autobody news september 2011 southeast edition

by Anthony J. Mamo, Jr., Attorney

When I first met Greg Coccaro, theowner of North State Custom inBedford Hills, New York, I was im-mediately struck by his passion forhis business, his customers and his

industry. But it was his frustrationwith the inequities inherent in hischosen field that truly captured myattention. I listened as Greg ex-plained to me what a DRP was, howhis labor rate was determined bySee North State v. Progressive, Page 27

North State v. Progressive—What the NY SupremeCourt’s Recent Decision Might Mean for Your Business

See John Yoswick Column, Page 28The Debate about Industry Standards at CIC

Greg Coccaro

Autobody News Congratulates the Collision Industry’sMost Influential Women of 2011, Thanks to AkzoNobel

Anthony J. Mamo

Russell Thrall III Mike Condon

Doug Craig George Avery

We were thrilled to have our own Barbara Davies, General Manager andco-owner of Autobody News, selected as one of the five most influentialwomen in the collision industry in 2011. We know what she does and howhard she works. Pictured with Barbara (l to r, right photo) are SharonMazanec, Jennifer Justice-Hayley, Susanna Gotsch and Michelle Rolls.

With NACE and CARS in Orlandoa little over a month away ...

See NACE Crowds, 4

we wanted to know more about the keynotespeaker, social media guru Chris Brogan...

Ford Releases video show-ing differential performancebetween OE and A/M parts.Questions whether airbagswould deploy correctly.

See Ford and ABPA, Page 25

ABPA counters with theirown video demonstrationshowing neglible differ-ences in airbag deploy-ment at low & high speedcollision.See Ford and ABPA, Page 25

Toby Chess clarifies the origin of the parts discussed inhis CIC presentation this July. He says repairers shouldpost images of parts, whether A/M or OE, that don’t fitcorrectly on a blog site..

See Hey Toby Column, Page 32

SoutheastEdition

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REGIONAL

2011 GCIA Annual Invitational Golf

Tournament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

ABRA Expands Repair Center Operations

in Mississippi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Alabama Governor Signs Bill Raising Penalty

for Driving Without Liability Insurance . . 8

ASRW Partners with Muscle Car Network

of Florida at Expo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Car-Mart Continues to Expand, Opens 9th

Store in AL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Central Florida Increases Charging Stations,

Awaits Influx of Electric Cars . . . . . . . . . 4

Florida Auto Collision Alliance Holds First-Ever

Statewide Convention and Expo . . . . . . 10

Florida Auto Collision Alliance Jacksonville

Chapter Holds 13th Annual Golf Tournament. 8

Florida Collision Repair School to Receive

Mini-Makeover at NACE 2011 . . . . . . . . 6

GA Not Spending on Drivers Ed . . . . . . . . . 9

Gainesville, FL, Officials Talk of Increased

Stop-Sign Theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Green Guides Workshop Will be at

September GCIA Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Mercedes to Add Fifth Model at AL Factory . 6

Nissan Leaf Electric Car Now Available in

FL, GA, AL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Toyota to Reduce Energy Costs at MS Plant. 9

COLUMNISTS

Attanasio, GFS - Trial by Fire: Indianapolis Body

Shop Turns a Potential Tragedy into a Win-Win

with a State-of-the-Art GFS Paint Booth . 13

Attanasio, Mattei--Brown Auto Body Values

Mattei’s Rotary Vane Compressor . . . . . . 19

Chess - Confusion over Certified Parts at CIC. 32

Evans - This Year’s Entry for the SEMA

Pinewood Derby 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Franklin - Long or Short Ad—Which is Best?. 12

Insurance Insider - Ridiculous DRP Requirements?

Guess Why They’re Asking . . . . . . . . . 16

Weaver - Is It ‘Change Is a Good Thing’ or ‘It’s

Good That Things Change’?. . . . . . . . . 21

Yoswick - CIC, Consultant, Seeking Views

on Industry Repair Standards . . . . . . . . 28

NATIONAL

BK Listings: Marketing Automotive Businesses

Through Innovative Listings . . . . . . . . . 17

CAPA Tracker Enables A/M Part Tracing

Regardless of Source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Chrysler Recalls Up To 370,000 2008

Minivans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

CollisionLink Represents ‘Inevitable Change’

Says Major Parts Dealer . . . . . . . . . . . 30

CREF and CCC Name Five Student

Scholarship Winners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Domestics More Popular Among Auto

Thieves Now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Enterprise Rent-A-Car Makes $11,000

Donation to CREF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Ford Minivans Not Subject to Recall,

Infrequent Issue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Ford Partners Azure on F-Series Plug

in Hybrids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Ford Releases Another Crash Test Video

Comparing OEM to Aftermarket Crash

Parts, ABPA Responds with its own

Crash Test Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Ford Will Recall 1.22 M Trucks, Fuel

Tank Straps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

GM Has No Recall on its Tahoe and

Yukon SUVs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

GM Recalls Over 16K Cars. . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Honda to Recall 1.5M CRVs, Elements,

Accords. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

I-CAR Offers New Course on Electronics

Damage Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Lincoln Electric Acquires Torchmate Parent. 20

LKQ Corporation Reports 23% Increased

2nd Qtr, Record Reveue . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Mercedes’ Internal Plan to Become World’s

Top Premium Brand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Mitchell Releases Industry Trends Report

for Q3 of 2011. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Mitsubishi Back to Profitability . . . . . . . . . 37

NACE/CARS Program Expected to Draw

Larger Crowds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

NHTSA Investigates BMW for Potential

Rollaways . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

North State v. Progressive—What the NY

Supreme Court’s Recent Decision Might

Mean for Your Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Repairer-Driven Education at SEMA Gets

Support from PPG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Toyota-Tesla RAV4 Electric to be Built in

Ontario, Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Truck Driver Behavior Now Trackable with

New Tech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Vehicle Safety Bill With Data Collection

Relevant to Repairers Introduced in

U.S. Senate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Will Auto Industry Be Dragged Down by

Economic Turmoil? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Contents

Southeast

Publisher & Editor: Jeremy HayhurstGeneral Manager: Barbara DaviesAssistant Editor: Erica SchroederContributing Writers: Tom Franklin, Stefan Gesterkamp, John Yoswick, Lee Amaradio,Toby Chess, Mike Causey, Dan Espersen, Tom McGee, Jeff Webster, Rich Evans,Ed Attanasio, Chasidy SiskAdvertising Sales: Joe Momber, Sean Hartman (800) 699-8251Sales Assistant: Kristy NavarroArt Director: Rodolfo Garcia

Serving Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and adjacent metro areas, Autobody Newsis a monthly publication for the auto body industry. Permission to reproduce in any form thematerial published in Autobody News must be obtained in writing from the publisher.©2011 Adamantine Media LLC.

Autobody NewsBox 1516, Carlsbad, CA 92018; (800) 699-8251 (760) 721-0253 Faxwww.autobodynews.com Email: [email protected]

Arrigo Dodge-Jeep-Chrysler. . . . . . 14Autoland Scientech. . . . . . . . . . . . . 21BASF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Bill Penney Toyota. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22BK Listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17BMW Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 37CARS Cooperative . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Chief Automotive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Crash-Writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Crystal Glass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Delray Honda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Don Mealey Chevrolet . . . . . . . . . . 24Don Reid Ford. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Equalizer Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Ford Wholesale Parts DealersFL, GA, AL, MS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Galloway Mazda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Garmat USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Global Finishing Solutions . . . . . . . 12Global PDR Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . 24GM Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . 36Gus Machado Ford. . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Honda Wholesale Parts Dealers. . . 36Hyundai Wholesale Parts Dealers . 33Kia Motors Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Management Success . . . . . . . . . . 16

Mattei. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Mazda Wholesale Parts . . . . . . . . . 32Mercedes-Benz Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

MOPAR Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

NACE / CARS Registration . . . . . . . . 2Nalley BMW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Nissan Wholesale Parts Dealers. . . 39NRD Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Palmers Toyota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Porsche Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

PreFab Ads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Safety Regulation Strategies . . . . . 22SATA Spray Equipment . . . . . . . . . 15SEMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Serra Mazda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Southtowne Hyundai . . . . . . . . . . . 32SprayZone.net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Star-A-Liner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Subaru of Gwinnett . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Subaru Wholesale Parts Dealers . . 37Tameron Hyundai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Toyota Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 35VIM Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Volkswagen Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Inde

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ABRA Auto Body & Glass, a Min-nesota-based damaged vehicle repaircompany, announced July 13 the open-ing of a new repair center in OliveBranch, Mississippi. The facility, lo-cated at 7532 Craft-Goodman FrontageRoad, will increase the total number ofABRArepair centers to 107 in 12 states.

Tim Adelmann, ABRA’s Exec-utive Vice President of Business De-velopment says, “ABRA built thisrepair center to meet the growingneeds of vehicle owners and our in-surance partners in the community ofOlive Branch. ABRA’s long-termplan is to make it convenient for con-sumers to find a state-of-the-artABRA repair center no matter wherethey happen to live or work.”

The repair center will eventuallystaff more than 20 new employeesand is equipped with all the latesttechnology to maintain high stan-dards and assure top quality repairs.

The repair center is one ofABRA’s newest prototype models con-sisting of more than 13,000 square feetand offers collision repair along withglass repair and replacement serviceswith free mobile service to home orwork.

ABRA Expands Repair CenterOperations in Mississippi

Continuing its expansion, America’sCar-Mart broadened its buy-here,pay-here dealership footprint in Ala-bama. The newest rooftop is locatedin Albertville, AL, raising Car-Mart’stotal in the state to nine.

Car-Mart now has 108 dealer-ships spread through Alabama,Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Mis-souri, Oklahoma, Tennessee andTexas.

“Car-Mart has tremendousgrowth opportunities especially instates like Alabama. Albertville isour ninth location in Alabama, astate that has potential much like ourhome state of Arkansas, where wehave 37 dealerships,” explainedWilliam “Hank” Henderson, pres-ident and chief executive officer ofCar-Mart.

Henderson added the Albertvilledealership will be managed by BradMartin, “who is very excited to leadour efforts at this great new Car-Martlocation.”

Elaborating more on the com-pany’s future, chief financial officerJeff Williams reiterated Car-Mart an-ticipates opening new lots at an ap-proximate 10-percent annual rate.

Car-Mart Continues to Ex-pand, Opens 9th Store in AL

In the past year, Central Florida hasbecome one of the top spots in thecountry where electric-vehicle driverscan more easily find a place to plug inand juice up their batteries.

Dozens of new charging stationshave been installed in five counties,creating a network stretching fromEustis to Orlando and from Kissim-mee to Daytona Beach, according tothe Orlando Sentinel.

Of the state’s 70 charging stations,46 are in Central Florida, according tothe U.S. Department of Energy andCoulomb Technologies. Most are free,though some have a fee.

“Orlando is now one of the mostelectric-vehicle-ready communities inthe state,” said Tim Trudell of Or-lando Utilities Commission. The util-ity company already has stations in itsvisitor-parking lot and in front of Or-lando City Hall.

Winter Garden installed four freestations in June, and Eustis added fivestations in March.

And the list is growing. WinterPark plans to open six charging sta-tions by September, city officials said.Drivers in that city already can juiceup at the Best Western Mt. Vernon Innon Orlando Avenue.

Most of these charging stations

have popped up because the citiesthey reside in were paid for fromChargePoint America, a $37 millionprogram funded through the U.S. De-partment of Energy.

The plan is to install thousands ofstations in 10 regions across the country,including Central Florida, to prepare forthe release of more electric cars by au-tomakers this year. Orlando was the firstin the country to get a charging stationthrough the program. Central Florida isslated to receive a total of 300 stationson private and public property.

Each station costs about $8,500,and communities are reimbursedthrough the program.

The chargers are built and pro-vided by Coulomb Technologies ofSan Jose, CA, which also is sponsor-ing the program.

Proponents say it’s time to put inplace a network of charging stationsas auto manufacturers begin sellingtheir electric vehicles and plug-in hy-brids in the area—including theChevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf.

Who would buy an electric car ifthere’s no place to fuel up on theroad? asked Helda Rodriguez, ofNovaCharge in Tampa, an adminis-trator for the ChargePoint Americaprogram in Orlando.

Central Florida Increases Charging Sta-tions, Awaits Influx of Electric Cars

GRC-Pirk Management will presenta first-of-its kind “Green Guides”workshop for owners and managersin the automotive service and colli-sion repair business at the GeorgiaCollision Industry Association meet-ing in September.

The workshop describes whygreenwashing seems to be the newcraze and why some shops findGreen hype to be a convenient, yetdangerous advertising tool.

And, why many collision repairshops are so anxious to create posi-tive public opinion as an environ-mentally-friendly business that theyare willing to grasp at any option.

The meeting will take place onThursday, September 22nd and willstart at 6:30 pm at MAADA Head-quarters.

Please RSVPto [email protected] gacollisionindustry.wordpress.comfor more information.

Green Guides Workshop Willbe at September GCIA Meeting

Drivers in Florida and Georgia willbe able to start ordering the new Nis-san Leaf electric car on July 25—butonly if they were among the 20,000who made $99 deposits during a fallonline reservation period, accordingto reports made by The FloridaTimes-Union.

Nissan has sold 4,000 of the all-electric sedans since February in itsfirst market phase in Arizona, Cali-fornia, Hawaii, Oregon, Tennessee,Texas, and Washington State.

Now the ordering process opensto consumers with reservations inNorth Carolina, Florida, Georgia,Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland,South Carolina and Alabama.

The Leaf is an all-electric carwith 48 lithium-ion battery modules,giving it an estimated 100-milerange.

Nissan Leaf Electric Car NowAvailable in FL, GA, AL

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The Collision Repair Education Foun-dation will be presenting Lake Tech-nical Center of Eustis, FL with a“Mini-Makeover” during the Interna-tional Autobody Congress & Exposi-tion (NACE) Thursday, October 6th inOrlando, FL.

Lake Technical Center was theonly school in Florida that applied forthe Collision Repair Education Foun-dation’s 2010 $50,000 Ultimate Col-lision Education Makeover grant. Dueto the school’s proximity to NACE inOrlando, the Education Foundationhas been gathering industry support-ers/donors to fulfill portions of theschool’s $50,000 wish list that theyprovided as part of the grant applica-tion. School instructors, administra-tion and their collision students willbe on hand during a presentation atNACE to showcase how the Mini-Makeover donors have benefited theschool’s collision program.

The presentation will take placefrom 1 p.m.-2 p.m. in the ASRWMedia Center located inside the Or-ange County Convention Center’sWest Building.

Scott Kruger, Executive Direc-tor of the Collision Repair Education

Foundation, said, “Lake TechnicalCenter was one of 52 schools nation-wide that applied for the Foundation’s2010 Ultimate Collision EducationMakeover grant and the only school inthe state of Florida to apply. As indus-try professionals from across thecountry will be gathering in Orlandofor NACE this fall, we thought itwould be a great opportunity to notonly highlight the Makeover grantprogram, but also help this localschool through the support of ourdonors and supporters. We invite in-dustry professionals attending NACEand ASRW to attend the presentationto hear how Lake Technical Center’scollision program has benefitedthrough the support of industry dona-tions and to learn how to get involvedwith helping schools in your localarea.”

Lake Technical Center DirectorDiane W. Culpepper, PhD said, “Oursincere thanks to the Collision RepairEducation Foundation for all theirsupport for Lake Technical Center andour Auto Collision and Repair pro-gram. As our school budget continuesto be cut, it is amazing to see businessand industry step up to ensure that our

students learn in the best environmentpossible. We couldn’t do it withoutyou!”

“Giving back to the collision re-pair industry is a major focus ofNACE each year and we’re happy to‘pay it forward’ and provide a forumfor such a worthwhile event,” saidRon Pyle, ASA president and chiefstaff executive. “We look forward tohosting this deserving school and cel-ebrating the generosity of the indus-try.”

The Ultimate Collision Educa-tion Makeover school grant debuted in2009 when Steel Center Area Voca-tional Technical School (JeffersonHills, PA) was chosen as the recipientof the award. In addition to Steel Cen-ter AVTS receiving $80,000 from theaward, the schools that applied for the2009 grant still benefited from the Ul-timate Collision Education Makeoverprogram. In total, the 35 schools eachreceived an average of $5,000 in prod-ucts, supplies and equipment for atotal value over $175,000. Everyschool that applied for the grant re-ceived at least one item to benefit their

students and collision program. In2010, the award went to BridgerlandApplied Technology College (Logan,UT). Through the generous support ofindustry members, Bridgerland’s col-lision program is on track to receiveover $100,000 in donated tools, equip-ment and supplies.

School collision programs candownload the Makeover applicationfrom the Education Foundation’s web-site at www.CollisionEducationFoun-dation.org, which must be postmarkedby Aug. 31, 2011.

The Ultimate Collision Educa-tion Makeover school grant and othercollision student and school supportopportunities provided by the Colli-sion Repair Education Foundation aremade possible through industry dona-tions. Companies and individuals in-terested in getting involved with theFoundation and joining its efforts tosupport the future of the collision in-dustry can contact Foundation Asso-ciate Director of DevelopmentBrandon Eckenrode, at (847) 463-5244 or [email protected].

Florida Collision Repair School to Receive Mini-Makeover at NACE 2011


Daimler AG will add a fifth Mer-cedes-Benz model at its U.S. assem-bly plant near Tuscaloosa, AL,company sources told AutomotiveNews Europe.

The model will be a variant ofthe Mercedes M-class crossover witha coupelike roofline. Production willlikely start as soon as 2015, thesources said.

The new M-class body style willbe positioned against the BMW X6built in Spartanburg, S.C., and likelywill be called MLC.

Mercedes is adding the M-classvariant as part of a $2 billion invest-ment in the Alabama site that was un-veiled on July 25. That project willpave the way for C-class productionwhile providing tooling for new gen-erations of the R class and G class aswell as a redesigned M class that wentinto production this week.

An expanded M-class lineupwould fit with Mercedes’ original vi-sion for the factory before the first Mclass was built in Alabama 14 yearsago.

Executives said then the “M” des-ignation would eventually represent afamily of vehicles beyond the inaugu-ral SUV. To date, the M’s variationshave been primarily engine options.

Mercedes has a precedent forcharting product plans more than fouryears out. In 2009, the company an-nounced its intention to build the Cclass in Alabama—starting in 2014.

A Mercedes spokesman declinedto comment on future product plans,nor on how much Tuscaloosa’s ca-pacity and headcount will be in-creased in the future. Production atthe plant is already close to its160,000-unit annual capacity, and thefactory employs 2,800 people.

Mercedes’ internal developmentcode for the new M-class variant isC166.

Mercedes is battling Germanrival BMW for the title of best-sellingluxury brand in the United States, fol-lowing an 11-year reign by Toyota’sLexus.

Through June, BMW sold113,705 of its namesake vehicles inthe United States. Mercedes, notcounting its Sprinter commercialvans, had 110,926 sales.

Lexus, hampered by the Marchearthquake in Japan, sold 88,010 ve-hicles.

Last year, BMW globally sold46,404 units of the X6 and 102,178 ofits sibling model, the X5, also built inSpartanburg.

Mercedes to Add Fifth Model at AL Factory


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by FACA

The Florida Auto Collision Alliance's(FACA) Jacksonville Chapter heldtheir 13th annual golf outing at Flem-

ing Island Golf Course on May 26.The event was a huge winner for

the group and another opportunity forowners, managers, support staff, in-surance adjusters and vendors to buildnew relationships and rekindle oldones.

FACA’s generous vendors wereparticularly noteworthy participants

and stocked the entire course with thevery best food and drink.

FACA did an outstanding jobwith prize giveaways and ensuredeverything ran smoothly.

The tee time was only delayed by15 minutes—not bad when you con-sider that more than 150 golfers hadto be checked in and assigned golfcarts before putting could begin. A bigsurprise was ex-NFL player JeffLageman defending the 16th hole,challenging all that came through toraise money for charity.

In the end, all went well andeveryone had a great time and islooking forward to next year’sevent.

FACA issued a big thank you toSteve Carey, Cathy Mills and DaveMcBroom for all their efforts.

Florida Auto Collision Alliance JacksonvilleChapter Holds 13th Annual Golf Tournament


Alabama drivers are facing stifferpenalties for failing to have liability in-surance under a bill recently signedinto law by Gov. Robert Bentley, ac-cording to Insurance Journal.

In 2001, state lawmakers requiredall state drivers to carry motor vehicleliability coverage.

However, drivers purchasing orrenewing a tag didn’t have to showproof of insurance, but could insteadsign a document attesting to the factthey had the coverage.

Under the new law, personsfound to be driving without carryingliability coverage must pay a $200 feeand show current proof of insurance.

Any subsequent failure to havethe coverage results in a $400 fine anda four month suspension of their carregistration.

The only exception is for first timeoffenders who have the coverage but didnot produce the necessary proof of insur-ance when stopped by a police officer.

In those cases, the person mustreport to the local tag office and pro-vide proof of coverage, in which casethe ticket will be dismissed.

The state’s current liability cover-

age minimums are 25/50/25/: $25,000for death or bodily injury sustained byone person, $50,000 to cover fatalitiesor bodily injuries suffered by two ormore people, and $25,000 for damagesor destruction to another’s property.

The law does exempt some vehi-cles such as government vehicles,trailers, cars covered under a dealer’sblanket coverage, and self-insuredmotor pools with 25 or more vehicles.

In addition to the fines and otherchanges to the motor vehicle liabilitylaw, lawmakers also set up a processwhereby state and county officials haveinstant access to a driver’s informationthrough an electronic database by 2013.

The Alabama Insurance Instituteestimated that between 25 and 28 per-cent of all state drivers fail to carry themandatory liability insurance.

The Alabama Advisory Councilfor Motor Vehicle Liability Insurancehas been charged with establishing theregulations for the database.

The council is made up of stateDepartment of Insurance members, of-ficials from the state’s Department ofPublic Safety, and representativesfrom various auto insurers.

Alabama Governor Signs Bill Raising Penaltyfor Driving Without Liability Insurance

[email protected] us!write us!write us!

Give us your opinion on matters affecting the industry.


Toyota is trying to cut back on its elec-tric bill these days—not just for costsavings but for the environmental ben-efits, according to Automotive News.

Environmental managers at Toy-ota’s North American plants arepulling back the automaker’s energyconsumption as a means of reducingboth air and water emissions in theirbid to become greener manufacturers.

“Power generation consumes alot of resources,” Kevin Butt, chiefenvironmental officer at Toyota MotorEngineering & Manufacturing NorthAmerica Inc., commented after speak-ing at an industry gathering heretoday. “The less demand we can makeon utility companies, the less environ-mental impact we will have.”

The automaker’s newest assem-bly plant in Tupelo, MS, which beginsproduction in October, will be whatButt calls “completely steamless.”

Auto plants heat water to createsteam in order to control humidityprecisely in their paint processes.

Instead, Tupelo will use a newpaint system that features high-pres-sure paint atomizers that makeplantwide steam creation unnecessary.

The technology will mean thatToyota does not have to use electricityfor steam generation.

The Tupelo plant, which willbuild the Toyota Corolla sedan, willalso be about one-fourth smaller thanother Toyota plants.

The company has made aislesnarrower, the assembly line shorterand work areas closer together than inother plants.

“That means less power to heatthe plant and less to air condition theplant,” Butt said. “It means less trans-portation inside the plant and lesspower to run conveyers through theplant.”

Butt said that cutting power useand other environmental efforts aresaving Toyota about $26 million ayear.

Toyota to Reduce Energy Costs at MS PlantA state audit shows that millions ofdollars in traffic fees collected for dri-ver’s education courses across Geor-gia isn’t being spent on helping teenslearn how to drive.

The audit released August 3shows that since 2009, the state hasraised $32 million for driver’s educa-tion as part of Joshua’s Law but has-n’t spent a dime of the money onthose programs.

Of the $52 million raised sincethe law was passed in 2005, just $8million has gone to driver’s educa-tion.

The audit found that the lack offunding has caused at least three highschools to shut down their programs.

Joshua’s law requires 16-year-olds to pass a driver’s educationcourse to get a license and adds a 5percent surcharge on traffic tickets topay for the classes.

GA Not Spending on Drivers Ed

Officials in Gainesville, FL, have amessage for residents and visitors.Please stop stealing stop signs.

Since Jan. 1, the city has replaced52 stops signs taken from 14 locationsaround the city. Officials say one lo-cation has been hit four or five times.

City officials say it costs about$100 to replace a stop sign.

With classes set to resume soon atthe University of Florida, city officialsare concerned about the possibility ofan increased number of accidents.

Visitors may not be aware of in-tersections that are supposed to becontrolled by stop signs.

Stealing a stop sign is a felonyunder Florida law.

Gainesville, FL, Officials Talk ofIncreased Stop-Sign Theft

Mark your calendar for Wednesday,October 12th, 2011 for the 15th An-nual GCIA Invitational Golf Tour-nament. A great, fun day of golf andfellowship at the Trophy Club ofAtlanta in Alpharetta, GA.

Download the informationflier which includes the registrationform, directions to the club, andSponsorship signup form at gacol-lision.wordpress.com.

2011 GCIAAnnual InvitationalGolf Tournament

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your products or services.

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by FACA

The Florida Auto Collision Alliance(FACA) held its first-ever statewideconvention and industry expositionMay 19 to 21 at the Villas of GrandCypress in Orlando, FL.

Vendors, technicians, managersand owners of repair centers acrossthe state came together to examinebest practices, new products,and effi-cient alternatives to conventionalshop-management and supplychainsystems.

The Florida Collision RepairSummit was held in conjunction withthe Society of Collision Repair Spe-cialists (SCRS)’s Improving Work-shop Efficiency seminar. Theco-sponsored program focused on theimplementation of “lean” production

practices designed to elimi-nate wasteful processes inbody shop management.

The event drew in approx-imately 30 attendees in theclasses, and 26 vendors set-upon the expo floor for theweekend, according to CathyMills, FACA’s executive di-rector.

“The Summit was an ex-cellent opportunity to networkwith peers, learn new skills,share expertise, and exploreemerging products and serv-

ices in the collision repair industry,”said Mills.

The event began at 8 A.M. Thurs-day, May 19, with the SCRS seminar,“Improving Workshop Efficiency:Lean Production Applied to CollisionRepair.” The class was led by Steve

Feltovich, manager of business con-sulting services for Sherwin-WilliamsAutomotive Finishes. Steve’s presen-tation covered the origins of lean pro-duction, how to apply lean principlesto run a shop more efficiently, and

how to maximize production, prof-itability and customer loyalty. FACA’sstatewide vendor exposition alsobegan May 19, running from noonuntil late in the evening.

Also open to SCRS and FACAattendees in the same facility was acasual evening reception that servedas a relaxing meet-and-mingle eventfor SCRS and FACA attendees.

“The reception held on Thursdayevening after the lean class was also ahuge success,” said Mills. “It was agreat opportunity for us all to rekindleold associations and develop newbusiness relationships.”

The reception took place outsidethe expo hall on a two-tiered verandaoverlooking the golf course and fea-tured a buffet, live music and a bever-age bar.

May 20 started with a wide vari-ety of informational seminars. Theexpo hall remained open all day, al-lowing for attendees to visit duringbreaks and dinner.

First up was the AftermarketParts Forum, presented by JackGillis, executive director of the Cer-tified Automotive Parts Association(CAPA). Jack provided an updateon the work being done by CAPA to

improve the quality of aftermarketparts and ensure that collision re-

Florida Auto Collision Alliance Holds First-Ever Statewide Convention and Expo



pairers have a quality alternative.He also revealed the results of

CAPA studies showing poor qualityand potentially dangerous parts and

showed a video on the crash testingbehind the new CAPA bumper stan-dard. Frank discussion and an inform-ative question-and-answer sessionhighlighted the presentation. Also par-ticipating in the forum were represen-tatives from LKQ and Insignia.

The second morning session onMay 20 featured George Hogan,business development manager forDuPont. George gave an inspiringpresentation on “Improving Estimat-ing Accuracy and Efficiency.” Georgeemphasized the importance of in-creasing sales by reducing cycle timethrough the use of evidence and doc-umentation, by lowering the number

and dollar amount of supplementsand, ultimately, producing betterthroughput.

After lunch, Heather Turnbullof The Rubin Group, a highly re-spected Florida-based lobbying firm,presented methods to build profes-sional rapport with legislators andhelp influence legislation. Often, shesaid, legislators are not fully informedabout both sides of a given issue, andcritical legislation can be swayed sim-ply by presenting another point ofview.

Heather discussed recent Floridalegislative actions and described indetail the failed commercial-deregula-tion bill that would have directly af-fected the collision repair industry.

G.B. Outlaw closed the showwith an inspirational and motivationalclinic on improving performance tosustain profitable growth. With nearly30 years of experience in engineering,manufacturing, process improvement,business management, and sales andorganizational development, Outlawdescribed how to help stakeholdersdevelop concrete skills, strategies andsolutions to improve team morale andperformance.

After dinner, Cathy Mills drewthe winner of the “bingo card”—thevendor-stamped card designed to en-courage participation in the expo. JoeBassett from Brumos Motor Cars inJacksonville was the lucky winner andtook home a beautiful flat-screen tel-evision.

After a full two days of classes,forums and the vendor exposition, 23golfers headed out May 21 for a fewholes on the beautiful Grand Cypresslinks. It was a great occasion for theshop owners, managers and Summit

sponsors to close out the expo. After-wards several players enjoyed lunchtogether in the club house beforeheading home.

Not only designed to inform andentertain FACA and SCRS members,

the Summit was also an opportunityfor vendors to show their support anddevelop their markets. Twenty-sixvendors set up shop in the expo halladjacent to the meeting rooms and of-fered information, product samplesand live demonstrations.

Products and services rangedfrom businessmanagement and infor-mation systems to paint and materials,and from car-rental services to autoparts and shop equipment. The exporemained open all day throughout theevent, allowing attendees to browsethe vendor displays during breaks andmeals.

“I was approached by many ofour vendors thanking FACA for asuccessful convention,” said Mills.“They told me the Summit was wellworth the time and commitment andled to a number of new businessleads.”

FACA is planning for moreevents like the Collision Repair Sum-mit, along with more informal educa-tional and informational opportunitiesin a number of locations around thestate.

Visit www.FACAFL.com formore information.


If you’ve ever received a long sales let-ter, you may have wondered why it wasfour or more pages long—and whowould expect you to read it all? In thedays before the Internet, e-mail andTwitter, snail-mail marketing often in-cluded these long sales letters. At thattime, statistics proved that recipientswho read these long letters were oftenthe ones who bought the product. Mywife’s ex-husband was an ad copy-writer who made a nice living fromwriting long ad copy, but no more.Today we’ve entered the era of theshort message. Twitter is a prime ex-ample. Ad copy must be 140 charactersor less. Most advertisers no longer be-lieve people will read long copy. Theassumption is most people have a veryshort attention span and a messagemust be fast, brief and dramatic to cap-ture viewer interest and attention.

Institutional advertising mightlead a shop owner to think all an ad

has to do is have an attention grab-bing image displaying the companyname and product. Nothing could befarther from the truth. National cor-porate products have large advertis-ing budgets and often simply try tokeep the product name in front of thepublic eye. A gigantic billboard mayhave a huge photo of an attractiveperson drinking that company’s bev-erage and the company name mightbe so small you could miss it if youdidn’t look closely. The thinking be-hind this is that repetitive viewingswill encourage sales of the product.Unless you have very deep pockets,don’t even think about advertisinglike this. But one aspect of this kindof ad is very accurate: Repetitiveviewing can result in a prospect try-ing or buying the product. The ques-tion is: what is the best media to useto convey that brief, repetitive mes-sage?

A good start is to think aboutwhere you can put a brief message sothat it will be seen over and over.One obvious place is a lighted win-dow sign if you have a window thatcan be seen from a street or road. Ifnot, the entrance to your drivewaymay front on a road or street whereyou can put up a changeable sign. Ahotel near me that has entertainmentand a lounge has a high, lighted signthat can be seen from the freeway.The sign always has a joke or a hu-morous quote plus an invite to theirlounge. When traffic backs up, it’sinevitable that most drivers will readthe sign, out of boredom if nothingelse. A changing message is the keyto getting readership. If you have awebsite or Facebook page or even aTwitter account, these are obviousplaces to run a continuously chang-ing message. Even a cheap, weekly-changing classified ad can be

effective. And of course, if you canafford it, radio and TV are ideal forthis kind of advertising.

Most ad sites are not very adapt-able to a changing message. Benchads, bus ads, print ads, flyers and busi-ness cards generally contain long-termmessages. Nevertheless, the brief,easy to read and understand messageis still a good choice. This oftencomes out in the form of a slogan. Agood rule of thumb is to challenge thereader with an apparent contradiction:“Can cheap auto body repair also behigh quality? Call us to find out!”“Can the dent or damage on your carbe fixed while you wait? Call us tofind out!” If someone is reading ashort ad, time, speed and cost are sureto be high priorities for him or her.Your tougher job is selling them oncoming in once they call.

It’s also important to not forget

On Creative Marketingwith Thomas Franklin

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

Long or Short Ad—Which is Best?

See Long or Short, Page 15


SHOP & PRODUCTSHOP & PRODUCTSHOWCASESHOWCASE

Sometimes a negative, even tragic,event can lead to a positive outcome.When a serious fire hit Collision So-lutions in Indianapolis, IN, and de-stroyed its paint booth, managementtook the opportunity to make lemon-ade from lemons. The fire offeredthe owners a chance to rearrangethe shop’s layout and take the leapinto the world of waterborne. Insteadof being paralyzed by the devasta-tion, the shop bought a new cutting-edge ECO Expert paint booth fromGlobal Finishing Solutions (GFS)and converted one of their locationsto waterborne paint before any re-strictions mandated it. As a result,Collision Solutions was soon turningout amazing paint jobs and theircrew quickly became fully comfort-able with waterborne and the numer-ous benefits offered by their newGFS paint booth.

“We took a couple of the prepstations and replaced all of the oldequipment with GFS equipment afterlooking at several companies. Wewent with GFS based on what peo-ple out there in the industry weretelling us about the company and itstrack record.

Owner Aaron Clark, 40, is a sec-ond generation body shop ownerwhose parents operated a shopmore than three decades ago. “Istarted working in our family’s shopwhen I was 16 and worked my wayup from porter to technician,” Clarktold Autobody News. “In 1994, mypartner and I opened our own shopin friendly competition with my par-ents’ company. It was a very suc-cessful operation that eventuallygrew into a two-location business inthe Indianapolis area.”

In 1998, Clark sold his interest inthe two shops and returned to workat his parent’s shop. By workingharder and smarter, Clark startingadding new locations. “We’ve grownand currently have five stores inMetro Indianapolis with 75 employ-ees. We fix 500--600 vehicles everymonth.” Today, Collision Solutions isan $11-$12 million business main-taining several DRPs. Clark is thecurrent Chairman of the Society ofCollision Repair Specialists (SCRS),and has served the organization onits Board of Directors for the past fiveyears.

Clark’s relationship with GFS–which bills itself as “the world’s lead-ing provider of technologicallyadvanced capital equipment solu-tions for the finishing industry” —started almost immediately after the

fire that nearly devastated the busi-ness. “We were in the process ofchanging over to waterborne any-way, so it was important for us to geta paint booth that was going to treatus well while using the waterbornefinishes and that’s why we went withthe GFS ECO Expert booth,” Clarksaid. “We put the four corner towerblowers in it and installed a doubleprep deck adjacent to the paintbooth. We took the opportunity tomove the booth to a better locationand connect it to a mix room and in-stalled additional overhead doors inthe building to create a better flowthrough our paint department. Eventhough it was definitely a tragedywhen our old paint booth caught fire,we have used it to get better equip-ment and improve our operationoverall.”

Clark says he wants to be able tobuy a paint booth and then forgetabout it for a very long time. “wewould like to enjoy 30 years of serv-ice out of this type of equipment andexpect to see that from this GFSbooth. We’re very excited to be work-ing with GFS. This is our first GFSpiece of equipment and by using itside-by- side with the other equip-ment we’re still using at our other lo-cations, we can see that it performsbetter than the other equipmentwe’ve had. No question about it. Wewanted a paint booth with all of thelatest technology that’s currentlyavailable and the ECO Expert is ex-actly that. Everything is computer-ized and has all the features we werelooking for.”

The process of installing theECO Expert booth was painlessand the power savings are consid-erable, Clark said. “Our rep, DonPutney of Indiana Booth Associ-ates, installed it completely in Oc-tober of 2009. Price-wise, GFSwas very competitive, but we weremore focused on all of the otherthings we were getting from thecompany. We were interested inthe Variable Speed Drive (VSD)motors and the digital panel andthe corner blowers we installed aretotally controlled by the digitalpanel. Also, a big plus is that thebooth pulls less electricity. We’veseen an overall drop in our electri-cal bills, because the VSD motorspull less juice.”

The GFS ECO Expert has beenthe real instrument in getting Colli-sion Solutions up and running withwaterborne. “We have never sprayedwith solvent in that booth. We con-verted the first day we got the ECOExpert and we’re happy we did,”says Clark. “We’re not in an areawhere we have to use it by law, butwe have five stores and since wewere installing this new paint booth,we decided to spray waterborne toconduct my own internal testing.We’re still using solvent primarily atmy other four stores, but by lookingat the profitability and the perform-ance, we will be converting anotherstore at some point, definitely. It’s abetter and safer product and if it’sbeing used at the OE level (for newvehicles), so it should be used by thecollision industry.”

Aaron Clark is a second-generation shopowner and the Chairman of the Society ofCollision Repair Specialists (SCRS)

Collision Solutions CorporateHeadquartersLocation: Indianapolis, IN

Telephone: 317-787-8366www.collisionsolutions.com

Company At A Glance...

Type: Collision Repair

Facility Employees: 75

In Business Since: 1978

DRP Programs: 10

Number of Locations: Five

Combined Production Space:88,000 square feet (combined)

Global Finishing SolutionsPhone: (877) 658-7900email:[email protected]: www.globalfinishing.com

After a fire destroyed their old paint booth, Collision Solutions bought a new cutting-edge ECOExpert paint booth from Global Finishing Systems (GFS) and converted the location to waterbornepaint before any restrictions mandated it

Trial by Fire: Indianapolis Body Shop Turns a Potential Tragedyinto a Win-Win with a State-of-the-Art GFS Paint Booth

Collision Solutions has grown into a $11-12million business with five stores in MetroIndianapolis that repair 500-600 vehiclesevery month

by Ed Attanasio

The keynote speaker for NACE’sOpening General Session will be So-cial Media Guru Chris Brogan. Bro-gan will headline the Opening GeneralSession at ASRW 2011, Thurs., Oct.6, from 8:30 A.M.–10 A.M.

Brogan is a noted author andjournalist; he is the New York Timesbestselling co-author of Trust Agents,and a featured monthly columnist atEntrepreneur Magazine. Brogan’s

blog, chrisbro-gan.com, is also inthe Top 5 of theAdvertising AgePower 150. Bro-gan is a marketingconsultant and fre-quent speakerabout social media

marketing who educates businessesand organizations on how social soft-ware aligns with their strategies. He isthe president and CEO of HumanBusiness Works, an education andcommunity company.Brogan’s keynote presentation willfocus on small business solutions,sales, lead generation and specific

strategies—all as they relate to the useand implementation of social media.

“We carefully selected Chris Bro-gan this year and feel his presentationwill be a highlight of ASRW,” statedRon Pyle, ASA president. “Attendeescan expect an entertaining and engag-ing presentation and also to walkaway with ideas and solutions theycan easily implement as soon as theyget home.”

“Technology and the advent ofsocial media in particular havechanged the way we all do business,so we feel Chris Brogan is not only atimely choice for this year’s keynotepresentation, but an extremely rele-vant one," said Harry Hall, DuPontNorth America Sales Manager—Re-finish. “Brogan has become a leaderin his field through his innate use oftechnology and connecting it to busi-ness, which parallels DuPont Per-formance Coatings’ philosophy ofinnovation as a leader in the collisionrepair industry.”

BASF Back as ExhibitorBASF has also committed to a pres-

ence at the NACE show for the firsttime since 2008. “NACE is the pre-mier event for the collision repair in-dustry and we understand howimportant it is to represent the BASFbrand among this core audience whouses BASF products,” said ChuckSoeder, vice president, BASF Auto-motive Refinish. “We look forward tosupporting the industry by exhibitingat ASRW this October.” BASF can befound in booth N1413 at the ASRWExpo.

BASF’s Felicia Funchess willalso be leading two sessions entitled,“Creating a Positive Work Environ-ment” and “Leading Change,”throughout the week’s industry edu-cation sessions.

The shows’ sessions will cover abroad range of subjects includingmanagement tips and tricks, technical

information, legaland HR advice,and women’s pro-fessional develop-ment.

Eric Schmitzwith KPA, an ex-

pert compliance company on safety, en-vironmental, and human resources(HR), will lead a session titled “Whatto Do When an Inspector Knocks onYour Door.” KPA’s environmental,health and safety services help to re-duce accidents and associated costswhile ensuring companies are in com-pliance with EPA and OSHA regula-tions.

Autobody News columnist TomMcGee with ALLDATA will lead an

information sess-sion titled “StopGuessing and StartKnowing.”

Personal devel-opment speakerand lifestyle guruRichard Flint willalso be speaking

again this year. He will lead sessionsentitled “The Power of Change” and“Wanted: Leaders That Lead!” Hisleadership session will touch on theTop 6 roadblocks that prevent leadersfrom being successful and how to re-move them, how to interpret the rede-finition of Leader, Leadership and


NACE/CARS Program Expected to Draw Larger Crowds

Chris Brogan

Eric Schmitz

Tom McGee

that a picture is often worth a thou-sand words. But even if you have thespace for a picture, choosing the rightone can be a difficult task. It’s gener-ally best to just illustrate the messagein some way. An image suggestingspeed, like a race track pit crew, couldwork. Or just an illustration of a clockwith wings. Shop owners like to showa picture of their shop, but this is un-likely to motivate a prospect to comein for repairs. And this raises the mostimportant aspect of the message. It ab-solutely has to motivate the prospectto respond. There MUST be a demandfor action: “Call us to find out!”“Come in for a free estimate.” “Comefind out how cheap we can be!”

As good as repetitive short adsmay be, there’s nothing like a greatrepetitive slogan. “You’re in goodhands with Allstate,” has been aroundforever. Even if you totally disagreewith the slogan, you know that mostpeople recognize it. That’s the kind ofrecognition you want to build with aslogan about your shop. Brief but

powerful may seem like a contradic-tion in terms, but if you can create it, itcan do great things for your business.

Company, how to break down the 6Secret “must haves” for being an ef-fective leader, examining the 5 sup-port beams that connect Leaders totheir people, and identifying the mind-blowing insights into working withthe 3 personality types leaders areconfronted with daily.

Cory King with the law firm ofFine, Boggs & Perkins LLP, who hasspoken at several California Auto-body Association meetings over theyears, will lead legal advice sessionsentitled “Survival Skills for Today’sEmployer: HR Best Practices” and“Survival Skills for Today’s Em-ployer: Compliance with Wage/HourLaws.”

The events, which have con-sistently tracked ahead of lastyear’s expos, are expected to drawin larger crowds than usual thanksto this year’s new east coast loca-tion.

Tickets for the Opening GeneralSession are included in the purchaseof a Super Pass or may be purchasedonline for $35 after the early-birddeadline of Aug. 9.

For more information about theexpos please visit www.naceexpo.com.


Continued from Page 12

Long or Short

Mitsubishi returns to profit with $55million in quarterly net income. Mit-subishi Motors Corp. returned toprofit in the three months ended June30, aided by selling more vehicles inNorth America, Europe and Asia.

The automaker posted net in-come of 4.3 billion yen ($55.5 mil-lion) in the three months ended June30, compared with a loss of 11.8 bil-lion yen a year earlier, it said in astatement. The maker of the i-MiEVelectric car raised its half-year profitto break even, from a loss of 10 bil-lion yen announced on June 13. Theautomaker expects its retail sales inthe six months to Sept. 30 to be at518,000 units, up 8,000 units from itsearlier forecast.

Mitsubishi Back to Profitability

Toyota-Tesla RAV4 Electric to beBuilt in Ontario, CanadaToyota and Tesla Motors confirmedAugust 5 that their jointly-developedRAV4 electric vehicle will be built atToyota Motor Manufacturing Canada,Inc. in Woodstock, Ontario beginningin 2012.

“The Tesla-Toyota joint devel-opment team has agreed that buildingthe vehicle at the Woodstock plant onthe same line as the gasoline-poweredRAV4, will streamline and simplifythe production process and guaranteethe highest level of quality control,”said Ray Tanguay, TMMC Chairman,who hosted Canadian officials at theplant today and thanked them for theirsupport. “This is a great example ofToyota's determination to collaboratewith companies with leading edgetechnology.” As previously an-nounced, Toyota will pay Tesla ap-proximately $100 million to supplythe electric powertrain, which in-cludes the battery, motor, gear boxand power electronics for the RAV4EV. Tesla will build the electric pow-ertrains at its production facility inPalo Alto, California and then shipthem to TMMC for final assemblyinto the vehicle. The RAV4 EV willbe sold at U.S. Toyota dealers.

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In a previous column, I offered someof my thoughts on the decision of theSociety of Collision Repair Specialists(SCRS) to make the Farmers Insur-ance “Circle of Dependability” (COD)agreement public, and to questionsome of the requirements of that directrepair program agreement.

In doing so, SCRS said that “theindustry is often disadvantaged by re-striction of communication from par-ticipants of these program.”

I am little confused as to wherethe disadvantage lies? Okay, I am veryconfused. Explain to me the disadvan-tage. What would the advantage be ifthere were no restrictions? Shopsshould be deciding what is best fortheir individual business. That deci-sion shouldn’t be predicated uponwhether or not your competitor thinksit’s a good idea to participate. WhileSCRS makes a lot of good points intheir press release, this is one it needs

to reconsider. Go ahead and publishall of the major insurance carriers di-rect repair program agreements andsee what it changes. Would it reallyimprove the industry or help shops?

That said, here are a few more ofmy thoughts—some of which maysurprise you—from an insurer’s per-spective on the COD agreement andSCRS’s concerns about it.

The agreement states that Farmershas the right to inspect a shop’s booksto validate and audit files to ensureproper payment and compliance withthe program requirements. Why insur-ers continue to infuse themselves intothe body shop’s business in this way isbeyond me. It’s wrong and they haveno business inspecting your books.

If SCRS wants to take a stand onan issue, this is an easy one. But asso-ciation’s comments on this section ofthe agreement have me wondering,“Where’s the beef?” If you are going

to call someone out, take a stand. Leadthe way. Insurers will continue to askand demand more until shops say ‘no.’

And here’s a news flash: If youaren’t following the guidelines, insur-ers don’t need to look at your books tofind out. They have other ways of ob-taining the same information. If youare committing fraud, they aren’tgoing to casually walk into your shopand ask to inspect the books. Theywill probably have their legal teamsubpoenaing your records. There’s noneed for this clause, and it just showsthey will continue to make demandsuntil the industry says, “Enough.”

The COD agreement also saysparticipating shops will conduct back-ground checks on all employees andnot employ convicted felons. SCRS isdead-on with its assessment: This isthe most ridiculous clause I’ve everread. Doesn’t everyone know that sta-tistics show that nine out of 10 con-

victed felons prefer to work for a bodyshop?

Just joking. Please don’t send any(more) hate mail.

But seriously, the audacity ofFarmers to prohibit shops from hav-ing a convicted felon on staff is trou-bling from many perspectives. I’m notadvocating the hiring of mass-mur-derers or anything of the sort. But thefact is in some states you could be aconvicted felony simply as a result ofa DUI judgment. This isn’t a valid rea-son to not be considered for a job at aprofessional collision repair facility.

Of course a shop should be con-cerned and do its due diligence beforehiring anyone who has been convictedof a felony. But Farmers should re-move this clause from the agreementunless of course they would like tosubject their staff to the same scrutiny.In fact, how do you know it isn’t a


Ridiculous DRP Requirements? Guess Why They’re Askingwith The Insurance Insider

Inside Insurance The Insider is a corporate-level executive with a Top 10 auto insurerin the U.S.. Got a comment or question you’d like to see him addressin a future column? Email him at [email protected]

See DRP Requirements, Page 24

BK Listings, an internet marketingcompany that provides industry-spe-cific listings to businesses in the auto-motive industry, has expanded itsservices to include everything auto-motive. BK Listings was founded inearly 2010 and is headquartered inDearborn, MI.

The company started with 3 em-ployees; a web designer, a program-mer, and Owner and Founder BradleyBrennan.

Brennan started BK Listings tooffer industry specific and content rich

profiles to busi-nesses in the auto-motive industryand to offer cus-tomers an easierway to find the bestshops in their area.BK Listings fo-cuses exclusivelyon the automotive

service industry—their motto is “any-thing and everything automotive.”

“You could never include thetype of information you can with uson a Google or Yellow Page ad.

They’re too general and don’t let yourcustomers see what they need to see,”said Brennan.

BK Listings allows automotivebusinesses to list the industry-specificinformation customers searching for

this type of busi-ness want to see,such as which in-surance compa-nies the shop has aDirect Repair rela-tionship with anda complete list ofservices providedthat distinguish the

shop from the competition.All of this information is search-

able by users on BK Listings, so if ashop offers a certain service that peo-ple in their area want, customers willbe able to search for that service andfind that shop with ease.

Customers can create a free loginwith BK Listings that will allow themto upload information about whatneeds to be repaired on their vehicle.

This information then becomesavailable to shops with advanced pro-

files and they can bid on these jobs, al-lowing the customer to make an in-formed decision when choosing ashop and allowing the shop to find ad-ditional work in their area.

“This addition to the site is rela-

tively new but we are really excitedabout its potential,” said Brennan.

Customers can also submit infor-mation about a job they had done at ashop as well as shop reviews.

BK Listings has expanded since


Email all inquiries to:

Visit Our Website:www.bklistings.com

[email protected]

We offer basic and advanced profiles • Include your shop in prospective customers’ search resultsIndustry-specific advanced profiles that are fully customizable!

www.bklistings.com • [email protected]

BK Listings-“Advanced” Pro!le• Additional services you provide such as

loaners, detailing, alignments, part sales, etc.• Certifications• Average turnaround time• Promotions• Normal and special business hours• Extra space for unique features• Ability to view and bid on jobs

(submitted by customers) in your area!!

• Name• Address• Phone Number• Website• Up to 10 pictures and graphics• 1 Slogan• 1 Link to your website• Priority Placement• Direct Repair Statuses

• $49 per month $39 per month with code (BK50)

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squeeze into a couple lines

$176 per month

Yellow Pages - “Platinum” Status

Offer ends (12/31/11)

A Direct Comparison of How Much More a BK Listing Ad Offers

BK Listings: Marketing Automotive Businesses Through Innovative Listings

A mock listing was created for Autobody News

Alyssa Koslowsky,Marketer

Gavin Crawford,Web Designer

their founding to include listings forautomotive service businesses beyondjust collision repair shops, like me-chanical, customization, and wheel &tire. They have also increased theirstaff; expanding to include three pro-grammers, a graphic designer, a writer,and a marketer.

“We are currently building a sec-tion for buying and selling automo-biles to help offer another marketingsolution to our dealership friends, andwe plan on facilitating automotivepart sales in the future,” said Brennan.

BK Listings offers two types ofprofiles, basic and advanced. Theydiffer in the amount of informationprovided about the business and theway they are searched by users.

BK Listings has over 30,000body shops listed with basic profiles.Advanced profiles, once set up, willalways come before basic profiles insearch results and will always displaymore information, so shops fortunateenough to be one of few signed upwith advanced profiles in their areawill enjoy increased visibility in allsearches by local users.

“We have decades of experiencein the collision industry and know ex-

actly what shops are looking for; weknow what customers want and weknow how to bring business in. Ourgoal is to provide a service that allowsthe best shops to find the customers

they need to survive and succeed,”said Brennan, “The collision industryis just now beginning to aggressivelypursue internet marketing; we want tobe at the forefront of that movement.We have the best interests of the shops

in mind, and we believe together wecan improve the industry as a whole.”

John Germain, owner of E & FAuto in Melvindale, Michigan, has hada listing on BK Listings for a short pe-

riod of time but has already seen a pos-itive response from the listing.

“It is easy to use and makes ourcompany more visible. We alreadyhad a website in place but the addi-tional traffic helps with our online

marketing,” said Germain.BK Listings is currently running

a promotional deal for their members;if a member refers another shop to signup, BK Listings will send the membera check for $100. All members have todo is tell a friend to sign their shop up,if they stay on for at least 3 months,BK Listings will send the check. Thereis no limit on the amount of shopsmembers can refer for this deal. Shopsshould email BK Listings notifyingthem of the referral (see below).

“We have done our best to pull inevery shop in America, but throughthe process there is the chance wemissed a couple,” said Brennan. “It isvery easy to add your shop if youdon’t already have a basic profilelisted, you can submit a request on thewebsite or email us directly and wewill add it for you.”

Questions can be directed [email protected] or [email protected].

“I want to develop a personal re-lationship with every shop that is in-terested; we can only succeed byworking together,” said Brennan.

Please visit www.bklistings.comfor more information.


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SHOP & PRODUCTSHOP & PRODUCTSHOWCASESHOWCASE

Dana Cooper, the owner of BrownAuto Body, a busy, modest-size shoplocated in southwest Iowa, has beenin the collision industry for more thanthree decades. Cooper knows thevalue of reliable equipment and he’sconvinced there’s no more importantneed in a shop than having a reliableair compressor. Not only is it criticalfor his painting needs but he de-pends on it for air tools needed tomaintain his cycle times. That’s whyCooper was so pleased when hisKeystone rep introduced him to Mat-tei compressors for the first time latelast year.

“With a machine like an air com-pressor, I want to be able to buy itand never worry about it ever again.We’re fixing 30-40 cars per monthhere, and it’s just another thing Idon’t want to have to think about.We’ve had this Mattei unit for aboutseven months now, and they’ve beenvery good about keeping us on theright maintenance schedule. I knowthis is important. If my air compres-sor goes down, we’re dead in thewater. Almost everything from buffersto paint guns depends on air. It wouldbe like trying to fix vehicles withoutpaint or techs—that’s how importantit is to have a good air compressorthat won’t quit or need service all thetime.”

Darrin Cook, General Managerfor Keystone Automotive Indus-tries Inc. in Omaha, Nebraska hasworked for Keystone for more than22 years, so he’s seen (and heard)his share of air compressors of allbrands, sizes and styles. It’s notjust a lot of hot air when Cook en-thusiastically lauds the quality andperformance of Mattei’s rotaryvane compressors.

“We’ve been marketing the Mat-tei compressors for more than ayear now and they’re super quiet,while using less energy and pro-ducing more air,” Cook said. “TheseMattei units are smaller than theother brands we’ve sold before, sothey also take up less space. Price-wise, they’re also in the ballpark.You’re getting a quality product, soyou might be spending a little morewith these Mattei compressors, butin the long run these machines willlast you longer. In the past, thecompressors I encountered workedhard but wore down pretty quickly.These rotary vane compressorsfrom Mattei don’t work as hard, sothey last longer, and they put outmore air. They say ‘Get your lastcompressor, get a Mattei’ and after

working with them for a while now, Ibelieve it.”

Mattei’s machines have been inuse worldwide for industrial and au-tomotive applications for almost acentury. The company was foundedby Enea Mattei, an Italian engineer,when he became fascinated by thethen relatively minor compressedair industry in 1919. After 15 yearsof research and innovation, Matteiinvented the world’s first portableair compressor and, after embrac-ing a series of technological ad-vances, Mattei became one of theleaders in compressed air world-wide. The company solidified theirrole as a pioneer in the industry.Mattei started manufacturing rotaryvane compressors in 1958, andhave gained popularity with bodyshops within the last decade be-cause they’re efficient, durable andmaybe most importantly—quiet.

Cooper started out as a techand later purchased Brown AutoBody after he had been working for20 years, he explained. “The origi-nal owner, Pete Brown, wanted toget out, so I bought the shop andtook it over in 2000. Owning andrunning a shop has been a ton ofwork, but we’ve been staying busy,even during the recession and av-erage $2,000–$3,000 per repairwithout any DRPs. I’ve got twotechs and an office manager work-ing part-time, so it’s a lean opera-tion. We serve Atlantic, Iowa(6,800 population) and some ofsurrounding areas, competing withabout three other shops in thisarea.”

Cooper has been pleasantly sur-prised with his compressor, partiallybecause of the fact that he wasn’t fa-miliar with Mattei until Darrin Cook atKeystone introduced him to the com-pany and its line of rotary vane com-pressors.

“Darrin gave me Mattei’s litera-ture and we researched them on-line to find out a little more. Ataround the same time, one of myfriends purchased an American-made compressor, and I realizedthat it was a lot noisier and doesn’tput out quite as much cfm as myMattei does.”

After doing his homework,Cooper made the move to Matteiand he hasn’t had any regrets.“We bought Mattei’s 11 kilowattunit,” he said. “We tested it bysandblasting a car and it per-formed really well. It gained psithe whole time and we didn’t haveto stop to interrupt the job. Andit’s so quiet! That’s a big plus. Ican now stand right next to itwhile it’s running and still actuallytalk on the phone. Our old com-pressor was in our paint mixingroom. It was so loud in there wehad to scream to have a conver-sation—it was terrible. It wasstarting to leak oil and was begin-ning to worry about it, so we pur-chased it just in time. They comewith a 10-year warranty and de-signed for 100,000 hours of use,although many go way past that,from what we’ve heard.” Cooperis looking forward to not hearing,or not hearing about, his Matteicompressor for a good long time.

The shop’s old air compressor was loud andstarting to leak oil, so Owner Dana Copperresearched Mattei and made the move to thecompany’s rotary vane compressors

Brown Body ShopLocation: Atlantic, IA

Telephone: 712-243-4610www.brownautobody.com

Company At A Glance...

Type: Collision Repair

Facility Employees: Three

In Business Since: 1980

DRP Programs: Zero

Number of Locations: One

Combined Production Space:4,000 square feet

Mattei Compressors, Inc.Phone: (410) 521-7020email: [email protected]: www.matteicomp.com

It’s a small yet talented crew at Brown Auto Body, consisting of (from left) Owner Dana Cooper,Tech Doug Towne and Tech Dan Schriver

Brown Auto Body Values Mattei’s RotaryVane Compressor

Brown Auto Body in Atlantic, Iowa fixes30–40 cars per month without any DRPs

by Ed Attanasio


www.autobodynews.comwww.autobodynews.com

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and MechanicalAutobody News September 2011FLORIDA • GEORGIA • ALABAMA • MISSISSIPPI

I-CAR Offers New Course on Electronics Damage AnalysisI-CAR has premiered several onlinetraining programs in 2011, includingits newest course, Basic ElectronicsDamage Analysis (DAM13e).

By taking this course, individu-als will learn how to effectively com-municate at every level of the damageanalysis process, identify the basic re-quirements for a circuit and how cir-cuit values are measured, as well aswhat other parts of a circuit are de-signed to do. This course provides anunderstanding of how electrical sys-tems are designed to work and whatcan be done when these systems aredamaged. Information on how to rec-ognize collision damage to wiring,the possibilities for repair, and thetools and steps required when trou-bleshooting an electrical circuit prob-lem are also covered in this course.

Joyce Kasmer, I-CAR Directorof Business Development said, “Un-derstanding how to effectively com-municate throughout the entire repairprocess lends to more accurate dam-age assessments, which can result inreduced cycle times and higher cus-tomer satisfaction. This online coursewill be beneficial to collision repairprofessionals who are interested inlearning about specific procedures re-

lated to electronics damage analysisand how to effectively interact withvehicle owners, repair facilities, andinsurance companies.”

This course meets I-CAR® Pro-Level™ or annual training require-ments for the Estimator and AutoPhysical Damage Appraiser roles andsatisfies the Basic Electrical knowl-edge area within the I-CAR® Profes-sional Development Program™.Once an online training course hasbegun, an individual has thirty daysto complete the course and can re-ac-cess it an unlimited number of timesuntil it has been completed. Aftercompletion of the course, the individ-ual will have access to course materi-als for reference by logging in to theiraccount.

Information and registration forthis course can be found on the I-CAR website (www.i-car.com) or bycontacting I-CAR Customer Care at800-422-7872.

www.autobodynews.comCHECK IT OUT!

Ford Partners Azure on F-Series Plug in HybridsFord and Canadian-based Azure Dy-namics plan to convert the largest of itsF-Series models into plug-in hybrids,starting with the F-550 and later addingthe F-450 and F-350 models. The truckswould operate in electric-only mode atlow speeds while also reducing fuelconsumption at higher speeds in hybridmode. Anticipated range on batterypower, overall fuel efficiency and pric-ing details have not been released. Mar-keting is aimed at commercial fleetbuyers sensitive to the rise in fuel prices.

Ford Will Recall 1.22 MTrucks, Fuel Tank StrapsFord told the National Highway TrafficSafetyAdministration itwill recall1.22mil-lion trucks toreplacefuel tankstrapssubjecttocorrosion.Therecall includes theseunits:—Ford F-150 from 1997 through 2004—Ford F-250 with GVW of less than8,500 pounds from 1997 through 1999—Lincoln Blackwood from 2002 and2003 model years.

NHTSA said the trucks were man-ufactured from June 20, 1995 throughAug. 4, 2004. The flaw could causedropped fuel tanks and fire hazards.

Lincoln Electric AcquiresTorchmate ParentLincoln Electric Holdings, announcedAug. 12 that it has acquired substan-tially all of the assets of Applied Ro-botics, Inc., a leading manufacturer ofCNC cutting tables and accessories inNorth America. Applied Robotics,known in the welding industry by itsbrand name, Torchmate, has head-quarters and manufacturing facilitiesbased in Reno, NV. Torchmate(www.torchmate.com) offers a wideselection of CNC plasma and oxyfuelcutting tables to medium-sized fabri-cators.

GM Recalls Over 16K CarsGM said Aug. 12 it is recalling 16,198Chevrolet Impala and Buick LaCrossecars in the United States and Canada toaddress sensor and power steering prob-lems. There are 11,905 2012 Impalas re-called to check the power steering hose.The hose, if misrouted, could be dam-aged and spray fluid onto hot engine partsto create a potential for a fire. GM alsosaid it is recalling 4,293 2012 LaCrossesto reprogram the electronic brake controlmodule because an incorrect calibrationmay cause the electronic stability systemto improperly detect a sensor malfunctionand fail to illuminate a warning light.

Chrysler Recalls Up To370,000 2008 MinivansChrysler is recalling nearly 370,0002008 Grand Voyager, Town and Coun-try and Dodge Grand Caravan vehiclesfor a possible heating and air condition-ing problem that could inadvertentlytrigger the air bag, the second related re-call in nine months. NHTSA said con-densation from the heating and airconditioner could leak onto a sensormodule. This could lead to activation ofa warning light and inadvertent deploy-ment of the air bag. There was a recalllast November to replace a heating andcooling drain tube in those model vehi-cles to eliminate potential condensation.

U.S. safety regulators have opened an in-vestigation into about 120,000 BMW 7-series cars regarding shifting into parknot engaging, with roll away. NHTSAsaid it has opened a preliminary probe ofthe BMW cars from 2002–2008 after re-ceiving a complaint that a 2006 modelrolled away after the consumer parkedand exited the vehicle. Reports involvingsimilarly equipped cars also describingroll-away incidents were submitted byBMW. A BMW spokesman said the au-tomaker is cooperating with the NHTSAand is not aware of any reports of acci-dents or injuries related to the issue.

NHTSA Investigates BMWfor Potential Rollaways

Advances in transportation research areincreasing interest in putting cameras andsensors in and on work trucks. Scientistsare using a strategy that combines tightlycontrolled simulator driving, closely mon-itored runs on closed tracks and scrutinyof working truckers on revenue runs tohelp researchers translate observationsabout driver behavior. With simulators, acomputer vision system can tell where adriver is looking.Adriver’s eye position isone of the most readily quantifiable fac-tors in truck-safety as a computer can nowdetermine a driver’s level of fatigue.

Truck Driver Behavior NowTrackable with New Tech

A NTHSA team cleared GM from theneed to bring back more than 266,0002007 Chevy Tahoes and GMC Yukons.The concern was chrome plating on in-terior door handles that could peel orseparate from the plastic base material.De-lamination could result in a sharpedge and pose a risk of laceration.“Theresultant population group had a total of746 complaint reports with 309 injuryincidents and 43,619 unique VIN regularwarranty claims over a combined451,745 vehicle population,” NHTSAsaid in a report.

GM Has No Recall on itsTahoe and Yukon SUVs

American Honda is bringing back approx-imately 1.5 million vehicles to update thesoftware that controls the automatic trans-mission. Included are 4-cylinder Accordsfrom 2005 through 2010, the CR-V from

2007 through 2010, and the Element 2005through 2008. Honda believes the auto-matic transmission secondary shaft bear-ing can be damaged if the transmission isquickly shifted.

NHTSA previously said the FordFreestar and Mercury Monterey from2004 through 2007 might have defec-tive automatic transmission controlmodules, but now says “below defecttrend.” Tests found 200 potential prob-

lems out of population of 125,865, fora failure rate of 0.16 percent. The con-cern was water running down onto thecowling under the hood and drippingonto the PCM, causing a stall and thetransmission to shift badly.

Honda to Recall 1.5M CRVs, Elements, AccordsFord Minivans Not Subject to Recall, Infrequent Issue


with Gonzo WeaverGonzo’s Toolbox 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].

A body shop dropped off a 2005 Nis-san Titan XE for a trailer light prob-lem. It was hit in the rear and hadfolded the bumper under the body.

This particular body shop I haveknown for years, and they pride them-selves on doing a top notch repair onevery vehicle that they are associatedwith. This truck was being a problemthough. All the systems were workingexcept for the trailer turn signal lights.To be thorough, they went backthrough each and every part that theyhad replaced or disturbed. They foundnothing, not a thing—2 days ofchecking it out led to a dead end.

That’s where I came into the pic-ture. As always, the first thing I wantto see is the wiring diagram. Youknow, I’ve always said change is agood thing, this time, I should re-phrase that to—it’s a good thing that“things change”—and I hope thisdoes real soon, because, this was

about the stupidest thing I’ve everseen.

It’s not the first time I have ranacross trailer lights going throughcomputer systems but it’s the firsttime I ran across only the trailer turnsignals running thru the BCM (bodycontrol module) not the trailer parklights, not trailer brakes—nope, justthe turn signals. Right there on theprint, plain as day, R-trailer turn andL-trailer turn, oh please—what wereyou dudes thinking? (Referring to theengineers) What was the reasoningbehind this?

I checked the rear wiring and allthe circuits involved along the under-side of the truck, all of which were inimpeccable condition. I couldn’t helpbut stare at that BCM on the wiringdiagram. I said to myself, “You meanto tell me I’m going to have to changean expensive BCM just for trailerlights? Come on, guys.” (Engineers)

The BCM is attached to bracketsjust above the gas pedal. Once I man-aged to get into position to see theBCM, I moved the wire harness outof the way to get a better look at it.All of which looked great. Anotherglance at the print showed that pin 51and 52 were the trailer turn signalwires, one yellow/black and the othergreen/black. Using a test light Ichecked the leads output signal di-rectly at the BCM connector. I was soglad to see the test light flashing withthe turn signals, what a relief! At leastit’s not the BCM, it’s wiring in be-tween the BCM and the rear connec-tor.

Another long stare at the printwith my head under the dash, allwedged in between the driver’s seatand my feet dangling out the door,one hand holding the wiring harnessout of the way, flash light by my rightear, the test light and the wiring dia-

gram all getting cramped in what lit-tle space that’s provided; but I stillcouldn’t see the problem. Since I al-ready checked the wiring running intothe truck and the signal was comingout of the BCM I had to be close, realclose. I was starting to understandwhy the body shop spent two dayslooking for the problem and couldn’tfind it.

I knew what I had to do—starthand tracing the two leads again fromstart to finish—one-more-time. Atthis point anything would be betterthan spending another minute “sar-dined” in this truck.

As I moved my arm out of theway and was about to slide out fromunder the dash I noticed right whereI had my hand holding the harnessout of the way were two small in linefuse holders, almost opaque in colorright on the green/black and the yel-

Is It ‘Change Is a Good Thing’ or ‘It’s Good That Things Change’?

See Change, Page 24


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ASRW Partners with MuscleCar Network of Florida at ExpoASRW announced a new partnershipfor 2011 with the Muscle Car Networkof Florida. The Muscle Car Networkplans to display approximately 80 ve-hicles on the ASRW show floor atASRW, during the expo. The displayincludes rare, exotic and hot rod vehi-cles, which belong to members of thenetwork. Additionally, the Muscle CarNetwork plans to make a donation to alocal automotive charity Saturday,Oct. 8, to further education and train-ing for the next generation of automo-tive service and repair professionals.

“Our audience has a true passionfor automobiles, and we know they’llappreciate this collection of vehicles.We’re pleased to be partnered withthis group, and to have something newand exciting to offer at the show thisyear,” said Ron Pyle, ASA president.“We’re grateful for the opportunity togive back to the local Orlando-areacommunity, in appreciation of ourtime there.”

“This is a win-win for everyoneinvolved. We’re excited for the oppor-tunity to show off our ‘pride and joy’to the industry professionals who at-tend ASRW,” says J.R. Goodman,Muscle Car Network director.

CREF and CCC Name FiveStudent Scholarship WinnersThe Collision Repair Education Foun-dation and CCC Information Servicesnamed five exceptional students aswinners of the CCC Michael Salva-tore Memorial Student Repair Tech-nician Scholarship, renamed to honorthe memory of longtime CCC teammember Michael Salvatore. The CCCMichael Salvatore Memorial StudentRepair Technician Scholarship awardsscholarships to students currently en-rolled at eligible technical schoolsthroughout the country. The award re-cipients use the scholarship funds toreduce the balances on tuition loans orto reimburse tuition costs that accu-mulated during their education. Eachstudent will receive a scholarshipaward in the amount of $5,000. The2011 winners are:● ManuelAguilar, UTI (Sacramento,CA)● NabilAssad, Pennsylvania Collegeof Technology (Williamsport, PA)● Isaac Hostetter, Pennsylvania Col-lege of Technology (Williamsport, PA)● Ian Hilner, Pennsylvania Collegeof Technology (Williamsport, PA)● Michael Releford, Sowela Techni-cal Community College (LakeCharles, LA.)

Enterprise Rent-A-Car Makes$11,000 Donation to CREFEnterprise Rent-A-Car is the first rentalcar brand to receive the Collision RepairEducation Foundation’s Industry Lead-ership Circle donor designation throughits $11,000 donation to the organizationin 2011. This donation will support an-nual student scholarships, school grants,and the recently created Ultimate Colli-sion Education Makeover grant.

“Our partnership with the collisionrepair industry has been a key to oursuccess over the years,” said BruceClifton, vice president-insurance re-placement for Enterprise Rent-A-Car.“We are happy to assist the efforts of theCollision Repair Education Foundationto identify and develop the next gener-ation of industry leaders.”

Collision Repair Education Foun-dation Executive Director ScottKruger added, “Thanks to EnterpriseRent-A-Car for supporting the CollisionRepair Education Foundation and join-ing our efforts in supporting collisionrepair school programs and their stu-dents.

“The Industry Leadership Circleincludes a wide cross-section of the en-tire collision repair inter-industry andwe are pleased to have Enterprise as thefirst rental car company in the Circle.”

Domestics More PopularAmong Auto Thieves NowFor the first time since 2002, NICBdiscovered thieves preferred domesticnameplates over foreign brands, as in-dicated by the list of the 10 most stolenvehicles in the U.S. Among the top 10,Ford took three spots, Dodge held twoand Chevrolet held one, while the re-maining four were held by Honda,Toyota and Acura. However, the topthree positions continue to be held byHonda and Toyota models, a trend thatNICB said has been consistent since2000. According to an examination ofvehicle theft data submitted by law en-forcement to the National Crime In-formation Center in 2010, the moststolen vehicles in the nation were—1994 Honda Accord—1995 HondaCivic—1991 Toyota Camry—1999Chevrolet Pickup (Full Size)—1997Ford F150 Series/Pickup—2004Dodge Ram—2000 Dodge Caravan—1994 Acura Integra—2002 Ford Ex-plorer—1999 Ford Taurus. NICB sayscertain older cars and trucks are popu-lar with thieves because of the value oftheir parts — but many are not insuredagainst theft. Whereas newer, more ex-pensive and insured vehicles are oftenstolen to be resold intact with counter-feit VINs or shipped out of the country.


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low/black wires leading away fromthe BCM.

AHA! THERE IT IS! Two inline 10 amp fuses to the trailerlights, Wowser!!! Fixed, done,works perfectly. The prints did notshow any fuses in the circuits, itonly showed the wiring leadingfrom end to end. Unbelievable, nowonder the body shop couldn’t findthe problem. I even missed it until Imoved my hand out of the way andknew the correct wire colors. It’s notthe sort of thing I’d expect to find—factory fuse holders in-line with theBCM—but there they were, you canbe guaranteed that I made a noteabout this one. I won’t forget nexttime.

It doesn’t help that the printswere wrong, and it doesn’t help thatthe manufacturer ran the trailer turnsignals leads thru the BCM, so I guessI can officially change my status from“change is a good thing” to “goodthing it changes” now do me a favorthere engineers; Change it!


Change

convicted felon from Farmers in-specting your books? What if that per-son happens to be an unscrupulousindividual who just hasn’t been caughtyet? You could potentially have a con-victed-but-rehabilitated Farmers staffmember remove you from the CODprogram because you have a similarex-con on staff. How’s that for irony?

I’ve seen just as many thieveswearing white-collar shirts as thosewearing blue-collar shirts. Insurershave no business telling you who youcan or can’t hire. Shops should bejudged on the product and servicethey deliver, and not based on arbi-

trary and unjustified requirements.All that said, I hope you aren’t

missing the overarching theme of myview of Farmers’ (or any insurer’s)DRP requirements: Quit whining.Quit saying it’s not fair. It’s like rais-ing kids. Even the best kids will con-tinue to misbehave until there is aconsequence for their actions. You canthreaten to ground them, tell them it’stheir last chance, or insinuate a goodold-fashioned butt-whuppin’ is a-comin,’ but if you don’t followthrough, the antics will continue.

Until the insurers hear ‘no,’ theywill only continue to ask for more,whether that more is “reasonable” ornot.

“The Insider” is is a corporate-level executive with a Top 10 auto in-

surer in the U.S. who wishes to remainanonymous. This column reflectssolely the opinion of The Insider as itoffers an unvarnished look at variousissues impacting the collision industry.

Got a comment or question you’dlike to see him address in a future col-umn?

Email him at [email protected].

Or, leave a comment on the arti-cle in the Insider’s column section atautobodynews.com.

To see the Farmers COD agree-ment referenced in the column, it canbe found at www.autobodynews.comby searching “Farmers COD”So can the link to the SCRS press re-lease about the agreement. Search“SCRS Farmers agreement.”


DRP Requirements

Auto body shops are aware that there’sa close correlation between new autosales and the number of repairable vehi-cles on the road, but will auto sales bedragged down by recent market andeconomic gyrations? Writing in AutoRemarketing, Joe Overby has reportedthat dark economic clouds seem logicalgiven the economic and fiscal fiascos ofrecent weeks—the U.S. credit down-

grade and the stock market swooning,along with the debt-ceiling crisis. Butthe impact on auto sales might not be asbad as one might expect.

According to Kelley Blue Bookanalyst Alec Gutierrez, it’s too early totell how much consumer confidencewill drop from the near-2,000-pointstock-market decline, and it doesn’tseem there will be any prolonged or

overwhelming impacts to auto buying.In the fourth quarter, KBB projects a liftin sales and production.

“At Kelley Blue Book, we think therecent drop in the stock market (close to2,000 points since July 21) will defi-nitely influence consumer confidence,which is highly correlated to overall ve-hicle sales. However, exactly to what de-

Will Auto Industry Be Dragged Down by Economic Turmoil?

See Economic Turmoil, Page 39

Ford released their second compara-tive tests of Genuine Ford structuralsteel collision parts versus aftermarketcounterparts on their Youtube accounton August 8.

The video is described as show-ing a “parts comparison performanceof genuine Ford parts vs. aftermaketcollision parts using computer aidedsimulation tests, crash sled tests, andactual vehicle crash tests data. In allcases, genuine Ford parts perform asdesigned. Aftermarket parts perform-ance leads to questions of doubt con-cerning proper air bag deployment.”

The video is hosted by Ford Re-pairability Engineer Larry Coan. Coanalso describes Ford’s own version of the“sawzall test,” which they recreated fol-lowing its publicity since last year’sCIC meeting, where a Sawzall is usedto cut into aftermarket and OEMbumper beams. The test has been du-plicated numerous times and depicts thedifference in difficulty between cuttingthrough an OEM bumper beam versusan aftermarket bumper beam.

The test has been called intoquestion by several aftermarket partsadvocates, the groups call the test “un-scientific” and question whether itprovides a true measure of how a partwill perform in a crash, however theintent is not to show whether cutting asupport member more easily means itwill fail, but rather that the materialsare different. In the video Coan statesthat Ford’s saw test yielded similar re-sults to others depicted over the pastyear. (See also Toby Chess’ columnthis issue.)

Ford’s comparative tests weredone with 05–09 Mustang and 08-09Focus Bumper Beams, 06–08 F-150bumper brackets and 04–07 F-150 ra-diator supports, and 05–09 Mustangbumper absorbers and isolators. Initialcomparisons showed that part con-struction and weight were noticeablydifferent between OEM and aftermar-ket parts.

Crash simulations between partsalso showed a large difference be-tween impact reactions. Repair costs

following such crashes also revealeda difference between damage sus-tained from crashes where OEM andaftermarket parts were used.

ABPA Responds with Own VideoThe Automotive Body Parts Associa-tion (ABPA) responded to Ford’svideo by releasing their own videoand press release detailing some oftheir own crash test results. Accordingto the group, the video of their crashtests illustrates the safety and qualityof aftermarket auto parts. The video,which is available on the ABPA web-site at www.autobpa.com, showcasesactual high- and low-speed crash tests.

According to the ABPA, side-by-side video taken during a high-speedcrash test illustrates the simultaneousairbag deployment (down to the mil-lisecond) for two 2006 Toyota Corol-las, one outfitted with an aftermarketbumper reinforcement bar and theother a car company equivalent.

The group uses this set of crashtests to claim that false assertions

were made “by some car companiesthat airbag timing is affected by usingcomparable aftermarket components.”

The ABPA goes on to say that,“the high-speed crash data also showsthe aftermarket- and the car company-equipped cars both delivering occu-pant safety well within the federalsafety standards, with the car outfittedwith non-branded car company partsactually delivering slightly better oc-cupant protection as measured across11 key injury criteria.”

“In low-speed crash tests pre-sented in the video, an aftermarketbumper reinforcement bar outper-forms an equivalent car-companybranded part, effectively absorbingimpact without deployment ofairbags while sustaining less damagethat results in a $200 lower repair es-timate.”

“Time and again the aftermarketindustry has demonstrated the safetyand quality of its products, yet somecar companies seem determined to

Ford Releases Another Crash Test Video Comparing OEM to AftermarketCrash Parts, ABPA Responds with its own Crash Test Video


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counter scientific facts with fear-mongering,” said Co-Chair of theABPA Legislation and RegulationCommittee Eileen Sottile. “OEs can-not credibly argue that only theirbranded parts can provide safety, es-pecially when it comes to compo-nents that play a very small role incrash energy management. If carcompany safety systems cannot han-dle a wide range of real world crashconditions and material differences inminor replacement parts then they arenot robustly engineered and as suchare a significant threat to the con-sumers.”

“Rather than relentlessly smear-ing our industry in an attempt to gaina competitive business advantage onreplacement parts, our biggest corpo-rate critics would do well to focus onreducing their own recalls and deliv-ering high-quality, robustly engi-neered products for the motoringpublic.”

Ford’s crash test video can beviewed at www.autobodynews.com.


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Repairer-Driven Education atSEMA Gets Support from PPGFor the second consecutive year, PPGAutomotive Refinish has demon-strated support of collision industryeducation programs through their in-volvement with the Society of Colli-sion Repair Specialists (SCRS) hostedRepairer Driven Education (RDE) se-ries during the SEMA Show in LasVegas. PPG will contribute coursecontent with a program led by JimBerkey and Mark Mueller entitledLoad Leveling - The hidden enablerfor shop performance.

“All of us at PPG are excitedabout helping promote education tothe collision repair community withSCRS this fall,” said John Parran, di-rector, marketing, PPG AutomotiveRefinish. “Education is a key part ofthe value-added services we deliver toour customer base, and it is an honorto be a part of the growing and uniqueopportunity SCRS has put togetherwith RDE. Last year we saw greatvalue for the industry from our in-volvement, and it was an easy deci-sion to continue our support in 2011.”PPG will also co-host the much antic-ipated Afterburner evening event withSCRS on November 3rd. Visitwww.semashow.com/specialevents.

Mercedes’ Internal Plan to Become World’s Top Premium BrandDaimler CEO Dieter Zetsche has saidthe company’s Mercedes-Benz brandwill challenge rival German premiumbrands BMW and Audi for the posi-tion as the world’s best-selling andmost profitable luxury carmaker.

In a rallying call to employeees,Zetsche confessed that Mercedes isbeing outpaced by rivals, but said:“Our competitors’ success should pro-vide us with additional motivation.”

Zetsche issued the challenge in aletter to Daimler employees, writing:“Some of our competitors are nowgrowing faster and more profitablythan we are. Granted, those are justsnapshots in time and should not beoverestimated. After all, many of ourbest new products are yet to come.”

Zetsche adds: “In the long runwe can’t be content to be in a ‘solidsecond’ or even ‘third’ place: We are

Daimler – we should be far ahead ofthe pack! And if that requires some-thing that we don’t currently have,then we’ll identify and develop it.”

Zetsche ends the letter by say-ing: “Enjoy your summer and refillyour tanks. Because in the secondhalf of this year we’re going to con-tinue to play some hard offense!”

Mercedes lags rivalsLuxury car makers are enjoyingbooming sales, fuelled by growingwealth in China and a rebound in theUnited States, but Mercedes’ growthis lagging its German rivals.

In the first six months, Mercedescar brand global sales increased 9.7percent to 610,531. BMW brand salesgrew 17.8 percent to 689,861, whileAudi saw sales rise by 17.7 percent to652,970.

LKQ Corporation reported a 23 per-cent increase in second quarter incometo $46.7 million on record revenue of$759.7 million, a 29 percent increaseover the second quarter 2010.

“All of the operating groups per-formed well during the quarter,” stated

Robert Wagman, President and Co-Chief Executive Officer of LKQ Cor-poration. “Alternative parts usagecontinues to grow, our fill rates are athistorical highs, and we continue to seestrong insurance support,” Wagmansaid.

LKQ Corporation Reports 23% Increased 2nd Qtr, Record Reveue


Ford ABPA


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someone other than himself and whatthe practice of “steering” had done tohis and other businesses like his. Hav-ing spent nearly 20 years litigating forand against insurance companies, Iwas aware of the power an insurancecompany can exert. However as Gregexplained to me the realities of thecollision repair industry, I was admit-tedly shocked by what I heard.

The Case of North State v. ProgressiveInsuranceIn 2007, as attorney for North StateCustom, I commenced a lawsuitagainst Progressive Insurance allegingthat Progressive engaged in deceptivebusiness practices and interferencewith North State’s business and cus-tomers. The case has survived twomotions to dismiss, two appeals and aseparate action brought by Progres-sive against North State resulting intwo separate jury trials. (For a sum-mary of the Progressive v. North Statesaga see autobodynews.com, CocarroCase Takes a Wide Turn...). While the

case against Progressive has not yetbeen resolved and in fact we expect ajury trial to be held sometime nextyear, a recent court ruling in the mat-ter has significant impact for the in-dustry as a whole.

I. Backround: The State of the Law inNew YorkIn New York, as in most states, the in-surance industry has been able tolobby state legislatures to enact“toothless” insurance laws that claimto regulate the insurance industrywithout actually doing so. As a result,most insurance companies believe,and rightfully so, that they can exploitthe law with impunity and bully in-sured’s into having their cars repairedby captive and tightly controlled re-pair shops. Fortunately, most states in-cluding New York, also have littleknown but effective consumer protec-tion laws designed to protect con-sumers from improper corporatebehavior.

New York’s “toothless” insurancestatute is called Insurance Law Sec-tion 2610, known as the “anti-steeringlaw.” It states that not only do con-sumers have an absolute right to select

the repair shop of their choice, but thatan insurance company may not rec-ommend a repair shop without a con-sumer request to do so. Of course,nowhere does this “anti-steering law”provide for a remedy to a consumerwhen the statute is violated. Rather,the law gives the power to raise a vio-lation only to the Attorney General orthe Department of Insurance, and notthe consumer or his chosen repairshop. New York’s Consumer Protec-tion Law can be found within thestate’s General Business Law andspecifically at section 349. The lawwas originally enacted to protect con-sumers from unscrupulous businesspractices but has been expanded to in-clude any consumer oriented conductthat is materially misleading whichcauses harm to a party.

Thus, it is here, where the inter-ests of large corporations overlapswith the interests of small businesses,that the legal battle between insurersand independent repair shops is takingshape.

II. Progressive’s motion to dismissIn our lawsuit we alleged that Pro-gressive, as one of the largest auto-

mobile insurance companies in thecountry, used intimidation, threats,disparaging statements and directlies about North State in order toforce North State’s customers andothers similarly situated into usingProgressive’s network of direct re-pair shops and that these actionscaused harm to North State. In otherwords, that Progressive purposefullyand improperly misled and deceivedcustomers about both North Stateand its own repair shops for theireconomic gain and to North Stateseconomic detriment.

At the close of the discoveryphase in the case, Progressive movedthe court for a dismissal. It did so bymaking two divergent but significantarguments.

First, Progressive argued that itsactions in connection with the way it“offered” its Direct Repair Programwas not misleading or deceptive.

Second, Progressive argued thateven if the way it offered its direct re-pair program was misleading and de-ceptive, New York’s Insurance Lawdid not allow a consumer or a repairshop such as North State to bring such

Continued from Cover

North State v. Progressive

See North State v. Progressive, Page 38

The skittishness among some in theindustry about how formalized repairstandards may be developed or imple-mented was evident during discussionat the most recent Collision IndustryConference (CIC).

At the meeting, the CIC-formedRepair Standards Advisory Commit-tee offered an update on its work, in-cluding the hiring of a consultant tobuild a business case for the develop-ment and implementation of formal-ized standards.

Russ Thrall, publisher of Colli-sionWeek and a past CIC chairmanand who co-chairs the advisory com-mittee, said the goal of the consul-tant’s work is to present a report byNovember about what consensus ex-ists within the industry about stan-dards and a possible new organizationto oversee the development and im-plementation of standards.

Thrall said that as of mid-July,

the committee had raised $26,600 ofthe $60,000 it needs in sponsorshipsfor the consultant’s work and the de-velopment of an industry forum on thetopic in November. More than 50 per-cent of the 21 sponsors to date are col-lision repair businesses, 38 percent aresuppliers and less than 5 percent areinsurers.

Mike Condon, whose consultingfirm has been hired by the committee,said he has conducted about 10 of the40 interviews—about half with re-pairers and half with those in othersegments of the industry—that he an-ticipates doing to prepare the reportfor the committee. That report, hesaid, will examine if there is supportfor the idea of a standard-setting body,and if so, how that body could bestructured and funded. As part of theresearch, Condon also will examinestandard-setting entities in other in-dustries and in the collision repair in-

dustry in other countries.He said he is also looking at what

various segments of the industry viewas “deal-breakers” in the concept.

“We want to flesh those out so wedon’t go down a path that ultimatelywill not work,” Condon said.

Speaking for the Society of Col-lision Repair Specialists (SCRS) andthe Alliance of Automotive ServiceProviders (AASP), Aaron Schulen-burg of SCRS said the two groups“believe standards are both necessaryand a good thing,” but have concernsabout the approach the CIC commit-tee is taking.

“Our members believe there arestandards that exist today,” Schulen-burg said. “They view the (automaker)recommendations and procedures asthe standard. That standard is not fol-lowed every day because while that’sthe overwhelming view of repairers,not every industry segment recognizes

that or agrees with that statement. Andsome of those other industry segmentsand participants who don’t necessar-ily support that as the standard are in-volved in this activity and committee,and that is cause for concern.”

Thrall said those opinions arepart of what Condon’s research is de-signed to capture, and that the associ-ations’ volunteer leadership areamong those slated for interviews.

While some CIC participants atthe July meeting in Salt Lake City,Utah, raised questions or concernsabout the consultant’s researchprocess or the questions being askedin interviews, Rollie Benjamin, CEOof ABRA Auto Body & Glass, calledthat “micromanaging the process.”

“I trust Russell, I trust Mike. Ithink they will do a good job,” Ben-jamin said. “I think they’ll come outwith the information we need to makea good decision on whether we move


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CIC, Consultant, Seeking Views on Industry Repair Standards

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].

forward or not. Let’s let these guys dotheir job.”

Scott Biggs of Assured Perform-ance Network, who also is part of theleadership of the committee, said heunderstands that the standards issuemay be “threatening to so many dif-ferent organizations because it is suchan enormous issue.” But he said thosewith concerns should understand thatopposing viewpoints are held andbeing voiced even among those lead-ing the effort.

“There isn’t even general con-sensus within the executive commit-tee,” Biggs said. “I can tell you that’swhat Mike’s charter is: to see whatpeople’s opinions are.”

Dale Delmege, another formerCIC chairman who has been asked bythe committee to raise the additional$33,000 needed for the project, urgedrepairers to donate $100 per facility(insurers and vendor sponsors are alsobeing sought) for the effort. Delmegesaid he sees the consultant’s work hashaving no bias toward shops, insurersor automakers. He also said his re-search of the repair standards programin the United Kingdom indicates it hasbeen positive for the industry.

“They transformed their indus-try—about an hour and 15 minutes be-fore regulators ‘helped them’ do so,”Delmege said. “Those people overthere are pretty happy about wherethey got to.”

State Farm, others offer updatesIn other news and discussion at CICin Salt Lake City:

● George Avery of State Farmsaid the insurer is continuing to workon an electronic parts ordering systemit will require its Select Service shopsto use. “The repairer will continue tohave a choice on who they buy partsfrom, and they will have control overwhich parts they buy, regardless of theprice,” Avery said. “We are not inter-ested in purchasing parts. What we’reinterested in is helping the industrysmooth out the process. We believe inquality, efficiency and competitiveprice. As you know, we have a score-card that we use to evaluate perform-ance across the board in those threecategories. So that’s why we think therepairer is the best person to make thechoice on parts.”

● Doug Craig, collision repairmanager for Chrysler, said Chrysler,

Ford and some other automakers areworking to “commonize where wecan” some of their “approaches to dif-ferent repairs.” He said Chrysler alsowill be moving away from “recom-mendations” to instead offer muchmore specific “requirements on whatprocess, procedure and/or compo-nents... should be used in a repair.”

● The National Auto Body Coun-cil said because 20 percent of all col-lision and mechanical repairtechnicians are Hispanic, it will soonbe release a Spanish glossary of colli-sion industry terms. The glossary,which will be downloadable andsearchable, was funded in part by agrant from AASP.

● The CIC Insurer-Repairer Re-lations Committee released a draft ofwhat the committee is compiling as el-ements of the “most beneficial andproductive repairer-insurer relation-ships.” Those elements—11 of themin the current draft, some of whichapply to non-direct repair programshops as well – include an explicitoutline of the key performance indi-cators (KPIs) used to measure shopperformance; consistency betweencorporate and field employees regard-

ing the selection and retention of DRPshops; an unbiased dispute resolutionprocess with a designated point ofcontact to resolve issues “free of thefear or reprisal’: communication to theconsumer about the relationship be-tween insurer and shop; and a stream-lined electronic communicationprocess between repairer and shop.

● I-CAR’s Jeff Peevy said 11percent of shops in the United Statehave achieved the “Gold Class Pro-fessionals” designation, and another20 percent are involved in some levelof consistent technician training. But69 percent of shops, he said, have noconsistent training for technicians “yetthey claim to do collision repairs.” Heurged more insurers to require theirDRP shops to maintain the Gold Classdesignation. “If you do not requiretraining of those shops that are doingrepairs for you, you need to considerthe rapid changes (in vehicle designand materials),” Peevy said. “You can-not properly repair a new car acciden-tally any more. You just can’t do it.”


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Back when Galpin Motors’ Parts Man-ager Butch Lemen was 12 years old,he worked with his father in the aircraftparts industry, some time before the ad-vent of personal computers. Computersare now indispensible in parts depart-ments and body shops worldwide. But,although many body shops have em-braced the software and the Internetmethods, there are still a ton of shopsout there that are reluctant to acceptwhat Lemen calls, “the inevitable.”

Lemen is a strong advocate forCollisionLink, the Internet-based elec-tronic parts ordering system designedby OEConnection for OEM partsdealerships and body shops. By usingthe system, shops can save time andmoney while including more originalfactory parts in their repairs. Colli-sionLink’s price comparison feature iscurrently used by shops of all sizes,from little independent facilities allthe way to large chains.

Lemen manages a multi-milliondollar wholesale parts operation atGalpin Motors in North Hills, Calif.

With 75 employees in his departmentand selling parts for the 10 brandsthey represent (Ford, Lincoln, Subaru,Mazda, Honda, Volvo, Jaguar, Aston-Martin, Lotus and Spyker), Lemenvalues the time-saving aspect associ-ated with using CollisionLink.

“CollisionLink makes us moreefficient and can save time for theshops that participate,” Lemen ex-plained. “It frees up the shops’ time,because they don’t have to makephone calls searching for a part and/or

waiting for a response. All of the cor-respondence through CollisionLink ishandled via e-mails, and our partspeople will call once we receive theorder. It’s a streamlined process andallows shops to go on with the othermultiple tasks that happen every day

in your averagebody shop.”

Lemen says hehas seen Collision-Link work timeafter time in help-ing him to get or-ders and assistshops in gettingOE parts on morerepairs withoutpaying more thanthe aftermarket.“It’s a conduit forelectronic parts or-dering, but many

body shops are still in the habit of or-dering parts over the phone or viaFAX. We can assist the body shops byproviding parts with better fit and fin-ish while delivering the parts quicklyand improving cycle times.”

Lemen recognized the importanceof this system more than a year agowhen Galpin starting offering it, butnow he wants his shop customers tosee the light as well. “We’ve been anadvocate for CollisionLink for awhilenow and we do have customers whouse it and like it and we’re trying to getmore shops up and running with it ona daily basis, so that we can put somemore OE parts into their hands. Wehave roughly 30 shops currentlysigned up withCollisionLink, and theytend to be shops that are computer-savvy and already using the Internet asa tool to improve their business. Thecomputer age isn’t the future anymore,we’re right in the middle of it, and still,many of my customers don’t evenhave computers in their shops yet.”

Once his shop customers take theleap of faith and embrace CollisionLink,it quickly becomes a daily part of theirlives, Lemen reasons. But, getting themto take that first step can be difficult.“It’s getting people to accept a change,it’s just that simple. Change comesalong no matter what, but the old days ofgoing through catalogs and writing


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CollisionLink Represents ‘Inevitable Change’ Says Major Parts Dealer

From left, Galpin Motors Sales Rep Joe Jotikasthira; Sales Rep Ger-ardo Sanchez; Warehouse Manager Tom Thompson; Ford Motor Co.Rep Anne Tran-Malone; Assistant Warehouse Manager Istvan Gerlei;Wholesale Parts Manager Butch Lemen and Sales Rep Javier Gonzalezreceive yet another award for hitting top numbers year after year

down part numbers is tedious and nolonger efficient. Now, if you went intothese forward-thinking shops and toldthem they had to go back to using thosebooks, they might beat you up. Theywere reluctant a few years back, but nowthey can’t do business without the com-puters and systems like CollisionLink.It’s just a matter of accepting the change

and seeing a new way of doing things, inorder to make their shops more efficientand profitable.”

Using CollisionLink is easy andmost people can be proficient at itwithin just several days, Lemen said.“The majority of the body shop man-agement systems out there right now

contain all the parts pricing already.When the insurance company tells theshop ‘you need to use this aftermarketpart to save money,’ that’s when Colli-sionLink steps in. Once their estimate isapproved by the insurance company,they send it to us electronically and wecall it the “1-2-3 Go,” because it’s justthree steps, push a button and it’s done.

Getting good at using it is a mat-ter of repetition, just like anything else.To make it easier, I’ll send one of ourreps to the shop and he’ll go throughthe training, both on-site and over thephone, with CollisionLink’s staff. Itnormally takes 15–30 minutes to learnthe system and how to use it.”

Once his customer sends him theinvoice, Lemen and his staff can gothrough it and identify the parts tomake certain they are correct for therepair. “Once I get the order, I simplyopen the file, import the file and pushone button and everything else hap-pens automatically. Once we’ve de-termined that it’s accurate, we can callthe body shop and discuss the pricingor other options, for example.”

If Galpin can meet or beat the af-termarket, it can obviously benefitboth his operation and the body shop

involved, he said. “We can beat the af-termarket prices in many cases. We’regoing up against the aftermarket andthe used parts industry as well. For ex-ample, we received an estimate earliertoday and within less than two hours, itwas processed. We were able to meetor beat the aftermarket on 14 parts onthe invoice and the shop bought them

all. Our overall conversion rate forJune was 71%, so, that’s significant.”

One of Galpin’s customers usingCollisionLink is Autoworld Collisionin Valencia, California, a 14-year-oldshop owned by Maurice Starrantino.“We’ve been using CollisionLink forat least a year, and it’s been a Godsend.

By using it, we’re able to provide ourcustomers with OE parts where wecouldn’t before. These manufacturerswant to incorporate factory parts in ourrepairs, and this is the best way to do it.On some items such as hoods, fenders,bumpers and many sheet metal parts,Galpin can match or beat the aftermar-ket parts a majority of the time, de-pending on the brand and the repair.CollisionLink is easy-to-use and nowa part of our daily operations, so wedefinitely rely on it and value it.”

CollisionLink software operateson PCs from Windows XP on up andis completely free to body shops. It canonly be used to order OEM parts.

It can be used with all of the leadingsystems already being used by most bodyshops, including Mitchell UltraMateAd-vanced Estimating System, CCC OneTotal Repair Platform, CCC PathwaysEstimating Solution and Audatex. If ashop has another system,CollisionLink’sreps can help them to get it set up.

Galpin Motors15505 Roscoe Blvd.North Hills, California 91343(800) 256-6219www.galpin.com


By utilizing CollisionLink, Galpin’s customerscan incorporate more factory parts into theirestimates without paying more than theaftermarket

Owner Maurice Starrantino (left) and AssistantManager Jesse Elizondo at Autoworld Collisionin Valencia are using CollisionLink with greatsuccess to identify and purchase OE parts andget them into more of their repairs

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This July I did a presentation at theCollision Industry Conference (CIC)in Salt Lake City on the need for OEMdata prior to estimating and repairingtoday’s cars. I also included some ad-ditional discussion and presented ex-amples of bumper reinforcements. Ireceived a letter from a CAPAspokesperson stating that my demon-stration “caused members of the colli-sion repair industry to believe,mistakenly, that the part used in yourdemonstration was CAPA-certified.”I think that it is important that I givereaders an accurate account of whatreally happened. I want to make thisclear. I am not against the use of qual-ity aftermarket parts in the collisionrepair process, but I am very muchagainst being told to use substandardparts and then assuming all of therisks for their use.

A couple of months ago, a shopin the Midwest received an estimate

from a major insurance companycalling for a certified front bumperreinforcement for a 2008 HyundaiSonata. The shop had ordered fromthe A/M supplier a certified front-bumper reinforcement, but they re-ceived a non certified front bumperreinforcement. The shop’s tech didthe right thing—he compared thedamaged OE part to the A/M partand showed it to the owner. The wasa considerable weight difference be-tween the two parts. He ordered anOE part and sent the A/M part to me.

I purchased a new part and com-pared them. I found that A/M wasnot like, kind and quality. About thesame time, I received a bumper rein-forcement made by Diamond Stan-dard for a 2003 to 2008 ToyotaCorolla that was certified by NSF.

Again, I compared the two. Thiswas an OE part and it was extremelydifficult to distinguish between the

two parts. I thought that it was nec-essary to ship both sets of bumpersreinforcements to the CIC audience,so I sent all four parts to Salt LakeCity. While I was boxing up theparts, I had an A/M reinforcementsitting outside for the past year (Ilive in LA and we do not get muchrain) and I decided to throw it away.I cut it in half and what I saw turnedmy stomach. The entire inside of thereinforcement was filled with rust. Iincluded this part in my demonstra-tion.

In my presentation, I never men-tioned CAPA or NSF, but a memberof the audience stated that the frontbumper from Diamond Standard wascertified and I corrected my state-ment. I also thanked the AutomotiveBody Parts Association (ABPA) forthe effort in making sure that the partsthey sell can be traced. I think that isimportant for you to see what I pre-

sented so you can understand why Imade this subject matter part of mypresentation.

Let’s look at the Diamond Standardand OE front bumper reinforcements.

I proceeded to take a piece ofmetal out of both parts to check themetal strength with a metal analyzerfrom Europe (Bor-On).

The Diamond Standard part hada reading of 36.1 which translate toUltra High Strength Steel.


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Hey Toby!with Toby Chess

Toby Chess is an I-CAR program instructor, Welding specialist, and former salvage yardoperator. Toby is universally known in the collision industry for his charitable works,worthy causes, and magic tricks. He can be reached at [email protected]

Confusion over Certified Parts at CIC

The reading of the OE part was48.1 which translates to Ultra HighStrength Steel. Both parts were ultrahigh strength steel, but the OE parthad a higher strength. Also the OE hada series of ribs stamped into back sidewhereas the A/M did not. I put bothparts on a table at the CIC meetingand asked the audience to look at themand select the OE part. About half ofthe people misidentified the A/M partas the OE. A shop owner, who sits ofthe CAPA technical committee, toldme that the OE part was not an origi-nal equipment part, but a replacementpart and I should not be calling it anOE part (the only OE part comes onthe car).

The letter I received from CAPAstates the “CAPA has yet to see any re-inforcement bars or bumper parts thatmeet CAPA certification standards.” Arepresentative from a OE manufac-turer stated that the OE high strengthwas probably needed to pass the fed-

eral safety crash standards. Let’s lookat the A/M reinforcement with therust.

The part had some sort of finishon the inside end of the rail, but baresteel on the rest of the inside of therail. I asked a CIC participant “whatdoes rust do to the part?” His re-sponse was that the part was weak-ened. You don’t have to be anengineer to understand that if thestrength of the steel has deteriorted, itwill perform in different way. Thestrength category of this steel washigh strength-low alloy (slightlyhigher in strength than mild steel),where as the OE part was ultra highstrength steel.

Let’s look at the A/M HyundaiSonata Reinforcement.

The OE part is on the top andA/M is on the bottom. I asked anotherCIC participant to feel the weight dif-ference, which was considerable, andshe picked the OE because it washeavier. I compared the thickness ofboth parts and you can see that therewas a significant difference.

My question to everyone is this—If the OEMs can make a part that willmeet safety standards with a lesser


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See Certified Parts Confusion, Page 37

Some readers will remember that lastyear I built a Pinewood Derby modelcar, raced it at SEMA, and took sec-ond place. I told myself last year thatthis year I was going to really staywithin the traditional Pinewood Derbybuild using a single block of wood. A‘Celebrity Pinewood Derby’ build iswhat they were calling it. It’s all abouthaving fun and auctioning off the carsto benefit Childhelp and Victory Junc-tion Gang Camp. I’m all about chari-ties and fundraising and whatever Ican do to give back.

This year I decided to get creativeand came up with a pretty cool design.There are rules in Pinewood Derbyracing and building and so “maximumweight limit of this car cannot exceed24 ounces, overall length shall not ex-ceed 8˝ , overall width of the car shallnot exceed 2.75˝ including wheels.The car must have approximately 3/8˝clearance underneath the body of thecar, the car must have 4 wheels, allcars must display at least one HRIAdecal on the car.”

The organizers provide a basicpinewood car kit including a block ofwood, 4 wheels, and two axles. “Theonly required component is a piece ofthe wood block which must be visibleon the car. You are not required to useany wheels or axles provided. Anymaterials may be used for the body ofyour car.” So that’s cool, but for me,

for a Pinewood derby build, I want tostay traditional and use a hand tool tocarve it out. To me that’s the fun ofbuilding a pinewood derby car.

Last year I lost by like one inch,so I’ve got this crazy idea that I’mgoing to bring. I’m sure I’m going toraise a lot of commotion on “no, youcan’t do this, or can’t do that” but Ijust read the rules and I don’t see any-thing about this. It says no rules (ex-cept the following), so I’ve got thisidea where I’m going to have a pair ofheadlights that extend out. So thewhole idea behind that is when I’m upbehind the starting gate, the post isgoing to come up in the middle of thecar and I’m already going to have a 6inch lead.

So I’m going to use the oldschool way of building this, I’m goingto bring this car all the way up to 24ounces, as it is laid out in the rules. Sowhat I’m doing is carving out thebasic silhouette of the body, and thenI’m going to buy myself some leadweight, and with this car I’m going tomake it more of a flat, roadster style.You know, kind of create my ownbody and have fun with it, utilize thatcomplete piece of wood.

Obviously the piece of wood it-self doesn’t weigh 24 oz. so I’m goingto add lead underneath the car. I carvedit out and melt the lead into it and getit to where I’m at about 23 ounces,leaving about an ounce for the paint,additional hardware, and wheels. I’mgoing come as close to that 24 oz. as Ican. If I go over 24 ounces I can al-ways drill some weight out. For the

capsule I’m going to take half of adeep sea fishing weight cut in half.

I sanded it down and used a08115 body panel adhesive, whichsticks to wood, plastic, metal, alu-minum, lead, anything. It has a 24-hour dry period, but you can accelerateit with a heat gun. For my headlights,I’m going to use a manual antennaethat collapses (and extends). I foundone with a nice little round knob on itthat looks like a chrome headlight.

I’ve got everything carved out,I’ve got my antennaes ready to go, I’m

going to go back to the 08115 3Mpanel bond and I’m going to gluethose antennaes in. I run that panelbond around the lead so it fills in someof the gaps. Then I sand it with 80 grit,and give it a good 3 or 4 coats of mypreferred PCL Primer. I let it dry, thenguide coat it, sand it with some 150grit, re-guide coat it, and hit it with400 grit dry. I don’t want any mois-ture to get into the wood. Then sealerand base. The PCL Primer I’m usingis the 901 Poly Prime High Build andI’m shooting that with a SATA spray


This Year’s Entry for the SEMA Pinewood Derby 2011

Custom Cornerwith Rich Evans

Rich Evans is the owner of Huntington Beach Bodyworks and an award winning painter andfabricator. He offers workshops in repair and customization at his facility to share his uniquetalents. For contacts and design samples visit www.huntingtonbeachbodyworks.com

Specially crafted, uniquely designed pinewoodcars, built by a talented class of hot rodders,are featured in the HRIA Builders Challengerace held on July 29 in Long Beach, CA. Thesecreations will be on display at the SEMA Showbefore being placed on eBay for auction.

at www.autobodynews.com

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gun with a 1.9 tip. I’m also using a 3MRespirator, I’m not putting on the fullpaint suit because I’m only paintingan 8 inch by 2 inch piece of wood.

So, what am I going to do for thewheels? I’ve located some .0937 x .1875

x .0937 stainless steel precision bearings.Now I’ve got to hunt down wheels andI’m running out of time because I’mgoing out of town. I find a washer thatthis bearing will fit into. I want a biggerwheel so it doesn’t have to turn as muchto get moving. I’m using a washer sothere’s less drag when the car’s goingdown the track. The less contact with thetrack, the less drag you’re going to have.(Think train wheel.)

I use the 08115 Panel Bond andglue the bearing in, gluing two wash-ers together. Next year I’ll spend a lit-

tle more time on the wheels, but rightnow I’ve got to finish and make sure Ihave a car to race. So after gluing allthe washers together and the bearingsin. I’m using a stainless steel rod cutup to make axles about the size of a

nail. I’m need spacers to keep thewheels away from the body so I’mgoing to use heat-shrink tubing. Onthe very end I use a Staples’ push pinfor a hubcap because they’re chrome.I’m going to glue those in also withthe 08115 3M panel bond, and let thatdry. Then I’ll have the wheels ready toput on after I’ve completed my paint.

After sealing it, I put a black baseon it, I’ve got a my Rich Evans logofor brand awareness. It also gives thecar a finished look. I’m just going withblack, I’m not doing any two-tone or

any heavy graphics. Plain and simple,the car looks cool, it’s coming out theway I want it to. The best features on itare the headlights and the stainlesssteel washers, just like a poor boybuild, but, we’ll see how it performs.

The day of the race I’m going tobe in Canada so I’m sending a buddydown there to race it. Now I knowsome people will say “oh, you can’t dothat, (with the headlights)” but whenthere are “no rules, except...” You haveto push the limits to come up with anew design for anything. So, this yearthe Rich Evans entry is going to do it.Next year it might be in the rule booksthat you can’t, but this year I’m goingto innovate. I guarantee next year, ifit’s not ruled out, other people will bedoing it too. My design philosophy isto pay attention, learn something new,try to better yourself at what you do.Just have fun at what you’re doing.That’s what I do. It doesn’t matter ifit’s a small or big project. I’m alwaystaking on a design challenge. I hon-estly think I’ve never worked a day inmy life. I’m just having fun.

Mine and other design creationswill be on display at the HRIA boothduring the 2011 SEMA Show, No-

vember 1–4, in Las Vegas, beforebeing placed on eBay for public auc-tion. All of the proceeds from the auc-tion will go to the Childhelp andVictory Junction Camp children’scharities.

So what can be better? Guys lookinto this, bid on the cars, help thesecharities out, and we’ll have another ar-ticle for you next year on this. Hope-fully next year This year I was out ofthe country to go build a car in five daysin Canada. So I was just glad to be ableto get this in for a good cause and alsotake a little time away from real carsand have fun with the Pinewood Derby.Thanks to all my sponsors, I can’t buildcars without you: 3M, SATA Guns,HRIA Pinewood builders, and everyother builder out there that took time totake this challenge on, thank you.

Visit me at Richevansdesigns.com also like my Facebook page RichEvans Designs if you want to followmy week to week projects. Also visitHuntingtonBeachBodyWorks.com andwatch for my new wheels coming out.

UPDATE: Rich’s car took 2ndplace in the HRIA Builder’s Challengeon July 29. First place went to StreetVizions.


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CAPA Tracker Enables A/M PartTracing Regardless of SourceThe CAPA TRACKER provides colli-sion repairers with the ability to trace anyCAPA Certified part, regardless of whosold it to them. Developed over 7 yearsago, the program was in direct responseto collision repairer concern that if a po-tential safety-related problem was dis-covered with a CAPA Certified part thatthey’ve installed, how could they easilyaddress it. This repairer driven programkeeps the shops in control, protects theprivacy of their own personal part usage,and most importantly, enables them to betotally responsive to their customersshould a part problem be identified afterthe repair has been completed. The pro-gram tracks the unique number on everypart used for a specific repair. In the eventof a safety problem, CAPA can immedi-ately notify the specific repairer who usedthe part and also provide the means toidentify any irregularities with a numberreferenced by a repairer and preventcounterfeit CAPA Certified parts in themarket. Currently, repairers can privatelyregister their part usage by internet, faxor mail. CAPA is working with shops toidentify the types of tracking tools thatwould best suit their individual needs,such as an automatic recording systemwhich will involve ‘wanding’ the parts.

U.S. Sen. John D. Rockefeller, D-W.V.,chairman of the Senate CommerceCommittee, and Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., have introduced a bill in the Sen-ate titled the Motor Vehicle andHighway Safety Improvement Act of2011. The bill touches on several issuesrelevant to the collision industry, in-cluding broadening the authority of thesecretary of transportation to:● Conduct motor vehicle safety re-search, development, and testing pro-grams and activities, including new andemerging technologies that impact ormay impact motor vehicle safety,● Collect and analyze all types of motorvehicle and highway safety data and re-lated information to determine the rela-tionship between motor vehicle ormotor vehicle equipment performancecharacteristics.

The legislation requires that theU.S. DOT conduct a study of crash datacollection and report, after one year, toa Senate Committee and to the HouseCommittee on the quality of data col-lected through the National AutomotiveSampling System, including the Spe-cial Crash Investigations Program. Theadministrator of NHTSA will then con-duct a comprehensive review of thedata elements collected from each crash

to determine if additional data shouldbe collected. This review will includeinput from interested parties, includingsuppliers, automakers, safety advo-cates, the medical community and re-search organizations.

Another section, titled “NHTSAElectronics, Software and EngineeringExpertise,” discusses efforts to furtherexplore green methods, including acouncil to research the inclusion ofemerging lightweight plastic and com-posite technologies in motor vehicles toincrease fuel efficiency, lower emis-sions, meet fuel economy standards,and enhance passenger motor vehiclesafety through continued use of the ad-ministration’s Plastic and CompositeIntensive Vehicle Safety Roadmap.

Finally, the bill requires that “Ve-hicle Event Data Recorders” include in-formation regarding vehicle datarecorders and privacy provisions spec-ifications. Beginning with model year2015, new passenger motor vehiclessold in the United States are to beequipped with a vehicle event datarecorder. The language includes thatany data in an event data recorder, re-gardless of when the passenger motorvehicle in which it is installed wasmanufactured, is the property of the

owner or lessee of the passenger motorvehicle in which the data recorder is in-stalled. It also states that data recordedor transmitted by such a data recordermay not be retrieved by a person otherthan the owner or lessee of the motorvehicle unless:● a court authorizes retrieval of the in-formation in furtherance of a legal pro-ceeding,● the owner or lessee consents to the re-trieval of the information for any pur-pose, including the purpose ofdiagnosing, servicing or repairing themotor vehicle,● the information is retrieved pursuantto an investigation or inspection au-thorized under section 30166 of title 49,United States Code, and the personallyidentifiable information of the owner,lessee or driver of the vehicle and thevehicle identification number is not dis-closed in connection with the retrievedinformation,● or the information is retrieved for thepurpose of determining the need for, orfacilitating, emergency medical re-sponse in response to a motor vehiclecrash.

To view the full text of this bill,visit ASA’s legislative website atwww.TakingTheHill.com.

Vehicle Safety Bill With Data Collection Relevant to Repairers Introduced in U.S. Senate

strength material, don’t you think thatthey would? As the strength of thesteel increases, so does the cost. Yoube the judge.

I have a few more questions—Why do repairers have to be the betatesters for these substandard parts? Arethe repairers being compensated fortheir time and expense in testing theseparts? Are repairers being penalized forgreater cycle times for installing theparts, taking off the parts, sending theparts back and ordering different parts?

I have been told by a number ofshops that a particular national insurerwill not allow a shop to substitute an OE

part for the aftermarket part even thoughthe OE has priced matched the aftermar-ket price. WHY? What can repairers do?

Next month, you will be able topost on Facebook-type blog any after-market or OE parts that do not fit,have poor quality or are not of like,kind, and quality. You are probably al-ready taking pictures of these parts, soit will be a snap to add them to theblog page. More to come in the nextissue of Autobody News.


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Mitchell International released theirthird quarter Industry Trends Reportthis month; the report focused on gasprices and their affect on car-buyingand car value trends. This issue alsodiscusses how volatile and sustainedhigh fuel prices are impacting insur-ance claims beyond a reduction inmiles driven.

Vice president of industry rela-tions for Mitchell International GregHorn talks about the role gas pricesplay in resale values of vehicles fromfuel-efficient to so-called gas guzzlers.

“Fuel efficient vehicles tend torise more quickly and reliably in valueduring periods of high gas prices thangas guzzlers, which fall in value,”Horn said in the report.

The insurance and collision re-pair industries need the accuracy of atrue market survey method for valu-ing a total loss because constantlyfluctuating fuel prices move too fast,with too great an impact, for slowertraditional ‘book value’ valuations toaccurately reflect the true actual cashvalue of total loss vehicles.”

Other valuable points of interest

in the current issue of Mitchell’s ITRinclude:

Mitchell’s Q2-2011 data reflectan initial average gross Collision ap-praisal value of $2,761-$90 less thanthis same period last year. However,applying the indicated developmentfactor of 9% suggests a final Q2-2011 average gross collision ap-praisal value of $3,008. The averageActual Cash Value (ACV) of vehi-cles appraised for Collision lossesduring Q2-2011 was $13,705-an in-crease of $500 over the same periodlast year.

In Q2-2011, the average grossappraisal value for Comprehensivecoverage estimates processed throughMitchell servers was $2,854-com-pared to $2,625 in Q2-2010. Applyingthe prescribed development factor of1% for this data set produces an in-crease in the adjusted value to $2,883-reflecting the strong storm seasonwith many hail claims.

For more information aboutMitchell, visit www.mitchell.com.

To view the entire report pleasevisit www.autobodynews.com.

Mitchell Releases Industry Trends Report for Q3 of 2011Continued from Page 33

Certified Parts Confusion

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an action.Thus the court was forced to

make three separate but intertwineddecisions:

First, did Progressive act improp-erly?

Second, if they did act improp-erly, were those actions of the kindcontemplated by the Consumer Pro-tection Law?

And third, if Progressive actedimproperly and those improper ac-tions violated the consumer protectionlaw, did the fact that those actions alsoviolate the Insurance Law matter?

As explained below, the courtdisagreed with each of Progressive’sarguments and denied Progressive’smotion to dismiss. (Dennis Artese,Esq., of the firm of Anderson, Kill &Olick, authored the legal papers sub-mitted on behalf of North State andthe decision issued by the court couldnot have been possible without the im-mense effort and dedication of Mr.Artese and the Anderson, Kill & Olickfirm.)

III. Did Progressive act improperly inviolation of the Consumer ProtectionLaw?In response to this question, NorthState submitted evidence obtainedfrom its customers that Progressiveused deceptive and misleading tac-tics in order to bully consumers intohaving their cars repaired at its DRPshops. This evidence included testi-mony from North State customerschronicling the lies and misrepre-sentations made by Progressive’semployees about North State. NorthState also relied upon similar caseswhere Insurance Companies hadbeen found guilty of violating NewYork’s Consumer Protection Lawsas well as on the decision in the mat-ter entitled MVB Collision v. All-state, where a Federal Court foundthat actions such as disparagingstatements, intentionally declaringvehicles a total loss and “steering”were deceptive practices as contem-plated by the Consumer ProtectionStatute. (Here a special thank youand expression of appreciation mustgo out to the owners of Mid-IslandCollision in Long Island, New York,as well as to their Counsel, for ob-

taining this extremely important de-cision.)

After viewing the evidence sub-mitted by both sides, the court held:“North State has submitted evidencethat Progressive employees madedisparaging, untrue statements to itsinsured’s concerning North State, inconnection with the DRP, that causedPlaintiff to lose customers and thatsuch evidence of misrepresentations,made in connection with its DRP, anestablished program involving bil-lions of dollars and thousands ofconsumer-insured’s was sufficient toviolate the consumer protectionstatute”.

Thus having dispensed with thequestion of whether Progressive’s actscould be deemed deceptive and mis-leading in violation of the ConsumerProtection Law, and answering thatquestion with a resounding ‘YES,’ thecourt turned to the question ofwhether North State had a right tomake such a claim at all.

IV. Are North State’s claims barred bythe Insurance Law?As stated above, Progressive pre-dictably relied upon the argument that

North State’s consumer protection ac-tion was simply a veiled “steering”claim which was barred by NewYork’s Insurance Law. This argumenthas been made by insurance compa-nies in nearly every jurisdiction (seethe California “Hughes v. Progres-sive” case at www.autobodynews.com) and in fact Progressive had beensuccessful in making this same argu-ment in New York in another matterinvolving MVB Collision. (See MVBCollision v. Progressive, NassauCounty, New York).

After viewing all of the evidencesubmitted in this case however, thecourt disagreed with Progressive andheld that because an insurer’s misrep-resentations to its insured’s as part ofa broad DRP is enough to violate theconsumer protection laws, the fact thatthose misrepresentations also violatethe Insurance Law does not stop thecollision repairer from being allowedto bring an action against the insur-ance company.

The court again looked to theMVB Collision v. Allstate case forguidance when it wrote: “With respectto the argument that the plaintiff’scause of action was really a disguised


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North State v. Progressive

steering claim, the Allstate Court held:Here, by contrast, there is evidence ofa free-standing claim of deceptive-ness’ that simply happens to overlap’with a claim under the Insurance Law.The alleged scheme to dissuade All-state insured’s from going to Mid Is-land involved not only steering butalso, inter alia, alleged defamatorycomments. Thus, because plaintiff’s §349 claim merely happens to overlap’with provisions of New York Insur-ance Law, it is not an improper at-tempt to circumvent the lack of aprivate right of action under the In-surance Law.”

II. What does it all mean?So what does the North State case,MVB v. Allstate and Hughes v. Pro-gressive mean for the collision repairindustry today?

First, the cases show that individ-ual repair shops and the industry as awhole now have a means to combatthe illegal steering practices so long astaple of the insurance industry. By as-serting your rights as a consumerunder your state’s consumer protectionlaws, you as a business now have themeans to stop improper steering as

soon as you become aware of the prac-tice. While lawsuits can be expensive,the costs of a suit pale in comparisonto the amount of business that a shoploses at the hands of illegal steering.Further, now that the precedents arebeing set, attorneys in your state willbe much more willing to bring an ac-tion on your behalf which should bringlitigation costs down as well.

Second, but perhaps even morecritical is the fact that as a result ofthese and other lawsuits, there arenow a growing number of legalprecedents that are establishing ex-actly what constitutes improper, de-ceptive and illegal steering activitiesin the insurer-collision repairer rela-tionship. For example, the court in theNorth State case took great pains todefine what it considered “improperconduct” to be and looked to the ear-lier MVB Collision case for help incrafting its definition. The practice iscalled “setting and defining prece-dent” and it is the way in which ourlaws and our society develop overtime. Thus, cases like North State v.Progressive and MVB Collision v.Allstate are actually helping to definewhat it is an insurance company can

and cannot do when interacting with acollision repair business and the im-portance of these and other cases likethem cannot be overstated.

In the end, the conflict betweenthe independent repairer and the in-surance industry will of course con-tinue. However, the legal precedentsnow set by North State v. Progressiveand other matters are working towardestablishing the legal and practicalboundaries within which an insurancecompany may conduct itself.

Anthony J. Mamo is an attorneypracticing in Westchester County NewYork. He specializes in litigation onbehalf of individuals and small busi-nesses particularly in the collision re-pair industry. He has been involvedwith the representation of North StateCustom since 2005. He may be con-tacted by email at Mamolawfirm.comor by phone at (914) 631-5050.


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gree consumer confidence will drop re-mains uncertain,” he explained.

“The plunge in the market is anemotional reaction to the S&P creditdowngrade. Although the recent marketdrop has been a rather severe correction,the Dow still remains higher than whenit steeply dropped in 2008, so we do notthink it will have a long-term or signifi-cant impact to consumer confidence as itrelates to auto purchasing,” Gutierrezcontinued. Explaining the purchase de-lays in more detail, he went on to notethat because of the inventory and incen-tive dearth in the auto industry, con-sumers are holding off on buying. Theseshoppers may just stick it out a bit longer.

“In the short-term, this new declinein consumer confidence may cause evenmore shoppers to delay their purchasesfor the next several weeks/months, asthey wait for the market to stabilize.Kelley Blue Book expects that autosales and production will increase whenJapanese automaker production in-creases in 4Q,” Gutierrez said.

Likewise, over at TrueCar.com,analyst Jesse Toprak offered what maybe some reassurance. He emphasizedthat conditions are ideal for consumersto make vehicle purchases.


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autobody news september 2011 southeast edition

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