autobody news may northeast edition

by Kyle MalloryLeif’s Auto Collision Centers, Oregon

A long-established New York autobody shop owner who has success-fully won over $1 million from insur-ance companies announced recentlylawsuits seeking nearly $3 millionfrom the trio of State Farm, Allstateand Adirondack Insurance.

Mike Orso, the president of NickOrso’s Body Shop of Syracuse, NewYork, is suing the insurers for a vari-ety of reasons, including shorting theshop on payments and the continuedbattle of OEM (original equipmentmanufacturer) vs. aftermarket parts.

“In a few words I can sum ofthese suits,” Mike said in a press re-lease. “Capping and short payments,”before adding “the longer version, byand large, they consist of ‘shorting’ or‘capping’ of labor rate, paint materi-als per itemized PaintEx, ‘Data baseP-page’ denials, omissions, and a host

of arbitrary caps. Some of the caps arerelated to clear coat labor and materi-als or refusal of necessary body shopmaterials. Some itemized deficienciesare for parts cost, OEM vs aftermar-ket and used parts that we refuse forrelevant reasons.”

The tactics Mike is suing over,unfortunately, aren’t dissimilar fromwhat Leif’s Auto Collision Centerssees in its Oregon shops. Both Orsoand Leif Hansen see the same “deny,delay, defend” protocol from a myriadof insurance companies.

Like Orso, Leif sees a problemwith some insurers refusing to paycertain labor rates, which is why herecently had an independent surveyconducted to verify his prices werewell within the market. Indeed theyare.

Orso is fed up with seeing thesesame tactics over and over again andisn’t afraid to head to court seeking

Mike Orso Launches $3 Million Suit AgainstThree Insurers, Citing Capping and Shorting

See Orso Sues, Page 8

of 3issues

SPECIALPAINT ISSUE

PAINT & REFINISH TECHNOLOGIES

Paint Focused Articles in this issue...PCL Automotive Products Help Rich Evans Excel . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 11Top Chicago Painter Prefers Preval’s vFan Airbrush . . . . . . . . . .p. 25Airbrush Artist Shannon MacDonald Uses PPG Envirobase . . . .p. 20Matrix Has World’s First Premium Low VOC Solvent Basecoat .p. 38How Innovations Meet Needs and Adding Value for Customers .p. 42Standox® Partnership In Excellence (PIE) Member Conference .p. 47AkzoNobel Holds Independent Distributor Conference . . . . . . . .p. 47Decade of Innovation Turns Paint Industry Upside Down . . . . . .p. 52The Advantages of a Thin Paper Masking Tape . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 54How Blended Nitrogen Improves on Dr. DeVilbiss’ Invention p. 60Collision Repair Estimates—Excellence Now Required . . . . . . .p. 62

● To strive for collision repair excellence ...● To affirm and defend the rights as independent business owners,

to serve our clients based upon our one-to-one contractual relationship with those clients without any 3rd party interference...

● To resist any Influence of outside entities that would mandate the use of inferior parts, materials and/or techniques that would beutilized in the repair of our customers’ vehicles.

● To Increase Consumer Awareness as to any 3rd party efforts to negate, dilute, or otherwise compromise the rights of vehicle owners.

● To support the actions of those entities when said efforts areconsistent with the best interests of vehicle owners.

● To facilitate Consumer Protection in any administrative, investigative, or political process that may attempt to affect or influence the rights of vehicle owners and/or those who seek to serve them.

● To encourage our collision repair clients to promote ethical business practices that will benefit the industry and the vehicle owner.

● To Promote our name and mission recognition among consumers.

What is the CCRE and why is TONYLOMBARDOZZI so passionate about it?INTERVIEW by Chasidy Sisk see page 56 for interview

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Amato Agency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Audi Wholesale Parts Dealers. . . . 52BMW Audi of Turnersville . . . . . . . 36BMW Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 53Central Avenue Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Chief Automotive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63The Clausen Company . . . . . . . . . . 4CSS USA, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37DCH Family of BMW Stores . . . . . . 9DuPont. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Equalizer Industries. . . . . . . . . . . . 40Ford Wholesale Parts Dealers. . . . 55Fred Beans Parts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Fuccillo Auto Group . . . . . . . . . 14-15Garmat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20GM Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 45Healey Chevrolet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Honda-Acura Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32-33

Hyundai Wholesale Parts Dealers. 47Jaguar Wholesale Parts Dealers. . 48Kia Motors Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Koeppel VW-Mazda. . . . . . . . . . . . 26Lazare Kia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Lexus of Massapequa . . . . . . . . . . 16Lexus Wholesale Parts Dealers. . . 61Maxon Hyundai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Maxon Mazda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Mazda Wholesale Parts Dealers . . 51Metric Subaru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Millennium Hyundai . . . . . . . . . . . 17MOPAR Wholesale Parts Dealers . 39Nissan/Infiniti Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Nucar Mazda. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21PaintEx. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18PCL Automotive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Plaza Auto Mall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Porsche Wholesale Parts Dealers. 50PPG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Safety Regulations Strategies. . . . 28SATA Spray Equipment . . . . . . . . 27SCA Appraisal Company . . . . . . . 18Scion Wholesale Parts Dealers. . . 59Security Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep . . . . 6Solution Finish. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Subaru Wholesale Parts DealersDE, South NJ, PA . . . . . . . . . 22-23

Subaru Wholesale Parts DealersNorth NJ, NY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Thompson Organization . . . . . . . . 25Toyota Wholesale Parts Dealers . . 60VeriFacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Volkswagen Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Volvo Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 54

Inde

xofAdvertisers

REGIONALAudra Fordin, NY Shop Owner, GarnersState Awards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Cedar Grove, NJ, Shop Foils Theft AttemptInside Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

CollisionMax Offers Maximum Results inCollision Repairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Daniel Osley, Long Time Body Tech,Passes Away . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Eastern Student of the Month Wants to InheritCollision Repair Instructor’s Job Eventually. 6

Keenan Auto Body Opens its Avondale, PA,Location. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Mike Orso Launches $3 Million Suit AgainstThree Insurers, Citing Capping and Shorting . 1

New England Paint & Body Expo inBoxborough, MA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

New Jersey’s Shade Tree Garage WantsAuto Related “Junk” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Pennsylvania’s Keenan Auto Body’sJingle Contest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Prestige Motors, Paramus, NJ, is Mercedes’Best of the Best . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Remembering Ron Kromer, Jr. BoardMember at AASP/NJ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Shop Owner Tim Peotter, New Providence, NJ, Passes Away . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Sixth Baltimore Police Officer in Body ShopScam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

COLUMNISTSFranklin - “Power Babes” Throw aSuccessful Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Mainstream Media - Complaints Lead to Arrestof Ohio Car Restoration Business Owner. . 50

Nigro - Reaching Beyond TraditionalAdvertising to Engage Your Customers . . . 12

Sherosky - Aluminum Stock—A Long-TermAuto-Related Opportunity? . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Weaver - “GI—Think Like a Mechanic!” . . . . 35Yoswick - Standards Program in the U.K.Offers Lessons for the U.S.. . . . . . . . . . . . 43

NATIONALAAIA and ASE Recognize World ClassTechnicians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Another Lakeland, FL, Shop Files Breach ofContract Suit Against Progressive Insurance. 7

Automakers Could Face up to $250M inRecall Fines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Body Shop Owner Eddie Lopez Shot Deadin Early, TX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

California’s NEW CHIEF of Bureau ofAutomotive Repair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

CAPA Adds SF Insurance Executive to Board. 18CARSTAR & Mitchell Inc. Join Efforts onStore Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

CCRE 2012 Seminar—Taking Back theCollision Repair Industry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Chrysler Recalls Some 2012 Jeep Patriot And Compasses for Suspected Fuel Tank Flaws . 34

Chrysler Recalls Some 2012 Town & Country and

Dodge Grand Caravans for Machining . . . 34Collision Repair Industry v. Sacramento atthe Annual California Legislation Day . . . . 28

Dallas-Ft Worth Storms Take out 50,000Autos and Damage 30,000 Homes . . . . . . 26

Enterprise Elite Service Partner ProgramLaunches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Former MLB Pitcher, Now MotivationalSpeaker, Engages East Bay CAA Members . 46

Insurer Report Card in Oregon Ranks StateFarm #1, Farmers and GEICO ReplaceAllstate at Lowest Rank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Iowa Collision Repair Centers Raise $1,329for Charity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Major ‘Chop Shop’ Busted in Jackson, MS,Owner Arrested, $500K in NissanParts Found . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

MN Court Awards $157K in Progressive Ins.Underpays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Mopar Division Introduces First In-VehicleWireless Charging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

NHTSA Proposes Standard for Brake-Throttle Override . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Oregon Body Shop Steps Up to Help Student’s Project Destroyed by Vandals, AssistanceHelps him Graduate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Peter Vann Joins Urethane Supply CompanySales Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Poway, CA, Navy Veteran Has VehiclePainted to Honor Troops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Registration for SEMA 2012 is Now Openfor Attendees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Rich Evans CoSponsors Fundraiser forBaby Cancer Foundation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Sharing the Message with CCRE PresidentTony Lombardozzi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Special 2011 Ford Shelby Sells Twice atBarrett-Jackson in Palm Beach, FL . . . . . . . 4

Study Says EVs Cost $1200 Less to Run . . . 34Women’s Industry Network Adds NewBoardmembers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

PPAAIINNTT SSPPEECCIIAALLA Decade of Innovation Turns Paint IndustryLiterally Upside Down. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Airbrush Artist Shannon MacDonald Uses PPG Envirobase to Bring Icons to Life on Vehicles and Just About Everything Else. . . . . . . . . 48

AkzoNobel Holds North American Independent Distributor Conference in Boca April 24–26 . 47

BASF Recounts How Innovations Meet Needsand Adding Value for Customers. . . . . . . . 42

Collision Repair Estimates—Excellence NowRequired . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

How Blended Nitrogen Improves onDr. DeVilbiss’ Invention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Matrix System Launches World’s FirstPremium Low VOC Solvent Basecoat . . . . 38

PCL Automotive Products Help Rich EvansExcel on Every Project he Touches . . . . . . 11

Standox® Partnership In Excellence (PIE)Member Conference Gives Industry TrendsInsight, Human Resources & Marketing . . 47

The Advantages of a Thin Paper Masking Tape . 54Top Chicago Painter Prefers Preval’s vFanAirbrush for Mobility & Versatility . . . . . . . 44

Contents

Publisher & Editor: Jeremy HayhurstGeneral Manager: Barbara DaviesAssistant Editor: Erica SchroederContributing Writers: Tom Franklin, David Brown, JohnYoswick, Lee Amaradio, Rich Evans, Janet Chaney, TobyChess, Mike Causey, Tom McGee, Ed Attanasio,Chasidy SiskAdvertising Sales: Joe Momber, Sean Hartman, JayLukes (800) 699-8251Sales Assistant: Kristy NavarroArt Director: Rodolfo Garcia

Serving New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delawareand adjacent metro areas, Autobody News is a monthlypublication for the autobody industry. Permission to re-produce in any form the material published in AutobodyNews must be obtained in writing from the publisher.©2012 Adamantine Media LLC.Autobody NewsP.O. Box 1516, Carlsbad, CA 92018(800) 699-8251 (760) 721-0253 Faxwww.autobodynews.comEmail: [email protected] N

ortheast

www.autobodynews.com | MAY 2012 AUTOBODY NEWS 3

New Talent to Serve Readers Better at Autobody News

Melanie Anderson joined the Autobody News editorialteam in April, 2012 as Assistant Editor. She receivedher Journalism degree from Humboldt State Uni-versity and has been a professional writer formore than 20 years. Her background in-cludes working as a newspaper reporter,a freelance writer and as a public rela-tions and marketing communica-tions professional. Melanie

recently re-located back to San Diego county afterhaving raised two kids in northern California. Sheis very happy to be back in the area. For fun,Melanie enjoys travel, photography, explor-ing locally, gardening and spending timewith family and friends. If you have astory idea, please contact her at(800) 699-8251 or email tom a n d e r s o n@ a u t o b o -dynews.com.

Jay Lukes joined the Au-tobody News sales and mar-

keting team in April, 2012 as aRegional Sales Manager. Originally

from the Chicago area, he has spentthe last 25 years in Southern California.

He has worked in the marketing and adver-tising community since graduating from Cal

Poly San Luis Obispo and enjoys the relationshipshe builds with his clients. Jay’s most recent position

was coordinating ad sales forGoogle’s online clients. When he’s

not working, Jay likes spending timewith his family, Notre Dame Football and

traveling, preferably to Cabo San Lucas. He’salso an avid sailor having boated everywhere

from Lake Michigan to Panama. Call Jay about anad in any of our editions, or just to say “Hi” at 800-

699-8251 or email [email protected]

This year, at the Barrett-Jackson PalmBeach auction, one special unit wassold not once, but twice. A very spe-cial-edition 2011 Ford Shelby GT500was sold twice in a row Saturday atthe Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach auc-tion, raising $950,000 for theWounded Warriors Family Supportfoundation.

The red, white and blue Shelby,signed by dozens of veterans, familiesand supporters from all over the coun-try, was hammered sold for $500,000to a thunderous cheer from the auctioncrowd, which rose to a fevered pitchwhen the winner of the sale, RonnieRains of Odessa, Texas, donated thecar back to be sold again.

Rains, an Army veteran whoserved in Viet Nam and Europe, saidhe wanted to give the car back for re-bidding because of his strong personalsupport for the Wounded Warriors or-ganization and similar veteran’sgroups.

“This is what it’s all about righthere,” said auction president SteveDavis. “God bless America!”

The group’s chairman, Army Lt.General John Sylvester (retired), withhis arm around Rains’ shoulders,added, “God bless America and Godbless Americans.”

With that, auctioneer Spanky As-sister started his patter over again,with the second sale quickly reaching$450,000 and sold to Jack Miller, aJupiter, Fla., collector and restorer ofFord Mustangs.

The sales of the wrapped special-edition 2011 Ford Shelby GT500,signed by veterans, their family mem-bers and supporters, eventually raisedover a million dollars for WoundedWarriors Family Support.

Commenting on the news, Col.John Folsom, founder of the organiza-tion, noted, “Wounded Warriors Fam-

ily Support is a small, independentnon-profit organization that providessupport to the families of U.S. Sol-diers, Sailors, Airmen and Marineswho have been wounded, injured orkilled during combat operations.

“We are so grateful for the gener-ous support of the auction participantsand the American people. We are es-pecially grateful for the team at Bar-rett-Jackson for their tremendous help.The money raised through this auctionwill enable us to help military familiesin so many ways,” he continued.

At the auction, Folson addressedthe crowd, saying the car is signed bypeople from all across the country—though President Barack Obama is notamong them, yet.

Folsom hopes to garner PresidentObama’s signature on this year’s car,as he will begin the third annual na-tionwide High Five Tour this June,with a 2012 Mustang GT500.

On the 48-state tour, Folsom in-tends to “meet as many Americans aspossible and thank them for their sup-port of military families who havegiven so much,” officials noted.

“The High Five Tour will make astop in Washington, D.C., on July 7. Iwould be honored to have PresidentObama sign the 2012 car,” Folsomadded.

President of Barrett-Jackson Honoredfor Donation In other news from the auction group,Steve Davis, president of Barrett-Jackson, was recently honored at the8th Annual Armed Forces Congres-sional Gala Dinner with the “Con-gressman Bill and Mrs. BeverlyYoung Humanitarian of the YearAward.”

He was recognized for the dona-tion of his personal custom 1964 FordFairlane, which was donated to beauctioned for the Armed Forces Foun-dation, an organization that helps mil-itary members and families in times ofneed, at the 2011 Barrett-Jackson LasVegas Collector Car Auction this pastSeptember.

“Entrepreneur Ron Pratte suc-cessfully bid on the car for $700,000and then promptly and altruisticallydonated the car back to the ArmedForces Foundation, to be bid on againat the 2012 Barrett-Jackson ScottsdaleAuction in January,” officials ex-plained.

Then, in January, Ted McIntyre,

chief executive officer of Louisiana-based Marine Turbine Technologies,successfully bid on the Fairlane for $1million.

“The reaction at both auctionswas beyond enthusiastic and Barrett-Jackson waived all consignment feesat both auctions,” the company re-ported.

But this car’s story doesn’t stopthere.

During the Gala, McIntyre an-nounced that that he would be donat-ing the car back to the Armed ForcesFoundation and it would be sold once

again at a futureBarret t -Jacksonauction.

“I am beyondhumbled to be a re-cipient of this pres-tigious award,”said Davis. “To seethe outpouring ofsupport we gener-ated for our troopsand their familieswas spectacular. Iam so honored tobe able to helpthose who fight forour country; it isthese men and

women who make me proud to be anAmerican.”

Barrett-Jackson has raised morethan $39 million for various charita-ble organizations since 2006, andmore than $45 million since its firstauction, the company said.

Special 2011 Ford Shelby Sells Twice at Barrett-Jackson in Palm Beach, FL

Marine Col. John Folsom (back to camera)talks with (from left) Barrett-Jackson presi-dent Steve Davis, retired Army Lt. GeneralJohn Sylvester, auction CEO Craig Jacksonand Ronnie Rains, who bought the car anddonated it back to sell again. (Photo: BobGolfen)

The 2011 Ford Shelby GT500 traveled through most of the nationgathering signatures, said Marine Col. John Folsom, who foundedWounded Warriors Family Support. (Photo: Bob Golfen)


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Eastern Penn. Student of the Month Wants to InheritCollision Repair Instructor’s Job EventuallyGregory Garvin is the April 2012 Stu-dent of the Month at Eastern Centerfor Arts and Technology in WillowGrove, PA. He is in his second year ofEastern’s collision repair technologyprogram and a senior at AbingtonHigh School.

Garvin maintains an A average inhis collision repair technology pro-gram and is active in SkillsUSA as theCollision Repair Technology 2011-12Class Treasurer. He received secondplace for collision repair technologyat the SkillsUSA District Competitionheld earlier this year at the WesternCenter for Technical Studies in Lim-erick.

Throughout the year, Garvin vol-unteered his time representing Easternand his collision repair technologyprogram at recruitment events such asEastern’s Tenth-Grade Career Expo,and Garvin is the 2011 – 2012 studentrepresentative for Eastern’s CollisionRepair Technology Occupational Ad-visory Committee. Last summer,Garvin was a teacher’s aide for East-ern’s Summer Fun Auto Mechanicsand Collision Repair program formiddle-school students.

Garvin received his SP/2 certifi-cation for collision pollution trainingand collision safety. Both his fatherand sister attended Eastern.

At Abington High School,Garvin is a distinguished honor roll

recipient. Outsideof school, Garvinstill finds time toparticipate on theAbington Town-ship ice hockeyteam, and volun-teers for theGlenside YouthAthletic Club

baseball team and Rau Animal Hospi-tal. He has also been providing land-scaping services locally since 2006.

After he graduates, Garvin plansto attend Montgomery County Com-munity College for business and even-tually, he said he would like to takeover for his collision repair technol-ogy instructor, Steve Parke.

Eastern’s faculty, joint commit-tee and the Willow Grove RotaryClub sponsor the Student of theMonth program to highlight studentexcellence, success and service.

Greg Garvin

Oregon Body Shop Steps Up to Help Student’s ProjectDestroyed by Vandals, Assistance Helps him GraduateWhen Air Force veteran Arthur An-derson, of Jacksonville, put out the callfor a community to come together tohelp a North Medford High Schoolstudent, Leif’s Auto Centers was oneof the first to respond.

High school senior Jase Philbywas in the process of restoring his1989 Chevy Silverado Pickup for hissenior project when the car was de-stroyed by vandals, leaving Jase seem-ingly without hope of completing hisproject and receiving the necessarycredits to graduate.

Jase’s 1989 Silverado was amongfive Chevrolets stolen and vandalizedduring the last week of March 2012.Much more than a vehicle, this Silver-ado Pickup was a crucial key to grad-uation for the North Medford HighSchool senior. Jase was restoring thevehicle, of sentimental family value, asa senior project; the final step towardsgraduation and his entrance in to theUnited States Air Force.

The damage done to the vehicleextended beyond the cosmetic; into thesteering column and transmission. All-told the destruction was significant

enough for the insurance company todesignate the truck as being totaled.

The repairs costs would far ex-ceed the actual worth of the vehicle.Leif’s Auto Centers heard about Jase’ssituation and donated $5,000 worth ofparts and work from their Phoenix,OR, location to help restore the vehicleand get Jase the necessary credits tograduate.

The rest of the funding camefrom local businesses and individualdonations to help restore the vehicle.Industrial Finishes of Medford do-nated all the paint, valued at $800.B&R Auto Wrecking halved the $300price for a new steering column andglass.

Though past the project due date,North Medford High School extendedthe deadline for Jase while work to-wards completing the repairs contin-ues.

“We strive to be an active mem-ber of our local communities and assuch are glad to help out when cir-cumstances require it. This young manhad quite a unique story and situationand we saw an opportunity to help.”

Gather your old car parts, used motoroil, batteries, mercury switches andeven old child car seats and bring it toShade Tree Garage. The Morristownauto repair shop is one of the few inthe area certified by the New JerseyGreen Auto Repair Council and col-lects these materials for recycling.

Grassroots is a feature of theGannet-Daily Record and staff thereinterviewed owner John O’Connorwhat it means to be a green shop, andwhat he’s going to do with all that oldstuff (hint: it won’t end up in a land-fill!).

Grassroots: What makes your auto re-pair shop “green?”John O’Connor: We have been recy-cling since before it was cool to recy-cle. We always recycled oil,antifreeze, refrigerants, tires, waterpumps, alternators and starters. We gobeyond the requirements, though. Forexample, we crush the used oil filterswe take off our customers’ cars. Bycrushing them we squeeze the oil outto recycle it and then ship them to arecycler who strips the steel can off

and incinerates the paper element. Wehaven’t thrown a oil filter in theDumpster in 20 years.

What is GARP?The N.J. Green Auto Repair Programis run by the Green Auto Repair Coun-cil. It is a voluntary certification pro-gram which is partnered with the state

DEP as well as several automotive as-sociations. The GARC established anevaluation program that a shop owneruses to review their operation. Theylook at our procedures and how haz-ardous or environmentally nasty stuffis contained. After the owner submits a

self evaluation, the GARC comes toinspect and recommend areas of im-provement. The scoring is tough andin order to re-certify they look for con-tinuous improvement.

How did you get into all this?I always recycled — after all I’m partof the Woodstock generation! I got in-volved with the GARC when I re-ceived a call from Mike Coppola atAAA after he heard about a similarprogram starting in Arizona that hehad seen. Coppola, Jim Dodd fromJ.D. Auto in Dover, Jim Kowalakfrom Morristown Toyota and I met atAAA in Florham Park and cooked itup. We met for probably two years be-fore it started to grow a life of its own.I can’t lay claim to the idea but I wasthere in the beginning. I have just re-joined the council.

We even get extra use out of a carat the end of its service life. Beforesending it to the junk yard to be recy-cled we give it to the Fire Academyand they use it to train firefighters andemergency responders in how to ex-tract accident victims from cars.


New Jersey’s Shade Tree Garage Wants Auto Related “Junk”

John O’Connor, right, and his son Dan in aPontiac GTO. O’Connor owns the Shade TreeGarage in Morristown, a certified green autobody shop. / Courtesy of John O’Connor

Paul Hawks, owner of Bernie’sBody Shop in Lakeland, Fla., is usinga limited power of attorney signed byhis customer and has filed a breach

of contract suit against ProgressiveInsurance Co. on behalf of his cus-tomer, a Progressive policyholderwho asked that his name be withheld.

The lawsuit is the results of thenation’s fourth largest personal autoinsurer’s refusal to pay for repair re-

Another Lakeland, FL,Shop Files Breach ofContract Suit AgainstProgressive Insurance

See Progressive Suit, Page 42


On March 20, AASP/NJ lost one of itsmost valued participants with the pass-ing of former Board member RonKromer, Jr. As a second-generation re-pair professional, Ron leaves behind anunmatched legacy of strong associationinvolvement including the organizingand promoting of numerous AASP/NJevents over several years. “Ron was al-ways full of energy, and ready to take ona new task,” remembers AASP/NJ Pres-ident Jeff McDowell, who knewKromer for two decades. “He inspiredpeople around him with his level of en-thusiasm for whatever he would take on.He was always on the cutting edge ofwhatever information was out there andtried to share that with other people.”During his time with AASP/NJ, Kromerwas directly responsible for overseeinga slew of special events including theSki Trip, the Day at the Races and theFishing Trip. Additionally, he was in-strumental in the formation of AASP/NJChapter One in 2001 and created a spe-cial “P-Page Checklist” that shops coulduse to identify typically-forgotten itemson estimates. AASP/NJ member DanHawtin remembers his friend’s willing-ness to roll up his sleeves and work hardfor the benefit of his fellow technicians.

Remembering Ron Kromer, Jr.Board Member at AASP/NJ

remedy.“We keep seeing the same non-

sensical issues over and over it’sridiculous,” he said. “I think thisgoing on more and more because theshops don’t push back or… apprais-ers keep dictating the same nonsenseover and over in shops everydayeverywhere. After a while it becomesthe normal practice. Some shops havenever known it differently. We’re toldit’s ‘market price’ that sets rates andfees. We think it’s the allocated anddictated rates and fees that set themarket price. I’m sorry to let the catout of the bag but not all shops are thesame.”

As dealing with insurers is oftentimes cumbersome, Orso has an in-house attorney to deal with lawsuits.In a 2010 appeals suit vs. Adiron-dack—a lower court ruled Orso did-n’t have standing to sue for recoverdue to policy restrictions on assign-ments—Onondaga County SupremeCourt Judge William D. Walsh re-versed the lower court’s ruling, af-

firming that by law, assignments ofclaim proceeds on post-lost assign-ments are indeed allowed under NYSlaw regardless of policy language.Orso’s in-house attorney, Joseph Ta-larico Jr. said lots of money was spenton the court process.

“Mike spent big bucks to file thatappeal,” Talarico said. “There is a lotinvolved in preparing an appeal but heknew a lot was at stake. It was clearthe insurance side knew the potentialalso based on the effort expended try-ing to defeat us. By winning Mikecleared the way for himself and oth-ers to use the assignment process.”

The assignment process is im-portant because, as Orso points out, itallows a person with knowledge tonegotiate a car’s repair settlement.

“We are willing to negotiate ifauthorized,” Orso said. “If Orso’shandles the loss and negotiates, it’sbecause most consumers don’t havethe time or expertise to pursue collec-tion on their own.”

While lawsuits with insurancecompanies who continue these prac-tices isn’t ideal for Orso, he notes thealternative simply isn’t sustainable.

“No one likes to go this route, it’s

expensive and time consuming but thecost of doing nothing as you can seeby the numbers is unsustainable.”

“I didn’t wake up one day andsay ‘I think I’ll fire off a few law-suits,’” Orso continued. But, he men-tioned the importance of pleasing thecustomer, making sure they have up-to-date equipment to handle repairsand keeping up-to-date with environ-mentally friendly products.

“Right now we’re looking intoinstalling two new energy efficientspray booths,” he said.

As Orso explains, he’s in thebusiness to make money, and whathe’s seeking from insurance compa-nies is that they adhere to the law andstop with the endless deny, delay, de-fend tactics.

“Interesting, we’re finding insur-ance attorneys and deposed claimspersonnel are stating that appraisers inthe field DO HAVE authority to settleclaims and negotiate,” Orso said. “Weall know that’s not what shops hear orexperience every day. We notify everycompany of deficiencies in writing.Some requests are disregarded or re-sponded to late by the same repeat of-fenders. You know who they are.”

Continued from Cover

Orso Sues


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A sixth Baltimore Police officer wassentenced April 13 for his role in amassive kickback scheme involving anauto body shop, receiving two years inprison and being ordered to pay$24,000 in restitution. Officer RafaelFeliciano Jr., 31, admitted last yearthat he referred accident vehicles to theMajestic Auto Body shop in Rosedaleafter being introduced to the store’sowners by a fellow officer, RodneyCintron, prosecutors said. Prosecutorsestimate that Feliciano alone caused aloss of between $120,000 and$200,000. U.S. District Judge Cather-ine C. Blake sentenced Feliciano totwo years in prison, followed by threeyears of supervised release, and or-dered him to pay restitution of$24,084, of which $10,000 will go tothe Baltimore Police Department, ac-cording to a news release from theU.S. Attorney’s Office in Maryland.

Fifteen officers pleaded guilty inthe scheme, and another was con-victed by a federal jury, while dozensmore were implicated in the probe.The six officers who have been sen-tenced have received between eightand 30 months in prison, putting Fe-liciano’s sentence on the higher end.

Sixth Baltimore PoliceOfficer in Body Shop Scam

The New England Paint, Body &Equipment Expo, was held April 20-21, 2012, at the Holiday Inn Con-vention Center in Boxborough,Mass. There were 47 leading manu-facturers exhibiting in a sold-outconvention hall.

About 520 technicians are reg-istered representing 250 body shops,along with 80 jobbers. Several atten-dees will become the lucky recipientsof new products featured at the show,with over 24 featured products slatedto be given away as door prizes.

“It will be like Christmas in thespring with ‘show only’ deals for col-lision centers that will certainly puta smile on their faces,” says GaryBrown of Kwik Auto Body Supplies.“Many of the industry manufacturerswill be on hand demonstrating theirlatest innovative products.”

Audra Fordin, owner of Great BearAuto Shop Flushing, NY, was hon-ored with two awards in the state ofNew York this month. Fordin wasrecognized by the Nassau Council ofGirl Scouts as a member of the com-munity that supported local GirlScouts throughout the past years.Audra has been a troop leader for thepast 6 years and has run programswith the scouts educating them aboutauto repair and environmental re-sponsibility with her recycled tires todesigner belt program for the past 2years. The Nassau Council of GirlScouts bestowed this honor uponAudra and other local volunteers dur-ing the Adult Recognition AwardsCeremony held at C.W. Post Hill-wood Commons Auditorium inGreenvale, NY, on March 18th.

“With all the recognition I getfor my business activities, I have tosay that this one makes me so proud.This one gives me more recognitionfrom my children,” said Audra. OnMarch 28, Fordin received the Capi-tal One Bank New York Women’sNetwork “Women Who Rock” awardin celebration of Women’s HistoryMonth.

Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) an-nounced that Prestige Motors, Inc. ofParamus, New Jersey has received theprestigious Mercedes-Benz Best of theBest Dealer Recognition Award based onits outstanding performance in 2011. Pres-tige Motors, Inc. was presented the awardas a tribute to its success as an independ-ent entrepreneur who routinely exceedsthe expectations of Mercedes-Benz own-ers. The General Sales Manager, DavidBranch had this to say, “We would like tothank our customers for their loyalty andbusiness during 2011. With the move ofour facility to the state-of-the-art locationat 755 Route 17 South, we have been ableto serve our customers better than ever andwill continue to do so for years to come.Thank you again and we look forward toseeing you at Prestige Motors, Inc.” Thisyear, MBUSA is recognizing the top 15percent of its retail network with the Bestof the Best recognition. The award, whichis presented annually, goes to top per-forming Mercedes-Benz dealerships fordemonstrating superior performance invarious areas of their business, includingcustomer satisfaction, new vehicle sales,certified pre-owned sales, leadership andmanagement, parts operations, and mar-ket penetration.

Prestige Motors, Paramus, NJ,is Mercedes’ Best of the Best

Audra Fordin, NY ShopOwner, Garners State Awards

New England Paint & BodyExpo in Boxborough, MA

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SHOP & PRODUCTSHOP & PRODUCT SHOWCASE SHOWCASE

Almost every successful carbuilder/painter over the years hasbeen able to find what they call their“go to” products—whether it’s paint,primers, sealers or even a certaintape product that they utilize in al-most all their work. Rich Evans, re-ality television star, Autobody Newscolumnist, and owner of HuntingtonBeach Bodyworks, uses productsmade by Pacific Coast Lacquer (PCLAutomotive) in every project hedoes.

After 3,000 jobs performed overhis 25-year career as a premier carbuilder and collision repair expert,Evans knows what he wants andwhat he needs to produce qualitywork time after time. That’s why heexclusively uses PCL’s refinishingproducts, primarily the company’sprimers and clears, as well as theirflat black topcoats, that have be-come increasingly popular with cus-tomizers and body shops alike.

Evans has nothing but greatthings to say about PCL and identifiesthe manufacturer’s role in consistentlysaving time and money on every jobthat comes through the doors at Hunt-ington Beach Bodyworks.

“I use their products on a widerange of projects and they performperfectly every single time. I startedusing PCL’s products in 2000, when

I built my Hummer Limousine (seephoto) out a 2002 Chevy pickup withthe 333-inch wheel base on it. Thatwas the first time I was introduced toPCL, because I had miles of panelblocking to do on that vehicle.”

Evans appreciates PCL’s primersbecause of their versatility and qual-ity. “We use a ton of their #901 (grayprimer) and the black primer, #903.What’s great about their #901 primeris that it’s a high build primer. I shootit out of a 1.9 gun. I can pull the trig-ger and just blast on a panel and itwill fill 36 and 80 grit scratches fasterthan most other types of primers. It’sactually a polyester product, so it’sjust like spreading polyester putty onbut with a gun, which allows me to

skip steps and spray it as opposed tospreading it.”

Uniformity and consistency isvital to the way Evans does his bodywork. “My approach has neverchanged over the years and I won’tever deviate because it works forme,” he said. “Basically, I shape with36 grit sand paper and then get the36-grit scratches removed with the80 grit; then I move onto the 150 gritand then chase the 150 scratcheswith the 400 grit, either dry or wet.Then I’m ready to apply the PCLsealer which gives me a great foun-dation to lay down my paint. When Ican do it all in one single step, I’msaving time and—as I always say—time is money!

“At the end of the day, I’m notgoing to get any shrinkage or imper-fections, and that’s key,” Evans em-phasized. “Many of the primers outthere right now on the market willcause shrinkage, which means youhave to take mil build off of yourclear to try and chase the shrinkageout. The shrinkage is like a dry riverbed that shows all the imperfections.But PCL’s primers provide a solidplatform so it does not move after itdries. It gives me a lot of options de-pending on the situation. In the endPCL’s primers can allow me to skip afew steps if I want to. By switching astep and filling those scratches in, Ican complete the job faster. On av-erage, it can save me 50% in timewhen I go that way, so it’s a big deal,especially when I’m super busy.Sometimes it can even save me upto 75% of the time I’d spend other-wise.

“When I do a hot rod and I’m in ahurry, I will take each panel and in-stead of just applying Bondo™ I canget everything in the ballpark with aheavy mil build. That way, I can thenwork with the product without puttingBondo™ on, or it allows me to workwith the product and get my panelstrue. Because I can apply as muchas a gallon on one panel and by thetime I come back and hit it with 80,150 and 400 grit, I’ve already re-moved 60% of the product while get-ting the build I need. That means Idon’t have to put more Bondo™ onit. Anyone who does this type of workknows that it takes time to mixBondo™ up and spread it.”

Evans also appreciates thePCL’s customer support as well. “OurPCL field rep is Paul Casanova andhe’s great. They’ve been sponsoringme for the past six years and I usedtheir products on the reality showCar Warriors (see Corvette photo)where we were able to complete carswithin 72 hours with a high quality,long-lasting paint job. Without PCL’sproducts, we never could have beenable to do what we did on that show.And we probably wouldn’t have beenable to be so creative and the qualitywould have suffered if we didn’t havethe PCL primers and sealers whenwe did our Lincoln Continental (seephoto) in just eight days on Auto-holics. It’s a big part of my processand it helps me to do things in aspeedy time. I tell people that I am a“mutt painter” because I never com-mit to one paint manufacturer orpaint line, but I have stuck with PCLfrom day one!”

Evans and his crew used PCL products whilebuilding this amazing 1976 Corvette on theT.V. car building competition Car Warriors

Evans designed and built this stunning 1964 Lincoln Continental using PCL primers and clears onthe TV show Autoholics on the Speed Channel

PCL Automotive Products Help Rich Evans Excel on Every Project he Touches

The first time he ever used PCL’s products,Rich Evans built a Hummer Limousine out of a2002 Chevy pickup with a 333-inch wheelbase.

by Ed Attanasio Huntington Beach BodyworksLocation: Huntington Beach, CA

Telephone: 714-842-9907www.richevansdesigns.com

Company At A Glance...

Type: Collision Repair & Customization

Facility Employees: One

In Business Since: 1992

DRP Programs: Zero

Number of Locations: One

Combined Production Space:13,000 square feet

PCL AutomotivePhone: (800) 752-1566 x 260email: [email protected]: www.pclautomotive.com


We know that customers only use abody shop once every seven years onaverage. For this reason, marketing tothe end user is tougher than most otherindustries. To make matters worse, theinsurance company is engaged in al-most constant dialog with your cus-tomers. This relationship allows themto direct (steer) customers towardsbody shops that succumb to their de-mands and play by their rules. What

commercials do your customers seeon TV? Insurance companies domi-nate the airwaves but they aren’t theones fixing your car and they don’tnecessarily have the shop owners’ bestinterest in mind. If they did, theywould always use the specificationsand recommendations of the car man-ufacturer to use original parts whennecessary, and not using aftermarketor used parts that are not recom-mended and take much more to in-stall.

So how do we create our ownrelationships with the customers?Traditional advertising can miss themark, and the message may be lostby the time they need your services.There are other sources of informa-tion for traditional marketing andadvertising techniques, such asradio, tv and print media. I want toto discuss other ways you can makea lasting impression when reachingpotential customers that may onlyneed your services once or twice adecade.

We’re fighting an uphill battle.How do we connect with new cus-tomers when most of them let the in-surance company tell them where totake their car? There are several meth-ods for making an impression and get-ting your message out, here a few thatI’ve used successfully.

Get involved with local and na-tional charities. We’ve done severalcampaigns that benefit local and na-tional charities. This is a great way toseparate your shop from the competi-tors and creates loyalty and awarenessfor your shop. This can be as simple

as hosting an Alex’s lemonade standevent (see www.alexslemonade.org)outside your shop, or holding a toydrive, or something as complex as abenefit event. When you figure outwhat sort of involvement level suitsyour needs and resources, you canoften receive press coverage by send-ing out a press release and most char-ities will assist with getting the wordout.

One example we found very suc-cessful was the our “Choose yourCharity” program, where customerswere given a choice of five differentcharities that they could donate half oftheir deductible to. Each of the chari-ties promoted the program (and ourshop) themselves because they di-rectly benefit from its success.

Community involvement: Holda class, sponsor a local event, volun-teer for local non-profits. CommunityInvolvement is a great way to reachyour potential customers in a more in-

timate and effective setting. We’vepartnered with the local hospital andSafe Kids to serve as a Car Seat In-spection center and for a few hourseach month we inspect and install carseats for free. This allows us time toengage the customer and show that weare dedicated to the community.

Partner with local schools, spon-sor a little league team, or get in-volved with your Local Boy Scoutschapter to offer a badge. Take part in aspring cleaning or beautification proj-ect and ask your employees to volun-teer too.

Word of mouth: This can beone of your best sources and it’s“free.” Of course, nothing is reallyfree, and if you want to boost wordof mouth referrals there is effort in-

volved. Car accidents are one of theworst things that can happen to a cus-tomer. How can shop owners help toturn that negative experience into apositive one?

Make sure every interaction withyour customers is a positive one.From the moment they pick up thephone or walk in the door, you’re cre-ating brand impressions that coulddetermine whether or not they wouldrefer you others. Say “thank you,”educate them about the process, andnever speak down to your customers.This may sound like common sensebut you’d be surprised how manyshops fail to follow these simplerules and loose referrals as a conse-quence. Take pride in your work andgive them the best possible serviceyou can offer. The effort will be ap-preciated and the customer is morelikely to tell others about their posi-tive experience.

Ask for testimonials: If theyseem satisfied, don’t be afraid to askfor a testimonial. You can even offer asmall incentive, such as a branded airfreshener, for their time. Set up acomputer at the office dedicated foronline review sites so it’s easy foryour customers to leave a review ortestimonial while they’re still in yourshop.

Keep in touch: Hopefully you’realready gathering customer emails.Keep a list and send out monthlynewsletters with coupons, tips andnews. This helps you stay on theirradar so that when you are needed, it’seasier for them to remember you astheir first phone call when they get inan accident.

Offer referral rewards: You’renot going to go out of business by of-fering a referral reward. Many shopowners feel like this is an unnecessaryincentive but there’s no other market-ing initiative that will guarantee you abetter return on your investment. Youcan pre-print testimonial cards.

Take advantage of your store-front traffic: Use your building’sstorefront and curbside space. You cantastefully add ground displays or ban-ners that alert street traffic to specificdeals or services you want to feature.You can do it without being over-whelming or unsightly. The insurancecompanies have billboards, after all,and this is one way to compete in thatmarket without the costs of billboardad campaigns.

Education: An educated con-sumer is your best customer. Mostconsumers are shopping for price anddon’t know how to look for true valuein a shop’s products and services. Dothey know the difference betweenvalue and price? It’s your job to edu-cate them on the difference and thenexplain how you shop provides thatvalue.

Teach them what to look for in anauto body shop, how the repairprocess works, and how claims arehandled. This can be achieved througha pamphlet, a video on your website,poster, floor displays, or face to faceeducation. They should understandsafety requirements and what theyshould expect from quality repairs andparts.

Educating the adjuster: Educatethe adjuster on your processes. Tellthem what you’re doing and whyyou’re performing certain opera-tions on a vehicle. Go over the P-pages logic and give properdocumentation to the adjuster. If youcan prove that what you’re doing isright, and educate them, you canmake more money on existingclaims by getting properly paid forthe services you provide. This is aneasy way to increase your revenuewithout any increase in the numberof jobs your shop sees and it’s thefirst step in leveling the playingfield between your shop and the in-surance companies. That should beyour overall goal.

Reaching Beyond Traditional Advertising to Engage Your Customers

with David BrownShop Showcase

with Attorney Martin ZuradaBody Shop Law

with Domenico Nigro

The Community-Focused Body Shop

with Janet CheneyShop Showcase

with Frank SheroskyIndustry Business Beat

Domenico Nigro is the president of Nigro’s Auto Body, a very progressive shop fortheir community in Philadelphia. In addition to many productivity innovations, Nigro’sinstalls equipment for disabled drivers, has developed several phone Applications,and represents products which directly support charities such as United Way and theNational Breast Cancer Foundation. Contact him at: [email protected].

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In a press release on February 17, MikeLeVasseur, President and COO ofKeenan Auto Body, announced that thecompany would turn to their Facebookcommunity of nearly 2400 to aid them

in coming up with a jingle for part oftheir advertising campaign. Though aproduction company has producedKeenan’s commercials for the past sixyears, Marketing Director Craig Cama-cho said “we felt this year was the yearof change,” noting “we know there is alot of talent out there” in reference totheir large Facebook community.

Keenan’s jingle contest began onThursday, February 16 and runsthrough Tuesday, May 1. Winners will

be announced on Monday, May 21.The grand prize winner will receive$1500 cash as well as the notoriety ofhaving their jingle played on the radioand online, while the second placewinner will gain $500 cash. On March6, Keenan decided to add a third prize,“Fan Favorite,” where eligible entrieswill be uploaded to YouTube whereeveryone can vote, and the winner willreceive a $300 gift certificate to any ofKeenan’s locations.

Since announcing thecontest, Keenan’s Facebookpage has increased by over200 “likes,” up to 2658 as ofMarch 28. They have receivedfourteen legitimate entries forthe contest so far. Accordingto Craig, “we have receivedseveral really good jingles,ranging from ‘Where Do Bro-ken Cars Go,’ (a parody ofWhitney Houston’s ‘Where Do BrokenHearts Go’), to a country western toone-line catchy jingles. We are havinga blast listening to them and can’t waituntil we start judging for the best.”

In order to boost awareness of the

contest, Mike and Craig recorded apromotional commercial at 94.1 WIPstudios which is now running on localradio stations, including 94.1 WIP and93.3 WMMR, two of the area’s largestmedia outlets. LeVasseur hopes thecommercial will “reach a broader au-dience and spark more entries.” Intheir commercial, after Craig sings twopotential jingles, Mike advises him tostick to marketing before announcing

and describing the jingle contest. The60-second promo can be found atwww.youtube.com/watch?v=H2De_9IdLfk where it has received 135 viewscurrently.

Keenan announced an additional,

smaller contest on their Facebookpage on March 27, asking fans to de-scribe their current jingle promotionin fifty words or less. The winner,who will be announced Friday, March30 at noon, will receive four tickets tothe Phillies vs. Marlins game on April12 as well as a parking pass.

The jingle contest will be judgedby a panel made up of Keenan repre-sentatives who will judge entries on a1-20 point scale for melody, composi-tion, originality, lyrics and creativity.Rules and disclaimers can be found atwww.keenanautobody.com. Submis-sions can be emailed to [email protected] (if lessthan 10mg), uploaded to Keenan’sYouTube page, or physically mailed totheir corporate office via disk or flash-drive: Keenan Auto Body, Inc., 557-AEast Baltimore Pike, Clifton Heights,PA 19018. Audio or video files are ac-cepted, but files cannot exceed sixtyseconds in length.

Keenan Auto Body has elevencenters in Southeastern Pennsylvaniaand Northern Delaware. They havebeen in business for sixty years.


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A criminal warrant was issued for-Manzella Clemmons, 57, whose lastknown address is Rosa Parks Boule-vard in Paterson, after detectivesidentified him as the suspect in an at-tempted theft that occurred at Budd’sAuto Body in Cedar Grove on March19.

The business’ shop managerhad entered the office area and ob-served a male, subsequently identi-fied as Clemmons, crouching behinda desk in the rear of the office. Whenconfronted, Clemmons claimed thathe dropped his cell phone and thenleft the business getting into a wait-ing vehicle. The manager subse-quently discovered that the suspecthad taken an envelope containing$300 from a desk, but had dropped iton the floor after being discovered.Detectives were able to identifyClemmons with the assistance im-ages captured by the business’ sur-veillance equipment. Clemmons,whose current location is unknown,was entered in the National Crime In-formation Center (NCIC) System asa wanted person.

Det. Sgt. John Kennedy is thelead investigator in the investigation.

Timothy Peotter, owner of Peotter’sAutobody in New Providence, passedaway peacefully on April 12 after bat-tling with cancer. Tim was born Oc-tober 23, 1956, the son of Jean Peotterand the late Jim Peotter. He is sur-vived by his devoted wife of 28 years,Joanne Charpentier Peotter. Theyhave three children, Renee, Larry andNicole. Together Tim and Joanne es-tablished Peotter’s Autobody in Sum-mit, which the family will continue aspart of his legacy. Tim is also sur-vived by three siblings, Russell Peot-ter and his wife Jennifer, Mark Peotterand his wife Tiffany, Phylis Matthe-son and her husband John; as well asseven nieces and nephews. Tim lovedlife and lived it to the fullest. Hisrange of hobbies was abundant andhis work ethic unsurpassed. He sel-dom slowed down, not even at theend. He achieved many milestonesand dreams. Tim leaves this earthwith no regret. His only wish foreveryone is that each of us “pay it for-ward,” by being kind to others andappreciating those we love. The fam-ily asks that any photos or memoriesyou would like to share to their homein New Providence.

Shop Owner Tim Peotter, NewProvidence, NJ, Passes Away

Cedar Grove, NJ, Shop FoilsTheft Attempt Inside Office

Daniel Osley, 86, of St. Johnsville,formerly of Fort Plain, NY, passedaway peacefully on April 12, 2012, atthe St. Johnsville Nursing and Reha-bilitation Facility.

Dan was born in Little Falls onMay 29, 1925, son of the late Stefanand Elizabeth E. Vdoviak Osley. Hewas a U.S. Army combat veteran ofWorld War II and served in GeneralGeorge Patton’s Army in the battlesof Ardennes, Central Europe andRhineland. After the war, he marriedJosephine Labunski. They were mar-ried 63 years. Dan worked for manyarea car dealerships as an auto bodyrepairman and mechanic and retireddue to health reasons.

Dan is survived by his lovingwife, Josephine Labunski Osley, ofFort Plain; one son, Robert Olsey, ofFort Plain; two grandchildren, JosephOsley, of Fort Plain, and Janice (Bur-ton) Dillenbeck, of Rochester; andtwo great-grandsons, Aidan andNathan Dillenbeck, also of Rochester.

Daniel Osley, Long TimeBody Tech, Passes Away

Keenan Auto Body will hold thegrand opening of its Avondale, Pa.,body shop from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.May 3. Keenan has 10 repair facili-ties located throughout southeasternPennsylvania and Delaware.

The grand opening will includefood, raffle prizes, a live radio broad-cast and a shop tour. Former NewYork Giant and Philadelphia Eagleand two-time Super Bowl winnerSean Landeta will be signing auto-graphs from noon to 2 p.m.

The 10,000-square-foot Avon-dale facility has been in full produc-tion since November 2011. It hasexceeded its sales goals to date, ac-cording to Craig Camacho, marketingdirector for the company. The Avon-dale facility was formerly known asBavarian Collision until Keenan ac-quired it in 2011.

Founded in 1952 by Joseph T.Keenan and acquired by his son Don-ald in 1979, the family-owned colli-sion center is the largest non-dealermulti-shop operator in southeastPennsylvania and Delaware.

For more information visitwww.KeenanAutoBody.com or con-tact Camacho at 610-587- 3187.

Keenan Auto Body Opens itsAvondale, PA, Location

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The smart shops are coming around. They are quickly learning THERE ARE BIG BUCKS IN THIS CUP. There are three systems for billing body and paint materials: one is averaging $33–35 per paint hour and a second is averaging $38–44 per paint hour, while PaintEx accounts are seeing $50–70 per paint hour.

PaintEx stands the acid test with full documentation. PaintEx is not a calculator—it’s a cost accounting program, the ONLY cost accounting program. PaintEx tracks what each item in your shop costs, and how much of it is used on each and every job.

It’s the truth guys—we can prove what your costs are, but you’ve got to change your word pattern. Don’t ask what they will pay; tell them what to pay. The smart shops are not asking for approval, they’re just presenting the final bill. And they are collecting!

Mike Orso, President of the NY Auto Body Association, has been doing this for the past 9 years. It’s his most powerful and profitable tool. Try it out yourself for 14 days at no cost.

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The Certified Automotive Parts Asso-ciation has elected Carol Waldron ofState Farm Mutual Insurance Com-pany to CAPA’s Board. “CAPA is for-tunate to have Carol join us in oureffort to ensure truly high quality al-ternative parts are readily available tothe market. Carol’s extensive back-ground contributes to the broad rangeof industry expertise and organizationswho’ve joined together on CAPA’sboard to keep repairs affordable, carsrepairable, and protect consumersfrom poor quality,” said Jack Gillis,Executive Director of the non-profitassociation. “State Farm, and manyother diverse organizations, joining to-gether in CAPA, provide a unique in-sight into issues facing the aftermarketparts industry and make an importantcontribution to CAPA’s continuingsuccess. We look forward to workingwith Carol.” CAPA’s Board includes:Bill Brower, Liberty Mutual Insur-ance; Bill Daly, Allstate Insurance; BillDeGrocco, GEICO; Jack Gillis,CAPA; John Palumbo, PartsChannel,Inc.; Clark Plucinski, Boyd’s Group/Gerber; Ed Salamy, K.S.I. TradingCorp.; Ben Steinman, Ben’s AutoBody; Carol Waldron, State Farm.

The market for hybrids, plug-in hy-brids and electric vehicles is perkingup significantly, with much of thecredit going to the high price of gas.In the first three months of 2012, U.S.sales of hybrids, plug-in hybrids andEVs shot up 44 percent from theyear-ago quarter, to 113,457. Marchsales of those vehicles were doublethose of January. It was a breakoutquarter for sales of vehicles with al-ternative powertrains, which hadbeen rising at a much slower pacethan expected despite waves of freshentries. The strong performance is ameasure of validation for automakersthat have persevered despite tepid de-mand for hybrids and criticism in po-litical circles. Hybrids accounted forthe bulk of alternative powertrainsales, 106,207, compared with 7,250EVs and plug-in hybrids.

Better sales of Toyota Priusdrove much of the growth as buyerssnapped up recently launched models,including a wagon and subcompact.Also providing a lift: launches ofGeneral Motors’ mild hybrid technol-ogy, dubbed eAssist, on volume mod-els such as the redesigned ChevroletMalibu, released in February.

Peter Vann, collision repair consultantand trainer, has joined Urethane Sup-ply Company (USC) as the West Coastsales representative.

Vann comes to USC with much af-termarket experience, including as aconsultant for Caliber Collision Centersand a technical trainer for VeriFacts Au-tomotive, Cerritos College, 3M, ProSpot and Car Bench. He was also an es-timator supervisor/production managerat a certified BMW collision center anda certified Mercedes-Benz collisioncenter, both in California. Vann is basedin Southern California. Beginning May1, he will be responsible for all stateswest of the Rocky Mountains.

Vann has been trained on USC’snew Nitrogen Welding System. In ad-dition, he has training from I-CAR, CarBench, Blackhawk Automotive, ChiefAutomotive Technologies (EZ Liner),Autorobot, Celette (Bench), Mercedes-Benz of North America, BMW ofNorth America, the American Iron andSteel Institute, the American WeldingInstitute and Cerritos College.

Said USC President Kurt Lam-mon. “His industry knowledge is ex-ceptional, and he is a solid addition toour sales team.”

Peter Vann Joins UrethaneSupply Company Sales Team

Registration for SEMA 2012is Now Open for Attendees

CAPA Adds SF InsuranceExecutive to Board

Assured Performance Network andEnterprise Rent-A-Car have intro-duced the Enterprise Elite ServicePartner Program. This program,using the certification services of As-sured Performance Network, allowscollision repair facilities to take ad-vantage of innovative service toolsincluding Enterprise® Priority Pass,an upgraded level of replacementrental service designed to increasecustomer satisfaction.

Shops enrolling in the programalso will receive several communica-tions tools. For example, EnterpriseRent-A-Car’s ARMS® Automotivesuite of products streamlines com-munication between shops and En-terprise. In addition, Customer StatusNotification software enables shopsto keep consumers informed on theprogress of their vehicle repairs. En-rollment in the Enterprise Elite Serv-ice Partner program is open to repairbusinesses that are able to become of-ficially certified by Assured Perform-ance and meet the qualifications toparticipate in its Certified CollisionCare Partner Network. Please visitwww.CertifyMyShop.com for moredetails.

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In addition to providing over thirty-five years of collision industry experi-ence, CollisionMax has elevenlocations, seven in Southern New Jer-sey and four in Southeastern Pennsyl-vania. Yet, they do not credit theirconvenient locations or years of pro-

fessional experience for their success.Their formula for success is proudlydisplayed on the company’s website:“We’re collision experts, but we neverforget our most important job is keep-ing customers happy and informed.”

CollisionMax prides itself on of-fering friendly, courteous service, inaddition to providing competitive,honest estimates and unparalleledcraftsmanship. Because a large por-tion of their business comes from re-peat customers, they always strive tomeet or exceed expectations, ensuringcustomers are informed and updatedthroughout the repair process. Theyalso provide customers with timely re-pairs and accurate delivery dates, asignificant and unique advantage ofbeing a multi-location operation asthey can load-level with unlimitedproduction capacity.

Though the CollisionMax namewas not branded until 1998, its rootsbegan in the 1950s when ClaudiaBrigidi and her brother Richardworked in their father’s Philadelphiaauto body shop where they honedtheir skills and gained the knowledgethat led them to form a business part-nership in 1976 with the purchase ofa Collex Collision franchise on Grant

Ave in Philadelphia. When they addedEast Coast Fleet Service in 1981, theyasked cousin, Joe Tornetta, and WayneSmolda, Claudia’s husband, to join thepartnership. James Tornetta was addedin 1985 in order to take over market-ing and sales responsibilities. They ac-

quired a shop in Blackwood, NJ in1987 and another one in Cinnamin-son, NJ in 1989.

In the mid-1990s, Claudia’snephew, Frank Brigidi III, joined thepartnership, bringing to the table Na-tional Collision in Sicklerville, NJ.The first non-family partner wasadded in 1995 when district managerPat Beavers was invited into the part-nership on his tenth anniversary withthe company. From 1997 to 1998, thegroup added four new locations inWestmont, NJ; Marlton, NJ; OxfordValley, PA; and Egg Harbor City, NJ.Also in 1998, a branding strategy wasdeveloped in order to make more of animpact with consumers and insurancecarriers. CSI Holdings was formed tobecome a consolidator with a brandname, and CollisionMax became theirofficial registered, federally trade-marked name.

CollisionMax purchased anempty warehouse in Pennsauken, NJ,in November 2001, converting it to astate-of-the-art collision repair centerwhich opened in 2002. The Super-Center consists of 26,000 square feetand staffs the facility with 30 employ-ees: 7 office staff, 15 body techniciansand 8 paint/ detail/maintenance spe-

cialists. Their equipment includes aChief S21 frame machine, a Chief Ex-celerator frame machine, a Continen-tal Uni-Liner frame machine, and aCar-O-Liner, in addition to a ChiefVelocity measuring system, two Con-tinental UMS systems, a ProSpotoverhead resistance welder, one Elec-tron resistance welder, a Hunter 4-wheel alignment rack, and theMitchell Tech Advisor Program. Theyalso use a Spraybake double-prepdeck, one Spraybake booth and oneAccudraft booth. The SuperCenter re-pairs an average of 221 cars monthly.

In 2003, CollisionMax decided toexpand operations by launchingGlass-Max Auto and Truck GlassCenters after recognizing a need fordelivering convenient glass service tothe market they serve. When ChiefOperating Officer Joseph Tornetta re-tired in 2005, Pat Beavers was pro-moted to the position. An additional

shop in Glassboro, NJ was purchasedin 2006.

In October 2008, CollisionMaxacquired its most recent location inWarminster, PA. The 13,000 squarefoot shop employs 18 individuals: 6office staff, 8 body techs and 4 paintand detail specialists. Averaging re-pairs of approximately 156 cars eachmonth, their equipment list includes 2Chief S21 frame machines, a ChiefVelocity measuring system, 2 Accud-raft paint booths, an Electron resist-ance welder, and the Mitchell TechAdvisor Program. One product thatCollisionMax technicians have foundparticularly useful is the squeeze-typeresistance welder as it improves pro-ductivity and repair appearance whileshortening paint prep time.

All eleven CollisionMax shopsare I-CAR Gold Class and ASE Certi-fied. Shops participate in multiple


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

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When I first found out I was going toattend the Coalition for Collision Re-pair Excellence (CCRE) legal seminarin Philadelphia on March 30th and31st, I thought I would need a pillowand lots of caffeine, but I could nothave been more wrong. The seminaroffered a wealth of intriguing knowl-edge, much of which I’d never heardof or even imagined. CCRE represents

a whole movement dedicated to re-viving and regaining an industry thathas been guided by third-party inter-ference for decades. The experiencedcollision repair shop owners and thelawyers in attendance presented muchadvice to attendees as well as the op-portunity for shop owners to ask theirown, personal questions. I will sum-marize some highlights of the seminarhere with plans to exploring some ofthese topics in greater depth in thenear future; however, I highly recom-mend all shop owners to attendCCRE’s next seminar, which theyplan to hold in six months, in order tolearn first-hand that there are solutionsto the multitude of problems that arisein the industry. Because it is your in-dustry, and as CCRE President TonyLombardozzi emphasized “no oneelse is going to take this industry backexcept the repair shop owners them-selves.”

The event, hosted by the Penn-sylvania Collision Trade Guild(PCTG), was held at the AirportHilton in Philadelphia, PA. One hun-dred and ten people were in atten-dance from varying fields, includingmany lawyers who specialize in thisfield. Many of the attendees were non-CCRE members, and twenty-fivestates were represented with peoplecoming from as far away as Texas,New Mexico and Nevada. Tony Lom-bardozzi moderated the majority ofthe seminar with presentations beinggiven by attorneys Erica Eversmanof OH, John Parese of CT andRobert McClallen of VT.

Tony began by saying that thiswas a good industry when he firstbegan his career, but collision repair-ers gave it away over the past twenty-five years in exchange for systemssupposed to make their jobs easier. Byaccepting and following these sys-tems, such as estimating guides, re-pairers have become manipulated bythird-party influence. Repairers’ in-

vestment, in bothtime and money,should yield a profit.Through a plannedprogram of takingcontrol of your busi-ness and realizing

that the insurance company has noplace in your business, collision repairshops can still make a profit. As Tonystressed, “This has to become OURcollision repair industry.”

Discussing how this problembegan, Tony noted that there has al-ways been two separate contracts: one

between the vehi-cle owner and theinsurance com-pany, and anotherbetween the vehi-cle owner and therepairer; yet,somehow, thesetwo contracts have

joined each other as collision repairshops now have contracts with insur-ance companies through DRPs. Tonyasked: why do insurance companiesassume they have a say in the re-pairer’s contract with the vehicleowner while the repairer cannot inter-

fere with the insurer’s contract withthe customer?

Erica Eversman, Ohio attorneyand General Council for Vehicle In-formation Services, became involvedwith the issues in the collision repairindustry when she learned about the

problems that consumers have as a re-sult of repairers’ problems with insur-ance companies and realized thatconsumers have nowhere to obtain in-formation to understand the repair

process other than the insurance com-pany or the repairer. ReiteratingTony’s point about the combination ofthe two separate contracts, Erica notedthat in DRP contacts, the insurer mayor may not direct business to the re-pair facility, yet they act as if the re-pairer has obligations to the insurancecompany while they feel no obligationto the repairer.

In the contract between the vehi-cle owner and the repairer, the vehicleowner’s obligation is to pay while therepairer is obligated to provide a qual-ity repair. As oral contracts are diffi-cult to enforce, Erica recommendshaving a written contract with the ve-hicle owner to protect yourself. In thiscontract, it is important to define yourcustomer, each party’s duties and whatparts will be used. The specifics ofthese definitions vary based on indi-vidual state laws, but a valid contractmakes it easier for the repairer to ob-tain payment for the work they do.

Erica also explained that insur-ance policies give insurance compa-nies three options: replace the vehicle,pay for the loss in money, or elect torepair. Insurance companies rarelyelect to repair because it makes themequally responsible as the shop for the

quality of the repairs; however,through DRPs, insurance companiesare able to assume control of the re-pair without accepting liability. Ericawent on to discuss several legal casesand examples of the insurance com-panies choosing inferior shops to savemoney.

Insurance companies write esti-mates to verify there is damage and tofind out how much money to reservefor the claim, but these estimates arewritten for internal purposes only andmean nothing because insurers do notfix cars—they just pay for repairs.Erica noted that contracts do not over-ride consumer protection laws, butsince few consumers know their rightsor realize they are being taken advan-tage of, insurance companies often ig-nore consumer protection laws or tryto pressure collision repair facilities todo so.

Before introducing the next seg-ment, Steve Behrendt of CCRE andPCTG noted that shops should have asolid contract customized for howthey do business, and he revealed a

sign that hangs inhis shop specify-ing that insurancecompany paper-work, such as esti-mates, are used forinformational pur-poses only and donot determine the

methodology, extent or cost of repairs.Continuing her presentation,

Erica agreed that the insurer’s esti-mate is for informational purposesonly, emphasizing that the insurer hasno place in your business. Spellingthis out in the contract allows repairshops to control their relationship withthe customer, keeping the shop in therole of a professional and the insurerin their proper role. She also suggestsaddressing replevin in the contract,granting shops a lien that allows themto retain possession of the vehicleuntil they are paid for their work. Onesection of her sample contract alsogrants the shop the right to recovertheir lost profit if the insurance com-pany steers the customer to a differentshop.

CCRE 2012 Seminar—Taking Back the Collision Repair Industry

See CCRE Seminar, Page 30

Erica Eversman

Left to right: Robert McClallen, William Bensley and Ashly Van Earl

John Parese and Erica Eversman confer

From left, Rick Dotterer, Steve Behrendt, Truman Fancher, Tony Lombardozzi, and Mike Parker

Steve Behrendt





Mainstream Media


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


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Insurers are finding out the recent se-vere weather in Texas took a heavy tollon vehicles. The tornadoes that rippedthrough Arlington, Lancaster and otherparts of North Texas on April 3 left be-hind a load of business for roofers,body shops and tree services, accord-ing to Chad Hemenway, writing inProperty Casualty360.com.

Caliber Collision Centers, whichoperates 103 centers, including 16 inNorth Texas, has scheduled repairs onhundreds of cars damaged in the storm,said Todd Dillender, vice president ofoperations for North Texas.

Repair centers in Lewisville,Corinth, Duncanville and Arlingtonhave seen the most traffic, and Caliberis offering customers the option ofhaving work done faster at less-busyCaliber centers in the area, Dillendersaid.

“We’re able to leverage our scaleand size,” he said.

Damage estimates from thestorms continue to grow.Mark Hanna, spokesman for the Insur-ance Council of Texas, said Friday thatestimated insured losses from thestorms have increased to $550 millionfrom earlier estimates of $500 million.

At least 50,000 autos and nearly30,000 homes were damaged, up fromearlier estimates of 45,000 autos and

25,000 homes, Hanna said.“I would not doubt that it is going

to hit $600 million,” Hanna said.The storms have drawn contrac-

tors from outside the region, andHanna stressed that consumers shoulddeal only with firms whose reputationsthey can verify.

“The majority [of outside con-tractors] may be the nicest people inthe world,” Hanna said. “But there areothers who are going to take advantageof people, who are going to get up ona roof that doesn’t need work, who cre-ate damage just to get the job.”

At Caliber, Dillender estimatedthat it might take several months towork through the backlog of hail dam-age.

“It’s a little early to tell,” he saidon April 19. Insurance-claims activityis still fluid, “and I think it’s going tocarry on for a couple more months.”

Customers in Coppell were hithardest by the storms, he said. Damagefrom hail and flying debris was themost common problem, he said. If cus-tomers at a busy center choose to haveanother Caliber facility repair their ve-

hicle, Caliber will transport it to andfrom that center, Dillender said. All thework, however, stays within the re-gion, he said.

State Farm has logged 8,610 autoclaims, and 1,221 vehicles can’t bedriven. Most automobiles that cannotbe driven suffered damage from thetornadoes, says spokesman GaryStephenson. Other autos show signifi-cant damage from hail—some the sizeof tennis balls—which fell during theApril 3 severe-weather outbreak in theDallas-Fort Worth area.

Nicole Alley, spokeswoman forUSAA, says the Texas-based insurer isalso seeing many auto claims. The in-surer has received about 3,800 totalclaims.

Jerry Davies, spokesman forFarmers Insurance, says the storm sys-tem was a “huge hail event.”

Farmers has received nearly5,000 claims, and 3,120 are autoclaims. The insurer sent its mobile-claims-center bus toArlington,Texas.

The bus is equipped with com-munications equipment, laptops and

Dallas-Ft Worth Storms Take out 50,000 Autos and Damage 30,000 Homes

Collision technician Scot Barnfield replaces ahail-damaged roof on a Nissan at the CaliberCollision Center in Keller on April 19. PhotoCredit: Star-Telegram/Max Faulkner

See Dallas Storms, Page 51


GlassBYTES has reported that theMinnesota Court of Appeals uphelda decision that gave Rapid Glass, anautomotive glass repair and replace-ment company, $157,851.46 for 580underpaid and unpaid claims fromProgressive Insurance.

The court ruled that the glasscompany’s charges were fair, reason-able and competitive. Rick Rosar,president of Rapid Glass, told Glass-BYTES.

“The windshield has become anintegral part of the vehicle’s safetysystem. It is not a place to cut cornerswhen a windshield needs to be re-placed…”

The court said the dispute waswhether Progressive satisfied thecontract by paying “the amount nec-essary to repair damaged property toits pre-loss condition.”

“[Progressive] was not requiredto interpret the term ‘necessary’ be-cause the contract provided the defi-nition…,” the court wrote in itsdecision. “Under the terms of thecontract, ‘necessary’ means ‘a com-petitive price that is fair and reason-able within the local industry atlarge.’”

MN Court Awards $157K inProgressive Ins. Underpays

Of the more than 759,000 automotivetechnicians working in the UnitedStates, 20 outstanding individuals havequalified for the prestigious 2012 WorldClass Technician Award. The Automo-tive Aftermarket Industry Association(AAIA) and National Institute for Au-tomotive Service Excellence (ASE)work together to recognize these pro-fessional technicians who have testedand obtained ASE certification in 22specialty areas during the 2011 test ad-ministrated by ASE. “The AAIA WorldClass Technician Award is for automo-tive diagnostic and repair professionalswhat the Super Bowl is for professionalfootball players or what the Stanley Cupis for hockey players,” said KathleenSchmatz, AAIA president and CEO.“Just imagine the knowledge and skillsneeded by a technician to pass 22 ASEtests. These folks are truly the best ofthe best and we are proud to be associ-ated with them through our annualrecognition in conjunction with ASE.”

“This recognition partnership be-tween AAIA and ASE goes back 26years and represents the most signifi-cant achievement award available toour ASE-certified professionals,” saidTim Zilke, ASE president and CEO.

The Women’s Industry Network(WIN) welcomes Jessica Voss-Kehl,Senior Product Development Super-visor, 3M and Melissa Perez, Dis-trict Sales Manager, FinishMasterInc. as the newest Directors to itsBoard. The WIN Board consists ofvarious industry segments includingbut not limited to: shop owners, job-bers, suppliers, consultants, paintcompanies and insurance companies.As an all volunteer organization,

WIN Board members, serving 3 yearterms, work together to guide the or-ganization as well as foster an envi-ronment that encourages theeducation, recruitment, retention andnetworking of women in the colli-sion repair industry. New boardmembers will be introduced and of-ficially welcomed by seated Direc-tors and WIN members-at-large atthe annual WIN Educational Confer-ence, Be The Change, being heldMay 6–8 at the IntercontinentalBuckhead in Atlanta, GA. To learnmore about WIN, please visitwww.WomensIndustryNetwork.orgor for information on becoming amember, please contact DeniseCaspersen at [email protected].

CARSTAR Auto Body Repair Ex-perts has developed a proprietarystore management system that inte-grates its technology solutions withthe Mitchell RepairCenter ShopWorkspace to deliver technologytools to its store owners. The systemis the culmination of significant tech-nical investments to realize the visionof a tightly integrated system that willsignificantly improve CARSTARstore performance, the company said.It enables the capture, processing anddelivery of key data elements andmetrics to help stores better managetheir key performance indicators. Thesystem also will provide the informa-tion required to forge strategic indus-try partnerships, CARSTAR said.Reporting to support both insurancerelationships and purchasing willbenefit user shops.”

The information gathered byusing the CARSTAR Solution Soft-ware and the reports available are in-valuable to our store and to the entireCARSTAR network in helping analyzeour numbers and in selling to our localand national markets,” said JanCombs, of Auto Body SpecialistsCARSTAR in Billings, Montana.

CARSTAR & Mitchell Inc. JoinEfforts on Store Management

Women’s Industry NetworkAdds New Boardmembers

AAIA and ASE RecognizeWorld Class Technicians

by Ed Attanasio

Imagine the film “Mr. Smith Goes toWashington” but with the title: “Body

Shop Owners Goe to Sacramento.”ASCCA/CAA’s Joint Legislative Dayon April 18 at the State Capitol did nothave the same cast as the 1939 classicfilm, but the storyline seems familiar:The leading mechanical and collisionrepairers in the state convene to takeon the powers-that-be and providefeedback about proposed legislationpotentially impacting their businesses.

“This is the one opportunityevery year when we can meet with ourpolitical representatives en masse andget our message out there,” ASCCAPresident Tracy Renee said.

“We can influence these bills be-fore they become laws and providevaluable feedback for our key deci-sion makers. Most importantly, wecan provide them with a look into howwe run our businesses and all of thefactors that can affect us and ourlivelihoods.”

The hottest potato on the table atthis year’s Legislative Day for the col-lision industry was Senate Bill 1460,known as the Automotive Repair Re-placement Parts Bill, introduced bySenator Leland Yee.

On April 16, the California Sen-ate Business, Professions, and Eco-nomic Development Committee helda hearing to consider the bill, and atthat time several amendments weremade to it. In essence, SB1460 wouldcreate a new legal presumption that allcertified crash parts will be deemedsufficient to return a vehicle to its pre-loss condition. The CAA opposes thebill, because it asks more questionsthan provides answers, according toJack Molodanof, who represents boththe ASCCA and CAA as its legal ad-vocate.

“This is the big one right now for

body shops, because it will impact theautomotive crash parts industry in asignificant way,” Molodanof said. “Iteliminates current law and shifts all of

the warranty responsibil-ity of aftermarket crashparts to the body shops,third party vendors andsuppliers—and that’s whywe oppose it.”

Legislative Dayspeakers included JohnWallauch, the new Chief ofthe Bureau of AutomotiveRepair (see related story thisissue); Assistant BAR ChiefDoug Ballati and BARDeputy Chief Pat Dorais,

all of which discussed upcoming changesin the state’s Smog Check program. Statepoliticians who spoke to the ASCCA/CAA assemblage included Senator JuanVargas, 40th Senate District and Chair ofthe Senate Banking and Financial Insti-tutions Committee; Assembly MemberKatcho Achadjian, Vice Chair of theAssembly Banking and Finance Com-mittee and a member of the Higher Edu-cation Committee; and AssemblyMember Curt Hagman, the AssistantRepublican Floor Leader and Vice Chairof the Assembly Insurance Committee.

During the entire day,ASCCA/CAA members visited theirsenators and assembly members toshare their views and concerns aboutthe bills most affecting their respec-tive industries. But before memberswere to meet with their political rep-resentatives, they were briefed byMolodanof about the proper protocolto be used while encountering politi-cians or their representatives.

“The number one thing to re-member is don’t tell your senator, forinstance, that you’re a taxpayer,” hesaid. “They’ve heard it so manytimes it may just annoy them. Also,speak clearly and don’t chit-chat.Get through your presentation suc-cinctly and be prepared.” Other dosand don’ts about how to lobby inCalifornia were explained in a book-let provided by Molodanof. Some ofthese include things such as don’tcomplain; mislead anyone or mostimportantly—never threaten or an-tagonize a legislator of their staff!

With scheduled appointmentsthroughout the Capitol’s offices allday long, ASCCA/CAA members as-sembled into small groups to coveras much territory as possible. One

group of CAA members, led byDave Mello met with Senator Le-land Yee to discuss SB1460. Al-though Yee seemed open to thedialog, one of his assistants was lessthan receptive to the CAA members’suggested changes to the bill, ac-cording to Mello.

“We received some pushback—more than I’ve ever encountered in 20years doing this,” Mello said. “Butthis is an important bill. We obviouslyoppose it for a wide range of reasonsand the California Department of In-surance (CDI) also opposes it becausethey said that SB1460 obfuscates arulemaking process already underwayon this matter at CDI to update andimprove existing law and, at its worst,appears to reverse a long-standing lawthat has served to protect consumersfrom defective or inferior aftermarketparts for almost 20 years.’”

The CAA recently made a state-ment outlining their opposition to thebill. “The CAA supports improvingthe quality, safety and fit of non-OEMcrash parts for the benefit of con-sumers and body repair shops,” CAA

Executive Director David McClunewrote in a letter to Senator Yee. “Ourmembers use non-OEM parts regu-larly in the repair of vehicles. Thequality of non-OEM crash parts hasimproved over the last 10 or 15 years,but is still inconsistent. Sometimesnon-OEM parts fit and perform andsometimes they don’t. Unfortunately,SB1460 takes the wrong approach toaddressing issues surrounding non-OEM crash parts. This bill eliminatescurrent law (CCR section 2695.8 (g)),creates new crash part certificationstandards and requirements, but failsto designate a consumer protectionagency to regulate, enforce and over-see this new program. Also, it shiftsall insurer warranty responsibility ofnon-OEM crash parts to repair shopsand third party suppliers. And mostimportantly, the bill creates a ‘newlegal presumption’ that all certifiedcrash parts are presumed sufficient toreturn the vehicle to its pre-loss con-dition, even though the non-OEM cer-tified crash parts may not fit properlyor is defective.”


Collision Repair Industry v. Sacramento at the Annual California Legislation Day

CAA members Shawn Said (left) and Randy Greenbelt met withSenator Leland Yee (right) in his office at the State Capitol todiscuss SB1460 and the organization’s opposition to it

See California Legislation Day, Page 36


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Turning the discussion to parts,Erica insisted that shops should neveroffer a warranty on parts, especiallyaftermarket parts, but they shouldwarrant the quality of their repairs.While insurance companies can guar-antee the work of a DRP shop, thismeans assuming liability. They usu-

ally offer war-ranties onreplacement partsbut not on work-manship, unlessspecifically stated.

N o t i n gthat warranties arelike insurance poli-

cies in that they have more exclusionsthan coverage, Erica stressed thatmanufacturers’ warranties will oftenbe void if aftermarket parts are used,yet many insurance companies requireshops to use these parts in their DRPcontracts. She also pointed out that in-surance companies are great at propa-ganda; many insurance ads create theimpression that insurers are involvedin the repair, and they focus on magi-cal restorations.

In the Question and Answer sec-tion of her presentation, Erica notedthat insurers only fear bad press andlitigation as it presents unknown andunknowable costs. While other busi-nesses are forced to comply with con-sumer protection laws, insurancecompanies are generally exempt andare only investigated if there is proofthat their actions are common prac-tice.

John Parese Esq., of CT pre-sented next in regards to tort reform.Tort requires those responsible forharming others to compensate theirvictims, and the classical purpose oftort is to provide full compensation forproved harm. Tort reform proposeschanges to reduce tort litigation ondamages by setting procedural limitson the ability to file claims and cap-ping the awards of damages, amongother things. Advocates of tort reforminclude automobile manufacturers andinsurance companies, in addition tothe tobacco, chemical and pharma-ceutical industries.

John then proceeded to showclips from “Hot Coffee,” a documen-tary about Stella Liebeck’s lawsuitagainst McDonald’s when she spilledcoffee in her lap. These clips show a

different side to the case than whatwas seen in the media, validating thisseemingly frivolous lawsuit. Johnstresses “If you don’t even know thebasic minimal standard that you needto employ and then you harm some-one, the consequences can be very sig-nificant.

John noted that these same tacticsare being used to change the collisionrepair industry as insurance compa-nies come out on top through publicrelations. Some of their methods areDRPs, insurance involvement in set-ting repair guidelines, misleadingcommercials and legislative “reforms”to allow more steering and greatercontrol over repairs. He asked “does itfeel like there’s an ever-encroachinginsurer presence changing fundamen-tal ways of doing business, relent-lessly grabbing for more and more ofyour business, in part through a per-petual public relations and legislativecampaign of distorted information?”

Continuing the presentation, Johnexplained that consumers are misledby false perceptions that insurance

companies fix carsand by propa-ganda reinforcedby uninformedcourts, legislatorsand state officials.They are alsogiven false infor-mation regarding

warranties, delays, quality, rentals andtrust. Yet, most consumers do not evenknow they have been harmed!

After watching several insurancecompany ads that show magical re-pairs and stress that the insurancecompany repairs vehicles, the audi-ence erupted in applause to see ananti-steering commercial. The dis-semination of this type of informationis one way that the collision repair in-dustry can fight back, through recog-nizing the problem and playing thesame game of public relations. Colli-sion repair shops’ goals should be toget the insurer out of the repairprocess, remember who the customeris and use a well-reasoned strategy ofinforming. Make things about theprocess, not the money.

SCRS Executive Director AaronSchulenburg then gave a brief but in-formative report on information theyhad received regarding the new StateFarm parts bidding program (see re-lated story this issue) and the potentialimpact the process could have on re-pairer processes and profits.

Attorney Robert McClallen ofVT then began discussing assignmentof proceeds. This document is usefulas it allows the repairer to effectivelystep into the consumer’s shoes inorder to sue the insurance companyand get paid for their work. By signingan assignment of proceeds, the cus-tomer gives the collision repair shop

the right to force the issue and receivepayment. In creating an assignment ofproceeds for your shop, it is importantto clarify and specify exactly whichrights are being assigned. Ericastresses that the wording of the docu-ment must be correct because shopswill not have the right to sue if it onlygrants them rights to proceeds; it mustalso grant the right to act as the con-sumer in order to obtain payment.

On Saturday morning, the semi-nar resumed with a presentation byRobert McClallen and Mike Parker ofCCRE as they discussed how Mikewas able to use his assignment of pro-ceeds to successfully sue an insurancecompany for repeated short pays. Dur-ing the trial, Mike stressed that he feltlike he was a “co-conspirator to de-fraud consumers” when questionedabout why he asked to be taken off di-rect repair programs. Rob was able toprove the insurance company prac-ticed steering against Mike as well. Inhis closing argument during the trial,Rob stressed that the insurance com-panies have no legal way to do this.“They’re just doing it because they’rebig and they think they can.” Rob con-solidated Mike’s 38 claims, all first-party claims because of short pay, andhe won every single case.

Mike emphasized the importanceof making sure the customer knows ex-actly what they are signing so that, in atrial, the insurance company cannotclaim customers were coerced or un-aware of what rights they were assign-ing. He also makes sure to explain whataftermarket parts are before using themin his repairs, and most customers re-fuse aftermarket parts, even when theirinsurance companies force them to paythe difference. Rob pointed out that theCCRE seminar is all about independ-ence. Collision repair shops do notwork for insurance companies, and

documentation will help shops get paidwhich is their right. The forms will geta shop halfway there, but you have totruly believe that you deserve to getpaid for your work.

On Saturday afternoon, a panel oflawyers were brought to the front ofthe room to answer attendees’ specificquestions. The panel consisted of Joe

Talarico of NY, A. Brent Geohagan ofFL, John Parese of CT, Erica Evers-man of OH, Robert McClallen of VT,William Bensley of PA, and AshlyVan Earl of LA. The panel answeredmany questions from the audiencepertaining to contracts, writs of re-plevin, mitigating damages and soforth.

Several key points were madeand reiterated during this session:● Because shops are the consumers’only advocate, it is a conflict of inter-est for a shop to have a contract withthe insurance company.● Though collision repair facilities donot work for insurance companies, in-surance companies have completelybought into the mentality that they do.This allows shop the opportunity touse this incorrect belief to their ad-vantage.● The insurer’s estimate is a hypo-thetical, educated guess that can beused as a guideline, but the repairer’sinvoice represents the cost of the re-pair and is the final answer.● Class actions do impact insurancecompanies. If every shop reports theirloss through a class action or througha credit reporting agency, the totalamount will show the insurer’s debt torepairers.

When the seminar wrapped up, at-tendees seemed reluctant to leave, buteveryone walked away with a vastamount of new information and ideasfor how to run their collision repair fa-cilities independently. As Tony Lom-bardozzi stressed repeatedly throughoutthis seminar, they learned that “there isa better way to do business.”

Continued from Page 24

CCRE Seminar

Truman Fancher

Tony Lombardozzi

Left to right: Joe Talarico, A. Brent Geohagan, John Parese and Erica Eversman gave legal advice



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Autobody News May 2012NEW YORK • NEW JERSEY • PENNSYLVANIA • DELAWARE


Chrysler is recalling certain modelyear 2012 Town and Country andDodge Grand Caravan vehicles man-ufactured from November 15, 2011,through November 21, 2011. Somevehicles may be equipped with rightrear hub and bearing assemblies thatwere not fully machined. This couldresult in a decrease in durability,which may lead to wheel separation,increasing the risk of a crash. Chryslerwill notify owners, and dealers willreplace the right rear hub and bearingassembly, free of charge. The safetyrecall is expected to begin duringApril 2012. Chrysler recall number ism13. Owners may also contact the na-tional highway traffic safety adminis-tration’s vehicle safety hotline at1-888-327-4236 (tty 1-800-424-9153), or go to http://www.Safer-car.Gov.

Chrysler Recalls Some 2012Town & Country and DodgeGrand Caravans for Machining

Chrysler is recalling certain modelyear 2012 Jeep Patriot and Compassvehicles manufactured from Decem-ber 17, 2011, through January 2,2012.

Some vehicles may have beenbuilt with a fuel tank assembly con-taining a damaged roll-over valve. Inthe event of an impact or roll-over,fuel leakage could occur, increasingthe risk of a fire. Chrysler will notifyowners, and dealers will replace thefuel tank, free of charge. The safetyrecall is expected to begin duringJune 2012.

Chrysler’s recall number ism11. Owners may also contact thenational highway traffic safety ad-ministration’s vehicle safety hotlineat 1-888-327-4236 (tty 1-800-424-9153), or go to http://www.Safer-car.Gov.

Chrysler Recalls Some 2012Jeep Patriot And Compassesfor Suspected Fuel Tank Flaws

The National Highway Traffic SafetyAdministration (NHTSA) has pro-posed an update to the Federal MotorVehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS)No. 124, Accelerator Control Sys-tems, according to the AAIA CapitalReport. The proposal would requiremanufacturers to install a Brake-Throttle Override (BTO) mechanismin all vehicles.

BTO systems would trigger thevehicle to stop should both the ac-celerator and brake pedals be appliedat the same time, which would re-duce the risk of drivers losing con-trol of their vehicles due to theaccelerator pedal sticking or the en-tire throttle system becoming dis-connected.

The Alliance of AutomobileManufacturers has been pushing forregulators to take action on this issuefor some time, and most manufactur-ers have already begun outfitting theirnew models with these systems, ac-cording to AAIA.

“America’s drivers should feelconfident that anytime they get be-hind the wheel they can easily main-tain control of their vehicles –especially in the event of an emer-gency,” said U.S. Transportation Sec-retary Ray LaHood. “By updating oursafety standards, we’re helping givedrivers peace of mind that theirbrakes will work even if the gas pedalis stuck down while the driver is try-ing to brake.”

This proposal would also mod-ify the current standard by account-ing for throttle disconnection duringthe testing procedure of all vehicles.Comments on the proposal must besubmitted to NHTSA by June 15,2012.

Early last year, NASA engineersfound no electronic cause for theclaims of unintended accelerationlevied at Toyota. The report promptedTransportation Secretary Ray La-Hood to blame the cases on “pedalmisapplication.”

Drivers of electric vehicles such asGeneral Motors Co.’s ChevroletVolt and Nissan Motor Co.’s Leafmay save as much as $1,200 a yearcompared with operating a newgasoline-powered compact car,scientists studying improved fueleconomy found.

With gasoline at $3.50 a gal-lon, drivers who plug cars intoelectrical outlets would save $750to $1,200 a year instead of buy-ing gasoline for a new car thatgets 27 miles (43 kilometers) agallon when driving 11,000 milesa year, the Union of ConcernedScientists said in a study releasedtoday.

“While in this early electricvehicle market these products havehigher up-front costs, knowing howmuch one can save by using elec-tricity instead of gasoline is an im-portant factor for consumers,” thestudy by the Cambridge, Mass.-based group said.

Ford Motor Co., maker of aFocus electric car scheduled to goon sale this year, said last monththe price will start at $39,995 be-fore a $7,500 U.S. tax credit. Nis-san’s Leaf starts at $35,200.

The Focus costs more thanthe $16,500 base price for thegasoline-powered version, EddieFernandez, a spokesman for Ford,said in an e-mail. The U.S. Na-tional Highway Traffic SafetyAdministration rates the fueleconomy of the Focus SFE, agasoline-powered model, at 33mpg for city and highway driv-ing. The electric Focus was certi-fied by the U.S. EnvironmentalAgency to offer the equivalent of105 mpg.

Edmunds.com, an auto-re-searcher, predicts electric vehiclesmay reach only 7 percent of U.S.auto sales by 2017 even when con-sumers take rising gas prices intoaccount.

The average U.S. gas pricewas $3.91 as of Sunday, accordingto U.S. motorist group AAA.That’s a 19 percent increase so farthis year.

Study Says EVs Cost$1200 Less to Run

NHTSA Proposes Standard for Brake-Throttle Override

Automakers nationwide are likelyclutching their wallets and clenchingtheir teeth after the announcementthat recall fines could cost them $250million instead of the current $17million fine.

A bill affecting the NationalHighway Traffic Safety Administra-tion (NHTSA) that would raise themaximum fine for not issuing recallsin a timely manner $233 millionfrom its current maximum alreadypassed the Senate and is pending ap-proval in the House of Representa-tives.

Consumers Union, the advo-cacy group connected to ConsumerReports backing the surface trans-portation bill, says that the $250 mil-lion fine would elevate recalls forautomakers to a level of concern in-stead of being a “cost of doing busi-ness.”

This isn’t the first push to in-crease NHTSA’s involvement in au-tomotive recalls. We told you lastmonth about the push to get NHTSAto oversee recalls by car rental com-panies. Consumers Union also sup-ports that position.

Automakers Could Face upto $250M in Recall Fines

After being the first to eliminateheavy, bulky owner manuals from itsvehicles, Chrysler Group LLC,through its Mopar® division, willnow be the first to eliminate un-sightly dangling power cords in itsvehicles by offering in-vehicle wire-less charging. The company will firstmake the technology available onthe all-new 2013 Dodge Dart that ar-rives in dealerships in the secondquarter of this year.

“At Mopar, we look for everysingle opportunity to make our cus-tomers’ lives easier,” said PietroGorlier, President and CEO ofMopar, Chrysler Group LLC’s serv-ice, parts and customer-care brand.“Our industry-first in-vehicle wire-less charging system is the perfectsolution for those customers on thego.”

Mopar Division Introduces FirstIn-Vehicle Wireless Charging


After high school I made the choiceto join the Marine Corps. It was a bigstep for a young guy who really did-n’t have a direction, nor thought aboutthe future. So, off I went to bootcamp. I’ll admit it was tough, it wasphysically demanding and very men-tally challenging. But, I did verywell, got a lot of good marks and evena couple of special awards.

One of the biggest surprises waswhen my platoon was on the “messand maintenance” week. I was as-signed to the commandant’s head-quarters building. I was to shine allthe brass, wax the floors, and generalbuilding maintenance. One day theSargent in charge said it was time tomow the grass. He sent me and twoother recruits out with scissors to clipthe lawn in front of the headquartersbuilding. Really, I’m not kid-ding…scissors, and I’m not talkingabout a large pair of scissors, no…

more like your typical size for anyhome office or school desk.

Well, being the bright, eageryoung lad I was I had to ask.

“Sargent, ever hear of a lawn-mower before?”

Not that I was being smart andall… it just struck me as dumb theywouldn’t have a lawnmower to dothis job. But, then again, why not geta couple of young recruits to clip thelawn with scissors… we’ll workcheap.

“Come here soldier, see what yathink of this,” he said.

In a hall closet just inside thebuilding there were four mowersstacked up on top of each other. Theyall seemed to be the same brand ofmower, but all of them seemed tohave been taken apart and there werelots of parts missing.

“Well, can we use them Sarge?”I asked.

“Those things haven’t ran sinceI’ve been here, but if you think youcan get one of them going, it wouldmake us all look good,” the Sargentanswered.

Luckily, the Sargent had a smallbox of tools stashed away, which justso happened to have all the missingparts stored in it from the variousmowers. After some careful maneu-vering I managed to get the mowersseparated, and within an hour I hadthree of them running. Talk about aproud bunch of Marines mowing thecommandant’s lawn. OohRah! TheSargent got a promotion out of it, andI got a special award for my efforts.Not a bad day in boot camp after all.

I really didn’t touch a car for along time after that. I spent a longtime overseas and cars weren’t on thetop of the list of things to be con-cerned about. It wasn’t until I was sta-tioned stateside, and I was leaving mybarracks one day when I noticed thesetwo guys sitting on the sidewalk withan entire four barrel carburetor laidout in pieces in front of them. Thesetwo jarheads had no clue what theywere doing. They were taking apartanything that had a screw on it.Clearly, these guys needed some help.

Now, I spent enough time backhome working on my grandparent’sfarms keeping the machinery runningand reading a lot of old service man-uals my dad had collected that I had apretty good idea what I was doing.

“Need some help?” I asked.“Sure could use a hand,” one of

them said to me.The big challenge was to put all

the parts back together on the carbu-retor without a new gasket kit, andmake it work again. I’m telling you,

this was one big mess for sure… theseguys went as far as taking the smallscrews out of the butterfly flaps.(Never had much luck getting thosethings out when they are peened intoplace myself.)

After I had the carburetor backtogether and installed on the car thelast thing was to put the plugs back inand sort out the firing order. Only oneproblem, they broke one of the sparkplugs off while taking them out.“Looks like we’ll have to run it on 7cylinders for now,” I told them.

It took a minute or so for the fuelto get up into the carburetor, but it didrun. The exhaust was falling off, itwas running pretty rich, but it wasrunning. The guys were ecstatic!They bought the car for 50 bucksfrom another Marine who was gettingshipped out, and the car had been sit-ting for about a year right there in theparking lot. Just hearing it run was animprovement. We all hopped into thecar and drove around the barracks afew times belching smoke, backfir-ing, and making enough noise tobring the MP’s to the scene. (Theythought it was pretty funny too… letus go with a warning.)

After this little escapade I endedup being the barracks’ mechanic foreveryone’s car problems. Most every-thing was “parking lot” type repairs,no engine rebuilds or tranny ex-changes, just basic problems that couldbe handled with basic tools that a cou-ple of young Marines could afford.

It wasn’t til after I was out of theservice that I realized repairing carsseemed to always fall into my lap. SoI guess it’s safe to say I was destinedto be a mechanic no matter what. Afew tech classes, a little tutelageunder an old watchful senior me-chanic, and I was in business for my-self.

Well, here it is a few decadeslater and I’m still turning wrenches,I’m still scrapping a knuckle, and stillmaking a living at it. I guess youcould say it’s my career.

Looking back on it now I guess Icould have done something else withmy working years, but like a lot of us

“GI—Think Like a Mechanic!”

See Think Like a Mechanic, Page 36





Mainstream Media


Mainstream Media













This is a new story by Scott “Gonzo” Weaver as posted on his website, www.gonzostoolbox.com.Gonzo has been serving the Tulsa area at Superior Auto Electric for over 27 years. See his book“Hey Look! I Found The Loose Nut”, which provides a Good Laugh for Mechanics of Any Age.The book is available at amazon.com. Contact Gonzo at [email protected].

COLLISION REPAIR PROFESSIONALSEPAIR PROFESSIONALS

Wanted.Wanted.Wanted.VeriFacts Automotive offers quality assessment and coach-ing, plus facility resources verification for collision repair facilities. VeriFacts is seeking individuals with the following requirements:

VeriFacts Coaches will work with progressive shops while setting their own flexible schedule as an independent contractor. Full time and part time openings available in multiple states.

• Extensive hands on collision repair experience • Teaching experience • Passion for mentoring technicians • Insurance experience is desirable

Please apply with resume or cover letter to:[email protected] or call (949) 272-3838

Other bills on CAA’s radar areSB1115 (Employment Working Hours:Dutton), a bill that would permit an in-dividual nonexempt employee to re-quest an employee-selected flexiblework schedule providing for workdaysup to 10 hours per day within a 40-hourworkweek. The organization supportsthis bill, according to Jack Molodanof.“It failed once in the Assembly but nowit’s back,” he said. “It’s designed forsmaller companies, because right nowa business has to have a human rela-tions person essentially to make it pos-

sible. We support it, because we be-lieve that smaller businesses should be

able to shift their workers’ work sched-ules without the process being prohib-itive.”

Another bill impacting the colli-sion industry is SB1323 (Career Tech-nical Education: Wyland). This billlays out a roadmap for what the statemust do to reinvigorate career educa-tion programs in California. The billreconstitutes the CTE Advisory Com-mittee in each school district to in-clude representation of technicaleducation industry sectors includingtransportation, with a focus on the au-tomotive industry. The CAA supportSB1323, but is afraid that it might en-counter problems primarily due tobudget cuts throughout the state’s

middle schools and high schools.AB 2505 (Motor Vehicle Re-

placement Parts: Ma) is also a con-cern of the CAA for many reasons,mainly because it has the potential tocreate additional liabilities and bur-dens for auto body repair shops thatinstall certified crash parts on vehi-cles and later learn that the certifiedcrash part was “decertified’ by thecertifying entity.

“The main questions with this billare— is the shop responsible for con-tacting the consumer even if the carhas been sold to a third party?” Molo-danof explained. “And who is finan-cially responsible for repairing and/orreplacing the decertified crash part?”


BMW of Turnersville

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Call Direct: (800) 883-0005Fax: (856) 649-7185Call Direct: (800) 883-0005Fax: (856) 649-7185

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Parts Manager: Matt GoldsteinHours: Mon-Sat 7:30am - 6pm

Nobody Knows BMW like BMWOriginal Thought #28:

Delivery to South Jersey &Philadelphia.Half million $ parts inventory.Competitive tire prices.Original BMW Parts &Accessories

70+ years combined partsexperience.Technical assistance available.Competitive discounts.

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AudiGenuine Parts

Audi Turnersville3400 Route 42, Turnersville, NJ, 08012Parts Direct: (877) 826-2558 Fax: (856) 649-7185 Faxwww.auditurnersville.com Email: [email protected] Parts Manager: Matt GoldsteinHours: Monday – Friday, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm

Delivery to South Jersey & Philadelphia

60+ years combined parts experience

Technical assistance available

Competitive discountsCompetitive tire prices

in this automotive repair business, thiswas my calling. I am one of manymechanics and technicians of anysmall town or big city who might havedone something else with their life,but cars and tool boxes became ourvocation. I may have chosen to be in

this business but quite honestly, itmight have actually chosen me. Can’tsay it’s been that bad of a deal.

I’m sure everyone in the businesshas a story to tell of how they gotstarted, and when I get the chance tohear someone else’s story I’ll take thetime to listen. It’s really fascinating tome how we all ended up here… bend-ing over the hood of a car or truck.

I’m very proud of the auto indus-

try, and I’m proud to be a part of it.Whatever some people may thinkabout the job of a “mechanic” or howthey might try to degrade it, there’s onething to keep in mind…. it’s a neces-sary part of the world we live in. Thiscountry is built on moving goods,products, and people from one place toanother, and without mechanics every-thing would come to a complete stop.

As a tribute to all of the mechan-

ics, technicians out there… a tip of thehat to one and all… your dedicationand hard work should be com-mended. If no one else will say it… Iwill… Thank you for your continuedefforts. You keep fixing them and I’llkeep telling your stories.

Here’s a hand salute from an oldMarine to everyone in the automotivetrenches. I appreciate every one ofyou… 100 percent. OohRah!


Think Like a Mechanic


California Legislation

From left, CAA members Mark D’Angelo, vicepresident of sales for D’Angelo BusinessGroup, and Gigi Walker, owner of Walker’sAuto Body & Fleet Repair were ready to takeon their government representatives on Leg-islative Day

Kano Williams, US Navy VeteranHM1(FMF/PJ), had his 2006 DodgeMagnum RT painted as a tribute piecefor all armed forces, active and retired,in October of 2011. At first Kano had

the car wrapped with a vinyl graphicwith a similar concept to the way thecar is painted now. He decided to makethe photos and concept permanent byhaving the design airbrushed on thecar. All the photos on the vehicle areactual pictures of the 6 tours Kano hasdone throughout his career in thearmed forces. The Purple Heart designis also inspired by Williams’ career ashe is a Purple Heart recipient.

“The car was really getting a lotof attention with the vinyl on it so I

decided to make the concept perma-nent by getting it airbrushed on mycar,” said Williams.

Kano’s car was featured at lastyear’s SEMA show and also just fin-

ished the DUB Tour in Anaheim, CA,earlier this month, where it won Bestof Show in Painted Graphics. Kano’scar will also be part of the inauguralVeterans’ Cruise for aCause in Oceanside thisyear.

The shop that didthe build was Sinful En-hancements in LemonGrove, CA. Owners Sinhand Han helped Kano ac-complish his dream car.

The beautiful artwork painted on thecar was the work of Wesley Smith atStudio Wes in Lemon Grove.

The inside of the car carries onthe theme with purple upholstery and

more Purple Hearts embroidered inthe headrests.

Kano is the CEO for an organiza-tion called Vets Cruzin’ for a Cause,

an organization that uses all variationsof vehicles as a way to create aware-ness for the past, present and on-goingmilitary related affairs. The group is anon-profit, veteran owned and oper-

ated organization. They hope to raisemoney to provide bi-annual bike andcar shows in selected areas, as well as,hosting an annual bike/car ride/cruise.For more information about this or-ganization visit:www.vetscruzinforacause.org.

Sinful Enhancements7666 Lemon Avenue Lemon Grove, CA 91945(619) 466-0800www.sinfulenhancements.com


A Smart Solution THE CARCOONWORKSTATION

• Simple drive in access provid-ing a completely unique and fully enclosed working environment.• Patented technology usesa massive 179 square ft. filter area including Triple Layer Paint Arrest filters.• High Volume Low Pressure airflow technology including airlock access.• Meets the emissionrequirements of 98% capture efficiency. (EPA- RULE 6H)

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Poway, CA, Navy Veteran Has Vehicle Painted to Honor Troops


by Melanie Anderson

Matrix System Automotive Finishes, aMichigan-based company that distrib-utes nationwide and in Canada, re-cently launched an entire line of tonersthat deliver 3.5 pounds per gallon orless VOC emissions. This revolution-ary technology offers customers ex-ceptional hiding with ease ofapplication and no need to upgradeshop equipment. Matrix, a division of

Quest SpecialtyCoatings, unveiledits new line at theNACE Show inOrlando, Florida,last October whereprofessional vehi-cle refinisherswere the first todiscover the MatrixSystem’s MPB-LV

Premium Low VOC Basecoat system.MPB-LV (Matrix Premium

Basecoat-Low VOC) sprays like otherpremium high VOC solvent systems,which makes it “hard to believe that itis low VOC,” Ken Papich, Director ofSales, told Autobody News. Addition-ally, the MPB-LV utilizes the MatrixSystem Color Variant Selector Systemto ensure a great match every time.The new premium low VOC basecoatgives the California and Canadianmarkets, and other regions contem-plating low VOC regulations, the op-portunity to choose betweenwaterborne or low VOC solventbasecoat.

Matrix partners with several re-gional warehouse groups to distributetheir products to jobbers that sell tobody shops and the retail public acrossthe United States and Canada.

“Because of this network, Matrixnow has inventories that are onlyhours, or minutes, away,” said Papich.“This really helps lower the operatingcosts of jobbers and they no longerneed to stock so much product. Wealso have relations with an interna-tional distributor which takes Matrixall over the globe. It’s a great Ameri-can story, as we make all our paints inMichigan and export all over theworld.”

Matrix System Automotive Fin-ishes is one of the industry’s most suc-cessful manufacturers of high qualitycolor, clear coats, primers, hardenersand reducers. Matrix was establishedas a company dedicated to developing

high performance and affordable re-finishing products that perform as wellas or better than the leading nationalbrands. The company’s mission is toproduce high-quality automotive fin-ishes and provide great value to theircustomers. “Matrix products sell forless without sacrifice,” said Papich.

Matrix has been in business for 30years, starting with the production ofpremium clear coats, primers, harden-ers and solvents. “We started whenthere was little competition, as themajor paint brands owned the entiremarket,” said Papich. “We built greatrelationships with raw material suppli-ers, and because of lower operating

costs, produced premium products atnearly half the price of the major com-petitors. We never had to cheapen ourproducts to keep the selling price low.This quest for staying true to our for-mulas paved the way for loyal endusers.” Today, Matrix is one of NorthAmerica’s largest clear coat manufac-turers.

Back in 1997, Matrix introducedthe first Intermix Paint System, calledAccuShade. Since bursting onto thenational scene, Matrix System hasbeen selling its AccuShade® IntermixPaint Systems, FX Series custom col-ors, clears, primers, and reducers toover 350 paint stores and thousands ofbody shop customers. The Ac-

cuShade® Intermix System now leadsthe product line, giving body shops theability to produce over 98,000 colorswith exact formulas. It has been esti-mated that Matrix basecoat colors havebeen sprayed on over one million ve-hicles with accurate color match andexcellent performance.

Like its entry into the clear coatmarket, Matrix was a pioneer as an al-ternative automotive refinish brand.“We were able to save body shopsnearly 40% of the paint cost and pro-vide a consistent income for our job-bers,” said Papich. Today, AccuShadehas evolved to a multi-quality intermixsystems—premium to economy-

priced basecoats, single stage paints,and now the world’s first premium lowVOC solvent basecoat—MPV-LV.

Not all the paints and productsthat Matrix offers are low VOC. Ma-trix sells multiple products for all mar-kets, including international.

“Many people think Californiamust only use low VOC, but a largepart of the state doesn’t require this.We comply by providing accurate in-formation for our distributors regard-ing what’s legal and what’s not.”Moving forward, Matrix is creating“Coast 2 Coast” products that are legalin all of North America. “Our newpaint products perform so well, wedidn’t tell customers that they were

using low VOC coatings because wefelt body shops wouldn’t want to buyproducts they didn’t ‘have to’ or wouldhave preconceived notions that theywouldn’t perform,” said Papich. “So,some of our labels do not feature thescary words ‘low VOC’ but we do pro-vide all the necessary regulatory infor-mation.”

While some may think the currentregulatory environment is complex,Papich doesn’t think so. “If you takethe time to read and understand therules, they are very simple. I only wishthe rules didn’t vary between countiesor states.”

In addition to the Matrix label, thecompany manufactures coatings forseveral other brands and distributors.“Paint manufacturing is a complicatedand costly endeavor,” Papich said.“Smaller distributors and manufactur-ers now contract with us for less than itcosts to make paint themselves, andwith consistent results.”

Papich grew up in the paint busi-ness, working in his family’s paintstore in San Diego, CA in the early1980s as a teenager. He helped growthe family store into two large prof-itable locations. “I always wanted to bein law enforcement, but couldn’t giveup my passion for the paint business.In the early 1990s, we sold our storesto Sherwin-Williams and my dad re-tired. I continued to work for Sherwin-Williams in various roles, my last asthe Regional Sales Manager oversee-ing 21 locations and 140 employees.In 2008, I moved to Matrix and havebeen truly blessed to work for such agreat group of people.” Since 2007, thecompany has doubled in sales and Pa-pich thinks it’s only the beginning.“Matrix is a lean company where weall wear a lot of different hats. I’velearned so much in the past few years,and it’s all been fun. I look forward toour future as Matrix continues to ex-perience record growth globally.

“Matrix has definitely earned ourplace in the market as a premium lineat great value,” Papich added. “Today,we’ve become a viable alternative tothe major brands, without sacrifice.We’re committed to adding additionalfield resources, along with developingstate-of-the-art technology. I see con-tinued global growth for Matrix as westrategically increase market share andbrand awareness. Matrix is a great lineworth looking into. We have a greatstory to tell and can prove it.”

Matrix System Launches World’s First Premium Low VOC Solvent Basecoat

Ken Papich, Matrix’Director of Sales

Company Facts● Founded in 1983, Matrix employs over 100 full-time associates.● Matrix products are manufactured in a 52,000-square-foot modern productionfacility in Commerce Township, Michigan.● Matrix System’s corporate headquarters, warehouse, and training facility are lo-cated in Walled Lake, Michigan.● 1.4 million gallons are produced annually.● 4.0 million dollars of modern production paint equipment.● Bulk resin and solvent tanks are hard piped to mixing tanks.● 16 bulk resin and mixing tanks on electronic load cells hard piped to filling lines.● 7 automated filling lines with batch coding systems and automated labeling sys-tems.

Online ContestMatrix is offering a “Peel to Win” online promotion to all their body shop customerswho purchase a gallon of Matrix System’s MP-1000 “Coast to Coast” DTM PrimerSurfacer Sealer. To qualify, customers need to purchase a specially marked galloncan of the MP-1000 DTM Primer Surfacer Sealer, peel the sticker, follow all in-structions on the back and visit the Matrix website to register. Winning prizes in-clude iPads, Iwata Air Guns and spray guns, VISA gift cards, mixing equipmentand more. The program runs until September, 2012.

Last year, as summer approached, Iwrote an article about holding anevent in the summer to bring in newbusiness. I was pleased recently tolearn of an event put on by a shop inmy area. “POWER BABES,” a pro-fessional womens’ networking groupin the vicinity of the shop, meets reg-ularly to explore and discuss issues ofinterest and importance to the mem-bers. The location of the meeting isdifferent each time, and often held at aplace of business of interest to themembers. The marketing lady at thehost shop learned of this group ofabout forty women and invited themto hold their next meeting at the shop.

The current group president ex-pressed an interest in holding a meet-ing that focused on a women’s carcare clinic. It was agreed that themeeting would be held at the shop.Automobile repair people who de-scribe a vehicle problem using the jar-gon of the industry can confuse notjust women, but many uninformedpeople. Several automotive profes-sionals would be invited to speak oncar care issues in their area of expert-ise. To help the women in the groupbetter understand what is going onwhen they need a vehicle repair, theprofessionals would be asked to makedetailed presentations during the carcare clinic. Several did agree to come.

A lot of information for the meet-ing came from “Vehicle MD.” Theywere kind enough to provide everyonewith a copy of their magazine(http://vehiclemd.com). A woman as-sistant manager at an auto parts com-pany surprised the group by providingvery detailed technical informationthey could all understand. And a man-ager from Americas Tire Company

provided a wealth of little known in-formation about tire care. Severalother of the shop’s vendors were in-vited to speak, but had to decline be-cause of the short notice. A localNissan dealership provided a techni-cian along with a no-emissions “Leaf”vehicle from the dealership for thegroup to examine at great length. Theladies had this rare opportunity tolearn many technical details about thisstate-of-the-art vehicle in a way theynever could have without the help ofan expert technician.

The cost of providing food anddrink for a group this size might con-vince many shop owners that an eventlike this could not be cost-effective.But the fact is this was a highly prof-itable venture. The tour of the shopalone convinced many women in thegroup that this was an exceptionallyclean, technically advanced place tobring their car when they needed au-tobody repair. The close personal con-tact with the owner and marketingpeople also convinced many that thiswas a highly ethical, caring place tobring a vehicle. From the viewpoint ofthe shop, follow-up is what made thebiggest difference in cost effective-ness. Photos of the event and keymembers of the group were posted onFacebook and the shop’s website.Comments by ladies attending theevent were recorded by the host — es-pecially comments praising the attrac-tive layout and the shop’s neatnessand cleanliness — and also posted onFacebook and the shop’s website.While this was obviously nice public-ity for the shop, the women runningthe networking group were well awarethat this would also be a big help intheir recruiting efforts to get other

women to join their network. If struc-tured properly, events like this can bea win-win for both the shop and the at-tending group.

Profiles of leading players in thegroup were also captured so acknowl-edgements could be sent to the keypeople and, in some cases, their sub-ordinates and family. This action fit-ted in nicely with the shop’s effort tomaintain broader profiles of repeatcustomers and prospective customers.A while back I wrote about a shift

away from broadcasting to what hasbeen called “narrow-casting” in pro-motional parlance. Using today’spowerful preference identificationtechnology, advertisers know justabout everything you like to eat, towear, to read, and more. If you canbuild a database with searchable fieldsfor gender, marital status, familymembers, occupation, professional af-filiation, vehicles owned (also by

other family members), pets, socialnetworks, birthdays, anniversaries andmore, you have a tool for perfectly tar-geted promotional calls, mailings, e-mails and invitations.

Because of the professional na-ture of the women in this group, Iwould call this a truly brilliant mar-keting event for this shop. Most ofthese ladies drove recent model, high-end cars. Because most were also veryactive in business, they do a lot ofdriving and given the urban area inwhich they reside, a certain number ofat least small accidents are bound tooccur. Because of most of the ladies’immaculate attire, you could see theycared a great deal about appearanceand so would choose to keep their ve-hicle in spotless condition. All ofthese factors added together amount toa group of the very best prospectivecustomers a shop could hope to at-tract.


Custom Cornerwith Rich Evans

On Creative Marketingwith Thomas Franklin

Action Countswith Lee Amaradio Jr.

with Sheila LoftusYour Turn

Opinions Countwith Dick Strom

Shop Showcasewith Janet Chaney

Industry Overviewwith Janet Chaney

Industry Interviewwith Janet Chaney

Industry Insightwith John Yoswick

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

“Power Babes” Throw a Successful Event

BODYPROS Collision Repair, agroup of Des Moines-based collisionrepair centers, has raised a total of$1,329 for the Iowa Chapter of theLeukemia & Lymphoma Society(LLS) Team in Training during theArena Football League Iowa Barn-stormers’ home games.

BODYPROS Collision Repair,the greater Des Moines area’s onlycollision network, will hold a a 50/50

raffle at all Iowa Barnstormers homegames to benefit the Iowa Chapter ofLLS Team in Training. “What an elec-trifying night, both outside and in-side!” said BODYPROS CollisionRepair’s Christy Jones of the April14 game. “With the Iowa Barnstorm-ers’ first home field win, BODYPROSCollision Repair raised $415 for theIowa Chapter of the Leukemia &Lymphoma Society.”

Iowa Collision Repair Centers Raise $1,329 for Charity

This article is reprinted from TorqueNews with permission.

Aluminum and light-weight automo-tive body structures surely go to-gether, no less than light-weightbodies and lower MPG. So, it shouldbe no surprise that the earnings ofAlcoa (NYSE:AA) would bring thecompany into focus once again, espe-cially with the advent of higher MPGrequirements by 2016 and 2025.

All of us know that forcing peo-ple into smaller cars is not advance-ment. Even a Ford engineeringmanager at 2012 NAIAS had thesense to say there is a limit to down-sizing engines as well as auto bodies.In fact, he noted the next wave ofgains for automotive will have tocome from lighter body structures.

Truth is, auto body structures arealready becoming hybridized, buthave a long way to go. They are still

made mostly of sheet steel stamped incomplex forms, then welded togetherfor that unibody construction. How-ever, they are getting increasinglyamounts of aluminum and magnesiumpieces, too, especially for the un-sprung portions like suspension parts.

Looking at the future, considerthe Tesla Model S and the Mercedesnew SL. That’s where we need to goas an industry; and that’s where we aregoing as an industry. It’s simply a mat-ter of time and investment.

With regard to Tesla and Mer-cedes SL, both have all-aluminumstructures. They cost more money, butso do lithium-ion batteries. Further-more, a lighter body structure wouldprovide greater driving range even forfull EVs.

Now, imagine an all-aluminumChevy Cruze, for example, poweredby a revised Ecotec engine with asplit-cycle configuration or even a

downsized engine with an electric su-percharger, stop-start and maybe evenan air-hybrid component. Then the gasmileage would be awesome comparedto what we have now even in the city;and the overall cost wouldn’t be for-midable for the masses as what wehave for EVs.

Point is, any company that makesaluminum will be in the sweet spot,provided they can remain healthy dur-ing this latest downturn.

Thus far, it seems Alcoa may begetting into fighting shape. Sure, thereare other aluminum competitors, butAA is an American company; and itsposition to provide the American autoindustry with what it needs can liter-ally position itself like the companiesthat sold picks and shovels to goldminers of old.

Aluminum vs. Steel vs. Carbon FiberOne Torque News reader noted manymonths back that billet steel tradesaround $500/ton, while aluminumtrades at $2,200/ton during a period ofrock bottom aluminum prices. His im-plication seems clear: If you cut athousand pounds off the weight of acar by going aluminum, the ton of alu-minum you had would still add over athousand dollars to every car.

While he agreed that lowering theweight of cars is definitely the future,there are lots of other ways of doingit. He felt the auto industry could veryeasily take a page out of Boeing bookand investigate carbon compositebody structures. Or a page from theSmartCar book and investigate high-strength steel reinforcements.

Fact is, the auto industry is al-ready using those materials, just notextensively. Problem with carbonfiber is the cure time. Try doing that atthe rate of 60 cars per hour. At leastaluminum has the potential to havepresent welding technology, not tomention more use of extrusions whichare far cheaper, thus eliminating manykey stampings altogether. In high-stress areas, castings could be used, aswitnessed on the Mercedes SL.

Alcoa Stock ChartLooking at a recent chart of AA, it isclear that aluminum and Alcoa have

not faired well since 2008. And thatshould tell you something.

If the auto industry faired well be-fore 2008, though, then crashed only torevive to its present position, perhapsaluminum use and production willlikely follow that same pattern. It’s justshifted in its timing of recovery.

AA is now trading at 9.32 with itslowest low in the past five years at4.97 and its highest high of the pastfive years at 48.77. That makestoday’s price look like a cheap optionplay, in my opinion.

Granted, it is not my usual writ torecommend any stocks. I prefer to letthe charts do the talking. However, Imust admit this chart has yet to showa turnaround. Then again, today’squarterly report may be the catalystthat might turn the trend; perhaps notall at once, but over the next year.

Personally, I will be watching theprices of the options as well as thestock dynamics for opportunities. Forsure, the general market is swayingthe entire market including the autosector stocks, but that will not remainforever.

Frank Sherosky took early retirementfrom GM, Saturn and spent 39 years inthe auto industry as a draftsman, prod-uct designer, CAD operator and StudioDesign Engineer. His direct experiencewithin the auto industry enables him tocontribute insights into business, peo-ple, processes and technology; and haswritten as the Detroit Automotive Tech-nology Examiner. He also trades stocks& commodities, writes books andebooks, like “Perfecting CorporateCharacter,“ “Millennial World Order,”“Awaken Your Body to Healthy Aging”and “Awaken Your Speculator Mind.”He lives in Clinton Township, Michi-gan with his wife and best friend,Judi.He may be contacted via his for-warding email: [email protected] and followed on Twitterunder @Authorfranks


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Aluminum Stock—A Long-Term Auto-Related Opportunity?

with David BrownShop Showcase

with Attorney Martin ZuradaBody Shop Law

with Domenico Nigro

The Community-Focused Body Shop

with Janet CheneyShop Showcase

with Frank SheroskyIndustry Business Beat This is a new column in Autobody News. It will focus on investment opportunities

in the auto industry and will feature guest columnists on a regular basis. Opinionsherein are strictly those of the author. Autobody News accepts no responsibilityfor investment actions taken or not taken based on this column.



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by BASF Staff

Market-Driven InnovationsThat boost efficiency and customer sat-isfaction With competitive pressures inthe collision repair industry at an all-time high, it’s more important than everto implement innovative new technolo-gies and business practices. And whileprofitable growth demands increasedproductivity and new cost efficiencies,an old-fashioned commitment to first-rate quality and responsive customerservice continues to distinguish the mostsuccessful collision repair centers.

When it comes to delivering in allof these areas beyond your customers’expectations, it’s vital to have a leaderin the coatings industry in your corner.BASF is that leader, with a proven trackrecord of delivering the finest coatingsalong with the training, color informa-tion and productivity tools that high-vol-ume production shops, customizers,restoration specialists, auto auctions andothers need to succeed in their respec-tive markets.

New Products Can Reduce Cycle TimesOne area where BASF has set the paceof change is in new formulations thatsignificantly reduce cycle times. Exam-ples include a high-build, corrosion-re-sistant UV primer used to repair minordefects, which is applied in one or twocoats and then cures in just a few min-utes with an ultraviolet light. And, a newhigh-performance line of no-bake clearsis further evidence of BASF’s techno-logical leadership and commitment tomaking work processes more efficient.

According to Market SegmentManager Tony Dyach, sales of the no-bake clears have been “amazing” sincetheir introduction last fall. “Our cus-tomers have realized an immediate ben-efit from the no-bake clears’ minimalflash time” he said. “This allows vehi-

cles to be moved out of the boothsooner, freeing up an area that tends tobe a bottleneck in busy shops.”

As the name clearly indicates, no-bake clears can be applied without fir-ing up the bake cycle. They feature fastflash off times without the need to bake,or can be baked at low temperatures ifdesired. “So, no-bake clears mean lowerfuel use, further reducing the shop’s car-bon footprint,” noted Brian Koevenig,lab manager at Technical CustomerService, North America. As an integralpart of BASF refinish systems, these no-bake clears help to significantly reducecycle time while providing a high-glossfinish. When used as directed, thesehigh-performance clears are not suscep-tible to die-back issues, minimizing pol-ishing time and further reducing overallcycle times.

The new Glasurit® no-bake clears’fast drying times are well-suited for lim-ited-area repairs, which account for amajority of the work in a typical colli-sion repair shop.

Adding Value with Customer SupportBASF’s commitment to customer serv-ice doesn’t end with the delivery of itsinnovative coatings. The company hasalso built an industry-leading position incustomer support through an array ofvalue-added programs, including Vi-sionPLUS®, a full-service toolkit de-signed to help collision center managersgrow sales, streamline operations andgain a competitive edge.

Another key competitive advan-tage is BASF’s color information re-sources, including the highly popularSmartTrak® color management systemthat provides fast and accurate color for-mulas. And an extensive Global ColorInformation database is a favorite of dis-tributors and collision shops, allowingongoing access to formulas that are con-tinually updated by our global color lab-

oratories.Intensive, hands-on training courses areoffered at BASF’s technical trainingcenters located across the U.S. andCanada. The program’s core consists ofan extensive curriculum of classes inproduct knowledge and use, refinishtechniques, specialty finish repair, colormatching and troubleshooting. “Ourtrainers are experienced industry pro-fessionals with unmatched expertisewith our product, application techniquesand process efficiencies,” said Market-ing Manager John Daniel. ”Many of ourtrainees come in with a specific chal-lenge in mind, and they go home thrilledwith the experience and with their prob-lem solved.”

A Systems-Based ApproachBASF Automotive Refinish is commit-ted to delivering the world’s finest coat-ings while also providingcomprehensive support to help its cus-tomers achieve success in a highly com-petitive marketplace. When it comes toboth product and process, a systems-based approach is key to delivering in-telligent solutions within a dynamic,

ever-changing business environment.“We’re always looking at the entireprocess and how to improve job processand shop efficiencies, while maintainingindustry-leading quality,” observed JoeSkurka, Manager, OEM & Industry Re-lations. “Our corporate culture at BASFis one of continuous improvement.”

This is no idle claim, backed by theresources of the world’s largest chemi-cal company. BASF’s product innova-tion reflects an attentive,“ear-to-the-ground” awareness of cus-tomer needs and strong R&D to developthe next generation of coatings to satisfythose needs. A well-trained, immenselycapable sales and technical organizationensures responsive customer service,along with an extensive network ofBASF distributors located throughoutNorth America. Together, they ideallyposition BASF to provide the compre-hensive support its customers expectand deserve.

For more information about BASFAutomotive Refinish products and serv-ices, contact your BASF representativeby calling 800-825-3000, or visitwww.basfrefinish.com.


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lated body materials. The insurer’sposition is that body materials arenot compensable because they arepart of a repairer’s “cost of doingbusiness.”

“It’s most unfortunate that a re-pairer must take these legal steps butthe under-payments and non-pay-ments are continually increasing as

insurer’s squeeze consumers and theirrepairers,” Hawks said. “I’m sick ofbeing intimidated by insurance com-panies. While rent, lights, advertisingand such are (the cost of doing busi-ness) body materials are not.”

Hawks’ shop is in Lakeland, thesame city where Gunder’s Auto Cen-ter is located. Ray Gunder, owner ofGunder’s Auto Center, has success-fully sued insurance companies insimilar lawsuits. (See related storiesthis issue.)


Progressive Suit

As the discussion of how and whetherthe industry should develop some sortof formalized collision repair stan-dards continues, Paul Gange brings asomewhat unique perspective on thetopic.

Gange is the president and chiefoperating officer of Fix Auto USA,which has 48 franchise locations infour U.S. states, as well as 151 shopsaround the country using the com-pany’s services as part of a moreloosely-knit “network.”

But Fix Auto also has a similarorganization in the United Kingdom,with 68 franchises in a market that hasimplemented a repair standards pro-gram that is most often mentioned asa potential model for one in the UnitedStates.

Speaking recently on the Colli-sion Repair Executive Webcast(CREW), Gange shared some of theperspectives on standards he’s learned

through observing the U.K. marketand speaking with shops there.

He predicated his remarks bysaying that Fix Auto USA is commit-

ted to repair stan-dards, ensuringthat all of its fran-chises here, for ex-ample, maintainthe I-CAR GoldClass designationof ongoing train-ing, and use a

third-party, VeriFacts Automotive, tohelp ensure repairs are being donecorrectly.

“Fix Auto is committed to repairstandards that are universally adheredto and which ensure vehicles are re-turned to the road safely,” Gange said.

That said, he offered the follow-ing prescriptions and warnings forthose involved in the standards efforthere.

● Discussion of standards can eas-ily lead to multiple “standards.”Gange said the standards effort in theU.K. began in the 1970s along withthe shift to unibody vehicles. One in-dustry organization developed a stan-dards program, which about 2,700U.K. shops implemented over a four-year period. But 300 other shopsbalked at that standard, and createdand implemented a different set ofstandards. Eventually there were atleast three such programs, and shops

found themselves being required bydifferent insurers to implement mul-tiple standards, just as U.S. shopsoften have multiple estimating sys-tems to meet different insurer re-quirements.

“This was, at the very basis, a bitof a mess,” Gange said.

Some say the U.S. market isgoing down a similar road, with an in-creasing number of shop certificationprograms by the automakers and

Other Voices on StandardsSeveral other industry participants offered their view ofthe industry standards development process during arecent Collision Repair Executive Webcast (CREW).

Mike Quinn, who co-chairs a Repair StandardsAdvisory Committee working on the issue, said crashtesting of a vehicle repaired using methods consideredsafe just a decade ago showed that if used today, suchmethods would compromise the safety of passengersin a subsequent crash.

“The results were disastrous, and if we don’t think we’re under a mi-croscope by litigious attorneys or governmental agencies, we’re kiddingourselves,” Quinn said. “The ostrich approach has not worked for our in-dustry. The consumer expects and should have comfort that cars are beingsafely repaired to a standard so their family is safe in that repaired automo-bile. We have to move forward.”

Denise Caspersen of the manager of the Automotive Service Associa-tion (ASA) Collision Division, agreed that standardscould improve shop consistency and efficiency, as wellas repair quality, customer satisfaction and the indus-try’s professionalism. But, she said, ASA membershave expressed concerns about whether a standardsprogram would be open to shops of all sizes, whetherit would be recognized by consumers, and whether itwould offer a return on investment for shops or rather

just add another cost for shops.Steve Nantau of Ford Motor Company agreed that

in order to be successful, a standards program wouldhave be recognized as valuable by consumers and in-surers. He believes if the industry doesn’t develop asingle, recognized program, even more automakers andother groups will implement their own such program,none of which will end up with enough “traction” forwidespread recognition.

Standards Program in the U.K. Offers Lessons for the U.S.

with Ed Attanasio

Shop and Product Showcase

with Ed Attanasio

Shop Showcase

with Ed Attanasio

Social Media for Shops


The Right Causewith Mike Causey

Industry Insightwith John Yoswick

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

See Standards Program, Page 45

Mike Quinn

Denise Caspersen

Steve Nantau

Paul Gange


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SHOP & PRODUCTSHOP & PRODUCT SHOWCASE SHOWCASE

Shawn Orr, 37, is a Chicago-basedfreelance airbrush painter who haspainted murals on cars, helmets,dealership windows, trucks, semis,motorcycles and has even donesome painting on human bodies aswell. Orr uses the vFan Portable Air-brush System for precision paint andmaterial dispensing, particularlytouch-ups and surface repairs, aswell as surface preparation and cur-ing.

Orr relies 100% on his PrevalvFan Airbrush to do touchups forbody shops—work they would rathersub out than do themselves. “Bodyshops line up cars for me and I comein there and paint primarily bumperswith the Prevals vFan Airbrush,” Orrsaid. “This way the shop does nothave to pay their painters a full day ofwages to do a few bumpers. I cancome in there and get it done a lotfaster, because I’m mobile and theydon’t have to worry about buying anynew equipment or pulling their peo-ple off other projects to do the job.Plus, I can do it in half the time!”

Sold globally, the Preval vFanAirbrush is made in the USA, and isused heavily in the automotive,aerospace, packaging, semicon-ductor, solar energy and textile in-dustries, because it’s the onlyairbrush on the market that convertsto an airgun and achieves both 3-inch fan and 1/16-inch hairline pat-terns. Fully portable, the vFanAirbrush can be used in all environ-ments when powered by 150 feet ofenergy, Preval’s innovative, eco-friendly aerosol compressor unit.Each canister of 150 feet of energycontains seven ounces of VOC-ex-empt propellant that powers morethan 150 feet of linear paint cover-age and up to 40 square feet ofpaint coverage. The vFan Airbrushis also compatible with most work-shop compressors.

Orr appreciates the fact that hisPreval vFan Airbrush offers his bodyshop customers a great alternativeand a smart way for them to improvetheir cycle times, he said. “If a shopwants to do this type of work in-house, they have to tape it off andthen in the end they’re painting theentire bumper of the car anyway toavoid overspray. With the Prevalsystem, I only have to paint the im-mediate area on the bumper andfeather it off at the edges and thenput the clear on top of that. So, itsaves time, money and materials forthem. They take what I charge andmark it up appropriately, so it’s obvi-

ously another source of revenue forthem.”

Orr also likes the versatility of thevFan Portable Airbrush System, he ex-plained. “I spray the base, the colorand the clear all with the vFan. Ofcourse, in between each phase, I haveto clean the airbrush, but it’s an easytask and it doesn’t take very long. Theo-rings inside the unit are coated, soyou can spray urethane, water-basedpaints and solvents. The air comingout of the cans is a dry air, so you don’thave to worry about moisture comingthrough the hose and ruining whateveryou’re working on.”

During his 20 years as a muralpainter, Orr hasn’t found anythinglike the Preval vFan Airbrush, hesaid. “The biggest difference is thatit changes from a standard airbrushto a fan pattern air cap. It goes fromabout a one-inch fan pattern to aboutthree inches. With the standard aircap you can use it to get those reallyfine scratches for hairline touchups,starting from 1/16th of an inch to afull inch. Then, with the fan pattern,you can do a full three-inch area. Themini jet can’t do that and a standardairbrush can’t go up in size like that,so that’s what distinguishes the vFanAirbrush.”

Orr has a wide range of clientsand the VFan Airbrush is a nice fit inevery scenario without fail, he said.“Lots of people call for us for touchup work and in many cases we willgo to their home to do the work. It’sa combination of do-it-yourselfers,customizers, interior vinyl/leather re-pairers, and of course, the bodyshops and car dealerships.”

Orr is currently doing a mural ona truck and it might be one of his best

projects ever, he explained. “We’recurrently working on a truck forOscar’s Auto Body & Mechanical inChicago, Illinois. The paint job hasblack on the bottom with silver on topand fading into it, with an Aztec tribalsign in silver. We’re obviously goingto do this design with the vFan Air-brush and we’re excited to see how itcomes out.”

For retailing less than $200, Orrrecognizes that the Preval vFan Air-brush is a superior value. “It’s defi-nitely a great deal, because theseairbrushes will last and they canwork with most air compressors.Each can has about 150 linear feetand that is more than enough for meto do touch up. And you have twocans with the system, so there’senough to do an entire bumper withthat supply, placing each can into theEDU (Energy Disbursement Unit).”This allows for five times longer last-ing spray.

By avoiding the use of a loud aircompressor, Orr is able to concen-trate more on his mural designswhile creating, he said. “All you canhear out of the Preval vFan systemwhile you’re using it is the sound ofthe air coming out of the tip of the air-brush. You won’t hear anything com-ing out of the portable air cans, whichis nice. When you use one of thoseChinese-made air compressors, itpretty much rattles the whole house.When I come into a body shop towork, they don’t even know I’m there,because it’s so quiet.”

To see a demonstration of thePreval vFan Portable Airbrush, go toYouTube and search for: “PrevalvFan Airbrush in the Field: Autobody.”

Retailing at less than $200, the Preval vFanAirbrush is an outstanding value for bodyshops, mechanical shops who do occasionaltouch ups and automobile customizers

By contracting body shops throughout the Chicago area, freelance airbrush painter Shawn Orrcan get the work done fast and efficiently with his Preval vFan Airbrush

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by Ed Attanasio Shawn OrrFreelance Airbrush PainterLocation: Chicago, IL

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third-party certification programs,such as one being launched by the As-sured Performance Network.● Create a system that is free frombias. While the industry in the U.K.has shifted in recent years toward asingle standard, Gange said there’ssome question as to whether that pro-gram treats all repairers equally.

As an example, Gange said thatmost shops are subject twice a year tounannounced assessments of theircompliance with the standards.

“These are arduous assessments,”he said. “They are very, very detailed.And if you fail that assessment, youlose your certification.”

But Gange said one mobile re-pairer organization in the U.K., whichfocuses on light hits and bumper re-pairs, faces such assessments at onlya subset of their “locations,” which areessentially vans, rather than at all lo-cations like most other repairers. Thatreduces their costs of compliance,Gange said, which some traditional re-pairers view as unfair.

In addition to that type of sitation,Gange said he would like to see theU.S. also avoid a standards systemthat isn’t open to anyone willing andable to comply. Automaker shop certi-fication programs, for example, gen-erally require an independent shop tohave a relationship with a dealer,which may make such a program opento one shop but not to another,equally-qualified shop.

“Repairers wiling and capable ofinvesting, if that’s required, or adher-ing to standard specifications anddoing the work that’s it’s going to taketo ensure that they can repair vehiclesproperly should have a right to repairthat vehicle,” Gange said. “I wouldnot want there to be a standard that ex-cludes a shop that wanted to adhere tothe standard but perhaps wasn’t ableto participate because it didn’t havethe endorsement of another organiza-tion.”

● Don’t underestimate the cost ofstandards. Gange said that while thestandards program in the U.K., is “atits essence positive, it’s riddled withbureaucracy, and along with bureau-cracy comes costs.” Gange said that

shops in the U.K. feel they bear theburden of these costs, including a$30,000 to $80,000 initial implemen-tation fee, along with the equivalent ofjust under $8,000 a year in annualtraining. Much of that training is pro-vided through Thatcham, an insurer-funded research and trainingorganization in the U.K.

Gange said the industry here maywant to ensure there are multiple or-ganizations helping implement anystandards program.

“I think what we would want tohave in this regard is a healthy mar-ketplace for those that do the trainingand the assessments and the initial im-plementation,” Gange said. “That willhelp keep the prices down.”

Gange was asked if the standardsprogram in the U.K. has led to in-creases in repair costs and total lossesthere.

“At some point you have to ex-pect that when you’re spending$30,000 to $80,000 to implement astandard, and another $7,000 to$9,000 a year to maintain a standard,those costs have to come out some-where,” Gange said. “And I think itsfair to say they have come out in the

cost of repairs ultimately with an in-crease in total losses.”

● There needs to be recognition ofthe standards by insurers and con-sumers. Gange said the U.K. stan-dards program uses the “Kitemark”brand for shops meeting the standards;similar to the “Good Housekeeping”seal here, Kitemark is a well-recog-nized symbol among UK. consumers.

Without recognition by insurersand consumers of the value of choos-ing a certified shop, Gange said, shopsnot meeting the standard will use theirlower costs to market lower prices –generally for a lower-quality or evenunsafe repair.

John Yoswick, a freelance writerbased in Portland, Oregon, who has beenwriting about the automotive industrysince 1988, is also the editor of theweekly CRASH Network (for a free 4-week trial subscription, visit www.Crash-Network.com). He can be contacted byemail at [email protected].


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by Ed Attanasio

In a tough industry full of trials andtribulations, body shop owners are verysusceptible to stress and burnout. Ifthey’re not encountering issues with cus-

tomers, insurancecompanies, vendorsand/or employees,they have to worryabout things liketheir cycle timesand car count. It’s anever-ending strug-gle just to earn abuck and make theirpayroll every weekin this ever-chang-ing business.

And that’s why itwas refreshing whenthe East Bay Cali-fornia Autobody As-

sociation (EB-CAA) Chapter featured aninspirational speaker at its monthly meet-ing held on March 20th at Scott’sSeafood restaurant in Walnut, Creek,Calif. Sponsors for the evening wereLKQ, Diamond Standard Class AAASafety Parts and Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

Best-selling author/motivationalspeaker Mike Robbins was the featuredguest and presenter of the evening. Hisfirst book, Focus on the Good Stuff,reached #4 on the Amazon bestsellerlist, and his latest book, Be Yourself,Everyone Else is Already Taken,reached #17 on the Amazon bestsellerlist Robbins and his work have beenfeatured on ABC News, the Oprah radionetwork, in Forbes, Fast Company, andthe Washington Post, and on over 500radio and TV shows in North America.He is also a regular contributor toOprah.com and the Huffington Post.

As a former professional baseballplayer in the Kansas City Royals or-ganization, Robbins’s sports career wason track for stardom in the majorleagues until he suffered an injury that

ended his playing days instantly whenhe blew out his pitching arm. Throughthe healing power of appreciation andauthenticity, as well as his own personaljourney of self discovery, Robbins wasable to move beyond the injury to findmore meaning and purpose in his life,he said to the approximately 60 EB-CAA members in attendance.

Robbins has worked with clientssuch as Google, the San Francisco Gi-ants, Wells Fargo, the US Departmentof Labor, Apple, Chevron, the State ofCalifornia, New York Life Insurance,Genentech, the Gap, Stanford Univer-sity, Adobe, Banana Republic, the Ari-zona Diamondbacks, Kaiser, UCBerkeley, AT&T, The Atlanta Braves,Sutter Health, The VancouverCanucks, US Bank, and many others.

In a nutshell, Robbins’ messagewas: 1) People need to be more au-thentic 2) Be appreciative and show itand 3) Hey—quit complaining!

About authenticity, Robbins said,“If you want to be a true champion inyour life, be 100% real all the time. Ifyou’re afraid to tell people the truth, tryit sometime and you will discover thatit’s empowering. Many people mas-sage the truth and it breaks down rela-tionships and can lead to big problems.Why do people lie? Because they’rescared of losing business or being em-barrassed, among other reasons. But ifyou can be totally authentic all thetime, your life will change. Be realwith your spouse, friends and employ-ees. Sometimes it might result in a 10-minute sweaty palm conversation, butin the end both parties will feel betterand respect each other more.”

Robbins’s second point was to ap-preciate your life and the people aroundyou and show it every day. “Acknowl-edge your employees for their work andlet them know that you appreciate theirhard work. Many employers don’t wantto pass out the praise, because they feelas though their employees will get

complacent, but just the opposite willtake place. And also humbly receivepraise when people show appreciationto you. Many individuals can’t takepraise, so they deflect it or re-direct it.Being authentic includes acceptingpraise as well as distributing it.”

And lastly, Robbins said stop com-plaining all the time. “In this culture,

we’re chronic complainers,” he ex-plained. “If you’re busy being a victim,you can’t be the victor. There are a lot ofthings in life we can’t change, but we can

control: 1) Our attitude 2) Our effort and3) Our perspective. So, why complainabout things we can’t control? Com-plaining is highly counterproductive, soconcentrate on breaking that cycle.”

After his presentation, EB-CAAmembers asked Robbins a series ofquestions and then new Chapter Presi-dent Tiffany Cichon-Silva made an-

nouncements and talked aboutupcoming events sponsoredby the organization. Notabledates include May 22, whenthe EB-CAA’s monthly dinnermeeting at Scott’s will featureRichard Forness, an industrywriter who will talk about thefuture of the collision repairbusiness, sponsored by Auda-tex. Also, on June 2nd, theEB-CAA will host its 26th an-nual golf tournament at Dia-blo Creek golf course inConcord, California. On July24th, there will be a summer

barbecue at the PPG Training Center,where Aaron Schulenburg with the So-ciety of Collision Repair Specialists(SCRS) will be the featured speaker.


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Former MLB Pitcher, Now Motivational Speaker, Engages East Bay CAA Members

EB-CAA Officers for 2012, back row, from left:Jack Sandri (Dublin GMC, Cadillac) and Mike Govette(Finishmasters in Concord); Middle row: Trish Pickens(Audatex); Peter Lock (Contra Costa College); GregDecker (California Color Source) and Tiffany Cichon-Silva(Accurate Auto Body). Front row, from left: Gigi Walker(Walker’s Auto Body & Fleet Repair); Kathy Mello (TGIFBody Shop) and Lisa Daves (D & S Body Shop)

CAA Executive Director David McClune (left)and this year’s CAA President David B. Pic-ton (G & R Body & Paint) were there for theEB-CAA’s March monthly meeting

Best-selling authorand renownedmotivationalspeaker Mike

Robbins was thefeatured presenterat the EB-CAA’smonthly meetingon March 20th

From left, Margo Brough (Premier WholesaleParts) and Annie Thompson (Walnut CreekToyota) enjoying the show at the EB-CAA’smonthly meeting


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Standox® recently hosted its 2012Standox® Partnership In Excellence(PIE) Member Conference in Maui,HI, for collision center PIE mem-

bers from the United States andCanada. The PIE Program is a busi-ness partner with Standox® cus-tomers, maintaining a shared goal toachieve a sustainable competitive

advantage, through quality network-ing, innovative marketing and intel-ligent programs. Member benefitsinclude Member Conferences,Training Programs, Strategic Part-ner Relationships, Business CouncilMembership and Bowtie Bucks Re-bate.

The meeting was held at TheRitz-Carlton, Kapalua on the islandof Maui and gave PIE members theopportunity to network and learnfrom each other in a relaxing envi-ronment.

The conference is an excellentforum for collaboration and net-working among the collision centerowners and managers who attend.Attendees also can take the knowl-edge they gain from conference ses-sions and from their peers, back totheir collision centers, inspiringtheir future business decisions.

Opening the conference wereindustry experts Greg Horn,

AkzoNobel Automotive & AerospaceCoatings Americas (A&AC) is puttingthe final touches on the upcoming 2012North American Independent Distribu-tor Conference to be held April 24 to 26,at the Boca Raton Resort & Club inBoca Raton, FL. For network membersthis gathering represents one of the in-dustries most anticipated and longestrunning distributor association events.Automotive paint and supply distribu-tors from across the U.S. and Canadawill rally together under the event’s“Win Forever—Always Compete”theme for three action-packed days ofinnovative workshops, exciting newproduct launches and training opportu-nities. Each element of the program hasbeen designed with the goal of provid-ing attendees’ methods to better supportthe growth and profitability of the net-work of collision repair centers whichthey support throughout North America.

“Many of our distributors have beenpart of the AkzoNobel family since wecame to North America in the early eight-ies’ with our then innovative SIkkens Mix-ing Machine concept”, said AkzoNobel

A&AC General Manager, Margret Kleins-man. “These same distributors have beeninstrumental in keeping us aligned with in-dustry needs, selecting body shops thatwere eager for the innovation we deliv-ered, and in turn helped us introduce newproduct lines. As a result of our close work-ing relationship and our mutual under-standing of the value of all parties in therepair chain, we have been successful ingetting the right Color Solutions and Re-pair Support Services to our valued bodyshops customers. This conference will pro-vide information on new tools and prod-ucts to be launched in 2012. Mostimportantly, it will provide the platform forthe co-generation of future products andservices to further improve our joint sup-port to the collision repair Industry.”

In addition to the array of productsand services to be found at the confer-ence this year, industry leaders such as3M, SATA, Dedoes and Summit Mar-keting Group, will participate in a spe-cial Opportunity Fair, where attendeeswill have the benefit of viewing currentand upcoming product introductionsand supporting services.

AkzoNobel Holds North American IndependentDistributor Conference in Boca April 24–26

Standox® Partnership In Excellence (PIE)Member Conference Gives Industry TrendsInsight, Human Resources & Marketing

Keith Sena, Standox® Brand Manager

See PIE Conference, Page 59

by Erica Schroeder

Airbrush artist Shannon MacDonald,who exhibited her airbrush portrait ofJohn Lennon at the Anest Iwata boothat SEMA 2011, uses PPG’s Envi-

robase waterborne paint to bring herart alive on just about every surface.Shannon’s art has been featured onguitars, drums, motorcycles, boats,cars, planes, helmets and of coursetraditional canvas or illustrationboard.“I use PPG’s Envirobase on every-thing now,” said Shannon, “I love itand it seems to love me.”

Shannon, well known for her life-like portraits of iconic celebrities suchas The Beatles, Sylvester Stallone,James Dean, Jackie Kennedy andElvis Presley—among others, failedart in high school due to differencesshe had with her art teacher. Instead ofpasting macaroni on paper and throw-ing glitter on it she rebelled and wentto the back of the room to study the“Old Masters” (Norman Rockwell,Michelangelo, etc.). Her teacherwould insult her and say, “You willnever get anywhere drawing thosepigs”. Her teacher was referring toShannon’s drawings and paintings ofThe Beatles. After a few yearsof failing art, Shannon’s already pavedroad to go onto college with scholar-ships was derailed. Depressed and ag-gravated, she gave up art and focusedon a “still successful” music career. 15

years later, Shannon was given an air-brush, as a gift. This was the instru-ment in her life that gave her back herart. Her first airbrushed painting wasof John Lennon. She entered the paint-ing in a contest and won first place.Beatles fans saw Shannon’s paintingand wanted more. Her fan base grewrapidly and she began to get invited toBeatles Conventions all over theUSA. Owners of The Cavern Club (aLiverpool club made famous by TheBeatles) discovered Shannon paintingat a Beatles Convention in Connecti-cut. They took the news back to Liv-erpool and said of Shannon’s works,“We were Gobsmacked!” Eventually,so was the UK audience. With only afew years of airbrushing under herbelt, Shannon was declared “TheWorld’s Greatest Beatles Artist” in1998 by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool.Shannon says of the art teacher thatfailed her, “My art teacher has to eather words everyday. I will always bethe “main course” in her life. As far asmy art goes, I owe a lot to the air-brush.”

After using mainly PPG solvent-based paints for years, Shannon beganusing PPG’s Envirobase about a year

ago and has decided to go totallygreen in her studio.

“I love it now,” said Shannon, al-though she thought she’d never get thehang of using waterborne paint at first,Shannon is now very comfortablewith it. According to Shannon, whenshe first started using waterborne she

noticed a difference right away. Thewaterborne paint would stay just asshe painted it—critical to an artist whopaints with such detail. With the sol-

vent, Shannon says, sometimes thefine details would melt and merge abit as it dried.

“As far as changing from solventto waterborne, all I had to do was besold on the product and what it had tooffer. I was visiting ‘Ideal Distributors& Auto Paint’ in St. George, Utah tomeet with Walter Rapp. While there, Ihad mentioned wanting to try the newPPG waterborne; PPG’s Envirobase®

changed my mind about solvents,”said Shannon, “For me, solvents tendto ‘merge’ with each other in a waythat detail is lost, especially when ap-plying top coats. I am in the detailbusiness! I can’t afford to see hoursworth of work slowly disappear aftertopcoating with clearcoats and/or can-dies. Solvents easily ‘blur’ after topcoating. PPG Waterbornes do not.”

Shannon also appreciates that sheis breathing in less paint fumes withthe waterborne versus solvent.

“If you are a painter that lovesthat 24 hour a day ‘sucking on heliumrush’, you might miss solvent,” said


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Airbrush Artist Shannon MacDonald Uses PPG Envirobase to Bring Icons toLife on Vehicles and Just About Everything Else

KILLER (parrot) was created in 1991 byShannon and made his way onto mall backlitduratrans, large street billboards, teeshirts,motorcycles, automobiles, night clubs andmore. This particular painting was done in1994 on a Camaro show car hood. It waspainted with an airbrush using One Shot signpaint kicked with Dupont gloss hardener

MINI-REVOLUTION was created in 2007 for theBeatles’ Hard Day’s Night Hotel in Liverpool,England. (detail done with IWATA Airbrush,electric eraser, and Createx paint)

“LET ME TAKE YOU DOWN” is a 10’ tallFender Stratocaster made of fiberglass. Thesewere made for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.Together artists from around the world suchas Peter Max, Yoko Ono, Keith Richards andmany others were featured on Good MorningAmerica. On that early morning’s live fromNYC program, Shannon’s guitar was declaredthe most outstanding of them all. Tony Perkins(weather man) spotlighted Shannon’s guitarthree times during the program to show theaudience the unbelievable detail. (Createdusing PPG, Sherwin Williams, and Createxpaints using an IWATA micron and electriceraser.) © 2002

Shannon.Shannon was also impressed with

the cost savings associated with using

waterborne and as a custom paintbusiness there wasn’t a lot of cost inchanging over from solvent.

“There was no big cost factor inchanging over; being involved in thecustom paint business is probably lessinvasive then a full body shop changeover. As I move forward I can see theadvantage; I am getting more done ata faster pace which makes way formore clientele and I am using lesspaint. I am saving every day,” saidShannon.

Although waterborne sprayeddifferently, according to Shannon, thetechniques associated with using wa-terborne were actually quite similar tomuch of her artistic education.

She also noticed that with sol-vent, the color that it is in the can isjust about the same as it comes outwhen you spray it; but with water-borne, the color looks a lot differentin the can than when it is sprayed. Socolor matching with the waterbornewas a bit of a challenge because youcan’t really color match by eye,you’ve got to spray a bit of it to knowwhat color you’re really workingwith.

“I have probably 50 Anest Iwata

guns,” said Shannon, who has beenusing their spray guns since 1994. Shecame to be very comfortable with theAnest Iwata guns after relying on theIwata Custom Micron series when shepainted her tribute stamp to SylvesterStallone in 1996. Shannon’s processalso differs from a lot of traditionalcustom vehicle painters; she doesn’tbelieve in using templates or tapingoff sections as she paints—she be-lieves that gives her work too muchhard edges.

Shannon says she starts by out-lining what she wants to paint withpencil, then she comes in with thespray gun free-hand. She starts outwith the light colors, so at first it lookslike a sepia-toned painting, then shecomes in with an array of translucentcolor.

Shannon says she prefers to paintthe ‘old-school’ way and doesn’t con-sider herself a graphic artist. Most ofShannon’s work has been labeled‘hyper-realism.’

Shannon also uses an electriceraser, a drafting tool. A tool she callsher “second favorite”. She has been inthe process of working on an air eraserfor a few years now. It will come to

fruition with the help of Anest Iwata.Her version will be more like a pol-ishing tool like that of a dentist. It willhave different variables and severaleraser tips of various densities.

“Speaking as the number oneBeatles artist in the world, it’s a heavyride to get to number one—but onceyou’re there it’s almost more difficultto stay there and fend off all the num-ber twos who want your spot,” saidShannon, “But I’m very lucky to havethe spot I do.”

Shannon is currently working ona Beatles tribute piece that representsand celebrates the 50th Anniversary ofthe last member to join and finalizethe famous quartet, Mr. RichardStarkey (Ringo Starr). She will fly tothe UK to unveil that piece in Liver-pool.

This August, in Salt Lake City,Utah, she will be one of the headlin-ing artists at the event “ASET presentsThe Ultimate Air Affair”.

She also plans to attend SEMAagain this year with ASET (Auto-motive Spraying Equipment Tech-nologies) and Anest Iwata. Shannonwill be displaying and painting live,


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This is a fine creation establishing the detailShannon can get using an airbrush and anelectric eraser. The new name attached to hercreations is “Hyper-Realism”. This portrait wascreated for the IWATA/ANEST booth sponsoredby ASET at SEMA 2011. (IWATA micronairbrush and an Electric Eraser on white bakedaluminum panel) This was the first timeSHANNON performed for an audience usingPPG’s Envirobase Colors. (She had done soonce before using PPG Envirobase shades ofblack and gray for the ASET producedshow…ULTIMATE AIR AFFAIR) At this point,PPG is by far SHANNON’s favorite paint to usefor both illustration and automotive painting

See Shannon MacDonald, Page 51

by Jami Kinton, News Journal

Authorities capped a five-month in-vestigation April 11 with the arrest ofa Shelby, OH, man on multiple felonycharges.

Local officials say they wereprompted by complaints from 17cases of unhappy car-restoration cus-tomers, who combined said they lostmore than $300,000.

Keith Shellhouse, 46, wascharged with aggravated theft, a third-degree felony, and theft of a motor ve-hicle, a fourth-degree felony, saidRichland County Deputy Sheriff, RichEichinger.

“I’ve been doing car restorationsfor 30 years,” said Shellhouse, ownerof Independent Autobody and ProRestorations at 4952 Plymouth-Springmill Road. “Did I steal? No, Idid not steal anything.”

Richland County Sheriff’s Maj.Dale Fortney said the department wasassisted by the Attorney General’sEconomics Crimes Division and thestate Bureau of Criminal Investiga-tion, the National Insurance CrimeBureau, the Ohio Department of Tax-ation, the Ohio Collision Repair Boardand the Bureau of Motor Vehicle In-vestigations. He said there were morethan 30 victims, but only 17 kept goodenough records to take to a grand jury.

“People had to refinance theirhouses, sell land,” Eichinger said. “Heonly finished one car since 2002 andhe’s had 20-plus cars waiting. Yes, itdoes take time to restore cars, but thenwhy would you continue to bring innew cars when you have so many youhaven’t even started?

“I think he just wanted more andmore money coming in. It was kind oflike a Ponzi scheme.”

Shellhouse said previously hiscar restoration business has resulted inaward-winning street rods. The shopalso offers collision repair service, andits website promises customers a 100percent money-back guarantee.

Some customers report a differ-ent experience.

Bill Stouval, of New York, foundthe shop online.

“(Shellhouse) came to pick upmy car on July 31, 2009,” Stouval said

of his 1986 Chevy Camaro High RockZ28. “He told me he would do a com-plete restoration. He told me when hewas done it would be better than whenit rolled off the showroom floor.”

Stouval said Shellhouse esti-mated it would be a two-year project.Stouval said he paid $5,000 up frontand was told it would cost $15,000 tocomplete the project.

“I chased him down every monthand asked how it was going,” Stouvalsaid. “He was really good at ignoringmy calls. I had to call from otherphones, and his mailbox was alwaysfull. Neighbors said they’d see peoplebeating on his door, knowing he wasinside but he wouldn’t open it.

“When I would get a hold of him,he did admit he hadn’t made muchprogress but had every excuse, ‘I’mwaiting on parts. I’m about to get a di-vorce from my wife. I lost my cell-phone.’ Normally, you’d say, ‘OK,well then you’re fired.’ But when thisguy has thousands of your dollars, youcan’t do much but say, ‘OK, when areyou going to be back on track?’ “

Stouval said Shellhouse collected$9,400 from him.

Judy Boyd had a similar story.“I had a 1972 Corvette and my

husband at the time wanted to surpriseme and have a restoration done on it,”Boyd said. “He found Keith on the In-ternet, but I really didn’t want someoneto touch my car because I was afraidsomething like this would happen.”

Boyd said she paid Shellhouse$9,000.

“I took my car over to him in onepiece and got it back in pieces,” shesaid.

On March 16, 2002, Boyd asked

that the vehicle be stripped of all bodypaint, repainted and completely refin-ished within two years.

“On Oct. 9, 2003, I went overthere and found that he had disassem-bled it, but done absolutely nothing,”Boyd said. “He’d also left my frameout in the field and it had completelyrusted.”

Boyd said all calls were “shortand argumentative” and emails re-ceived no response. She finally soughtlegal help.

“I loved this car dearly. When Ithink about it, it just makes me wantto cry,” Boyd said.

Members of the Northern OhioViolent Fugitive Task Force arrestedShellhouse at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday athis business.

“Sure looked a lot different inthere this time,” said Deputy ChuckKochis, who was present in Novem-ber when authorities searched the

business and seized three vehicles. “Itlooks like he’s actually trying to workon cars now. I’m sure he’s upset be-cause he’s trying to build his businessback up. But he dug his own grave.”

Shellhouse’s wife, Tammy, whoworks in Mansfield, was waiting tocollect her husband’s possessions atthe jail.

“He did nothing illegal,” she said.“They raided my house with bogussearch warrants.”

Shellhouse is expected to be ar-raigned the week of April 15. Author-ities ask people with complaints tocall Eichinger at 419-774-3572.

Autobody News takes no position onthe guilt or innocence of the personsfeatured in this article and all are in-nocent until proven guilty.

This story is reprinted here by kindpermission of the author, Jami Kinton,and the Mansfield News Journal.


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Complaints Lead to Arrest of Ohio Car Restoration Business Owner

Keith Shellhouse. owner of Independent Auto-body and Pro Restorations, 4952 Plymouth-Springmill Road, Shelby, OH, is taken to theRichland County Jail on April 11/JAMI KIN-TON/NEWS JOURNAL





Mainstream Media


Mainstream Media













This column reprints articles referring to the collisionand auto repair industry as given in the general press.Autobody News thanks the copyright holder for givingpermission to reprint such works.

phones for customers and non-cus-tomers. Stephenson says he has seenmany storm sites, and every one af-fects him.

“You go in knowing what you aregoing to see; you’ve seen it before,”

he says. “But when you get there, it’salways overwhelming.”

For many carriers, claims areaccumulating fast as homeownerspile up fallen tree limbs and de-stroyed contents and pieces fromtheir homes.

“Some are just able to get back totry and recover some belongings—seewhat they can salvage,” says Alley.

as well as introducing some newSHANNON PRODUCTS includingher air eraser mentioned earlier inthis piece.

Shannon is also teaching bothcustom automotive and illustration

worldwide for those looking to start acareer in airbrushing or for those whoare accomplished looking to take it upa notch. For those interested callShannon’s studio in New Jersey at310-739-4930 or ASET at 800-628-5449.

See more of Shannon’s art, aswell as her music, at www.theshan-nongallery.com.


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RX-8 2012

DRPs with insurers for most of the topten insurance carriers. All locationsoffer round-the-clock towing services,on-site car rentals and free pickup anddelivery. CollisionMax also offerspaintless dent repair and mobile autoglass repair and replacements.

Showing their concern for thecommunity, CollisionMax sponsorsthe HERO Campaign, a non-profit or-ganization created to educate the pub-lic on drunk driving and on being adesignated driver. Additionally, theysponsor local little-league baseballteams. In an effort to be environmen-tally-conscientious, CollisionMax

shops are all smoke-free. They havealso converted from solvent-basedpaints to PPG’s environmentally re-sponsible Waterborne paints, but theyhave found that matching weathered,unmaintained factory paint is difficultas customers’ cars grow older. Colli-sionMax shops also recycle, and in2011, the organization as a whole re-cycled 827 tires, 1648 gallons of an-tifreeze, 927 gallons of motor oil, 293gallons of solvent-based paint waste,147 gallons of waterborne paint wasteand 1012 tons of cardboard.

When discussing the future of theindustry, Marketing Manager Rich Tor-netta notes that he foresees “the con-tinued need for training on accidentavoidance technology as well as ever-evolving structural steels and construc-

tion.” Lately, CollisionMax shops havenoticed that advanced technology, suchas tire sensors, restraint systems, hy-brids, etc., add delays to the simplestrepairs, creating a challenge in regardsto maintaining acceptable cycle timesbased on repair hours. Tornetta alsonotes that “higher deductibles and aweak economy lead to some customersspending their insurance check, insteadof having their vehicles repaired, re-sulting in the abandonment of com-pleted vehicles.” Also, owner ClaudiaBrigidi sees a major concern in the lackof trained quality labor in the industryas many people no longer want to betechnicians.

CollisionMax partners and em-ployees have attended AASP/NJ forthe past five years, developing and

maintaining business relationshipswith numerous exhibitors. Thetradeshow has provided the opportu-nity to investigate new products andmake minor equipment purchases aswell as helping to plan for futuremajor equipment purchases.

CollisionMax shops have suc-cessfully repaired over 250,000 vehi-cles since 1980, consistently earningthe industry’s highest customer satis-faction rating, a fact that Joe Tornettalargely attributes to “the expansion ofour services centers in Pennsylvaniaand South Jersey and the strength anddiverse abilities among the owners.”The partners at CollisionMax lookforward to greater success in the fu-ture, hoping that their organizationwill span several more generations.


CollisionMax


Dallas StormsContinued from Page 49

Shannon MacDonald

by 3M Collision Staff

At 3M, scientists and engineers are en-couraged to look at things differently todevelop new product solutions, newtechnologies and in some cases, new in-dustries. For one such scientist, the abil-ity to look from a different perspective ata major challenge faced by automotiveprofessionals revolutionized the indus-try. It literally turned the way that vehi-cles, airplanes, boats and otherequipment are painted, upside down.

“We spent a lot of time in the shopenvironment, working with painters tounderstand their challenges, pain pointsand everyday working processes,” saidDr. Stephen Joseph, Division Scientist,3M Automotive Aftermarket. “As partof observing the repetitive process ofmixing paint in separate containers,pouring this paint through a paperstrainer into the spray gun reservoir andthen cleaning up the spray gun after-wards, it struck me that there had to bea better approach.

“For example, why not take thecontainer of mixed paint and place thatdirectly on the spray gun, thereby elim-inating the transfer step? If this new cupthat doubled as a spray gun reservoircould then be disposed of, we could alsoeliminate much of the solvent associatedwith gun cleaning.”Dr. Joseph spent many hours buildingprototypes and developing conceptsaround the idea of using just one cup forboth mixing and spraying. Inspirationcame from a variety of sources.

“Things in everyday life take on atotally different perspective when youare trying to solve a particular problem,”said Dr. Joseph. “Closing the containerof mixed paint off with a lid and invert-ing the spray gun to facilitate connec-tion was the Eureka moment. It enabledus to develop a product design thatcould be attached to just about any spraygun and essentially eliminate the tradi-tional mixing cups and spray gun reser-voirs that customers were currentlyusing. After the relevant patent applica-tions were filed, we spent a lot of timefield testing a variety of prototypes tounderstand what was important to ourcustomer.”

One challenge they faced was de-veloping the cup for the system. While3M invented both a liner-and-cup sys-tem and a linerless system, they decidedto pursue the liner technology becausethis offered a variety of enhanced bene-fits to the customer, for example the

ability to spray upside down. Thelinered system is a closed system, duringspraying it creates a vacuum, which ef-fectively pulls the paint out of the liner,thus collapsing the liner. Being a closedsystem there is no air vent for paint toleak out during spraying. You also havethe ability to stay 90 degrees to the panelfrom any angle, even upside down,

which optimizes material transfer, andhelps to reduce material waste. In orderto move the project forward, 3M devel-oped and invested in much of the equip-ment to manufacture the parts internally,which ultimately enabled the product tobe launched.

“After evaluating numerous differ-ent iterations of cups, lids, adapter de-signs and filters, we finally determinedthe optimum combination,” added Dr.Joseph. “It took a number of years toprogress from the original concept to thelaunch, but the PPS™ System quicklygained customer acceptance throughoutEurope and the US.”

Industry at Point of ChangeWhat set the stage for the developmentand rapid growth of the PPS™ Systemtechnology were several critical issuesin the body shop. The industry was tran-sitioning from siphon to gravity fedspray guns, which was being driven pri-marily by the improved transfer effi-ciency of these guns with top-mountedcups. Shop owners were looking formore efficiency and less material wasteand concerns over solvent use and dis-posal were growing.

Painters were still pouring paintinto separate containers, straining itthrough filters and transferring it into aspray gun. Following spraying, they hadto clean the spray gun with solvent andeither clean or discard the used mixingcups and filters. These conventional sys-tems were time-consuming, contributedto volatile organic compound (VOC)emissions and continually wasted ex-

pensive paint.Although 3M’s Automotive After-

market Division sold a number of dif-ferent products to the vehicle repairindustry such as abrasives, maskingproducts and polishing glazes and com-pounds, prior to the PPS™ System, 3Mhad essentially no sales in the paint mix-ing area of the shop.

Technology = PerformanceIn its basic definition, the 3M PPS™System is a disposable mixing and fil-tering system designed for use withprimarily gravity fed paint spray guns.The PPS™ System eliminated theneed for separate mixing cups and fil-ters, and only the spray gun channeland adapter need cleaning since paintnever comes into contact with the potand collar.

A range of threaded adapters fordifferent spray guns provide painters

with the ability to attach the 3M systemto just about any spray gun.3M™ PPS™ System product attributesinclude:• Same cup for mixing and spraying• Disposable liners save solvent and

time• Integral paint filter means fewer de-fects• System allows gun to be used at anyangle• Unused paint can be temporarily savedin a capped liner• Slashes solvent usage for gun cleaning

The Impact of an InnovationToday, some 60,000 shops in more than90 countries use the 3M PPS™ System.Annually, an estimated 20 million vehi-cles have some coating applied using the3M system.

After switching to the 3M PPS™Paint Preparation System, customers re-port as much as a 70 percent reductionin the use of cleaning solvents, whichtranslates to a reduction of an estimated46.2 million gallons of solvents. This re-duction in solvent use directly reducesglobal VOC emissions and promotes asafer and healthier workplace since op-erators are exposed to smaller amountsof solvent vapors. These 46.2 milliongallons of solvent reduction translate tomore than $330 million in solvent costand solvent disposal cost savings over

A Decade of Innovation Turns Paint Industry Literally Upside Down


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the past decade.In addition, the PPS™ System min-

imizes paint transfers, allowing operatorsto mix smaller quantities of paint or toeasily switch colors between repairswithout disposing of the paint. This canhelp reduce the amount of paint requiredfor a job by as much as 2 to 4 ounces permix, leading to significant cost and wastereductions.

As a result of its success in the au-tomotive market, 3M has expanded theproduct line into other industries that usespray guns, such as aerospace, marine,woodworking and signage, where cus-tomers are looking for solutions to helpthem manage their VOC emissions, im-prove efficiency and reduce waste.

A Decade of Awards – New ProductAdditions Are on the HorizonIn the last decade, the 3M™ PPS™ PaintPreparation System has collected majorawards from industry groups, environ-mental organizations and design leadersfrom around the world.• In the U.K., Awarded 2002 Product ofthe Year by “Bodyshop Magazine” and“Auto Trade”• In South Africa, Won the 2002 “Inno-vation Award” from “Automotive Refin-

isher”• In Spain, Named the “Best New Prod-uct” for 2001 by Galeria de InnovacionMotortec• In France, Won the Bronze Trophy inthe Garage Equipment section of theauto exhibition Equip Auto• Selected by the Design Council in 2002as one of its Innovation Stories• Won the 2002 Horner’s Award for Plas-tics• Received the 2006 SAE InternationalEnvironmental Excellence in Trans-portation Award

The development of the 3MPPS™ product family has continuedthroughout the decade, with the addi-tions of new cup sizes – including the3 oz cup for the EPA Rule 40 CFR Part63 – Subpart 6H – and complementaryproducts like the 3M Accuspray™System and the 3M™ PPS™ SunGun™ Color Matching Light. Addi-tional product and solution announce-ments are planned for 2012 to continuethe industry innovation and expand the3M platform.

For more information about the3M™ PPS™ Paint Preparation Systemand the decade of innovation, visit:www.3MCollision.com/PPS.


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Body Shop Owner Eddie Lopez Shot Dead in Early, TXAuthorities said a heated dispute overa woman left a Brownwood bodyshop owner dead March 12 after hewas shot at least six times in the park-ing lot of an Early doughnut shop, re-ports Denise Blaz, writing for theAbilene Reporter-News. The shootingmarked the city’s first homicide in atleast four years, officials said.

Eduardo “Eddie” Lopez, 45, wasshot shortly before 10 a.m. Mondaywhile sitting in his idling Cadillac SUVin the 900 block of Early Boulevard,said Brown County Sheriff BobbyGrubbs. Lopez was owner of twoBrownwood businesses: Eddie’s AutoBody Repair and the bar Tequila Nights.

Rene Torres Pinon, 32, ofStephenville, was charged with mur-der after turning himself in at theBrown County Law EnforcementCenter, telling a deputy he had com-mitted a “crime of passion.”

“The subjects had an ongoing con-flict, I guess, and it appears due to the cir-cumstances that they came together rightthere this morning,” Grubbs said. “I thinkthey had a verbal argument going, and itappears that one of them had a gun,pulled it and did some shooting.”

Grubbs said Lopez was shot mul-tiple times with a .40-caliber Taurus

semi-automatic handgun, includingonce in the face. Four bullet woundswere found along Lopez’s rib cageand another bullet was found in hischest, Grubbs said.

Early Police Chief David Mercersaid Pinon turned himself in as author-ities were en route to find him. Mercersaid a caller had informed authoritiesthat Pinon was sitting in his grayChevrolet Camaro at his workplace, aBrownwood manufacturing plant. Bythe time authorities arrived at the plant,he had turned himself in, Mercer said.

The broad daylight crime, Mer-cer said, marked the city’s first homi-cide in several years.

“I’ve been here four years, andthere hasn’t been one since I’ve beenhere,” Mercer said.

“We’ve had aggravated assaultswith handguns, but not like this.Luckily, no one else was hurt, no onethat was just driving by.”

Some patrons inside the doughnutshop witnessed the shooting, he said.

“The only people that saw werein the store; they heard the shots. Oneof them looked up in time to seemaybe a couple of more shots beingfired, and then he saw him (theshooter) walk back to his car.”

John Wallauch, 75, of Granite Bay,has been appointed chief of the Bu-reau of Automotive Repair in Califor-nia by Governor Brown, replacingSherry Mehl. Wallauch brings over 50years of experience working in thepublic and private sectors on issues in-volving air quality and consumer pro-tection. He has served as programmanager for the California Air Re-sources Board, Smog Check Programsince 2007. He was also the executiveofficer of the Inspection and Mainte-nance Review Committee for the Bu-reau of Automotive Repair from 1999to 2002. The BAR Chief position re-quires California Senate confirmationand his annual salary is $118,620.Wallauch is a Republican.

Many auto repair facilities look atthe state’s Bureau of Automotive Repairthe way a hunter looks at the Fish andGame Department. Necessary, neededto be treated with respect, but also a po-tent force that can snare an unwary, andperhaps unwitting operator. In the spiritof keeping the lines of communicationclear and open, we sat down with JohnWallauch, to learn what shops can ex-

pect from the BAR under his leader-ship. Although he’s only in his firstmonth in the job, we asked him to as-sess his goals for the organization andspecifically how will he be approach-ing the collision repair industry.

ABN—How have you prepared for thisjob during your career span, and whathave you learned about the job sincebeing appointed on February 13, 2012?

JW—My enthusiasm for this positioncould not be higher. I’ve learned thatI’m basically young at heart. The ap-pointment was both a surprise and ahuge honor. As you may know, Iworked at BAR many years ago socoming back as Chief is very special tome—it’s a fulfillment of a lifelongdream. At the California Air ResourcesBoard, I was working on the SmogCheck Program issues and have beenaware of what the BAR has been doingover this period of time. The Bureau’sstaff and I agree that we are on thesame page when it comes to serving thestate, all of our car owners, and indus-try as a whole. Our main focus is con-

sumer protection which is embedded ineverything we do. By forging a teamapproach, we can get things done in aneffective and timely fashion. I knowthat my predecessor made a lot of ben-eficial changes during her tenure, butmy way of doing business is a little dif-ferent. I strongly believe that all openemployment positions with BARshould be put to bid with jobs postedon VPOS, making them available toanyone who is qualified and wants toapply. That way, it is an accessibleprocess where everyone has a chance,the results of which will be hiring thebest possible people for each vacancy.Overseeing a $188 million annualbudget with 640 employees and 12field offices is a large job. We overseethe activities of 5,177 companies inCalifornia that are registered as bodyshops. I’ve held several positions over-seeing diverse company projects thatwere dispersed over large geographicalregions so I am comfortable with keep-ing communication open and inclusive.

ABN—In the late 1990s, you served as

the BAR Interim Executive Officer forthe Inspection and Maintenance ReviewCommittee. You also served as the Bu-reau’s Deputy Chief of Field Operationsand Engineering Division, being instru-mental in implementing California’s firstSmog Check Program. Do you believethat your familiarity with BAR will makeit easier for you to achieve your goals?

JW—Most definitely. One of my pri-mary goals is to get the Smog CheckProgram in this state working as itshould. With the California Air Re-sources Board, I was assigned as the li-aison to BAR so I have been in the loopfor quite some time. We met almostweekly with the people from BAR so Iwas in a position to foster those relation-ships during that period of time. Thisway, I was aware of what programs andprojects BAR had on their front burner.

ABN—How does BAR plan to dealwith the number of auto body shopsthat are unlicensed?

JW—We are pursuing unlicensed


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At the beginning, many users inthe automotive industry didn’t takethe chance to use these new maskingtapes in their body shops, thinkingthat this will be more complicated touse and/or hard to remove. But timeand word of mouth (very effective inthis industry) demonstrates that this

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shops by using a tool called Cite andFine, which authorizes us to either citeor fine them, depending upon on thegravity of the violation(s). The issuesrun the gamut from the guy who offersto repair brakes in a consumer’s drive-way to repairing vehicles that have un-dergone a collision withmisrepresentation and substandardwork. When we locate unlicensed facil-ities, we usually give them a notice thatthey must be licensed to perform thework they are doing. We give them aspecific period of time to become li-censed. After that period of time, we pe-nalize them. During this recession, youmay be seeing an increase of unlicensedoperators because so many people aredoing what they can to make ends meet.Much of unlicensed activity is driven bythe hard-hitting economy. However, un-licensed activity negatively impacts thelaw-abiding shops as well as the unsus-pecting consumers who are doing busi-ness with shops that are illegal. Anytime you come across such a business,please contact us so we can look into itimmediately.

ABN—In a recession, do you see morebody shops cutting corners to save

time and capture more revenue?

JW—With the past few years, theBAR has been tracking more salvageactivity which falls outside the law.Cars that are considered “totaled” byinsurance companies are often pur-chased by salvage companies, fixed up,and re-sold. This type of activity is be-coming more prevalent. We have waysto identify these “midnight shops,”some of which are in the unlicensedused car business. They are creative inwashing paperwork and “shopping thecars’ titles” back east and then register-ing them in California. That way, theylose the salvage title to make it look le-gitimate. We need our body shops tohelp us identify these kinds of viola-tors. We warn consumers that if some-one offers them a car, which is wellbelow market price, be suspicious be-cause there are no assurances for thesevehicles. If the asking price is too goodto be true, it probably is.

ABN—When your predecessor, SherryMehl, took the job, one of her promiseswas that the BAR would be a kinder andgentler organization. Will you continue todo so, and how will you accomplish it?

JW—One of my first priorities was es-tablishing an open door policy. It is im-portant to stay connected to our staffmembers so that communication is a two-way practice. I find this helps morale andmakes everyone part of the team to con-tribute to and achieve our goals.

My message is “let’s have full dis-closure with industry and deal fairlywith people at every level.” I believethat full transparency, including writtenestimates, ending “Five O’ clock sur-prises,” and getting prior authorizationbefore raising the price have gone a longway to reducing consumer complaints.

Full disclosure protects the shopand vehicle owner because if the shopuses aftermarket parts, they must re-veal this to the consumer. It is a hotissue because it involves four parties:the shops, the consumers, the partssuppliers, and the insurance compa-nies. All of our complaints are proac-tively pursued and closed within 45days of filing. We are proud of thisturnaround time.

ABN—Many people have suggestedthat the BAR should conduct industryrate surveys in order to guarantee ob-jective surveys that can be trusted by

all parties involved. Is this plausible inyour opinion?

JW—BAR is not an accounting or-ganization per se, but we certainlyhave the authority to create new regu-lations. This is a subject that we candiscuss further. We might considersubletting the survey to a private firmthat does actuarial work.

ABN—What are your top prioritiesrelating to the collision industry?

JW—When I last worked at BAR, theauto body industry was not part of theirjurisdiction so I am brushing up on theissues impacting the auto body indus-try and how BAR can make a differ-ence. As I become more familiar, wecan set goals and objectives that can beflexible over time. Right now, my pri-marily objective is to implement thechanges in the Smog Check Programas a result of the enactment of AB 2289and its regulatory package. BAR existsto assure the people of California thatwe are doing everything possible to en-sure consumer protection with all oftheir contacts in the automotive repairindustry.

If you’re in the collision industry andare not familiar with the Coalition forCollision Repair Excellence (theCCRE), and you consider yourself atruly independent operator in the busi-ness, you need to look them up (thec-cre.com.)

During CCRE’s legal seminar inPhiladelphia on March 30 and 31,2012, CCRE President Tony Lombar-dozzi repeatedly demonstrated him-self to be a dedicated proponent for

independence inthe collision repairindustry and avaluable source ofinformation. For-tunately, he tookthe time to chatwith me so that Imight have the op-

portunity to share some of his wisdomwith a wider audience of AutobodyNews readers. See my column on p. 22of this issue for more on the CCRE.

I was curious about how Tonyoriginally got involved with CCRE.Back in 1996, Tony felt that the na-tional collision associations were notlooking out for the consumers’ best in-terest or the benefit of the collision re-pair industry as a whole. So, heresearched CCRE and attended ameeting. Tony was impressed with theorganization because they representthe portion of the industry that saysthey should be able to operate withoutthird-party influence, and also, theshops involved with CCRE arefiercely consumer-oriented.

CCRE helps member shops andother shops across the country througheducation. Their legal seminars focuson helping repairers understand whatan insurance policy entails comparedto a repairer’s contract with the con-sumer, and that there is no correlationbetween these two contracts. Theyalso hold seminars on business man-agement where they teach collision re-pair facilities about the cost of doingbusiness, property business manage-ment and how to operate a profitableshop in an ethical manner. Addition-ally, CCRE helps independent shopslearn about marketing tactics so thatthey can compete in the industry.

In regards to CCRE’s legal semi-nar in Philadelphia on March 30 and31, Tony notes that this seminar

yielded more positive feedback thanany other seminar CCRE has held, in-creasing their organization by severalnew members.

Tony believes that the informa-tion presented at the seminar is im-portant because “the majority of thisindustry has a misconception aboutwho the real customer is.” He goes onto clarify that many repairers havebeen trained to believe that they arejust an extension of the insurance in-dustry and will not be able to survivewithout allowing insurers to dictatethe shops’ business practices. But thatis not true.

The collision repair industry is aseparate entity that has nothing to dowith the business of insurance unless arepair facility signs a DRP contract.Otherwise, there is no relationship.Tony notes that without pressure frominsurance companies to accept theirmethodology of how this industryshould work, “we wouldn’t be in thesituation we’re in. Instead of under-standing that we should be doing busi-ness as independent business ownerswith no influence by a third party, weallow insurers to dictate how we’regoing to do business, and that’s a realproblem.”

Tony cites many collision repairconferences as part of the problem be-cause the majority of guest speakersare from the insurance industry andthe conferences are heavily influencedby this third-party presence. Collisionrepairers should not go to an event forthe collision industry and be told byinsurance companies how the shopswill need to do business in the future.

When asked about the most im-portant message of the CCRE semi-nar, Tony stresses “basically what theyshould realize is no one else is goingto take this industry back, except therepair shop owners themselves.” The

insurance companies definitely willnot volunteer to relinquish control, sothe best thing that repairers can do isstep outside the box, understand theCCRE concept, compare it to whatthey are doing now and see if theshops are happy with the status quo. Ifthey are okay, there is no reason tocomplain. Unfortunately, many colli-sion repairers are afraid to look at theissues because they fear what theymay find.

According to Tony, “I don’t knowif we have enough time to recover theindustry that we gave away because ittook thirty years to give it away andyou’re not going to take it back in oneyear… The industry remains in a holebecause of the fact—I mean, we’restagnant, but fees paid to body shopshave been stagnant for years—the rea-son we can’t get out of stagnation isbecause we’re allowing ourselves tobe governed by a third party that hasno interest in making us successful…People in this business are beginning

to see that there’s no way out of thebox unless they make changes. Hope-fully, they’ll realize that at a fasterpace than they have in the past, andyou’ll see a big turnaround in this in-dustry.”

Tony believes that a segment ofthe collision repair industry believesin the system the way CCRE does,and he hopes that those who attendCCRE’s seminars will take the infor-mation they learn, study it, practice it,and network with other repairers toencourage them to look into theCCRE Philosophy because it is a bet-ter way to do business. He insists thatby following the methods learned atthe seminar, repairers can becomemore profitable while streamliningproduction output.

The problem is that the collisionrepair industry as a whole has beenbrainwashed by insurer buzz wordssuch as “making things lean,” “cycletime” and “rental days.” Insurers havelured the industry into using systems

Sharing the Message with CCRE President Tony LombardozziTony Lombardozzi INTERVIEW by Chasidy Rae Sisk

Tony Lombardozzi

Chasidy Rae Sisk


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that are supposed to increase the shops’accuracy and efficiency, but all of thatmoney saved in efficiency ends upgoing to the insurers in the form of un-derpaid services. Collision repair fa-cilities never see that added profit.

Meanwhile, shops continue to billat the same rates that they have beenbilling for quite some time. If a repairshop adds a $50,000 piece of equip-ment to their overhead to enable themto be more efficient and repair morecars, the insurer reaps the benefit ofthose savings by forcing the shop toaccept a lesser value for their services.Usually in business, the businessowner makes an investment and gets areturn on that investment, yet that isfrequently not the way things work inthis industry due to third-party inter-ference; however, without this influ-ence, collision repair shops can workon less cars and increase profitability.

When I questioned Tony aboutwhy many shops seem indifferent orunaware of these issues, he told me“what’s happened is, most of theyounger people in this business havecome up through the ranks believingthe insurance industry is their partner.They don’t know there’s another side

to this business.” Frequently, industryevents and meetings discuss makingbusiness decisions with their “insur-ance partners”, propagating this incor-rect attitude toward the repairers’relationships with insurance compa-nies. Many collision repairers arenever made aware that there is anotherside to this industry and a better wayto do business which is removing thethird-party influence from the equa-tion.

Through their direct repair pro-grams, insurers teach repairers thatthey will always have work and neverneed to advertise which makes it seemlike the insurance company has a rightto be involved since the shop has anagreement with them; however, theserepairers are never exposed to the otherside of the collision repair industry,and when they try to learn about shopindependence, they are threatened withlosing their place in the program.“That’s called big business intimida-tion,” Tony points out.

Too often, repair shops do not ex-plore the option of independence be-cause fear is the largest thing drivingthe collision repair industry. Shops fearthat they will be blackballed or steered

against if they take a stand toward in-dependence. They fear losing work orgoing out of business completely, butTony insists that there will always bework and these shops are failing to re-alize that their services are needed.They are taught by insurers that theywill be rewarded for behaving as theyare told and punished for going againstthe grain. The most important thingthat independent shops have to learn isthat they need another way to markettheir business.

Tony believes that collision repairfacilities across the country should beconcerned with redirecting the way theindustry is run because if they look athow bad this industry is compared tohow it was fifteen years ago, they willsee a major and disturbing difference.Instead of asking about the past, pres-ent and future of the industry, many re-pairers only ask what the insurancecompany wants them to do so they willcontinue to receive work, but at thisrate, all that many shop owners will beleft with is the real estate that theyown. Tony recommends researchingmanufacturing industry statistics andlooking at the collision repair industrywhich is at the bottom.

With inflation, the monetary valueof a repair has decreased over time, butno one accounted for the disparity thiscauses. Many repairers believe thatthey cannot raise their rates becausethe insurance companies will not allowit. Tony warns, “If inflation changesand begins to escalate, you’ll see a lotof body shops go out of business. Be-cause we’re too far behind. We can’tbeat economics.” This is why he ad-vises repairers to do their research andplan ahead.

Though the CCRE would like tofund consumer education commer-cials in the future to inform con-sumers about the issues in theindustry and their own rights, CCRErefuses to be influenced by any thirdparty. The insurance industry has in-fluenced every aspect of the collisionrepair industry, he laments. “Every-body’s got their hands in our pocketsexcept us.”



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by Melanie Anderson

Autobody News columnist RichEvans, owner of Huntington Beach

Bodyworks and award-winningpainter and fabricator, co-sponsoredan exclusive fundraising event heldApril 13 at the Lush Lounge in LongBeach.

‘The Party,’ co-hosted by MotorMedia and Swipe 4 The Kids, raisedawareness and $2200 for America’sBaby Cancer Foundation and theOrange County chapter of JDRF (for-merly known as Juvenile Diabetes Re-search Foundation). The guest-list

only event featured a silent auctionwhich included several unique items,including autographed footballs fromformer NFL stars Vince Ferragamo

and Mike Lansford, auto-graphed guitars and luxurywatches.

Spinning eclectic tunesfor ‘The Party’ was guest DJChris Vrenna, formerly adrummer for Nine InchNails and keyboardist forMarilyn Manson. In 1994,Vrenna won a Grammy for

his live performance with Nine InchNails at Woodstock.

Racing personality Gor-don “Lug Nutzz” Stewart,who has covered extremesports, entertainment andthe music industry on sev-eral radio and TV networks,hosted the party with hisown brand of charitable en-thusiasm.

Special guests includedformer NFL stars Mike Lans-ford (barefoot kicker for theRams), former Raiders playerJim Weatherley and LanceZeno of the Green Bay Pack-ers, NASCAR and off-roadracer Felix ‘Nighthawk’Giles, Chef Steve Cassarino,Diggity Dave with MTV’sPimp My Ride, and 11-year-old race car driver BrandonWeaver of Bakersfield, CA.

Custom car designer RichEvans starred in the first sea-son of Speed Channel’s Car

Warriors and has sev-eral other TV credits,including Chop CutRebuild, MonsterGarage and ChopperNation. Rich is cur-rently shooting a pilotfor a new show whichhe’ll produce—a doc-umentary about car buildingaround the world.

“As a car builder, I hope to in-spire and influence the younger gen-

eration that working with their handsand learning something new is cool,”Evans said.

Evans, his wife, Patricia, and


About the CharitiesAmerica’s Baby Cancer Foundation was founded in 2000 in Long Beach,CA as Sebastian’s Baby Cancer Foundation by Bernard and Antonia Hicksfollowing the loss of their child, Sebastian, at the age of 19 months. Se-bastian was born with cancer of the neck and brain and during his shortlifetime, his parents realized the desperate need for research, aid and edu-cation for families faced with baby cancer. ABCF is devoted to childrenand their families suffering from child-related cancers. Cancer is a leadingcause of disease-related deaths among children in the United States andincreasing every year. In addition, the number of cases of babies beingborn with cancer is on the rise. For more information, see www.baby-cancer.org.

JDRF has worked to improve lives and cure Type 1 diabetes for thepast 40 years through research funding and advocacy. Its mission is todiscover, develop and deliver advances that cure, better treat and preventType 1 diabetes. Last year, the foundation dropped its formal name of Ju-venile Diabetes Research Foundation because 85% of those in the U.S.with Type 1 diabetes are adults. JDRF is an organization for all ages andall stages of the disease. For more information, see www.jdrf.org.

Rich Evans CoSponsors Fundraiser for Baby Cancer Foundation

Patricia & Rich Evans with friends

11-year-old race car driver, Brandon Weaver

DJ Chris Vrenna and emcee Gordon “Lug Nutzz” Stewart

their three children, Dylan, 20, Lytra,12 and Drahcir, 8, have been hostingChristmas parties and other events forAmerica’s Baby Cancer Foundation(www.babycancer.org) for the past

several years at the shop. The kidsvisit with Santa, receive gifts and sitin several designer cars. “Our partiesget the kids out of the hospital for theday and they get the chance to sit inreally cool cars,” Evans said. “We try

to help them get their mindsoff their illnesses for a fewhours and they look forwardto coming to the shop andseeing the cars. My wife and I

are very involvedwith America’s BabyCancers Foundationbecause the childrenwho die of this dis-ease are very youngand don’t get to see aglimmer of a longlife. We want to bringsome happiness into theirlives. We want to supportthem, encourage them andmake them feel spe-cial.

“I do as muchcharity as I can tohelp bring awarenessabout disabilities anddiseases,” said Evans.“People don’t recog-

nize or slow down enough topay attention to certain dis-eases until they or a loved oneget it. For me, I try to getmore involved and learn asmuch as I can about the body

and the diseases that affect us. Fight-ing cancer makes me feel groundedand appreciate life more.”

Phillis Lane, co-founder andPresident of America’s Baby CancersFoundation, attended ‘The Party’which was held over the Long BeachGrand Prix weekend. “Rich and Patri-cia Evans are once again providingAmerica’s Baby Cancer Foundationthe opportunity to broaden awarenessof what is a little discussed diseasethat affects children. Our organizationand the families we help are most ap-preciative of their support.”

Co-host of the ‘The Party,’ Swipe4 Kids, is a brand new program thatgives 50% of merchant electronicservice fees towards endowing art,music, sports and educational en-hancement programs at local schools.For more information, see:www.swipe4thekids.com.


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Chef Steve Cassarino with Rich Evans

NFL alumni Jim Weatherley and Chef Steve Cassarino

Felix “Nighthawk” Giles



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Mitchell International; Bruce Coo-ley, DuPont Performance Coatings(DPC); and George Avery, StateFarm Insurance.

They each offered valuable in-sights into key industry trends im-pacting collision repairers andinsurance business models. SteveTrapp from DPC also presented at-tendees with scorecard improve-ment.

The conference also featured aninformative discussion by DaveSmith of Enterprise Rent-A-Car onhuman resource insight. Scott Braggof Marketing Associates closed theconference with a presentation aboutinbound marketing and digital strat-egy.

“Standox® has been hosting PIEMember Conferences for over adecade. It allows our key customersthe opportunity of three days of net-working, learning and relaxing,” saidKeith Sena, brand manager.

“Our focus with the confer-ence is to give our customers a de-

tailed review of key industrytrends that will affect them in thecoming year, give them some spe-cific tools that they can use to im-prove their businesses in areas thatthey’ve said are important tothem—and of course, put a groupof smart business people in thesame room to allow them to learnfrom each other.”


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by Tom Beck, Futurecure

One of the most radical tools andequipment improvements to the paintshop in recent times has been thegravity fed HVLP spray gun. So muchmore efficient than the old siphonguns, that they are now an EPA re-quirement. Everyone, including theEPA, along with shop owners, theirpainters, and their paint suppliers, rec-ognized the HVLP improvement intransfer of paint, from the gun, to thevehicle.

The sole purpose of a spray gun(atomizer), since it was invented byDr. DeVilbiss in the 1880s, was totransfer a liquid to a near gaseous statefor better area coverage. Dr. DeVil-biss, a nose and throat specialist, de-veloped a medication for his patientsand subsequently invented the atom-izer to better apply his medicine to thepatients.

Dr. DeVilbiss realized that thesmaller the liquid droplets could be at-omized the better the area coverageand the LESS material (medicine)would be required. In those days, overmedicating was a serious, sometimeslife threatening, concern.

Fast forward to today...and theauto painting industry...we pay for afull can of paint, we want to get asmuch of that paint on the vehicle aspossible. Any paint discharged fromthe gun and not transferred to the ve-hicle is wasted and collected, as over-spray, in the booth exhaust filters.Therefore...it stands to reason, a bet-ter transfer ratio equates to longer fil-ter life, and therefore, less filter costs.

Now, here’s where the “BlendedNitrogen” comes in. Nitrogen “Atom-izes” far better than compressed air.

The paint droplets from an HVLP gunusing blended nitrogen are much,much smaller than droplets from a gunusing compressed air. Coverage froma gun using blended nitrogen sprayslike “BBs” compared to the “GolfBalls” coming from a compressed airgun. One of the reasons for this is thatnitrogen is an “inert” gas, meaning itwill not expand or contract with tem-perature changes (especially dewpoint / HUMIDITY, changes). There-fore, “Blended Nitrogen” is particu-larly helpful for drying waterbornepaint in adverse, high humidity, con-ditions. Solvent or waterborne...blended nitrogen will get more painton the vehicle and less in the floor fil-ters.

We’ve heard about the virtues ofnitrogen in other mediums. Over thepast few years auto tires, especiallyrace car tires are filled with nitrogeninstead of compressed air because thenitrogen will not expand as the tiresget hot, thereby changing the tire pres-sure...a half pound change of pressureat 200 MPH can greatly change a racecars performance. More recently Shellgasoline is now “enriched” with nitro-gen. Shell has proven that by addingthe nitrogen their gasoline will “atom-ize” better and burn more efficientlyfor better mileage and a cleaner en-gine. Other petroleum companies aresure to “jump on the nitrogen bandwagon”.

So where do you get the nitrogenfrom? Not from the guy who suppliesthe acetylene and oxygen for yourtouches. Actually, nitrogen is free. It’s,in the air, it’s all around us. You see,an air is made up of 78% nitrogen,21% oxygen, and some other tracegases. All you need to get it is what’sknown as a “Nitrogen Generator” ma-chine. A machine specifically de-signed for wet painting application. Anitrogen generator (about the size of asmall file cabinet) actually extracts thenitrogen from your compressed airsupply and delivers it to the painterthru a special air hose. The unwantedgases are discharged back out to theatmosphere. The machine is mountedclose to the paint booth for best re-sults.

So what kind of results can be ex-pected...We tested the most popular“Blended Nitrogen” system through-out the Metro New York tri-state areawith astounding results. However, be-fore we look at the results, let me

touch on why you constantly hear thewords “Blended Nitrogen” ... As withmost things there can be a down side.Extracting “pure nitrogen” can con-sume a tremendous amount of com-pressed air and most shops are notonly ill equipped, compressor wise,but don’t want to pay the tab to gener-

ate all the compressed air necessaryfor pure nitrogen. Pure nitrogen canrequire as much as 3 times the com-pressed air to get 1 part of sprayablenitrogen. “Blending” nitrogen ma-chines are almost at a 1 to 1 com-pressed air to nitrogen ratio, withcomparable results. Therefore...“Blended Nitrogen” is the most costeffective way to go.

Back to the results...All testingwas done within “Actual Shop” con-ditions and not under “Laboratory”conditions for the most accurate “asin real life” results. We spent weeks,upon weeks, in 10 different shops.Most spraying water, some solvent,spraying a wide variety of the majorpaint brands. All had full down draftheated booths, some had multiplebooths. The tests were as scientifi-cally standardized as possible. Thetests were performed by the individ-ual shops painter using the painterspersonal HVLP gun on actual “workin process” repair jobs as they camethru the shops door. Time studieswere compiled on an average “perpanel” basis for application of mate-rial time...as well as the flash timebetween coats. It covered a wide va-riety of materials including water andsolvent base coats as well as clearcoats. Material transfer was meas-ured in grams applied. In each shopan average of 5 vehicles were paintedwith compressed air, than the painterunplugged the compressed air line

How Blended Nitrogen Improves on Dr. DeVilbiss’ Invention


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See Blended Nitrogen, Page 63

State Farm and two smaller North-west-based auto insurers continue tobe among the best at taking care oftheir customers after an accident. Andsome of the other larger, best-knowninsurers – including GEICO, Allstate,Farmers Insurance and Safeco – areamong the worst.

That was the finding of the latestsurvey of businesses that interact withauto insurers on behalf of vehicle-owners every day: Oregon collisionrepair shops.

“Collision repair shops on a dailybasis see how various insurance com-panies take care of Oregon driversafter an accident, so we feel it’s worth-while to ask how they rate the variousinsurers,” said Barbara Crest, execu-tive director for the Northwest Auto-motive Trades Association (NATA),which conducted the survey of Ore-gon shops. “We believe their viewswill be helpful to insurance companiesand consumers.”

About 600 collision repair shopsthroughout the state received the sur-

vey, which asked them to grade theTop 22 auto insurers in the state interms of how well each company’s“policies, attitude and payment prac-tices ensure quality repairs and cus-tomer service for Oregon motorists.”

This is the sixth time the associa-tion has conducted such a survey since2004. Crest pointed to a number ofitems of interest in the findings of thelatest survey:

• Repairers have consistentlygiven the same three companies agrade of B or better all six times thesurvey has been conducted. StateFarm has continued to hold on to thetop spot, receiving an overall grade ofB+ again this year. Two Northwest in-surance companies, Oregon Mutualand Mutual of Enumclaw, maintaineda grade of B to again finish just belowState Farm. State Farm is the largestauto insurer in Oregon: Mutual ofEnumclaw and Oregon Mutual areranked 12th and 13th, respectively.

• Only two insurers, Allstate andLiberty Mutual, saw their grades im-prove from the previous survey. All-state improved from its last placefinish last year with a D+ (its gradesince 2008) to a C- this year. Thathelped Allstate nudge up past GEICOand Farmers, whose grades dropped,making them the only two to receive

D+ grades this year. But Farmers,GEICO, Safeco and Allstate remainedas the four lowest-ranked insurers asthey were last year.

• Other insurers seeing half-gradedrops this year were Oregon Mutual,Travelers, Unitrin, Country Compa-nies and 21st Century (formerly AIG).

• California Casualty is the mostimproved insurer over the years thesurvey has been taken. In 2004, thecompany earned a C- and was ranked16th among the insurers. It has im-proved over the years to this year’s C+and fifth-place finish.

• One-third of shops gave Farm-ers a “F,” the most failing grades re-ceived by any insurer. (Bycomparison, GEICO, the second-to-lowest graded insurer received half asmany Fs as Farmers.) State Farm re-ceived an “A” from nearly-two thirdsof shops, twice the number of second-place finisher Oregon Mutual.

• In most cases, the grades givena particular insurer from shops in-volved in that insurer’s direct repairprogram (DRP) were higher thanthose given by shops that are not partof that insurer’s program. This wasparticularly true with Safeco andFarmers; their DRP shops gave themgrades of B- or better while non-DRPshops gave these same insurers gradesof D+. But even Progressive and 21stCentury direct repair shops gave thoseinsurers only average grades of C+ orlower.

“Collision repairers say the in-surers receiving the highest grades –which includes both larger andsmaller insurance companies – do thebest job of taking care of Oregon driv-ers after an accident,” Crest said. “Wehope consumers will take these ratingsinto account when choosing an autoinsurer, and that insurers that receivedlower grades will work to improvetheir performance.”

More than 70 shops throughoutOregon responded to the survey.


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Insurer Report Card in Oregon Ranks State Farm #1, Farmers andGEICO Replace Allstate at Lowest Rank

INSUREROverall Grade*

(followed bygrade in 2011)

Non-DRPShops**

DRPShops**

State Farm B+ (B+) B A-Oregon Mutual B (B+) B A-

Mutual of Enumclaw B (B) B A-USAA B- (B-) B- n/a

California Casualty C+ (C+) C+ n/aTravelers C+ (B-) C+ n/aUnitrin C+ (B-) C+ B

American Family C+ (C+) C B+The Hartford C+ (C+) C n/a

American Commerce Insur. C+ (C+) C n/aLiberty Mutual C+ (C) C BAmeriprise C (C) C n/a

Country Companies C (C+) C n/aNorth Pacific C (C) C n/aEsurance C (C) C n/aProgressive C (C) C C+Nationwide C (C) C- n/a

21st Century (formerly AIG) C- (C) C- CSafeco C- (C-) D+ BAllstate C- (D+) C- n/aGEICO D+ (C-) C- n/a

Farmers Insurance D+ (C) D+ B-

n/a = Insufficient responses from shops in the DRP to assign a grade.* Based on responses from all shops. ** Based only on responses from shops participating in(or not participating in) that insurer’s DRP.

© 2012 by Northwest Automotive Trades Association

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by Steven Feltovich, Manager ofBusiness Consulting Services,Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes

“What can we do to improve the cus-tomer experience and our own prof-itability in a fiercely competitivemarket?”

Faced with demanding customersand aggressive insurance companies,body shop owners around the worldare forced to confront this questionevery day.

Leaders in the collision repair in-dustry say that an accurate estimate iscritical to the success of their organi-zations. In fact, nearly every shop Ihave worked with over the past yearhas emphasized the importance of theestimate or, as they commonly re-ferred to it, the “blueprint” for dam-age repairs.

Many shops have moved towarda more comprehensive damage as-sessment process, which consists of

initially identify-ing all of the dam-age, both visibleand hidden. Thisapproach providestremendous valuein terms of cycletime reductionalone. There is so

much lost time and money in the re-dundant steps associated with tradi-tional visible damage estimating.Consider the amount of time con-sumed by ordering parts multipletimes per repair order, writing supple-ments, rescheduling delivery dates,extending rental car provisions and re-allocating technicians to vehicles theycan work on. Ultimately, this createsan environment of internal frictionwithout any positive energy being di-rected toward process improvement.

Some might refer to the im-proved process as “blueprinting,”“damage analysis,” or “repair plan-ning.” Regardless of what you decideto call your comprehensive damageassessment process, the fundamentalsremain the same.

So, let us set out on our journeyin search of how to achieve estimatingexcellence. We will begin by answer-ing one significant question. “Whydoes traditional estimating still exist ifit is so ineffective?” You can probablycome up with several answers to thisquestion on your own. Many of uswere taught to do it this way. Man-

agement within some shops wouldclaim that their customers expect a tra-ditional estimate. Some would saythat insurance companies demand atraditional estimate as the preliminaryestimate. Often, we simply fear the at-tempt to try something new. Manypeople in our industry haveproven that these obstaclesare not insurmountable andthere is a better way to as-sess collision damage.

The real winners incollision repair are imple-menting and refining the“blueprinting” process.This process is designed tolower the shop’s overallcosts while increasing pro-ductivity. Does it work?Absolutely. The objective here is a100 percent complete damage assess-ment before loading the vehicle intothe production area.

The result is phenomenal:• More customer confidence in theshop’s capabilities• Reduced cycle time, predictabledelivery dates• Increased technician touch timeper day• Less administrative work

All of these benefits are achiev-able with a process-driven damage as-sessment program in place. Thecorrect process will reduce the com-mon errors, variations and redundan-cies which are inherent in traditionalestimating activities.

When I am involved in a facilityanalysis to determine the root cause ofscheduling problems, I frequently findthe cause to be directly related to aninaccurate initial estimate. Since jobsare scheduled into the production areabased on labor hours and the parts thatare needed, inadequate estimatesprove disastrous for shops using esti-mates as a guide for workshop sched-uling. If the estimates are half rightwith what you consider to be a week’sworth of work you will have actuallyscheduled two weeks of real work intoa one-week time slot. This createsbottlenecks and fires within your busi-ness that consume you and your staff,slow production and stop your busi-ness from ever moving forward.

Due to the weaknesses of tradi-tional estimating, we have become anindustry of excess capacity in order tocompensate for the flawed estimatingpractices ¾ more facility space and

equipment than we really need. Andwhy do we need that extra space?That’s right, so we can park all ofthose dead cars in it! You know thosedead ones which are waiting for parts,supplement approvals and/or availabletechnicians. How much does it cost

your business to park and store thosedead vehicles on the expensive realestate of your available productionfloor space? In some cases, the vehi-cles are even parked on the frame ma-chine for a day or two due to adeficient estimate.

Ultimately, our customers and in-surance partners are the victims of ourbroken and failing practices. We mustimplement a comprehensive damageassessment process designed with onegoal in mind—get it right the firsttime. This requires getting the parts,number of labor hours and costs formaterials right the first time and everytime.

One recent trend that I’ve ob-served is some shops have begun tomake their frame repair pulls beforecompleting the final damage assess-ment. This arrangement provides out-standing accuracy in the areas of partsorders, labor times and other associ-ated products and services needed tocomplete all of the repairs. Theremust be a higher level of awareness ofthe estimate’s importance and its im-pact on our business. The estimate di-rectly affects the following listeditems:1. Revenue2. Profits3. Negotiation Practices4. Workshop Scheduling and Load-ing5. Repair Processes6. Cycle Time7. Workshop Flow8. Production Efficiencies 9. Finished Product Quality10. Customer Satisfaction and Refer-rals

11. Insurance Company Relationships12. Organization’s Reputation13. Employee Compensation/Morale

At this point, you will begin tounderstand the motivation that someshops have for pursuing accurate, es-timating excellence. Perhaps the timehas come to change our old habits andbegin to design and implement somenew “lean” processes, starting withthe estimating tasks and activities.You will soon come to find that yourentire operation can be transformed bysimply taking control of the estimat-ing process—this is truly the “blue-print” for profit improvement.

Removing the obstacles to imple-ment a comprehensive damage as-sessment process is not easy. If itwere, every collision repair shop inthe country would have already em-barked on this new frontier. But intoday’s marketplace, an effective esti-mating process is no longer a “wishlist” item. It is a crucial component inorder to gain a substantial competitiveadvantage and remain a profitable or-ganization. Several shops are nowposting a 40 percent decrease in theirkey-to-keys cycle time, which is pri-marily attributed to their new damageanalysis procedures.

Without adequate and appropri-ate training for the body shop man-agement staff, estimating vehicledamage will continue to be a disor-ganized and underutilized tool. Ourresearch and experience confirmsthat the collision repair industry lacksthe skill and knowledge base in re-gard to estimating: only three percentof the front-line estimators have hadany formal training within the lastfive years. However, with trainingand some exposure to a more com-plete process, it is far more likely toyield positive results—for the colli-sion repair center, the insurers andmost importantly the customers. Thecollision repair industry has manytraining resources on this subject.You’ll find them advertised in thetrade press, and promoted by suppli-ers and automotive associations whoare willing and ready to help your or-ganization improve.


Collision Repair Estimates—Excellence Now Required

Steven Feltovich



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and plugged in the blended nitrogenhose and another 5 cars were painted,there were no other changes...samepainter, same gun, same work load.All paint studies were on averagecollision repair vehicles, no overallcompletes.

The highest improvement inshortening application time was44.77% while the lowest was .97%.The highest improvement in shorten-ing flash time was 60.71% while thelowest was 19.48%. The average im-provement for shortening “BoothTime” Door Open, Vehicle In to DoorOpen, Vehicle Out was 27.04%.That’s an average 27.04% increase inbooth productivity. At 27% the aver-age booth producing 4 cars a day willeasily increase to 5 cars in the sametime period with the same painter op-erating under the same conditions.

Material transfer was increasedan average of 27.78%. The highesttransfer improvement was 45.00%and the lowest was 20.91%. Not onlywas 27% more material transferred tothe vehicle with blended nitrogen, but

27% less material was going into thefilters.

A few side notes...Hard to covercolors (yellows and colors high inmetallic) showed the best results for“Less Costs to Cover” and all paintersreported “Less Overspray” in thebooth promoting “Cleaner PaintWork”.

The blended nitrogen machinenot only generates nitrogen but alsouses an “Ion Flip” to reverse polarityof the paint material which causes a“Positive to Negative” attraction ofthe paint to the vehicle as well as a“Air hose heating element” to pro-mote better “Post Flow” of the paintafter it hits the vehicle surface.

One shop owner commented “Hewouldn’t have believed it ‘till it wasproven in his own shop” while an-other referred to the Blended Nitrogenas a “Game changer” for his bottomline...and all the painters are smiling.

Most shops are willing to investaprox. $900 per month (average leasepayment) to put 27% more materialon the car and 27% less in the exhaustfilters and get an additional car thruthe booth per day...that’s big!

For further information contactTom Beck via [email protected]


Blended Nitrogen

Police have uncovered a huge cache ofparts stolen from a nearby Nissan plant,and from other sources, at a Jacksonauto body business. Following tipsfrom residents, officers raided PreciousAutomotive Auto Body Restoration, on

Gault Street, just off Highway 80 inJackson, on April 18. Authorities said amajority of the merchandise came fromthe Nissan Plant in Canton. Crates fullof Nissan parts and components werestored inside the building.

They include catalytic converters,airbags, wire harnesses, batteries andheadlight assemblies. Several stolen ve-

hicles were also recovered. J.P.D. de-tectives arrested the building owner, 48-year old Eric Brown. He is chargedwith operating a chop shop, auto theft,receiving and possession of stolen prop-erty and marijuana possession.

“Detectives including officers ar-rived on scene and noticed approxi-mately half a million dollars worth ofmerchandise that was from the Nissanproduction center,” said J.P.D. OfficerColendula Green.

“We did surveillance on the prop-erty, came back out here today, did achop shop inspection and from that in-spection it revealed that there was itemsout here taken from different areas.Most items we discovered came fromthe Nissan plant,” said Sgt. L.C. Rus-sell with the Auto Theft Division.

“Nissan has been made aware thata significant amount of automotiveparts were recovered today as part of abust at an illegal chop shop operation inJackson. We are cooperating fully withthe Jackson Police Department, whichis to be commended for their efforts.Nissan is supporting the investigationefforts and will continue to ensure the

highest levels of security throughoutour operations,” said Nissan NorthAmerica Inc. Corporate Communica-tions Manager Steve Parrett.

Investigators would not confirm ifthe thefts were an inside job at the Nis-san plant, but said more arrests are ex-pected.

“The items up here from Nissanwere originally packed in Nissan pack-aging with tracing numbers still onthem. At this point we don’t know howthey got up here,” said Sgt. L.C. Rus-sell.

Jackson police have plenty ofunanswered questions:• How did the new auto parts end up atthe shop?•Who put them there?•Who were the potential buyers?

The merchandise, which includedcatalytic converters, airbags, headlightsand batteries, still had the Nissan track-ing codes on them and were still in car-tons and crates when they were foundat Precious Automotive Auto Restora-tion at 5030 U.S. 80W, Sgt. L.C. Rus-sell said.

Officers showed up at the business

to make sure it was operating legiti-mately after getting several tips about apossible chop shop there, he said.

“We primarily went to check theiroperation license, but when we checkedthe license we found some otherthings,” he said.

Shop owner Eric Brown, 48, wascharged with multiple counts of receiv-ing and possessing stolen property, aswell as a misdemeanor marijuana pos-session charge, JPD spokeswomanColendula Green said.

Nissan officials told police theyhad concerns that some items could bemissing, Russell said.

However, the company would notdiscuss the stolen parts beyond a state-ment acknowledging that Nissan hadbeen told about the discovery.

No current or former Nissan em-ployees would comment on security re-lated to tracking auto parts shipments.

Police are looking into severalways the merchandise could haveended up unaccounted for. “I’m puzzledabout how stuff got out of there in thatamount without them noticing,” Russellsaid.

Major ‘Chop Shop’ Busted in Jackson, MS, Owner Arrested, $500K in Nissan Parts Found

Some of the $500,000 in Nissan Parts foundat the Jackson, MS, body shop labeled Nissan

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