearand losing her unemployment benefitsthis year, Tammy no longer takes thingslike windshield wiper blades or air fil-ters for granted.

“You buy a quart of oil or some-thing for dinner – that’s where I amright now,” she says.

A few yards away from her, in thegarage of Walther Autobody in Coving-ton, a team of men in coveralls or flan-nel shirts and blue jeans is making sureTammy’s money goes toward dinner.

They’re part of the Samaritan CarCare Clinic, a ministry of the MadisonAvenue Christian Church in Coving-ton that four times a year provides freebasic car maintenance for people inneed. As they check the radiator fluid,replenish windshield wiper fluid,change the oil and add air to the tiresof Tammy’s 2004 Ford Taurus—whichshe bought six days before the restau-rant where she worked closed and just

paid off—the men know they’re doingmore than helping Tammy hold ontomoney for a meal. They’re helping herhold onto hope for a job.

“So many of the cars we see are ontheir last leg, but this is all they have todrive—it’s not like if something’swrong, they just hop into their othercar,” says Tom Seeger, a retired Cincin-nati Bell technician. “When the car’sdown, they don’t go to work.”

And at the entry-level jobs mosthold, if they don’t show up for work,they soon don’t have a job.

The car care program startednearly seven years ago after churchmembers noticed that many of the peo-ple—especially women—showing upfor free weekly dinners had seriousproblems with their cars. “From thework we do, we have a good feel for theneeds of the poor, and the biggest chal-lenge for the working poor is trans-portation,” the Rev. ChinnamuthuSimon says.

Simon turned to church memberBruce Kintner, a PNC Bank vicepresident with car maintenance skills,who came up with the idea of the clinicand recruited other volunteers, amongthem an accountant, graphic designer,nursing home orderly and claimsagent.

After they advertised the servicethrough Head Start programs and theWomen’s Crisis Center, six womenshowed up for the first clinic in 2007.

Ever since, as soon as the clinicsare announced, all 16 half-hour ap-pointment slots are filled immediately.Walther Autobody donates use of itsgarage. Ashland Inc. donates Valvolineoil. The Women’s Fund of the GreaterCincinnati Foundation does an annualfundraiser. And last December, En-quirer readers donated funds to pay fora year of the clinics.

About 90 percent of those whobring their cars in are women. Severalhave been living in their vehicles.

Some, like Grigsby, who says sheknows nothing about cars and has noone who can help her, brings her car inevery session. “I go on the Internet if Ihear something wrong with my carand I start freaking out. To get a job, Ihave to keep my car safe,” she says. “Ihave no knowledge of cars, but I’vebeen coming here for three years andthey’ve been teaching me. They justshowed me how to put in transmissionfluid and to check it.”

A basic understanding of theircars can be more than money-savingfor the clients. It could be life-saving.Many of the cars have been so poorly

maintained that they present a roadhazard, Kintner says. He remembers aPontiac Bonneville brought in thatheld 4.5 quarts of oil, but was down toof a quart.

“It’s amazing that the engine did-n’t seize up,” he says. “But it wasgoing to.”

The tires on another woman’s carrequired 35 pounds of air pressure, butwere running on only 15. “Even airtakes money at filling stations, and shetold us, ‘I don’t have the dollar,’ ”Kintner recalls.

While the volunteers don’t domajor repairs like engine overhauls orbrake jobs, they know that they aredoing at the ground level what politi-cians and policymakers talk about allthe time: helping people retain jobs.

“I get the feeling that 15 yearsago, people wrote a check. Now peo-ple want to use their skills to helpsomeone else,” says Greg Patterson, aProcter & Gamble employee and first-time volunteer.

He says the four hours of volun-teering have left him with a better un-derstanding of other people’s needsand a stronger sense of gratitude.

“There are times when I feel myfinances are tight,” he says. “Not evenclose.”

Covington, KY’s Samaritan Car Care Clinic, A Church Group, Provides for Needy Every Quarter

Dave March, owner of Fountain Val-ley Bodyworks in Fountain Valley, CA,owns a busy body shop that repairsroughly 500 cars every month. Whenhe isn’t wrestling with insurance com-panies and making sure every carleaves his shop in pristine condition,March is a dreamer and an inventor. Heenjoys thinking outside of the ordinary.His brainchild is called the WaterCar, ahydro-friendly, amphibious vehicle thatcan be used to drag water skiers and tu-bers at more than 40 miles per hour.

Inspired by the Amphicar of the1960s, March started working on theWaterCar more than 15 years ago as apersonal challenge to build the world’sfastest amphibious vehicle. He had noplans to ever offer it to the public,March explained, but as he began re-fining his creation, he saw a need anda market for the WaterCar.

“We’ve designed several modelsover the years with the goal to make itbetter every time,” March said. “Our firstversion of the WaterCar was a purpose-built vehicle, to be very fast on both landand water. But, when the WaterCar es-tablished the amphibious speed recordwith our Python model, our attentionturned to reliability, and we began de-signing a vehicle to offer to the public.”

After numerous successes and fail-ures, 27 patents, and literally thousandsof labor hours, March’s dream has beenachieved. It’s called the Panther—andthe very first WaterCar to be offered tothe public. March and his all-star teamconsisting of top automotive designersand technicians have tweaked the Wa-terCar’s design, and, by using state-of-the-art equipment at Fountain ValleyBodyworks, they’ve come up with the

ultimate vehicle for both land and sea.Is the WaterCar more automobile or

more boat? Legally, amphibious vehiclesneed to be registered both as a car and asa boat in the U.S. and display both li-cense plate and hull numbers. “In somestates, the Department of Transportationis still a little confused about the concept,but more and more they’re embracing

the WaterCar,” March said. “Arizona,California, and Nevada have been a littletough in getting on board, but we’re con-fident that they will eventually embracethe idea. We’re getting them approved,but, in some cases, we have to jumpthrough hoops to get it done.”

During its development years,March was continuously approachedby people around the world whowanted to purchase a WaterCar, but hewasn’t ready to put them on the marketfor a wide range of reasons. “While wewere flattered that people wanted theWaterCar, we just felt it wasn’t ready,”March said. “It was difficult to say nofor all those years, but we figuredhey—let’s not rush it. In 2013, we re-alized that the WaterCar was ready forthe public, and pretty much right awaythe orders started coming in.”

March received a ton of publicitywhen he drove his WaterCar all the wayfrom his shop in Fountain Valley toCatalina Island in January 2014. Thestory, “Amphibious water car dives intoland and sea market,” made page one ofthe Chicago Tribune and created a buzzworldwide. “We made the 30-mile tripat around 40 miles per hour, and weused about 10 gallons of fuel one-way.Typically, a boat will get around fourmiles per gallon, so the WaterCar isn’tjust fast, it’s also green and very eco-nomical. When we pulled into that har-bor, the people were shocked and

surprised when we drove up!”Celebrities and billionaires are

showing interest in the WaterCar, butanyone with $140,000 lying around canbuy one, March said. “Wealthy folks arealways looking for the newest toy, andthe WaterCar definitely fits the bill. Thesefamous people make us sign non-disclo-sure agreements, so I can’t tell you anynames. But I can tell you that one indi-vidual who is awaiting delivery of hisWaterCar is the founder of a very well-known tech company.” (And his lastname isn’t Zuckerberg, Ellision, or Woz-niak!) “The attention this vehicle has re-ceived is pretty amazing, to say the least.”

The hottest markets for the Wa-terCar are currently in Florida andDubai, March said. “Millionaires with200-foot yachts want to have a Water-Car so they can taxi around and thenhit the streets. With all of those littleislands, the WaterCar is perfect forDubai, as well as in the Florida Keys.”

March is now selling WaterCar

kits and believes that body shops wouldbe ideal to assemble them. Since he has

a backlog of orders and can’t makethem fast enough, this might be the besttime to jump into a sideline business byputting together WaterCar kits.

“The kits cost around $75,000, sothere’s plenty of room there for profit,”March explained. “We’d like to getbody shops from different regions ofthe country involved, especially those


WaterCar Has Body Shop Owner Swimming in Business

with Ed AttanasioWestern News

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

March, owner of Fountain Valley Bodyworksin Fountain Valley, CA, wants to sign up otherbody shops all over the country to assembleWaterCar kits as a new, exciting source ofadditional revenue.

People can fish, duck hunt, water ski, or evenparasail behind the WaterCar

Celebrities all over the world want a WaterCar,but March can’t divulge their names for legalreasons

See Swimming in Business, Page 58


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2014 is the third year that I have at-tended the annual Northeast™ Auto-motive Services Show presented bythe Alliance of Automotive ServiceProviders of New Jersey (AASP/NJ),and though each year has offeredmany new and exciting things, the2014 show was definitely somethingspecial and unique. AASP-NJ obvi-ously put a lot of time and work intoplanning the event, and their effortsreally paid off! In addition to offer-

ing new seminars, AASP-NJ planneda full schedule of events, activities,and even celebrity appearances in2014.

For starters, 2014 marked thefirst Annual Northeast/National GlassCorvette Association (NGCA) CarShow, which consisted of nearly 20classic cars from several decadesbeing displayed in the back corner ofthe expo floor.

Throughout the weekend, JavierSoto set up shop in a booth as he cre-ated a custom airbrush design, givingattendees an opportunity to witnessthis master painter at work on hiscraft.

Meanwhile, VRSim hosted a Vir-tual Spray Paint Tournament that al-lowed attendees to compete for anHDTV.

Exhibitors were recognized at theAASP-NJ Exhibitor AppreciationParty on Friday evening, completewith an appearance from comedianGary DeLena.

On Saturday morning, the BASFbooth generated a lot of attention byhaving Chip Foose of Overhaulin’sign autographs and take photos withfans who lined the aisles for a chanceto meet this industry icon.

Later that afternoon, Ron Anan-ian, aka the Car Doctor, broadcast his

nationally-syndicated radio talk showlive from the expo floor.

The 6th Annual Northeast Fam-ily Day on Sunday featured indoorcarnival games along with free pop-corn and ice cream for the kids toenjoy.

While my experience indicatesthat Northeast 2014 far exceeded pre-vious years, I was curious to see howmy experience compared to that of thecollision repair professionals in atten-dance. Fortunately, several attendeesgraciously shared their opinions aboutthe show.

Tony Lombardozzi, president ofthe Coalition for Collision Repair Ex-cellence (CCRE), noted that in com-parison to the 2013 show, Northeast2014 had greater attendance and soldall exposition booths. “Vendors wereenthused with the fact that there weremany ‘real buyers’ walking the showfloor. One vendor commented to methat he would rather be in New Jerseythan at NACE.”

Lombardozzi felt that most ofthe seminars were good, and henotes that Larry Montanez drew thelargest crowd, as usual. He also no-ticed that many shop owners at-tended attorney John Eaves Jr’spresentation, and it seems like Eavesis generating quite a bit of interest inhis class-action lawsuit. Lombar-dozzi said that he has, “Been attend-ing this show for over 30 years, andthis year was at the top of the listwith a few others. It was a greatshow, and I can’t wait until nextyear’s show comes around.”

Tony Ferraiolo, president of theAuto Body Association of Connecti-cut (ABAC), had a similar opinion: “Ithought the Northeast show was awe-some… the best so far that I have at-tended. The place was abuzz with

equipment and information, alu-minum repair being at the forefront. Itwas very well-presented and organ-ized. Everyone I spoke with enjoyedthe show. Great job to New Jersey andNew York!”

Although he didn’t participatein any seminars at Northeast 2014,Ferraiolo particularly enjoyed theLeadership Forum on Friday after-noon. “It was good to see the otherassociations in agreement on a lot ofthe industry’s issues. The questionspresented were good, and the formatof associations asking questions wasa great change. Overall, time wellspent, and I look forward to nextyear, especially the Northeast Lead-ership meeting.”

Gene Lopez of I-CAR also sawa lot of value in the Leadership Forumand its new roundtable format. “I likedthe associations proposing questionsas compared to delivering the annualstate of the association.”

Additionally, Lopez found thetwo Ford events very beneficial, boththe seminar centered around shop cer-tification and the demo on the expofloor that discussed the new F-150aluminum-intensive design. LikeLombardozzi, Lopez also noticed anincrease in foot traffic at the expo over2013.

AASP-NJ executive directorCharles Bryant confirmed the in-crease in attendance at the exposition:“This was the first time in a long timethat the aisles of the show werecrowded for the entire time the showwas open.”

Regarding the seminars held atNortheast 2014, Bryant states, “In myopinion, the Leader’s Meeting is boththe most interesting and the most use-ful of all events that take place at theshow. By bringing leaders of the in-dustry together from all around theCountry to discuss the issues and




See Northeast Reactions, Page 53

Reactions from Attendees at Northeast™ 2014 Automotive Show

Corvettes set up in Expo Center for car show

Northeast 2014 expo shows an increase in at-tendance


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they claim. “Section 1 of the ShermanAct does not preclude a party fromunilaterally determining the partieswith whom it will deal and the termson which it will transact business. …At the pleading stage, ‘formulaicrecitations of a conspiracy claim’ areinsufficient, and ‘a conclusory allega-tion of agreement at some unidenti-fied point does not supply factsadequate to show illegality.’ … TheComplaint fails utterly to meet thestandards set by the Supreme Courtand the Eleventh Circuit for pleadingconspiracy.”

In response, the repair shops’ at-torneys argue that the claims in theircomplaint are valid.

“Defendant State Farm’s motionrests primarily upon the incorrect as-sertion the complaint fails to set forthsufficient facts to satisfy the pleadingrequirements,” attorneys write. “Re-peatedly and throughout the motion,defendant State Farm misrepresentsboth the contents of the complaint andquite often the holdings of authorityto which it cites. When the correct

legal standards are applied, a straight-forward reading of the complaint es-tablishes there is more than sufficientfacts asserted to satisfy the pleadingrequirements.

“Defendant State Farm’s numer-ous misrepresentation of fact and lawdo not alter this. The motion to dis-miss is without any merit, legal or fac-tual. The plaintiffs respectfully submitit should denied in its entirety,” attor-neys claim.

The repair shops’ attorneys alsoresponded to Geico’s request for dis-missal, writing, “[Ge]ico’s motionrests primarily upon the incorrect as-sertion that the complaint fails to setforth sufficient facts to satisfy thepleading requirements. Repeatedlyand throughout the motion, DefendantGeico misrepresents both the contentsof the complaint as well as citations toauthority, holdings of the cited courtsand the procedural posture of thosecases. When the correct legal stan-dards are applied, a straightforwardreading of the complaint establishesthere is more than sufficient facts as-serted to satisfy the pleading require-ments.”

The judge has not issued any de-cisions at press time.


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State Farm RequestsCollision Repair Instructor Leaves GenerousLegacy for Coldwater, MI, Career CenterJoseph Bakle, the first collision repairinstructor at the Branch Area CareersCenter (from 1973-90), left a gener-ous gift after his passing in 2013 to theBranch County Community Founda-tion in the amount of $156,299.77.

Because of that gift, scholar-ships will be available to studentspursuing careers in auto collision.

The BACC Scholarship Fundhoused at the community foundationbegan in 2001 with a goal to “raiseenough money to give a student fromeach BACC program a scholarshipevery year.”

Bakle graduated from MarkTownship High School in Mark Cen-ter, Ohio, in 1946 and was hired onan annual authorization requiringhim to earn his teaching degree.

Bakle first attended Ferris StateUniversity, where he took the Na-tional Occupational Competency testin auto body and scored in the upper25 percent nationally. He then com-pleted his bachelor’s degree in 1983in secondary education with an autobody endorsement from Ferris StateUniversity.

Bakle taught at the BACC for17 years until he retired in 1990—at

which point he began his nine-yearsubstitute teaching career at theBACC.

Throughout that time he alsovolunteered many hours to train andprepare students for the collision re-pair Skills USA competitions andnumerous demonstrations for colli-sion repair students.

In 2012 Bakle contributed tothe BACC Scholarship EndowmentFund, allowing the BACC to providea $500 scholarship to one outstand-ing senior from each of the 14 pro-grams at the center.

That same year, he was in-ducted into the National TechnicalHonorary Society. Additionally,Bakle received several awards ofrecognition for his years of teachingand was involved in various educa-tional clubs.

He served on the ColdwaterZoning Board from 1990-96, volun-teered his time at the CommunityHealth Center of Branch County andin Iron Mountain for Habitat for Hu-manity, Dickinson Memorial Hospi-tal, substance abuse programs andthe Breen and Crystal Lake SeniorCenters.

and cost controls. It must stop, the driv-ing public deserves a vehicle that hasbeen repaired properly and is safe.”

Passwater says, “I am sure that inthe near future, possibly hundreds ofshops will stand up and join this ac-tion, to allow our Industry to repair thevehicles properly for the safety of theconsumer. It is unfortunate that thedriving public are bombarded dailywith billions of dollars of advertisingthe insurers are spending to convincethem that they are a “good neighbor”,or “on their side”, but once this actionbegins to unfold, the real nature ofwhat has been happening will cer-tainly be revealed.”

“John Eaves Jr., lead counsel forthe actions across the country, is fol-lowing a very organized and strategicplan to maximize the effect of the law-suit for the industry, Some of the top to-bacco litigators in the country are nowincluded as legal counsel for manystates. Former attorney generals arecounsel for many members. The fightis beginning to shift to a more evenplaying field.”

When insurers don’t cover the fullcost of repairs, “it’s such a difficultthing to pass on to a customer,” saidKevin Wells, who operates QualityCollision Inc. in Bloomington and is aplaintiff in the suit. Wells said he oftenjust eats the cost the insurance companywon’t pay.

“I’m taking it in the shorts byabout $6 an hour for every job I do,”Wells said.

The lawsuit takes aim at StateFarm, which uses its dominant and in-fluential position among other insur-ers in “spearheading efforts to controland artificially depress damage repaircosts,” the suit alleges.

State Farm spokeswoman MissyDundov denied the allegations but de-clined to elaborate, according to the AP.

“This suit has no merit and in noway accurately describes the businessrelationship State Farm has with thou-sands of body shops across the coun-try,” she said.

A spokeswoman for Indiana Farm-ers said the company had not receivednotice it had been named in a suit.

A search of complaints againstState Farm filed with the Indiana De-partment of Insurance did not revealany filed by body shops, said depart-

ment spokeswoman Alexandra Peck.Body shops say State Farm con-

ducts surveys of the going labor rateshops charge in a given area. The dataand methodology are not disclosed,shops complain. “Shops are simply re-quired to blindly accept State Farm’spronouncements regarding these mat-ters.”

The insurer attempts to prohibitshops from discussing the labor ratesthey provide as part of the surveys, “as-serting any discussion may constitute il-legal price fixing.”

Shops that complain the labor rateis inadequate are often told they are theonly body shop in the area to say so andthat they don’t conform to the “marketrate.”

In fact, “State Farm knew multipleshops had attempted to raise their laborrates and advised State Farm of such,”the suit alleges.

The shops allege insurers havefailed to abide by industry standards forauto repairs and repair-estimating data-bases. At the same time, many insurerspressure shops to reduce costs by usingrecycled parts. But used parts like doorscan require hours of additional labor tobe made to fit properly and to be recon-ditioned.

Ultimately, shops are required toeither make “less than quality” repairsor suffer a financial loss. Taking short-cuts raises the specter of safety issues,but once a vehicle is repaired, it’s noteasy to spot problems such as improperwelds that might be hidden by seamsealer.

Neither scenario is palatable tomany body shops.

“There are a lot of them that havehung it up and said, ‘That’s it. I can’ttake it anymore,’” Passwater said.

“The guys can’t make it. It’s notthat they are bad businesspeople,” saidScott Blake, of Blake’s Carstar Colli-sion Center in LaPorte and president ofthe IABA.

Some shops have survived costpressures by adding services such as ap-plying sprayed-on bed liners for pickuptrucks. Some shops have purchasedothers through a rollup strategy in-tended to improve efficiencies.

Passwater said the state once hadabout 2,000 shops; there are now 800 to1,000.

The 34-page suit alleges insurershave violated the federal Sherman Act,both in price-fixing and through boy-cotting tactics.


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Tortious Interference?

See Tortious Interference?, Page 59

The 14th International AutomobileRecycling Congress (IARC) was heldat the Hotel Dolce la Hulpe in Brus-sels, Belgium, March 19–21, 2014.On March 20, Michael Wilson, CEOof the Automotive Recyclers Associa-tion (ARA), used the forum to discussthe necessity of OEMs providing pro-fessional automotive recyclers withaccess to important OEM parts data.

During his presentation, Wilsoncalled on manufacturers, “To becomebetter economic, environmental, andsafety partners by releasing OEMbuild sheet data to the professional au-tomotive industry’s inventory man-agement entities, just as they do forinsurance companies and the collisionrepair industry…Auto manufacturershave placed major restrictions on thedissemination of this data so that itcannot be integrated into professionalautomotive recyclers’ inventory man-agement systems, [and] without thisimportant data about the parts thatOEMs originally manufactured, pro-fessional automotive recyclers are notable to seamlessly integrate theirOEM parts inventory into estimatingand collision repair platforms, andconsumers will have fewer choiceswhen making important decisionsabout the repair of their vehicles.”

Wilson began his presentation byfocusing on the professional automotiverecycling industry in the U.S., notingthat 2010 saw $285.7 billion in auto-motive aftermarket sales, which con-sisted of replacement parts, accessories,lubricants, appearance products, serv-ice repairs, and the tools and equipmentnecessary for these repairs. In the firstquarter of 2013, the average age of U.S.vehicles was 11.4 years with over 70percent of light-duty vehicles beingaged seven years or more, an increasefrom 63.6 percent in the second quarterof 2008.

Emphasizing the importance ofaccess to OEM build sheet and part in-formation, Wilson explained, “Datadrives almost every aspect of a profes-sional automotive recycling business[and] provides the backbone to a sus-tainable business model for these im-portant stewards of the environment.”

Moving on to the topic of dataand inventory quality, Wilson stressedthe value of automotive recyclers en-suring that their inventories use ARAdamage codes and parts grading stan-dards as well as ARA work to estab-lish unified descriptions of recycledparts amongst all parties that sell, buy,and install these parts.

Wilson also highlighted the needfor greater integration of automotiverecall information from vehicle manu-facturers into inventory managementsystems. “The industry must be pro-vided with safety information that canbe automatically synchronized withrecycled parts inventory so that im-portant recall and service bulletin in-formation is seamlessly integratedinto the inventory management sys-tems used by the automotive recyclingindustry.”

In discussing the InternationalDismantling Information System(IDIS) that was developed to meet thelegal obligations of the EuropeanUnion’s End of Life Vehicle (ELV)Directive, Wilson recognized the im-portance of the system, but noted lim-itations as it only addresses what theauto manufacturers view as their legalobligations under the ELV Directive.“It really only covers the safe de-pol-lution and where to find hazardousmaterials with no reference to partsdata.”

Wilson also believes that the re-cent Memorandum of Understandingsigned in the U.S. between automak-ers and other stakeholders involved inthe Motor Vehicle Owners’ Right toRepair issue, while a significant de-velopment, does not go far enoughensuring access to this invaluable ve-hicle data.

Wilson addressed the negativeOEM campaign on the integrity of re-cycled parts before exploring areas ofpotential collaboration, including thepotential savings for manufacturers onbatches of secondary replacement partsas the use of genuine, recycled OEMparts increases, and greater communi-cation on automotive recalls.

In conclusion, Wilson challengedattendees to join efforts to obtain OEM

parts data by encouraging the OEMsto partner with professional automo-tive recyclers who promote reusing theparts originally brought to the marketby OEMs.

The 14th IARC also included ses-sions on the best-available recyclingtechnologies, the European ELV Di-rective, E-mobility, the recycling capa-bilities of newly emerging technology,new financial instruments to boosttake-back and recycling, and GreenCircular Economy and Resource Effi-ciency.

Keynote speakers included PeterKronschnabl, president and CEO ofBMW Group Belux, Belgium; Profes-sor Duan Weng of Tsinghua Univer-sity Institute for Energy andEnvironmental Materials; andArtemis Hatzi-Hull, Green Economy–Waste Management and RecyclingPolicy Officer of the European Com-

mission DG Environment in Belgium.Other events on the program in-

cluded an exhibition and “Tool BoxTalks,” commercial presentations fo-cused on the recycling industry.

Attendees also enjoyed a num-ber of interesting tours to leadingrecycling companies and car manu-facturers’ plants, including ToyotaMotor Manufacturing in France,Groupe Comet’s ferrous metal recy-cling plant in Belgium, and ARN’sshredder residue process plant in theNetherlands.

Currently, ARA continues to pre-pare for the 71st Annual ARA Con-vention and Expo (www.araexpo.org/2014), which will be held at the Gay-lord Opryland Resort and ConventionCenter in Nashville, TN, October 22–25, 2014.

For more information about ARA,visit www.a-r-a.org.


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Gender marketing; it sounds like itwould be prejudicial and maybe evenillegal. But in many collision repairshops the marketing is already heav-ily gender-oriented. A shop that fo-cuses on race cars, muscle cars, classiccars and sponsoring events aroundthese interests are already marketingto a mostly male audience. Add to thatemphasis, all-male estimators, andyou have a shop that has a definitemale gender focus. Considering thatas many as half of the collision repairscoming into the shop are brought in byfemale customers, adding a femalefocus to marketing would hardly beprejudicial.

One huge, affluent segmentwields more spending clout than anyother: Baby-Boomer women born be-tween 1946 and 1964, represent a por-tion of the buying public no marketercan afford to ignore. With successfulcareers, investments made during the“boom” years, and inheritances fromparents or husbands, reports indicatethey are more financially empoweredthan any previous generation ofwomen. MassMutual Financial Groupreports that senior women age 50 andolder control a net worth of $19 tril-lion and own more than three-fourthsof the nation’s financial wealth. 2.5million of them have combined assetsof $4.2 trillion. More than 1.3 millionwomen professionals and executivesearn in excess of $100,000 annually.43% of Americans with more than$500,000 in assets are female. Can ashop afford not to market to theseladies?

For shops that focus on luxuryautomobiles, a marketing emphasis onmature women can pay off. Pam

Danziger, president of Unity Market-ing, says the mature luxury consumerplaces the highest priority in makingmemories and experiences. Theydon’t buy things to have more things;they want the experience to go alongwith it. Luxury consumers expect su-perior quality and are extremely dis-cerning. The 55 to 75 year-old femalehas seen her role change from home-maker to purchaser of security, con-venience and luxury items. Once thecollege bills are out of the way andchildren launch their own households,the discretionary spending power of50-plus women soars. They spend 2.5times what the average person spends.Women are the primary buyers forcomputers, cars, banking, financialservices and a lot of other big-ticketcategories. The shop that emphasizessecurity and convenience as part ofthe repair will be more likely to cap-ture the attention of this customer seg-ment.

Shops that focus heavily on In-ternet marketing should be aware thataffluent working women with familyincomes of $75,000 or more are grow-ing in number, and 94.3 percent accessthe Internet during an average month.“Ten Marketing Trends to Watch,” anarticle by Kim T. Gordon on Entre-preneur.com, stated that about half ofthese women are now consideredheavy users of the Internet, whileheavy use of radio, television, news-papers and direct mail has declinedwithin this group. A female focus onInternet and social media sites couldwell pay off.

Although it is generally assumedthat a focus on sports is a male-ori-ented activity, 47.2% of major league

soccer fans are women as are 46.5%of MLB fans, 43.2% of NFL fans,37% of NBA fans, and 40.8% of fansat NHL games. Women also purchase46% of official NFL merchandise.Women are also involved in motor-sports. Surprisingly in a motorsportssurvey, 74% of male respondents and62% of female respondents agreedthat “women racers bring fans out tothe games.” Additionally, 40% of fe-male respondents and 21% of male re-spondents stated that they would be“more” or “much more” likely to fol-low motorsport races if more femaleswere involved. Shops that sponsor ortie marketing into motorsports shouldadd a female focus.

Women also rely more on word-of-mouth and sharing of experienceswith friends than men do. A couple ofshops I’m familiar with have broughtin a woman to help with marketing.These new female marketers promptlyjoined some women’s networking

groups and sought out opportunities tospeak to women’s groups on accidentavoidance and long-lasting quality re-pairs. Another shop added a female es-timator and found her closing rate tobe one of the best. She kept photos ofher children and pets on her desk andhad small toys for kids that accompa-nied a parent whose car she was esti-mating.

When calling women customersabout customer satisfaction, the bigquestion shouldn’t be “were you sat-isfied with your repair,” but ratherwould she come back for cosmeticwork or a self-pay repair if her insur-ance company had originally referredher? Few women would be willing torisk a loss of face with friends if shejust recommended a shop that pro-vided an average or mediocre repair.To get a referral from one of today’smore discriminating females, a shophas to provide an exceptional serviceexperience!


Gender Marketing Power is a Trend Already in Evidence

On Creative Marketingwith Thomas Franklin

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

During National Volunteer Week inApril 2014, CNN recognized a “little-known industry group” whose mem-bers have donated over 200 vehiclesworth over $3 million in 2013 to mili-tary veterans, homeless families, sin-gle parents, and others struggling toget back on the road to a stable life.The network went on to acknowledgethe kind of work NABC’ RecycledRides has accomplished.

CNN Recognizes NABC forDonating 200+ Vehicles

Mercedes-Benz has approved the Elek-tron® MULTISPOT® MI-100control Tresistance spot welder with C-pliers(model MTC-6000) for use in per-forming approved spot welding onhigh-strength steels like Boron, USI-BOR, TRIP, TWIP and XIP. All ap-proved workshop equipment is listedin Mercedes-Benz’s updated GSP On-line Technics Information System(GOTIS).

MB Approves Elektron SpotWelders for HSS

Read about the latest news and an-nouncements from CCC InformationServices.

Carwise Shop Finder SolutionCCC Information Services launchedthe Carwise Shop Finder solution(www.carwise.com), a free benefit tousers of CCC ONE, on March 19,2014. Carwise is a consumer-facingwebsite that enables CCC ONE usersto share repair status details with theircustomers. The new Shop Finderfunctionality allows shops to create aprofile and share customer reviews,giving shoppers the information theyneed to find and select a collision re-pair partner. The Shop Finder func-tionality is integrated within CCCONE so shops can manage and main-tain their profiles from within their fa-miliar application.

“We see the Carwise Shop Findersolution as a great tool to showcaseour shop and our offerings, and to pro-vide us with another channel to con-nect with more potential customers,”said Karen Hansen, secretary treasurerof Hansen’s Auto Body & Paint.

Configuring a compelling shopprofile only takes a few minutes.Shops can upload pictures of the repairfacility, highlight services that mightset them apart, share the shop history,and indicate the type of payment ac-cepted. Shops that use CCC ONE Up-date Plus Status or UpdatePlus CSIcan share customer reviews directlywithin their Carwise profile. Validatedreviews and comments are presentedin an unbiased manner ensuring otherssee what actual customers are sayingabout the shop.

“CCC is focused on helping ourcustomers be successful, and the Car-wise Shop Finder solution will giveshops a new channel to market theirservices to active shoppers,” saidJoseph Allen, CCC general manager.

Contact Center SolutionOn April 15, 2014, CCC announcedCCC ONE Contact Center solution,creating a single, central location fordesignated staff or call centers to viewincoming assignments, contact cus-tomers, schedule jobs, and dispatchwork quickly and easily.

“Visibility across our locationshas been a challenge for us, but wedon’t have the need or the resourcesfor a call center,” said Lance Bartczak,general manager of Kniesel’s Colli-sion Centers. “The seamless integra-tion between the CCC ONE platformand Contact Center allows for a sim-plified user experience that results ininstant callbacks, an increased posi-tive customer experience, reducedcycle times, happier insurance part-ners, and increased profitability. Tosay it’s a win-win is an understate-ment.”

“CCC ONE Contact Center wasdeveloped to serve MSOs looking togain more control of their incomingopportunities. Integration, central vis-ibility, and the ability to quickly andeasily balance work were the key cri-teria shops said they needed, andthat’s exactly what we’re delivering inCCC ONE Contact Center,” saidJoseph Allen, CCC general manager.

TRUE Parts Network SuppliersOn April 17, 2014, CCC announcedthat four additional parts suppliers

joined the CCC TRUE Parts Network:Brandywine Economy Parts, CarroPacific Inc., ECO Automotive Dis-tributors, and PAM’s Auto Parts, Inc.

Once fully implemented, the newsuppliers will be able to display theirinventories, provide real-time quoteprice quotes, and sell their availableparts through the CCC ONE platform,making it quick and easy for CCC re-pair shop customers to buy parts andreceive electronic invoices.

“We’re thrilled all of these greatsuppliers have signed on to join theCCC TRUE Parts Network and bringtheir parts inventories directly to col-lision repairers who look to purchaseparts every day,” said David Boden,CCC vice president. “Since launchingthe CCC TRUE Parts Network, we’veseen early adopters of the solution sig-nificantly reduce return rates on or-ders, which is a great benefit to ourparticipating suppliers and the colli-sion repairers that rely on them forparts.”

Participation in the CCC TRUEParts Network is open to all parts sup-


CALL FOR DETAILS!

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CCC Updates: Carwise Shop Finder Solution, Contact Center Solution, TRUE PartsNetwork Suppliers, and Crash Course 2014 Report

See CCC Updates, Page 51

I ran into someone at the 2013 SEMAShow who apologized profusely fornot calling me back.

“I was meaning to call you back,”he said. “I know you left a message.”

“The one from 2012 or the onefrom 2013?” I inquired as nicely as Icould.

Why don’t people call each otherback anymore? What is the psychol-ogy behind not returning phone calls?Do you have a group of friends orbusiness associates in your life whowill NEVER call you back, no matterwhat? The sad fact is that most of usdo.

Not returning phone calls has be-come an integral part of our societyand a trademark of our times. Andwith all of the technology out theremaking it easier to connect (likesmartphones, email, and text messag-ing), people have more ways than everto not get back to you. So, the ques-tion is simple—is the telephone nolonger the best way to connect withpeople and if so, what is the preferredmethod?

In an attempt to analyze this phe-nomenon, I have spoken with a widerange of people about the subject, in-cluding body shop owners, insuranceagents, parts managers, and generalmanagers of large MSOs.

Most people tell me that theanonymous nature of a phone call orphone message makes it very easy todisregard. Their attitude is that if thecaller wants to contact me that badly,they’ll call back or text me or emailme. Others believe that they’re al-ready on the phone way too much as itis, so that’s why they only return thosecalls that seem pressing and/or impor-tant.

“I spend an inordinate amount oftime on the telephone, and I just don’thave the bandwidth to call everyoneback,” one body shop’s marketingmanager said. “Email is the best wayto contact me, followed by texting—but phoning is a distant third.”

“I get way too many sales calls,”a body shop owner claimed. “Thatmakes me leery about returning anyphone calls because I don’t want to sitthrough a sales pitch. I’m alwaysdoing five things at once, so if some-

thing needs to get cut, it’s probablygoing to be your phone call.”

For others, it’s all about the qual-ity (and brevity) of the phone call.“Some people are engaging and theyknow how to talk on the phone,” oneinsurance agent said. “Others get toochatty and for those people email isbetter. I don’t feel a need to respondimmediately to an email, so it’s lessstressful than a phone call.”

While most people won’t rush toreturn a phone call, there are still afew “old school” types out there whowill go out of their way to return aphone call, even if they’re busy or onthe road. In my opinion, those peoplestand out because they’re the excep-tion rather than the norm. I am oftensurprised by who returns calls becausesome of them are big names, yet theyalways make the time to reach out tome.

In his book The Art of the Deal,originally published in 1987, DonaldTrump discusses his theory surround-ing the telephone and how it can beused as a tool. First off, Trump claimsthat he returns every phone call he re-ceives because he realizes that eachone represents an opportunity to makea deal. He talks to salesmen, officemanagers, and janitors because theycan give him information he can pos-sibly use to get any advantage in thefuture. In addition, Trump limits all ofhis phone calls to three minutes andactually uses an egg timer to do thejob. That way he controls chattycallers and keeps everyone on point.

I always ask salespeople about thesubject of return phone calls becauseit’s their job to communicate withtheir customers, and most of themmake multiple calls on a daily basis.When it comes to business, peoplehave an entirely different theory aboutreturning phone calls. If a salesmancalls them, for instance, they will al-most never call them back.

“It’s their job to get a hold of me,”one collision center manager saidwhen referring to salespeople. “Ifthey’re selling something, they hadbetter adapt to my schedule and figureout the best way to contact me. If I’mnot interested in your products orservices, I’m not going to call you

back because I don’t have time to callyou and tell you no thanks. Not callingyou back is my way of telling you ex-actly that. Some call it the ‘HollywoodBrush-off,’ but I call it reality.”

In an article called “Don’t CallMe, I Won’t Call You” that PamelaPaul wrote for The New York Times in2011, she announced the demise ofnot just the return phone call, but thephone itself. “I don’t think it’s justme,” Paul wrote. “Sure, teenagersgave up the phone call eons ago. In thelast five years, full-fledged adultshave seemingly given up the tele-phone—land line, mobile, voice mail,and all. According to Nielsen Media,even on cell phones, voice spendinghas been trending downward, withtext spending expected to surpass itwithin three years.”

Paul interviewed an interior de-signer who made some interestingpoints about phone calls and their di-minishing role in today’s society. “I lit-

erally never use the phone,” JonathanAdler told Paul. “I’ve learned not topress ‘ignore’ on my cell phone be-cause then people know that you’rethere. I remember when I was growingup the rule was, ‘Don’t call anyoneafter 10:00 P.M.,’” Adler said. “Nowthe rule is, ‘Don’t call anyone. Ever.’”

I have come to the conclusion thatyou should not take it personally ifsomeone does not return your phonecalls. It doesn’t necessarily mean theydon’t want to speak with you. And ifyou work on your phone skills and be-come more pleasurable to speak with,you’ll find that more of your friendswill call you back.

I wish that I could have done amore thorough study of this subject,but most of the people who I called tointerview never got back to me.Everyone interviewed for this pieceasked to remain anonymous because,sadly, they don’t want anyone callingthem either.


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The Inter-Industry Conference on AutoCollision Repair (I-CAR) announcedseveral milestone accomplishmentsmade possible through its ongoingcommitment to supporting the colli-sion repair industry.

New Board of DirectorsThe 2014 I-CAR International Boardof Directors and Executive Committeewas announced following the I-CARstrategic planning session and annualmembership meeting in San Diego,CA, in March 2014.

The Board of Directors is com-prised of representatives from each ofthe following six industry segments:collision repair; insurance; OEM vehi-cle manufacturers; equipment, tools,and supplies; education, training, andresearch; and related industry services.

The I-CAR executive committeeincludes: Bob Keith of CARSTAR aschair; Joe Laurentin, Esurance, vicechair; Chris Evan, State Farm InsuranceCo., treasurer; Mark Woirol, Tech-Cor,secretary; James Roach, member-at-large; Eugene Scambray, Copart, mem-ber-at-large; and William Brower,

Liberty Mutual Insurance Company,immediate past chair.

The remaining Directors include:Mark Algie of 3M; William DeGrocco,GEICO Insurance; David Henderson,AudaExplore; Todd Chizmar, Chrysler;John Donley, IAnet; Robert Hills, Uni-versal Technical Institute (UTI); Christo-pher Northup, Professional Parts Group,Education Foundation Representative;Richard Perry, Chief Automotive Tech-nologies for Equipment & Tool Institute;Roy Schnepper, Butler’s Collision Inc.for Automotive Service Association;James Spears, USAA; Randy Stabler,Pride Collision Centers Inc.; Dale Tripp,General Motors Company; Ron Vin-cenzi, Oakland Auto Body; and DustyWomble, Roger Beasley Collision Cen-ters for Society of Collision Repair Spe-cialists.

Bob Keith stated, “I am truly hon-ored to have been elected chairman ofthe Board of I-CAR. The time that Ihave spent on the Executive Commit-tee has shown me that I-CAR leader-ship and staff are all committed toproviding the highest quality training,certifications and resources to all seg-

ments of the collision inter-industry.The 2014 Board of Directors is atremendous group of professionalswho will supply strategic guidance tostaff and keep them connected to the‘heartbeat’ of all industry segments.”

Collision Repair Training Program for2015 Ford F-150In a groundbreaking collaboration, I-CAR collision repair training expertsworked alongside Ford Motor Com-pany engineers during the 2015 Ford F-150 design and development process.

Two years of development culmi-nates in a new six-credit hour 2015Ford F-150 Structural Repair course(FOR06) that covers all aluminum top-ics and dives deep into vehicle-specificrepair information. The instructor-ledcourse uses discussion, education, anddecision-making exercises to helptechnicians repair the 2015 Ford F-150. Industry training for FOR06opens June 1, 2014.

“This is a game-changer in theway the collision repair industry ap-proaches training; to be fully-preparedwith the knowledge, skills, and solu-

tions needed before the vehicle de-buts,” said John Van Alstyne, CEO andpresident of I-CAR. “Traditionally, re-pair solutions are not developed untilafter a vehicle is publicly launched,leaving a gap in repair readiness. I-CAR commends Ford for its proactiveapproach, working together with I-CAR to develop a repair solution thataddresses complete, safe, and qualityrepairs for the new F-150, and doing sobefore the vehicle enters production.”

Added Jason Bartanen, I-CAR di-rector of industry and technical rela-tions, “For a revolutionary vehicle likethe 2015 Ford F-150, material-specifictraining that highlights the uniqueprocesses associated with aluminumrepair is critical for the front-line pro-fessionals faced with safely repairingthese vehicles. I-CAR’s proven trackrecord of aluminum repair technicalexpertise and training development so-lidified Ford’s interest in an early part-nership to formulate a vehicle-specifictraining program for the F-150.”

Supporting and Giving Back to the In-dustry


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I-CAR News: New Board of Directors, Collision Repair Training for 2015 Ford F-150, IndustrySupport, Limited-Time Promo, and Revamped Steering/Suspension Course

In 2013, I-CAR committed to set aside$1 for every I-CAR class attended bystudents in 2014, which enabled I-CAR to donate $170,000 to the Colli-sion Repair Education Foundation.

In March 2014, I-CAR taught itsten millionth student credit hour overits 35-year legacy.

John Van Alstyne, I-CAR CEOand president, explained, “Our ten mil-lionth credit hour represents the hardwork and dedication that collision re-pair professionals put into their workevery day. Through ongoing, role-rel-evant training, our vision is that everyperson in the collision repair industryhas the knowledge, education, and so-lutions required to perform completeand safe repairs—for the ultimate ben-efit of the consumer.”

Van Alstyne said, “The evolutionand impact of I-CAR over the last 35years is exciting and impressive,” hecontinued, “And as vehicle technologycontinues to evolve, you can count onI-CAR to do the same, expanding ourrelevance and the value we deliver tothe collision repair industry.”

Revamped Steering and SuspensionCourseOn April 7, 2014, I-CAR announced

that the popular Steering and Suspen-sion Damage Analysis (DAM06)course has been completely re-vamped. DAM06 now includes up-to-date information on damage analysisprocedures for the range of steeringand suspension systems and parts fea-tured in vehicles being repaired todayand a series of interactive classroomactivities designed to engage studentsand enrich their learning experience.

Josh McFarlin, I-CAR director ofcurriculum and product development,explained, “This course provides anunderstanding of steering and suspen-sion repair considerations that can helpeliminate the chance of compromisingthe vehicle’s integrity during the repairand reduce comebacks,” he continued,“Content included in this course isbeneficial to repairers, business own-ers, and ultimately consumers.”

DAM06 includes a detailedoverview of steering and suspensionsystems and parts; an analysis of is-sues such as caster, camber, and toe;ride height difference and additionalinspection methods; and how to usealignment angle readings. Studentswill participle in multiple activitiesthroughout the course, including aninteractive activity where they will de-

termine alignment angles.This instructor-led, live, three-

credit hour course meets training re-quirements for estimators and autophysical damage appraisers in the I-CAR Professional Development Pro-gram (PDP).

Limited-Time Promotion on I-CAR Introto Collision Repair Series TrainingBundlesOn April 16, 2014, I-CAR announcedtwo all-new, limited-time trainingbundle promotions from the Intro toCollision Repair Series. The exclu-sive training bundles are specificallytailored to employee career paths inthe insurance and collision repairsegments, including entry-levelclaims adjusters, call center staff,front office support, and career andtechnical school students.

“Providing staff with founda-tional knowledge on the repair processcan have a positive impact on every-one involved—from the customer, tothe repairer or insurer, to the busi-ness,” stated Elise Quadrozzi, I-CARdirector of Segment Development –Insurance.

The Intro to Collision Repair Se-ries includes an overview of vehicle

parts and terminology, reading dam-age reports, and repair and refinishingprocesses.

Quadrozzi explained, “When yourentire staff is trained, they can work to-gether more productively, which candirectly impact KPIs and CSI scores.”

Both training bundles are com-prised of eight of the most commonly-taken courses by the insurance andcollision repair segments, includingone of I-CAR’s most popular coursesat no cost. Training bundles are $273each for a limited time.

Each online course takes approx-imately one hour to complete, is avail-able on-demand, and has no expirationdate once the bundle has been pur-chased.

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North Star Body and Trailer Repair inBillings, Montana, has a wonderfulstory to tell. Don Mueller and hisbrothers, T.J and John run this thirdgeneration business where the doorsopened in 1928. The shop was at onetime called North Star Body andBlacksmith Shop.

In 2008, Don, T.J. and John,along with a few other ardent collec-tors started the, “Buses of YellowstonePreservation Trust”. This began forDon Mueller 25 years ago when help-ing a friend restore a 1936 Yellow-stone Park Bus. In 2000 they restoreda 1938 Yellowstone Park Bus (whichtook two years) then another historicYellowstone Bus came through theirdoor, and another and even a GlacierPark Bus. And the rest, we may say, isYellowstone history; the Buses of Yel-lowstone Preservation Trust was born.A group of interested, passionate busowners made the commitment to buildthis American legacy.

The enthusiasm is infectiouswhen you hear Don Mueller talk aboutthe Trust and the buses they have. This

group lovingly maintains an importantpart of American history. Muellersmiles through the phone when hetalks about, ‘a great barn find.’ A busthey found that had been in a barn inBozeman, Montana for 45 years, busNumber 401, a 1937 Yellowstone ParkBus . Bus Number 401 went throughthe Trust Preservation and is now backon the roads, taking eager visitors onday trips to the Beartooth Mountainsor even longer trips back through Yel-lowstone Park. When Bus Number401 rolled through the Park entrancelast year, it was the first time it enteredYellowstone Park since 1960s.

The Buses of Yellowstone Preser-vation Trust have rented a building inRed Lodge, Montana, where severalbuses are stored. Mueller states quiteclearly, “These buses are Preserva-tions, not Restorations.”

“ We clean them up, do mainte-nance, tune-up’s, brake jobs, changebelts and hoses and wires, clean cool-ing systems; whatever it takes to keepthem running.”

The 5 buses in Red Lodge are op-erable and shown off in parades andevents throughout the year. During thesummer months the Trust takes day

trips, with a picnic lunch, up theBeartooth Highway as a fund raiser forthe organization. The Buses of Yellow-stone Preservation Trust is a 501©3non-profit organization and does dependon contributions to exist and keep thosebuses on the road back to our history.

You can help keep these Yellow-stone Buses on the road by sending a

tax deductible donation to this greatAmerican legacy. Learn more at theirwebsite, www.boypt.org.

Contact:Buses of Yellowstone PreservationTrustP.O. Box 1522Red Lodge, Montana 59068


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IBIS, the International Bodyshop In-dustry Symposium, is once againbringing together the greatest globalminds to share their knowledge andexpertise. IBIS 2014 takes place atthe luxurious Hotel Arts, Barcelona19–21 May 2014. With the supportof our partners—3M, AkzoNobel,Audatex, Automechanika, Axalta,EMM, Enterprise, Innovation, Quin-dell and Thatcham Research. Con-firmed speakers include: Dr. ThomasAubel, Sean Carey, and MichaelMacaluso.

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Premier Services has donated $2,500to the Collision Repair EducationFoundation to assist the charitableorganization’s efforts to support highschool and college collision schoolprograms, instructors and studentsnationwide.

“Premiere Services is pleasedto support the initiatives of the Col-lision Repair Education Foundationas they assist the industry’s future,”said Joyce Kasmer, Premier Servicesexecutive director of sales and mar-keting.

Premier Services Donates$2.5K to the CRE Foundation

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The Women’s Industry Network (WIN)has several announcements leading upto the 2014 WIN Education Conferenceat Paradise Point Resort and Spa in SanDiego, CA, May 5–7, 2014.

Electronic Conference BrochureTo help reduce their carbon footprint,WIN created an electronic version ofthe conference brochure, which youcan download at http://thewomensin-dustrynetwork.ning.com/page/2014-conference.

Most Influential Women WinnersOn March 24, 2014, WIN announcedthe 2014 Most Influential Women(MIW) Award recipients:■ Frederica Carter, President of F.Carter Events, LLC (former Communi-cations Manager at AkzoNobel)■ Jordan Hendler, Executive Director,Washington Metropolitan AutobodyAssociation■ Leanne Jefferies, Director, CollisionPrograms, AIA CanadaThe award is given annually to womenin the collision repair industry who ex-emplify qualities of business and civicleadership, vision, and commitment toexcellence.

“I was impressed with the energy,accomplishment, and commitment ofall the nominees who spanned a broadrange of responsibilities,” said RussellLong of Change Innovations, the lead-ership development and executivecoaching firm engaged to evaluate thenominees.

Established in 1999 by AkzoNo-bel, WIN acquired stewardship of theMIW program in 2013.The inauguralMIW Gala Dinner and Award Cere-

mony will be heldin conjunction withthe 2014 WIN Edu-cational Confer-ence.

“It was our priv-ilege to bring thisprogram innovationto the industry andnurture it for 14

years,” said Doug Holmberg, directorof vehicle refinishes for AkzoNobelAutomotive & Aerospace CoatingsNorth America, who will speaking atthe 2014 MIW Gala Dinner and AwardCeremony.

“As we approach the final stagesof planning for the first MIW AwardCeremony under WIN’s care, we areexcited to carry on this important tradi-tion begun by AkzoNobel,” said Mar-garet Knell, chair of the MIWCommittee and director of corporateadministration at I-CAR.

Scholarship WinnersOn March 27, 2014, WIN announcedthe 2014 WIN scholarship winners:

■ College Student Tuition and Con-ference Scholarship: Stephanie Baker,who will attend WyoTech in Blairsville,PA, and Suzanna Hernandez, who willattend Southeast Community College inLincoln, NE. They will each receive$1,000 to continue their post-secondaryeducation in collision repair, a one-yearWIN membership, registration fee and

travel expenses toattend the 2014WIN EducationalConference, and theopportunity to bementored by win-ners of the 2014MIW awards.■ High School Tu-ition Scholarship:

Danielle Caballero from Converse, TX,Megann Holbrook from North Severn,MD, and Shelby Woods from Moberly,MO. They will each receive $1,000 tocontinue their post-secondary educa-tion in collision repair and a one-yearWIN membership.

The WIN scholarships are madepossible by WIN sponsors, specialevents including the annual ScholarshipWalk, and sales of the “There’s A PlaceFor You” recruiting poster.

“We believe that we have an obli-gation to support young women whochoose to enter our industry,” said Bev-erly Rook, co-chair of the ScholarshipCommittee.

“I am honored to be recognized byWIN, and I am even more honored tobe a member of this amazing organiza-tion,” said scholarship recipientMegann Holbrook.

Corporate SponsorsOn April 1, 2014, WIN announced the2014 WIN corporate sponsors.

Gold Sponsor ($10,000):■ AkzoNobel Coatings Inc.

Silver Sponsors ($5,000):■ National Institute for AutomotiveService Excellence (ASE)■ The 3M Company■ Axalta Coating Systems■ BASF Corporation■ Enterprise Rent-A-Car Company■ PPG Industries Inc.■ State Farm Insurance■ Valspar Corporation

Bronze Sponsors ($2,500):■ ABRA Auto Body & Glass■ Allstate Insurance Company■ AudaExplore, a Solera Company■ The Certified Automotive Parts As-sociation■ Car-Part.com■ CARSTAR■ CCC Information Services Inc.■ FinishMaster Inc.■ Fix Auto USA

■ GEICO■ Insurance Auto Auctions, Inc.■ MetLife Auto & Home■ Mitchell International■ Safelite Solutions■ Sherwin-Williams Automotive Fin-ishes■ Sterling Autobody

“The importance of WIN’s missionto our industry is reaffirmed by the tremen-dous support we have received from oursponsors,” said Susanna Gotsch, chair ofthe Sponsorship Committee. “These spon-sorships played a key role in our ability to

expand our scholar-ship program in2014, and extendour reach throughprograms such asthe “There’s A PlaceFor You” recruitingposter distributed toover 1,100 technicalschools and colleges

by the Collision Repair Education Foun-dation. We are extremely grateful for oursponsors’ support.”

New Board of Directors MembersOn April 9, 2014, WIN announced thatfive new members were selected toserve on the WIN Board of Directors:

■ Jaclyn Byers, Estimatics Team Man-ager, State Farm Insurance Co.■ Jessica Rob, Communications Man-ager / Online Web Communications,Akzo Nobel■ Marie Peevy, Owner, AutomotiveTraining Coordinators, LLC.■ Nina Pedraza-Zinna, Director ofField Operations, SCA Appraisal■ Trish Gould, Controller / Human Re-sources, Keenan Auto Body

The WIN Board consists of vari-ous industry segments including colli-sion repair shops, jobbers, suppliers,consultants, information providers,and insurance companies. Board mem-bers may serve up to two three-yearterms.

“WIN is honored to have such out-standing individuals who are willing toshare their time and talents on ourBoard of Directors,” said DeniseCaspersen, chair of the Board Devel-opment Committee.

New board members will be intro-duced and officially welcomed byseated directors and WIN members-at-large at the 2014 WIN EducationalConference.

To learn more about WIN, visithttp://thewomensindustrynetwork.ning.com.


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Service King Collision Repair Centershas reached an agreement to acquire Ster-ling Collision Centers and its 62 stores.This acquisition will bring the total num-ber of Service King locations to morethan 170 across 20 states, reinforcing itsposition as one of the country’s largestmulti-shop operators (MSOs).

Sterling Collision Centers wasfounded in 1997 with the goal of re-defining the collision repair experience.Purchased by Allstate in 2001, the com-pany quickly grew to 1,200 employeeswith more than 60 collision repair facil-ities across 16 states. Sterling CollisionCenters is the largest of the so-calledtied shops’ chains.

Service King is a leader in the col-lision repair industry, having offeredcustomers a superior service experiencefor more than 38 years. After being es-tablished as an industry leader in Texas,Service King began expanding its foot-print in 2012 to include Arizona, Ten-nessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Nevada,and Oklahoma. This acquisition of Ster-ling Collision Centers marks a keymilestone for Service King and its morethan 2,600 teammates while undoubt-edly changing the MSO landscape.

“This venture of two well-estab-lished and reputable brands will result inmany opportunities for Service King

and our ever-growing team. We wel-come our new teammates to the ServiceKing family and are excited about whatthe future holds for us all,” said ChrisAbraham, CEO of Service King. “Weare honored and appreciative of the pro-found opportunity this acquisition cre-ates for the collision repair industry. Wewill continue to provide all of our cus-tomers and business partners with theconsistent level of service that they havecome to expect from Service King.”

“Today marks the culmination ofmany months of hard work, preparation,and planning,” said Jeff McFadden, pres-ident of Service King. “We have posi-tioned ourselves to continue to deliver onthe promise of the Service King brand.”

Service King’s acquisition ofSterling Collision Centers is expectedto close in the second quarter of 2014.For more information on Service King,visit www.serviceking.com.

Service King is one of the largest re-gional MSOs of collision repair facilitiesin the country, dedicated to offering cus-tomers an overall superior service expe-rience. Founded more than 38 years agoin Dallas, TX, Service King is a leader inthe collision repair industry currentlyserving customers at 111 locations acrossTexas, Arizona, Tennessee, Arkansas,Mississippi, Nevada, and Oklahoma.


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Service King Acquiring MSO Sterling Collision CtrsBody Found Behind TX Shop is that of Teen MissingSince Feb. 13. No Foul Play SuspectedThe Smith County Sheriff’s Officeidentified the body discovered inWhitehouse, TX, on March 17. Thebody of a young white male was dis-covered by someone working on afence at Nipper’s Auto Body just northof Whitehouse, south of Toll 49.

Dental records have confirmedthe remains belong to 14-year-oldJacob Hamilton Garrett of White-house. His body was found in awooded area behind the fence of anauto body shop off Highway 110.Jacob went missing on February13th and was reported as a runaway.As of now, no foul play is suspectedin his death, but authorities are stillwaiting for the results of additionaltests.

It’s tragic news to this small EastTexas community. An employee at alocal body shop in Whitehouse, foundJacob’s body in the woods, leaned upagainst a tree. It was only a mile awayfrom his house. For those who knewhim best, it was news, they didn’twant to hear. “As a campus we wereall shocked, of course his family wasshocked as well, it didn’t seem likesomething that was characteristic ofJacob,” said Randi Dunn, Jacob’s for-mer English teacher.

The teenager was reportedmissing by his family on February13 of this year. Officials had re-ceived reports from his school thathe had been texting fellow students,but there were never any confirmedsightings of Garrett. It’s possibleGarrett’s body had been at the loca-tion of his discovery since the day ofhis disappearance, said SheriffSmith.

She said it has been difficult foreveryone since he went missing be-cause there has been “so many unan-swered questions, the lack of Jacobbeing at school, and the lack of an-swers.” Those answers, comingfrom Smith County Sheriff LarrySmith, left many in disbelief. “Evenuntil this morning students werehopeful he was going to reappear,”said Dunn.

Jacob was a seventh grader atWhitehouse Junior High that “lovedhis friends deeply” and “was alsovery giving.” Dunn said he was anexceptional writer, and wanted to bea professional musician some day.She said it’s hard to believe he won’tbe back to her first period classagain, and “he had a lot to offer andhis life was too short.”


Rhode Island Man Moves from Sheltered Workshop toJob at Auto Body ShopOrquideo DePina used to fill boxes ata sheltered job site, mind-numbingwork that gave him little in the wayof satisfaction or skills.

He recalls one of his employersat Training Through Placement Inc.,

in North Providence, RI, telling him,“You’re never going to get a job outthere.” “The old bosses used to putme down,” said DePina.

Now, DePina goes to work eachday at Progress Automotive, an autorepair shop in North Kingstown, RI,where he does a bit of everything,from changing oil to rotating tires.Although he takes two buses from

Providence, RI, he is usually the firstperson to arrive at the auto repairshop.

DePina’s boss, Greg Murphy,made a few simple changes to helpDePina become familiar with his new

work site. He created alabeling system for vari-ous tools. The system be-came so popular thatMurphy has expanded itto include all of the workstations.

After seeing DePina’swillingness to learn, Mur-phy said, there is “no ques-tion that Q should beworking in the commu-nity” rather than a shelteredworkshop. “He is a greatemployee and has contin-ued to grow every single

day,” he said.DePina said his new employer

sets high expectations for what hecan accomplish.

DePina said he will never for-get how Murphy taught him how todrive—which was not part of his jobdescription. “I was really nervous,”DePina said. “Now I move cars allaround the lot.”

Shults Auto Body Shop Relocation in Foster Township, PAConstruction has begun on a new8,500-square-foot Shults Auto BodyShop, part of an ongoing redesign andreconstruction of the Shults car deal-ership in Foster Township, PA.

The new facility will house therelocation of a pre-existing ShultsAuto Body Shop to the former E-ZTV and Appliance Building site at 911East Main Street, behind Worth W.Smith.

The project will entail the demo-lition and construction of the dealer-ship’s Chevy and Toyota showrooms,with the new facility taking up 20,000square-feet and costing roughly $3million, according to general managerSteve Hopkins. The body shop relo-cation represents $600,000 of theoverall project costs.

“We’re making more room forour service. As our service departmentgrows ,our body shop needed a build-ing,” Hopkins said, adding that thebody shop will continue to offer thesame services at the new location.Hopkins expects that service will notbe interrupted in the transition. “We’lljust take a weekend and move over.”

Hopkins said the upgrade projectrequired some parking lot reconfigu-ration, which led to the auto bodyshop’s relocation.

“The body shop was going to bebehind us and we weren’t using the E-Z TV and Appliance building, sorather than leave the E-Z TV buildingempty, we decided to use up some ofthat so we’d have more parking,”Hopkins said.

Hopkins said he expects to hiretwo or three new employees for therelocated body shop and 15 in allwhen the rest of the upgrades arecomplete.

He said the upgrades are requiredby General Motors of their dealers.

Hopkins said the auto body shopis expected to be operational beforeother aspects of the project are com-pleted.

The Automotive Service Associationof the Midwest (ASA-Midwest)hosted the 22nd annual VISION Hi-Tech Training and Expo at the Over-land Park Convention Center andadjoining Sheraton Hotel in OverlandPark, KS, March 6–9, 2014.

The 2014 VISION Hi-TechTraining and Expo exceeded atten-dance expectations with over 3,000 in-dustry professionals from 37 statesand five Canadian provinces and asold-out exhibit floor. Combined, at-

tendees received 17,300 hours oftraining. This was all in accordancewith the ASA-Midwest goal for theevent, “To provide management andtechnical training to the independentautomotive service industry at an af-fordable cost through the support ofsponsors and exhibitors,” explainsSheri Hamilton, executive director ofASA-Midwest.

Exhibitors recognize the valueof participating in the expo. CertifiedTransmission describes the event as

being the “best value—betterthan many, if not all, showsthat we attend and exhibitin.” SP2 believes the ASA-Midwest VISION Hi-TechTraining and Expo is “a greatopportunity for instructors,technicians, owners, ven-dors, and guests to interact inan atmosphere of sharing. Iwill recommend this confer-ence to everyone.” VISION

is “one of CustomerLink’s favoriteshows. It’s so well-organized that it’sa pleasure to coordinate, and it’s so

well attended that my sales reps likegoing to it. It’s big enough to beworthwhile, yet small enough to re-ally enjoy it. We usually get a lot ofleads from the show, but, mostly, welove it just to interact with ASA per-sonnel, as well as our own customers.It’s a great show!”

More than 80 management andtechnical training sessions were held

throughout the four-day event, in ad-dition to several live-broadcast train-ing sessions and panel discussions.

Supplementing traditionalclassroom training, VISIONalso held live, hands-on train-ing sessions to further de-velop skills and knowledgefor technicians.

The 2014 VISION Educa-tor Think Tank featured a fullday of training and networkingfor automotive educators, andit concluded with an hour-longpanel discussion on the impor-

tant issues impacting modern educators.This panel discussion was broadcastlive through iATN and can be viewedathttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXt1LBS6E94.

The repair professionals in atten-dance were particularly impressedwith the plethora of information pro-

2014 VISION Hi-Tech Training and Expo Hosted by ASA-Midwest

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See 2014 VISION, Page 55

Orquideo DePina checks a tire for a puncture at ProgressAutomotive

Construction work has begun on a newShults Auto Body Shop in FosterTownship, PA. (Photo by Francie Long)


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On April 8, 2014, the Arkansas Colli-sion Repair Association (ACRA) heldtheir monthly meeting in the PulaskiTechnical College Body Shop Depart-ment in Little Rock, AR. Membersgathered to discuss current issues andnetwork with their peers.

Jay Scott, ACRA executive direc-tor, and Larry Golden, former ACRApresident and current ACRA member,took some time to talk about ACRA.

ACRA began in 1986, “... Whena group of independent shop ownerswere looking for a better way to getinformation on the latest technologi-cal changes and the equipment neces-sary to repair the unibody cars comingout,” Golden recalls. “They alsowanted to work together to improvethe image of the collision repair in-dustry and to bring more profession-alism to their image.”

Since its inception, ACRA has pro-gressed quite well. “We have experi-enced times of tremendous growth andother times where interest has faded,but we have always remained focusedon education for our shop owners andvendors,” Golden elaborates.

The ACRA mission is, “To pro-vide education for shop owners andmanagers to help them run more effi-cient and profitable businesses.”ACRA puts a lot of emphasis and con-centration on the importance of con-tinuing education within the industry,so they ensure that each meeting in-cludes an educational segment pre-sented by local vendors or faculty atthe college. Their June 2014 meetingwill feature an I-CAR class as part oftheir efforts to provide valuable edu-cation to ACRA members.

ACRA services the entire state ofArkansas, but Scott notes that it’s chal-lenging to attract shop owners andmanagers from all over the state be-cause Arkansas so large. To partiallyalleviate this dilemma, ACRAattempts to hold at least onemeeting each year in a differ-ent part of the state.

Currently, ACRA con-sists of approximately 31members who attend monthlymeetings to gain insight onhow to improve their busi-nesses in an ever-changingmarket. In addition to theircontinual goal of providingeducation, ACRA also strivesto grow the organization with engagedand enthusiastic members.

Like most collision repair indus-try associations, ACRA contends withthe struggle of attracting new mem-bers to rejuvenate and strengthen theirorganization. Golden explains, “Rev-enue is a challenge. We receive annualdues [from members] and donationsfrom vendors, but we need to growour base. We have transitioned from

mailing our monthly newslet-ter to emailing our bulletins tomanage our costs better.”

ACRA holds membermeetings on the second Tues-day of every month (exceptDecember) in the Body ShopDepartment at Pulaski Tech-nical College. Scott andGolden are grateful for theirgreat relationship with thecollege, and ACRA recipro-cates by offering support to

students at the facility, who are invitedto attend their educational meetings.This system also allows the shop own-ers and managers in ACRA to get ac-quainted with the students who willbecome future employees.

Additionally, ACRA collaboratedwith North Point Nissan, who donatedapproximately $20,000 in damagednew parts over the past few years, al-lowing Pulaski Tech students an op-portunity to get more hands-onexperience. In turn, this also benefitsACRA members as it ensures that

these future technicians acquire thenecessary skills and experience to be-come effective employees.

Because of their dedication to fu-ture technicians, ACRA tries to support

their local SkillsUSA competitions.Scott takes pride that one of their stu-dents from Pulaski Tech placed seventhin refinishing at the SkillsUSA Nation-als several years ago.

In recent years, members ofACRA have participated in RecycledRides, a charitable program that worksto refurbish vehicles that are donatedto families in need. Jody Gatchell,who heads their community-focusedcommittee, also contributed his serv-ices to paint a fire truck pink for thecity of Conway, AR, to help generatebreast cancer awareness.

When questioned about the biggestchallenges impacting the industry today,Golden noted, “Changes in technologyand the advanced electronics on vehicleswill continue to present shops with chal-lenges. Staying involved with associa-tions like ACRA will help shops seewhat equipment and training is neces-sary to correctly fix the cars of today.Historically, advancements in technol-ogy—from unibody cars to air bags tohigh-strength steels to drive-by-wiresuspension—have always been the core


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ACRA members being instructed on aspects of aluminumwelding

ACRA members and guests touring the newly-openedHarry Robinson Body Shop in Fort Smith, AR

challenges for shops that want to pro-vide high-quality, safe repairs to theircustomers.”

Scott believes that recent changesin some insurers’ DRP requirementsalso pose a challenge for collision re-pair facilities. In particular, he beganmonitoring PartsTrader about five yearsago when it became effective in NewZealand and continues to keep an eyeon the issues it presents. The programhas proven itself to be yet another chal-lenge to contend with, and because itwas recently implemented in Arkansas,ACRA is exploring various options fordealing with PartsTrader.

To Golden, “PartsTrader is an-other change in our industry. Movingforward, there will be more vendors inthe future that work to develop soft-ware to compete with PartsTrader andto look at new ways to control parts.In the past, we have seen manufactur-ers try to get into the recycled busi-ness and many other attempts atchange to the parts side of the busi-ness. Some have helped the industry,and some have fallen by the wayside.The parts business is evolving as it al-ways has, and each business will haveto decide for itself what fits in with itsbusiness model and what does not.”

Although rarely involved with leg-islation directly, ACRA closely moni-tors the bills introduced at the ArkansasGeneral Assembly every other year.Scott clarifies, “Few of these bills im-pact our industry, though some affectdealerships. Our attorney explores theselaws and their effects on our memberswhen necessary, and those meetings areusually pretty well-attended. We alsolook at some national legislation tomake sure our members are kept in-formed. For example, when 6H was in-stituted, we convinced the ArkansasDepartment of Environmental Qualityto hold classes to educate our memberson the new requirements.”

ACRA has not taken an officialstance on the Parts Act, but Goldennotes, “In most conversations whereparts are discussed, we talk about theneed for high-uality parts that performthe way the vehicle was designed toperform. Today’s cars are very com-plex, and the systems within the car aredesigned to work together to ensuresafety. Parts used in the repair processmust ensure those systems continue towork together as designed.”

For more information aboutACRA, visit www.arkansascollision-repair.com.


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Crash Course 2014 ReportThe CCC Crash Course 2014 reportnow includes an infographic and alive webinar series. Crash Course, anin-depth report that focuses on thefactors driving auto collision repairand total loss costs, is compiled usingresearch and information from a widerange of sources and an aggregatedset of data from the CCC data ware-house, which includes approximately140 million claims worth of informa-tion.

“The auto physical damage in-dustry continues to move quicklyas weather patterns, regulatory fac-tors, advancements in technology,and consumer preferences for prod-ucts and services evolve and con-verge,” said Susanna Gotsch, leadanalyst for CCC. “This year’s re-port looks at these factors individu-ally and together to help provideperspective on the overarching im-pact they are, and will continue tohave, on our industry. We’re ex-cited to extend the information re-ported on in Crash Course to otherformats, which we hope will pro-vide a more comprehensive view ofthe broader marketplace for colli-sion repairers, insurance carriers,parts suppliers, and other industryparticipants.”

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CCC Updates

at www.autobodynews.com



by Ed Attanasio

Dave Tritz is the well–known ownerof Don’s Auto Body in St. Charles, MOand a former president of Alliance ofAutomotive Service Providers of Mis-souri (AASP–MO) from 2006–2008.A second–generation body shop ownerand with his son Adam now workingin the shop, Tritz has a 40–year per-spective on the collision industry andapproaches the business with a com-mon sense approach. His consultingbusiness, Business Forward, helpsbody shops all over the country by ad-vising them on what Tritz calls “thebig three”—sales, operations andprofit. AASP–MO Executive DirectorRon Reiling calls Tritz “one of thebest body shop operators not just inMissouri, but in the country.” ABN re-cently sat down with Tritz to tap intohis huge reservoir of knowledge andexperience in the collision industry inMissouri.

Q: Okay, David—let’s get it out of theway. What are your feelings aboutPartsTrader?

DT: PartsTrader was implemented inSt. Louis market later last year, butprior to that, I was asking around andthe consensus is it hasn’t been a goodthing. In Missouri just like in anystate, we have specific concerns but inthe end we’re all in this business to dogood work and get paid fairly for it.But, one thing the industry has to beaware of is the fact that we’re in fluidmotion here in this industry. This isnot where we stop and then that’s it—we’re constantly changing and we’re awork in progress. One thing that I’mconcerned about are these additionalprocesses that are now required. Someof them come mandated by the insur-ance companies and Parts Traderseems to be one of those types ofthings, and I think there will be moreand more of those coming around, tiedinto DRPS. But, it’s not just about theprocesses; it also has to do with all ofthe other things that are attached tothem. Somebody has to perform thesetasks and in most cases, they will re-quire more administrative staff to getthem done. In Missouri, we’ve defi-nitely seen that the ratio between shopemployees versus front office admin-istrative people has changed, becausenow the shops are requiring more ofthe latter.

Back in the day, you could haveone manager and 4–5 techs, but nowwe’re seeing more of a one–to–oneratio of techs opposed to office peo-ple, to accommodate all of this newpaperwork created by the DRPs. ForMSOs, it’s obviously an economy ofscale situation, but I don’t care ifyou’re talking to a shop that’s doing$600,000 a year versus an MSO thatis doing $7 million a year, the amountand costs of administrative work isgetting everyone’s attention, becauseit’s getting up there.

I can foresee in the future thatprograms like PartsTrader will bleedinto how we get other things likepaint, for example. I can see an insurerthat at some point will try to build re-lationships with paint companies froma direct buy type scenario. Those aresome of the things that are concerns ofmine. Another concern is the shrink-ing profit margins. If you look at thoseacross the board and talk to peoplethat have been in this industry for asignificant amount, they’ll tell you thesame. And I believe that one of themain reasons is this deluge of addedprocedures and all of the things thatcome with it. These guidelines thatcome along with many of these DRPsassure that we’re going to make lessprofit. There’s always going to be a lit-tle push–and–shove between thebuyer and seller, regardless of the in-dustry or the market. Somebody al-ways wants too much and the otherguy is telling him, I don’t want to paythat much. That’s business and itwon’t ever change.

But, I think the real issue as we’regoing forward should be that collisionshop owners are going to have to becontinually improving their busi-nesses and know what their productcosts are and determine what theywant to sell it for In this industry, we

need to be better business peoplewhen it comes to knowing the costand value of our product and charginga fair amount to fix these cars. Some-times you have to say no—I can’t do itat that amount and draw the line. Andthat’s tough when you’re looking forwork to do and stay busy. On top of it,we now have fewer cars to fix. Thereare more total losses now and feweraccidents and these new accidentavoidance features are going to meanthere will be even fewer accidents inthe future.

Q: When your father started in thisbusiness, DRPs were non–existentand you’ve seen them as they’veevolved. Have DRPs helped or hin-dered the collision industry?

DT: When the DRP network systembecame prevalent, there was definitelya large undercurrent of bad feelingsand many shops didn’t like theprocess. A lot of shops in this area es-pecially just didn’t like it and to behonest, I was one of those people, in-cluding my father. It finally got to thepoint where we realized that if we

wanted to be in this business weneeded to participate in the DRP sys-tem and get involved in a few of thesenetworks.

The bottom line is that theseDRPs bring you a steady flow ofwork, depending on who you’re talk-ing to. The most important thing iskeeping it all in balance, betweenDRP and non–DRP work.—and that’sbeen one of the biggest challenges inthis industry. Many body shops havewelcomed numerous DRPs, becauseit brings them business, but now thatwe’ve been in this DRP thing for 20years or so, we’re starting to seethere’s a cost that comes with this. So,we’ve had to re-learn some of thethings we were doing before we couldrely on these DRPs, like going outand meeting people, marketing tothem and branding your shop—thingsthat shops don’t feel they need in aDRP environment. So, in many ways,we’re reverting back to the old waysof doing things, because they work.The downside is that if you get almostall your work from your DRPs, whathappens when you lose a few ofthem?


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Missouri Shop Owner and Consultant Favors Common-Sense Solutions for Common Problems

Dave Tritz (right) was honored as the AASP–MO’s 2010 Outstanding Member of the Year forhis service to the organization and dedicationto the collision industry in Missouri. PresentingTritz with the award is former AASP–MOPresident Greg Bartnett

share what is going on in other areasof the country, everyone wins. Quiteoften, a shop owner will learn how an-other shop owner has already success-fully dealt with a problem and iswilling to help the other shop that isfaced with the issue at the presenttime.”

Bryant agrees that the 2014 showwas superior to events of the past be-cause, “For the first time, I have notheard a single complaint or negative re-mark. In fact, I continuously got com-pliments on how pleased everyone waswith the show. Obviously, based on thepositive feedback, this year’s show wasmuch better than last year’s show.”

All in all, Northeast 2014 was anexciting show with events and activi-ties for all to enjoy. I can’t wait for the2015 show! Visit www.aaspnjnorth-east.com and visit http://aaspnj.org.

Q: Based on your experience, wheredo shops tend to drop the ball when itcomes to marketing?

DT: One common mistake shopsmake is they don’t track the source ofeach customer or lead. We spend a lotof time and effort into finding outeach and every customer through thedoor how they found us and what theysaw or read that caused them to callus. Was it social media, a neighbor re-ferral, an agent referral, an email blast,newsletter, advertising—or is ourname of their insurance company’slist? What we learn is that usually it’sa combination of several things andrarely just one of them. The key is tokeep your name out there, so thatwhen there’s a dip in business forwhatever reason, you’re prepared.

Q: In some states, there is a still prob-lem with unlicensed body shops oper-ating under the radar and takingmoney away from legitimate opera-tors. Does this exist in Missouri?

DT: The old days of shady operatorsin this area of Missouri at least are athing of the past. They’ve gone awayand what’s left are good shops that do

good business. But, there are a ton ofthem and consequently, this is a verycompetitive market. The midnightbody shops can’t survive now, be-cause of the technology, specializedequipment and training. They could-n’t fix today’s cars or simply chosenot to, probably because they could nolonger tie on to an oak tree with a pullalong and fix them that way. It’s bet-ter for the whole industry, because inthe past these under the radar shopswere doing unsatisfactory work,which gives us all bad name.

Q: Body shops all over the countryare setting themselves up to repaircars containing aluminum. Are youpart of this movement wither cur-rently or in the near future?

DT: As far as aluminum goes, I thinkI’m going to wait and see how thisplays out. It is here and more of it iscoming, but at what pace? The newFord F–150 will bring a lot more shopsto the party, but will all of the addedequipment and training pay for itselfover time? We’re interested, of course,but we want to do it in a smart way andnot just rush into it just because theguy down the street is doing it.

Q: Do you embrace new technologyas part of your business model?

DT: We’re always trying to improveourselves by continually looking fornew technologies, but there are somany things out there that it’s a littleoverwhelming. So, we have to decidewhat works for us and what doesn’t,because it’s a big universe. Most ofmy employees are considerablyyounger than I am and we often havediscussions about technology and howto use it. For a long time a youngwoman in our office said we needeveryone to have dual computer mon-itors to be more effective and I foughtit for a time. Then one day she was outand I sat down and could quickly tellwhy she wanted two monitors. Assoon as she got back from vacation,everyone got two monitors, because itmakes them more effective and theycan do a better job.


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Northeast Reactions

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@autobodynewsAccept no Substitutes!

For many years, body shop owners ingeneral weren’t enamored with the ideaof hiring a company to design and de-velop their websites, thinking that theycost too much and would not bringenough new customers to their shops.But now most of those naysayers anddoubters realize that a good, easy-to-read website that has intuitive naviga-tion and is leveraged for searchabilityis a necessity, rather than a luxury.

And that’s why companies suchas Autoshop Solutions, an automotivewebsite design and Internet marketingcompany based in Apex, NC, areflourishing. Autoshop Solutions’ web-sites have been named to the highly-respected “Top 10 Automotive RepairWebsites” list by AutoInc., the officialpublication of ASA, (www.autoinc.org/top10.htm) for the last sevenyears, including four wins in the 2013list.

“We are honored once again tohave four of our clients’ websitesrecognized for being some of thebest in the country,” said DannySanchez, CEO and founder of Au-toshop Solutions. “We congratulateAtlantic Motorcar Center, Kinney’sAutomotive, Valley Automotive, andMike’s KARS for inclusion on Au-toInc.’s list of ‘Top 10 AutomotiveRepair Websites’.”

Autoshop Solutions has beenbuilding website designs for the auto-motive industry for more than nineyears and has won numerous awards,but winning never gets old, accordingto their vice president of operationsMargaret Klemmer.

“Website design trends and Inter-net marketing are constantly chang-ing,” she said. “We’re encouraged bythe fact that our websites consistentlyplace in the ‘Top 10 Automotive Re-pair Websites’ across the country be-cause we always work hard to makesure our customers get websites thattruly work for them. These awardsvalidate our ability to evolve and in-novate our product for the benefit ourour clients.”

Each year, AutoInc.'s judges re-view hundreds of websites fromaround the country to come up with the‘Top 10 Automotive Repair Websites’list. These websites are evaluated by

three independent judges based on thefollowing criteria: First impression/vi-sual design, objective/ purpose, inno-vation, credibility, navigation, calls toaction, consumer friendliness, techni-cal elements, and social media in-volvement.

Sanchez and his company havedominated the ‘Top 10 AutomotiveRepair Websites’ list since 2007 andhave captured 20 of the 60 availablespots over those years. He and his 12-member team have been designingwebsites and performing search en-gine optimization (SEO) for a widerange of automotive repair companies(both mechanical and collision), partsvendors and transmission shops, auto-motive glass companies, and perform-ance shops, according to Sanchez.

“I personally started designingwebsites for automotive companies al-most two decades ago, and then in1999 I opened the doors here at Au-toshop Solutions,” Sanchez said. “Irecognized a definite need, becausewe saw that these companies weredoing excellent work, but they didn’tknow how to create a presence online.Our first few clients were mechanicalrepair shops, and we realized ratherquickly that we could help them a lotby creating websites that are easy-to-use and optimized for search. One vic-tory led to another, and pretty soon wewere busy because repair shops needour help and we know what theyneed.”

Early adopters have a distinct ad-vantage online, but those companiesthat are jumping in now can makequick inroads if they decide to step upand feature a top-notch site. “A sim-ple site with three or four pages usedto be enough, but no more,” Sanchezexplained. “Five years ago, you coulddominate your market because yourcompetition either had a weak site ormaybe even no website at all. Butnow almost every shop out there istrying to get those top rankings, andthe competition online is intense.Those shops that dragged their feetare scrambling, but everyone is in thegame now.”

Sanchez said the old days of hir-ing your cousin or brother-in-law todo your website are long gone for sev-

eral reasons. “The sites out there nowcontain 10-15 pages that are full offresh content and more bells and whis-tles than ever before, so hiring a friendor relative that designs template-typeweb sites part-time on the weekendswon’t make it anymore. Consumersare much more knowledgeable and ifthey see an amateurish-looking site,they know what they’re looking at.For many customers, your website isthe first thing they’ll see—before theyvisit your shop or even call, in manycases—so making a good impressionwith your website is much more cru-cial now.”

Many shops launch websites andthen forget about them, which is amistake, Sanchez said. “I call it the‘check the box’ syndrome. Shops fig-ure hey—we did a whole new websitefive to six years ago, so let’s just leaveit alone. The only problem is thingsare changing all the time, so if you’renot adding new content and refreshing

your site, you can be left behind. Onething we’ve done for many of ourclients recently is softening up theirapproach and making the contentmore instructional, because we knowthat 60 percent of the people handlingthese repairs are women. Also, Googlevalues fresh, original content morenow, which means that blogs are morepopular than ever.”

Gail Bixler is the business de-velopment manager for Mike’sKARS, a mechanical repair shop inGettysburg, PA. Capturing an awardfor its website (www.MikesKARS.com) was obviously a thrill for theshop, but the work isn’t done quiteyet, Bixler said. “We’re still in theprocess of refining our site, and Iimagine that will never end,” she said.“We will be making revisions on anongoing basis because we realize thatwe need to continually make it better.It’s not rocket science, but you need to


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The Alliance of Automotive ServiceProviders of Minnesota’s (AASP-MN)legislative proposal which would haveprohibited insurers from specifying or re-quiring that a repair shop utilize “specificvendors, distributors, manufacturers,suppliers, business platforms or internalprocesses in order to carryout vehicle re-pairs for an insured or claimant” was notgiven a hearing in either the House orSenate Commerce Committee duringMinnesota’s 2014 Legislative Session.

The bill, which also would haveprohibited insurers from steering in-sureds to particular shops for estimates,did not advance due to a combinationof strong insurance industry oppositionand the constraints of an abbreviatedlegislative session with tight commit-tee deadlines.

Insurance companies character-ized the bill as eliminating direct re-pair programs and waged an all-outcampaign to kill it. In fact, many shopswere contacted directly by insurancecompany representatives who report-edly attempted to instill fear of losingbusiness, put pressure on the Associa-tion to change course and divide therepair industry.

AASP-MN Executive Director,Judell Anderson, said, “The Associ-ation’s concern is that insurers are tak-ing a more and more active role intrying to dictate repair shop businesspractices in the context of these pro-grams. Too often, insurer mandatesadversely affect the efficiency andprofitability of the repair shop, whiledoing nothing to ensure the safe andproper repair of the vehicle or to en-hance the repair experience of the cus-tomer. The legislation is intended tobring about a more balanced approachand restore shop owners’ control overtheir own business relationships andpractices.”

Based on the input of its mem-bers, AASP-MN will continue to workon this issue. The proposal will un-dergo review through the Association’sCommittee process and then furtherdiscussions will be held with the insur-ance industry. AASP-MN will be readyto hit the ground running when the2015 Legislative Session begins.

vided in the various seminars that theycan incorporate into their daily opera-tions to improve their businesses.Steve Landry of Precision Auto inGunnison, CO, noted “as a first-timeattendee, I was very impressed withthe level of technical training as wellas management training—I will bebringing my technicians next year!”

Kurt Born of Schrock RepairInc. in Goodfield, IL, lauds the eventas “excellent [with] high-quality train-ing… people don’t travel from all overthe country for nothing! This is someof the best training that there is. Youmust attend to be able to compre-hend!”

“Bringing our team to VISION isone of the best investments we canmake to improve our shop! The qual-ity of trainers and networking oppor-tunities with others in the industrycannot be topped! It’s just the BEST!”raved Diane Larson of Larson’s Serv-ice, Inc. in Peabody, MA, while KevinThomas of Kevin’s Car Care in Barn-hart, MO, looks “forward to this eventeach year with high expectations, and,

every year, my expectations are ex-ceeded. The training, the hospitality,the camaraderie, the entertainment,and the socializing are all fantastic. Ican’t wait for next year!”

The 23rd annual VISION Hi-Tech Training and Expo is scheduledfor March 5–8, 2014, at the OverlandPark Convention Center.

VISION strives to educate repairprofessionals to keep them currentwith the most relevant training needsof today and the future, and, thoughASA-Midwest hosts the event, Hamil-ton stresses,

“VISION is not an event solelyfor the members of ASA or ASA-Mid-west. The event is designed for the in-dependent service professional toreceive some of the industry’s topmanagement and technical trainingavailable, as well as provide network-ing and mentoring opportunities togrow their business.”


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AASP-MN Anti-Mandate Bill Hits Roadblock



by Ed Attanasio

The the Iowa Collision Repair Asso-ciation (ICRA) held the 2014 MidwestAuto Body Trade Show on March 20,2014, at Prairie Meadows in Altoona,IA. Over 400 collision professionalsattended the one-day event, whichconsisted of training sessions, infor-mational panel discussions, an I-CARclass on new car technology, and 65exhibitors, including some of thecountry’s top vendors and organiza-tions in the field of collision repair.

“The Future Is Now” was thetheme of the 2014 show, and it surelylived up to its name, according to JanetChaney, ICRA executive director. “Theday was jammed-packed, starting withthe I-CAR New Technology 2014 Classtaught by I-CAR regional manager EdMayer, I-CAR senior director of seg-

ment development,and I-CAR instruc-tors Bill Stage andScott Schuerman,who were on-handto present the classand network withattendees through-out the day.”

Mayer was happy to be involvedin such a well-attended show. “JanetChaney extended an invitation to us,and we were happy to attend,” Mayersaid. “We conducted a 2014 Technol-ogy Class, and it was standing roomonly. Body shop owners and techs arevery interested in the newer vehicles,and this class is always popular. Peo-ple who attended this four-hour classearned three I-CAR credits, and I cansafely say it was a huge success. Wealso had a booth at the show so thatpeople could ask us questions about I-CAR and discuss anything they wantedto talk about.”

A six-member panel discussionabout new technology was also a bighit later in the day. “There have beenso many changes in this industry re-cently and all of these great things that

are coming around the corner, so wethought a focus on new technologywould be timely and appropriate,”Chaney said.

“There Is No Free Lunch” wasthe theme of the luncheon presenta-tion, featuring keynote speaker IowaSenator Brad Zaun, who encouragedeveryone in the Iowa collision indus-try to work together by joining theICRA and staying involved with theirlocal legislators.

Zaun was followed by the InsurerMandate Panel Discussion, which in-cluded six panelists representing allsegments of the collision industry.Janet Chaney was the moderator andthe panel answered questions regard-ing the insurer mandate of PartsTrader.

“This was a spirited discussion,and the overall consensus from thepanel and audience was that PartsTrader is cumbersome and not user-friendly,” Chaney explained. “In addi-tion, PartsTrader does not allow forbusinesses that have built strongworking relationships to continueworking together as they have, as longas they choose to participate in thisprogram.” It appears from this discus-sion that the industry is paying closeattention to all insurer mandates andrealizes that there is a flurry of activ-ity in the parts procurement arena.

Pete Tagliapietra of NuGen ITwrapped up the luncheon by speakingabout “Information Technology andThe Future of Collision Repair.”

Tagliapietra was pleased by the re-sponse he received from the collisionprofessionals in attendance. “Theremust have been 150 people there, andeveryone seemed very interested inwhat I was sharing,” Tagliapietra said.“There has been a huge change in theindustry with things like PartsTrader,and one of the biggest is this new bur-den on body shops to do more of theadministrative work associated with aprogram like PartsTrader. But there is aparadigm shift happening as we speak,and it will result in more body shopsbeing able to outsource much of thisadmin work in the future. Technologywill help because it will lead to moreinformation sharing and connectivitybetween the shops, their insurance part-ners, and their vendors as well.”

Aeromotive, ALLDATA, and Op-tima Automotive offered educationaltraining sessions on the showroomfloor.

Ford Motor Company sent a videoand answered questions about the new

aluminum Ford F-150 pickup in a livewebinar. Paul Massie, Ford Motor Com-pany, Power Train, and Collision mar-keting manager, answered questions forat last 90 minutes.

As trade show chairman DickMerron said, “Awesome show, witheducation, training, cutting-edgeequipment—an all-in-one show righthere in Iowa. And the admission wasfree. What a deal!”


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Saddle Brook, NJ, Police arrested fourteenage boys on March 20 who are al-legedly responsible for causing nearly$40,000 worth of damage to 25 carsparked at a Saddle Brook Maaco AutoBody lot. Two of the teens, one fromGarfield and the other from ElmwoodPark, were taken to Saddle Brook Po-lice Headquarters and were released

into their parents’ custody, police said.The other two teens, who are residentsof Rochelle Park and Garfield, werelater identified. All four are 16 and willbe charged as juveniles. Because 25cars were damaged, they will each becharged with 25 counts of criminal mis-chief, the degree based on the extent ofthe damage on March 8.

NJ KISS Bandits Arrested After $40,000 in Damages

One-day ‘Future is Now’ Midwest Auto Body Trade Show Gets 400 Attendees, 65 Exhibitors

Janet Chaney

Iowa Senator Brad Zaun encouraging ICRAmembership and staying involved withlegislators at the 2014 Midwest Auto BodyTrade Show.

Ford Motor Company Power Train and CollisionMarketing Technical Operations ManagerRobert King presenting


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American Honda is pleased to an-nounce two new Body Repair Newsbulletins. The first covers the 2015Honda Fit model including newmodel body technology, body repairinformation, welding information,air bag systems, and more. BodyRepair News summarizes new bodyand vehicle technology that may af-fect collision and other body re-pairs. It is not intended to replacethe detailed information containedin the body repair and service man-uals. Rather, it simply helps colli-sion repair industry personnelunderstand why using the factoryservice information is so importantto make safe and complete repairs. The second Body Repair News bul-letin covers welding and sectioningguideline revisions that apply to allmodels. This is in response to in-dustry requests for more informa-tion about the proper repair ofHonda and Acura vehicles as theamount of high strength steel con-tinues to increase in our vehicles.

Body Repair News coveringthese and other topics can be ac-cessed at: https://techinfo.honda.com/rjanisis/pubs/web/ABN51267.pdf and ABN51152.PDF

American Honda AnnouncesTwo Body Repair BulletinsEver had a customer claim your re-

pair technician dented or dinged hisvehicle while fixing the originalproblem. The customer wants thedent/ding fixed for free—though itlikely had been there for some time.

Tired of dealing with such falseclaims, the owner of a ColoradoSprings body shop and his brother-in-law came up with a high-tech solution:an app.

James Bishop, 42, and JakeDurfee, 30, invented The DingStinger app as an easy way to let autobody repair and mechanic shops scancar or truck vehicle identification

numbers, take photos of hail andother body damage, write estimatesand share the information with cus-tomers and other auto repair compa-nies. So if a customer comes backwith a false claim - or takes it to an-other shop—the app can divulge thetruth.

Bishop says such false claimshappen a lot, and that’s why he andDurfee came up with the idea. But theapp also has saved Bishop’s companythe time it took to fill out paperworkfor orders and estimates.

“We are literally four timesfaster,” he said. “Since we did thisapp, we have tracked where it hassaved us 15 hours a week.”

The app works on any Applemobile device and can be down-loaded and used for a limited time forfree. After that, the app costs $30 amonth to use, or $299 a year. So far,it’s been downloaded more than2,000 times in all 50 states and fivecountries, Bishop said. It has beenpurchased 226 times since it becameavailable in July.

Durfee, a manager and repair-man at Bishop’s repair shop, “TheDing Guy,” said he helped developthe app after the two men realized theflaws in their check-in procedures,

such as transposed VIN numbers andtriplicate paperwork. He said theycreated the app so it can be sharedwith repair and other auto serviceshops within the city and elsewhere.

Bishop started working in theauto body repair business in 1991when he was 19. After attending tradeschool in Bentonville, Ark., he re-turned to the Springs in 1992 andopened his first shop. In 2006, hestarted “The Ding Guy” at 3001 EastPlatte Ave.

Durfee started working withBishop the same year Bishop openedhis shop, and Durfee’s older brother,Matthew, coded the application.

When asked why someoneshould buy “The Ding Stinger” appinstead of just having employees takephotos of damaged vehicles, Bishopsays, “Because the app organizeseverything into an information pack-age that can be attached to any otherprogram, sent to customers, and itsaves time.”

Colorado Springs Duo Develop ‘Ding Stinger’ App

James Bishop, left, and Jake Durfee, co-owners of The Ding Guy, have developedan application that helps auto repair shopseliminate paper work and cut the timeneeded to create repair estimates.(Credit: The Gazette, Christian Murdock)




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Four members of the Society of Col-lision Specialists (SCRS) 2014-2015Board of Directors were re-elected tothe SCRS Executive Committee onApril 8, 2014, during the SCRS an-nual meeting in Portland, OR.

Six candidates ran for four posi-tions, including four incumbents andtwo new individuals who were pro-posed by the SCRS NominationsCommittee. All incumbents were re-elected by members, so there were nochanges to the SCRS Executive Com-mittee.

The re-elected board membersare Andy Dingman of Dingman’sCollision Center in Omaha, NE, RonReichen of Precision Body & Paintin Beaverton, OR, Brett Bailey ofA&B Body Shop Inc. in Kansas City,MO, and Dusty Womble of RogerBeasley Collision Center and RogerBeasley Auto Glass in Austin, TX.

“We are excited the membershiphas recognized the efforts of ourleadership team,” stated SCRS exec-utive director Aaron Schulenburg.“The results of this election really in-still a sense of confidence that we areserving our members in the appropri-ate manner, and that this strong anddiverse group of thoughtful and ar-ticulate collision repair representa-

tives is well suited for their posi-tions.”

SCRS bylaws allow elected boardmembers to hold executive positionsfor a maximum of two, one-year terms,and each member of the SCRS Execu-tive Committee was eligible to main-tain their current position.

SCRS chairman Ron Reichencommented, “I’ve accomplished agreat deal in my career, but nothingquite compares to the work that wetackle at SCRS. I am fortunate to besurrounded by brilliant and hard-working individuals who have dedi-cated themselves to rolling up theirsleeves and going to work for the in-dustry we all love. It is an honor tocarry forward with that work, and to

receive such support and confidencefrom our members.”

Though elected to a new three-year term, Reichen is serving hisfinal eligible year as chairman, andthe remainder of his term will be ap-pointed to a replacement candidateby the incoming chairman in 2015.

In 2013, nationaldirector Jim Sowlewas appointed to theremainder of imme-diate past chairmanAaron Clark’s term.“This past year hasbeen such an enor-mous, eye-openingexperience for meinto how engagedthis board is on theissues of national im-portance to the in-

dustry,” shared Sowle. “Like many ofour members, I attentively followedthe association’s activity, and workedto be involved as frequently as Icould; but it wasn’t until I joined theboard that I really could appreciatehow much work this group does qui-etly in the background to make ourindustry, and our members’ busi-nesses, more successful. For anyonewho has a desire to be a part of some-

thing bigger that makes a differenceoutside of your own four walls, thisis where it happens.”

Nominations committee chair-man and second-generation SCRSnational director Dusty Womble en-courage those with similar interest inleadership positions to become en-gaged now. “Almost everyone sittingaround this table was involved inSCRS activity long before runningfor the board of directors,” he shared.“This group is fortunate to have reg-ular interest from new volunteers,and the position requires a great dealof commitment and involvement. At-tending the quarterly meetings andinteracting with the board and mem-bership is one of the best ways tomake sure that future potential can-didates have the time, energy, andsupport at home necessary for boardmembers to be successful in theirterm. I’m honored to be able to con-tinue on in my service, and look for-ward to the opportunity to work withand welcome new individuals withsimilar passion for improvement.”

For more information about SCRS,visit www.scrs.com.

SCRS 2014-2015 Board Elected in April 2014

The 2014-2015 SCRS Board of Directors (left to right): CJ Vermaak,Domenic Brusco, Jim Sowle, Dusty Womble, Aaron Clark, BruceHalcro, Luis Alonso, Ron Reichen, Brett Bailey, Kye Yeung, RodesBrown, Andy Dingman, and Paul Val (Photo provided by JoelGausten, TGP, Inc.)



On Tuesday, April 8, 2014, the So-ciety of Collision Repair Specialists(SCRS) (www.scrs.com) held atwo-hour open board meeting inPortland, OR, that included updatesfrom SCRS staff, committees, andaffiliate associations outlining cur-rent and future work initiatives.

SCRS Education Committeemember Gary Wano provided a re-port on information gathered fromthe BMW National Aftersales Con-ference including BMW plans rela-tive to the Certified Collision RepairCenter program, insurer relation-ships, and insight into repairabilityof the carbon fiber chassis, alu-minum frame rails, and thermo plas-tic outer panels on the upcoming i3and i8 electric vehicles.

Toby Chess and committeechairman Kye Yeung presentedabout new products that can helpcollision repairers produce great re-pairs on modern cars.

Barbara Crest, executive direc-tor of the Northwest AutomotiveTrades Association and JanetChaney, executive officer of theOregon Collision Repair Special-ists, gave updates on the Oregon-based affiliations’ activities.

Society of Collision RepairSpecialists Open Board Mtg.

that are close to lakes or the ocean, forexample,” March said. “They alreadyhave all of the equipment needed to as-semble the kits and paint them, etc. Ifyou can assemble a Volkswagen, youcan do this. You have to install themotor and transmission, do the uphol-stery, and paint it. A body shop can dothe job in three to four weeks, and ifthey really want to fast track it, theycan do it in a week. It might be a goodadditional source of revenue for them,and they will definitely get some at-tention for these WaterCars.”

We asked March what the futurelooks like for the WaterCar and he said,“I think it’s definitely bright. Once peo-ple start seeing them more and more,they’ll want them. The next big thingwe’d love to do with the WaterCar istake a trip down the English Channel byBig Ben and then all the way to the Eif-fel Tower. I’m pretty sure that wouldget some attention from the people atthe Guinness Book of Records!”

To learn more about the Water-Car, visit http://watercar.fountainval-leybodyworks.com.


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The Specialty Equipment MarketAssociation (SEMA) Board of Di-rector candidates were announced onMarch 20, 2014 (one open seat avail-able per category):Manufacturers Category● Tim Martin, COO of K&N Engi-neering Inc.● Rick Trudo, President and CEO ofSCT Performance, LLC● Steve Wolcott, President and CEOof ProMedia LLCDistributor Retailer Category● Greg Adler, CEO of Transameri-can Auto Parts● Larry Pacey, President and CEO ofNational Performance Warehouse

Voting will take place onlineMay 14 through June 10, 2014, and isopen to current SEMA member com-panies. Votes must be cast by eachcompany’s primary contact. Detailswith ballots and links will be sent tothe member company’s designatedprimary contact in May 2014. Win-ners will be announced in June 2014,and formally inducted into the SEMABoard of Directors at the SEMA In-stallation Banquet in July 2014.

For more information, contactJudi Ritchie at 1-909-978-6671 [email protected].

SEMA Board of DirectorsCandidates Announced

On February 10, 2014, the CollisionIndustry Foundation (CIF) electedthree new Board of Trustees mem-bers: Casey Steffen of Saint-GobainAbrasives, Nick Notte of SterlingCollision Centers, and David Hen-derson of AudaExplore/Autowatch.The new trustees participated in theannual planning meeting in Chicago,IL, on March 12, 2014.

“I’m excited to be part of theCIF Board of Trustees, said Notte. “Istrongly believe that it is the respon-sibility of every person who makes aliving in our collision industry togive back to those in need. The CIFis a wonderful vehicle by which todo that.”

Steffen stated, “I feel privilegedto have the opportunity to become apart of CIF. I am excited to workwith my fellow board members inaccomplishing the foundation’s vi-sion of providing emergency relieffor collision repair professionals.”

For more information aboutCIF or to donate, visit www.colli-sionindustryfoundation.org.

Collision Industry FoundationAnnounces New Trustees

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AudaExplore Enhances MAACO’s OperationalEfficiency with Repair PlatformsAudaExplore™, a leading data-drivensolution provider to insurance carriers,repairers, dealerships and fleet own-ers, today announced that it has signedan agreement to provide its Driver Ex-perience and Repair Platforms toMAACO® Collision Repair & AutoPainting.

Customized specifically forMAACO’s franchisee owners, Auda-Explore’s Driver Experience and Re-pair Platforms are designed to deliverunique customer moments and in-crease shop productivity through:● Empowering customers via mobiledevices to gain visibility into the en-tire paint and repair process;● Improving productivity and gener-ating accurate estimates faster; and● Easily managing all aspects of therepair and paint workflow—fromtracking sales and cycle time to man-aging employee productivity and partsefficiency.

“We are excited about our part-nership with AudaExplore, their state-of-the-art technology will help ourfranchisees streamline operations andenhance the overall customer experi-ence,” said Jose Costa, President,MAACO. “As North America’sBodyshop for more than four decades,

we are committed to leading the in-dustry with new technology, qualityproducts and providing the best serv-ice to our customers.”

MAACO currently operates 450auto painting and collision repairshops in the United States andCanada. With AudaExplore’s DriverExperience and Repair Platforms,MAACO shops are equipped withsignificantly more actionable andreal-time operational data, resultingin positive gains in shop efficiencyfor franchisees, and a more satisfyingpaint and repair experience for theircustomers.

“The collision repair market ishighly competitive, so the quality ofdata—whether it’s an estimate or em-ployee productivity rate—plays anadvantageous role,” said GordonHenderson, VP of Collision RepairSolutions, AudaExplore. “By offer-ing improved visibility into its shopsoperation and delivering applicationsthat create a differentiated customerexperience, AudaExplore’s solutionsenable the company to adapt andgrow efficiently. We look forward tobuilding out our partnership withMAACO and help the companyachieve its expansion goals.”

They contend the boycotting ef-forts include insurers telling policy-holders that a certain shop will be moreexpensive and that choosing it alsomeans they’ll be responsible for addi-tional rental-car charges.

Another tactic, body shops al-lege, is to tell consumers the work

won’t be guaranteed by using a shopthat doesn’t conform to a repair pro-gram agreement. That’s misleading,however, because insurers require allshops to stand behind their work for aperiod of time.

The collision shops seek unspec-ified compensatory damages forunder-payments as well as damage forlost business opportunities. They alsoseek an injunction that would requireinsurers to modify their practices.


Tortious Interference?

put in the necessary time and pay at-tention to things like social media,SEO, and the overall look and feel ofthe site.”

Josh Fuller, co-owner ofFuller’s of Auburn in Auburn, MA,contracted Autoshop Solutions to de-sign a website for his company(www.fullerautomotive.com) in 2012.It wasn’t an easy task because Fullerhas six businesses all under one um-brella: towing, mechanical repair, col-lision repair, an express oil changeservice, a car rental fleet, and a usedcar sales company. But, by building a

site that is easy-to-use and incorpo-rates SEO, Fuller is pleased by the re-sults and delighted about the positivereviews that he’s received from hiscustomers.

“We started our first websiteback in 2006, but the technology is sodifferent now, and there is so muchmore competition fighting for toprankings these days,” Fuller said.“We’re constantly looking for the bestsolutions out there, and the people atAutoshop Solutions knew exactlywhat we were looking for becausethey know our industry inside-and-out.”

For more information about Au-toshop Solutions, visit:www.autoshopsolutions.com


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Sherwin-Williams, the “Official Trans-portation Finishes of NASCAR” spon-sor, is honored to support the secondannual NASCAR Race To Green ini-tiative (http://green.nascar.com/race-to-green), March 29–April 27, 2014.

Sherwin-Williams is also supportingNASCAR green efforts through edu-cation initiatives, promoting aware-ness of low volatile organic compound(VOC) paints—like Sherwin-WilliamsAutomotive Finishes AWX Perform-ance Plus waterborne refinish system,which meets the strictest VOC limitsin North America—and initial appli-cation for select teams in the industry.

Roush Fenway Racing uses AWXPerformance Plus on each of its sixrace cars.

The No. 51 Turner Scott Motor-sports Chevrolet driven by Justin Al-gaier ran a special Sherwin Williamspaint scheme in Darlington, SC, and

was also painted using AWX Perform-ance Plus.

“Sherwin Williams and NASCARshould be applauded for educatingNASCAR fans and the marketplacemore generally about the value and avail-

ability of low-VOC paints. VOCsare commonly used in paints andcan cause cancer and neurologicaland reproductive harm. Once ap-plied, VOCs evaporate into the airfor months afterwards. By using itsmarket and cultural influence to ed-ucate fans and other businessesabout the availability of low-VOCpaints and its ease of use, NASCARand Sherwin-Williams are helpingto move the marketplace towards aless toxic environment,” said Allen

Hershkowitz, Ph.D., senior scientist forthe Natural Resources Defense Council(NRDC).

“More than a dozen NASCARteams currently use Sherwin-WilliamsAutomotive Finishes, and we aim to helpteams cross the finish line and ensure thattheir cars and their sponsors always lookgood circling the track,” said BobbyMoody, director of motorsports for Sher-win-Williams Automotive Finishes. “Wealso want to assure them of our commit-ment to use the most environmentally-responsible coating products in the worldand plan to expand application and edu-cational awareness of the lower VOCpaint to more race teams.”

Sherwin-Williams Supports NASCAR Green Initiative,Applies Low VOC Paint to No. 51

The new website is now live for theInternational Autobody Congress &Exposition (NACE) and the Congressof Automotive Repair and Service

(CARS) (www.NACEexpo.com orwww.CARSevent.com) at the CoboCenter in Detroit, MI, July 30–August2, 2014. In addition, hotel reservationscan be made through the Travel sec-tion of the NACE/CARS website.

The 32nd annual NACE/CARS,sponsored by Automotive Service As-sociation (ASA), will feature numer-ous opportunities for technicaltraining, business education, demon-strations, networking, and technologyshowcases for stakeholders, owners,managers, and technicians in the col-lision and service repair industries.Along with NACE/CARS 2014, a se-ries of automotive repair industry

events and co-located meetings willtake place July 28–August 2, 2014.

Dan Risley, ASA president andexecutive director, stated, “With so

many new things happeningaround this long-standing con-ference and expo, it was impor-tant to roll out a new website.The event has so many positivechanges in training, education,and displays, and they are now

accurately reflected by this site.”Highlights of the new site in-

clude a modern look, easy navigation,quick response, and a parallel mobilesite. Updates on the show can befound on the home page and via socialmedia channels.

The official hotel partner forNACE/CARS 2014 and IndustryWeek is Travel Planners. The bestrates have been negotiated at nine ho-tels in the downtown area, and TravelPlanners will manage those hotelblocks. There are other groups pro-moting hotel reservations during theweek, but they are not affiliated withNACE/CARS.

NACE/CARS 2014 Website Live, Hotel ReservationsOpen for Detroit

Chief Opens New Specification Center in Malaysia toProvide Customers with Better, More Timely SpecsChief Automotive Technologies (www.chiefautomotive.com) opened a newtraining and specification center inKuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with greateraccess to measure vehicles built in theAsia-Pacific region earlier in their lifecycles. The facility will provide a homebase for Chief staff to use when devel-oping collision repair specifications, aswell as a new location for Chief Uni-versity training classes.

Chief develops spec data for ve-hicles, giving technicians a single re-source for accurate repair information.At the Malaysian spec center, Chiefpersonnel will measure vehicles withthe frames anchored and the suspen-sions unloaded to provide technicianswith real-world data.

“Many vehicle manufacturers op-erate out of Malaysia, so this center’slocation gives us improved access to

their products for measuring,” says LeeDaugherty, Chief global data productmanager. “It will also facilitate travelto India and other strategic locations inAsia, where we can remotely measureadditional vehicles. Chief travelingmeasuring teams have operated inMalaysia over the last several years,and now they have the benefit of work-ing in a shop outfitted specifically fortheir needs.”

The Malaysian facility is equippedwith a Chief impulse-E/VHT frame rackand a four-post vehicle lift. Using theChief LaserLock live mapping system,technicians will measure new vehicle di-mensions and enter the information intothe Chief spec database.

Chief specs include comprehen-sive frame and upper body measure-ments for thousands of cars and trucksfrom the 1970s through today. Theyinclude under-body frame measure-ments, under-hood measurements, andbody openings, so repair technicianscan compare a collision-damaged ve-hicle to OEM specifications. Detailsabout targets, attachments, and an-choring points are also listed.

Chief’s sales and support staff willalso serve regional customers from theMalaysian training and spec center.

Chief Malaysia Spec Center Ribbon CuttingTeam


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Are Aluminum Cars Really Better for the Environment? Study Says ‘Yes’One of the best way to make vehiclesmore energy-efficient is to make themlighter. Aluminum is often used to dothat because it can be as strong orstronger than steel, but weighs a lotless. Initially, aluminum was mostlyfound in high-end models, like theAudi A8, but recently more of it hasstarted to pop up in mass-market mod-els, like the 2015 Ford F150 truck thatwill be mostly made of aluminum, re-ducing weight by 700 pounds com-pared to the previous model.

So, are aluminum cars really bet-ter for the environment? Many peopleare still skeptical. But Oak Ridge Na-tional Labs has looked into the matterand seems to confirm that they are.

Oak Ridge National Labs basi-cally compared the whole life cycle ofthree different versions of the samevehicle: a normal, baseline vehicle; alightweight, steel vehicle; and an alu-minum-intensive vehicle. Their find-ings are that aluminum is absolutelyworth it, with an energy break-evendistance for their test vehicle of just12,000 miles. That’s an energy pay-back of just one year for the averageperson, and after that all energy sav-ings are 100 percent net gains over atraditional, steel-based vehicle.

Oak Ridge Labs found that thealuminum vehicle has a mass that’s

about 25 percent lower than the base-line vehicle, which makes a pretty bigdifference on overall life cycle CO2emissions (17 percent).

Aluminum also corrodes lessthan steel, so total useful life for vehi-cles could be lengthened, or at leastmoney spent on maintenance andbody work reduced. Another greatthing about aluminum—and carbonfiber, which is also another great ma-terial to reduce weight without losingstrength—is that it allows electric carsto have much longer range than if theywere made out of steel.

So, it looks like there is solid ev-idence backing aluminum as a mate-rial of the future in the transportationsector. Over time, as costs are re-duced, carbon fiber could join it tohelp further reduce weight and saveenergy.

Read the full story at:http://www.treehugger.com/cars/make-sense-make-vehicles-aluminum-how-long-energy-payback.html.

2015 Ford F-150

3M Continues Funding Scholarships For 2nd Yearin Collision Repair for Returning Veterans“Hire Our Heroes” program, 3M™ isfunding special scholarship opportu-nities for veterans that want to begina collision repair career by attendinga collision repair community collegeor college. The scholarship awardswill pay for tuition and requiredbooks/tools for veterans enrolling inschool collision repair programs inthe summer/fall 2014, therefore eas-ing the financial burden of education.This is the second year for the pro-gram.

Interested veterans can apply forthe scholarship opportunities by vis-iting the Collision Repair EducationFoundation’s web site: www.Colli-sionEducationFoundation.org, under“Students” and “Hire Our He-roes.”.The deadline for the applica-tion is September 30, 2014. As partof the application, a veteran wouldsubmit information for the collisionschool he/she would like to attendand if a veteran is not aware of whatschools offer collision training,he/she can contact the EducationFoundation directly for a list of avail-able schools.

Clark Plucinski, Executive Di-rector of the Collision Repair Educa-tion Foundation said, “The Collision

Repair Education Foundation is onceagain proud and honored to partnerwith 3M and the Hire Our Heroesprogram to offer this grant. This is agreat industry with many opportuni-ties for returning veterans, and thisgrant is a great first-step for veteransto get the collision education neededto become successful members of thecollision industry.”

“We are excited to be able tocontinue the 3M Hire Our Heroesprogram in 2014 and expand it toprovide more resources to our re-turning veterans who want to pursueeducation, training and careers in thecollision repair industry,” said DaleRoss, U.S, Marketing OperationsManager, 3M Automotive Aftermar-ket Division.

The winners of the scholarshipwill be selected by members of theCollision Repair Education Founda-tion’s Board of Trustees SelectionCommittee and notified by mail andphone in November 2014. For moreinformation, please contact us [email protected] or888.722.3787, Ext. 283.



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AutoBody-Review.com Improves Geo-Targeted SEO,Authority for Shops by Adding “Articles: to ProfilesAutoBody-Review.com announces therelease of a new feature to their cus-tomer shop profiles with the release of“Articles” in all body shop profiles inadvance of upcoming Google algo-rithm changes.

The Search Engine giant hashinted at some upcoming changes to itsalgorithm in their latest “WebmasterHelp” video. Google’s Head of Web-spam, Matt Cutts, said they are work-ing on some changes that will helpGoogle better determine when a site isan authority on a topic such as autobody repair.

Google continues to improvesearch results to allow for more accu-rate local rankings in the Hummingbirdupdate, combined with upcoming al-gorithm changes that will determinewhich sites are more of an actual au-thority on a subject. AutoBody- Re-view.com has responded early with theaddition of “Articles” to our customersshop profiles. Each client will receiveone keyword-rich article written by ourin house SEO writers that is targeted toeach body shop’s local geography, andis included in each shop profile in aunique “articles” tab. From there, thebody shops can continue adding theirown articles as they see fit.

“The geo-targeted long tail key-word is crucial to ranking a localservice business such as a body shoponline, and now we have increasedour ability to rank our customers on alocal level through our nationallyranked website,” said Director ofMarketing, Tom Zoebelein.

“Our duty to our clients as a na-tionally recognized website is to getthem found in a local search, by cus-tomers in their local area. After monthsof keyword research from our own webtraffic, we discovered that we can lever-age our ranking power, and our SEOexpertise to assist our shops on a locallevel with the addition of our new arti-cles feature,” said CEO Curtis Nixon.

AutoBody-Review.com’s newarticles feature will function muchlike a mini-blog on each auto bodyshop profile. While most auto bodyshops lack the knowledge or the staffto properly blog for their shop on alocal level, AutoBody-Review.comhas simplified this task for them.



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The Collision Repair EducationFoundation 13th annual golffundraiser will be on Thursday, July31, 2014, at the Northville Hills GolfClub in Detroit, MI, in conjunctionwith Industry Week meetings likethe Collision Industry Conference(CIC), the annual Inter-IndustryConference on Auto Collision Re-pair (I-CAR), the International Au-tobody Congress and Exposition(NACE), and the Congress of Auto-motive Repair and Service (CARS).

Funds raised assist the Colli-sion Repair Education Foundation inproviding support to collision repairstudents and school collision pro-grams.

The registration fee is $275 perplayer, which includes golf, lunch,dinner, contest holes, and more.

In addition, you can sponsor thehelicopter ball drop to win up to$7,000. You do not need to be pres-ent at the event to participate in thehelicopter ball drop.

To learn more, visit http://colli-sioneducationfoundation.org/2014-collision-education-foundation-golf-tournament.

For questions, email BrandonEckenrode or call him at 1-847-463-5244.

Industry Week Fundraiser

On April 16, 2014, I-CAR announcedtwo new, limited-time training bundlepromotions from the Intro to CollisionRepair Series that are specifically tai-lored to employee career paths in theinsurance and collision repair seg-ments.

“Providing staff with founda-tional knowledge on the repairprocess can have a positive impact oneveryone involved—from the cus-tomer, to the repairer or insurer, to thebusiness,” stated Elise Quadrozzi, I-CAR director of insurance segmentdevelopment.

The Intro to Collision RepairSeries includes an overview of vehi-cle parts and terminology, readingdamage reports, and repair and refin-ishing processes.

Training bundles are $273 eachfor a limited time and comprised ofthe eight most commonly-takencourses by the insurance and colli-sion repair segments, including apopular courses at no cost.

Each on-demand course takesapproximately one hour to completeand has no expiration date.

To learn more, visit www.i-car.com/html_pages/training/intro_to_collision_repair.shtml.

Limited-Time Promo on 2New I-CAR Training Bundles

A Haysville, KS, auto body shopwas temporarily closed by the statefor not paying state sales taxes.Kansas Department of Revenue civiltax enforcement agents and Sedg-wick County sheriff’s deputiesseized the business assets of Show-room Auto Motive, located in the7400 block of South Broadway inHaysville.

The Kansas Department ofRevenue said the business owed$5,976 in state sales taxes from Feb-ruary to September of 2013.

Officers seized all known bankaccounts, on-site cash, business in-ventory and personal property be-longing to business owners SamuelA. Valdez and Samuel J. Valdez.The Kansas Department of Revenuesays it has reached a repaymentagreement with the business. Assetsseized by the department have beenreleased back to the business.

The revenue department said itmade multiple attempts to collect thetaxes owed before exercising a taxwarrant. According to the RevenueDepartment, warrants such as thisare served when all other collectionattempts have been tried and ex-hausted.

KS Body Shop TemporarilyClosed for Tax Non-Payment

Matrix System Automotive Finishesis now accepting entries for its 2015Award Winning Finishes CalendarContest: Showcasing Color BeyondImagination. Each year, the calen-dar features exceptional finishes de-signed by restoration, custom, andbody shop painters nationwide.

The competition is open toprojects painted exclusively withMatrix System products. Entries canbe, but are not exclusive to, streetrods, custom cars and trucks, mo-torcycles, and other passenger vehi-cles such as semi-trucks, boats, andplanes. Entries are judged on finishquality, technical difficulty, designoriginality, and artistic merit.

Winners will receive a featured spotin the calendar, the opportunity to appearin various Matrix System promotionalmaterials, a Matrix System jacket, and apermanent home in the Photo Gallerysection of the website. In addition, thefirst place winner will receive $1,000 inproducts. All entries must be postmarkedby August 15, 2014.

Download the entry form athttp://matrixsystem.com/docs/news/2015%20Award%20Winning%20Finishes%20Calendar%20Entry%20Form.pdf.

Matrix System 2015 FinishesCalendar Contest


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