midwestern december 2014 issue

by John Yoswick

The biggest collision industry newsduring SEMA week in Las Vegas lastmonth got all of five minutes at theCollision Industry Conference (CIC).

Kris Mayer of General Motorstook no questions at CIC after the au-tomaker’s announcement that week thatit would be discontinuing the publica-tion of list prices for crash parts, in favorof MyPriceLink.com, a new, online andreal-time pricing system that would al-ways quote “competitive prices.”

Coming just three weeks before thechange was initially going to go into ef-

fect, the announce-ment stunned manydealers, shops andinsurers.

“We know it’sdisruptive. We aretaking that into ac-count. We knowwhat those disrup-tive points are,”Mayer said at CIC.“Every single work-flow disruption thatwe’ve come acrosswe have a possible

Andy’s Autobody in Alton, IL, held their7th annual complimentary Thanksgiv-ing Dinner for those in need on the af-ternoon of Nov. 22 at the Knights ofColumbus in Alton. Meals began beingserved at 11 a.m. and were served until2 p.m. for local less fortunate residents.

For the last two years Andy’s has part-nered with the First Unitarian Church ofAlton to make the event a success.

Mark Anderson, owner of Andy’sAutobody, said the idea came to himfrom one of his employees and his wife.The lunch is not specifically organizedfor homeless residents or for those in thearea who are in financial turmoil. Ac-cording to Anderson, lunch is served forthe less fortunate in the area.

“It’s for people who don’t haveanybody, sometimes they don’t havefamily in town or money for dinner, orthey just want to hangout,” Andersonsaid.

Alton, IL’s Andy’s Autobody Serves ThanksgivingDinner to “People Who Don’t Have Anybody”

Final 2014 CIC Meeting Includes GM Parts PricingAnnouncement, Human Resources Quiz

See Andy’s Autobody, Page 4

See Final 2014 CIC Meeting, 8

Kris Mayer ofGeneral Motors

announces that thecompany will bediscontinuing thepublication of listprices for crash

parts. Photo credit:John Yoswick

GM Pauses MyPriceLink.com ImplementationGeneral Motors announced on Nov. 10that it had paused its MyPriceLink.comprogram that was launched a week ear-lier. See other cover story this issue.According to GM, the decision wasbased on industry feedback to enhanceand streamline the workflow for allcollision industry partners.

MyPriceLink.com is a free auto-mated “real-time” pricing programthat will provide Genuine GM colli-sion parts to the market that are com-petitively priced “up-front” at theinitial repair estimate.

The company said the repair fa-cilities will have access to GenuineGM Parts at the best available priceand in timely manner.

“For our GM dealers to be morecompetitive in the estimate writingprocess, we are going on the offensivewith our collision parts pricing. Ourobjective is to quote the most compet-itive OEM list price the first time, re-ducing supplements and adjustments,while at the same time improvingcycle time for repairers, insurers andultimately the customer,” said KrisMayer, General Director, WholesaleDealer Channel. GM said it has re-

ceived overwhelming interest and sup-port for its best price forward pricingstrategy from all constituents through-out the collision repair industry.

By providing the price up frontin the estimating process, GM said itcan continue to focus on helping thecustomer, allowing the vehicle to bereturned to pre-accident condition,with original parts, ensuring safetyand appearance.

Since GM announced this newprogram, the company said the work-flow pressures on outside parties hasbrought to light enhanced solutionsand the increased desire for integra-tion opportunities.

In the interim, GM will resumethe publishing of list price untilMyPriceLink.com is implemented.GM expects to have a fully function-ing dynamic pricing process throughMyPriceLink.com by early 2015.

GM said it appreciates the inter-est and support MyPriceLink.comhas received and looks forward tocollaborating with all constituents inthe collision repair industry to imple-ment the new way in which GM listprices will be obtained.

by Stacey Phillips, Assistant Editor

Nearly 500 collision repair shops acrossthe country have now joined the anti-trust Multi-District Litigation originallyfiled by five states in April against thenation’s top insurers. Over the pastmonth lawsuits have been filed againstinsurance companies in the additionalstates as part of “The Movement” bybody shops to take back control of theindustry. Recent reports have stated thatbody shops in at least 35 states turned inpaperwork by the Oct. 31 deadline.

When Autobody News con-tacted lead attorney John Eaves, Jr.to learn the results of the most recentcourt hearing scheduled on Nov. 14 inOrlando, he reported that the judgetook the hearing under advisement.

“This whole thing is not about usbody shops. This is about the con-

sumer,” said Ron Perretta, owner ofProfessionals Autobody Body in Penn-sylvania. As an active participant in“The Movement,” he said, “What thisis doing is it’s not allowing the bodyshop to fix consumers’ cars properly.This isn’t about us.”

Perretta and Tony Passwater,Executive Director of the Indiana Au-tobody Association and President ofAEII Consulting Services, have trav-eled across the country talking toshops and helping them understand“The Movement.”

“We believe that direct repairneeds to stop. Direct repair is nothingmore than something that was formedto be able to control our industry,”said Perretta. “The direct repair wasnot formed to make it easier, better,quicker for the consumer.”

More Lawsuits Filed in Additional States AgainstNation’s Top Insurers

See MDL and Insurers, Page 8

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Publisher & Editor: Jeremy HayhurstGeneral Manager: Barbara DaviesAssistant Editor: Stacey PhillipsOnline Editor: Victoria AntonelliContributing Writers: Tom Franklin,John Yoswick, Janet Chaney, Toby Chess,David Brown, Rich Evans, Ed Attanasio,Chasidy Sisk, David LuehrAdvertising Sales: Joe Momber, SeanHartman, Bill Doyle, Norman Morano(800) 699-8251Sales Assistant: Louise TedescoArt Director: Rodolfo Garcia

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Audi Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 31Automotive International . . . . . . . . . 17BMW Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 27Bumper Smith Nitrogen WeldingStation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Car-Part.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18CarcoonAmerica Airflow Systems . 21Certified Automotive PartsAssociation (CAPA). . . . . . . . . . . 11

Charles Gabus Ford . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38DJS Fabrications, Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . 40Erhard BMW of Bloomfield Hills . . . 12Erhard BMW of Farmington Hills . . 12GM Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . 30Graham Auto Mall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Hall Volkswagen-Mazda . . . . . . . . . . 8Honda-Acura Wholesale PartsDealers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24-25

Hyundai Wholesale Parts Dealers . 34Jake Sweeney Chevrolet . . . . . . . . 10Kia Wholesale Parts Dealers. . . . . . 36

Laurel Auto Group of Westmont . . . 15Lexus Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 39Loaner & Rental Insurance byNorthland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Luther Hopkins Honda . . . . . . . . . . 20Maplewood Toyota-Scion . . . . . . . . 23Mazda Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 35Mercedes-Benz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7MINI Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . 27Mitsubishi Wholesale PartsDealers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

MOPAR Wholesale Parts Dealers . . 29Morrison’s Auto Parts . . . . . . . . . . . 14SATA Spray Equipment . . . . . . . . . . 5Subaru Wholesale Parts Dealers . . 33Toyota of Des Moines . . . . . . . . . . . 19Toyota of Grand Rapids . . . . . . . . . 26Toyota Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . 32Valspar Automotive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Volkswagen Wholesale PartsDealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

West Bend Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Inde

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ContentsREGIONAL

Alton, IL’s Andy’s Autobody Serves

Thanksgiving Dinner to “People Who

Don’t Have Anybody”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Date Set for CREF’s 2015 Summer Golf

Fundraiser in MI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Four Charged with Classic Car Insurance

Scam, Wire Fraud in KY . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Mitchell Hosted Auto Body Shop

Bootcamp in IL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Service King Acquires Ohio’s International

Collision Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Sherwin-Williams & Richard Childress

Racing Debuted Off-Road Series Truck. . 4

Sisk - IABA Presents $500 Merit Awards

to Two Local Schools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Sisk - Iowa Automotive Recyclers

Association Recognized as ARA’s

2014 Affiliate Chapter of the Year . . . . . 26

COLUMNISTS

Attanasio - California Autobody

Association Gets a New Web Site

with Better Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Attanasio - Car Giveaways Become Regular

Monthly Events at G&C Auto Body . . . . 22

Attanasio - NABC Gives Away Four Cars

at Annual SEMA Luncheon. . . . . . . . . . 32

Franklin - Autobody Associations—A Great

Source of Marketing Information . . . . . 33

Luehr - Competing with MSO

Consolidation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Yoswick - Prevailing Practices, Doing

Business on Internet, 2-Way

Estimating, Steering Suits . . . . . . . . . . 28

Yoswick - SCRS OEM Technology Event

Includes Plenty of Focus on Aluminum

Repair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

NATIONAL

3M Automotive Adhesives Used to

Repair 2015 Ford F-150. . . . . . . . . . . . 36

ABRA Helps Raise $18,000 for Children’s

Hospital Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

ACD Adds Collision Select to AutoLink™

Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Acura TLX Earns Top Safety Pick+ Award . 39

Aleris Breaks Ground on $350 Million

Aluminum Auto Body Sheet Plant in KY. . 6

Attanasio - New Product Showcase

Winners a Big Hit at SEMA. . . . . . . . . . 34

Attanasio - WD-40/PowerNation Jeep

Debuts at SEMA 2014 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Auto Care Association Releases 2014

Digital Collision Repair Trends Report. . 39

Automotive Lift Institute Elects 2015 Board . 9

BASF Glasurit and R-M Paint Earn

Awards at SEMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

CarMax Returns to AutoTrader &

Cars.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Car-O-Liner Launches CTR7™ Resistance

Spot Welder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

CCC’s Parts Shopping through

CCC ONE® Touch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Copart Donates to CREF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Creating Engaging Consumer Videos for

Marketing with Kristen Felder . . . . . . . . 35

Final 2014 CIC Meeting Includes GM Parts

Pricing Announcement, Human

Resources Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Ford, Chrysler, and GM Approve DeBeer

Refinish Waterbase 900+ Series by

Valspar Automotive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Four Collision Schools Awarded GEICO

Grants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

GM Demonstrated Rail Saver Repair

System at SEMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

GM Pauses MyPriceLink.com

Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

I-CAR’s 2015 Ford F-150 Training

and Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Matrix Hosts “Artists 4 Education”

Auction at SEMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

More Lawsuits Filed in Additional States

Against Nation’s Top Insurers . . . . . . . . 1

NAPA/Martin Senour Unveil Custom 1966

Mustang at SEMA 2014 . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Patent Case: Allegations of Gaining

Information from Password-Protected

Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

PPG Launches New Clearcoat and Latest

Branded Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Pro Spot Gives Autobody News a

Facility Tour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Quest Hires Former Martin Senour

Product Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

SEMA 2014 Entertains, Informs and

Wows the Crowd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Service King Raises $112,000 for

Breast Cancer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Sherwin-Williams Donates $170,000

in Products to CREF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Valspar Automotive & House of Kolor

Make a Splash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

www.autobodynews.com | DECEMBER 2014 AUTOBODY NEWS 3

Service King Raises $112,000 for Breast Cancer Service King Collision Repair Cen-ters and its teammates raised morethan $112,000 in support of the Na-tional Breast Cancer FoundationInc.® (NBCF) during the month ofOctober.

Service King pledged to matchteammate donations to NBCF duringits National Breast Cancer Aware-ness Month initiative. In an over-whelming and inspiring response,teammates from across the countryrallied to raise $56,000 to support thecause.

“The response from our team-mates was truly inspirational,” saidChris Abraham, Service King CEO.“Breast cancer touches countlesslives in so many ways. We are hon-ored to come together as a family andraise funds for the National BreastCancer Foundation and its mission toraise awareness and find a cure.”

Throughout the month of Octo-ber, Service King encouraged team-mates at its locations nationwide toraise awareness by wearing Elimi-nate Breast Cancer t-shirts and pinkwristbands. Service King also sharedmessages of hope with its customersby including pink warranty packages

and mirror hangers in each vehiclerepaired.

Additionally, Service King hon-ored its teammates who had person-ally been affected by breast cancerthrough its “Faces of Breast Cancer”series, hosted on its social mediaplatforms and new blog, The ServiceAdvisor.

“Service King’s dedication andsupport of our mission to help womennow has truly been inspiring,” saysNBCF Co-Founder & CEO, JanelleHail. “The funds raised by ServiceKing will help us provide thousandsof free early detection services forwomen in all 50 states.”

Service King and the NBCF’s ef-forts focused primarily on raisingearly detection awareness. The fundsraised will help the NBCF provide ed-ucation and support services, as wellas early detection services through theNational Mammography Program,which offers free diagnostic screen-ings to under-served women acrossthe country.

To learn more about ServiceKing and NBCF’s partnership duringBreast Cancer Awareness Month,visit The Service Advisor.


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Sherwin-Williams & Richard Childress Racing DebutedOff-Road Series TruckSherwin-Williams Automotive Fin-ishes, headquartered in WarrensvilleHeights, OH, held a press conferenceat SEMA on November 6 to an-nounce another partnership with

Richard Childress Racing. Racinglegend Richard Childress presentedand displayed the first of only 25Off-Road Signature Series custompick-up trucks.

The vehicle was built in tandemwith American Luxury Coach andfeatures a one-of-a-kind Ducks Un-

limited® Richard Childress Racing-inspired trim package. It also sportsa special matte black finish by Sher-win-Williams Automotive Finishes.

In addition to the special truckunveiling, the Sherwin-Williams Au-tomotive Finishes booth featured anumber of other activities for colli-sion shop professionals, jobbers andautomotive, including:● The new Rod & Restoration cus-tom color deck made from a series ofautomotive paints containing highlyreflective additives.● A custom 1970 Plymouth ‘Cuda.designed by Bair Customs of Ft.Wayne, IN, featuring a 426ci HemiV8, producing over 600 hp. TheHemi is equipped with dual quadsand a nostalgic Shaker hood, and itis painted with Sherwin-Williams“In Violet” OE Exact Color MatchClassic color PCCL22 from the newRod & Restoration deck.● A 289 FIA Cobra designed by Fac-tory Five Racing based off the origi-nal racing legend Cobra, painted withSherwin-Williams “Vintage RaceBlue” (color FACFIVE7) and “WhiteLightning” (color FACFIVE7) anddetailed with a stripe in “Venom Yel-low” (color FACFIVE12).

The first of only 25 Off-Road SignatureSeries custom pick-up trucks, this vehiclefeatures the Ducks Unlimited RichardChildress Racing-inspired trim packageand a SWAF matte black finish

Mitchell, a leading provider of tech-nology, connectivity and informationsolutions to the Property & Casualtyclaims and Collision Repair industries,hosted a local auto body shop boot-camp for repair shops in Naperville,IL on Nov. 18. The one-day traininghelped local repair shop owners un-derstand the latest technologies andstrategies that some of the leadingshops are using in the industry.

Shop owners and industry lead-ers came together to discuss theevolving landscape of the repair in-dustry. Whether companies wonderedhow to market their businesses intoday’s mobile world or how to im-prove cycle time without having toadd more technicians, the one-daytraining offered tools to take a shop tothe next level and build for the future.The bootcamp featured the following:● How to get more cars and revenuein a consolidating marketplace● How to improve cycle and touch time● Future of IT in the collision industry● Length of rental, how it affects yourbusiness and how to control it● How to increase gross profit on paintand materials● Changing vehicle technology andthe impact on the collision industry

Mitchell Hosted Auto BodyShop Bootcamp in IL

ABRA Auto Body & Glass helped raise$18,000 during the second annual For-est Park Charity Golf Tournament tobenefit St. Louis Children’s Founda-tion. More than 100 golfers and guestsgathered at Forest Park Golf Course inSaint Louis, MO, on September 24 tosupport the foundation.

“We are incredibly grateful forthe support of ABRA Auto Body &Glass,” said Janice Bailey, VP of thefoundation. “This golf tournament isa perfect example of how an organi-zation can turn a fun event into some-thing that can make a real impact onthe lives of our patients.”

The golf event is part of thefoundation's initiative to fund its ex-pansion and enhancement of itsservices, upgrade and renovate fa-cilities and develop new programs tosupport the health of children.

“We are privileged to supportSt. Louis Children’s Hospital Foun-dation with their pediatric programsthat are an integral part in improvingchildren’s health,” said Peterson San-tos, Regional VP of ABRA.

ABRA Helps Raise $18,000 forChildren’s Hospital Foundation

The Knight of Columbus has al-ways been the location for the event,which is put on annually on the Satur-day before Thanksgiving. However,according to Anderson, it took a fewyears to finally develop a schedule forthe event.

“We tried it on the Saturday afterThanksgiving at first, but sometimespeople have plans,” Anderson said.

“The first couple of years it took awhile for us to find our niche market.”

The lunch usually sees close to300 local residents who come in to geta Thanksgiving meal. Andy’s pur-chases 20 turkeys for the event, halfof them are fried and half of them arebaked. A cook from the Alton schoolsystem assists with the event. Accord-ing to Anderson the cook has famil-iarity cooking for the masses andhelps determine the amount of food topurchase.

Thanks to thetelegraph.com.

Continued from Cover

Andy’s Autobody

www.a

www.autobodynews.comCHECK IT OUT!


The Collision Repair EducationFoundation’s (CREF) annual summergolf fundraiser will take place Wed.,July 22, 2015 in Detroit, MI at theArnold Palmer designed NorthvilleHills Golf Club. This fundraiser takesplace in conjunction with the Colli-sion Industry Conference (CIC) andNACE industry meetings being heldthat week in Detroit. Sponsorship op-portunities are available and attendeeregistration is set to open after thenew year.

CREF Director of DevelopmentBrandon Eckenrode noted, “Weare excited to be returning to Detroit

for our 14th annual summer golffundraiser which has raised over$300,000 for collision students andschools since 2009. As this year’sfundraiser will be held on Wednes-day afternoon of industry week, weanticipate the event to be sold out bythe spring and encourage industryparticipation through sponsorship,registration (when available), anddonating items for our silent auc-tion/raffle table.”

Those interested in sponsoring thefundraiser should contact Eckenrode at:[email protected]/ 847-463-5244.

Date Set for CREF’s 2015 Summer Golf Fundraiser in MI


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by Ralph B. Davis, The Floyd County Times

Four Floyd County, KY, residentsface federal conspiracy and wirefraud charges, after being accused ofa scheme to insure eight classic carsfor more than they were worth, thencash in on the policies after destroy-ing them over eight-months.

Charles Ray Tackett, MichaelRay Tackett, Lou Teresa Tackettand Anna Grace McGuire were in-dicted on Nov. 6, each charged with asingle count of wire fraud conspiracy.In addition, Charles, Michael andMcGuire each face three counts ofwire fraud. According to the indict-ment, the four were engaged in a con-spiracy to collect payouts for cars thatwere worth far less than claimed ontheir insurance policies.

“To carry out this scheme, mem-bers of the conspiracy obtained or at-tempted to obtain insurance on antiqueor classic vehicles, each under thefraudulent pretense that the vehicleshad been fully restored by Harold AutoBody and were worth significantlymore than their actual value,” the in-dictment alleges. “In reality, the vehi-cles had not been restored by HaroldAuto Body. After the vehicles were de-stroyed in fires, members of the con-

spiracy sought to collect money for theloss of the vehicles from the insurancecarriers.”

Charles is alleged to have been theregistered owner of a 1971 CadillacDeville and a 1972 Oldsmobile whichwere destroyed in a Dec. 5, 2009 garagefire. Prior to their destruction, he in-sured the vehicles based on full restora-tion estimates from Harold Auto Bodytotalling $65,200. No work was per-formed on either vehicle.

Lou is alleged to have been theregistered owner of a 1987 Ford F-150, which she insured based on a fullrestoration estimate of $33,800. Louthen sold the vehicle to McGuire, whoalso allegedly owned a 1978 MonteCarlo and 1979 Trans Am, which sheinsured based on estimates totalling$65,650. Despite the nearly $100,000in estimates, the indictment allegesthat the only work performed on anyof the vehicles was a repair on theTrans Am’s fender, totalling $150. Allthree vehicles were destroyed in ahouse fire May 16, 2010.

Michael is alleged to have beenthe registered owner of a 1972 Chev-elle, a 1980 Triumph Spitfire and a1980 Firebird. Those vehicles were in-sured based on estimates totalling$117,300, but no work was performed

on any of the vehicles. Those three ve-hicles were destroyed in a July 28,2010 fire.

The conspiracy charge resultsfrom four allegedly planning and car-rying out the scheme. The wire fraudcharges against Charles, Michael andMcGuire are the result of telephonecalls the three allegedly made to the in-surance companies. If convicted, eachcharge carries a sentence of up to 20years in prison and $250,000 in fines,as well as restitution, if applicable. Thedefendants were scheduled to appear incourt on Nov. 14 to answer the charges.

Four Charged with Classic Car Insurance Scam, Wire Fraud in KY

Aleris Breaks Ground on $350 Million AluminumAuto Body Sheet Plant in KYAleris broke ground on an expansionof its facility in Lewisport, KY, onOct. 29. The company is investing$350 million to equip the facilitywith additional heat treatment andfinishing capabilities to producewide aluminum auto body sheet forthe automotive industry.

Aleris is currently a leadingsupplier to the European premiumauto industry, which has led to thetransition to aluminum driven bytighter emissions standards.

“This groundbreaking marks thebeginning of the next milestone in ourglobal automotive strategy to expandour capabilities in North America asthe automotive industry turns tobroader aluminum use to produce ve-hicles that are more lightweight,” saidSteve Demetriou, Aleris Chairmanand CEO. “We have a strong and tal-ented team in Lewisport that has beenan important part of the communityfor 50 years, and we couldn’t havemade this happen in Kentucky with-out the outstanding support of its localand state officials.”

The company expects to beginconstruction on the project this fall,with a goal of shipping automotivebody sheet material to customers by

early 2017. When fully operational,the new facility will allow for theproduction of 480 million pounds ofaluminum auto body sheet annually.

The company’s investment willinclude the addition of heat treat-ment and finishing capabilities, in-cluding a new wide cold mill, twocontinuous annealing lines and anautomotive innovation center.

Including Lewisport, the com-pany has 11 rolled aluminum prod-ucts facilities in North America, themajority of which serve buildingand construction, truck-trailer andmetal distribution customers. Uponcompletion of the facility’s upgrade,Lewisport will be the company’sfirst site in North America that isequipped with aluminum auto bodysheet finishing capabilities.

Aleris is a privately held, globalleader in aluminum rolled productsand extrusions, aluminum recyclingand specification alloy production.The company serves a number of di-verse industries including aerospace,automotive, defense, building & con-struction, industrial, and commercialtransportation. Headquartered inCleveland, OH, Aleris operates morethan 40 production facilities.

Car-O-Liner, based in Wixom, MI,announced a new addition to theirproduct line, the CTR7, a mid-rangeresistance spot welder. Car-O-Linerdebuted the CTR7 Resistance SpotWelder at SEMA.

“The CTR7 is a great addi-tion to our total solutions package.This semi-automatic welder withfeatures like the optional Weld-logger™ for documentation ofwelding data is perfect for shopsthat need a machine for quick re-pairs” said Doug Bortz, NationalSales Manager for Car-O-Liner.“The portable design is ideal forspace savings and the ease of mo-bility will allow for repairs to becompleted wherever needed in theshop.”

The CTR7 is a liquid-cooledmachine with welding currents upto 12,000 amps. The company saidthe unique product design makes iteasy to maneuver and an alu-minum, telescopic support arm ad-justs horizontally and vertically forflexibility with welding operations.Also, transformer gun technologyallows for a 20-foot working rangeand there is a seven-inch color dis-play.

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After 35 years in the business,Perretta said he has never seen the in-dustry in this state. “I grew up in thisindustry taking pride in what I do,doing safe, quality repairs. That’s whatthey’re trying to take away from us be-cause it’s cheaper to do it that way,”said Perretta. “But they are putting theconsumer at risk because of the waythese repairs are being done.”

Perretta acknowledges that manyshop owners are fearful that the insur-ers will steer work away from them.“They’re scared for their families be-cause if they don’t have work, thentheir families can’t eat.”

However, he said shops have achoice. “They can either do it the rightway or do it the wrong way. There’s no inbetween. But when they choose to do itthe wrong way, they’ve made that choice.”

State Farm Responds to MDL“We anticipated the possibility of ad-ditional litigation similar to what hadbeen previously filed, given the dead-line for filing these complaints,” saidDick Luedke, spokesperson for StateFarm Insurance. “State Farm is a de-

fendant along with dozens of other in-surers in the litigation relating to is-sues that have been raised by someauto body repair facilities.”

Luedke said State Farm has excel-lent working relationships with thou-sands of body shops across the countryand they serve millions of customerswho consistently indicate their satisfac-tion with their handling of claims. Hesaid the just-released American Cus-tomer Satisfaction Index from the Uni-versity of Michigan rates State Farmabove all other national insurance com-panies. In addition, he said the companyhas consistently scored well above av-erage in the JD Power auto claims satis-faction surveys. Among the 23 autoinsurers included in the latest survey,State Farm was third, said Luedke.

“As a leader in advancing vehiclesafety, State Farm wants safe and reliablevehicles on the road,” said Luedke. “Cus-tomers are free to choose where to taketheir vehicle for repair. If they choose anindependent auto body repair facility thattakes part in our Select Service programthey receive from that repair facility a na-tional, limited lifetime repair warranty,something they don’t necessarily receivefrom a repair facility that is not part of


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Valspar Automotive & House of Kolor Make a SplashThe Valspar Automotive House ofKolor booth at SEMA featuredcelebrities, demonstrations and thelatest in automotive coating tech-nology from the Minneapolis, MN-based company.

Celebrity appearances includedRichard Rawlings, Aaron Kauf-man and K.C. Mathieu from GasMonkey Garage, Gear Boxxx fromSkin Wars, Craig Fraser from AirSyndicate/Kal Koncepts, Mike

Lavallee from Killer Paint anddemonstrations from other popularkustom painters.

The House of Kolor wall wasalso displayed in the Valspar Auto-motive booth. The wall was filledwith kolors and effects of the newShimrin2 series. Experts were onhand to demonstrate the mixing andversatility of the product line.

The Valspar Automotive satel-lite booth in the PBES section ofNoth Hall highlighted the capabili-ties of the new DeBeer Air DryClear Coat along with the refinishsystems of DeBeer and Valspar Re-finish.

“Valspar has a long legacy ofcharity work, which we are proudto continue at the SEMA show.Our display helmets at the ValsparAutomotive booth were auctionedoff during the show and all pro-ceeds donated to The Gas MonkeyFoundation. House of Kolor is alsotaking part by donating all art pro-ceeds to Victory Junction,” saidGina Mahan, Valspar AutomotiveNorth America marketing man-ager.

For additional information aboutValspar Automotive, visit:www.valsparauto.com.

Fast N Loud stars K.C. Mathieu andRichard Rawlings at the Valspar Automo-tive booth at SEMA


MDL and Insurers

See MDL and Insurers, Page 19


Automotive Lift Institute Elects 2015 Board

Jerome Lentz of Challenger Lifts,based in Louisville, KY, has beenelected chairman of the AutomotiveLift Institute (ALI) Board of Direc-tors for 2015. Voting took place atALI’s annual membership meetingNov. 3 in Las Vegas. Lentz’s 2015term will be his third as chairman ofthe ALI board.

“Under the direction of JeromeLentz, ALI has achieved many mile-stones,” said R.W. “Bob” O’Gor-man, ALI president. “The past twoyears have seen significant growthin the ALI Lift Inspector Certifica-tion Program, the successful launchof the online version of the LiftingIt Right vehicle lift safety trainingcourse, and the formation of signif-icant partnerships with other vehicleservice industry organizations. Ilook forward to working with him

again in 2015.”In addition to

Lentz, returningboard membersfor 2015 includeJeff Kritzer ofBendPak, Inc. inSanta Paula, CA;Peter Liebetreuof Hunter Engi-neering Co. inBridgeton, MO;Stet Schanze ofGray Manufac-turing Co., Inc. inSt. Joseph, MO;and O’Gorman.

New members include StanPoweska of PKS Equipment & En-gineering, Inc. in Ancaster, Ontario;Matt Webster of Vehicle ServiceGroup in Madison, IN; and Associ-ate Class representative Gary Wain-wright of Weco, Inc. in Bradford,AR.

To learn more about ALI, visitwww.autolift.org or call (607) 756-7775. You can also connect with ALIon Facebook at www.facebook.com/LiftInstitute, on Twitter at www.twitter. com/LiftInstitute, and onYouTube at www.youtube.com/LiftInstitute.

Jerome Lentz ofChallenger Lifts,

based in Louisville,KY, has been electedchairman of the Au-tomotive Lift Insti-tute (ALI) Board ofDirectors for 2015

Service King Collision RepairCenters announced on October 27that it has acquired InternationalCollision Repair Center, LLC inColumbus, Ohio.

International Collision Centerhas been owned and operated bySolomon and Rachelle Parsleysince 2003. The 13,000 square footfacility is located in the DarbyCreek neighborhood in Columbusand employs 21 technicians andoffice staff.

“We are extremely excited toexpand our footprint in Columbusas we continue to build scale in theMidwest,” said Jerod Guerin,Service King Regional Vice Presi-dent of Northeast Operations.“The Parsleys built a very talentedand reputable team, and we areproud to bring these new team-mates into the Service King fam-ily.”

With this acquisition, ServiceKing now operates two locationsin the Columbus area, with a totalof four locations in the state ofOhio.

The International CollisionCenter acquisition officially closedon Oct. 24.

Service King Acquires Ohio’sInternational Collision Center For the third consecutive year, Copart

Inc. has contributed $15,000 to theCollision Repair Education Founda-tion (CREF). This donation will sup-port the CREF Campaign fund,which allows the foundation to pro-vide its annual student scholarships,school grants, and Ultimate CollisionEducation Makeover $50,000 schoolgrant to collision programs.

School instructors are facingsmaller and smaller program budgetsand in need of the industry’s supportnow more than ever. Industry contri-butions through the Education Foun-dation directly address the instructors’needs to provide the best technical ed-ucation possible to their students, theindustry’s future professionals.

Clark Plucinski, CREF’s Exec-utive Director, said, “On behalf of theorganizations Board of Trustees, staff,and the collision school programsacross the country that the EducationFoundation supports, I would like tothank Copart for their continued sup-port. It will only be through a collabo-rative effort of industry supporters willwe be able to address the industry’sdire need of highly trained, productive,and skilled entry-level workers gradu-ating from high school and post-sec-ondary collision school programs.”

Copart Donates to CREF


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Matrix Hosts “Artists 4 Education” Auction at SEMAMatrix Automotive Finishes, a QuestAutomotive brand based in Com-merce Twp, MI, hosted its secondannual auction to help support theCollision Repair Education Founda-tion. All custom artwork from artistsacross the country were inside the

Matrix booth at SEMA.Artists 4 Education was created

to raise money through fundraisingactivities that involve the expert skillsof the automotive industry’s top artists

across the country. Additionally, withthe participation of various industrypartners such as Nuplex Resins, M.F.Cachet Company, AalChem, Chro-maflo Technologies, BASF, PipelinePackaging, Dan-Am Company/SATAUSA, Anest Iwata, Dedoes Industries,Dorn Color, and Miller Electric cashdonations and unique items were do-nated to help support the cause.

David Brunori, President ofQuest Automotive Products, ex-plained that, “Our first annual Artists4 Education campaign was a hugesuccess. We raised and donatednearly $25,000 to the Collision Re-pair Education Foundation. This yearwe have increased our expectationsto $50,000. We feel it is our respon-sibility as industry participants tosupport CREF, whose sole purpose isto raise awareness to the growingshortage of certified technicians en-tering the collision repair industry.We want to continue to grow theArtists 4 Education campaign, whichmeans continuing to involve the artistcommunity, manufacturers, and in-dustry partners.”

For more information aboutArtists 4 Education, go to: www.artists4education.org or www.face-book.com/artists4education.

Top automotive artists from across thecountry created unique pieces of art thatwere sold at the Matrix booth at SEMA.Proceeds from the “Artists 4 Education”program went to support the CREF

The Martin Senour Company unveiled acustom-built and custom-painted 1966Mustang during SEMA featuring theMartin Senour Pro//Base™ AutomotiveRefinish System and restored by ChrisCarlson Hot Rods in Mulvane, Kansas.

The unveiling/press conference ofthe Mustang custom coupe named “GoodKarma,” displayed a paint job featuring acustom Martin Senour color “VelvetRed” (based off the new Rod & Restora-tion Color Deck, color code: PCRS36).

“We were very excited to partnerwith Chris Carlson Hot Rods during thecustom development of this truly mag-nificent Mustang,” said Brandon Devis,Martin Senour Director of Sales. “Theattention to detail and Velvet Red color isbeyond stunning. It is truly a testamentto a vehicle that has become an Ameri-can icon, particularly as it celebrates the50th anniversary of its launch this year.”

Chris Carlson Hot Rods practicallydid a complete custom makeover on thetraditional ‘66 Mustang. “One of mybiggest things is that I’m a true customguy. Normally a Mustang renovation isnot a ‘real custom’ project to us. So in thiscase, we wanted to do a full-body systemwithout losing the nice Mustang look,”according to shop owner, Chris Carlson.

“When it came to the exterior mod-ifications we chopped two inches and

extended and raised quarters one inch; apancake deck lid; a frenched-in ‘68 Ca-maro rear bumper; custom fabricated therear roll pan; custom fabricated wheelopenings and side scoops; extended two

side body lines; shortened the cowl 3.5inches; and molded the complete frontclip together,” said Carlson. “We thenadded a hood scoop, frenched head-lights, custom grille, front bumper cutand tucked, custom fabricated innerfender panels; a custom fabricated fire-wall; and finally, a flush-mount wind-shield and back glass.”

For the paint, Carlson said, “Work-ing with the NAPA and Martin Senourguys was a tremendous experience. Col-lectively we chose to finish the car in a

customized version of Velvet Red,based off the new Martin Senour Rod &Restoration deck. We then gave it a dou-ble dose of reflective crystals; plus, aDark Red flake racing stripe.”

The new Rod & Restora-tion custom color programincludes 200 colors madefrom a series of optically en-hanced automotive paintscontaining special combina-tions of highly reflective ad-ditives.

Depending on the projectand what the end vision of thecar is, the Rod & Restorationcustom color program isavailable in three color cate-gories, including: ExactMatch OE Classic, Barrett-

Jackson Modified Muscle Car and Rod& Custom.

The Mustang coupe is named“Good Karma” in honor of Chris’swife, Karma Carlson (it is, after all,really her car – as promised to her byher husband as far back as just theirsecond date, in 1990). She recalls,“Chris said that someday he’d buildme my Mustang. I rolled my eyes – itwas our second date after all – fastforward 18 years and four kids later...Chris drove me to check out a car. It

was a forest green 1966 MustangCoupe, that we bought in 2008. Iloved it! The kids and I made lots ofmemories in that car and every time itbroke down, Chris would have tocome and fix it.”

“It even broke down mid-paradeand had to be pushed the rest of theway by our car club members. We fi-nally decided to park it in the barn untilwe could do a complete custom over-haul on it,” continues Karma. “Lifehappened and six years passed. Chas-ing out the raccoon family and pullingthat car out of the barn was a momen-tous day! I truly can’t believe this is thesame Mustang that I taught my son todrive in, took my daughter prom dressshopping in and hauled home theworld’s largest pinata for my youngerboys. It took 24 years but Chris camethrough on that promise he made to meon our second date, and it’s gorgeous.I love the Velvet Red color; it’s such abeautiful, deep red.”

For more information about MartinSenour paints visit www.martinsenour-autopaint.com or call 1-800-526-6704.To learn more and share in the ‘GoodKarma’ 1966 Mustang custom build, orto Like Us on Facebook, visit:https://www.facebook.com/MartinSenourAutomotive.

NAPA/Martin Senour Unveil Custom 1966 Mustang at SEMA 2014

Good Karma Mustang unveiled at SEMA


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Sherwin-Williams Automotive Fin-ishes donated $170,000 in products tohigh school and post-secondary colli-sion school programs through the Col-lision Repair Education Foundation(CREF). The products included mix-ing guns, orbital sanders, polishingpads, conditioning brushes, and muchmore. Instructors around the greaterChicago land area were invited to visitthe Sherwin-Williams training facilityin Burr Ridge, IL and select from 16pallets of products, which will assistcollision instructors in teaching propercollision repair with up-to-date mate-rials.

“Sherwin-Williams AutomotiveFinishes is proud to be working withthe Collision Repair Education Foun-dation to make a difference in our in-dustry by supporting secondary andpost-secondary schools whose stu-dents are currently looking to enterinto the collision industry and make ittheir career,” said Rod Habel, Sher-win-Williams Automotive Finishes’sDirector of Training Operations.

“Thank you to Sherwin-Williamsfor allowing our school to receive somuch of their paint supplies. I knowthat running a collision program canbe a demanding job with all of thebudget restrictions and red tape, justto get a few items at our school, but I

must say Sherwin-Williams has comethrough for us,” said Kenny McMil-lian, Collision Instructor at KennedyKing College in Chicago.

“We had a paint class that hadstarted and for some strange reason thepaint supplies that we needed to teachthe class never got ordered. I startedpanicking and didn’t know how I wasgoing to teach the class with no sup-plies, which was maxed out in the en-rollment. Sherwin-Williams steppedup to the plate and donated the supplieswe needed to teach the class. I am sograteful to the Collision Repair Educa-tion Foundation and Sherwin-Williamsfor helping to support the collisiontechnical schools.”

CREF Director of DevelopmentBrandon Eckenrode noted, “Sherwin-Williams comes through for collisionschools and instructors each and everyyear through product donations and in-structor training. These types of dona-tions are vital for instructors who havethe expectation of providing highlyskilled entry-level students but facesmaller and smaller program budgets.”

Industry members interested inhelping high school and/or collegecollision school programs throughCREF, should contact Brandon Eck-enrode at [email protected] or 847-463-5244.

Sherwin-Williams Donates $170,000 in Products to CREF BASF Glasurit and R-M Paint Earn Awards at SEMADuring SEMA, many vehicles earnedindustry accolades featuring Glasurit®

and R-M® paint by BASF.The top honors given to show ve-

hicles featuring BASF paint include:● Chevrolet Design Award for the BestChevy in Show; Mothers® ChoiceAward; and the Goodguys Rod & Cus-tom Association Gold Award – The1966 “Recoil” Chevelle from the Ring-brothers, painted in a custom SandStorm color from the Glasurit® 90-Line,took home these honors. The “Recoil”was also named the “Car Everyone isTalking About” by Car and Driver mag-azine in its SEMA show round-up andreceived recognition from both HotRod magazine and the General Motorsofficial news blog.● Ford Motor Co. Best in Stand Design– Given to the 2015 Ford Mustangconvertible. Styled by designer ChipFoose, Glasurit® ambassador, withlight green metallic paint and orangeaccents from BASF Glasurit® 90-Line.● Scion Tuner Challenge Award –The Speedhunters Scion FR-S fromKeith Charvonia, painted in a PureWhite from BASF’s R-M® line tookhome first place honors.● Gran Turismo Award – The GarrettX GReddy R35 GT-R was named asthe Gran Turismo Best Asian Importaward winner and featured Solid Red

paint from Glasurit® 90-Line. The carwill be featured as a downloadableoption in an upcoming installment ofthe Gran Turismo video game series.● Autobytel’s Best Paint Jobs atSEMA – Two vehicles on Autobytel’slist feature BASF paint: the ChipFoose 2006 Ford Mustang GT in theMagnaflow booth featuring TungstenGrey paint from the Glasurit® 90-Line; and the 1972 Buick Riveria“Rivtile” from Juergen Book thatwas painted “snake-style” to representan “automotive reptile.” The colorsscheme features a range of reptiliangreens, custom painted with gold con-trasts from BASF’s R-M® Carizzmaline.● SEMA Battle of the Builders: Top10 Builders Finalists – Two finalists inthe Top 10 Builders award were BASFRefinish customers: The Ringbrotherswith the “Recoil” Chevelle; and Gor-don Aram, who uses the BASF R-M®

Line, was nominated for his 1978 FordMustang II, featuring Kona Blue paint.

“We’re very proud of these acco-lades for our Glasurit® and R-M® paintsystems, as well as the recognition ofthe artistic skills of these dedicated de-signers. Congratulations to all thewinners,” said Paul Whittleston, VP,Automotive Refinish & IndustrialCoatings Solutions North America.


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A district court case in Minnesota per-taining to patent infringement is at thecenter of a controversy between twoparts supplier companies: Total Automo-tive and Dorman Products. This includesallegations that Dorman Products loggedinto Total Automotive’s password-pro-tected website and then introduced com-peting products to the marketplace.

On April 11, Total Automotive fileda complaint against Dorman Products formanufacturing, using, selling, and/or of-fering to sell hinge bracket kits that in-fringe on the ‘654 Patent owned by TotalAutomotive. Six months later on Oct. 31,the Minnesota-based company amendedthe complaint highlighting the specificallegations against Dorman.

Total Automotive is an OEM auto-motive parts wholesale distributor thatalso manufactures door hinge repair kitsfor about 7,000 vehicle applications.

Dorman Products, based in Col-mar, Pennsylvania, supplies automotivereplacement parts to the automotive af-termarket. It is related to RB Distribu-tion, Inc., a U.S.-based supplier ofreplacement parts and fasteners to theautomotive aftermarket. and resides atthe same location in Colmar.

According to court documents,Total Automotive claims that on re-

peated occasions, “one or more personsusing computers with IP addresses reg-istered to RB Distribution have loggedinto Total Automotive’s password-pro-tected website using the login ID andpassword of Total Automotive cus-tomers.” These include Dempster AutoCorporation and Danken Auto Supply.

In addition, Total Automotive saidthat RB Distribution’s access to their web-site is a violation of the company’s “clickwrap” agreement, which is displayed ontheir login page. Click wrap agreementsare agreements formed on the Internetwhere a website provider posts terms andconditions and the user clicks an “I Ac-cept” button. The courts have generallyheld these agreements to be enforceable.

The company also claimed that theunlawful access to the password-pro-tected site was “done with the knowledgeand consent, and with the express inten-tion, of providing information to Dormanregarding Total Automotive’s productcatalogs and non-public pricing.”

Dorman denies the allegations andsaid it has not infringed on any claim ofthe ‘654 Patent. They stated in court doc-uments it “does not require authorizationor a license to make, use, sell, or offer tosell its accused products as they are notwithin the scope of the ‘654 Patent.”

According to Total Automotive,the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

issued the company the ‘654 Parent en-titled “Door Hinge Repair Apparatusand Method,” on December 10, 2013.

Derek Flom, the company’s Busi-ness Development Manager, said TotalAutomotive has patents on some of itsproducts and a lot of its products are ex-clusive to the company. “The main ad-vantage of our products and our hingekits is they’re all made in the USA anddesigned with the end user so they ac-tually work,” said Flom. “They installquickly and reliably, and they functionreally well.”

Flom said the hinges are engi-neered so they can be installed on a ve-hicle without having to paint and thetedious labor of unbolting and aligningparts for the door. “It’s really developedwith the end user in mind.”

Company attorney Marc Al saidthe 22-year-old company has a varietyof products, and is very well known forits high-quality door hinge kits.

Total Automotive claims thatDorman does not have permission touse the subject matter claimed in the‘654 Patent and has unfairly reaped asubstantial advantage in research, de-velopment, and operational time andcost, all to Total Automotive’s detri-ment. As a direct result, Total Automo-tive said it has been caused significantfinancial damage.

The lawsuit stated that Dormanwithdrew its product from the market afterit learned that it infringed on Total Auto-motive’s patent rights but then re-intro-duced its hinge bracket kits. As a result,Total Automotive is seeking damages tocompensate the company for Dorman’sdirect infringement of the patent. “The re-lief requested is that Dorman immediatelystop selling the infringing bracket kits andfor money damages,” said Al.

Dorman countered that Total Au-tomotive is misusing the ‘654 Patent“by bringing the present action againstDorman, alleging patent infringementto coerce Dorman into entering a li-cense agreement when Total Automo-tive knew or should have known thatthe ‘654 Patent is not infringed; in-valid; and unenforceable.”

No court date has been set but Alsaid a scheduling conference will be heldJan. 6. Since this is a patent case, therewill likely be a Markman hearing, whichis a pretrial hearing in which a federaljudge examines evidence on the relevantwords used in a patent claim, and clari-fies any disputes regarding the meaningof words in the patent. The case will ulti-mately be resolved through motion prac-tice, trial, possible appeal or settlement.

Calls to Dorman Products and thecompany’s attorneys at Volpe and Koenigwere not returned.

Patent Case: Allegations of Gaining Information from Password-Protected Site

by Stacey Phillips and Victoria Antonelli

Autobody News reported in our No-vember issue that the Ford MotorCompany Rotunda Program has rec-ognized Pro Spot International forbeing their 2014 Supplier of the Year.

Our editorial staff recently touredthe 45,000 square foot facility inCarlsbad, CA, to learn more about theinnovative products and equipmentPro Spot is developing, particularly inpreparation for the new 2015 Ford F-150 aluminum body truck now beingproduced. We were joined by Toby

Chess, who took the opportunity togive the two newest editorial teammembers a lesson in welding. Toby’sintent was not to create expert weldersbut to show that with the right equip-ment, training, and attention to detail,anyone can become competent atwelding. See sidebars.

Our Pro Spot tour began with aclose look at the assembly process forthe top of the line welding and repairproducts. As one of the manufacturer’sapproved by Ford to supply aluminumrepair equipment for the collision re-pair industry, Pro Spot is also wellknown for its resistance spot weldingequipment. In particular, Pro Spot wasapproved by Ford to supply their Col-lision Repair Program with SP PulseMIG welders, Aluminum Dent RepairStations, Fume Extractors and the SPRRiveter.

Ron Olsson, the company’sfounder and president, an electrical en-gineer, grew up in Sweden before mov-ing to California in the 1980s. With apassion for riding motorcycles, Ols-son’s inventive engineering started by

creating a frame straightening machinefor motorcycles. He soon realized therewere more cars on the road than mo-torcycles and opened Pro Spot in 1986to focus on creating quality collisionrepair equipment for vehicles.

Ron’s daughter, Ashley, the com-pany’s Director of Communications,explained about the different productsPro Spot designs and builds and gaveus a brief history about the company.She recalled memories of the earlydays of the business and the changethey’ve experienced over the years.

Now settled after moving twoyears ago to its fourth location, Pro

Spot manufacturers more than 30products. With nearly 100 employeesat their facility, the company owns andmanages its own machine shop, a re-search and development department,a fabrication facility and productionlines for various welders.

Ashley said the benefit of manu-facturing the equipment on-site is theability to maintain the quality of theirproducts. “We’re really big on qual-ity, we have control to make sure eachproduct leaving our facility providesour customers with the best productavailable.”

This past summer they visitedFord’s Deerborn Plant near the DetroitRiver, where Ford started building carsin the 1920s.

Inspired by Henry Ford, Olssonmodeled some of his own businesspractices on Ford’s ideas. “Ford dideverything he could so that there wouldbe no bottlenecks in his productionprocess,” said Ashley. “He had his owntrains, trucks, forests, etc.”

Like Ford, Ashley said her fatheris a true inventor and visionary. “Forexample, we were at Ford walking


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Ashley Olsson, the company’s Director ofCommunications, conducts a tour of the ProSpot plant floor

Stacey Phillips’s First Welding ExperienceLooking through my heavy mask, I was carrying the torch with shaky hands andholding my breath. Then I saw the first sparks light up the room. I realized at thatmoment that I was actually welding.

With an abundance of patience and his trademark sense of humor, Toby Chessfrom I-CAR Training & Certification, recently spent a good part of his morning teach-ing Victoria and I how to weld. First, he gave an overview of the type of welding wewould learn – MIG weld brazing.That’s metal inert gas, he explained.The advantage of MIG brazing is thelower heat input. The wires typicallyused for MIG brazing have a meltingtemperature of 1,000 degrees, whichputs less heat on the vehicle’s panels.

After installing the wire, Tobytalked about gun angle. Whether weld-ing steel or aluminum, he stressed theimportance of always holding the gunat 80 degrees.

He gave a quick demonstrationof the weld we were going to do using the state-of-the-art Pro Spot welder we werelucky enough to learn on, and I was ready. Mask on. Gloves up. Glasses down.

After completing my first weld, Toby put it to the test: did it fall apart under stress?He said I passed with flying colors. Now I was hooked and wanted to learn more.

However, I realized it takes more than just skill and training. If done improperlyduring a collision repair, a poor weld can compromise the vehicle’s structural in-tegrity. I may have just welded sheet metal, but what I really learned are some ofthe challenges real technicians face. Realistically, how would a collision repair shophire one? Shop infrastructure and equipment are both important components aswell. I-CAR offers these help with their courses as well as an on-site assessment.

Looking back at my first welding experience, it gave me a better appreciation forall of the technicians who weld on the vehicles we drive everyday. A proper weld cansave lives. What’s next? I asked Toby. Learning how to weld aluminum... Stay tuned.

Ashley Olsson demonstrates how welder as-semblage begins with aluminum billet stock

Toby Chess (left) and welding student StaceyPhillips (right) work on her first weld usingPro Spot’s MIG welder.


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Aluminum was front and centerthroughout much of the collision repairportion of the 2014 SEMA tradeshow,including at one of the new features ofthis year’s event: the “OEM CollisionRepair Technology Summit,” hostedby the Society of Collision Repair Spe-cialists (SCRS).

The day-long summit brought to-gether shops, automakers and equip-ment manufacturers to discuss whatSCRS Executive Director Aaron Schu-lenburg called a “topic that affects everysegments of the industry.”

“There is no bigger conversationright now than the changing landscapeof automotive design and how that in-fluences the repair of a vehicle,” Schu-lenburg said as the summit began.

Sessions during the event coveredOEM shop certification programs,changing vehicle designs impactingrepairs, and the increasing use of steelalternatives, including aluminum.

Doug Richman, vice president ofengineering and technology for KaiserAluminum, said Ford’s introductionof the all-aluminum 2015 F-150 pick-up is just part of a 4-decade-long ex-pansion in the use of aluminum byautomakers. Over that time, the aver-age vehicle has come to have about400 pounds of aluminum, includingsuch parts as wheels and cylinderheads and blocks. That’s about 10 per-cent of the curb weight of the averagevehicle. It’s gone up by about 7pounds per year since the mid-1970s,but has risen by 14 pounds per yearfor the last three years.

While Richman is quick to notethat steel is not going away, the rate ofgrowth in aluminum use is expectedto be maintained over the next decade,according to a recent study commis-sioned by the aluminum manufactur-ers association. The study, Richmansaid, is conducted every three yearsand relies not on projections but on ac-tually vehicle programs committed toby automakers. It forecasts that by2025, seven out of 10 pick-ups will beall-aluminum, and 547 pounds (or 16percent) of the average vehicle weightwill consist of aluminum, including anincreasing percentage of crash partsand body structures.

“Our experience has been [the

study has] been conservative for 21years,” he said. “For seven consecu-tive reports, [it has] been very closebut conservative.”

The most obvious reason for theshift is the weight savings aluminumoffers as automakers work to meet in-creasing federal fuel efficiency re-quirements. The new F-150 is about700 pounds lighter than its predeces-sor, and 400 pounds of that savings isaccounted for by the switch to alu-minum, Richman said.

But the change also improveshow the truck rides and maneuvers, hesaid. There are also safety advantages.

“Every single vehicle that hasbeen converted to aluminum has hadhigher safety ratings than the steel ver-sion it replaced,” Richman said. “A lotof that is design, but also the energyabsorption capability of aluminum.”

Richman focused much of hispresentation on “repair considerations”related to aluminum.

“Your industry has a great dealof know-how in managing – at leasttechnically what needs to be done –the aluminum side of the business,”he said. “But I’ve heard repeatedlyin conversation on the [SEMAtradeshow] floor that the skillsets todo that work properly may not be onthe shop floors yet. In the case ofaluminum body structure repair inparticular, the skillsets are really crit-ical, because it’s not like weldingand repairing steels body structures.”

Richman offered several keypieces of advice for shops as theyprepare to work on more aluminumvehicles. First, he said, automakerrecommended procedures are goingto be more crucial than ever. Carcompanies can choose from a widevariety of aluminum materials, eachwith its own tempers and character-istics, he said. Even knowing the“number” designating a type of alu-minum isn’t enough.

“When you see a number like‘6061,’ what you need to understand isevery manufacturer of 6061 has a dif-ferent formulation – or in fact multipleformulations – that are 6061 materi-als,” he said. “Just because it says‘6061’ doesn't mean it acts like the‘6061` on the next vehicle you see.They are very different. Be certain thatyou consult the OEM recommendedrepair practices for the specific model,because even within a manufacturer,they have varying practices dependingon the specific design or model.”

Dust management is another cru-cial element of aluminum repair, Rich-man said, even aside from the risk ofgalvanic corrosion if aluminum orsteels ‘contaminate’ the other (see side-bar).

“I want to make sure you under-stand that aluminum dust is poten-tially an explosion hazard,” he said. “Ipersonally don’t ever want to hearabout a shop having a fire or explo-sion with aluminum dust. I know thisisn’t news to you, but I want to rein-force it. There’s lots of stories aboutbusinesses that burned to the groundbecause they didn’t manage this.”

Using the automaker-specifiedjoining process is also critical, Rich-man said, given the impact to alu-minum’s strength in the heat-affectedzones around welds. That’s why useof self-piercing rivets and bonding areoften the process-of-choice in themanufacture and repair of aluminumvehicles. Again, following manufac-turer guidelines for rivets and adhe-sives are critical, he said. Use of theincorrect adhesive, for example, maynot ensure the necessary gap for theadhesive is maintained between thepieces being joined, he said.

Schulenburg said the responseSCRS received to its inaugural OEMCollision Repair Technology Summitconvinced him it is an event that willcontinue.

“This does not end here today.This is the beginning of a very longconversation,” Schulenburg said. “Itwill be ongoing. As technology contin-ues to evolves so should the discussion.This is the first of many ‘OEM Colli-sion Repair Technology Summits,’ andwe’re excited to launch this program.”

Industry Insightwith John Yoswick

John Yoswick is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon who has been writingabout the collision industry since 1988. He is the editor of the weekly CRASH Net-work (for a free 4-week trial subscription, visit www.CrashNetwork.com). Contacthim by email at [email protected].

SCRS OEM Technology Event Includes Plenty of Focus on Aluminum Repair

Separate area, dust extraction crucial foraluminum repair safety, not just qualityMost European automakers call for a separate “clean room” – set offfrom the rest of the shop by brick-and-mortar – for repair of aluminum.Though its requirements for Ford F-150 certification are somewhat lessstringent, Ford requires the repair area be curtained off. A separate dustextraction system for these repair areas is also required.

Most shops recognize the need to prevent steel or aluminum dustfrom contaminating vehicle parts made of the other type of metal. But thedust extraction is also critical to prevent a potentially hazardous build-upof aluminum dust which can be explosive. Sixty-eight people were killedthis past August in such an explosion in a factory in China that polishesaluminum wheel rims.

During a session at the Society of Collision Repair Specialists’ “OEMCollision Repair Technology Summit,” in Las Vegas in November, ”MarkAllen of Audi of America noted that aluminum oxide was a key ingredientin the “bunker buster bombs” that the U.S. military used in Afghanistan.

“For a shop to say they can’t afford to designate a certain amount ofsquare footage in a shop for aluminum is not a good statement to make,”agreed General Motors’ Leo Gruzas, who said his company has new alu-minum-intensive vehicles in the pipeline. “Everybody needs to have anarea where they can do that specialized work and to make sure the mate-rials are separated and that everybody stays safe.”

around, an idea came to him and im-mediately he’s drawing out designsfor new equipment on the first sheetof paper he can find,” she said.

Pro Spot has worked with Fordover the last five years in regards tothe F-150. “Ford really considered therepairability in the design process,”

said Ashley. “This is huge becausewe’re working with them on the pos-sibilities of creating a collision repairprogram.”

“With Ford announcing they aremaking America’s best-selling vehi-cle, their F-150, out of aluminum,”

said Ron. “Any body shop anywhere,wherever they are, is going to be fix-ing a few F-150s every month andsome of them are going to be doing iteveryday.”

In order to meet this need, Ronsaid the company is focused on sup-plying the necessary equipment tocollision repair shops. “We work withthe technicians, using their feedbackto make sure our equipment is userfriendly,” said Ashley. They designeda special research and developmentarea where engineers can build newthings and test them out.

During the tour, Ashley explainedsome of the challenges with aluminumduring the repair process. “Aluminumdoesn’t have a memory like steel andis also sensitive to heat. The repairprocess requires a different approach.It’s not impossible, it’s not harder, it’sjust different,” she said. “These shopsare just going to have to learn a newprocedure for preparing the alu-minum.”

“You can’t weld on aluminum thesame way you would on steel becauseon a spot weld pressure and heat cre-ates a resistance,” said Ashley. “Withaluminum, you can’t heat it up becauseit becomes brittle and will break.


Victoria Antonelli’s First Welding ExperienceWhen I-CAR-certified instructor Toby Chess told Stacey and me he wanted to teach ushow to weld steel, we looked at each other nervously, and proceeded to say how excitedwe were. I never thought I’d be taking a welding class as part of my job, but I also neverexpected to become an automotive jour-nalist, so I guess it comes with the terri-tory.

The nervousness and excitementreturned when we arrived at Pro SpotInternational. By the end of our tour ofthe facilities, I was looking forward togetting my hands on the state-of-the-artwelding equipment. Before I knew it, Iwas putting my gear on. The mask andeye protection felt awkward, but I ap-preciated their purpose.

Toby explained the equipment fur-ther before we used it, cracking jokesand asking surprise questions at every turn—just to make sure we were paying atten-tion. I watched Stacey complete her first MIG weld with flying colors, and then it wasmy turn.

Toby guided my hand, and proceeded to tell me numerous times to slow down asI moved the wire from top to bottom, sparks flying the whole time. That was fun! I didthe same one a few more times, and after only a couple of tries, I was able to success-fully complete a MIG weld on my own. I couldn’t wait to take pictures of my completedweld, and a selfie with my mask on.

“You two are better than a lot of the full-time guys that come in here,” Toby reas-sured us.

Next was the Spot Weld. This one gave me a little bit of trouble, but then again,drawing circles always has. Toby patiently worked with me until I came close enough tocompleting a small circle with a filled-in spot.

After more pictures and gear removal, we headed back to Autobody News, feelingaccomplished and ready for our next challenge—welding aluminum! This time I’mgoing to do my homework first.

Victoria Antonelli’s (right) first weldingexperience as Toby Chess casts a critical eye.

Continued from Page 14

Pro Spot Shines

Toby Chess is flanked by editors Stacey (left)and Victoria (right), who showed Tobyenough ability to get to the next class

or alternative solution to minimize thatworkflow disruption.”

GM subsequently delayed thelaunch until sometime in the firstquarter of next year, but it initially an-nounced it would happen on Decem-ber 1.

As described by GM, the systemwill allow a shop using one of six sup-ported estimating systems to create anestimate itemizing the GM partsneeded (the parts prices will showonly as “$0.00”). That estimate wouldthen automatically be transmitted tothe MyPriceLink pricing engine,which then sends notice back (gener-ally in less than a minute) to the esti-mating system that the parts priceshave been changed. When the user re-opens the estimate, the parts priceswould be listed.

Alternatively, users can log intoMyPriceLink to manually get partsprices through the website. There’s nocharge to shops for using the system.It operates through OEConnection,which gives dealers access to infor-mation about all parts listed on the es-timate including non-OEM andrecycled parts.

In his 5-minute presentation atCIC, Mayer acknowledged, “there’sprobably some disruption and someunintended consequences in thisprocess,” but he said, “We’re trying tobe open and work through those.”

California shop owner RandyStabler jokingly thanked GM for pro-viding “a controversial topic” for dis-cussion at CIC just as his term aschairman of the quarterly conferencebegins in January. Stabler succeedsState Farm’s George Avery, who con-

cluded his 2-yearterm as chairman atCIC in Las Vegas.Stabler said GM’sunexpected deci-sion “to hold theirdata proprietary” isa good example ofthe need for aforum like CIC.

“Making that de-cision in a silo hassome consequencesthat maybe are not

going to be the best for everyone in thelong run,” Stabler said of GM’s an-nouncement. “It shows the validity ofhaving a forum where the disparate

parts of the industry can get togetherand talk and come up with some poten-tial solutions.”

With CIC being held just twodays after the No-vember 4 election,California attorneyCory King ad-dressed one of thehuman resource is-sues effected bythe vote in severalstates and cities:minimum wage.

King began hispresentation at CICby reminding shops

that minimum wage impacts shops evenif, for example, their technicians arepaid flat-rate and earn significantly morethan minimum wage. Though wage-hour laws vary by state, most jurisdic-tions are covered by federal fair laborlaw which allows flat-rate or commis-sion employees to be exempt from over-time provided two provisions are met.

“One, they make more than halfof their money from flat-rate or com-missions,” King said. “And two, theymust make at least 1.5 times the min-imum wage for all hours worked. Ifyou’re not running this number everypay period, if you ever get audited orsued, you’re not going to be able toprove that you’re not paying your peo-ple overtime because they are ex-empt.”

To do that calculation, shopsneed to be aware of the minimumwage. In last month’s election, votersin at least four states passed minimumwage hikes, joining more than 20 oth-ers that have done so. Workers in SanFrancisco and Oakland, Calif., alsowill see voter-enacted minimum wageincreases; San Francisco, for example,joined Seattle in enacting a minimumwage that rises to $15 over severalyears.

The other data point shops needis the actual clock hours every em-ployee works. That’s why all employ-ees, including flat-rate or commissiontechnicians, should be using a timeclock, King said.

King’s presentations at CIC arestructured as quizzes, with attendeesasked to gauge the possible legal ram-ifications for employers of varioushuman resource issues King lays out.One such question he posed at CIC inLas Vegas: An employee with a state-sanctioned medical marijuana cardcrashes a customer car into the shop’spaint booth.

“And he was higher than a kitewhen he did it,” King said. “Can I firehim?”

About half of CIC attendees indi-cated they thought the shop could firesuch an employee, and King said theyare generally correct. Most (thoughnot all) states with medical marijuanacards protect the holder only fromcriminal penalties.

In those states, King said, youalso do no have to hire a medical mar-ijuana user “as long as you have aquality alcohol and drug policy thatprohibits having measurable amountsof illegal drugs in their system.” (Mar-ijuana is still illegal under federallaw.)

Even in the few states that offercivil protections to medical marijuanacard holders, he said, the law “doesnot allow the employee to possess, useor be impaired [by marijuana] whilethey are on company premises or dur-ing working hours.”

The employee who crashed thecar, therefore, could be fired, Kingsaid.

King’s next scenario: A shopwants to fire a newly-hired and under-performing receptionist. She recentlyrefused to put up the Christmas deco-

rations in the shop office, citing reli-gion reasons. Can she be fired for in-subordination?

No way, King said; that would beseen as religious discrimination. Aswith someone with a disability, Kingsaid, the shop should have talked withthe employee and found a reasonableaccommodation (in this case, foundsomeone else to put up the decora-tions) and moved forward.

But the shop also found the re-ceptionist had left a window open onher computer screen that indicatedshe’d been looking for a job while atwork. Can the shop fire her for that?

It depends, King said, on whatthe shop’s employee handbook saysabout Internet usage. It might say shopcomputers cannot be used for personaluse. But when was she using it? Shecould have been legally looking for ajob while on her break. And does theshop enforce the Internet rule consis-tently with all employees?

“It’s a little dicey to say you’regoing to fire her because you don’tlike what she was doing on the Inter-net even though you allow other peo-ple to do it,” King said.

It comes down to the “smell fac-tor,” King said.


California attorneyCorey King

addresses theminimum wage

issue. Photo credit:John Yoswick

California shopowner Randy Sta-bler speaks at the2014 CIC meeting

held at SEMA.Photo credit: John

Yoswick


Final 2014 CIC Meeting

our Select Service program.”

The ‘Movement’Perretta said the next step for the‘Movement’ is to continue encourag-ing more shops to get involved. “If theyfeel the way I feel and a lot of othersfeel, the only way to stop that is to geton board with us,” said Perretta.

Meanwhile, shops are gatheringdocumentation on the allegations beingmade. “It’s not a matter of what we say.It’s a matter of what we give them andshow them.”

Another trip to Congress is alsoon their agenda. Autobody News re-ported on their September trip to Wash-ington D.C. in the (last) Novemberissue of the magazine. The goal is toeducate the house and senate about the1963 Consent Decree, in hopes of get-ting the law enforced by U.S. AttorneyGeneral nominee Loretta Lynch.

Autobody News will continue tofollow this story and keep readers up-to-date about developments with thelawsuit. More information about ‘TheMovement’ can be found online:www.TakingBackOurIndustry.com

“It smells like you’re coming upwith violation of our computer policyas a pretext for what you’re really get-ting rid of her for, which is you don’tlike her religious affiliation and thefact that she refused to do somethingbased on religious grounds,” he said.

Instead, he said, as with all em-ployees, notify her of how she isunder-performing in her job, explainwhy that is important, and give herthe reasonable assistance she needs tobe successful along with time to im-prove. If she does not, you will havea defendable basis for firing her.


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MDL and Insurers

During the week of SEMA, Ford,Chrysler, and GM approved DeBeerRefinish WaterBase 900+ series.

Ford’s approval is based on theWSS – M2P100-D specification andapplies to all Ford vehicles. Any coun-try that manufacturers, sells or repairsFord vehicles can now utilize DeBeerRefinish WaterBase 900+ Series byValspar Automotive.

“Valspar Automotive is thrilledto announce the Ford approval. Ded-ication to excellence remains at theforefront of all we do at Valspar, andthis approval is another symbol of ourcommitment to our customers” saidCarl Wierks, Global VP of Valspar.

Chrysler’s approval is based onthe PF-10537 specification and appliesto all Chrysler Group LLC brands.Every Chrysler collision repair centeracross the globe can now benefit fromDeBeer Refinish WaterBase 900+ se-ries coatings.

“Chrysler Group LLC is an im-pressive force in the global automotivemarketplace. After many rounds of ex-tensive testing, Valspar Automotive isproud to announce this approval byChrysler. Our continued dedication tocolor, technology and the trust of our

customers is prominently displayed inthese ongoing Automotive OEM ini-tiatives,”said Wierks.

General Motors has given aglobal approval based on the GMSpecification GMW15406M. Coun-tries where GM vehicles are manu-factured, sold or repaired can nowutilize this series for warranty work.

“General Motors performedmeticulous and thorough testing of the900+ product for global use and we areexcited to report a successful approval.This approval shows Valspar Automo-tive’s continued dedication to our cus-tomers and our products. Valspar’svision is to be the best coatings com-pany in the world; this is another stepin demonstrating our commitment toexcellence in the coatings industry,”said Wierks.

Valspar Automotive’s headquar-ters are in Minneapolis, MN.

Ford, Chrysler, and GM Approve DeBeer RefinishWaterbase 900+ Series by Valspar Automotive

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Sprucing up your web site is like re-modeling your house. You want it tolook nice and you want your visitors tofeel comfortable. You want people tocome and stay for awhile and find youraddress easily and quickly. The Cali-fornia Autobody Association (CAA)recently launched a new web site forits members and consumers and nowwww.calautobody.com is the organi-zation’s new residence online.

CAA Executive Director, DavidMcClune is pleased with the resultand many of his organization’s 1,000-plus members seem to agree. “Our de-veloper, Optima Automotive, did anoutstanding job on our new site,” Mc-Clune said. “It’s easy to use and itdoesn’t look cluttered. The site pro-vides a way for businesses to join on-line, an interactive calendar of events,a consumer advocacy section, chapterinformation, hot links, direct access toregional managers, and a ‘Find a CAAShop’ feature for consumers. Our

members have given the site somegreat reviews and once they work with

it more, I’m confi-dent that they’lllearn more about itand how they canuse it to be effec-tive within CAA.”

Mark Clay-pool, President andCEO of OptimaAutomotive, spear-headed the devel-opment of the newCAA site. His com-pany has producedmore than 300 au-tomotive-related

web sites since opening its doors sixyears ago.

“An association web site shouldbe built with the member in mind, firstand foremost,” Claypool said.

“CAA members do the samethings any member of any trade organ-

izations does - paying dues and partic-ipating in association and chaptermeetings. But, maybe most impor-tantly, they run their businesses in thischallenging industry. There’s only somuch time in the day and that’s whythere is nothing more frustrating than apoorly-designed association web sitethat members struggle to navigatethrough. Therefore, making a web sitesimple, easy to navigate, intuitive andproactive is what they deserve, and isbeneficial for member retention and at-traction and that was our main objec-tive in building a new web site forCAA.”

Optima also built the new CAAweb site in responsive design. “Re-sponsive design is taking the web bystorm,” Claypool said. “A large per-centage of CAA members are likelyto be accessing the CAA web sitefrom mobile devices - smart phones,iPhones and tablets, for example. Aresponsive design web site allows the

site to be applied at different browserwidths. This means that the site willautomatically be altered based on thesize screen the visitor is using, mak-ing their experience as visually andnavigationally satisfying as possible.”

The site will have a simple-to-usecalendar the CAA staff and boardmembers may use to schedule events,chapter meetings, etc. “This way, offi-cers can easily add events to the cal-endar and keep all of their chaptermembers in the loop,” McClune said.“By constantly keeping connected tothe membership, everyone can be ef-fective and now we have the ability tocontinually update the information onthe site, which is huge.”

The new CAA site has a con-sumer section where people can searchfor member shops via zip codes. “Wemade this as easy as we could, so thatpeople looking for member bodyshops can locate them quickly and eas-


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with Ed Attanasio

Media and Publicity for Shops

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

California Autobody Association Gets a New Web Site with Better Navigation

CEO Mark Claypooland his company

Optima Automotivedesigned the

California AutobodyAssociation’s newweb site that hasmore features thatboth members andconsumers can use

See CAA Gets a New Web Site, Page 30

G&C Auto Body, with 10 locations inthe Bay Area has always done every-thing over the top, especially when itcomes to its philanthropy and specifi-cally when they give re-furbished ve-hicles to needy families, individualsand organizations. Touched by count-less letters and requests submitted to

G&C through a car giveaway promo-tion, the company gives away cars notannually or even quarterly anymore—but monthly. The Crozat family isfast tracking their charitable efforts

and setting records, but that’s not whythey do it, according to G&C AutoBody’s Owner Gene Crozat.

“There are so many people outthere struggling right now for what-ever reason and these letters touch mysoul every time I read them,” he said.“Things are not going well for them

for whatever reason, but theydon’t give up and they neverlose hope. If we can helpthem by giving them a reli-able vehicle so that their liveswill be a little easier, I feellike it’s our obligation to doit.”

Saying yes to some and noto others is obviously difficultand that’s why Gene tries tosay yes to as many as he can.

It’s a tough job to sift through these re-quests, and that’s why GovindaCrozat, the company’s outreach pro-gram director plays an important rolein reading all of the letters and work-

ing with the other members of theCrozat family as they pick their recip-ients.

It’s a huge undertaking helpingthose in need and making a differencein the communities in which they dobusiness. “We have given away 21cars so far this year and we will be

giving away four more pretty quickly,hoping to hit 24-30 by the end of theyear,” Govinda said. “We created theCrozat Family Foundation to helppeople in need. In addition to giving

away the cars, we also help people bygiving them Safeway, Shell and Tar-get gift cards, as well as occasionalhelp with rent, funeral expenses, util-ities and other needs.”

By partnering with insurancecompanies, the Crozat Family Foun-dation is now giving away more and

more cars. “We have hadthree insurance partners(State Farm, Geico and All-state) all donate cars whichwere fixed by our SantaRosa, Windsor and Petalumatechs on their own time withparts that were also donatedby local vendors. It’s amaz-ing and really satisfying tosee more people and compa-nies getting involved. ther

companies have stepped up to helpG&C in their charitable efforts,Govinda Crozat explained. “We alsohave all of the cars processed throughthe DMV by a company called B&C


with Ed Attanasio

Shop Showcase


Car Giveaways Become Regular Monthly Events at G&C Auto Body

G&C Auto Body helped Nicole Ruys and her family with amuch-needed vehicle. That’s Govinda Crozat, G&C’soutreach program director on the far right

The Purugganan family received a mini-van from theCrozat Family Foundation


PPG Industries’ whimsical “Toy Store”booth at SEMA showcased brightly-col-ored cars, bikes and even a boat, reflect-ing the latest trends in paint designs andfinishes.

During the show, PPG introducedcustomers to its new EC530 En-V™Performance Clearcoat as well as thecompany’s latest packaging design forits Envirobase® High Performance wa-terborne product.

PPG launched a new look for thisproduct line in October. A modern, mo-lecular-shaped design replaced the waterdrop image they have used since 2007.“With the brand’s broad market accept-ance around the world, we thought it wastime to give Envirobase® High Perform-ance a fresh look that would reinforce itsforemost position in the industry,” saidJohn Outcalt, Vice President of globalautomotive refinish.

He said the structured graphic rep-resents innovation, color and technology.Although the packaging has been up-dated, there were no changes made to thetechnology of the products.

Since launching its two brands, En-virobase® and Aquabase®, in the UnitedStates in 2007, PPG has continued to de-velop waterborne products for the colli-sion repair industry.

The company recently reached amilestone, with more than 10,000 of theircustomers using waterborne basecoatthroughout the U.S and Canada. Water-borne was introduced in the United Statesand Canada to meet the low VOC compli-ance of 3.5 basecoat. Currently, the com-pliant areas include California, Delaware,

Maryland, five counties in Utah and all ofCanada.

Texas, Arizona and13 states in theNortheast, referred to as the Ozone Trans-portation Commission, are working towardimplementing low VOC requirements aswell. “We now have more customers in the

areas that don’t require low VOC usingwaterborne than we do in all of the com-pliant areas combined because it improvestheir productivity,” said Tim Jones, PPG’sWaterborne Segment Manager.

He attributes this to the consistentcolor it offers customers, allowing tech-nicians to complete vehicles morequickly. “We’ve worked very hard tomake sure our colors match our chips,”said Jones. He said when a technicianspulls out the color deck and it matches, itgives them the confidence that when it’smixed together it will be the correct color.

PPG debuted its waterborne tech-nology to the automotive OEM market in1986. The company then acquired ICI’srefinish business, based in the UK, in1997. “Following that integration, weworked to get the best attributes of bothof those two systems and that’s what wenow call third-generation Envirobase®

High Performance,” said Jones.Over the years the company has

been adding clears and primers that areengineered to work with the waterbornebasecoat. Jones said as a leader in water-borne technology, they are working to-ward having the first waterborne fullyintegrated system over the next fewyears. “Having a full waterborne systemwill continue to lower emissions to im-prove air quality,” said Jones. “We wantto be able to offer the collision repair in-

dustry all of the products they need to besuccessful.”

One of these products includes theirEC530 En-V™ Performance Clearcoatintroduced in late October. “EC530 is asignificant expansion of the EnvirobaseHigh Performance system,” said Jones.“This is an excellent, compliant clearcoatfor our waterborne basecoat.”

He said it is easy to use will helpshops improve their productivity andthroughput. “It also consistently providesthe beautiful finish, gloss and appearanceexpected of PPG products,” said Jones.“We believe these are features collisioncenters and their customers will find veryattractive.”

EC530 uses a traditional two-coatapplication process. Offering four re-ducers, it works in a variety of tempera-ture and humidity conditions. It has ashort bake cycle of 25 minutes or can beaired dried in less than four hours. Jonesalso said it doesn’t require polishing anddirt nibs can be buffed after cool down.

Jones said the industry has alwaysbeen geared for solvent borne products.“Now that waterborne is gaining a higherpercentage of the market, suppliers arealso getting onboard with supplying bet-ter pigments, better additives and betterresins for the waterborne market andthat’s going to be better for everyone aswell,” he said.

PPG Launches New Clearcoat and Latest Branded Image

PPG employees at their “Toy Store” boothduring the SEMA show (from left): StacieToothman, Product Manager Collision; JeffMatauch, Tech. Sales Instruction Supervisor;Paul Stoll, Tech. Sales Instruction Supervisor;and Tim Jones, Waterborne Product Managerat their booth during the SEMA show

Registration Services. They’re doingit all free of charge which is excep-tional. They know all of the ins andouts with the DMV, which is so help-ful. When dealing with salvage titles,total losses and cars purchased at auc-tion, we need a company like B&C tohelp us to navigate through the DMV.It can be tricky and there is a lot of pa-perwork involved and Brenda Smithat B&C has helped us tremendously.”

Instead of buying cars randomly,now G&C is acquiring vehicles specif-ically earmarked for particular familiesin need. “We have gone from buyingcars haphazardly at the local car mart tobuying ‘in bulk’ at the surplus govern-ment vehicles auction every threemonths in Davis, CA,” Govinda said.“I purchased six cars at the last auction

and will be attending for the third timein two weeks. We spend an average of$5,000 per car after purchase, repairsand DMV registration fees andthe recipients get safe, reliabletransportation that can lastthem for many years to come.”

“I also purchase cars tofit specific needs,” she con-tinued “I have searched forvans for families with severalkids, wheelchair van for awoman and her handicappedson, nd a construction truckfor a woman who took overher husband’s construction job afterhe fell through a second story roof andbroke his neck. She was going to losethe job if she didn’t have a truck byFriday… literally! They also had a

one-year-old so I made surethat the truck had a rear doorfor easy access in and out ofthe car seat.”

By constantly touting theircar giveaway program onlocal radio stations, G&C isgetting the word out in a bigway. “We receive the requestletters through Froggy 92.9and Hot 101.7 here in SonomaCounty, as well as KWNE in

the Ukiah area,” Govinda said. The airtime is donated by the Sonoma MediaGroup and KWNE. A TV spot is cur-

rently running on KOFY TV and wehave received letters from their view-ers. We also receive some of the lettersdirectly, as people hear about us fromfriends or sources other than the radiostations.”

Fixing cars is easy, but repairinglives is a little tougher, but that does-n’t mean he will ever stop trying,Gene said. “If we can change one lifefor the better, we’ve done our job.Sure, we’re in the business of fixingcars and doing a quality job on everycar we repair, but if we can give a lit-tle back, why not? It’s not all aboutmoney in the end, because you can’ttake it with you.”


Parts Dept. Hours:Mon - Thur: 7am - MidnightFri: 7am - 5:30pm, Sat: 8am - 4pm

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The Perry family now has a car that can make their liveseasier, thanks to G & C Auto Body

Bobbi O’Sullivan (third from right) and her family wereborrowing cars from their friends, but now they have theirown, thanks of Gene Crozat (far right) and his family

After a 16-month hiatus, CarMax Inc.started posting inventory on Cars.comand AutoTrader.com in October 2014,according to reports by David Bark-holz at Automotive News. Althoughthird-party shopping sites reach awider audience than some of the mostwell-known auto groups according tosenior automotive analyst atBloomberg Intelligence, KevinTynan, the fees can be a deterrent.Dealers vouched it can cost $3,000 to$25,000 a month to get a prominentonline position on Autotrader.com orCars.com. Pricing depends on the ad-vertising package and the number ofvehicles listed. A dealership group ex-ecutive said tht a store paid $16,000 amonth to list 150 vehicles on Auto-Trader.com. Barkholz reported thatCarmax’s net profit and revenuejumped more than 10 percent in its fis-cal quarter ending Aug. 31 vs. the year-earlier quarter, total vehicle sales at thecompany’s stores open at least a yearstalled at 0.2 percent year-over-yeargrowth. Tynan said CarMax stoppedusing these sites during the recession,which reduced supply of availableused vehicles. More late-models willbe coming off leases shortly so thesewebsites are profitable again.

CarMax Returns to Auto-Trader & Cars.com


Honda Superstore of LisleChicago/Suburbs866-874-6632

M-F [email protected]

Schaumburg HondaAutomobilesSchaumburg

847-884-8898847-884-6632

M-F 6:30am-Midnight; Sat [email protected]

Basney HondaMishawaka

800-877-7477574-255-2179M-F 7:30-6; Sat 8-2

Bob Rohrman HondaLafayet te

800-488-3537765-448-1000

M 7:30-8; Tue-F 7:30-6; Sat [email protected]

Bosak HondaHighland

800-542-6725219-922-3102

M 8-5; Tue 8-8 W, Thu, F 8-5; Sat [email protected]

Honda of FishersFishers

800-806-6404317-299-3723

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Gary Force HondaBowl ing Green

800-533-6723270-781-8230M-F 7-5; Sat 8-2

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Victory HondaPlymouth

800-824-4646734-453-3600

M 7:30-8; Tue-F 7:30-6; Sat [email protected]

Zeigler HondaKalamazoo

888-342-1678269-585-5812

M-Thu 7-8; F 7-6; Sat [email protected]

Buerkle HondaSt . Paul

800-592-9514651-484-0975

M-Thu 8-9; F 8-6; Sat 8-4:[email protected]

Luther Hopkins HondaHopkins

800-328-6016952-908-8585

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Richfield-BloomingtonHondaRichf ie ld

800-328-2703612-866-8197

M-Thu 6:30-9; F 6:30-6; Sat 6:[email protected]

Bommarito HondaHazelwood

800-731-8270314-731-8270

M-Sat [email protected]

Ed Napleton HondaSt . Peters

800-875-4190636-928-4400

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Frank Fletcher HondaColumbia

573-818-3650M-F 8-5; Sat 8-4

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Frank Leta HondaSt . Louis

888-680-6025636-336-5003M-F 7-6; Sat 7-5

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Honda of Tiffany SpringsKansas C i ty

800-875-3911816-452-3221M-Thu 7-7; F-Sat 7-6

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Mungenast St. Louis HondaSt . Louis

800-233-1288314-487-5112

Wholesale Hours: M-F 7-5www.stlouishonda.com

Roper HondaJopl in

877-244-6632417-625-0846M, W, Thu, F 7:30-6;Tu 7:30-7; Sat 9-1

[email protected]

Jay HondaBedford

800-509-9057440-786-3363M-F 7:30-6; Sat 8-4

[email protected]

Mike Pruitt HondaAkron

330-633-8197330-633-6060

Tue, W, F 8-6; M, Thu 8-8; Sat [email protected]

Russ Darrow HondaMilwaukee

888-318-1671414-586-5401

M-F 7-6; Sat 7-4; Sun [email protected]

Wilde HondaWaukesha

800-526-3209262-542-9300M-F 7-9; Sat 8-4

[email protected]

ILLINOIS MICHIGAN OHIO

The Honda and Acura Dealers Listed Here are Subscribers:HONDA

OHIO ILLINOIS ILLINOIS MINNESOTA

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Columbia AcuraCinc innat i

800-654-3553513-530-0698M-F 8-5:30; Sat 8-12

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Ed Martin AcuraInd ianapol is

888-812-1269317-706-1933

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Acura of LibertyvilleL iber tyv i l le

847-680-7333M-F 7:30-6; Sat 7:30-4

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Arlington Acura in PalatinePalat ine

800-991-8438847-991-9005

M-W 7:30-7:30; Thu-F 7:30-5:30; Sat [email protected]

Continental Acuraof NapervilleChicago/Suburbs888-711-1506630-960-2175M-F 7-5:30; Sat [email protected]

McGrath Acura ofMorton GroveMorton Grove

847-470-2309M-F 7-9; Sat 8-6

[email protected]

Muller’s WoodfieldAcura

Hoffman Estates866-475-9280

M 7-5; Tue-F 7-6 Sat [email protected]

Buerkle AcuraMinneapol is

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800-383-3936262-439-6029

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

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During the Automotive Recyclers As-sociation’s (ARA) 71st Annual Con-vention and Exposition in Nashville,TN on October 22 through 25, theIowa Automotive Recyclers Associa-tion (IAR) was named ARA’s “2014Affiliate Chapter of the Year,” anaward meant to honor an affiliatedchapter of ARA that, through theirservice and work on behalf of theirmembers and the association as awhole, has demonstrated exceptionaldedication to the professional automo-

tive recycling industry. Sue Schauls,Executive Director of IAR, says, “wewere thrilled to be recognized at theawards banquet for ARA. Being hon-ored for doing our best for our associ-ation in Iowa adds to the satisfactionthat not only are our members beingserved, but our peers see that too.”

Ed MacDonald, immediate PastPresident of ARA, credit Schauls andIAR President Andy Wilken forbeing at the forefront of the industry.“The achievements of the IAR haveserved as a model to others in the au-tomotive recycling community, andIAR leaders have been a valuable re-source to ARA and other state affiliatechapters as they have been more thanwilling to share their experience andhelp others fighting to promote andprotect the professional automotiverecycling industry… With their I-CARE Environmental CertificationProgram, the Iowa Automotive Recy-clers truly set a standard of excellencefor automotive recyclers in Iowa andthroughout the auto recycling com-munity.”

In 2010, IAR implemented theirIowa Certified Auto Recyclers Envi-

ronmental (I-CARE) Program whichwas established as a way to set a stan-dard of excellence for automotive recy-clers in Iowa in order to maintain fullenvironmental and safety compliance.Sponsored by the IAR, the I-CARE Program has estab-lished standards in thefollowing categories: generalbusiness practices, environ-mental compliance and stew-ardship, safety practices, andlicensing and regulatory re-quirements. I-CARE certifiedrecyclers undergo an intensiveon-site audit and documenta-tion of their salvage yard’s practiceswhich is conducted by an independentauditor approved by the IAR Board ofDirectors. All members of IAR are cer-tified through I-CARE as a method ofdistinguishing them as professional re-cyclers who adhere to the industry’shighest standards of excellence.

Additionally, IAR’s I-CARE Pro-gram has been reconciled with ARA’sCertified Automotive Recycler (CAR)Program so that all of the CAR pro-gram standards are included in the I-CARE Program or incorporated intomore stringent and specific Iowa stan-dards. This allows IAR members whoare I-CARE certified to easily acquireCAR certification through ARA with-out any additional auditing or report-

ing efforts.When questioned about IAR’s ef-

forts that led to their being awardedARA’s “2014 Affiliate Chapter of theYear,” Schauls states, “IAR tries to seta good example as well as to share anyinformation we have with other statechapters and members at-large. We

often provide articles for trade publi-cations about our I-CARE programstandards, such as environmentalwaste handling or safety tips. We havea nice newsletter with contemporary

information published six times peryear, and we make those articles avail-able for republishing by any otherchapter or trade news. We also host atrade show and conference, calledIAR’s Summer Outing, that attractsabout 250 people each year which ispretty big for a state show, especiallyin a lower-populated state such as

ours… I think this mindset of cooper-ation and sharing makes us very like-able by our peers. As the ExecutiveDirector of IAR, I also participate inmany ARA committees to give and re-ceive information, work on cutting-edge technology projects, and defineconsensus across states for enforce-ment actions and sustainable prac-tices.”

While Schauls is very proud ofIAR for their association’s individualefforts, she also recognizes the valueof their affiliation with ARA: “ARAadvocates at the national level just likeIAR does at the state level. I oftenchuckle when recyclers call to ask‘What does the association do forme?’ When that questions arises, itmeans we associations are doing ourjob; otherwise, the phone would beringing off the wall, asking ‘How didyou let that unfair law get passed?!’Most importantly, being affiliatedwith ARA gives us the national per-


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Iowa Automotive Recyclers Association Recognized as ARA’s 2014 Affiliate Chapter of the Year

with Chasidy Rae SiskMidwest Associations

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

Trophy IAR won when recognized as ARAaffiliate chapter of the year 2014

Vice President Brad Osborn with trophy

Wilken and Board of Directors at 2014 Summer Outing

spective, a chance to compare noteswith other members and other state/in-ternational chapters, and to supportthe work they do at the federal level.We also get a chance to see what isgoing on in Canada, England and theworld through ARA, which is some-thing we would not have access tootherwise. Also, the resources ARAoffers the membership are just fabu-lous, not just vendors’ discount pro-grams either but also the educationthrough ARA University, their schol-arship program, a huge conferenceeach year, publications, and of course,the government affairs staff keepingan eye on Washington! The globaleconomy is very prevalent in the usedauto parts industry so having ARAthere to bring it all together is an in-surance program for us.”

In addition to setting industrystandards through their I-CARE Pro-gram, IAR undertakes various statelegislative initiatives through a lobby-ist who monitors state legislature foractions that impact IAR members. As-sociation members also support theCharitable Chariots program, run bySteven Youngs at North Western Com-munity College, by donating used autoparts and cash to the college’s student

program which rebuilds the vehicleand donates it to an eligible recipientthrough a local charity organization.

IAR’s efforts to support the fu-ture generation of automotive recy-cling professionals also extends totheir scholarship program which was

designed in 2007 to assist the childrenof association members with offset-ting the costs of a college education.Funds for IAR’s scholarships areraised at their Outing Auction, and thefunds generated in 2014 allowed IARto award scholarships to four students:Aaron Van Beek, Clinton Kannegi-

eter, Jeramie Mitchell and AdrianMitchell.

Founded in 1957 by John Van-der Haag, IAR has established itselfas “a non-profit organization of per-sons, firms and corporations involvedin the recovery and sale of used parts

of motor vehicles, or those who sup-port or are engaged in the selling ofparts, equipment, supplies or servicesto the dismantling industry.” SinceIAR’s inception, the association hasmaintained a stable membership, cur-rently boasting 61 members through-out their state. An important function

of IAR is to provide an opportunityfor members to fellowship and net-work with their industry peers becausethey recognize that there is strength innumbers, and collectively, they can domore than any individual can do ontheir own. IAR works doggedly to im-prove both the current state of the au-tomotive recycling industry and theimage the industry presents to thepublic consumers.

Schauls notes, “we advocate theuse of recycled auto parts as bothgood environmental stewardship andgood for the local economy with localsales conducted and the creation oftechnical jobs in the community by agroup of family-owned businessesthat are generally made up of folkswho are active in their communities.”

Iowa Automotive Recyclers Associa-tion2214 Regal AvenueWaterloo, IA 50702319-233-7970www.iowaautorecyclers.com


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Andy Wilken and staff at annual Hill Day in Des Moines


20 years ago in the collision repairindustry (December 1994)The cause and effect of “prevailingpractices” was just one issue addressedby an inter-industry panel at the Na-tional Autobody Congress and Expo-sition (NACE) Forum in Las Vegas inDecember (1994.)

Moderator Meryl Comer openedthe discussion by asking panelists whothey believed is responsible for setting“prevailing practices.”

“I think if you ask some of our in-surer friends, they’d probably say pre-vailing practices are set by the shopsin the area,” California shop ownerJack Caldwell said. “Whatever mostshops do, that sets the pace. And Iguess to be totally honest, I’d have toagree, that’s where it starts. However,prevailing practices can be and aremodified by the guy with the check-book.”

Insurers on the panel agreed thatprevailing practices are their attemptto “mirror” the majority of collisionrepairers in a given area when prepar-ing or auditing estimates, but shopowners criticized the “one-size-fits-all” approach insurers sometimes use.

“It’s important to note that carsare changing,” Texas shop owner JoeSanders said. “We perform operationstoday that weren’t necessary a fewyears ago. Resetting electrical compo-nents, for example. That may haveonly been done in our shop once ortwice a month two years ago. But wedo that routinely now every day. Thatprocess is prevailing in our operation,and I shouldn’t be held back becausethe shop down the street works onolder cars and doesn’t have to do that.”

Most of the questions from theaudience during the forum were ad-dressed to the insurers on the panel.Gerry Westerfield of State Farm wasasked how shops can respond whenadjusters “quote unwritten and undoc-umented company policy for not pay-ing standard P-page procedures.”

“If a State Farm representativecomes to your shop and says, ‘Wedon’t pay for that, it’s company pol-icy,’ take it from me, we don’t havethat policy,” Westerfield said. “So tellthem, ‘I know your policy and that’snot it. Who’s your supervisor?’”

– As reported in Spray Dust mag-azine.

15 years ago in the collision repairindustry (December 1999)Soon there will be no choice. If youaren’t already using the Internet, you’llhave to in order to stay in business.

By 2001, GM will require all ofits suppliers to do business over the In-ternet. Ford has similar Internet plans.Allstate announced last month that itwould soon sell insurance over the In-ternet.

In today’s business world, it’s getonline or go home. To remain com-petitive, collision repair faculties willneed to use the Internet to their ad-vantage.

How will collision repairers beusing the Internet? Parts ordering,for one. You can already tap intolustineparts.com and CarStation.comto order parts. And there may come atime very soon when ordering partsover the Internet is handled regularlythrough brokers. Just as a personlooking for an inexpensive airfarecan go through Priceline.com, a col-lision repairer looking for the bestquality part at the cheapest price willbe able to go through a middleman.

The bad news is twofold. Forstarters, the Internet gives the insur-ance industry a whole new arena tocontrol. With its financial emphasis onprice (sometimes at the expense ofquality), the insurance industry will belooking to use the Internet to find thecheapest parts it can. In cyberspace,look for price to reign over quality.

A second disadvantage to the In-

ternet is that it will be moredifficult for collision repair-ers to keep information abouttheir businesses private. Inaddition to brokering deals,Internet middlemen will becompiling information aboutthe buying habits of collisionrepair shops. They in turnwill sell this information toothers interested in making aprofit on the industry.

– From an editorial inHammer & Dolly by SheilaLoftus.

10 years ago in the collision repair in-dustry (December 2004)The Society of Collision Repair Spe-cialists (SCRS) is circulating a petitionin support of two-way communicationbetween like estimating systems. Thisis the ability to electronically transmitand receive the vehicle owner’s as-signment information, estimate, sup-plement or attachments betweeninsurers and repairers that are using thesame estimating system regardless ofwhether a DRP relationship exists be-tween the companies.

“Two-way communication, asSCRS defines it, would eliminatemany of the inefficiencies inherent inthe current claims handling process,most specifically the rekeying of theestimate,” said Lou DiLisio, chairmanof SCRS.

– As reported in Autobody News.It took nearly a decade, but two of theBig Three estimating providers nowoffer systems that enable shops andparticipating insurers to exchange dataelectronically outside of a DRP rela-tionship.

5 years ago in the collision repairindustry (December 2009)In fining Allstate Insurance $5,000 for“interfering with (a) consumer’s freechoice of repair facility,” the Insur-ance Division of Rhode Island’s De-partment of Business Regulation alsoclarified what constitutes such inter-ference by an insurer.

In reviewing a complaint broughtby Providence Auto Body, the Depart-ment said that “without a legitimatebusiness reason, an insurer may not

take actions that make it more difficultto have the repair done at a (shop)with which the insurer does not have acontractual relationship.”

In this case, the Departmentfound that a combination of actions byAllstate constituted interference withclaimant Dennis D’Ambra’s shopchoice. These actions included:

– delaying arrangements for re-pair of the vehicle (after the shop con-tacted Allstate saying D’Ambra hadhired it to do the repairs) until Allstatecould locate and contact D’Ambraseven days later;

– telling D’Ambra that Provi-dence Auto Body was not “approved”;

– suggesting that D’Ambra takethe vehicle to a drive-in claims centerafter he had already said he wantedProvidence Auto Body to repair thevehicle; and,

–taking 15 days after contactingD’Ambra to conduct an appraisal ofthe vehicle at the shop.

The ruling states that discussionby an insurer about its DRP or drive-in claims center is not in and of itselfan indication of steering.

“However, when the customer in-dicates that he does not need or wantthat information, as D’Ambra didhere, the conversation must stop,” theruling states. “The customer has theright to simply choose a shop andhave the shop ‘handle’ the repair.”

– As reported in CRASH Network(www.CrashNetwork.com), November14, 2009. Almost five years later Okla-homa Attorney General Scott Pruitt lastmonth issued a warning in his stateabout the practice of “steering” by in-surers, in which “insurers strongly pushconsumers to autobody repair shops,”sometimes “crossing the line, makingdishonest statements.”

Prevailing Practices, Doing Business on Internet, 2-Way Estimating, Steering Suits

with John YoswickHistorical Snapshot

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

During a panel discussion at NACE in 1994, Gerry Wester-field of State Farm urged shops to question any State Farmadjuster claiming to quote company policy “for not payingstandard P-page procedures.”

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The Fort Wayne chapter of the IndianaAuto Body Association (IABA) pre-sented Merit Awards in the amount of$500 each to two local schools at theirquarterly meeting on Wednesday, Oc-tober 15. The money used to fund the

awards was raised by the Fort Waynechapter’s annual golf outing, andchapter members chose to donate thefunds to local schools that offer colli-sion repair training: Ivy Tech Com-munity College – Northeast and theAnthis Career Center.

During the meeting, each MeritAward was presented to representa-tives from the winning educational fa-cilities. Oliver M. Barie, InterimDirector of Resource Development,and Jaron Grayless, Assistant Instruc-

tor of the Auto Body Center, acceptedthe Merit Award on behalf of Ivy TechCommunity College – Northeast. TheAnthis Career Center was representedby Robert Roebuck and Brad Van Pelt.

In regards to receiving the MeritAward, Barie says, “we are truly hon-ored to have received the IABA’sMerit Award. The IABA has and con-tinues to be a strong ally of Ivy TechNortheast. This award is a testamentto their commitment to students seek-ing a career in the auto body industry,and we could not be more pleased.”

The Anthis Career Center is alsohonored to be a recipient of IABA’sMerit Award, and Roebuck states, “acritical component of the success of aCareer and Technical Education(CTE) class is to a have strong, sup-portive business and industry partner-ship. The IABA’s Merit Award of$500 exemplified this belief. We’reproud to be growing students bothpersonally and professionally. ThisMerit Award solidifies the fact thateveryone is in favor of investing in abetter tomorrow.”

Both schools will use the funds toprovide a scholarship to a student intheir collision repair training programs.Grayless explains, “we plan to use theawarded funds in the future through a

scholarship. The student selection cri-teria will be based on Student perform-ance, likelihood of a career in thecollision industry, GPA, and must berecognized or supported by an instruc-tor, program chair and or our advisory

committee. The scholarship can be usedto fund tuition, books, or equipmentthat may be needed by the student.”

Anthis Career Center will selectthe student who receives IABA’s

scholarship based on specific criteriawhich includes enrollment in their Au-tomotive Collision class, a grade av-erage of B or better, good attendance,participation in Skills USA, a recom-mendation from Van Pelt, and seriouspursuit of a career in the collision re-pair industry.

Roebuck notes, “All studentsknow this Merit Award is a possibleopportunity, [and] students will bemotivated and encouraged to do theirvery best because of this opportunityto have $500 put towards furtheringtheir education in the automotive col-lision industry. If a student beginsworking right out of high school andis working in the field of automotivecollision, they can also elect to use theMerit Award for the purchase of toolsin the trade.”

IABAwww.iaba.info260-837-2802


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IABA Presents $500 Merit Awards to Two Local Schools

with Chasidy Rae SiskMidwest Associations

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

Jaron Grayless, Instructor Auto Body Centerand Oliver Barie, Ivy Tech Community College-Northeast

Robert Roebuck, Anthis Career Center andBrad VanPelt, Collision Instructor at AnthisCareer Center

ily,” Claypool said. “Everything is go,go, go today and if a consumer can’tfind the information they need fast,they’ll move on, so we made this fea-ture as intuitive and easy to access aswe possibly could.”

In addition, CAA’s new site has alink to LinkedIn groups, private to theCAA and also private to each chapter.“These LinkedIn groups make for asimple, affordable way to push com-munications to select members aboutevents, milestones, legislation, etc.,”Claypool explained. “A step-by-stephow to sign up on LinkedIn is providedon the site for members to get set up.Key events and actions can be pushedthrough the suggested LinkedIn groupdesignated for legislative purposes.

This means that communications willlink members on the world’s-leadingprofessional networking site and alsomakes it possible to save CAA money.Rather than spending a significantamount of money to program this ca-pability into the CAA site, why nottake advantage of the technology thatalready exists and take advantage of allof its other residual benefits?”

The new CAA web site went livein October, so that members can offerfeedback as they tweak it. “The site willcontinue to evolve over time with mem-ber input and as times and technologychange,” McClune said. “We want tohave the best site we possibly can, andby developing it using Word Press, wecan make changes seamlessly.”

Visit CAA’s new home onlineand look around. You’ll be impressedby its easy navigation, clean look andnumerous features.


CAA Gets a New Web Site

“The 3 Vital Behaviors of the Bestof the Best Shops”There are shops that are located in heav-ily MSO consolidated markets that in-stead of becoming a victim, became abeneficiary! I call these shops “positivedeviants.” When many shops in theseparts of the country are struggling orselling out, the positive deviants are ac-tually doing quite well and in manycases outperforming the consolidators!One of these best of the best shop own-ers told me they have all four big MSOs(Caliber, Gerber, ABRA, Service King)within a five mile radius of his shop! SoI am prompted to starting asking thequestion, what are these guys doing dif-ferently than the independents that arestruggling in the same markets?

After speaking to many positivedeviant shops, and asking them whatthey do to get great results, I got manyof the usual answers that you wouldexpect from a successful organization.Good leadership, high quality work,

good customer service, great employ-ees, bla, bla, bla. But these things any-more are kind of a “given.” Even to bea mediocre business you need to havesome level of these qualities.

So I searched deeper to distill thefindings into what I call the Vital 3Behaviors.1. Culture of Learning2. Participation in a peer group or network3. Measure the Right KPIsAll the positive deviant shops stronglydisplay these 3 Vital behaviors, strug-gling shops don’t!

Vital Behavior 1 - Culture of LearningThese businesses crave knowledge! Ifyou don’t believe me, look at the in-depth I-CAR study on the subject.(Check it out at www.i-car.com ) I-CAR contends that A Learning Cultureis at the very foundation of all the supersuccessful shops they studied. The veryunderstanding of things such as properbusiness management, leadership skills

and process development skills stemfrom the leaders desire to learn.

They seek their knowledge fromsources such as I-CAR, Webinars, andClinics. They typically read booksregularly, and are continuously look-ing for new sources of education.

Vital Behavior 2 - Participation in apeer group or networkSome of the positive deviants are veryinvolved with their associations such asASA, others join franchise organiza-tions, and many get involved in roundtable groups that their paint manufac-turers host.

Shops that feel like they are aloneon an island, can’t and probably won’tsucceed. There is power in numbersfar beyond the sum of its individualmembers. Some of the benefits thatparticipation in a group includes…♦ Mastermind principal – a group oflike-minded individuals with the samechallenges working together to achieve

great things♦ Friendly competitive spirit betweenmembers♦ Accountability to one another♦ Massive knowledge resource. Whenyou are on the island you only haveyour own knowledge, in a group, youcan have everyone’s!♦ Leadership skills – by participating ina group of people trying to better them-selves and their shops, skills such asleadership are enhanced, you learn topresent, become a more professionaland rounded person.♦ You learn to “See beyond you ownwalls” so to speak.

Vital Behavior 3 - Measure the rightkey performance indicatorsThe third vital behavior was MeasureKPIs, but I was reminded by one of thepositive deviant shops that it is impor-tant to measure the “right ones.” Hewas right, there are some shops that


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with David LuehrLean Operations

David Luehr is the owner of Elite Body Shop Solutions, LLC, a collision business consultingfirm based in Nashville, Tennessee. He is a 30 year veteran of the collision repair industry.David is an expert in Body Shop Operations and specializes in Lean, and Theory ofConstraints methods. Email him at [email protected]

Competing with MSO Consolidation

See MSO Consolidation, Page 38

Giving cars to the needy is a perfectand proven way for the collision in-dustry to give back. Most of the time,body shops and insurance companieswork together to fix cars and returnthem back to their owners.

Four formerly homeless Las Vegasfamilies visited the SEMA Show lastweek and left as proud owners of prac-tically brand new cars presented bymembers of the National Auto BodyCouncil (NABC) at its annual RecycledRides Luncheon on Nov. 5.

These four families were selectedby Family Promise of Las Vegas, anorganization that has been partneringwith the NABC for the pastseven years to provide at-riskfamilies with reliable trans-portation, so they can beginto rebuild and regain their fi-nancial stability.

NABC’s Recycled Ridesprogram is a unique collabo-ration of the collision industry.Since the program’s inceptionin 2007, repairers, insurers,rental car companies and sup-pliers have teamed up to re-store and donate over 1,000vehicles to individuals andnon-profit organizations na-tionwide.

Collision repair professionalsfrom facilities in Las Vegas volun-teered their time and expertise to re-store damaged vehicles donated by

Allstate Insurance, GEICO, EnterpriseRent-a-Car and Hertz. The local re-pairers included Caliber Collision,Service King and Gerber Collisionand a fourth vehicle was repaired bySouth County Collision in California.

The recipients selected byFamily Promise were:La Cara and Marice Washing-ton and their three childrenreceived a Hyundai Sonatadonated by GEICO and re-paired by Caliber Collision.They both recently graduatedfrom the Family Promiseshelter program and are cur-rently employed and havetheir own housing.Cassandra Waller, a single

mother with two children re-ceived a Dodge Durango donated byAllstate Insurance and repaired byService King. Physical disabilitieslimit her mobility so a Recycled Ridesvehicle will greatly help her to im-prove her quality of life.

Magan and Wayne Sykes andtheir two children received a NissanMaxima donated by Hertz and re-paired by the Van Tuyl Group. This

couple is successfully enrolled in Fam-ily Promise’s Community Partnershipfor Opening Doors Housing Program.

Janiecia Fernandez, received aHyundai Sonata Hybrid donated by

Gerber Collision and Enterprise Rent-A-Car. Fernandez is a single motherof two young children and a partici-pant of the Promises to Keep HousingProgram. This vehicle will allow herto devote her time to being a good

mother and working with her chil-dren’s education.

“Each of these recipient familieshave successfully transitioned fromhomelessness into independent hous-

ing through our Family Promise pro-grams,” said Terry Lindemann, Execu-tive Director of Family Promise of LasVegas. “Reliable transportation is thecritical link that enables these familiesto continue on the road to recovery and

we are grateful for the supportand impact that the NationalAuto Body Council has madein our local community.”

NABC Executive Direc-tor Chuck Sulkala is proud ofthe NABC’s Recycled Ridesprogram and the success it’sachieved especially this year.“We’re going to give awayalmost 300 vehicles to peoplein need in 2014,” he said.“With all of these great insur-ance companies, collision re-

pairers, paint suppliers, parts vendorsand other companies onboard, this isa joint effort every year and it’s amaz-ing to see so many people who go outof their way to make this happen.”


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with Ed AttanasioNational Associations


NABC Gives Away Four Cars at Annual SEMA Luncheon

La Cara and Marice Washington and their children withtheir Hyundai Sonata donated by Gerber Collision andEnterprise Rent-A-Car

Janiecia Fernandez and her daughter admire their HyundaiSonata Hybrid donated by Caliber Collision and GEICO

Magan and Wayne Sykes, with their two young childrenreceived a Nissan Maxima donated by Hertz and repairedby the Van Tuyl Group

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Recently I had the pleasure of beingthe only reporter at a local autobodyassociation chapter meeting. This wasan especially interesting meeting fo-cusing on the new Ford F150 truckand its aluminum body. There was agreat panel of industry experts whosecomments could significantly impactthe success of a shop trying to per-form more competitively and prof-itably. So I was troubled when onemember of the panel asked how manyshop owners were present and onlyabout six or seven raised their hands.This was a room containing an audi-ence of more than one hundred peo-ple. One would think that at least aquarter of the attendees would bemajor shop decision-makers. But Ishouldn’t have been surprised. I’veheard the same question at numerousmeetings with the same low decision-maker count.

The last few meetings I’ve at-tended focused on elements that will

determine the survival and success ofmost collision repair shops. The focuson new vehicle designs, materials,reparability and management processesprepares shop owners and managersfor a business future that may be ex-tremely challenging. That same focustells these owners and managers whatmessages they need to get out to cur-rent and prospective customers to keepvehicles coming into their shops. Thisparticular meeting provided ammuni-tion for a marketing attack based on thehazards of dealing with aluminum andpotential dangers for vehicle owners ifthey choose an ill-informed and ill-equipped shop to do their repairs. Thatmessage is appropriate for nearly everypotential customer, whether an indi-vidual vehicle owner, fleet manager,dealership principal, or insurance DRP.

The message I’ve heard in manyassociation meetings this and last yearis that technology will now be drivingthe emphasis in shop marketing. That

same message says that collision re-pair professionals can now commanda new, higher level of respect. Thedays of thinking of a body shop as aplace where low-paid workers pounddents out of fenders and massagedamaged metal back into place hascome to an end. Vehicle manufactur-ers have raised the bar and a typicalshop today must have certified techni-cians and costly equipment to work oncomputerized vehicles, dangerouselectrical and hybrid systems and ex-otic metal and carbon fiber bodies.Websites and other media that empha-size the old systems and equipmentare missing the marketing boat. Thetime has come to seize this higherlevel of respect for the complicatednew practice of restoring these com-plex vehicles to pre-accident condi-tion.

A much earlier meeting aboutthis time of year was addressed by aV.P. from SEMA. This was whenNACE abandoned Las Vegas to hostthe NACE show in a different city.The executive talked about the newbenefits that can come from a colli-sion shop attendance at and participa-tion in a SEMA show in Las Vegas.The SEMA people were doing all pos-sible to make the show informativeand of value to collision repair atten-dees. Although the V.P. focused onamenities and conveniences for shopowners and managers, there were nu-merous references to new productsand processes collision shop mar-keters could add to their repertoire ofproducts and services. I attendedSEMA that year and saw first handwhat he meant. One lady from a localshop was at the show and she notedthat her shop could immediately profitfrom providing customers with alarm

systems, child restraints, pet restraints,backing-up lights and cameras, spe-cialty wheels and more. She saw away to attract new customers andenjoy greater profits.

While these were autobody asso-ciation meetings that could aid mar-keting efforts, I think the bestmeetings focused on providing whatis most needed for effective market-ing: MONEY! Business analysts gen-erally say about seven percent of grossshould be put into sales and market-ing. I’ve seen only a few shops thatbegin to approach that figure. Seriousefforts to generate new customers cancost serious money. Two recent auto-body association meetings I attendedfocused mainly on how to negotiateeffectively and how to get paid for themany repairs and operations some in-surance adjusters like to weasel out of.The information at just one of thesemeetings could have paid for somevery high quality on-line marketingand also a live gal or guy in the fieldbringing in business!

The complaint I’ve heard mostfrequently about association meetingswas that there were uninformativeprograms and a tendency to be nomore than a place to come to eat, drinkand complain. What I’ve observed atthese highly productive meetings isthat there is a core group of memberswho want to use this irreplaceableforum to bring in speakers and panelswith truly valuable information. Asso-ciation members who complain abouta declining volume of business andlower profits have failed to seize theopportunity to get these highly desir-able presenters in front of their chap-ter. All it takes is someone willing tomake the calls and arrange the timeand place.


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Autobody Associations—A Great Source of Marketing Information

On Creative Marketingwith Thomas Franklin

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

The Collision Repair Education Founda-tion announced the winners of GEICO’scollision school grants for 2014: Hillsbor-ough Community College (Tampa, FL);Norwalk High School (Norwalk, CA);Texas State Technical College (Waco,TX); Wilson Tech (Dix Hills, NY.) Eachof the winning schools applied for a grantfrom the Ultimate Collision EducationMakeover program, and each will receive

$6,750 to purchase items off their colli-sion tool, equipment and supply wish listfrom their application. The winners werenamed Nov. 4 at the Education Founda-tion’s industry reception held at SEMA2014. “GEICO recognizes that the colli-sion repair industry needs highly-quali-fied, well-trained and knowledgeabletechnicians to repair today’s car” said BillDeGrocco, Assistant VP at GEICO.

Four Collision Schools Awarded GEICO Grants

It’s the Academy Awards, the Emmysand the Tonys all rolled into one ifyou’re a manufacturer of any automo-tive product on the planet. Being awinner in the Specialty EquipmentMarket Association’s (SEMA) New

Products Showcase can be a gamechanger and the beginning of some-thing truly big. And that’s why whenfour collision-related companies heardtheir names at the 2014 SEMA Show’sopening breakfast on Nov. 4 they wereobviously thrilled and even a littleshocked in some cases.

These awards are given to themost innovative and cutting-edge newautomotive aftermarket products inthe industry today, judged by some ofthe biggest names in the automotiveworld. Nearly 2,000 productswere entered into 16 differentshowcase categories to beconsidered for SEMA NewProduct Awards this year.Winners were selected basedon a variety of factors that in-cluded quality, marketability,innovation, technology, con-sumer appeal and more.

The Collision Repair &Refinish Product winner isMalco Products, Inc. for theirQuarter Panel Hemming AirTurboXTool. The two run-ners up in this category are 6 Hands,for their 6-Hands Universal BodyPanel Holder and LumaIII, Inc. fortheir Aurora LED attachment. In theTools & Equipment Product category,Celette is a runner up for their Naja

Evolution 3D Measuring System’ssoftware and LumaIII Inc. is also arunner-up in this category for the Au-rora.

Malco Products Inc. captured thetop spot with their Quarter Panel

Hemming Air TurboXTool.This tool uses existing airsupply to bend and close up to¾ inch (19.05mm) deepwheel arc flanges of replace-ment quarter panels on latemodel cars. It can replicate ahammer and dolly motion athigh speed and is 80 percentfaster, based on field trials.The cushioned anvil protectsthe panel finish while thehammer rolls and flattens theflange from the back.Mike Janey, creative serv-

ices specialist for Malco,knows the value of this awardand that’s why he’s already

working hard to leverage it. “Justbeing associated with a respectedname like SEMA gives us immediatehelp with things like distribution andname recognition,” Janey explained.“Malco was founded in 1950, butproducts for auto body work is a newmarket for our company, so winningthis award means a lot to us. Our goalis to introduce innovative productsthat make the lives of body techni-cians easier and alleviate repetitive in-juries on the user’s shoulders and

arms, so that they can work withoutinterruption and get the results they’relooking for. Technicians want superiorquality performance that saves timeand labor while also being reliable,safe and easy-to-use and with our

Quarter Panel Hemming Air TurboX-Tool, we’ve answered all of thoseneeds!”

One of the runners up in the Col-lision Repair & Refinish Product cat-egory is 6 Hands with their UniversalBody Panel Holder. Ad-justable to fit any panel, thisdevice consists of three pairsof different length “hands.”After the panel is attached tothe 6 hands, it can be rotatedusing the 6 hands on an X andY axis. This gives the tool theunique ability to allow thepanel to effortlessly be placedin ergonomic positions whileperforming metal work, sand-ing, body work and paintingmore efficiently.

Ben Sapak, the owner of 6Hands in Holland, MI has only beenin business for approximately sixmonths now, so he’s obviously de-lighted about capturing a runner-up

award for his Universal Body PanelHolder.

“As a first-time exhibitor and ayoung business, this award is a shot inthe arm,” Sapak said. “We inventedthis device for ourselves to use in our

restoration business doing custommetal work, because nothing else didthe job we wanted it to. Now a techcan hold onto a panel without damag-


QUALITY IS ALL WE THINK ABOUT. THAT

AND QUALITY.

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with Ed Attanasio

SEMA Show Goes On


New Product Showcase Winners a Big Hit at SEMA

See SEMA New Products, Page 37

The Collision Repair & Refinish Product winner wasMalco Products Inc. for the Quarter Panel HemmingAir TurboXTool

The LumaIII team was thrilled about their two runners upawards. From left: Owner/CMO Richard Routon, Owner/CEO Kirk Lucas, Owner/CFO Jimmy Zluticky and Directorof Sales Chris Williams

6 Hands captured a runner-up award in the Collision Repair& Refinish Product category for their Universal Body PanelHolder

by Victoria Antonelli, Online Editor

Kristen Felder of CollisionHubstarted her SCRS Repairer Driven Ed-ucation seminar at SEMA with a jolt-ing statistic—“80 percent of visitors onyour website will watch your videos,but only 20 percent will read yourtext.”

Felder said she always asks bodyshop owners, “Do you have video onyour website? If the answer is ‘no,’does your competitor have video ontheir website? If the answer is ‘yes,’

then 80 percent of that company’s vis-itors are learning about their business,not yours.”

What does this mean for bodyshops who have only recently come toterms with Facebook, for example? It’stime to break out the camera and openup iMovie, or hire someone who can.

Lee Emmons, video expert andvice president of AP Media, Inc., K.Michael Bradshaw, vice president ofoperations at K&M Collision, Mered-ith Bradshaw, owner of K&M Colli-sion, joined Felder on the panel.Emmons has helped Michael andMeredith create cutting-edge videos fortheir body shop’s website. K. Michaeland Meredith Bradshaw have recentlybeen covered in Autobody News.

“We wanted a high-quality prod-uct, but we also had a budget,” said K.Michael. “The more I looked at it all -the video, the editing, the type of video,where to put it to get the most expo-sure, etc., the more I realized I couldn’tdo it all on my own,” said K. Michael.“I hired Lee, which was a really gooddecision. He’s very professional.”

Felder addressed the fears manynon-tech savvy shop owners have

about creating video with a reflectionon the first one she made during NACEback in 2009.

“You could hardly see it, the whitebalance was off, and I had horribleaudio, but it still worked,” said Felder.“CollisionHub grew with no printmedia, no advertising, nothing, it justgrew solely on using the internet, usingvideo. But it was the only video in theindustry for anyone to watch, so if youwanted to watch something on colli-sion repair, or products, we were youronly option. So the quality didn’t mat-ter, what mattered was the content.That’s why I always tell shops, ‘don’tworry, just get started.’ ”

Another major concern is budget.Here are a few aspects to considerwhen creating your video, according topanel responses by Felder, Emmons, K.Michael, and Meredith Bradshaw.

■ What is your time mark? Ifyou’re making the video yourself—film-ing, writing, and editing—how muchtime will you allot to this process? Timeis money.

■ Is there another company inyour town that you collaborate withfrequently, i.e. a tire company? If so, isthere a chance you could share ex-penses to create a video that benefitsboth parties?

■ Half and half: When Felder firststarted creating videos, she wouldshoot the footage herself, and then hiresomeone to edit it. “Editing is themagic,” explained Felder.

■ Do you want to hire talent? Ifyou don’t want to be in your video—it’sbest to hire actors/actresses or an out-side spokesperson. Employees, man-agers and technicians come and go, soincluding them in a video may not bethe best choice. The best places to findtalent are craigslist or a local talentagency.

■ Do you want to hire a film

crew? “Local film schools are the bestplace to look. Many students are eagerto find work and gain experience,” saidEmmons.

If you do hire a crew, providelunch on filming days: “Don’t let peo-ple leave, because you’re going to loseyour schedule for the rest of the day,”warned Felder. “Even if you tell every-one, ‘be back at 1pm,’ it’s not [always]going to happen.”

Finding the right topic, knowingyour audience, and effectively gettingyour point across will all help to makeyour video a success, according toFelder and the other panelists.

Some considerations:● Whatever method you choose,

make sure you have good audio. “Anaudience can handle bad picture withgood sound, but not vice versa,” addedFelder.

● Storyboarding: What do youwant to say and what do you want to beshowing in the background whileyou’re saying it?

● How to pick a topic based onyour audience: According to Emmons,car enthusiast forums, customer testi-monials, auto blogs, discussion boardsand other videos are great places tolook.

● Scripted vs. Freestyle: The na-ture of the topic has a lot to do with thisdecision. “A customer testimonialshouldn’t be scripted, because youwant it to sound real,” said Emmons.“If I’m using legal terms or other spe-cific, factual information, then I defi-nitely want to use a script,” said Felder.All panelists agreed that outlines arenecessary, and if you’re using a script,you should memorize the informationand not read off a piece of paper.

● Time: “You want to stay in thattwo minute sweet spot,” said Felder.The average retention rate on YouTubeis 1:58.

● Location: It may not always beyour body shop, and if it is, make sureit is clean and compliant. It may benecessary to shut your shop down dur-ing production days in order to mini-mize background noise.

● NEVER EVER cancel a pre-production meeting

“The average life expectancy fora video is four years, compared to 72hours for a Facebook post and 12 min-utes for a Tweet,” Felder said. “Wehave become a visual and auditory re-ceptive society. We want to see it andhear it, we don’t want to read it.”


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Creating Engaging Consumer Videos for Marketing with Kristen Felder

Kristen Felder of CollisionHub gives adviceon creating engaging videos for marketingduring one of her SCRS seminars at SEMA

Kristen Felder of CollisionHub; Lee Emmons,Vice President of AP Media; Michael Brad-shaw, VP of Operations at K&M Collision; andMeredith Bradshaw, co-owner of K&MCollision, discuss the importance of videoin the auto industry


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General Motor’s Dealer Equip-ment Solutions has developed theThe Rail Saver Repair System toolfor collision repair technicians.

The company said it was de-signed by an auto body technicianto help fellow technicians effi-ciently repair frame rails and sidemembers from the inside out.

TG Products’ Tim Gerhardsheld a demonstration of the railsaver at SEMA.

“The Rail Saver Repair Systemwas tested and approved by GeneralMotors for use on both full-frameand unitized vehicles,” said the GMCollision Repair Technology CenterManager at GM.

“This product works on steel,high-strength steel, and aluminumbody components. This tool willhelp pin-point the damage locationto ensure accurate repairs from theinside of a frame rail working out-ward,”

For more information visitwww.GMDEsolutions.com or call1-800-GM-TOOLS.

GM Demonstrated Rail SaverRepair System at SEMA



I-CAR held presentations, discussionsand training focused on the 2015 FordF-150 throughout SEMA 2014. Thecompany also brought members ofFord’s Service Engineering team to theSEMA Collision Repair & Refinishstage to present, “2015 F-150 CollisionRepair Program.”

I-CAR held its 2015 Ford F-150Structural Repair (FOR06) course atSEMA. FOR06 is a six (6) credit hour,instructor lead, course that satisfiestraining for I-CAR collision repair andinsurance roles including AluminumStructural Technician. Students learnmaterial-specific training that high-lights the processes associated withaluminum repair of the Ford F-150.

Since the launch of FOR06 inMay, I-CAR has seen an overwhelmingdemand for both FOR06 and Alu-minum Welding Training & Certifica-tion™. Over 5,500 repair techniciansand 3,300 insurance APDAs completedFOR06 and over 2,200 more profes-sionals have earned their AluminumWelding Certification.

“This really tells us that the in-dustry is hungry for relevant, timely,and vehicle specific training,” saidJohn Van Alstyne, CEO & President,I-CAR. “

I-CAR’s 2015 Ford F-150 Training and Education

Quest Automotive Products hashired a new Director of Product &Color Management − Hermon Fer-rell. Ferrell brings over 26 years ofindustry experience to Quest Auto-motive Products. His previous rolesincluded Senior Product MarketingManager at Sherwin-Williams. Thisrole, among other senior leadershippositions, has given Ferrell an op-portunity at QAP to oversee colormanagement, color development,all aspects of product managementand new strategic business develop-ments. In turn, Ferrell will focus ondeveloping more forward-thinkingtools and initiatives, leading to cus-tomer-centric product solutions andfaster-to-market processes for QAP.

“Mr. Ferrell’s passion for thisindustry and decades of experienceis a huge advantage for QAP andour customers,” said Mark Flint,VP of Sales & Marketing, Paints &Coatings. “To grasp this industryand these products with such clarityand understanding is a rare thing.He fits our culture and shares in ourgoals.”

Quest Hires Former MartinSenour Product Manager

www.a

www.autobodynews.com

www.autobodynews.com

by Victoria Antonelli, Online Editor

3M Automotive engineers may nothave realized how ahead of the gamethey were when creating panel bond-ing adhesives 20 years ago.

The international company’spanel bonding adhesive was recentlyapproved by Ford to repair the 2015aluminum F-150. 3M has also intro-duced a completely new class of ad-hesive, an Impact Resistant StructuralAdhesive for structural applications.

“When it comes to the 2015 F-150 everywhere the technicians userivets, they will use our panel bondingadhesive,” said Shawn M. Collins,3M Automotive senior technical serv-ice engineer. “Since the majority ofthe 2015 Ford F-150 is assembled thatway at the factory, when repaired, weare going to use a lot of these adhe-sives.”

3M’s Impact Resistant StructuralAdhesive will be launched in the firstquarter of 2015. This new adhesivewas specifically formulated to meetGM’s specifications and will be rec-ommended for structural applicationsas well as non-structural applications.

“This epoxy-based adhesivechanges colors as it cures, said Collins.“Once technicians apply it and start to

set rivets, it runs purple, so you knowit’s curing. Other adhesives don’t giveany any indication whether the curinghas started. You could rivet bond the

whole thing together and come in thenext day and discover that it has notcured, so with this product, we havethat assurance.”

This high-tech solution also al-

lows for more flexibility and energyabsorption during a collision. Insteadof getting brittle or cracking, thisstructural adhesive will actually “stopa crack from propagating further,”added Collins.

“We have to try and duplicatethe OEM adhesive as best we can,”said Collins. “They have an advan-tage because they can bake their ad-hesives at 400 degrees or more. Whenusing replacement parts, it’s tough toachieve the same specifications forstrength and energy absorption witha two-part chemical cure at roomtemperature, but this comes very, veryclose.”

When asked how welding com-pares to using adhesives, Collins re-sponded, “You can’t weld twodissimilar metals together, but youcan bond aluminum and steel togetherwith this adhesive. Welding is alsovery labor intensive; adhesives withself piercing rivets don’t even requireyou to drill a hole; it just punches therivet right through. Also, the lack ofheat is beneficial because it preventsthe metal from losing valuable phys-ical properties or strength.”

Collins expects more OEMs tocome forward and approve theirstructural adhesive in 2015.

3M Automotive Adhesives Used to Repair 2015 Ford F-150

Shawn M. Collins, 3M Automotive seniortechnical service engineer

WD-40 Company and PowerNationpooled their skills and resources to-gether to create a custom, off-roadJeep that debuted at the SEMA Showthat wowed people all over the worldfor four days. This amazing vehiclewill go to one very lucky winner inJune 2015 via a sweepstakes spon-sored by WD-40 and promoted onPowerNation’s TV shows.

The custom 1990 Jeep Wrangler

YJ, dubbed the WD-40® Specialist®

Xtreme Machine, has an aluminumbody and tube chassis and is equippedwith an LS engine, 42-inch tires andcoilovers throughout. Located as afeatured vehicle in the hallway outsideof the North Hall, this Jeep was get-ting a huge response during the entireSEMA show, which is pretty impres-sive when you consider that all of theworld’s best custom vehicles are al-

ways there.PowerNation, a two-hour

block of four automotiveshows that air on NBC SportsNetwork, SpikeTV, the CBSSports Network, PowerNa-tionTV.com and the Power-NationTV app, includes“Xtreme Off-Road,” “EnginePower,” “Truck Tech” and“Detroit Muscle.” The WD-40 Specialist Xtreme Ma-chine vehicle build will befeatured on two episodes of

“Xtreme Off-Road” in January 2015,with a sweepstakes to give away thevehicle running Jan. 2 – May 31,2015.

“TV viewers will get to see the

hard work and attention to detail thatwent into building the WD-40 Spe-cialist Xtreme Machine before puttingtheir hat into the ring to win it via thesweepstakes,” said Tim Lesmeister,vice president of marketing for WD-40 Company. “The PowerNation teamdid a phenomenal job building some-thing that’s both head-turning andunique, and the guys used alot of our top-of-the-line WD-40 Specialist products in theprocess.”

Ian Johnson, host ofPowerNation’s “Xtreme Off-Road,” was on hand to signautographs at the SEMAShow inside WD-40 Com-pany’s booth and discuss thevehicle he helped to create inconjunction with WD-40.“We’re proud and pleased tobe working with a majorname like WD-40,” Johnsonsaid. “The Xtreme Machine istruly extreme in many waysand we went all-in with thisvehicle.”

WD-40 Brand Manager ShannonEdwards gave a little perspective onthe history of WD-40’s custom vehi-cles, all of which have appeared atSEMA over the years. “This is nowour seventh vehicle and we’re always

trying to make the next one the bestone,” she explained. “The WD-40Specialist Xtreme Machine that webuilt with PowerNation is an amazingJeep. We wanted an off-road vehiclethis year, so we pitched the people atPowerNation and they said yes. Ianwanted to take a stab at it and it wasobviously a smart decision. Of theseven, five have been for charity; ithas been a great program. We’veraised more than $750,000 for chari-ties raised by auctioning those five ve-hicles.”

This year’s vehicle can be wonthrough a sweepstakes, so that anyonewho signs up can walk away with it,Edwards said. “We did it this way, sothat any pros or Joes out there can takethis thing home, if they’re lucky. Youdon’t have to know anyone and youdon’t have to be rich to own the WD-40 Specialist Xtreme Machine andthat’s why we decided to give it awayvia a sweepstakes.”

Once again this year, young bodytechnicians in training worked on thevehicle to make it as spectacular as itis today. “The students at UTI SanDiego stepped up and did a lot of thework on this vehicle,” Edwards said.“We’re happy that they were able tocontribute, because we want to start

these young people in the right direc-tion in their careers in the collision in-dustry. These projects allow us toeducate and mentor these students asthey get some real-life experiencealong the way.”


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with Ed Attanasio

Shop and Product Showcase

with Ed Attanasio

Shop Showcase

with Ed Attanasio

Social Media for Shops

with Ed Attanasio

Media and Publicity for Shops

with Ed Attanasio

SEMA Show Goes On

with Erica SchroederShop Showcase

The Right Causewith Mike Causey

Industry Insightwith John Yoswick


WD-40/PowerNation Jeep Debuts at SEMA 2014

Before it was the WD-40 Specialist Xtreme Machine thatappeared at this year’s SEMA, it was simply a 1990 JeepWrangler YJ

Under the direction of PowerNation’s Ian Johnson andwith some help from the students at UTI San Diego, thisis the amazing finished product

Ian Johnson from PowerNation partneredwith WD-40 on this year’s SEMA vehicle

become immersed in the minutia ofmeaningless metrics. It’s important toidentify which numbers will trulyguide your business to success andthen you have to look at them daily,not at the end of the month when it’stoo late, but every day or as often isrequired to make course corrections.

Positive deviant shops know thatyou cannot improve what you do notmeasure. These shops try to get a littlebetter each day, each week, and eachmonth and they know their numbers!

In order for independent shops tocontinue to be successful in today’schallenging marketplace it is criticalthat we learn by carefully studyingthe habits that make best of the bestpositive deviant shops successful. Itis also advisable to study the admin-istrative processes that give the MSOconsolidators the ability to grow atsuch a rapid pace while still perform-ing repair jobs with amazing timeli-ness and consistency. Independentscan in fact remain very relevant withboth customers and insurers, but youmay have to do things a little differentand perhaps a little better.

ing it. We’re so happy that the judgessaw a need for this tool and by recog-nizing it they’ve given us a whole newlevel of value in the collision andrestoration industries. It’s obviouslyhuge.”

Another runner-upaward went to LumaIII, Inc.for their Aurora, an LED at-tachment that fits snugly di-rectly behind the nozzle ofany spray gun. Lightweightand durable, this battery-op-erated device allows paintersto get an immediate visualconfirmation of the center oftheir spray, saving consider-able time and money onprimer, paint, sandpaper,buffing compound and othercostly alternative illumina-tion solutions. By reducing technicianerrors, the Aurora has quickly becomepopular with several industries, in-cluding collision repair, according tothe company’s web site.

The award will provide a majorboost for LumaIII, a young company

from Wichita, KS that didn’t evenknow if they could make it to SEMAinitially. “We’ve had to pool ourmoney together and even some of ussold vehicles to get to SEMA, becausewe are so confident that this productis needed in this industry,”Owner/CMO Richard Routon said.“People are really embracing the Au-rora, because body shop owners can

clearly see the benefits of it. It’squickly changing the industry, be-cause it saves time and labor andmakes painters more efficient and ac-curate. SEMA was great for us andthis award is a big part of it, because itshows that the industry is recognizing

our product and its role in the collisionrepair industry.”

Celette captured a runner-upaward in the Tools & EquipmentProduct category for their newly re-leased NAJA Evolution 3D software.Taking measurements directly fromOEM-provided 3D CAD drawingsprovides technicians with uniqueviews of the control points in relationto length, width and height, allowingan efficient damage analysis on adatabase of more than 14,000 vehi-cles.

Bastien Dias Da Costa, opera-tions manager for Celette was de-lighted by the award. “We’re honoredto have received such a prestigiousaward for our newest product at ahighly recognized event like SEMA,”he said. “Our software for the NajaEvolution 3D Measuring System hasgained some significant recognitionfor its accuracy and superior graphics.The software is easy to update with di-rect access to our web site and offersusers individual space in the Celettecloud. It’s also compatible with com-puters, desktop computers and laptopsand by adding approximately 9,000vehicles to the database, it’s the mostcomplete in the industry.”


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Clean Sheets® Mixing Boards are used by thousands of repair shops to mix epoxies, body !ller, !berglass, plastics, gel, puttyand touch-up paint.•••••••••••••••••••••••• P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P Prererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererereveveveveveveveveveveveveveveveveveveveveveveveveveveveveveveveveveventntntntntntntntntntntntntntntntntntnts s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s cocococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococococostststststststststststststststststststststststststststststststststststststststststststststststststststststlylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylyly r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r 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ACD, a national company that fo-cuses in claims management, advi-sory, audit and technology solutionsto the property and casualty industry,announced the release of CollisionSelect to its auto claims workflowmanagement platform, AutoLink™.

Collision Select is an enhancedfeature within AutoLink™, whichallows insurers to dispatch an as-signment to any collision repair fa-cility a vehicle owner chooses.Through ACD’s integrated responsetechnology, the company said a re-pairer can quickly respond with re-quired information eliminating theneed to login to any system. Colli-sion Select accepts any estimatingsoftware and can log digital imagery,video and all file types.

“I’m very excited that we haveadded Collision Select to our Au-toLink™ workflow technology. Ourmission is provide every avenue ofinspection for our clients whether itbe Self(ie) Service™, a traditionalappraisal or documentation from arepair facility,” said Ernie Bray,CEO of ACD. “Our goal is to pro-vide a seamless solution that meetsthe needs of our clients and increasescustomer satisfaction.”

ACD Adds Collision Selectto AutoLink™ Software

Auto repairers often must go to mul-tiple websites, place phone calls orsend faxes to track down and pur-chase the parts needed to completequality repairs. CCC InformationServices recently introduced PartsShopping, a new CCC ONE® Touchfeature that offers repairers the abil-ity to buy parts during the estimat-ing process.

“The introduction of the CCCTRUETM Parts Network in 2013and the parts quoting and procure-ment functionality are key mile-stones in our strategy,’ said JosephAllen, GM of CCC’s AutomotiveServices Group. “The announce-ment extends our efforts, making itpossible for repairers to access livepricing and to buy parts during theestimating process, where criticalbuying decisions are made.”

The Parts Shopping feature isavailable to users of CCC ONETouch at no additional charge. Userscan search for parts, view live pric-ing, add items to their shopping cartand purchase selected items. It is alsoconfigurable by the user, so uniqueterms and parts pricing that may bepre-negotiated with suppliers are au-tomatically reflected for each item.

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Auto Care Association Releases 2014 DigitalCollision Repair Trends Report

Acura TLX Earns Top Safety Pick+ AwardThe 2015 Acura TLX, a new midsizeluxury sedan, earnd the Top SafetyPick+ award for acceptable perform-ance in the Insurance Institute forHighway Safety’s (IIHS) small over-lap front test, good ratings in four othercrashworthiness evaluations and a su-perior rating for front crash prevention.

In the small overlap test, thedriver space was maintained reason-ably well, with maximum intrusionof about seven inches at the lowerhinge pillar. The dummy’s movementwas well controlled. Its head hit thefront airbag and stayed there until re-bound. The side curtain airbag alsodeployed and provided sufficientcoverage to protect the head from in-truding side structure and outside ob-jects. Measures from the dummysensors indicated that injuries to theleft lower leg would be possible, butthe risk of other injuries in a crash ofthis severity was low.

Introduced by IIHS in 2012, thesmall overlap test is more challengingthan either the head-on crashes con-ducted by the government or the Insti-tute’s moderate overlap test. In the test,25 percent of a vehicle’s front end onthe driver side strikes a rigid barrier at40 mph. The crash replicates whathappens when the front corner of a ve-

hicle collides with another vehicle oran object such as a tree or a utility pole.

The TLX replaces the TL and theTSX in Acura’s lineup. The new cardoes better in the small overlap testthan the TSX, which earned a mar-ginal rating, but not as well as the TL,which earned the top rating of good.

Neither predecessor vehicle hadavailable front crash prevention. TheTLX has two front crash preventionoptions, a warning-only system thatqualifies for a basic rating and anotherthat includes both the warning featureand automatic braking. In track testsof the autobrake feature, the caravoided the target in four out of fiveruns at 12 mph and in all five runs at25 mph, earning a superior rating.

The TLX earns good ratings inthe institute’s long-standing moderateoverlap front, side, roof strength andhead restraint tests. Good ratings inthese tests, a good or acceptable ratingin the small overlap test, and a frontcrash prevention rating of basic orhigher are the requirements for the in-stitute’s highest award for 2014, TopSafety Pick+. The TLX is the seventhvehicle from Honda/Acura to earn theaward. Another three, including theTL, earned Top Safety Pick, whichdoesn’t require front crash prevention.

The Auto Care Association has re-leased the 2014 Digital CollisionRepair Trends report, an online70-page analysis of data compiledfrom primary Auto Care Associa-tion research, federal governmentand independent research datasources. The report highlights thesize and scope of the U.S. colli-sion industry, including the paint,body and equipment (PBE) seg-ment, with a brief analysis of theCanadian collision industry. Italso includes analyses of factorsinfluencing the collision industry,automotive collision insurancecoverage and the Direct RepairProgram (DRP).

According to this year’s re-port, collision repair-related salesby industry repair shops droppedslightly (0.2 percent) in 2013 to$40.1 billion from $40.2 billion in2012. Despite the drop in sales,the industry, since 2009, has man-aged a sustained growth at an an-nual rate of 2.2 percent, with mostof the growth coming from thehigh-priced post-collision repairparts.Powered by Nxtbook MediaLLC™, this digital publication re-

tains both the traditional designand high-quality content of AutoCare Association reports. This on-line production provides addedvalue with many new functionalenhancements.

Users can:● Download Excel-based files,charts, tables and graphs that can becopied and pasted for presentations.● Turn pages with the click of amouse.● View pages in a variety of sizesand formats.● Quickly locate what you are look-ing for through a “word search” fea-ture.● Save material for future referencethrough the “bookmarks” feature.● Print the entire publication.

Copies of the new 2014 DigitalCollision Repair Trends report arenow available at $125 for Auto CareAssociation members and $250 fornon-members. The report can be or-dered by calling member services at301-654-6664 or email [email protected]. About the Auto Care Asso-ciation.


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midwestern december 2014 issue

Documents

gm parts pricingannouncement

collision parts pricing

collision repair industry

cic meeting

genuinegm parts

crash parts

allcollision industry

time improvingcycle